Dr. J's Blog

Are you feeling unhappy about your job or your career? Does it feel as if you are going nowhere in your job no matter how hard you work or the amount of time you devote to performing your very best? Or have you just given up and resigned yourself to the present circumstances?

Most people want a reliable and steady job, one that provides a feeling of security and a sense of accomplishment. A job can serve a variety of purposes and that includes meeting a need for income or serving as part of a specific career plan and becoming a step towards meeting career goals. Over time a job can become the basis for a stable career, one that allows for the development of new skills and provides new opportunities. While stability in a career is important, what happens when that job you value...

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?  – Vincent Van Gogh

Consider the last time you looked back at your life or your career. Did you ever question the choices you made or had to make? Did you ever wish that outcomes experienced had been better or different? 

Hopefully you are able to look at the past and consider it to be old news or something that is beyond your ability to control now. However, many people cannot let go of the past – even knowing that it cannot be undone or changed. As a career coach and educator, I have had heard many negative statements made about past decisions during self-reflection exercises and many of these comments can be summarized as follows.

If I only had the courage to:

• Take a Stand
...

The time when job seekers relied solely on the newspaper for job ads has passed and now jobs are often found through online sources such as job boards. The obvious benefit is the ability to find jobs on any given day or time of the week, along with information about potential employers. What job seekers must always keep in mind is that potential employers can also learn about them with a quick search using any search engine.

What can be found is a digital footprint and that is what needs to be monitored on a regular basis. It is possible to sabotage your career potential if you don't monitor your online presence and control how you interact with and participate in social networking websites. While this applies to many people in careers where their online presence is closely...

Any time you think about your current job or career, and you question the decisions you've made that caused you to arrive at this particular point, it may be easy to let self-doubt and negativity take over your thoughts.

If this pattern of thinking is allowed to continue for any length of time you will likely find that it can cause you to lose sight of the control you have over your career, regardless of the present circumstances that may seem to be beyond your immediate power to change for the better. A mindset like that can easily become a self-defeating attitude, which will lead to further frustration and stall your developmental plans.

There is a common phrase that would be helpful to keep in mind as you reflect on your career and it is known as "stay the course" –...