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Rejuvenating Your Career Without Quitting Your Job

12/31/2015

As the holidays end and a new year begins, are you bummed about going back to work! After the joy and excitement that the holidays bring, does it seem like kind of a drag to go back to your weekly routine? I think many have the impression that you would only want to seek career consultation when you have just lost your job or are fed up with your current one. While my clients are usually ready for a change from their current career situation, the consultation helps them see their work lives in new ways that enhances their current job role.

What often surprises them is how unique their talents are from those of others. My clients tell me all the time that they are annoyed with particular job tasks or co-workers usually because they assume that everyone sees those work situations in the same way as themselves. The key is to remember that your approach is truly, entirely distinct from that of others. "Why does everyone always expect me to do that?" I often hear. "Why can't they just do it?" my clients will say. While it may be true that others are not responsibly fulfilling work tasks, very often my clients learn that their approach to those same tasks makes them the preferred person to complete certain job tasks in the best possible way over others, which helps them view these situations differently.

At EPIC Career, we help you single out those talents. Those are the bits that must be brought out in job interviews, Summary sections of resumes and the like. Employers want to know this about applicants, but job applicants often do not understand or know how to articulate these qualities. As we launch into a new year and back into familiar and perhaps draining work routines, remember that your talents are unique. Career assessment and consultation can help you understand how you are different from others and how you can optimally express your unique potential contributions to supervisors and potential employers to win coveted opportunities. Whether you are ready to make a major career change or simply expand your understanding of your talents, EPIC Career is hear to help!

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Career Assessments Myth #4: Individual Choice?

3/21/2014

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Myth 4: You must choose one of the professions listed on a career assessment to achieve career success.

False!

Your Career Fit

Consultation with career assessments includes discussion of a wide range of facets of the client’s personality including their preferred ways of understanding new information, decision making and organizing their environments. Once we reach the point in the discussion of considering a career focus, clients have unearthed a new, expanded perspective about their innate talents and skills that they most enjoy using. By this point, clients have often developed an understanding of what professions would likely prove to be a strong fit for them and, of those, which specifically they might want to pursue. If they have not, the professional titles are available from the assessments. We then review commonalities across the professions to gain a picture of the main elements of a career that would be optimal for the client.

Career choice is a personal decision and the fit is as unique as each individual. Whether they move forward with a profession listed on the assessments or not, from this discussion, an individual career plan emerges.

Do you feel like you go to work each day without excitement or passion? Do you seek a job that you will enjoy and a career that you can foresee enjoying throughout the long term? At EPIC Career, we are here to help.

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Career Change or Career Reframe?

3/12/2014

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Client Question: I've felt dissatisfied for a while now in my career, but I'm not sure that I want to resign and go back to school, either. I feel stuck. Any advice?

EPIC Career Answer: This may surprise you - you could be in the right place already without knowing it. Yes, many of my adult clients embark upon major life changes as a result of my consultations with them. Typically, they begin college courses or start networking toward new career fields. However, I am amazed at how many of my clients do not change jobs. These non-job changers usually have one thing in common: they did not know that they had made many wise career-related decisions already.

Career Rut

Often, the aspects of their jobs that they dislike have been glaring at them for so long that they have forgotten about the positive aspects. These individuals are often highly successful in their careers. What they hadn’t considered much lately are the many decisions throughout their lives that led them to where they are today. These decisions are not mistakes; rather, they have led to many real, positive results.

Once we examine their career assessment results together, they often begin to see their background in a more realistic light. While their results often describe job titles that they had never before considered, they also include valuable information like the client's preferred work environments, learning style, leadership style and other information. These data help them organize their past career decision-making into a sequence of events that have allowed them to develop many of their innate talents and successfully adapt their weaknesses.

Same Career, Different Perspective

The conversation then shifts from "How can I get out of this job?" to "How can I adapt my behavior at work such that I continue to be successful, but also feel fulfilled in other aspects of my life?" We will then likely examine the ways in which changing a few basic habits in the course of a normal workday can go a long way toward building a new perspective about their current jobs. It can also help them see how they might pursue new non-work related interests that may help develop the whole person, beyond just their identity at work.

Are you feeling unsure about your career choices of the past? Do you feel stuck in a career that you dread potentially spending the rest of your life pursuing? Do you think you have potential for success in your current job field, but need some help figuring out how to make it more satisfying? If so, at EPIC Career we are here to help.

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The Top 5 Myths about Career Assessments

3/11/2014

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For the next several posts, I will be counting down the top 5 myths individuals I’ve worked with tend to believe about career assessments. Stay tuned for the complete list!

Myth 5: Assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and Strong Interest Inventory® generate 100% flawless results.

False!

So how can I vouch for them as a career consultant? The answer is that these assessments, including the MBTI are not intended to be used without the guidance of an experienced practitioner. Unlike a medical test, for example, that confirms whether a patient is carrying a certain virus, psychological instruments point to general tendencies. They are not designed to be provide a diagnosis! Rather, the responses on the instrument can serve as a lens through which to understand the client. I also advise clients to try to answer as though they are living in an “ideal world” to try to prevent responses that are provided because the client thinks that s/he “should” answer a particular way.

A Personal Example

For example, my wife took the MBTI as part of a requirement in a college course. When the professor scored the assessment and gave each student his/her profile, my wife did not recognize herself on the description. Then, the professor placed students into groups with their similar “type” so that they could find commonalities amongst each other. Again, my wife felt like a fish out of water in this group. For this reason, she did not hold much faith in the MBTI assessment at all.

Years later, she re-took the exam. This time, however, she tried to answer with the “ideal world” framework in mind. It revealed that one critical point of her prior results were inaccurate. With this correction, her entire profile changed, revealing a profile with which she really identified. It was a genuine “Eureka!” kind of moment. With these new results, she better understood why her current field of study and career prospects were not such a good fit.

Understanding Inaccurate Results

So why were her first results so skewed? That is a complicated answer, and it points to why it is so necessary to discuss results with an experienced practitioner. In her case, Western culture tends to exalt certain preferences – like logic, hard science, and rationality – above other preferences, such as empathy, cooperation, and emotion. When she answered the assessment the first time, it became clear that she was answering what she considered the right, university-approved kind of answers should be. She knew those initial answers did not reflect how she saw herself, but she blamed the instrument, rather than the way in which the assessment was administered.

This case is actually common. My goal for each client is to help him or her see how our world needs people who embody all of these types, despite what our culture tends to reinforce. In sum, no career assessment is intended to be fool-proof. Take your raw results as a starting point for a rich discussion about yourself. At EPIC Career, we are here to help.

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Helping the Teen or the Parent?

3/11/2014

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I started career consulting wishing to use my career assessment and higher education leadership background to help individuals make a career plan. What I did not expect, however, is the impact my work with teens would have on their relationships with their parents. I have been amazed at how parents and teens have revealed that in addition to helping the teen develop well-formed career goals, the service has enhanced their mutual understanding of one another.

Parent Perspective

Based on assessment results, parents report improvement in how they interpret the personality proclivities of their teen after consultation. Specifically, they see how the unique talents and interests of the teen can translate into a significant career. They often report that they have wondered how their teen would adapt to the adult and work world. After consultation they understand the root of their teen’s behaviors and how their teen has already made adaptations in his/her life to overcome weaknesses. Upon reviewing this history, it becomes clear to parents that their teen is highly likely to continue successfully using their strengths and adapting for weaknesses in the same way throughout his/her life. When reviewing career roles typical of others like their teen from assessments based on decades of research, they also see how their teen is likely to act successfully throughout his/her future. Both teens and parents seem quite relieved to gain this insight.

Beyond Just College Major Choice

While I started career consulting with the main purpose of helping clients build focus around a career that they will love, I have found that the insight gained from career assessments has yielded enhanced understanding and communication among parents and teens. As a parent, have you felt unsure about how your teen’s interests, skills and overall personality could lead to college and career success? Have you worried about whether your teen will ever discover career success because you feel some of his/her behaviors or past decisions illuminate a future trend resulting in your teen being too unusual to “fit in?” At EPIC Career, our gold standard career assessments will reveal exactly how your teen’s responses relate to responses of individuals who have reported success in particular career fields. In addition, we help you better understand your teen such that a lifetime of success in particular career fields becomes clear. If you seek this level of insight about your teen, we at EPIC Career are here to help.

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College Major Choice: Why Music?

2/28/2014

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The short answer, the long answer and the only answer is, “because I didn’t know what else to do.” In seventh grade, I was 7th chair of 8 trombonists. I was overweight, made poor grades, had very crooked teeth, crazy hair, few friends and very low self-esteem. Yes, I suppose many could say that they felt similarly awkward in middle school, but my day came.

One Friday when the band director said learn and memorize as many scales as possible and be able to play them on command by Monday morning, for some reason, I decided I was on a mission. The directive just didn’t seem difficult to me. I thought, “well, all I have to do is simply practice over and over until I got them.” I knew I only had to commit one weekend so I thought, “why not - let’s go for it.”

That Monday morning when I started playing all manner of exotic scales in perfect consistent tempo at 2 and 3 octaves from my practically bloody lips, I won first chair. I had never before won anything. I was not going to give up that high. I think one of my best friends beat me a couple of times on those weekly chair tests, but for the most part I remained 1st chair until I graduated high school. I played in concert band, orchestra and jazz groups and won many of the standard competitions for which many other middle and high school students competed.

It was fun and it was what I could do. So when college time came along, what else was I to do but study music. Everyone I knew assumed that this was what I would do. When schools around my state started offering me scholarships, I assumed that this was what I should do.

College Years: Not Quite as Rosy

I came into college with similar musical experience and ability as my peers. Suddenly the nerves set in. During these years, every time I auditioned for a college ensemble, I choked. Though I would practice tons in preparation for these auditions such that I could practically always perform each excerpt requested from memory, the tone that was generated from the tightening of my throat sounded wobbly and shaky. Naturally, this also made everything else about my performance suffer. Why couldn’t I just go with the flow like I did in practice and just enjoy playing the music? I guess I will never know the answer to that one. I have deliberated for years, but can never figure it out. Perhaps it was because while I experienced often weekly chair tests in high school and multiple other competitions (if I blew it I always knew there would soon be another one), placements for positions in the best ensembles in college were usually made only annually. Needless to say this performance hindrance killed my then dream of a career in music.

A New Career Path

The parting of the private lesson instructor with whom I had studied for 4 years as an undergraduate impacted me greatly. When he gathered all of his students in his studio to inform us that he had accepted a faculty position at another university it set off a flare inside me. It was then that I started realizing just what all I had learned from that man. Both from direct instruction and simply from the modeling of his ever-professional behavior, I learned how to manage my time, communicate with others professionally and respectfully, balance the many pressures of practice, rehearsals, free time, rest, etc. When I realized just how much I had learned from him, I realized not only why his parting impacted me so strongly, but also what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. The answer soon became entirely clear.

I happened upon a man at the same university who managed a master’s program in higher education administration and I thought it sounded fascinating. To study how colleges work in preparation for a job wherein you assist college students (e.g., admissions, residence life, student activities, advising/counseling) sounded like preparation to assist others as my private lesson instructor had. This sounded ideal. I studied with many retired college presidents and learned how things worked in various types of colleges and universities.

When I later accepted my first job out of my master’s degree as a university career counselor, I was not thrilled about having to take a career assessment myself and the idea of using these assessments with students to help them decide about a college major and career choice. When I completed the assessments and discovered how much insight they revealed about me, I was blown away. The results indicated that I and others like me (who were a very small percentage of the U.S.) were natural counselors. The results included a long list of helping professions like clergy, psychologist, professor, etc.

At that time I looked back at my many years struggling to figure out what I should do with my life. I thought that had I known this information before, I might not have chosen music. I realized, however, that most of the helping professions listed required a graduate degree and that the undergraduate degree area mattered not. So my bachelor’s degree major could have been in anything. While I realized that I had not spent time or resources on a degree that would not lead me to my next goals, I was very pleased to learn of the results.

As I realized I was preparing for a life working in a college, I thought it logical to study a bit about how we learn, so I completed my doctorate in Education. As I studied the history of formal education throughout the world, and all sorts of ways to measure learning, I focused on career assessment. I studied theories about how we develop throughout our lives in terms of career, differences in men’s and women’s career issues, and how to assist clients in making sense of career assessment results.

After career counseling for a few years, I spent many years teaching psychology, as a department chair, dean, and then campus director. While I greatly enjoyed academic administration, the issue that bothered me most was about career guidance. As I would attend professional meetings of senior college administrators, the issue always arose of how to let the citizenry know of the opportunities available to them via their colleges and universities. Also, everyone wanted to know how to retain students through graduation and ensure that they secured gainful employment for a satisfying career afterward. Increasingly, it occurred to me that budget constraints and the sheer volume of individuals needing career guidance were likely to continue to impede colleges and universities from offering the level of support that anyone entering college or considering a career change needed. This is why EPIC Career was born. I thought it only made sense to use my background in higher education administration and expertise about career assessment directly to individuals who seek it.

Have you likewise experienced confusion about your career path? Have you wondered if there is a career that would be a better fit than the one that you are currently focused on? If so, seek career guidance. At EPIC Career, we are here to help.

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Is This Degree Program Legit?

10/28/2013

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You’ve decided to go back to school, and you’re ready to evaluate potential programs, but are all college programs created equal? This discussion is about the importance of accreditation, what to ask colleges and universities about it, and most importantly, how it can limit how you can use college credits earned.

Accreditation 101

Accrediting bodies are tasked by the federal government to ensure that schools are abiding by strict guidelines that support the idea that they are offering a quality education and related support services to students. Toward this end, accrediting bodies assign reviewers (typically faculty or administrators from other schools that they have accredited) to evaluate colleges and universities regularly (typically every 5 – 10 years). Institutions report significant amounts of data about their teaching and administrative operations to accrediting bodies toward this review. In the U.S. there are national accrediting agencies, agencies associated with particular academic programs, and six regional accrediting bodies. While any accreditation connotes some professional review of a program, the six regional agencies are generally considered to represent the gold standard in accreditation in the U.S.

Why Should I Care: Transfer Credits

Accreditation matters because most regionally accredited schools will not accept transfer of courses from schools that are not also regionally accredited. If you complete credits at a college/university that is not regionally accredited then later want to transfer those credits to one that is, it is possible that none of the credits will transfer. In fact, if you complete a bachelor’s degree from a school that is not regionally accredited, the degree may not be recognized if you apply to a master’s program that is, and you may not be eligible for admission to that program.

How do I find out about a school’s accreditation?

You can usually find out from what agencies a school has obtained accreditation simply by asking most individuals among a school’s personnel. The best folks to ask are the Admissions staff, but most staff and faculty should be pretty well aware of this. This information is usually also noted on a school’s website.

Why would I want to attend a school that is not regionally accredited?

If the education that a school provides seems to you to be of good quality and you feel fairly secure that you will not ever attempt to transfer credits from those schools to a regionally accredited school, no problem. Also, if you feel the non-regionally accredited school adequately prepares you for a career and will not impair you from any future career goals, no problem.

The mission of accrediting bodies is to ensure that schools provide quality education and related services. As a great majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. are regionally accredited and these institutions generally stand together in allowing transfer of credits between them, many students opt to pursue higher education only at regionally accredited schools. As we have noted, however, there are compelling reasons to also pursue courses with college or universities that are not regionally accredited. The choice is yours.

If you have further questions, feel free to drop us a note or give us a call. We’re at [email protected] or (832)-4Career, and we are here to help.

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Rejuvenating Your Career Without Quitting Your Job

Career Assessments Myth #4: Individual Choice?

Career Change or Career Reframe?

The Top 5 Myths about Career Assessments

Helping the Teen or the Parent?

College Major Choice: Why Music?

Is This Degree Program Legit?

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