My Lifestyle Career

Would you Spend $50 to Reinvent Your Career?

Today is August 1 which means "Back to School" season is now officially in full-swing.  It also means that if you've been thinking about taking a class this fall, now is the time to take a look at your local offerings and sign-up for a class.  

Going back to school doesn't have to be time consuming or expensive.  In fact, I often recommend that people test-drive their interest in a new area by taking advantage of those one-night-only classes offered through adult education programs and/or community colleges (typical cost is less than fifty dollars per class). This is an inexpensive and low-risk strategy for learning about a potential career interest  - without the costs associated with a full certificate or degree program.  If you like what you learn, then you can explore more extensive (and expensive) educational options down the road.

Even if you ultimately choose not to sign-up for a class, you can still learn about new career paths just by looking at the course listings. Community college and continuing education catalogs offer insights into emerging fields  and "hot" careers, as well as options for entrepreneurial pursuits. For example, my local continuing education program offers classes for people who want to learn how to:

• Sell on e-bay
• Earn money as a voiceover professional
• Turn their gourmet products into income
• Explore healthcare careers

And the list goes on and on...

So go ahead and be a big spender.  Take fifty dollars and go sign-up for a class just because it sounds intriguing.  You never know where that one class might lead and it could prove to be the best fifty dollar expenditure you'll make all year long. 

How Alltop Can Help You Reinvent Your Career in Just Five Minutes a Day

Every once in a while I get so excited about a new way to research careers that I just gotta share.   This time around my "fave of the moment" is  Alltop.com, a site that helps you quickly locate the highest quality information on hundreds of potential new career interests (and lots of great stuff for your personal life too).  

If you're one of those people who enjoys browsing the mega-magazine displays at places like Borders or airports (who knew there were dozens of magazines about dogs?) then you're going to love Alltop, which bills itself as the online "magazine rack" of the web.  Alltop compiles the latest stories and headlines from their cultivated list of the best blogs/websites on specific topic areas.  They only work with trusted sources, so their results are free of the junk you normally need to sift through on other search engines.

This is a tremendous site for anyone researching potential new career ideas:

• Stumped by how to turn your love of cheese into a business?  Alltop has dozens of top-quality resources for you.  
• Thinking about a career in teaching?  Here is where to get the latest news and views about education. 
• Curious about franchising? Learn more here.
• Want to follow the leading thinkers on career and job search?  Here is a link to Alltop's handpicked list of career bloggers.
• Want to stay on top of Tar Heel basketball? (woops, now how did that slip in here?)

Better still, Alltop makes it super-easy for you to build your own Alltop page where you can get a customized feed of all the topics that most interest you.  (If you're curious about what I'm reading, here is a link to my personal Alltop page).  Check them out -- I think you'll be glad you did!

How to Research a Great New Career: Tip #13 Test it Out!

Lots of potential career or home-based business ideas will sound exciting when you read about them, but you won’t really know if they are a good fit for you until you've had a chance to actually test them out. So if you are considering making a major career shift, try to get as much “real-world” experience as you can, before you commit to a new direction.  

Fortunately there are several low-risk ways to test out your interest in new endeavors.  Here are six recommendations:

1) Volunteer: Most of us volunteer because it is a nice thing to do, but when you are interested in testing out a new field of interest, volunteering can also be a savvy career building strategy. Targeted volunteer assignments are a win-win for all involved.  The organization benefits from the efforts of an enthusiastic and engaged volunteer and you secure new skills and contacts that can be leveraged as part of your career reinvention.

2) Take a Class: While learning about a profession is not the same thing as working in it, attending classes, even if it is just for a one-night workshop, will provide you with an opportunity to evaluate your interest in new fields.  Taking classes are also an excellent way to meet people who can help you learn about career options and entrepreneurial opportunities in your target areas of interest.

3) Temp: If you’re contemplating a switch into the business world, consider working for a temporary employment agency that will send you to a variety of offices and companies for short-term project assignments . It's a smart way to get inside different companies, make new contacts and evaluate different work environments; without the commitment involved with a permanent employment arrangement.  An added benefit might be a job offer as many temps are offered permanent jobs after proving themselves on a temporary basis.

4) Moonlight or Take on Project Work: Sometimes it makes sense to take on a small part-time job (or project), even if the pay is way below your market value.  For example, if you’re interested in selling your brownies on the Internet, but you have no real experience in the food industry, you might want to work for a local bakery to get a taste of life in the baking world. Or if you’re thinking of getting a degree in weight counseling, you might want to get a part time job with Weight Watchers as a meeting leader to ensure that you enjoy working 1-to-1 with clients. 

5) Intern: There was a time when only college students took advantage of internships.  But in today's competitive global market, people of all ages have discovered the value of internships as a way to evaluate new careers and build up their resumes.  To learn more about how to locate an internship in your field of interest, consult Internship.com or About.com's Guide to Internships.

6) Vocation Vacation: How would you like a chance to work alongside a winemaker in Napa or an Alpaca Rancher in Oregon?  Vocation Vacations gives you the chance to test-drive your career and enjoy being mentored by a professional in your target industry.  They presently have over 125 vocation vacations listed with more opportunities in development.

LIke these tips?  Be sure to check out our full set of thirteen ways to research a great new career as part of our October blog posts!