Career Planning | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

The Careers Where You Can Make A Difference In The World

July 23, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

A career is a funny thing. You get up each morning and go to work for someone else, and for what? Usually, the answer is money or power or responsibility. Others do it because they are on autopilot. Not too many people will say that they want to change the world. Helping others is commendable but it involves putting your hopes and dreams to one side and concentrating on strangers.

As unappealing as this is in the beginning, the world of work can get you down. When money is just a thing, there needs to be something which excites you and gets you out of bed. Making a difference is a deal breaker, so here are four industries which might be of interest.

Healthcare Career

Healthcare

Becoming a nurse or doctor is obvious. The problem is the exclusiveness of the industry. As well as getting accepted into medical school, you have to be the sort of person that can handle seven years of intense studying and no sleep. Therefore, a hospice role can be an excellent alternative. Medical Carts for hospice care mean there are shortcuts which will fill in the gaps. Plus, it’s more about the level of attention. Although they are dying, they deserve to enjoy their last moments and you can give them that pleasure.

Police Officer Career

Police Officer

The police have gotten a lot of criticism recently for the way they handled certain incidents. However, it’s worth pointing out that they vow to uphold law and order. As humans, officers will make mistakes and they deserve to deal with the consequences. Still, being a policeman or woman requires intervening in people’s’ lives and making them better. From catching criminals and putting them behind bars to attending domestics, you have the power to make a difference. Not everyone will agree, yet it’s the nature of the job.

High-School Teacher

Teachers, in general, are molders on young minds. But, the people in positions in high-schools are on the front lines because their students are impressionable. Between the ages of thirteen to eighteen, kids need mentors that will put them on the right track. Yes, it might include shouting and yelling and snitching on them to their parents. Perhaps there will be threats and tears. In the end, a teacher has to help set a young person up for life. Teaching math or science or English and grading homework are essential parts of this process. Show them how to act and they will follow suit.

Scientist Career

Agricultural Scientists

Food is in short supply in certain areas of the world. People in Asia and Africa get it the worst, and families starve as a result. Tech means scientists are on the verge of an epic breakthrough – genetically modified crops. Understanding how to cultivate food without the usual resources is a cure for hunger. Millions of people, from men and women to young children will benefit as their life expectancy will increase. There is no better way to make a difference than to give someone the gift of a longer life.

Don’t you agree?

4 Reasons Why A Dead End Job Needn’t Necessarily Be A Dead End

July 12, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

There are few feelings as soul crushing than laboring away at a job you despise and feels as though it’s going nowhere. Waking up in the morning and staring down the prospect of 8-12 hours doing something that bores, frustrates or irks you for a boss who doesn’t value respect or appreciate you is an agony we’ve all felt at times. It’s not uncommon for us to become annoyed or frustrated by our jobs, and when this happens we keep our eyes fixed elsewhere. We apply for other, more fulfilling jobs but when our endless applications yield no fruit it can be utterly infuriating and may leave us thinking that we’re stuck in a dead end job. While this feeling is indeed utterly mortifying, let’s not forget that our perception often determines our reality. Perceive your job as a dead end job for long enough and it will inevitably become a dead end job.

But even the worst jobs are not irredeemable. Your seemingly dead end job needn’t necessarily be a dead end. Here’s why…

Your free time is your own (so use it effectively)

Even if you work cripplingly long hours or need to put in considerable overtime to make ends meet, it’s essential to use your free time effectively if you’re to hope to escape this job. Fortunately, the digital realm affords us more ways than ever before to escape jobs we hate. The world of online learning allows us to pursue college accredited courses like this online policing program than ever before. If you want a career that makes a difference, online learning can help you achieve it. Or even set up your own business as a side hustle. If you make time, remain disciplined and avoid the allure of the TV and sofa after you clock off, anything is possible.

You’re gaining valuable skills

Whether you’re aware of it or not, every day you spend in your dead end job you’re gaining valuable skills which will only make you more appealing in the eyes of your next employer. Every time you smile through an unreasonable customer’s angry tirade, every time you swallow your anger and frustration and commit to doing your job as best you can and every time you put your professionalism before your personal feelings you score a victory for yourself. Your perseverance and professionalism will be recognized some day.

You’re making friends

It’s incredible what a difference the right colleagues can make to even the most insufferable of jobs. Adversity has a way of building close and enduring frienships. While this may be a blessing in disguise, it is a blessing nonetheless. If it affords you nothing else, your job has allowed you to make good friends. And one day you’ll look back on all of this and laugh heartily.

Finally… Just think how great it’ll feel when you quit

If nothing else can pull you through the feeling that you’re wasting away in a dead end job, just think about how great it’ll be when the next opportunity comes along (and it will if you keep looking for it). The satisfaction you’ll feel when you hand in your written notice can be an extremely powerful motivator.

Hot Source: Helping Your Business With The Best Resources

July 4, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Online Learning

Improving your business is an ongoing drama. Once you think you’ve got it nailed, the industry changes, whether you’re not embracing a more positive workplace culture, or you’re not being as professional as you could possibly be, it can be difficult to locate the right resources to enable change quickly and effectively, especially if you, as the entrepreneur, do not have the time. There are so many things that need dealing with, and so, you need the best resources to hand right away. So what can these consist of?

Learning Portals

Learning portals are a great little method in which to gain up to date information on business growth and success measures. BizSugar is one of those portals that is great if you are a small startup business. The startup section specifically can help you learn something new about your own business that you never considered before.

Online Courses

The great thing about online courses is that you can learn at your own pace. And while there are many courses delving deep into niche business concepts, there are also fantastic online resources that need to be taken advantage of. Harvard Business Review is one of those that is above and beyond the vast majority of business blogs, not to mention the abundance of industry papers you could purchase via an essay service provider. The internet is a wealth of information if you know how to use it correctly, and if you’re looking for specific industry papers that have been published, a search engine like Google Scholar can help filter out the pointless information, giving you easy access to the good quality stuff.

Webinars

Another great way to learn from the comfort of your own office, webinars get short shrift, because they ask for a fee, and so, many entrepreneurs are reticent to pay this, in case it’s stuff they already know. But the great thing about a webinar is that there is a high amount of information condensed into a 1 or 2-hour presentation. As far as bang for your buck is concerned, a webinar can give you so much information, that you will be using a lot of it for months, if not years to come.

Mentors

And if you are allergic to online learning, the old-fashioned approach would be to approach a mentor and they can answer every question you have. Very simply, a mentor can give you so much information that isn’t just beneficial to your business; it’s beneficial to you in an emotional sense. And while a lot of people feel they don’t have the time to mentor someone, this is where more than one comes in handy. By just simply reaching out and sending an email or a question online, asking someone for an hour of their time, you may get a few negative replies, but for those few that reply enthusiastically, you can take this opportunity to get as much information as physically possible.

Educational resources to help your business can come from the most unlikely of sources, but for all of the resources out there, these are the best.

Different Ways to Connect With Customers

July 4, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Connecting with your customers can be a challenge, but the reality is that it’s never been easier than it is right now. There are simply so many ways in which you can reach out and connect with the people who make your business what it is today. But you do have to move with the times and keep finding new and modern ways to engage your customers so that they don’t have their heads turned by a rival business. Read on to find out some of the things to consider doing.

Create Competitions for Customers

Customers love to have the chance to get something for nothing. Don’t we all? So why not engage with them by offering competitions with genuinely appealing prizes? More people will get involved with your business than ever before because they will all want the chance to win. And it’s entirely up to you how you set the regulations for how to enter, so give this some thought.

Meet People at Events

Networking is not something that you only have to do with business partners and people like that. It’s just as important to meet people face to face if they’re the customers of your business. It allows you to show a human face to your business and stops you feeling like a bland corporate entity. So try to attend company events and invite customers along too.

Networking

Listening to and Acting on Feedback

When you do talk to people about what they think of your business, always take the feedback they provide as seriously as you possibly can. If you hear what they say but make no effort at all to act on it, you will only regret it later. Your regular customers often know your business better than anyone, so when they tell you there’s a problem, it should be listened to.

Online Apps

These days, apps are perfect for bring people together in once place and sharing information with them. That’s why your business should consider creating its own app. There are so many ways in which it can be used, from creating an online store to harvesting feedback or alerting customers to new sales. Find an App Development company and get to work on this as soon as you can.

By Answering Their Questions Rapidly on Social Media

Social media is the ideal platform for you connect with people like never before. When a customer or potential customer fires a question your way on Facebook or Twitter, do your best to engage with it and offer a fair and human answer as soon as you can. This is one of those things that customers really care about because it shows you care too.

Your customers mean everything to your business because without them, you would have nothing at all. That’s why it’s up to you to find ways to connect with them. The ideas discussed here will all help you to get started, but don’t stop looking for your own ideas to make use of as well.

Lifelong Learning: Career Edition

July 3, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Most of us are aware that having excellent skills and qualifications is something that can help to boost our career prospects in the long term. However choosing the right route through education, whether you are at the start of your career, or looking to progress up the ladder, later on, can be confusing. Happily, this is something I can help you with as I have written the following post to explain all the learning options that are open to you. Keep reading to find out more.

On the job training

On the job training, can be informal or formal and mainly takes place while you are working full time. Jobs with informal training can be useful if they are the only way into the role that is available to you. Although most people stay away from these if possible in favor of positions that offer a more formal training route.

Formal on the job training can work well for people.

Such routes, sometimes known as apprenticeships can work well for you because you will be given time off to be trained in house, or attend college and study for a qualification relating to your chosen profession. While they are beneficial for your employer as they can receive financial help from funding bodies, and they also get an enthusiastic worker to train the way they do things, someone that will hopefully stay with the company for the long term.

The downside of these formal on the job training programs is that they tend to pay a little less than the going rate. Something that makes them better for school leavers and those still living at home, but more problematic for folks with an already established independent life.

On-Campus Degrees

The next option to consider concerning career-related education is going to college and studying for a degree in your field.

This is by far one of the most popular choices for those of school leaving age, although you will find some older or mature students as they are known, as well. However, due to the life experience of the mature student and the sacrifices they have had to make to attend college then tend to be more motivated to succeed academically, and less inclined to enjoy the social scene college can bring, something that often delineated the two groups sharply.

Of course, the advantage of such a form of education is that it provides in-depth schooling from experts within a specific field, and it also allows you to cut your teeth and practice your art before you have to make it in the real world. Sadly, the massive cost of college loans and accommodation fees that are involved put many people off of this option, making it unsuitable for everyone.

Online degree

Another work-related education option to consider is that of the online degree. These provide the opportunity for those that cannot afford to take an on-campus degree course, as well as those that need to work full time for the duration of their education. In fact, you are still getting the specialist expertise of those at the top of their field; only you don’t have to leave your home to access it.

While you can do online degrees on pretty much any subject under the sun, those that are partaking of these educational experiences to strengthen their career position do best to pick a course with a vocational focus like the online business degrees that are available from universities with a strong reputation. In fact, pick sometime that has a direct application to your field after graduation can give you a serious advantage in the career market.

Professional career development courses

Lastly, there is one more educational option to consider when it comes to boosting your career and its professional career development courses. These tend to be from half a day to a week in length, or longer and are often paid for by the company that employs you, although this isn’t always the case.

Such courses are designed to teach you a specific skill by the end, and while they may not go into as much breadth or depth as the other educational options, they are incredibly useful for staying on top of the latest trends and development in your field such as information technology.

Therefore if your current employer offers you some professional career development courses, it is always wise to embrace them with both hands and attend. After all, even if it’s only teaching you what you already know you can record it on your resume and it will be another thing that will be in your favor when it comes to changing jobs or why you apply for that promotion you have had your eye on.