High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 10 Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine

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

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• 10 Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine: "Saying a positive affirmation -- even something simple like, “I can take on this day” -- or making a list of three things you’re thankful for each morning will have you beginning each day on a high note and setting the tone for whatever follows."


• Identifying the Skills that Can Help You Change Careers: "Consult with people who have already transitioned from your industry to a different career. Discuss what core skills you might be overlooking and how they could apply outside. The range of potential applications is probably broader than you think."


• 4 Tips to Make You a Better Negotiator: "Ask yourself what the Maximum you’re seeking is, the OK you’ll accept without pushing for more, and the Minimum you’re willing to take if you can’t get it."


• 6 Tips to Be a More Confident Speaker: "Just bring an iPad and set it up the next time you speak to a group.... Nothing replaces a video of you in action because how we think we show up isn’t always the way others see it."


• 5 Things You Should Never Do While Waiting to Hear Back About a Job: "(S)ometimes a job candidate, eager to move the process along and get a decision, will make up an offer, hoping that it'll push the employer to move faster. This is a dangerous move."

Career Change Tips for Military Transitioners

I often work with people transitioning out of the military who have no desire to continue along their same career path in the private sector. I once had an Air Force aviation mechanic tell me he never wanted to touch an airplane again unless it was flying him on vacation! What does a military veteran do when all the training, experience and knowledge they possess is in a career field they no longer want? Try this step by step approach.

Step 1 - Determine what you DO want to do
You know what you don't want. However, until you figure out what career you want to pursue, it is nearly impossible to define your transferable skills. You can start by making a comprehensive list of your skills and examining which skills you enjoy using the most. In this previous blog post, I offer some additional resources.

Step 2 - Research your target career field
Use resources such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook, O*Net Online, and www.acinet.org to define what skills, qualifications, education, and certifications are required in your career field. This research process will help you focus your resume and remove any irrelevant information. Military members have so many varied responsibilities. If you try to tell a potential employer everything, you will overwhelm them into believing you are unqualified.

Step 3 - Look at your experience in a new light
If you look at your military experience too literally, you will automatically dismiss yourself as unqualified. However, try stepping outside your comfort zone and examining how similar your skill sets are to what the employer is seeking.

For example, an electronics specialist who has been fixing aircraft for the last 10 years may automatically consider themselves unqualified for a contract administrator position. However, this person can present themselves as a project manager - every time they fixed an aircraft they managed a project. Project management requires communication, planning, scheduling, budgeting, inventory management, documentation management, problem solving, and customer service. All of these skills are needed as a contract manager.

Advice for Career Changers

Whether you find yourself unemployed and looking for a new job or are currently employed and simply dissatisfied with your career path, if you want to make a career change there are several steps you should take first to ensure a successful transition. These steps will not only help you ensure you are satisfied in your in your new career path, they will also help you land a position in your new field much faster. If you follow this step-by-step process, even in a tough job market you will have a greater chance of success.

Assess your interests.
First of all, you must identify what you don't like about your current career. Is it the hours, tasks, or the pay? Identifying what you don't like will help you ensure you don't get into the same situation in a different field. If most of your complaints center around your boss, the company, co-workers, or the environment in which you work, you may just need to consider a change of companies - not careers.

A few online resources are available for you to assess your personality and work values. You can use www.humanmetrics.com to conduct a free online personality assessment. A few books I recommend are Do What You Are, by Tieger and Barron or Now Discover Your Strengths, by Buckingham and Clifton.

Research the new career field thoroughly.
Make informed decisions based on lots of information gathered while researching your new career field. The first step is to look at labor market research to determine the field's education requirements, the job market outlook for the next three to five years, wages and benefits, demographics, and the industry-leading companies. You can access much of this information through the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the O*NET. Also consider research methods such as job shadowing, volunteering or interning in the field, or informational interviewing.

Identify your transferable skills.
Once you have done your research on the career field, it is time to identify the skills you already have that can transfer over to the new career field. For example, if you have been in the mortgage industry and want to transition into the administrative support field you would want to focus on skills such as documentation management, compiling correspondence, tracking ongoing projects to ensure deadlines are met, and protecting confidential information.

Transferable skills are general skills that are portable. They can be used in many different work settings and you carry them with you throughout your career.

Market yourself effectively.
Career changers are not always effective in the traditional method of sending out resumes in the hopes of landing a job. Networking is even more important to these job seekers than people with solid industry experience. Follow the E.C.H.O. principle when networking - that stands for every contact has opportunity. Prepare your "elevator speech" so you are ready to explain to your new networking contact who you are, what skills you can offer, and what type of assistance you are seeking.

Have a Job Contingency Plan

It always makes good sense to have a carefully thought out and well-constructed plan you can put into action immediately if you were to lose your job—in other words, a job contingency plan. Being prepared with a job contingency plan can help ground you and give you direction, especially when the unexpected happens. Following are items to consider and related action steps for creating your contingency plan.

· Keep your finances in order. Stay on top of your current financial situation—know your expenses, your income, and your savings. Identify current expenses you can eliminate to bolster an emergency savings fund. Start paying down your credit card(s) or other debt.

· Investigate company policies and resources. Determine what benefits your company may offer in the event of a layoff and how those may impact your budget. For example, is there a history of offering severance pay? Are you entitled to pay for unused vacation and/or sick time? Does the company offer support services like career counseling and job search assistance?

· Look into government unemployment programs. Specifically, check out the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program and the benefits available to eligible workers.

· Identify transferable skills. You’re bound to have skills that may transfer to another industry or occupation. Identify these and emphasize them in your resume. If company layoffs have been department-specific, consider now how your skills might transfer to a less vulnerable department. Begin networking with key contacts in those departments to establish relationships you can tap into later.

· Fill skill gaps. Identify any skill gaps and explore whether you can fill those gaps through additional training, volunteer work, college courses, etc.

· Identify additional sources of income. Identify other income and work opportunities you could call upon if you lost your job. For example, can you freelance? Can you do home repairs? If so, consider building on this experience and the related networks.

Transitioning Out of the Military: 5 Steps to Success

Step 2 – “Demilitarize” Your Resume

No matter how qualified you may be, if a potential employer can not decipher your resume, comprehend your military skills and experience, and understand the value you offer, you will not get calls for interviews. In teaching thousands of military service members from all branches of the military, I have learned they find the task of translating their skills to civilian terms the most challenging step.

To begin, you must strip away the military language and acronyms in order to highlight your skills in your resume. Many of the people who will screen or read your resume have no concept of military life. It is your job to provide a clear understanding of the relevant skills and experience you gained in the military. Most military experience transfers easily to the corporate world with the right language.

Instead of: Acted as the battalion secretary to create schedules for the unit.

Translate to: Created calendars and organized training schedules for 150+ personnel.

Instead of: Achieved FMC rate of 88% and 98% scheduling effectiveness rate.

Translate to: Maintained critical equipment availability 6% above USAF standards. Managed time effectively to ensure 98% of all scheduled maintenance was completed on-time.

Additionally, many military job titles are meaningless in the civilian world. Do your research to determine what potential employers are calling the positions for which you are qualified. Take the following example of how you can translate the USAF First Sergeant duty title. Employee Relations Manager (First Sergeant), United States Air Force. As you can see, the official title is still included on the resume, we just highlighted the “civilianized” job title by bolding it.

There are some very useful resources available on the Internet. Here are a few:

O*NET (http://online.onetcenter.org/) – Offers the Crosswalk Search by entering your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), Navy Rating, or Air Force Military Occupation Code (MOC).

Army COOL and Navy COOL (https://www.cool.army.mil/) or (https://www.cool.navy.mil/) – Works in connection with the Occupational Outlook Handbook to provide detailed career information.

Verification of Military Education and Training (VMET) (http://www.dmdc.osd.mil/vmet) – Provides detailed information about your current position and related civilian career fields.

America’s CareerInfoNet (www.acinet.org/moc) – Serves as a military to civilian occupational translator and provides labor market information by state.