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!
How Leaders Can Mitigate the Great Resignation
This week, three people I know well left solid careers they had been in for multiple years for another opportunity that honored their values. The global pandemic wreaked havoc in many ways but it also gave people the chance to deeply consider what matters. Values are the greatest predictor or career satisfaction, and the ongoing […]
My Time Off Saved Me from Career Exhaustion
It had been 18 months since I took a true vacation and left my house to travel for an extended period. Sure, I took all my PTO in 2020 but the time off was not the same due to the pandemic. This summer, I visited my family on the east coast whom I had not […]
Know Thy Self
Following the career development steps of self evaluating your VIPS (values, interests, personality and skills) it’s time to focus on personality. This happens to be one of my favorite parts of the career reinvention and self reflection journey. Personality refers to your unique patterns of mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral characteristics. You may have heard […]
Plan B Job Search Strategies – Radio Interview
In November I was interviewed by Chicke Fitzgerald on Transition Solutionz blog talk radio. I discussed identifying your personal brand, playing to your strengths and the power of networking in the job search process. Check out the archived interview online http://www.blogtalkradio.com/resumelive/2009/11/10/transition-solutionz-series Transition Solutionz has a theory. They believe that being in career transition is not […]
Find Your Passion and Play to Your Strengths
A recurring bit of career advice from the women with whom I conducted interviews across the globe was to find your passion. It sounds simple but I am shocked at how few people are actually in tune with their personal passions. I’m not talking about romance but I’m asking you to consider what motivates and […]
What Interests You?
The next predictor in your personal self assessment is Interests. Knowing your interests can help you discover your passion and choose a career. Interests are the biggest predictors in career selection since we gravitate towards what we like. One of my favorite assessment tools is the Strong Interest Inventory® (Strong) which measures career and leisure […]
What Do You Value?
Choosing the first few entries for the blog launch was a difficult task since I truly cherish each woman’s unique story. Heidi Roizin’s transition is indeed motivational for many women so it was a great place to begin. Heidi was motivated to lose weight which led to her profitable CD venture: SkinnySongs. She had a […]
Ready, Set, Launch!
Welcome to my blog – This is Not the Career I Ordered. In this tumultuous economy many women have changed careers by necessity and others, by choice. We’ve had to learn to navigate the new normal of the career world and take ownership of our personal career destinies. This has given women a unique opportunity […]
