This Is Not The Career I Ordered™ Blog
Savvy Professional Career Wisdom by Caroline Dowd-Higgins
This is Not the Career I Ordered is read by thousands of careerists around the globe. With savvy tools, inspiration, and resources, this timeless book empowers you to enjoy your career, and love your life!
A Career Letter to The Class of 2024
Dear Class of 2024: A multi-generational celebration is in progress as we celebrate learners of all ages heading into the career world. You can design your career destiny and I encourage you to tap the power you have within you. You earned your credentials with a tremendous amount of time, effort, and more than likely […]
Can You Benefit from an Executive Coach?
As a certified executive coach, I work with a coach – a few in fact, who help guide me on my career and life journey. My coaches have provided a space with psychological safety and confidentiality to allow me to explore, discover, self-reflect, and polish my strengths, and mitigate my blind spots, so I can […]
Be Your Own Valentine: Love Who You Are
It’s the time of year for cards with red hearts, chocolates, and flowers as Valentine’s Day approaches. It causes anxiety for some who are seeking affection, and bliss for others who are celebrating their love with someone special. This Valentine’s Day I encourage you to see it through a different lens. By all means celebrate […]
Pro Tips from a Recovering Workaholic
My work and personal life is full, hectic, and often moves at break-neck speed. Although I thrive in the fast-paced environment I have created, I’ve had to regularly evaluate my work/life integration to determine if I’m living my values and honoring my life as well as my career. What I have learned is that I […]
Are You a Multiplier or a Diminisher?
From academia to the non-profit arena, and the corporate world-of-work, I have had many clients who complained about bosses who were ineffective leaders. Were these leaders intelligent and talented people? Yes. But were they able to lead a team, motivate others, and empower professional development and success in their colleagues? In many cases, no. I […]
Are You Nurturing Your Network?
Networking is a skill, and it can be hard to keep up with the extended community you worked so diligently to develop. The follow-up step is the key to maintaining strong professional relationships since the one-and-done effort leaves people feeling ill-used and less than willing to share their time and expertise with you again. Kevin […]
Design Your Career Trajectory with Smart Growth
I am a big fan of Whitney’s Johnson’s work and featured her in a new episode of my Your Working Life podcast where she shared wisdom about helping people develop their potential – enabling them to articulate and become the best professional self they want to be. Her new book, Smart Growth: How to Grow […]
Interview Your Prospective Boss Before You Accept a New Role
You’ve heard the adage, people don’t quit their job, they quit their boss. If you are looking for a new career opportunity, don’t miss out on the chance to interview your prospective boss to determine if they are a fit to empower you to do your best work. Your success and satisfaction are aligned with […]
Five Ways to Reinvent Your Professional Self
In the pandemic economy many people have changed careers by necessity and others, by choice. This is the perfect opportunity to take charge of your destiny and reinvent your professional self to reignite your career and your life. There are five essential self-assessment action steps to pursue for your professional reinvention. These steps will empower […]
Happiness and Workplace Influence
It’s no mystery that happy employees are more productive but unhappy employees can become extremely debilitated and unwilling to follow leaders. This lack of influence leads to a breakdown in organizational morale, positional power and stability within organizations. Crystal Miller wrote a great piece on Blogging4Jobs about how asserting influence is not a passive thing […]
The Personal Gift of Play and Sleep
The pandemic virus variants continue to raise our stress levels and while vaccines give us hope, it will take a lot for us to navigate the next several months and beyond. As we head into the holidays, consider the gift you can give yourself to honor what your immune system needs to be proactive about […]
Don’t Underestimate Holiday Hiring as You Plan Your Next Career Move
I have a client pursuing a career reinvention who recently said she was going to lay low until after the holidays because she didn’t think hiring would happen until the new year. I encouraged her and any job seeker to activate now since the career market has an urgency like never before to recruit and […]
Rest Is More Than Sleep: What You Need to Renew Your Energy
I am a firm believer in the power of sleep and do my best to get 8 hours every night to maintain my health and wellness. I thought I was honoring my need to rest but my mind was blown when I read a piece about Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith in Maria Shriver’s: The Sunday Paper […]
Pace Yourself This Holiday Season: Tips for Going the Distance
Over the past few years, a holiday creep has overtaken the days of autumn. The holiday roll-out in the U.S. has gotten earlier and earlier and with Thanksgiving behind us, it’s easy to become stressed about completing all the tasks required at work and in your personal life to enjoy the festive season. Here are […]
