We are a funny lot!! We really have a disapportionate view on if we try or go for something that if we fail the world will blow up! Well, that what it seems if you choose to do nothing. Why do we sit down and decide on what the outcome will be without having the experience and knowledge to reach that conclusion. So through an excuse we give ourselves a 'get out of jail card' card but what we are really doing is giving ourselves a 'stay in jail card' through our actions of not doing anything. It's just like not being able to move because your feet have been glued to the ground.
Please, I challenge you! If one of below statements resonates with you, be true to yourself and determine whether the blockage is real or a convenient excuse to cover for your lack of resilience and willingness to take a risk!
I can’t write a good enough resume
I don’t have my family’s support
I don’t have the right education and/or qualifications
I don’t know how to sell my self
I don’t know what I’m good at
I don’t think my co-curricular activities and achievements are worthwhile
I don’t want to do any more study
I feel worthless
I’m scared I won’t succeed at what I want to do
I’m scared of interviews
I’m scared of the assessments I need to undertake to help me decide on my career options
I feel that I really don’t are not capable of having a successful career
Career planning is a waste of time - it never works
I’m scared that anything I start I won’t finish
I just don’t know where to start when it comes to finding a job
I’m just unsure of my options
I don’t feel confident talking about my career options
I feel like a failure if I have to get professional career advice
I don’t have any good referees
I don’t like taking risks
I don’t want to move home
I would waste my qualifications if I changed career
Employability is about upgrading or reinventing your Brand. No brand will survive unless it is taking notice of what is happening around it! What is the environmental forecast? If it is snowing you do not want to be wearing a t-shirt and shorts, if it is boiling hot you do not want to be wearing thermal clothing, a wool jumper and a spray jacket! So why would you not think about 'dressing for the future'. It is about having or developing the skills and experience that will align with the changing employment market. Having the 'right clothes' for the right ocassion!
Young or not so young we all have blindspots, hidden and unknown areas.
We all have unknown areas because we simply don't know what we don't know!
Reasons why you may have unknown areas
- You feel you have an ability to be a .....................that is under-estimated or un-tried through lack of opportunity, encouragement, confidence or training
- You have a natural ability or aptitude that you do not know you possess
- You have a fear or aversion that you do not know you have
- You have conditioned behaviours or attitudes from your childhood
Your career challenge if you choose to accept it, is to make the unknown known! If you understand 'who am I' you will understand your real career choices.
Yep, you have to brand yourself! OK you walk into a shop to buy a tablet. A friendly service person will approach you and ask how can I help you? I want one of those hi-tech tablets. The service person replies, "this is a chemist, I think you need to go to an electronic device store!" What I am finding is youth are applying to everything and anything without having any comprehension who they are and what they are looking for! Some sense of where they want to go! More to come..................
Yes, you are on Funkee Careers and no this is not about becoming a landscape gardener. It's an analogy of about the growth of a seedling. We water the seedling it grows. It's our validation that by watering the seedling it will grow. We later decide the seedling does not the same level of attention. It has grown up to be a small tree and still with some growing to do in order fulfill it's potential!
A number of things could happen:
It could stop growing!
It could grow in the wrong direction!
It could grow to it's expected height and flourish!
Why would it stop growing? A number of trees are competing for the 'same water' and we thought it would be OK resilent enough to cope.
Why would it grow in the wrong direction? When it was a seedling we thought, 'ah just plant it there'. The seedling was placed in position where it was been forced to grow into and through other trees in search of sunlight. It's natural development has been stifled by a lack of planning and direction. No thought has been given to the type and size of the tree.
Why would it grow to it's expected height and flourish? Someone took the time before obtaining and planting the seedling to understanding it's potential and what in needs to flourish, such as soil, sunlight, water, location and treatment required. By knowing the tree and planning for it's development you are providing the tree with the best opportunity to flourish!!!
Happy New Year from Funkee Careers
While teenagers are at secondary school or university, employers are saying we need people with soft skills to achieve our objectives. No matter the stage of life you are at and legally able to work, employers want soft skills. As the social, technology, political and evironmental landscapes change employers are wanting equal adaptability with the people they employ. In my opinion it should be shared responsiibility. The methodology of teaching, training and developing teenagers and adults should have an eye on the soft skills employers need today to form the cornerstone for soft skills needed tomorrow. Employers are 'demanding' their employees have the soft skills that demonstrate an alignment or connection with their culture. We always can improve so why not develop a systems thinking approach to soft skill development between educational institutions and industry to ensure a more effective and efficient student transition from secondary/tertiary education to employment? How well do we do it now? How do we incorporate soft skill development in the curriculum as a way of achieving the same or better education outcomes?
Pricing corporate values!
I was chatting to a colleague about career awareness and development for children. He reflected on an experience when he was 7 years, when he drew a picture of a fish on a 'wet' cement footpath. At the time he was with his 12 year old cousin who asked "Why did you draw a fish?" He replied "I like water and things in water." Further he showed interest in science at school. He thought of being a marine biologist, like Jacque Cousteau (for those old enough to remember!). He never became a marine biologist. He became an environmental scientist and in completing his environment science degree he recieved the highest mark on record for the marine biology module. He later became an organisation's Environmental Manager in relation to port infrastructure projects. This is a story of understanding 'who am I'.
What 'snapshots' of experiences and events in your life have supported the career choices you have made, should of made or plan to make?
David Kee, Funkee Careers
A TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson that inspired me to devote my time to creating career awareness as 'one size' does not fit all!