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!
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 […]
Taking The Plunge for a Career Do-Over
As I read my Sunday newspaper, I came across a poll in the Parade Magazine insert that reported 61% of people surveyed would choose an entirely different career if they were given the option to do it all over again. The time is now for you to take action and become the change agent for […]
Your Contacts Really Do Count
I received a wonderful email from Lynne Waymon, CEO of Contacts Count. www.ContactsCount.com She read my most recent Huffington Post article and heartily agreed about the value of connecting with others in a job search. Lynne has built her business on helping people put the tools of networking to work by reaching business and career […]
To Blog, or Not to Blog:That is The Question
I had a wonderful opportunity to present a tele-seminar to career coaches at major universities recently. One of the seasoned career counselors listening in asked how important it was to blog and who should be doing it. I started blogging about a year ago with a very clear goal of building a foundation and a […]
The Scoop About Using Social Media in Your Job Search
I interviewed Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success and was very impressed with his branding techniques for job searchers. While he also agrees in the power of in-person networking, he recommends the following incredible social sites to help job seekers get noticed in the cyber job arena. […]
Can You Really Conduct a Social Media Job Hunt?
Perhaps I’m old fashioned but I still believe that the power of in-person networking is the best resource for job hunting. But I am also plugged into technology enough to know that job seekers need to capitalize on social media to amplify their search strategies. Muriel Vega from Pink Magazine says – “It’s not only […]
Recognize Your Peeps
In this economy, minimal cost of living raises aren’t a given for annual increases in many organizations. Some have frozen increases for the foreseeable future, including the federal government. It’s easy to get down about being overlooked for promotions due to budget issues even though your performance has been stellar. There are still many ways […]
Simple Tips for Happiness
I’ve learned so many things from my mentors, clients, students, colleagues, family, and friends over the years. My goal in this post is to share the best advice I’ve received coupled with some insight from the Life & Happiness blog to help you thrive in a state of happiness more often than not. Happiness is […]
Holiday Career Coaching – Family Style
In my December Huffington Post column, I wrote a piece about capitalizing on family over the holidays to get some motivational career coaching. You can check out the full article http://huff.to/h7IrVQ but here is a summary of the salient points to tap into your family’s ideas and inspiration. Over hot chocolate turn the fireside chat […]
Social Media Mistakes
I received some great feedback from readers who took the plunge and started using social media to plug their products and services, or market their strengths as a job candidate. As a social media newcomer myself, I have been studying up on social media mistakes to be sure that I am not making them as […]
Start Doing What You Want to Be – Now!
I received a wonderful comment on one of my recent Huffington Post columns from an individual who is an aspiring writer. He shared that his passion is writing and his career goal is to pursue work in the communications field so he can play to his strengths and showcase his writing abilities. As he works […]
If I Can Tweet – So Can You!
I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical about using Twitter to promote my book and career consulting business but now I am hooked. Social Media is a very efficient way to get your message out to the masses, expand your horizons, and build your network. The biggest perk is that it’s free so […]
Getting the Boss to Buy Into Your Great Ideas
In these tenuous economic times, it’s more important than ever to toot your own professional horn and make your accomplishments known internally in your organization. This isn’t inappropriate bragging but strategic self advocacy that may help you stay afloat in a potential lay-off scenario since every employee has to prove their worth. But how do you sell […]
