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Yesterday something happened to me that happens all the time. I met a new person and she happened to be looking for a job. I asked her what kind of job she was looking for and she curled her lip, shrugged her shoulders and said, “anything really.”

Okay, I’ll admit this is a pet peeve for me. Here she is looking for a job and any job will do. Do you believe that? Yeah, me neither. I’m sure anybody she’s networking with feels like they have to do a lot of work to learn anything about her and her skills and ambition. My guess is her cover letters and resumes and any applications that she is putting out there are very nonspecific too. This is likely the main reason that her job search has gone on nine months so far with no offers which is certainly a source of frustration for this bright, young woman.

Of course I can’t resist talking to anyone about their career. So I asked a few more questions and found out that she was a burned out elementary school teacher who had been teaching for three years. She felt like she was a statistic because she had heard reports that so many new teachers only last three to five years in the field. I told her that might be true but most people these days are only in any job for three to five years before being let go or otherwise choosing to move on anyway. I also tried to reassure her that sometimes you don’t know if you will like a profession until you’re in it but you can always learn something from it.

As we continued to visit, finally her eyes lit up about something. What she really wanted was to start her own business! She had already done a lot of research into potential businesses and was continually drawn to ideas centered on working with children. She also wanted to continue to use her curriculum development and organizational skills. Now we were onto something! Better yet her education and time teaching would nicely support such a business endeavor which was really important to her.

So by the end of the conversation she had a new person in her personal network. I was also able to provide her with several resources to check out. We also had an impromptu brainstorming session which resulted in several business concepts that she is excited to research further.

Moral of the story: knowing what you want sure helps other people help you…even people you just met.

It all begins by knowing yourself. That is not to say that you will choose one career for life, no, it is an ever evolving process of making more and better distinctions of who you are and what you want to accomplish in your lifetime. It is about, learning, researching, and talking a little everyday about potential and opportunity. It is not in obsessive thing though. It is more about going with the flow in a productive manner yet always honoring when you are right now in the process.

In a previous post I talked about Robert Allen’s definition of an infopreneur. This month one of my favorite organizations, The World Future Society, has a very good article titled The 21st Century Writer. Fascinating stuff and another way of further defining the career option called infopreneur although they don’t use the term infopreneur in the article.

Reading this article reminds me that the key to cutting edge infopreneuring is taking advantage of the newest technology and knowing how to mix the media to provide people with the information they want the way they want it. Maybe that is text, blogging, audio, video, slides, some sort of mixture…who knows? The point is the possibilities are endless for creative, tech savvy infopreneurs!

In today’s fast-paced work environment, most people cannot expect to stay with the same company for 20 years then retire. The current environment is much more dynamic with more opportunities for multiple avenues of success. Workers now can custom design a work life in ways that were not dreamed of 25 years ago.

You can work full-time, part-time, temporary, and/or be an entrepreneur. You can work from home or commute to the office only a few days a week. You can be an independent contractor working project by project. Most importantly, you can go from one type of work arrangement to another depending on which type best meets your lifestyle goals and compliments your stage of life.

To add another interesting aspect of the world of work today, you can even return to school at various stages of your career. In fact, to be competitive in today’s workforce we all must keep participating in education as a lifelong learners more so than ever before.

Tip 1 - It is best to think of an interview as a two-way discussion. Yes, often a stressful discussion but remember not only are they checking you out, you are checking them out. In fact, one of the most important actions you can take to prepare for an upcoming interview is to research the company. It is easier than ever to get on the internet, enter a search word and come up with relevant information. In fact most companies have a web page of their own where you can read up on company history and recent press releases. Be thinking about questions you can ask during the interview as well. Make relevant observations about what is going on with the company and ask your interviewer to comment. You may also want to consider asking some questions like the following.

1. Is this a newly created position?

2. What do you think is the most important thing for a new hire to understand about this position? This company? Or this department?

3. Why did the previous person leave this position?

4. What do you think will be the biggest challenge for the new hire?

Tip 2 - Another good way to prepare for the interview is to put together 3-5 well thought out power stories and a couple lessons learned stories. I use the term power stories to define your stories that tell of times you solved problems on the job. These stories are very important to think about in advance of the interview for responses to behavioral interviewing questions which are used very often by skilled interviewers. These types of questions ask for you to describe times in the past when you solved this or that type of problem. A good format for the stories is to describe the problem, describe the action you took, then describe the result. This is called the PAR technique for Problem, Action, Result. Once you write these stories out, list in the margin the characteristics these stories demonstrate. Then you have ready answers for some questions like “Tell me about a time when _____?” or “What is your biggest strength and why?” Don’t forget to rehearse your answers out loud. It is best to have someone ask you the questions to make the practice more realistic.

Tip 3 - One often overlooked key to good interviewing to have clear starts and stops to your questions and answers. This helps to set a good rhythm for the discussion. It also demonstrates your ability to be concise and listen to others. Don’t be afraid of a few seconds of silence after you finish your answer. A good interviewer will use silence as a tool to get you to rattle on about stuff you did not intend to reveal. Also, silence is an important tool for you to learn use as well, especially come negotiation time.

Want the best of the best career development tips, short and sweet? Here is my list. You can make a big difference for yourself by putting a couple of these into practice immediately.

Understand WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU WANT.

Find a MENTOR AND/OR FORM ADVISORY BOARD.

Keep a PORTFOLIO.

Focus on LIFELONG LEARNING.

Always keep NETWORKING.

Spend more time tracking your ACCOMPLISHMENTS than your goals.

Invest regular TIME AND MONEY towards your own career development.

I have been thinking about the money flow difference between coaching and mentoring and it has been good food for thought. Surely mentors get some other sort of compensation for their contributions (rather than the green stuff), maybe not from the person who sought out their expertise but from somewhere else. Or, maybe they do get something besides money from their mentees. They might receive stimulation for their own development and/or creativity; or they might simply get another set of ears to hear them speak about their passion which may feed their energy and motivation. That could be worth more than money because of the richness of the experience.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/) and the O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/) are great places to begin your research about different career fields. But once a specific career field is still being considered after written research, it is time to go out into the field to learn more. In fact, one of the most important aspects to choosing a career path is to talk to people who are doing the kind of work you are considering. This is called informational interviewing.

Typically the informational interview process involves finding people in the field of interest to talk to, scheduling a time to meet with them for 30 minutes or so to ask questions about their career, and sending a thank you note.

There are several ways to find people for an informational interview. The best method is to use your network of contacts to find people in the line of work that you want to learn more about. Begin asking family members, friends, and other people who they know working in the career field. For example you might approach your aunt and ask her, “Who do you know who works as a civil engineer?” Once a member of your network knows someone to refer you to, ask for that person’s name and phone number. You will be surprised how many people your contacts know and how easy it is to find people to talk to about all kinds of careers.

Next call the new contact. Give your name and how you were referred to them. Let them know you want to learn more about their career field and you were hoping they could help. Ask if you can schedule a time to speak with them for 30 minutes because you would like to ask them how they got into the field and about their recommendations for people considering entering the profession.

Following are some questions typically asked in an informational interview. Remember you most likely will not be able to ask them all since you want to keep the interview to only 30 minutes. Also be sure to take a pen and paper for quick notes. Get the correct spelling of your interviewee’s name and their address by asking for a business card which will be helpful when you send a thank you note.

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

¨ How did you develop your career path?

¨ How did you get into this job?

¨ What are your duties as a ____?

¨ How long have you been in this position?

¨ What do you like best about this career?

¨ What do you like least about this career?

¨ What would you do differently if you were starting over in this field?

¨ What are the educational requirements of this field?

¨ What is the typical salary range for this career field?

¨ Can you recommend some professional associations for this career field?

¨ What do you read to stay up-to-date in the field?

¨ What further education do you participate in?

¨ What are the advancement opportunities in this field?

¨ What do you see as the future of this career field?

¨ What is your career goal for the future?

¨ What is happening in this industry?

¨ What kinds of companies make up this industry?

¨ Where has growth taken place in this field recently?

¨ Who are your customers or clients?

¨ How do you promote your products and/or services?

¨ Who are some of your competitors?

¨ What has helped to make companies successful in this industry?

¨ What recommendations do you have for a person interested in this field?

¨ Do you know others I should speak to about this career field?