Order an Ebook version of my book from this website or a paperback version from www.amazon.ca  or www.chapters.indigo.ca   

56 Career Tips and growing

56. Implementation

You have all these great ideas from your reading or a workshop you attend; then what?

I find it east to take a course and think I have accomplished something, but nothing happens until I implement what I have learned.

The big thing is to implement your ideas.

If you have a home business; just do it, don't procrastinate or else it is all lost.

Iif you work in an organization, It is sometimes more difficult. If it affects only you then you can implement it.

If it affects your department or company you need to prepare a written proposal which will show the benefits such as reduced costs or increased sales or profits. Discuss this with your boss and go from there. 

55. Go to the movies

 The movie LARRY CROWE is about a guy who gets laid off and does not handle it very well.  Go and see if you could do any better. it stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

54. The highest profession in the world

What is the highest and oldest profession in the world? Doctor? Lawyer? The Pope? President of a large multi-national company? Nurse in a slum? Nope, none of these.

According to Pastor Knute Larson the highest profession is a mother who stays at home and looks after her children. I agree and am grateful for my late wife who stayed home and helped raise five wonderful children.

I would also add stay-at-home wife. I know I am in trouble with my politically correct friends but so be it. However, there is a difficulty; who can afford to do that given our economy?

One solution I know is a home-based business. Look at my list and research each opportunity. They all a have a no-questions-asked return policy

Get one of my home-based businesses and you will have the potentail to earn far more than you would ever earn working for someone else.

All you need is a computer with an internet connection for most of them. You need a camera for the photography program.

What about the time to work? i know a very successful travel writer with three children. She gets up early in the morning to do her writing. She also earns a lot of money with B2B writing.

B2B is business to business writing.

I encourage you mothers and wives to stay at home and develop your own home-based business.

53. Programs for Older, Wiser Learners

The March issue of Zoomer , www.zoomermag.com ,magazine they have an article about learning programs for, as they say, older and wiser learners. It is called OWL 55+. 

Go to www.carp.ca/benefits for a compete list and features.

52. Home-based Businesses

Start a more fulfilling life with unlimited income potential by looking at seven new home-based business ideas. Look at www.awaionline.com/catalogue/aff 

51. Accounting

New government regulations have resulted in a need for more accountants. There are various options including degrees earned at a university and ones earned while working. Check out the ones available in your country.

50. Public Speaking

Business is carried on in meetings these days. 

For example, a close friend of mine works in the IT industry where everone is computer expert. They all work in teams and have frequent meetings.

All the participants need to know how to make presentations of projects, proposals or problems or proposals. 

In addition they need to know how to productively carry on discussions. 

Check around in your area or company for training in these essential skills.

49. Re-employment for Women 

Many professional women want or need to re-enter the world of work. In Vancouver, British Columbia, a program called Minerva Helping Women Work is now available.

It is for professional women over 30 who are unemployed or underemplopyed.

Many women have found satisfying work through this program.

Look at their website:  www.theminervafoundation.com

48.Graduating students

Be sure to go to your career office or whatever it is called at your college or university.

The staff are trained to help you with job leads, advice, workshops, goal setting and accountabilty.

Everyone needs somone to whom they are accountable or a "boss." You will find a "boss" at the career office. 

Your job now is to get a job; work at it all day, every day until you get a good job in your field. 

The professsionals in your campus office can and will help you. 

47. Work in the oil and gas industry.

Willbros Group, Inc engineers, constructs and maintains projects in the oil and gas, electrical and natural gas utililities transmission and distribution industries.

They operate in Canada, the USA, Middle East and Africa.

Take a look at their website www.willbros.com for information about careers with this company.

46. Home-based businesses

I have started to tell you about specific home-based businesses you can start in the section Home-based Business. The first one is about being a social media expert. Check this out and learn how to make a high monthly income.

I will be adding more opportunities on a regular basis so keep checking my Home-based Business page.

45. More about trades

In a recent issue of the Barrie Advance I read about trades training at Canadore College in Sudbury. They offer programs in welding, auto mechanics, elecrtricians, millwrights, and a wide variety of other programs.

I love plumbing stories. We noticed water dripping under the laundry tubs in the basement. I tried to fix but no luck. So we called the plumber. He fixed it in about 20 minutes; a few days later we got the bill: $125.00.

Trades pay good salaries and are in demand. A lot of older workers are about to retire so there are plenty of jobs.

Sometimes you may be given the impression that trades are for people who can't make it, so it is sort of a last resort. That is lot of hog wash.

In my book I tell about one of my daughters who loved cooking. She took all the training. Her last job was owning the contract for the restaurant in the Legislative Building, called The Ledge.

She and her husband now own the Bayside Bed and Breakfast, a large bed and breakfast on Yellowknife Bay and will soon be opening the Dancing Moose Cafe in Yellowknife, NWT. They are doing very well.

Go to one of the colleges near you and start your training.

44. IT Careers

According to Carrie Schmelkin, web editor of www.tmcnet.com IT careers a are growing rapidly. These include network engineers, system administrators, chief information officers and IT project managers.

I know that RIM is always on the lookout for new IT staff. 

43. Salvation Army

The Salvation Army has many job opportunities in the USA. Look at their website www.salvationist.org for information. 

Work for one of the most worthwhile organzations in the world.

42. 7 Careers for Green-creative People

These careers give you an opportunity to use your creativity to show the importance of conserving our resources.

Musician

Graphic Artist

Landscape Designer

Writer

Painter

Filmaker

For more details look at www.jobacle.com This excellent site has creative approaches to careers.

41. Yellowknife

I just returned from Yellowknife, NWT and while there I noticed two papers promoting training and educational opportunies in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in northern Canada.

Aurora College has campuses in Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. They offer courses in teacher education, health and human services, business, land and environment, trades, apprenticeship and industrial training, academic upgrading and access programs. In addition they have programs in traditional arts and small business development.  

www.auroracollege.nt.ca   

Other opportunites are: Nunavut Fisheries Consortium, Kivalliq Mine Training Society, the Inuit Cultural Learning Centre, Nunavut Artic Collge, Dechinta Bush University Centre and Nunavut Trades Training Centre. 

40. Promote yourself using the Social-web

The March 15-28 issue of Canadian Business has an article called " Mastering the art of the social-web CV."

It refers to to four sevices which can help you with your resume and publicizing yourself. Look them up and decide how they can help you. They can help you get a job and change jobs.

They are: www.visualcv.com , www.jobvite.com , www.resumesolutions.ca and www.aboutme.com .

You should also have a presence on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

The article gives an example of a graphic artist who built her business by illlustrating her work on Tumbir, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

Employers are starting to use the internet to find people and you can use the internet to find out about people who will be interviewing you and about the company.

39. Be a Cartoonist

I just came across a website about a home business: cartooning. I must admit I never thought about this before, but on the other hand, I always look at the cartoon and comics in the newspaper.

The website is www.curtoons.com It is written by Curtis D. Tucker who has a home business drawing cartoons and helping others do the same.

Here is a list of 11 cartoon jobs:

1. Gag cartoons

2. Comic strips

3. Graphic cartoons

4. Cartoon illustrator

5. Animators

6. 3D computer cartoons

7. Editoial cartoons

8. Greeting card cartoons

9. Comic books

10. Internet cartoons

11. Caricature cartoons

Look up his website for explanations of these types of cartoons.

It sounds like a fun way to make a living, however, like any other career, in order to be successful you need to be very competent.

38. Butlers

On the plane to Yellowknife this week I read about the revival of an old career: BUTLERS. I thought they went out with the dial telephone.

They are now working at the Sandals Resort in Jamaca and are spreading to other resorts and now are being revived in Europe.

If you like helping peolple check this one out.

37. Trades

In all the talk about new and exotic jobs, don't forget about jobs like plumbers, carpenters, electricians, truck drivers, secretaries, cooks, housekeepers, small appliance repair, cabinet makers and so on. These never go out of style.

For example, the sewer pipe in our basement got plugged and we had raw sewrage floating around. We needed a plumber and we needed him fast. After working for about half an hour he walked out with $125.00 in his pocket. 

36. New Types of Jobs

In the March 7,2011 edition of Macleans magazine on page 56 you will find a list of new types of jobs. The training for these jobs are available at what we call "colleges" in Canada. These are non-university post secondary colleges. Here is the list and where you can get the training.

Graphic Information Systems (GIS) Applications Specialist, College of North Atlantic, Cornerbrook, Nfld.

Bioscience Technology, Holland College, Charlottetown, PEI.

Health Information Management, New Brunswick Community College, avilable in various campuses throughout New Brunswick.

Human Resourses Management, Humber College, Toronto, Ontario.

Mediation-Alternative Dispute Resolution, Durham College, Oshawa, Ontario.

Fine Furniture, Camosun College, Saanich, BC.

35. Careers in the Aerospace Industry

Aerospace industry jobs are growing, at least at Bomardier in Montreal. They plan to hire 1500 new employees this year. They are looking for engineers and skilled trades people. 

One place to train for these positions is SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, Alberta.

You can read more details in the March 5, edition of the Montreal Gazette.   

34. How are doing? 

On your "to do" list you probably have difficult things as well as easy things to do.  My advice is do the difficult thing first; I have trouble doing that so I thought I would encourage you to help you keep going.

The other thing is this keep moving towards your goals, take small steps every day and you will make it.

I am working on several goals, both personal and business and I do a little bit every day; and I am making progress.

Be sure to look at your annual,monthly and weekly goals every day. That will keep you focused. 

33. Medical Illusrators

Medical illiutrators are the people who illiustrate medical textbooks, posters you see in your doctor's office and magazines.

To enter this occipation you will need an undergradaute degree specilizing in life sciences and art. Specialized training is then reqired at the graduate level.

This advanced training is available at Georgia Health Sciences, the University of Illinois, Chicago, John Hopkins School of Medcine, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the USA and the University of Toronto in Canada.   

32. Wedding Planners

Weddings are a 4 billion dollar industry in Canada and one in 20 weddings use a wedding planner.

Check www.wpic.com for more information about a wedding planner career and specialized training.

31. Banking Careers

I came a cross a website that lists openings in the banking industry in Ausralia, Canada, Ireland, Pakistan, India, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the USA.

The website is www.bankjobsduggy.com

30. Home Depot 

Home Depot is hiring 60,000 workers this spring. They explained that spring is their best time of the year. I assume all the other similar stores will do the same.

29. Dental Hygienists

According to Mcleans magazine there is a glut of dental hygienists on the Canadian job market. A person is better to use their skills elsewhere.

28. How to Get a Job

Decide what you want to do.

Then make a list of three to five companies you would like to work for.

Learn all you can about them, look them up on Google, talk to people who know the companies, check the local newspaper files or your local library. Visit the company.

Find out the name of the person who is the head of the department you want to work in and make an appointment to see him or her. This is called an information interview.

Tell them you want to learn more about the company and industry. Ask questions, find out how why it is sucessful, problems they face and so on. Let the person talk. Thank them as you leave. 

Send a thankyou note; make sure you spell their name correctly. Have it typed and send by regular mail.

Decide which company you want to work; maybe all of them.

Two weeks later phone and make an appointment with the same person. Tell them you really would like to work there; take samples of your work if appropriate and ask for the job.

You may get five job offers.

This material is adapted from my book, from What Color is Your Parachute and from Automatic Wealth for Grads...and Anyone Else. These are available from Amazon.

Also from a website www.job-hunting-tips.com

27. You may hear them say that they only hire experinced people. In that case, offer to work without pay for a week or so, after that time they can make a decision.

..........

26. Careers in translating training materials from English to Spanish are growing rapidly in the USA. Businesses are realizing that there are 50 million Hispanics in the USA. Training is provided by www.becomingatranslator.com Check out their website for training opportunities.

.......................

 25. Do you like to make people beautiful? The beauty salon business is booming.

.......................

24. The largest job listing board in the world is www.indeed.com It has jobs from 50 different countries in 24 different languages.

Open up the webpage and go to the section "about." Click on that and you will see the country list. Click on your country. Then complete the space on the job you want. it is quite amazing.

.................. 

23. The makers of the Blackberry, Research in Motion RIM, has just opened a website for people who are interested in working for this dynamic organization. The new website is www.rim.com/careers 

They have positions all over the world in a variety of fields. Check it out; you will be suprised at what you find. 

22. This is my first career tip this year. 

Before I do this let me say a few words.

Be sure to follow my advice about the four cards. I have found that by breaking my yearly goals down into small bites the stress has been lowered and I am on my way to accomplishing my major goals.  

21. I came across an excellent site for people who need to be re-employed. For some reason or other you are unemployed. This is for workers in the USA but almost all the information can be applied to anyone who is unemployed.

The site is www.careeronestop.com  This is an excellent site. Click on Worker Re-employment and then Job Search Help.

Or, read Chapter 6 in my book, How to control Your Career for Life. Click on the order page.

20. December 31,2010

This will be my last career tip for this year, I will be brief. This is a sure fire way to accomplish your goals.

1 Write your three or four yearly goals on a small card.

2. Write your monthly goal on another small card; that is your January goal.

3. Write your first week of January goal on another small card.

4. Write your daily to do list on another small card. 

Keep these cards with you to remind you to stay on track. After you have acheived a small task or goal reward yourself, give yourself a pat on the back.

Next year on December 31 you will be delighted with your accomplishments. 

These ideas are from Michael Masterson, one of the most productive persons I have ever heard about.   

19. I noticed a new career which will probably have a growth rate of 22% in the USA and  other countries.

It is medical interpretation. In the USA healthcare organizations must provide an interpreter to patients who speak limited English starting January 1, 2011.

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC has developed a graduate program in medical interpretation.

If you are interested and are fluent in at least two languages look up medical interpreters on Google.

18. Listening is a vital skill at work. Here are six things you can do to improve your listening skills. These are also vital skills at home.

1. Pay attention to the speaker. Don't fiddle with your computer or anything else; give the speaker your undivided attention.

2. Don't interupt or talk over the person. Listen to what is being said.

3. Confirm what you heard so that the other person knows you understood.

4. Use eye contact, head nods and verbal signals. Watch people on television and notice what they do.

I heard a professional motion picture actor say that eye contact is a vital skill for actors. Every since then I find myself watching actor's eyes. 

5. Remember what was said.

6. Take notes of the details.

These ideas are from Laura Janusik, Rockland University, Kansas City, Mo.

17.  It is absolutely essential that you set your   2011 career goals this month.

Ask yourself: " What do I want to be doing by next December?"

Pick out four yearly goals and then break them down into months. What do you need to accomplish in January, February and each month to get to where you want to be next December?

Then break them down into weeks and then each day.

Breaking them down into small bites makes it easy to do. When you accomplish your small goal give yourself a pat on the back; tell yourself "You are making progess." 

Write your goals down and look at them every day. Some people find it helpful to share their goals with another person. If that is helpful do it.

Look at the action plan page for more details.

On a personal note, I have four major goals for next year. During the time between Christmas and New Year's Day, I plan to make a detailed plan. How about you? 

16. Here is an idea from www.springwise.com 

Canyoucode aims to match skilled programmers with companies in need of programming help.

Website: www.canyoucode.com 

Contact: team@canyoucode.com

15. If you live in London,UK and want to escape unfulfilling jobs look at www.escapethecity.org

They will help "liberate talented people from  corporate jobs which don't excite them."

Email team@escapethecity.org

14. I read about this on www.springwise.com a free website dedicated to telling you about new business ideas from all over the world. Check it out; you will find it stimulating. 

How to develop a career in recreational boating and commercial marine industry.

13. First, recreational boating. Georgian College in Midland, Ontario, Canada has developed a series of programs to train men and women to work in marinas and boat dealerships. Training is given to prepare you for positions in management, repairs or sales.

Canadians own 2.9 million boats and this industry contributes $28.6 billion to the Canadian economy. This is a major industry.

Visit www.careersinboating.com for compete information.

12. The other industry is the commercial shipping industry. Georgian College in Owen Sound, Ontario is home to the Great Lakes International Marine Training Centre. Here you can receive training to prepare you for careers as navigation officers and marine engineers.

Visit www.marinetraining.ca for complete information.

11.The November 8 issue of Macleans magazine has a list of the 50 best companies to work for in Canada. Their main criteria was how well they engaged their staff. If you are looking for work in Canada this looks like a good place to start.

10. In the same issue Rick Hillier, former chief of defence staff of the Canadian Forces has some words of wisdom for supervisors. Mr. Hellier found himself spending a lot of time shuffling papers at his desk. He decided to spend 50% of his time outside the office with people at all levels in the organization.  

 9. The major encouraging news is unemployment is still heading down in Canada. So keep looking for a good job.

8. I recently read about  a woman who started on  eBay two years ago and now has one of the leading eBay stores in Canada. That might be a good place to look if you want to set up your own business.

I invite you to send me an email telling us about what you have read or know about; I will also keep my eyes and ears open for helpful ideas. Use the contact page.

My book is now available as an eBook. Use the order form on this web site.

I look forward to hearing from you.

7. A few weeks ago we went for a visit Branson, Mo to take in some of the musical shows. On the way we stopped at a restaurant called Steak and Soda. I always read how places started and was amazed to see that it started in 1934.

This restaurant chain started in the middle of the Great Depression when unemployment was 25%.  

Three of the workshop leaders changed careers: two  were lawyers and the other was a sucessful real estate sales person.  

5. I noticed that a number of visitors to this site are from the Russian Federation. I read about a placement company with offices in Russia. It is called accenture. Russian visitors should take a look at what they are offering. They have a Russian language and an English version.

The website is accenture.com

4. As an aside we have an Olympic level skater living with us. Her goal is to get the Olympics in Russia in 2014. We plan to go and cheer her on.

She talked about her career. She said that a skating career could end at any time due to injururies or not being able to move to the next level. Some skaters and athletes forget that their career as an athlete will finish.

My skater friend is taking her third year university via the internet as well as practice skating six or more hours a day. 

Her plan is to become a lawyer when her skating career ends. This is smart planning. 

3. According to Roger Martin, dean of the Rothman School of Management at the University of Toronto, innovations add value to products and services.

You can be part of the improvement process by improving your performance. This is not just for your sake but also to help your company.

Remember that part of your security depends on the health of the company.  

2. In my book I talk about improving your job. Think of ways to do it better or quicker. You will find these ideas on page 92. I suggest you look at your ongoing responsibilities, then problems to be solved and then innovations. Make a list and decide which would make the biggest difference.

1. Some of my readers may have a criminal record which could make employment very difficult. I have two friends who overcame that situation.

The first started his own business and is doing very well. In my book I have a section on self-employment on page 48. There are lots of opportunities to use your skills in that way.

The second got employment where his record was not a problem; he now has a senior position in his company.