People in our business have feasted on irrational exuberance and the companies, money, and positions it generated. Now, however, it´s a different story. Now, in 2002, positions and advancement are not the certainty they once were.
What to do?
Here are 10 career fitness strategies to help you thrive during these trying times.
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Strategies |
Discussion |
Resources |
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1/ Ask a colleague or supervisor for feedback about your performance. |
What impresses them about your approach to the work? In what areas could you be more effective? |
Read Knowdell´s Building a Career Development Program and Shahanasian´s Decision Time: Guide to Career Enhancement. |
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2/ Self-assess. |
Take this time to reflect on your abilities and aspirations. Measure yourself against current demands and emergent skills. |
Look at competency books and Web sites, such as Instructional Design Competencies- The Standards, 2001, ERIC Clearinghouse; www.ispi.org certification and standards; and ASTD elearning software certification at www.astd.org. Visit www.learnativity.com. |
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3/ Deepen skills in a context, learning technology, or sibling intervention |
That´s three choices. You can get smarter at hospitals or submarines or preschools or.... Or you could beef up your skills in elearning. And finally, we´d all be more effective if we knew more about job design, process engineering and organizational development, to name a few siblings. |
Read the same magazines and journals read by executives in the context in which you want to work. Read about how the changes in technology are changing careers and opportunities in Rossett & Sheldon´s Beyond the Podium: Delivering Training and Performance to a Digital World: https://crm.hr.com//en?i=1116423256281&s=&t=/Default/openExternalURL&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5wZmVpZmZlci5jb20vZ28vQlRQ". Check out http://www.acinet.org/acinet/default.htm for career trends. Read about sibling interventions in Performance Improvement Interventions: Enhancing People, Processes, and Organizations through Performance Technology by Van Tiem et al. Another source is Danny Langdon´s Intervention Resource Guide. |
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4/ Come back to school; study online. |
Use down time to learn something new. Get the next degree. Get a parallel degree, such as an MBA. Take a single course or module. |
Study new approaches to instructional design and learning technologies: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/EDTEC/EDTEC_Home.html And there are other options, such as Indiana, Boise State, Florida State, Jones International, Capella, and many more.
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5/ Rework your paper vita; create an online portfolio. |
Update to reflect new modules, courses, projects and volunteer work. Put examples online, including reactions to your efforts. Use the scanner! |
Review Kimeldorf Library. (n.d.) Portfolio Creation Tips, https://crm.hr.com//en?i=1116423256281&s=&t=/Default/openExternalURL&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWJ5LmNvbS9raW1lbGRvcmYvcG9ydGZvbGlvL3BfbWstMTAuaHRtbA%3D%3D"; Sturm, G. (2001, November 27). Bye-Bye Paper, Hello Resume of the Future. Electronic Recruiting Exchange. http://www.erexchange.com/Articles/default.asp?cid={13864D18-03AE-46F4-941C-80B7D3A65955}; University of Washington Geography Career Resources. (n.d.). Portfolio Basics. http://staff.washington.edu/duttro/Careersold/pfolbasc.html |
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6/ Volunteer. |
While technology lags, |
Visit https://crm.hr.com//en?i=1116423256281&s=&t=/Default/openExternalURL&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5uYXRpb25hbHNlcnZpY2Uub3JnLw%3D%3D"; and http://www.nationalservice.org/serve.asp. These are great places to start in a search to help others and yourself simultaneously. |
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7/ Think locally and beyond. |
Join professional associations. Be generous and use your skills to help others. Attend meetings. Go to a national conference. |
Here´s some. There are many more. www.astd.org; www.ispi.org; www.shrm.org; www.isaconnection.org; www.cue.org. Check out www.e-learningjobs.com and the Corporation for National Service. |
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8/ Be light on your feet. |
There are many places to work. Go where the developmental opportunities are. You can always come home again. |
Go online to newspapers in places where you might want to work. See their job postings. Respond. Use the Internet to establish a presence with a web site and an online portfolio of examples and responses. |
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9/ Read the literature. |
When was the last time you read a journal in our field? A book? Have you contributed? |
Here are a few of my favorites: Tom Stewart´s The Wealth of Knowledge (2002); Marc Rosenberg´s E-Learning (2001); Rossett (editor) ASTD E-Learning Handbook (2002). Read ASTD´s online journal "Learning Circuits" and ISPI´s "Performance Express." |
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10/ Help someone with their career. |
A great way to gain perspective is to think about careers and development by focusing on someone else. Also, building coaching skills. |
Read Goldsmith´s Coaching for Leadership: How the World''s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn |
