“Career Renegade” – The “Do What You Love” Revolution

How many times have we been told we can’t make money doing what we truly love?  Every person who wants to make a career change (or remix!) or has been downsized should jet over to Career Renegade and let Jonathan Fields try and change your mind. Fields is a corporate lawyer turned yoga studio owner and career motivational coach. One of my TweetPeeps, Andre Blackman sent me  a link to Fields’ ‘Firefly Manifesto’, a sort of “Declaration of Independence” for career seekers, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Why is this important?

In my experience, you can feel like you don’t have a road map or a guide when you are looking for your next career. CR gives you some introspective headlights, if you will, on this journey.  If you’ve been part of a resource action, having the time to think about what you value, what you are passionate about, what makes you lose track of time, etc. is a blessing. Think: how many times have you wished you had uninterrupted time to noodle on this stuff, right? Now if you have the time, so why not capitalize on it?

What CR offers is regularly updated content, most of which is free: podcasts, videos, papers, webinars,etc. on how to determine what you are passionate about, and how to set about earning a living at it.  Near and dear to my heart: He’s a big proponent of using social media to make your dream happen.

If you pre-ordered the Career Renegade book, you got access to 16 hours of free training, dubbed “Flight School” from Jonathan Fields via web video. It was only $11 for the book, so to me it is well worth it.  (You’ll have to search around and see if this offer is still available, I’m not sure.) Understand now,  this is not one of those “get rich buying houses with credit cards” programs.  He even offers the first chapter of the book free for download on the site.

Okay I’m going to stop before I start sounding like a suck-up, but seriously, this is the most positive, liberating program I’ve found to help you discover what brings you joy in life.

Oh, and pays the bills.

Filed under: Career Resources , career, careeradvice, definition, environment, fields, flight, jonathan, passion, positive, recession, renegade, school, stress, values

Job Search Work Teams: Strength in Numbers

I attended my 2nd job search work team meeting today. Job search work teams are offered by the outplacement agency my company provided. I wanted to go through 2 rounds before sharing my take on it.

I love it.

I didn’t realize until I attended how “out here on my own” I felt. Here you meet with 12-14 folks from varying industries, but all in the same boat with you. As is the case with grad school and other group settings, you learn as much from each other as you do from books,web,etc. We report the number of hours we spend on job search each week, number of contacts made,etc. This isn’t a competition, rather, I find it gives me a feeling of usefulness. I have a report due with metrics each Wednesday, and that is actually very healthy mentally.

There seems to be some interest among my group in learning more about social media tools for job search, especially Twitter, so I am going to put a little workshop together.

Never thought I’d be this happy to go to a meeting.

Filed under: job search advice , jobsearchworkteam support group jobsearch

I Just Want To Celebrate/Another Day of Living!

Okay, Enough With the Photo Shoot Instructions!

Originally uploaded by kristasphere

…and that’s exactly what I did with my family on Sunday. Champagne brunch. I’m laughing because my sister was trying to be Annie Libowitz Jr. and give me all these posing instructions. It’s all good though. Had a blast. Cheers to another year of life!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Jobs in a Recession Survey Results 2: Most Recent Hires Got Jobs in Less Than Three Months

Jobs in a Recession Survey Results 2: Most Recent Hires Got Jobs in Less Than Three Months.

If there were such a thing as a blogger Congressional Medal of Freedom, .Jeremiah Owyang deserves one.  Jeremiah has been dedicated and selfless in helping people find jobs in social media. Using his wide influence in the blogosphere network, he’s been dedicated to posting openings, promotions, and hirings.This post shows results of  a “time to landing” (a job) survey he conducted recently.  Standing O, Jeremiah.

PS. My dream is to one day make your “On the Move in Social Media” post series.

Filed under: job search advice

What’s REALLY Bugging You About Getting Laid Off? | Career Renegade | Career Change Revolution

What’s REALLY Bugging You About Getting Laid Off? | Career Renegade | Career Change Revolution.

Jonathan Fields is a godsend for anyone who’s been downsized or is making a career change.  If you haven’t yet, get thee over to his Career Renegade site and immerse yourself in it. This particular post was on time for me today, with a bout of the layoff blues hitting me this afternoon unprompted.

Mr. Fields’ book of the same name launchde earlier this month. If you purchase the book, (about $12-13 on Amazon.com) you can participate in Career Renegade Flight School, which is 16 free hours of online education about how to truly “make a living doing what you love.” as the subtitle says.

Thank you Jonathan!

Filed under: job search advice

Buy Your Own Rolex

I posted earlier about not making it to my 25th anniversary with my company, and not getting a lavish lunch and stainless steel Rolex such as they used to do back in the day. Not sure if they still do this even.

As I was driving in for my exit interview, the thought came to me:

You can buy your own Rolex.

I took this celestial news flash as a metaphor, not a literal command. (My family reads this blog, they’d have had me on speed dial by the time you read this.) It’s just that, more and more in life, I learn I cannot look outside myself for: validation, recognition, approval, rewards, et al.

Years ago one of my wonderful IBM mentors, Ms. Cheryl Buckner, shared this mantra with me (based on the infamous Bartles & James wine coolers commercial) :

“Sometimes,I have to go buy my own Bartles & James and thank me for my support.”

So if I can share this one thing with those out there who are smarting from the sting of a layoff: Go find a way to thank you for your support. Of your team, company, agency, plant, whatever.

Buy your own Rolex.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Mine will be white gold with diamonds and the Havana jubiliee face, thank you very much. One day…one day.

Filed under: Reflections , recognition, rolex, validation

Tag cloud of obama’s speech – red, white, blue

tag cloud of obama’s speech – red, white, blue

Originally uploaded by emilychang

Filed under: Uncategorized

Networking Thru Social Media, Steal This strategy | Brazen Careerist

Filed under: job search advice

HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume

EDITOR’s NOTE: Dan Schwabel of Mashable offers some streamlined,pratical advice for stepping your job search game up with a few free low-cost steps. –K

With a social media resume, you’re able to paint a completely different portrait of yourself for hiring managers and customize it to reflect your personal brand. With the inclusion of various multimedia elements, sharing options, integrated social networking feeds and the same elements you’d find in a traditional resume, you are better equipped for success.

Read Dan’s entire post here.

Filed under: job search advice

Britney Spears Is Hiring An Online Media Manager

EDITOR’S NOTE:There is not enough money in this world to make me apply for this.  I envision teaching Sean Preston how to use the Little Einsteins site as a requirement. Sheesh, good luck with that. –Krista

Want to manage Britney Spears’ online persona? She’s on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other sites, and somebody (not her of course) has to do all the hard work of posting and responding to content.

That’s where you come in. If you went to Harvard, that is. Brandcasting Unlimited, Britney’s online manager, posted the job listing below for “Britney Spears 2.0 Media Manager” yesterday on a Harvard-only private job board. Among the not-so-tough job requirements: you must be “addicted to social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.”

via Britney Spears Is Hiring An Online Media Manager.

Filed under: job opportunities