Higher Ed Career Coach » Career Skills

Tommy Walker Knocks Down Your Excuses: Staying Motivated

Sean Cook — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:39:44 +0000

Motivation is sometimes hard to come by, but it’s essential to keeping forward momentum in your career.

If anyone knows this, it’s online marketing strategist Tommy Walker, who went from being fired over pair of pants 3 years ago to writing a magnum-opus guest post “106 Excuses That Prevent You From Ever Being Great” on Chris Brogan’s web site. Brogan, known for almost never accepting guest posts, took a chance on Walker’s piece, and in the process threw any editorial guidelines he might have had out the window, posting all 7,000+ words of it.

The response the post received so far has been phenomenal, with 329 retweets and 1,260 likes on Facebook as this is being written. We’ll talk to Walker about his journey from fired cell phone salesman to successful online marketing strategist and guest blogger, and get tips for knocking down excuses and staying motivated.

This segment was pre-recorded, and will air Friday, October 28, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. ET. To listen, follow this link or use the player in the right sidebar.

Deciding On Careers Outside Academia

Sean Cook — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:30:06 +0000

At some point, many educators find themselves looking at career options outside of academia. There are many reasons one might consider doing so…feeling stuck in a career rut, a change in interests, new opportunities that arise through networking, or perceptions of “greener grass” just beyond the academy walls.

But how should you go about deciding on a career outside of higher education? What do you need to consider in putting together a plan for making a successful transition?

In this week’s edition of the podcast, we’ll get perspectives from Dr. Laurence Shatkin, who made a successful transition to the corporate world after several years as an adjunct.

In his current position as Senior Product Developer for JIST Publishing, Shatkin researches career topics and writes books, including “The Sequel: How to Change Your Career Without Starting Over.” You can find more information about Dr. Shatkin and his books at shatkin.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @LaurenceShatkin

The episode will air at 11 a.m. ET this Friday. The interview with Shatkin is being pre-recorded due to a scheduling conflict, but the rest of the show will be hosted live. Please call in with your questions and comments. The call in line is (347) 989-0055 or you can connect via Skype from the episode page, once the show is on the air, by clicking on the Skype “S” click-to-talk logo.

Check out The Sequel and other titles on Dr. Shatkin’s page on Amazon.Com (affiliate link).

Mid-Career Transitions with Caroline Ceniza-Levine from Six Figure Start

Sean Cook — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:45:01 +0000

Many professionals start strong but struggle to define themselves when they arrive at the “middle” if their career tracks. Early career moves may have pointed them toward other paths than they imagined, or obstacles may keep them from where they would like to go. This could mean taking on new responsibilities, supervising and mentoring young professionals, pursuing further education, or taking different approaches to your career altogether.

So what can you do when you arrive at the midpoint of your career, to successfully manage career transitions?

We’ll talk with Caroline Ceniza-Levine, career expert, writer and speaker, co-founder of SixFigureStart. Caroline has 16 years of experience in professional services as a management consultant and executive and corporate recruiter. She has recruited for leading companies in media, financial services, management consulting, pharmaceuticals and technology. A career columnist for CNBC.com,Vault.com, Wetfeet.com, and Forbes.com, as well as an adjunct assistant professor of Professional Development at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Caroline is the co-author of “Six Steps To Job Search Success” and of the best-selling “How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times” Her career advice and job market insights have been quoted on CBS, BusinessWeek, CNN Money, NBC News.com, Newsweek.

Please join us at 11 am ET Friday!

SixFigureStart offers career coaching by former recruiters. Their coaches have hired thousands of people and know firsthand what employers really want. Founded by two professionals with over 40 years of combined HR experience. More information can be found at the links below.

Incivility in the Workplace

Sean Cook — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:43:34 +0000

Incivility in the workplace can take many forms, from verbal abuse and harassment, to manipulation to acts of violence. 1.4 million employees experience it each year.

It has tremendous costs, as well. According to Dr. Rajashi Ghosh, an Assistant Professor of Human Resource Development for the School of Education at Drexel University, incivility costs the U.S. economy $23.8 billion each year. And academic environments are not immune.

On this week’s podcast, I will air an interview with Dr. Ghosh , who was the author of a recent article on the “incivility spiral” in mentoring relationships, which was published in a special issue of Advances in Developing Human Resources, which she also co-edited. In this article, Ghosh examined how different acts of incivility between mentors and mentees can devolve into negative relationships.

With mentoring programs being one of the popular ways that we seek to develop up-and-coming professionals, Ghosh recommends that institutions (and their Human Resource Officers) provide structured approaches, including codes of conduct for mentors and mentees, better orientations for both sides of the relationship about roles, boundaries, and conduct, formal processes for reporting inappropriate behavior, and better follow-up from HR and management.

Drexel will host a Human Resource Development Symposium September 17, “HRD’s Role in Addressing Workplace Incivility and Violence. Online registration is now closed, but if you are interested in attending e-mail Dr. Ghosh at rg429@drexel.edu expressing your interest in being on the waitlist.

We’ll also talk about my upcoming webinar on Creating a Killer Résumé on BigMarker, a new free webinar service, Hiring for Hope events, and I’ll take your comments and questions on dealing with incivility in the workplace.

Toxic Work Environments: Erasing Negativity in the Workplace

Sean Cook — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:34:37 +0000

When people around you at work are being negative, it’s tempting to join in, but the result could be a toxic work environment thats difficult to climb out of. What can you do to keep from being dragged down into that dark place? And what should you do to remove negativity from your life and the workplace?

We’ve probably all had those moments when co-workers gripe and moan about things they don’t like in their work environments, but there’s something different and kind of insidious about work environments where negativity is tolerated. They can eat at you, and leave you with some undesirable options: join in and get dragged down, or avoid joining in and possibly become marginalized.

Friday at 11 am ET, I will be talking with Sally Marks, author of Erase Negativityand Embrace the Magic Within, about ways that people can avoid negativity and toxic communication at work. Please join me and call in with your questions and comments about dealing with toxic work environments and overcoming negativity. The Guest Call-in number is (347) 989-0055, and Skype users can also call in via the Skype “S” Click-to-Talk Button from the Episode page, once the show is live.

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