CAREER OPTIONS

Chapter 13 Lecture 1

Education is about more than finding a job; it is about how you are going to

live your life.

Finding Work/Changing Jobs

Clarify your personal mission and values Emphasize your portfolio of skills Sell organizations not only on what they already do but on

what they need that you can do• Web development• Envisioning the future• Setting up employee volunteer programs• Managing cross-sector partnerships

If you can’t sell it to a company, then start your own

Clarify Personal Mission and Values

What are you good at? What do you love? Where do you want to be 20 years from

now? When your work life is done, what do you

want remembered?

Resources for Career Direction

Most university placement centers provide career assessments Career and personality tests online

• http://discoveryourpersonality.com • Such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Career Report—finds the 50 most

popular and 25 least popular careers for your type ($55) Campbell Interest and Skill Survey—how you compare with happily

employed people in various occupations• www.pearsonassessments.com/tests/ciss.htm ($17.95)

Books: What Color is your Parachute?—helps you create an image of your dream job ($17.95)

The Portfolio Career

People seek to acquire a variety of skills. They work in different parts of the organization or move to different organizations to acquire desired skills

–Charles Handy

Be entrepreneurial—seek opportunities to develop your skills

Talents In a Global Manager’s Portfolio

Technical skills, e.g., computer skills Communication skills, written and oral Interpersonal skills with a vast range of people Ability to learn continuously View of the big picture and the details Team skills Flexibility, willingness to adapt to changing needs Cross disciplinary boundaries Make decisions under uncertainty

THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES ARE SIMILAR TO PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

1. Overarching principle: think of yourself as a business.2. Define your product or service. What is your area of expertise?3. Know your target market. To whom are you going to sell your skills/abilities?4. What is your "value proposition"—what are you offering that causes a buyer to use you?5. Drive for quality and customer satisfaction, even if the customer is someone else in your organization—like your boss.

6. Know your profession or field and what's going on there. Are you in an obsolete profession?

7. Invest in your own growth and development. What new products and services are you able to provide?8. Be willing to consider changing your business or starting a new one.

Sell Organizations on What They Need and on What They Don’t Know

They Need

Global Shifts Affect Work

Downsizing/reengineering/outsourcing Projects/portfolio workers Limited loyalty Virtuality Flex-work Hoteling 24 on-call Lack of privacy Isolation

They Alter Managerial Jobs

Managers• Receive broad goals from leaders• Have to be self-directed• Depend on others who are self-directed• Work in multiple teams and with diverse

groups of people

Job Titles We Now See

Chief…Officer Mentoring Director Business Etiquette Advisor Fitness Manager Business Concierge Catering Manager (for Internet food orders) Ombudsperson for Ethics or Diversity Y

Recognize Options/Propose

Opportunities Theme: businesses are looking at more

qualitative concerns while other sectors are more “business-like”

Accounting Options

Booking knowledge Social auditing Environmental accounting, auditing Waste accounting

Finance Options

“COUNTING” INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL SOCIAL INVESTMENT COUNSELING ONLINE INVESTMENTS DISINTERMEDIATION OF ONLINE

FINANCIAL SERVICES LONG-LIFE INVESTING MERGERS/ACQUISITIONS

Economic Options

FACTORING IN QUALITATIVE VARIABLES LIKE QUALITY OF LIFE

COSTING STRESS AND OTHER SUBJECTS OF LAWSUITS

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BEYOND TRADE, e.g., microenterprise, barter and swaps

International Business Options

Managing diversity cross-culturally Training for cultural empathy Relational skills development Multilingual networker for business

alliances

Management Options

Managing organizational learning, e.g. Chief Knowledge Manager

Managing conflict, stress, change Corporate public relations Reputation manager Managing corporate volunteerism Continuous improvements Quality management

Marketing Options

E-commerce Data mining Niche marketing Green retailing Demographic intensity

Computer Options

Computer forensics IT security Mobile security Advance to “chief security officer” in IT

Liberal Arts Options

Envisioning Writing Critical thinking Cross-sector partner manager Staffing strategist or futurist to track events

Interview Accuracy in Predicting Performance

Standard interviews—7% Resumé analysis—37% Work sample or pen and paper skills tests—

44% Assessment centers—44% Behavioral/situational interviews—54%

Interviews Break with Tradition: The Situational

Interview Usually this is a role play in which the applicant

demonstrates what she/he will do when faced with a “real” organizational challenge• In a banking setting, the interviewer might play the role

of an irate customer on the phone who is angry about money lost when trade wasn’t executed in a timely fashion; it is set up as an obvious error on the part of the banker

Interview Questions also Cross Boundaries

Microsoft questions from an interview:• Who do you consider the smartest person? Why?• What’s your weakest subject in school? Why?• Why did you learn many languages? (specific to this

individual and reading from the resumé)• At work, what makes you decide it’s time to go home?

Interview Questions also Cross Boundaries

Microsoft questions from an interview:• Who do you consider the smartest person? Why?• What’s your weakest subject in school? Why?• Why did you learn many languages? (specific to this

individual and reading from the resume)• At work, what makes you decide it’s time to go home?

Learn From Informational Interviews

You are seeking expert advice and information—15 minutes–1 hour• You’re not asking for a job, but you are trying to develop a network

Do your research; know about the company and don’t ask any questions you couldn’t have answered on your own

Be enthusiastic, interested and grateful for the time Dress business-like—match your choices to the company’s (look at

the annual report) When time is up, you be the one to note it Follow up with written thanks