Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • Midlife Career Change – Is it for you?

    Midlife Career Change – Is it for you?

    Are you halfway to retirement and considering a career change? Maybe you’re in a role that is being eliminated or just ready to try something new as you dive in to the last half of your career. Where do you begin?

    First, a career assessment is a great place to start. My Next Move is a free one that can be completed online or we can help you with an in-depth assessment that examines your personality and desired skills and abilities.

    Another great resource for making a career change is the internet. You can search for “in-demand” careers online. According to Fortune, “healthcare and technology industries tied for the most openings in 2015.” ONET is another great tool for researching careers along with salaries and provides career exploration tools.

    Regardless of what career you currently have, if you are itching to make a change, examine the following as you begin:

    What is missing from what I do now that I want to be able to do on a regular basis? What skills do I need to use on a regular basis to bring satisfaction?

    What is it that I do now that I want to continue to be able to do? What skills that I want to continue to use are transferrable to other careers?

    What type of environment do I enjoy working in?

    What careers match with the skills and abilities I want to use and are also in line with my work values?

    Finally, why not do a trial run before jumping into a new career? Job shadowing is a great way to try out a new career (or two) before you make a change. Read 4 Tips for an Awesome Job Shadow or Informational Interview before your first one. 4 Great Benefits of Job Shadowing for Grown Ups offers more benefits of job shadowing for career changers.

    Check out 4 Ways to Change Careers in Midlife and 5 Tips for Midlife Career Change for more insight into making a midlife career change.

  • Leadership lessons from a 4 year old

    Leadership lessons from a 4 year old

    A friend shared with me the struggles she is having with her pre-schooler’s behavior. Been there, done that. The good thing is, there always seems to be a leadership lesson in the raising of children. In fact, I’ve even written about the leadership lessons learned from our then two year old’s biting bent.

    My friend said she is dealing with some pretty intense temper tantrums, talking back, lashing out, and yes, she even is throwing things.

    After asking my friend about why the issues seem to be arising, and they seem to be happening at school more and more often, I came to the conclusion that the child may just be plain bored. She’s bright, very bright in fact, and I think ahead of her peers in her class. She’s getting into mischief because mischief isn’t boring. It gives her something to do, and in fact, sometimes mischief can be more of a stimulation and challenge than many other things, even if results in negative attention. She is still getting some attention at least.

    As I was thinking through how we should and could mold our behavior to help our misbehaving kids, I read an excerpt from The Leadership Challenge that sparked my attention:

    “Consider what people report when we ask them to think about the worst leader they have ever worked for and then to write down a number representing the percentage of their talents that this leader utilized. Our research results (displayed in Figure 12.1 ) show that people report that their worst leaders generally use only about a third of their available energy and talents. Those few who reported a higher percentage than the average, when referring to their worst leader, clearly noted and voiced their resentment about how they had to do so much more than was really necessary because of their boss’s ineptitude.

    This percentage is in sharp contrast to what people report when they think about their most admired leader. For these folks, the bottom of the range is typically higher than the top of the range for the former group. Many people indicate over 100 percent, and the average is around 95 percent. Bottom line: the best leaders elicit nearly three times the amount of energy, drive, commitment, and productivity from their constituents compared to their counterparts at the other end of the spectrum.”

    When we engage others- kids and adults- in something that excites them and occupies their time in a way that is meaningful and productive, we get better results. Challenge is a good thing.

    Parenting is hard, and leadership is too. I in no way want to imply that the best way to lead adults is to treat them like children, but I am saying the best way to lead all people is through some basic principles of humans, regardless of the age.

    Want to keep bad behavior from entering your workplace? You can start with making sure that challenge is present which will produce an environment where boredom has no place to enter. Engage people in challenging work and a lot will take care of itself.

     

    If you liked this post, you may also like:

    Are you employees on the border of boredom and anxiety?

    Bored as a gourd, not an ideal employment state

  • Career Sportlight: STEM Careers

    Career Sportlight: STEM Careers

    Do you like science or math? Does engineering or technology interest you? If so, this career spotlight is a must read. STEM Careers are “in-demand” and offer several options for cool jobs, and according to Stemcareer.com, during the next decade, the U.S. demand for scientists and engineers is expected to increase four times the rate for all other occupations.

     

    STEM is an acronym referring to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The term is typically used when addressing education policy and curriculum choices in schools to improve competitiveness in technology development. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy.

    Wikipedia

    Change the Equation is one organization that has developed a variety of resources around STEM learning, from data and research to philanthropic best practices. Read more about STEMworks and other resources.

    What do you need to pursue a career in a STEM field?

     

    Education:

    Varying levels of education are required for STEM careers. ONET provides a comprehensive list of all STEM Careers. Search ONET for specific information on each occupation.

    If you are a high school student and are interested in a STEM career, consider taking various math and science courses, pre-engineering or computer science in high school.

    Is the field growing?

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    What is the pay like? (A selection of STEM careers salaries are included below.)

     

    Chemical Engineer

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    Software Developer

     

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    Statisticians

     

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    What’s the Holland Code* for STEM Careers? (The same STEM Career selection as above is represented below.)

    Interest code for Chemical Engineers: IR

    Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive   amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and   figuring out problems mentally.
    Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems   and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials   like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working   outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

    Interest Code for Software Developer: ICR

    Investigative — Investigative   occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
    Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
    Realistic — Realistic occupations   frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with  others.

    Interest code for Statisticians: CI

    Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These   occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas.   Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
    Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive   amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and   figuring out problems mentally.

    Source: www.onetonline.org

     

    If you are interested in learning more about STEM Careers, check out these articles and resources:

    6 Things You Need to Know About STEM

    The Top Paying STEM Jobs for Recent Grads

    STEM Career

    Change the Equation

    Are you interested in a STEM Career? Why or why not?

    *Holland Codes are a way to classify a person based on their skills and interests as well as jobs based on the nature of the work. If you have an interest in knowing what your Holland Code is in order to match yourself to careers to pursue, you can read more about our assessment process.

  • 6 Steps to Choose a College

    6 Steps to Choose a College

    According to collegeboard.org, you have almost 4000 colleges and universities to choose from the in United States. Sorting through which options would be right for you can be a challenge given the seemingly unlimited possibilities.

    If you’re a student or a parent trying to help a student pick a college, use the

    Career à Major à College

    approach. Using these steps:

    1. Determine who you are through your talents, passions and values.
    2. Use this information about who you are to determine what career fields would be a match for you.
    3. Vet these matches by their marketability and in-demand outlook.
    4. Determine college major(s) that match with these fields.
    5. Determine which colleges have your major(s), and then which colleges are a good fit for your personality, budget, type of school, distance from home and extra programs they offer. You can download a guide to walk you through this using collegeboard.org’s great tool.
    6. Utilizing the download, use the chart to map out your options. Once you get everything down in black and white on paper, you’ll be surprised how clear the decision may just become!

    Interested in having a tool to help you map out your path to college and career? Order our Beyond ReadyTMinteractive workbook for $19.99.

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  • Be Aware, Be Very Aware: Why “Healthy Paranoia” is Killing HR

    Be Aware, Be Very Aware: Why “Healthy Paranoia” is Killing HR

    As a part of a subcontract I work on, I just sat through a 30 minute plus online compliance training video. If you want to leave yourself paralyzed to make business decisions, I’ll send you the clip. It will leave you questioning the world in general.

    I know we live in a world of terrorists, computer hackers and people who want to do harm, but the video left me thinking that their approach to business was to scare the living daylight out of every employee thinking that this would help prevent mishaps, lawsuits and wrong actions.

    Although I can appreciate what I’m sure are good intentions behind why the company sees this as a need (I bet they have born the brunt of a lawsuit or two) I question whether or not it is going to make them any safer as an organization from the ills it is trying to combat. And, is having every employee, contractor, vendor, supplier and subcontractor (basically everyone the company does business with) spend over half an hour doing this the best use of thousands of people’s time? Will it make the company more profitable? Will it make anyone better? And will watching it keep the people who want to do harm from doing it? Doubtful.

    When we paint a picture that everyone should “be very, very aware” and have a sense of “paranoia” (these are specific terms from the video about conducting day-to-day business like sending emails) we leave people paralyzed to make decisions, which does not make individuals or organizations better. It leave them scared, or wanting to scream.

    Instead, why don’t we ask employees to ask themselves two questions before making decisions or acting:

    1. Is doing this/not doing this going to advance my company and myself in an ethical manner?
    2. If I do this/don’t do this, what is the worst that could happen?

    Or better yet, spend half an hour teaching them about values of your organization and treat them like adults who are capable of living out those values through their actions. Explain the big picture why instead of giving a detailed list of don’ts.

    What other questions do you think we need to ask ourselves that keeps us from needing compliance videos that scare and detract?