10 Common Oscar Lama Misconceptions
By Oscar Lama | July 7, 2009
By Tony Jacowski
Most people do not believe in career management, they only believe in career damage control - which means when something goes wrong they will fix it. Until then, most people don’t bother to manage their careers to prevent disasters from occurring in the first place.
Listed below are ten misconceptions with regard to career management:
1. Only the most qualified people get the job - This is simply not true. It does not matter how qualified you are for the job. What matters is the way you have presented yourself during the interview process. Qualifications are not the only criteria for getting good jobs, other things like dedication, confidence and attitude also matter.
2. No need to work at a career just because you have a job - This could be the biggest mistake you make - and quite possibly the most popular misconception. This way of thinking has potential for disaster. You never know when you may be downsized or laid off from your current job, and if you do not have a career plan then you are in serious trouble. Make sure that you spend some time on managing your career even if you have a job. Do small things like update your resume and network with your peers.
3. Professional education stopped after graduation - This cannot be further from the truth. You need to continuously work at your professional education to maintain a competitive edge. Read trade magazines, write articles for relevant magazines, attend seminars, and pursue certificate and training courses.
4. The most generous salary is always offered - This is not true. In fact most employers offer a low salary just to see your negotiation skills. This is an old trick of the trade, where the employers check to see whether the candidate has done sufficient research from every angle.
5. I have job Security if I perform well - This is not true, especially in an economy where downsizing, mergers and outsourcing seem to be the order of the day. No one has a secure job, no matter how well you do your job. You have to take a hands-on approach by managing your career properly to ensure security.
6. Only a resume is required - All job seekers need to have certain tools for job hunting and the resume is only one of these tools. Other tools include cover letters, references and so on.
7. Recruiters are sufficient for job searching - No, they are not. Yes, recruiters will help you and guide you in the best way possible, but you cannot leave it completely up to them to get you the best job. You have to be proactive and take charge in your job-hunting process.
8. Employers are responsible for defining career paths - No, employers aren’t responsible for anything except getting the job done. You are the only person who is responsible for getting your career on the right path and for defining the way you want your career to head.
9. No need to network - Networking is essential to every business and for every person. You as a career oriented person need to constantly network. It is one of the most important aspects of career management.
10. Jobs are easily identifiable - Most people think that jobs are posted on the Internet or advertised in newspapers. This also is not true. Only a small percentage of jobs are advertised in this manner. Most people identify jobs by networking.
10 Common Oscar Lama Career Management Misconceptions
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Oscar Lama Career Strategies
By Oscar Lama | June 20, 2009
Career Branding Strategies to Beat a Recession
By: Sharon Alexander
Self Branding or career branding is an often over-looked important party of the job search. The biggest mistake that people make is to assume that their past accomplishments and career experiences will speak for themselves.
Often, job seekers can fail to take a proactive approach to creating and marketing their reputations. Branding is setting yourself apart from other job
seekers. If an employer sees “productive,” or “self-motivated” basically stamped on your forehead he/she is going to stop and take notice. The blame lies entirely on you if you choose not to be active in asserting your reputation.
It is so important to market and manage your reputation in this manner. Start by determining what your strengths and assets are. What have other employers complemented you on? Are you dependable? Do you show good leadership? Or maybe you have good analytical qualities?
Whatever your best feature is, you need to identify it, and then go about highlighting it to potential employers. There are many different ways to market your brand. Begin including your brand in emails and letters. When you describe to people your job functions, include your brand. This can be done effectively and tastefully in a manner such as, “I work for company X to create new software; my work is completed on time and on budget.”
Another example from a manager’s standpoint could be, “I lead others to follow my example and work efficiently without sacrificing quality or integrity.” The first example provided highlights the candidate’s respect for deadlines and good money sense. The second showcases the employee’s leadership qualities and values. Once you establish your brand you can use it in many situations to remind your potential employer what it is that you bring to the table.
The bottom line is that if you don’t brand yourself, others will. Nobody wants to see bad qualities like these present in a potential employee. You might have accidentally given a bad first impression without even knowing it, and words like these might cling to your name.
Much of this could have been avoided had you mentioned in early email correspondence that you have responsibly performed your duties with other employers and that you possess such and such qualities. Obviously if you claim punctuality as a selling point, then are late to an initial interview, your actions discredit your claims. Generally, however, you can shape the opinion that others will take toward you, by effectively marketing your brand.
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How to Succeed With Oscar Lama
By Oscar Lama | June 19, 2009
How to Succeed Within the Interview….and Your Career
By: Pamela Watson
We all know that a well designed job search requires much more than help with your resume and job interview tips. Usually it’s good to get advice from the experts and career counselors or coaches. But, it is far more important to know yourself and to know where you want to end up. Do you have a picture in your mind of where you’ll be in 5 years..10 years? Can you describe it? Have you written it down ? With this picture or goal in mind, can you now plan for tomorrow’s career strategy? What can you do, tomorrow, that will lead to the better job or the promotion?
Every step you take towards securing a new position, obtaining a highly desired promotion, reaching short-term career plans should be based upon a big picture - - your career vision. It is what provides the pathway for your personal success. It is what keeps you on track during disappointments and in the midst of organizational or personal changes.
As the central character in this strategy, you’re the one who has to articulate your dreams, capture your success stories, devise the steps needed to secure an interview, target desired companies, research each company to ensure they fit your interests and goals, and get the interview. We have to know what it is that we’re seeking to be effective.
Recently, I received an email from a business associate who wanted to proudly share a recent promotion within a major corporation. Since I’ve known this professional for over ten years and have heard him speak of his career goals, I recognized how valuable his stepping stones mean to him. His careful preparation, and planned risk-taking, was leading him to career success that had personal value to him and his family. When necessary he had made adjustments and changed jobs, but he kept focused on achieving the big picture.
The steps to creating your vision are similar to the process of drafting a company mission statement or long term plans. If you’ve ever participated in this process, you will understand the concepts. However, due to the size and functioning of corporations, it can take months - - sometimes years - - to complete a mission statement.
That’s not the case when you create your own personal one; the process is considerably shorter and there’s no need to get an entire management team together to complete it. What’s most important is that yours be based on your “reality” and your “dream.” Between those two areas is a gap of compromise that allows you to create a successful vision of your career. Whether you’re searching for a new job, a promotion, or career satisfaction, it’s important to have a vivid picture in your mind of where you’re heading.
It’s important that your career vision be drawn directly from your personal values, family background, financial desires, geographical limitations, physical limitations, etc. At least 25% of it should deal with your Reality.
The remaining 75% is based upon your dreams - - the bigger the better. Your life long dreams provide the basis of your desires. To connect the conflicting nature of your reality and your desires, it’s important to look for ideal compromises. If you’re able to respect your reality and still pursue your desire, then you’re on the right track. Your career vision should reflect your passionate and strong interests. Most importantly, it should be one that you can vividly capture on paper, verbalize, and be able to see or envision. It does not have to be materialistic - - it should, however, authentically detail your personal long term career goal.
Interviews are designed to compile results of your career-related actions, as well as to determine how well you will fit within the company. These are key measures and important to remember prior to starting your next interview. If you’ve done your homework (self evaluation and company research), then there are no difficult interview questions to answer. There’s only a discussion to take place regarding how well suited you are for the position.
Your vision should serve as the back drop for your career decisions and directly impact the short-terms step of interviewing. Yours should provide the motivation and drive needed for you to succeed within the interview. Each interview provides much needed feedback regarding the extent to which you are dedicated to achieving your dreams. Are you ready to succeed within your career?
How to Succeed With Oscar Lama
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Oscar Lama Career Development
By Oscar Lama | June 19, 2009
Career Development Brings Success
By: Shanat Kuphur
Meaning of the word “career” has moved out of its regular boundaries as a “money making business” into something more as a culminating edge of human ambitions. Henceforth career development and career development plans conquer their dreams even in a sound sleep - eternal happiness becomes a mirage. Vigilant eyes have to be kept to win back those lost hours of sleep.
Worldly pleasures have always attracted mankind-so is career development. Professionalism has grabbed world in such a spurious manner that education itself is oriented to career development. As world is advancing at the fraction of a second, becoming a professional-a lawyer, doctor, engineer, businessman, scientist-only can satisfy the ambitious students of today. Even after procuring a job, the urge for career development continues- human needs never ends.
In his pursuing for a lofty career, man often turns to be complaining. A dissection of the state of the art clearly reveals an unbiased human mind. Frequent career switching followed by red lines in career graph is the end result. A fretful mentality supplemented with lack of perseverance, determination and confidence is the root cause of these hindrances in the path of career development. Career development goals are set aiming at long-range career growth in the initial years. A lack of motivation and a lack of understanding of the aim throw stones and thorns in the road to the target. Egos and complexes pull their legs further down. A realization of potential becomes impractical and a career break through turns out to be impossible. Blinking eyes at this major issue is paving the way for a cancerous disease of mind. When surveyed for reasons, what commonly found is - setting lame excuses by beating around the bush, searching for heads to put the blame upon - this bird’s eye view makes things worse than the worst.
In order to succeed and have a commendable approach towards your career path, it’s essential that you follow a decided career development path. This need not be someone else’s plan, but just your estimates or goals based upon your personal gauging of the current day scenario. However your career development approach or path may not always get the much-anticipated momentum. The reason being you may be confused or simply not confident about your own achievements. Apart from this you may not be able to foresee and may not really device the best of plans. As such hypnosis for career development can help you see a great change in your monotonous and all too stagnant career graph.
Hypnosis for career management enables you to make a conscious decision and ensures that your sub conscious mind is always working towards this goal. Hypnosis awakens your inner being making it aware of the concerned scenario; you gain a deeper insight into what’s happening and revise your approach accordingly. Through hypnosis you will be able to initiate the process of change.
Oscar Lama Career Development
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Successful Oscar Lama Interviews
By Oscar Lama | June 18, 2009
Successful Job Interviews
By: Pamela Watson
Within this article I will share an important secret behind successful job interviewing and career management. We all know that a well designed job search requires much more than revising your resume and learning a few job interview tips. Usually it’s good to get advice from the experts and career counselors or coaches. But, it is far more important to know yourself and to know where you want to end up. Do you have a picture in your mind of where you’ll be in 5 years…10 years? Have you written it down? With this picture or goal in mind, can you now plan for tomorrow’s career strategy? What can you do, tomorrow, that will lead to the better job or the promotion?
The most important secret to successful job interviewing is knowing your career vision - - where you want your career, and your life, to take you. Every step you take towards securing a new position, obtaining a highly desired promotion, reaching short-term career plans should be based upon a big picture - - your career vision. It is what provides the pathway for your personal success. It is what keeps you on track during disappointments and in the midst of organizational or personal changes. We have to know what it is that we’re seeking to be effective within our career moves.
Recently, I received an email from a business associate who wanted to share a promotion within a major corporation. I’ve known this professional for over ten years, have heard him speak of his career goals, and I recognized how valuable his stepping stones mean to him. His careful preparation, and planned risk-taking, was leading to career success that had personal value to him and his family. When necessary he had made adjustments and changed jobs, but he kept focused on achieving the big picture.
The steps to creating your vision are similar to the the way companies create their long-term plans or mission statements. Due to the size and functioning of corporations, it can take months - - sometimes years - - to complete a mission statement.
That’s not the case when you create your own personal one. The process doesn’t take as long, and there’s no need to get an entire management team together to complete it. What’s most important is that yours be based on your “reality” and your “dream.” Between these two areas is a “gap of compromise” that allows you to create a successful vision of your career. Whether you’re searching for a new job, a promotion, or career satisfaction, it’s important to have a vivid picture in your mind of where you’re heading.
Your career vision can be drawn directly from your personal values, family background, financial desires, geographical limitations, physical needs, etc. At least 25% of it should deal with your reality.
So, if you have an deeply embedded, vivid picture of your career goals, it makes life so much easier in your job search. You begin to fully use your network in a way that will get you better job leads. You are then able to clearly identify what company or position can further your career and synchronize with your goals. You can fully evaluate a company before, during, and after the interview. You begin to use a much more efficient job search strategy.
Many job seekers send their resumes to numerous job boards, recruiters with generic opening statements and introductions. You throw enough darts and sooner or later something’s going stick, rights? But will that new position lead you to your desired position? Or will you be looking for a new position 6 months after accepting the offer? The secret to successful job interviews centers on you knowing where you expect to end your journey. With this knowledge you can search for a new job with a clearer sense of what it is that you will accept, or not accept.
Job interviews are designed to review the results of your career-related actions, as well as to determine how well you will fit within the company. If you’ve done your homework (self evaluation and company research), then your vision should directly impact the short-term step of interviewing. By understanding where you’re heading, you’re more likely to successfully manage interview questions - - as well as decide if the position is one that will lead you closer to career success.
Successful Oscar Lama Interviews
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7 Oscar Lama Strategies
By Oscar Lama | June 17, 2009
7 Strategies to Credit Crunch Proof Your career
By: Sharon Alexander
Every time you open a newspaper nowadays, the first thing you see is the current fear of a recession, the credit crunch, the banking crisis and the difficult days ahead with a downturn of the economy. It seems obvious that there will be cost cutting measures within some organizations, which in turn triggers fears of downsizing. Keeping this in mind, it is better to credit crunch proof your career when there is still time. Even if your company is not affected right now, it is necessary that you build up a strategy to safeguard yourself. There are no magic answers or sure shot solutions but these tactics can help to give you confidence and an added edge.
1. Update your skills and learn new skills: Now is the time to invest more in yourself. Update your skills in your current areas of work. Similarly, learn new skills like IT skills. You may take up new courses or trainings that will enhance your resume and can prove to be helpful not just in your current job but also any new opportunities if the need be.
2. Target your resume for specific jobs: Design and develop a resume that is fully targeted for a specific job that you are applying for. It should not be a generic list of your qualifications and experience. If you are unable to do so yourself, invest some time in learning this skill. Only a professionally targeted resume can take you further to an interview level. Your resume should stand out from the rest and should be appealing enough to the employers.
3.Get yourself noticed: At your current job, take efforts to be noticed. Make sure your boss is aware of your achievements. If you are given an opportunity for a new role and responsibility, take it up. If you are involved in a very important project, you may be safer than most.
4. Make yourself indispensable: Be ready to take on new tasks even over and above your usual activities. Volunteering to take on new tasks helps in making you indispensable as a person who can undertake any activity happily. That will help list you out as an important team member not worth losing. Find ways to contribute innovatively to your company. Be an active team player.
5. Start networking: It helps having a good supportive network. Keep in touch with former colleagues in other organizations, you previous bosses etc., which can help you find other job opportunities whenever the need arises. Be equally helpful to your contact as far as possible, as then only can you expect them to return the favor.
6. Plan your finances carefully: Building up your financial reserves is necessary. Even if you may be given a redundancy package it may take some time to come. If you have some financial reserve to last you at least 6 months, you would not go deeper in the trough. Plan you finances carefully with your current job at hand.
7. Don’t hide: Do not make yourself invisible, considering that you would not get axed because of it. Get up and prove yourself so that you become a bit safer. Your clients and boss need to see results now. Try to solve immediate needs.
7 Oscar Lama Strategies
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Revealing Oscar Lama Options And Opportunities
By Oscar Lama | June 16, 2009
Career Management - Revealing Its Options And Opportunities
By Abhishek Agarwal
One confusing and rather elusive business is career management, or more precisely called “career planning.” Anyone needs career management; however, only not many people employ or do it. Why? Because many just don’t know how important career management is. A lot of people think that they need not seek other people’s help for they can find suitable jobs for themselves. To find out if career planning would benefit you, you have to know the definition of career management. Actually, career management has more than one definition. The meaning is actually dependent on your purpose: are you planning for a new job or are you looking for ways to develop your present job? To find out what will be good for you, you should search for the meaning of career management. Then you will know if you need career planning or not, and if you do need it, what kind do you exactly need.
Are you contented with your present job? The likelihood is that you are not. Your happiness or contentment should be the first thing you consider. Many workers do not love their existing career for different reasons. Some may have the opinion that they are underpaid; a few may have problems with their colleagues; and others may not like the work in general. Regardless of whatever reason you may have for disliking your work, you can acquire assistance from experts in career management that give this kind of service or from career management centers. They can either find a better career that will fit you well, or they can help you move up the corporate ladder in your present company. That entirely relies on what you want. Once you know the meaning of career management, you will see that everything that occurs to you is rooted in the kind of employee you are, the kind of money you want to be making, and the things that interests you. Based on those things, a good career manager will assist you in searching for a career that contains all of those criteria. Once the career managers have worked everything out, you will feel a lot satisfied not only with your career but also with everything about yourself.
Seeing things through the usual definition of career management, anyone could gain advantage from this service. It is highly improbable that you are absolutely satisfied with your present job in all its aspects. Therefore, you should visit the career management centers near you.
Revealing Oscar Lama Options And Opportunities
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Oscar Lama Job Interview Tips
By Oscar Lama | May 20, 2009
Guaranteeing the Next Interview
By Rick H McKnight
In today’s economy job interviews are fewer and farther between so when you have one, is there a way to guarantee an offer or at least getting the next interview? The answer is yes and I have proved it. I have had offers on each of my last 5 job interviews. All of those involved multiple interviews for fairly senior positions. I learned that after one set of interviews that turned into a job offer that I was the first interviewee of 32. This article is about how to use some of the concepts that I have used in your own interview process. There are really only three.
People hire people they like. The fact that you have an interview means that your resume opened the door or that you networked into the situation or the recruiter put you in the mix for the position. The chances are very high that you have the skills and experience that they are looking for since you were called in for the interview. Now it is a question of do you fit in to their culture. Do you have similar characteristics as the people interviewing you? Do they like you?
So the question is how do you get people who do not know you to like you when you may have only half an hour to an hour? The answer is that you have to genuinely care about the person that is interviewing you. This gives you the perspective that you are there to help them make a very important decision-who to hire. If the person who is interviewing you gets the sense that you are more interested in helping them make the right decision than you are of getting an offer it helps them accept that you are not just selling them on you. Interviewing is about sales and sales is about having people understand that you are not selling them. The difference is subtle. Yet profound. If you really care about the person would you have them hire you even if you were the wrong person for the job?
How do you actually do this? Number one is that you have to lose the self-concern, nervousness, and anxiety about how you answer their questions. How do you do this? Preparation. This means you have to know what is important to them so you can anticipate their questions. Read the job description carefully, use your network to find out what the company is like, who the hiring manager is and what is her perspective. What does the website tell you about the company. Talk to customers of the company. So doing all of this makes you better prepared for the interview and it gives you confidence. Confidence allows you to calmly listen to the question, respond to the question with your own question when needed and to show some enthusiasm. I was in an interview for a career consulting position and at the end the hiring manager said to me, “I don’t know much about you, but you are my number one candidate”. Hearing that helped me go through the next 4 interviews, do a public workshop and group coaching session before, finally the job offer came through.
The other element of preparation that many people miss is the mental preparation. This is vital. What this involves is taking some minutes to visualize the outcome that you desire. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and see yourself calmly chatting with the interviewer. See the interviewer warming up to you. See her smiling and the rapport build. At the end watch her shake your hand and invite you to the next stage. Involved all of the senses that you can in this visualization as they make it more real. You can do this the night before the interview and right before it as well. If you calmly say to yourself that you are going to get an offer and know this to be the case, this is what will happen. The interview that I mentioned where they were interviewing 32 others, I told myself that I was going to land this position and I saw if happening in my mind clearly before the interview. I was asked to prepare with a role play for the interview and before that started, I asked the interviewers (a panel) if they were prepared to make a decision today. When they said that they weren’t, I stood up and suggested that we do this another time. They immediately said that they were prepared to make a decision. It takes a lot of confidence to threaten to walk out of an interview but it also can create a lot of desire on the part of the interviewer to keep you there. Shortly thereafter I was asked to come for a lunch and was given an offer.
Confidence, preparation and caring are the cornerstones of having a great interview.
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Oscar Lama Career Branding Advice
By Oscar Lama | May 8, 2009
LinkedIn and Your Career Development
By Peggy Murrah and Chris Muccio
LinkedIn is more than just another social networking site in the Internet. It can actually help you in your career development. There are around 20 million professionals connected by LinkedIn. With millions of professionals out there that you can connect with, you can make your career grow with the help of LinkedIn and other professionals.
Your LinkedIn profile maybe considered as your online resume. As a professional, your educational background, your organizational and company affiliations and other important professional information may be shown in your LinkedIn profile. This way, other professionals and employers can easily learn who you are and what you have to offer.
You can also increase your visibility by adding keywords that are related to your profession and to what you do best as a professional. If employers and people who are looking for a resource person related to your field will search for those keywords, you get a better chance of being the first person on the list.
Connect and grow your network. From your email address book, you can easily add friends to your LinkedIn network. You can also search friends who were employed by the same company you are connected with right now. There should be at least 50 people in your first degree connection in order for you to maximize your use of LinkedIn. Anything less than this would just make you another one of those less effective users of LinkedIn.
Use LinkedIn Answers to the Max. Just like Yahoo Answers!, LinkedIn has LinkedIn Answers that allows people to post questions to the network. If you have any concern in your career development or in the way you do your work, you can just use this feature and solicit answer from all sorts of professionals in your network. You can also answer the questions posted by other people in the network so that people can notice what you know and what you have to offer.
LinkedIn is one of the best features of Web 2.0. It connects people and gives them a chance to get together for professional and work-related reasons. With its 20 million users worldwide, it would be great to connect and promote your own professional expertise.
Oscar Lama Career Branding Advice
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Oscar Lama Career Solutions
By Oscar Lama | April 30, 2009
Management Studies In Career Development - Reasons For Its Importance
By Abhishek Agarwal
If you answered YES to the above question, then you just might be the best person to offer sufficient and viable solutions by assisting these tired souls locate what they need, and you may as well be sure of making big success in this career development business. But one thing that you need to learn before plunging deep into the world of career development and planning business is management studies. The Function of management studies course in career development is mostly overlooked by people already in the business of career management. They tend to focus more on getting their clients any old job position they can disregard of the function of management studies in those careers. It’s to understand that people personalities differ greatly and some maybe best fit for management positions than they are as regular employees. If you understand the functions of management studies in career improvement good for you, because you will be better positioned to place your clients in right job positions that please them with your services.
The very first thing you should think about when it comes to the functions of management studies in career development are the core characteristics required for a job in management role. A good example is that fine and excellent managers are often good leaders. If you come into contact with a person at your career management establishment that says they posses fine leadership skills, then consider them fit for managerial position. Another characteristic of good managers is the ability to motivate others. If they are adept at making people feel competent about their jobs and also lead them to getting some good work done, then they are most likely to make excellent managers. You will discover that the function of management studies in career development is an essential one. Some personalities are better suited to certain business roles than other. If a person best fit for a management role is placed in a non-management career, they are apt to end feeling very underutilized and unfulfilled. Should this happen, then you would have done a very bad job, because you placed matched them with a wrong career.
Functions of management studies in career growth can be learnt from different places. Books are available on the subject in most libraries and bookshops. They are mostly located in the business, career development and management sections there. A wealth of information on the same can also be obtained from the internet. We have sites that have been specially designed to focus in the career development business.
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