You can now get the Metier Blog on your cell phone - click on the icon in the sidebar and enter your cell phone number. Alternatively, you can enter this URL in your phone's browser:
http://feedm8.com/metiercoaching
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Path 101 and the Resume Genome Project
A new startup that's attempting to create a resource that will integrate resume data crawled from around the web with information about the user (personality, etc) with information about the career paths of the people who wrote the resumes (what jobs did they actually hold). They're going to provide APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) and encourage other sites to link to them. How exactly this will work is rather confusing and unclear at this point to me, but hey, they're a startup.
They're also live blogging their startup efforts in a sort of blog reality show, so whether they succeed or fail at their entrepreneurial efforts, the results will be out there for all to see. I wish them well, and look forward to following their efforts over the coming months.
You can check out their blog here.
They're also live blogging their startup efforts in a sort of blog reality show, so whether they succeed or fail at their entrepreneurial efforts, the results will be out there for all to see. I wish them well, and look forward to following their efforts over the coming months.
You can check out their blog here.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Career Forum
I've added a Career Forum to the Metier site; click on the link named "Metier Forum" to visit it. To return back to the Metier home page, click the button labeled "METIER HOME" on the forum page. Feel free to read the messages there, and post a comment or question (you have to create a login to post - this will hopefully reduce the amount of spam I have to deal with).
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Free e-book Now Available!
I've completed my e-book - it's a Guide to career transitions for the career changer: new careerist, mid-life changer, and retiree. I originally developed it for a career transition group at a church, and decided to turn it into an "official" Metier e-book. It's absolutely free; download it now by clicking on the Downloads link in the menu!
(note - I ask that you not redistribute this document - if you know someone else who would benefit from this e-book, please refer them to the Metier site)
(note - I ask that you not redistribute this document - if you know someone else who would benefit from this e-book, please refer them to the Metier site)
Friday, July 20, 2007
Careers, Teens, and Young Adults
The Self-Directed Search (see earlier posting) is ideal for the adult career seeker or career changer. For the younger person just entering the job market, or the high school student who is considering college majors, career coaches often use the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS). If you are in high school or college or new to the job market, you may want to check out the JVIS web site here. You can take it online and get immediate results for only 14.95USD.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Hottest Careers Through 2014
If you're looking at starting a career or changing to another one, knowing which careers are expected to grow the fastest over the next few years can help you focus your plans for career change. An article on the ten hottest careers at CollegeBoard.com provides some interesting data from government economist; the ten fastest growing careers for college graduates includes several medical and computer-related careers, which is no suprise; but forensic science technician is also on the list. Occupations projected to create the most new jobs in the next seven years are also listed for college grads as well as grads with associate and vocational educations.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Flexible Optimism
A correspondent was intrigued by my statement that Martin Seligman's research suggests that the self-esteem movement is one of the root causes of the drop in the age of onset of depression in industrialized nations that we see today. So I thought I'd expand on this a bit. Seligman attributes the drop to three causes:
1. We worship individualism today, but our grandparents were connected to community, extended families, God. He comments, "Our children have threadbare spiritual furniture to sit on." I believe this leaves younger people with little reserve to rely on when life deals them (as it always will) a major loss or setback.
2. When I was a child, one of my favorite books was "The Little Engine Who Could." Today, teachers and books tell children they should feel good about themselves no matter what. In Authentic Happiness, he comments that children need to fail, to feel sad, anxious and angry: when we build up their self esteem to lessen the blow of their failures, we hinder their ability to develop mastery; and without mastery, they will fail to develop real self esteem which is grounded in a realistic view of their own abilities and limitations.
3. Everyone blames others or society or "fate" for their situations. We are breeding a nation of victims. The negative side of this is a failure to take responsibility for one's own choices and for determining our own outcomes.
Seligman suggests that the pessimist tends to see setbacks as permanent, pervasive, and due to external circumstances rather than one's own choices. The optimist, on the other hand, tends to see setbacks as temporary, localized, and due to their own choices. Pessimists are twice as likely to become depressed, and are more likely to have health and relationship problems. Seligman suggests using the pessimistic viewpoint only when the cost of failure is high, and using the optimistic viewpoint when the cost of failure is low (he calls this Flexible Optimism). That is, whether we avoid connecting with something larger than ourselves, view our abilities and limitations realistically, and take responsibility for our own choices (and hence our own success or failure), is up to us.
Are you an optimist or a pessimist? If you'd like to explore your own optimism, you can take an assessment at Martin Seligman's web site (look for "Optimism Test" in the list of questionnaires).
1. We worship individualism today, but our grandparents were connected to community, extended families, God. He comments, "Our children have threadbare spiritual furniture to sit on." I believe this leaves younger people with little reserve to rely on when life deals them (as it always will) a major loss or setback.
2. When I was a child, one of my favorite books was "The Little Engine Who Could." Today, teachers and books tell children they should feel good about themselves no matter what. In Authentic Happiness, he comments that children need to fail, to feel sad, anxious and angry: when we build up their self esteem to lessen the blow of their failures, we hinder their ability to develop mastery; and without mastery, they will fail to develop real self esteem which is grounded in a realistic view of their own abilities and limitations.
3. Everyone blames others or society or "fate" for their situations. We are breeding a nation of victims. The negative side of this is a failure to take responsibility for one's own choices and for determining our own outcomes.
Seligman suggests that the pessimist tends to see setbacks as permanent, pervasive, and due to external circumstances rather than one's own choices. The optimist, on the other hand, tends to see setbacks as temporary, localized, and due to their own choices. Pessimists are twice as likely to become depressed, and are more likely to have health and relationship problems. Seligman suggests using the pessimistic viewpoint only when the cost of failure is high, and using the optimistic viewpoint when the cost of failure is low (he calls this Flexible Optimism). That is, whether we avoid connecting with something larger than ourselves, view our abilities and limitations realistically, and take responsibility for our own choices (and hence our own success or failure), is up to us.
Are you an optimist or a pessimist? If you'd like to explore your own optimism, you can take an assessment at Martin Seligman's web site (look for "Optimism Test" in the list of questionnaires).
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