High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Ways to Grow a Side Business While Keeping Your Day Job

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!

• 5 Ways to Grow a Side Business While Keeping Your Day Job: "There’s an app for systematizing almost every aspect of your business. Your goal should be to free up as much time as possible to work on revenue-driving tasks that net the highest return for the limited amount of free time you have."

• 7 Ways to Become a Better Person this Week: "Instead of wasting even a second considering the opinions of future people—people who are not even born yet—focus every bit of yourself on being the best person you can be in the present moment."

• 10 Harsh Lessons That Will Make You More Successful: "When all is said and done, you will lament the chances you didn’t take far more than you will your failures. Don’t be afraid to take risks."

• 4 Steps to Building Your Dream Career: "There’s no point spending time planning out a dream career in an industry or occupation that you are just not passionate about."
• How to Steer Clear of Office Gossip: "My own preferred tactic, which I used successfully over the years, involved a combination of ignoring the conversation and instead going on to inject a business-related subject that had no connection to what was being gossiped about."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Leaving a Stable Job to Create Your Dream Career

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!

• Leaving a Stable Job to Create Your Dream Career: "Paying attention to what engages and excites you, what lights you up, and what stimulates your intellect points you toward the tasks and situations that enable you to be your best self. That’s where you will thrive."
• 4 Things Older Job Seekers are Doing Wrong: "Rather than accept a position where you will resent the pay or walk away from an offer that is not up to snuff, consider ways to negotiate. See if you can bump up your benefits."
• How to Bring More Meaning to Your Life and Career: "As you make small changes, you begin to gain competence in living according to your values."
• 7 Steps to Master the Art of Persuasion: "The art of getting others to see things as you see them -- usually called persuasion -- is a key one for entrepreneurs, and it needs to be honed from the first day that you formulate your new idea."
• 5 Tips for a Successful Online Job Search: "People often don't realize how great the odds are stacked against job seekers for virtually every online advertisement."

5 Ways to Strengthen Your Career Over the Holidays

With the holidays fast approaching you are likely looking forward to some time off and some time away from the job. Use this time away wisely and you can do some simple things to strengthen your career and feel good about getting off to a great start in 2016.

Here are 5 ways to strengthen your career over the holidays:

1. Read a good book. It doesn't have to be a business book or a career-related book but there are many good ones out there. You might simply read a book that inspires you to think about the world or a particular problem in a different way. This can help you apply some creative thinking to your job.

2. Take time to dream. Think about your future and where you want to be and how to get there. Think about what motivates you and what your passions are. Connect your passions and these future dreams to a career path and set it in motion for next year.

3. Rest and recharge. Be sure to take some time to simply rest and relax and avoid thinking about the stresses of your job and career. Do fun things you enjoy.

4. Set goals. Take a few minutes to consider some goals for 2016. Don't spend all day on this but identify one to three goals that would propel your career and life forward in an exciting way.

5. Connect with people who inspire you. Meet up with an old friend over coffee or take that former colleague to lunch. Spend time with others who motivate you and inspire you to be your best.

And enjoy the holidays!

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Pursue Your Dreams While Keeping the Day Job

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Pursue Your Dreams and Keep Your Day Job: "The people who build and actually achieve their biggest dreams aren't those that cut the cord rashly and irresponsibility. Instead, they're the ones you have the discipline and determination to use their current situations to support their ambitions."


• Networking at Large, Intimidating Events: "Your mission is to focus on making merely three solid contacts at this conference. You can make two of them by looking at the person to the right and the left of you once you sit down. Yes, it can really be that easy."


• Building a Mentally Strong Work Team: "Teach employees how to become mentally strong on an individual and team level.... Don’t be afraid to talk about issues like mental health, personal development and resilience in the workplace."


• How Attitudes about Work are Changing: "A third of workers worldwide agreed that it was okay to leave a job they weren't happy in within the first month, while two-thirds believed it would be better to stay for a year to avoid having a negative impact on their career."


• 6 Ways to Be Smarter in Your Job Search: "Not all companies will post opportunities to job boards, and aggregators don’t typically pick up the postings from company sites. It’s important to visit company career sites regularly to keep up with news and openings."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Taking Risks and Standing Out

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Finding a Job Through Networking Groups: "You might not hear about a job opportunity day one in networking, but if you pay attention and make your intentions of finding a job known,opportunities will find you."

• Why Getting Comfortable With Discomfort Is Crucial to Success: "[A]s every successful person will tell you, it’s only by being willing to make mistakes and try something new that you can ever accomplish more than what’s been done before."


• How to Stand Out in a Crowded Job Market--Forget the Traditional Resume: "[F]or those who are willing to stand out, there is still a ton of opportunity. The first step to standing out and getting your dream job is to start thinking of your resume as one of many tools that you may use to get a job. Then, you must find a novel way to approach companies that you’d like to work for."


• How to Get Hired for Your Dream Job: "
  Your employment career will be a journey not a final destination. Furthermore, what may be your dream today may change tomorrow. A dream job is a job that is helping you progress toward your dreams

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• Preventing Rejection at Work: "[W]e all thrive on being connected to others. Don't let your office become a place where people feel threatened by rejection. Instead, bring your conversational intelligence to work." 

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• How to Lead Like Abraham Lincoln: "Historical figures like President Abraham Lincoln prove that compromise can be gained in the workplace even in the most difficult of circumstances."


• What to Expect for Your First Job: Fact vs. Fiction: Here are the "most common rumors about your first job and let you know whether they’re fact or fiction."


• 1/3 Work in Fields Related to Their Childhood Dream Jobs: "LinkedIn surveyed professionals globally to find out the most common childhood career aspirations and how many professionals currently have their dream job."


• 10 Bits of Career Expert Advice You Want to Ignore: "While we all heed advice from time to time to learn and grow, it is good to be reminded that not all 'expert' advice is good."


• The Lessons I Learned from My Favorite Boss: "We asked workers to share stories about the best bosses they’ve ever had and what they learned from those leaders that still influences them today."

12 Steps to Successful Career Change

Following up on our blog post last week about podcasts of interest to job seekers we came across the Dream Career Podcast and its series of 12 Steps to Successful Career Change. 


The series is broken down into 4 sections: Realization & Assessment, Exploration, Preparation, and Search & Networking.


Listen in here for useful suggestions and advice as you move through that career change.