Career-Wise Ways ... Not Just A Job-But A Career ®

QAFs

  • What does Career-Wise Ways mean? +

    It is a phrase meant to define how an individual goes about advancing in a job and building a career. Taken literally, it means the individual's thoughts and actions are focused toward building his or her job and career strengths. It is using what you know to get where you have to go

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  • What is the difference between a workshop and a clinic? +

    This is a good question and I agree that it can be confusing as applied to the CWW universe. Webster defines a workshop as "a brief intensive educational program for a small group of people that focuses techniques and skills in a particular field", and a clinic as, "a meeting devoted to the analysis and solution of concrete problems or to the acquiring of specific skills."
    When I decided to use "clinic" to describe CWW interactions, I was discouraged by a few supporters. But the word electrified me and kept reappearing in my visions for areas of CWW growth that could be stimulated and enhanced. Individuals bring their existing resumes, talents, forgotten accomplishments and untapped skills to work through their CWW process.
    I use clinic and workshop interchangeably and relate a CWW clinic to the individual need and a CWW workshop to a group need.
    The CWW site is being re-launched to allow individuals to self-help themselves with the self-assessments offered. An individual can do a brief personal clinic of choice in the privacy of his or her own space. And when he or she has outgrown private use, they can join group forums where they can meet others who are developing their careers

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  • I already have a job. How do I go about looking for another one, while still working the current job? +

    Very discreetly.
    First you need to be clear in your thinking about why you want to change jobs. If you still think you want to look for another job, then your behavior has to be modified so as not to jeopardize your current job situation while you get ready to start marketing yourself to potential new employers.
    It's very important to look closely at how you interact in your relationships. Do you really want to broadcast to the world on social networks that you are looking for a job? Imagine that if you are online and posting personal information about yourself, people on your job are reading about your adventures and desires. Do you really want to out activity that should remain private until you are ready to share it with the world?
    You will need to figure out how to start toning down or backing out of sharing so much info about yourself. If you are used to dressing grungy or overly casual and suddenly you start to dress more corporate or fittingly or creatively for your potential new job, you are going to cause some talk and suspicion.
    Also as you network around and add names of recruiters and head hunters to your call list, some assumptions are going to be made by everyone who knows you.
    The best thing to do is to work with a mentor of your choice who will back you up in your efforts or slap you down, when you feel too full of yourself. Once your mentor(s) are in place and you have their trust and vice versa, you can start reinventing yourself, beefing up your resume and making contact with individuals who will help you work through your career growth.

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  • Why do I need more training? I feel that I have enough education to do the job I have. +

    That may be true for you and knowing your current job well enough without getting more training is acceptable.
    But, what if your company decides to change systems or procedures or hires a new management over you? What if they decide to eliminate some jobs? What if you have to go out into the market again to look for a new job? Your current training should always be equal to (or above equal) to what's being done in the current job market.

    •  Have you kept track of the market for your kind of work?
    •  What if you are forced out of your job and have to go into a completely new industry?
    •  Will your skills and experience allow you to cross over?

    You need to think about what your future risks are. Suppose your potential next employer wants you to have more computer skills, or more customer service training or more communications skills. Certificates or a degree? Will you be prepared?
    CWW Career-Wise Ways is about personal growth – for life, for work and especially for career. Everyone should have some bounce-back-ability plans in mind. We refer to them as Coping Strategies or a Career Business Plan (CBP). When your re-invention absolutely has to happen, you are able to pick yourself up from the remains of your situation and move forward in your growth.

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  • Is career counseling as good as just going to take a class? Why can’t I just take a class and let that be enough? +

    Just taking a class might be enough for some individuals, but you will find that, as in most situations, just taking one class is always not nearly enough. You will need direction and the best way to get it is to invest in yourself by working with a career or life coach to get going in the right direction and to help you stay on course of your career direction.

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  • I already have a resume. Why should I bother about having it analyzed? +

    Maybe your resume doesn't need to be analyzed, but most people only update their resumes after they've already lost their jobs. Your last resume helped you get the job you have, but it may not be enough to help you get a new job. Along the way, you have gained some experience and new skills that need to be added to your resume and skill set.
    Resume Analysis helps an individual focus on strengthening how their resume represents them. In today's market, job responsibilities increase and change often. An updated resume should be aligned with the current market. Another way of thinking of your resume is that it may be an accessory that no longer works with your current lifestyle or mindset. If we consider how quickly fashions change, and how often we must update our wardrobes, our resumes probably need to be changed just as often.
    It's a good idea to have your resume looked at by a professional career coach or resume writer.

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  • How often should I update my resume? +

    Realistically, you should update your resume as often as your job and responsibilities change. That's how the Functional Resume serves. We also suggest you update your achievements list, which we call Milestone Mapping. It would also be worthwhile to do a reality check by performing CWW's BRC exercise and chart your skills in the Skills Charting exercise.
    When you have to respond to the, "Tell me about yourself", or "What have you done lately.." questions, the need to pinpoint and clarify and how your resume works for you, won't be hard to do if you have these tools in place.
    A good example and of significance, are special projects an individual handles throughout the year. These tasks need to be documented and harvested when the times comes to talk about what has been accomplished within a certain period of time and during performance evaluations.

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  • I had a job interview where the Recruiter didn’t even look at me or the resume I handed her. What was that about? +

    Not knowing the circumstances by which you got the interview, you must have been surprised and maybe even a bit hurt that the recruiter didn't read over your resume in front of you. But actually, she had probably taken plenty of notes about you before you arrived. The fact that you received an invitation to have an in-person interview is very key, since a lot of resumes and hundreds of applicants don't even get the benefit of an interview.
    I hope that didn't keep you from performing at your best during the interview and I hope it made you a contender for the job.
    As far as looking at you is concerned, it's hard to say why someone would not look directly at you. Hopefully, there was nothing wrong in your appearance. It would not surprise me that the recruiter heard every word you said and saw your every reaction or reflection out of the corner of an eye, or from an unseen reflection. Again, hopefully her behavior did not throw you off balance. It is important to remember to remain as calm as possible and to stay focused in interviews. They are given the task of spending recruitment budgets very carefully and are experts at "sniffing" out the unusual and the unbecoming. Perhaps she was hoping to loosen you up or to get you to be more open with her. It's hard for me to say why she would not look at you - Your take on this would be as good as mine, or better since you were there.

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  • I don’t know how Career-Wise Ways can help me in the business I am about to start. +

    If you worked successfully in a job, it required discipline to do that job as well as you did. You will have to figure out which skills used in your office job will help you in your business. I'm thinking for example, working away from home required that you arrive to work on time and you had to prioritize and complete certain tasks by their deadline – which means that the people you worked for relied on you to be dependable and dedicated. The same applies to the people who will be your customers. They will come to depend on your professionalism, your dependability and your sense of getting your services and/or products to them on time.

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  • I wish I could do a time-out from job so I can figure out why I am so bored. How can CWW help me? +

    Perhaps, the time-out you think you need is not just about working. If you can't do a timeout from work, have you considered other things that may be going on in your life that could be adding to your boredom? Are you taking care other people? Are you in financial distress? Do you have time to do things that make you feel renewed or happy? Perhaps keeping a journal will help you sort out what's going on. A journal is helpful because over the course of a week or a month, you forget exactly what you were thinking or feeling at a particular moment. A journal will help you remember. Also, if you decide to see a career coach, journal notes will help you have a productive conversation with her or him during your sessions.
    If you are so good at what you do, maybe it's time for you to learn some completely new skills. Do you speak or write a foreign language? Would being able to do so give you something challenging to hold onto in your current job?
    Can you teach or become an instructor in some area of your work? Employers love when an employee steps up to become a leader in some area of work. You might discover some hidden talents within yourself.

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  • I can never find what I want to wear in my closet. Yet I have so much to choose from. What is my problem? +

    Full Question: My taste in clothing and accessories is constantly changing. I pick my work clothing out the morning of, which leaves me rushing and running out of time to get ready for work. I can never find what I want to wear in my closet. Yet I have so much to choose from. What is my problem?
    -------
    You are not alone in how you feel. We're influenced by media, magazines and designers, who all seem to tell us that we constantly need makeovers and that our styles are not stylish enough.
    It almost seems like in the midst of reality shows, we're not being real in our choices. It is impossible to keep up with fashion icons that have disposable income and staff to maintain their outrageous and exorbitant style flows. In real life, there is no red carpet and we are required to exhibit our work skills, not necessarily our style skills. What we know and what we can achieve is way more important than in how we look. One of the CWW tips quotes, Do you look as good in person as you do on paper and vice versa do you look as good on paper as you do in person? When it comes to doing your job, the substance of being a good employee had better be there, regardless of how good you look.
    It sounds like you are trying to have too many choices and that you're having a hard time maintaining your own sense of individuality. We are living in the confusion of casual / dress-down / business and creative casual trends that make a corporate or dressy style seem blah and passé.
    It also sounds like you don't like being told what is right or wrong for you in your mode of dress. If this is true, you need to remember to enhance your own personality and your style. An image consultant or fashion stylist or even a department store personal shopper can create a wardrobe styling session that includes sorting through your closet to help you to narrow down some of the choices that seem to be coming at you.

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  • Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background. +

    Full Question: Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background. Also, I am not from the same ethnic group as the owners and other non-family employees, nor am I from the same race. I really like this job, but feel like my difference is going to keep me from getting ahead in my career in this company.
    ------
    I am going to guess that you stand out the most in your company because your difference is very obvious and this is what’s really bothering you. You want to know how to feel comfortable in an environment that in past times would have been impossible, un-imaginable or unattainable in your particular case.
    I will speculate that you, your experience and your personality are really something that is needed in this organization. Otherwise, they would not have chosen you. So, give yourself credit for being worthy of being chosen.
    Secondly, you must live up to and beyond to your own potential. You may be doing some "first evers" and breaking down some barriers in your efforts to do a great (not good) job. Please notice that I indicated great, because good may not be good enough in this case and you may have some proving to do. No doubt, someone's reputation may be riding on your performance, while someone else may be expecting (and maybe even hoping) you fail. But do not take a negative approach. Do not let your fear and anxieties overcome you and do not settle for a mediocre performance, attendance, or behavior from yourself.
    While you may think you have nothing to prove to anyone, you are still only as good as your last best performance. Do your homework by observing corporate behavior and decide which factors you will be willing to adapt into your own style of communication and behavior. This doesn’t mean you have to be different than who you are, but you must adapt in a way that is equitable and that assimilates you into their culture.
    Don't barge into conversations or casual employee groupings, but rather allow yourself time to feel comfortable enough to join in as a contemporary. Learn to listen, observe and analyze.
    Also, allow yourself to be open enough and approachable so your co-workers will learn from you about your culture and your ethnic group or race. You might be the first opportunity any one of them has had to observe up close someone so different from themselves. You may find yourself smashing stereotypical beliefs as you go along. But your survival in this job is key as long as you are building a career. Remember every career is made up of jobs turned into stepping stones that lead to the next phase of your life and career.
    Whatever you take from this experience, know that you will also have had a chance to broaden your own understanding of another culture and business type. I believe that if you are successful on this job - you will take with you some lifelong friendships and I totally applaud you for recognizing that you have a few hurdles to overcome.
    If, after a time, you feel that have reached a career plateau here, do not take a negative initiative. Instead, build as much goodwill as possible and quietly observe if other career opportunities exist in this company for you. If you are miserable in this experience, discreetly plan your exit from this job because it may become harder to endure the longer you are there.

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  • I am puzzled because you explained in an earlier response that career-wise ways is how an individual goes about advancing in a job and building a career. How does this work? +

    Full Question: I am puzzled because you explained in an earlier response that career-wise ways is how an individual goes about advancing in a job and building a career. How does this work? Is there an age group or a gender-type that you are thinking of when you describe who career-wise ways applies to?
    ---------
    This question comes up often when I am speaking about CWW Career-Wise Ways.
    "CWW Career-Wise Ways...",applies to both men and women who want to be successful in their jobs and careers.
    While doing my research, I talked to a lot of people who opened up and shared their passions, disappointments and disillusionments about working, finding a job, keeping a job, and figuring out how to prepare to move from job to job and what makes a career.
    Some people needed additional training in order to hold on to a job they'd had for a number of years and they didn't see the fairness in that. Others were content to push sons and daughters toward college educations, only to find out that they needed to do a mid-life reality check themselves about their own jobs. And many were concerned with the examples they were setting for the same sons and daughters.
    A lot of the individuals I talked to were women who were in mid-life transitions from relationships, empty nests, former jobs, from former lifestyles and who were on the move to exciting, but scary new ventures. The number of people who opened up to me voluntarily left me awed and I knew I had to do something with what I was learning.
    What I learned is that most were quite accomplished in many areas of their lives. Many were stagnated and bewildered by the challenges of pioneering into new frontiers, especially as it related to working and career building. Many women I talked to had never even touched a computer back in 1999. A lot of them told me they dusted around the computer so their husbands and children could use it, but they never dared trying to learn how to use it themselves. Others told me they were afraid to go beyond their own neighborhoods to look for work.
    After many conversations and brainstorming sessions and an imbued resonation, the phrase, "career-wise ways" came into reality for me. I imagined it as a way to get anyone who desired it, could focus on the word career and not just having a job. Eventually the brand was established as, "CWW Career-Wise Ways...Not Just a Job, But a Career". And it meant taking one job opportunity and making it work and then layering on another job opportunity and to continue layering experiences, skills, know-how, one next to or on top of another until a solid foundation has been built. Career-Wise Ways is learning how to deliberately start at the beginning of starting over. If practiced, it becomes a way of thinking about how to create and re-create your life's work.
    At some point, everybody needs career-wise ways. It's just a matter of time when you realize that the time has come for you to use it to get to your next career development stage.
    I hope I've given you insight and inspiration and perhaps the opportunity to see your own challenges in the challenges of someone else that may allow you to practice or adopt some career-wise ways for yourself.

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  • 1

Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background.

Full Question: Help, I feel like such an outsider. I work for a family-owned business, where everyone comes from the same background. Also, I am not from the same ethnic group as the owners and other non-family employees, nor am I from the same race. I really like this job, but feel like my difference is going to keep me from getting ahead in my career in this company.
------
I am going to guess that you stand out the most in your company because your difference is very obvious and this is what’s really bothering you. You want to know how to feel comfortable in an environment that in past times would have been impossible, un-imaginable or unattainable in your particular case.
I will speculate that you, your experience and your personality are really something that is needed in this organization. Otherwise, they would not have chosen you. So, give yourself credit for being worthy of being chosen.
Secondly, you must live up to and beyond to your own potential. You may be doing some "first evers" and breaking down some barriers in your efforts to do a great (not good) job. Please notice that I indicated great, because good may not be good enough in this case and you may have some proving to do. No doubt, someone's reputation may be riding on your performance, while someone else may be expecting (and maybe even hoping) you fail. But do not take a negative approach. Do not let your fear and anxieties overcome you and do not settle for a mediocre performance, attendance, or behavior from yourself.
While you may think you have nothing to prove to anyone, you are still only as good as your last best performance. Do your homework by observing corporate behavior and decide which factors you will be willing to adapt into your own style of communication and behavior. This doesn’t mean you have to be different than who you are, but you must adapt in a way that is equitable and that assimilates you into their culture.
Don't barge into conversations or casual employee groupings, but rather allow yourself time to feel comfortable enough to join in as a contemporary. Learn to listen, observe and analyze.
Also, allow yourself to be open enough and approachable so your co-workers will learn from you about your culture and your ethnic group or race. You might be the first opportunity any one of them has had to observe up close someone so different from themselves. You may find yourself smashing stereotypical beliefs as you go along. But your survival in this job is key as long as you are building a career. Remember every career is made up of jobs turned into stepping stones that lead to the next phase of your life and career.
Whatever you take from this experience, know that you will also have had a chance to broaden your own understanding of another culture and business type. I believe that if you are successful on this job - you will take with you some lifelong friendships and I totally applaud you for recognizing that you have a few hurdles to overcome.
If, after a time, you feel that have reached a career plateau here, do not take a negative initiative. Instead, build as much goodwill as possible and quietly observe if other career opportunities exist in this company for you. If you are miserable in this experience, discreetly plan your exit from this job because it may become harder to endure the longer you are there.

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