High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Career Myths, Rebooting, and More

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

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• 6 Career Myths You Shouldn't Fall For: "You've probably heard the same bits of career advice tossed around over and over ... But plenty of the maxims that we hear repeated actually aren't true. Here are six of the most popular career myths that you shouldn't fall for."


• Starting Over? 10 Tips to Reboot Your Career: "If big changes feel overwhelming, focus on small daily actions. Even taking mini-steps—setting up an informational interview, writing a thank-you note, reading an industry blog, etc.—make you feel more in control as you slowly build up to your goal."


• How to Meet and Influence People You Don't Know: "Your goal is to increase the number of people who know, like, and trust you. You should identify people ... who have the chance to influence hiring decisions."


• Take Back Your Life in Ten Steps: "Human beings aren't designed to work continuously. We're meant instead to move between spending and renewing energy. Ideally, take a break every 90 minutes, even if only to spend a minute or two breathing deeply."


• 13 Little Things You're Doing to Sabotage Your Success: "If you promise me a miracle, I’ll expect it. If you promise me a little, I’ll be happy with a little and delighted with a little more. Being impressive is mostly about being reasonable in your projections and hitting them consistently." 

How to Be a Proactive Manager of Your Own Career

The dictionary defines the word proactive as preparing for an expected occurrence or potential negative situation. It goes on to say that being proactive is to initiate change rather than react to events. I know so many people who have been negatively affected by the job market. Whether they are laid off, let go, or find themselves underemployed, the common theme is that every one of these people have found themselves unprepared. Heck, even my own husband did not have his resume updated when he was laid off in 2008 - and we both know better!

Life gets busy, we get caught up in everyday living, and forget to take control of our own destinies. Here are some ways that you can proactively take charge of your career path and make sure that you are prepared for any eventuality.

Always Keep Your Resume Current and Updated
Being laid off is a very stressful time. Most people want to immediately get back into the market as soon as they find out their job has been eliminated. This is very difficult to do if your resume is out-of-date. If you have not updated your resume in several years, chances are the style of the resume itself is outdated.

Another incentive to keep your resume updated is that it is very challenging to remember what you did three years ago when you go to write a resume after a layoff. However, if you have kept the resume current with accomplishments and contributions you make - as you make them - your resume stays current and accurate.

Keep Your Knowledge, Skills, and Certifications Current
Often, when we get comfortable in our jobs, we neglect our education and professional development. I urge you to keep pursuing education and certifications as your industry changes and grows. You will be much more marketable if you have current skills. Demonstrate that you keep up with industry trends by showing that you have maintained current training. It does not have to cost an arm and a leg, just a class, a seminar, or attendance at an industry conference annually is enough to keep you sharp.

Diversify Within Your Career Field
My husband is a civil engineer. When he was laid off in 2008, he specialized in designing master planned communities. When the construction market in our state hit the skids, no one wanted his skills because they were looking for someone with municipal project and highway experience. It took him almost two years to land a good job in his industry and he still has not returned to his previous salary.

The moral of his story is that you should try to avoid getting pigeon-holed. Of course it is good to have a specialty, just make sure you cross-train and gain exposure to new ways to apply your skills and knowledge. The more diverse your knowledge, the more marketable you become.