Dealing with Your Feelings While Out of Work

We have now covered all eleven chapters of What Color Is Your Parachute. You have some basic information on how to improve your interview techniques, finding the right job, how to start your own business, and many more valuable concepts and ideas. It's great to have all of this information to help you through the job search, but it is also important to focus on your personal feelings while you are out of work.

Being out of work can not only take a toll on your wallet, but it can also take a toll on your emotions. If you have been out of work for awhile and are feeling a little down, there are a few changes you can make to your lifestyle to deal with your feelings.

Catch up on sleep: Working causes you to be extremely busy and pressed for time. There are a number of things that have to be done in a day, and sleep usually takes a back seat to the other tasks. When you are out of work, use that time to catch up on some sleep. We have all heard before that sleep is important, but we should remember that it actually is. Not getting enough sleep can cause us to be depressed from being too tired. So, the more you catch up on some sleep the happier you will be.

Be Healthy and Active: Use this time out of work to pick up some healthy habits. It is easy to get into bad habits when you don't have a daily routine, but there are some easy habits to pick up that will help you stay healthy. For examples, drink lots of water, cut down on sugars, and stay physically active. You don't have to run miles every day, just go for a simple walk outside to get some sun and fresh air. Staying healthy will make you feel healthy and happy.

Try Something Different: Chances are there is something in your life that you have always wanted to try or learn, but you just haven't had the time to do it. Maybe you want to read some books by your favorite author, learn a new language, or play an instrument. Whatever it may be, use your time out of work to act on what it is you have always wanted to accomplish. It will give you something to focus your time on and you will most likely feel happier than before.

Be Grateful: Not everything in our lives goes exactly the way we plan. When our life takes a different course, it is easy to dwell on everything that is negative and ignore the positive. It is essential to not forget all of the positive things in your life when you are out of work. So, make a list of what your are thankful for in you life every week, or everyday, to remember the good. Maybe you don't have a job at the moment, but you might have friends, family, or significant other, who you get to spend some quality time with.

Being out of work for a long period of time can greatly effect your feelings, but there are a number of different ways you can deal with those feelings. Sleeping, focusing on your health, learning something new, and being grateful are some of the many ways to feel a little happier. Yes, at time you will be frustrated and depressed, but as long as you focus on the good you will be better off.

4 Steps to Starting Your Own Business

Sometimes the job search doesn't go as we plan, sometimes we wish we could just switch careers, and sometimes we wish we could be our own boss. If you are part of the 80 percent of individuals who have thought about starting their own business, you can actually make it happen. Yes, it might be hard getting started, but on the other hand there is a chance that it could also be easy. If having your own business is the path you want to take, it is definitely achievable.

When toying with the idea of starting your own business, I'm sure many questions come to mind. Maybe you're thinking: Where do  I start? Where will I get the money? How will I promote? What should my business even be? These are all practical  and legitimate questions, but they should not stop you from achieving our dream of opening up a business of your own.

If you have no clue what your business should be, or where to get started, try following these steps:

1) Write: The very first thing you need to do is figure out who you are.  Once you know who you are,then you can decide what you want to do. One of the best ways to figure out who you really are is to write. Write out a resume to see what skills you have and see if anything points towards a business that you can own. If that doesn't help, take a piece of paper and write down five things you are good at. Underneath, write 5 things you love to do. Once you have both lists, see where there is an overlap. Take those overlaps and ask yourself if anyone would be willing to pay you to do those things.

For example, let's say you're good at playing basketball and it is also something you want to do. You know how to coach and love the game. So, ask yourself would people pay you for lessons or maybe to start up your own club team? If you have the skills and the passion. Go for it!

                                               

2) Read: Once you have some idea of the skills and passions that overlap, and someone would pay you for, start to get some information on running your own business. To get started, there are many useful websites that you can find online for free. Reading articles on starting up your own business will give you some valuable insight and help you determine if it is actually something you would like to do.
Some helpful websites include:
Free Agent Nation 
Workforce
Small Business Administration

3) Explore:  Unfortunately, a lot of start off companies do not end up making it. To avoid this happening to you, interview others who are in a similar line of business. When you explore you should:
Determine the experience, skills, and knowledge needed for your business to work.
Determine the experience, skills, and knowledge that you have.
Hire someone who has the skills that you lack, but are needed.

For example, every business needs someone to do the accounting work, but you don't have the slightest clue as to how to correctly make a balance sheet. So, you can either find a friend who is willing to help you, or hire an accountant for your business.

4) Get Feedback:  After writing, reading, and exploring, you need to get some feedback to see if you are really cut out for the type of business that you are trying to open. To do this, you can take self-examination type surveys, and you can also get feedback from the people around you. There is a helpful website called Checkster, which allows you to request answers from friends and colleagues about you and your past work. The report is mailed to you and is free.

If you have a spouse or partner, it is very important to remember to ask them for feedback. Find out what their opinion is and how they feel about the sacrifices that will need to be made in order to make your business idea succeed.

If starting a business is your dream, and you have the skills to make it happen, you should take the leap. Just remember that starting a business is always going to be risky, but evaluating yourself and talking to others should help you determine if the choice is right for you. It might come easy, or you might struggle, so you should have a plan B and always know where you are going!

Changing Careers

Changing careers can be overwhelming, especially when changing from a familiar field to one that is completely different. When making a drastic career change it is important to know all of your options and not limit yourself. Maybe you want to switch from being an accountant to a lawyer, or a marketer to a historian. Whatever the change might be, it is difficult  and frustrating trying to figure out where to begin. So, if you are thinking about changing up your career, but have no idea where to start, try  following a few of these tips listed below.

Use the Internet
We all know by know that if you search hard enough, you can find almost anything you're looking for on the internet. So, use the internet to start off your research. One helpful site is called:

O* Net Online- This website allows users to print out 12 pages from their specifically designed Content Model. So, you can print out helpful and thorough information for about 900 occupations. There are many other websites you can use as well, don't just limit yourself to those 900 occupations. Google is always very helpful!

Take Tests
Taking tests, either online or through a career center, should give you hunches and suggestions about potential careers, not definitive answers. Every person is unique. So, we might get thrown into a test family that isn't a completely accurate description of ourselves. When you take tests, remember to take more than one. Each test can give you a slightly different result, so it's important to broaden your horizons and consider everything that might possibly lead to your career switch.

Consider the Job Market 
If considering your needs and wishes isn't working out the way you planned. there is another way to approach the switch. Instead of focusing on exactly what you want, determine the jobs that are available in the job market. These jobs are called projections, or "Hot Jobs".  To find these hot jobs, you can simply so some research online. Here are some recent list.

The Wall Street Journal 
Boston.com 
Bureau of Labor Statistics 

There are a number of approaches to take when changing careers. If you have no clue where to start, try to follow some of the steps above. Switching careers won't be an easy process that occurs overnight, so remember to keep an open mind and explore all available options.

Dealing With Handicaps You Have

Before entering an interview many of us already have thoughts running through our minds as to why we won't get the job. "I'm to old, I'm too shy, I'm from a different cultural background." Whatever is running through your mind, it is important to remember that EVERYONE has some type of handicap.

By handicap, I mean not having a skill that is required for the job. There are thousands of skills in the world, so it is not possible to have every skill an employer wants. Handicap can actually refer to two totally different things. One is the job hunter's disabilities and the other is the employers' prejudices, also referred to as a phantom handicap.

One of the most common handicaps people face is shyness. Many are fine applying online or communicating over LinkedIn, but when you have to go meet a potential employer face to face you become shy. But don't worry there are some ways to help yourself overcome the shyness.

• Be enthusiastic 
• Practice interviews
• Talk about topics that you are curious about or have a strong passion for
• Follow the PIE method, which is Practice field survey, Informational interviewing, and the Employment interview. 

Shyness is a handicap because it is a disability within you, but now lets talk about some prejudices, or phantom handicaps, which are within the employer.

1. Out of work too long: Being out of work for over a year is already frustrating enough, but it even more frustrating when that is part of the reason you are not getting hired for any jobs. If employers won't hire you for how long you have been out of work, just keep looking! You will eventually find an employer who doesn't have that prejudice.

2. Age: Baby Boomers are starting to reach the time of retirement years, except they do not have great pensions waiting for them, so they must continue to work. It may be harder to find a job at this age because employers can pay younger candidates way less, but if you show energy and passion towards the job they will still hire you.

3. Returning Veterans: Now this prejudice can go either way. Some employers tend to not hire ex-vets because of all the misconceptions about PTSD, while others hire in favor of veterans. As I said earlier, you just need to keep searching until you find the employer who doesn't have this prejudice.

4. Ex-Offenders: If you have a record, that doesn't mean you will never land a job, but it's no surprise that some employers are prejudiced against people who have a record. So, use Google to see what you find about that employer and use that information to your advantage. There are also a number of resources for free that can help you find the job you want.
Some of which include: www.jailsto jobs.org and an Ex-Offender Training Packet that can be obtained by emailing workwizard@aol.com.

Finding a job is hard enough to begin with, and handicaps and prejudices can make it even more difficult. It is important to be aware of both and to keep looking because every employer is different.