http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/in/Career-Opportunities/by/douglaswelch/ The latest ten episodes in Career Opportunities 60 Mon, 21 May 2012 20:05:49 EST en-us http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Archives-Career-Prescriptions-at-Tuesdays-with-Transitioners/ Douglas E. Welch offers his career "prescriptions" - actions that every careerist should be doing to "build the career you deserve." These prescriptions include blogging to share "what you do and how well you do it", selectively using Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites and maybe even producing your own "show." Recorded at Tuesdays with Transitioners in Northridge, California. (http://tuesdayswithtransitioners.ning.com) Don't see the video above? Watch "Career Prescriptions" on YouTube   Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the Career Opportunities YouTube Playlist Subscribe to the Career Opportunities podcast using iTunes Mon, 21 May 2012 20:05:49 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Archives-Career-Prescriptions-at-Tuesdays-with-Transitioners/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Archive-A-Death-in-the-Family/ Funerals have a way of sharpening your perspective on everything. The father of friend died unexpectedly this week. He had also become our friend over the years, helping us with legal and corporate issues in our small company. I also worked for him, providing computer assistance. As I talked with his wife after the services, she related how I would need to stop by soon to help her sort out all the information that was stored in their computers and help her put things in order. What’s even more striking is, this is not the first time I have had this discussion with someone. Listen to this Podcast Now available from Douglas E. Welch and Amazon.com Cultivating Your Career Opportunities by Douglas E. Welch 11,000 Words While we often talk about having one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R -- I believe that there are a series of reputations that combine to create the whole. It is often said you can't "do" projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project. The same can be said for reputation. You don't build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole. Cultivating Your Career Reputations examines each of these reputations in detail and helps you find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation can grow Buy Now   Like Career Opportunities on Facebook Working in high-tech often means working very closely with people and developing relationships that go far beyond the usual situation of employer and employee. Over the course of your career, many people will become family. You need to be prepared for the eventualities of life, in both your own life and the lives of those around you. As we grow older, we all prepare for the day when we die. We create our wills, buy insurance, and create Trusts, all in an effort to make it easier for our family and friends when we pass. In addition to all the usual arrangements, though, all of us need to consider the new, computerized world in which we live. In the past, our children may have sorted through paper documentation, but now, more and more, of our lives are bound up in our computers, our email and many other personal and business-related documents. Computer issues might seem a shallow thought compared to the other issues surrounding a funeral, but in today’s world, it is very important. In the last 2 years, I have faced this issue with several clients and, as I work with many older people in my consulting work, I am sure to face it more as the years pass. To that end, I am developing plans for all of my clients that can help make computer issues less of a concern when the time comes. First, every member of the family should have some concept of where family data is stored, passwords needed for access and backups in the event that anything happens to the family home. Too often, I find myself digging for passwords or even attempting to crack passwords in an effort to access data. Data could be scattered among several directories or even several computers. None of us likes to think about death, but I try to keep, in the back of mind, the old adage, “I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.” We never know what is coming and the only way to insure that our families can continue with as little trouble as possible is to prepare today. Next, insure that backups of data, even if they are relatively old, are placed in several locations. Family members should share backups with other family members and friends. You may never need this information, but if you do, it will be extremely important to access it easily. Clean out your paper files and label everything religiously. It should be obvious where to find a variety of information no matter who might be searching. If your son or daughter can’t find the deeds to property, Fri, 18 May 2012 00:22:55 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Archive-A-Death-in-the-Family/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/The-little-truths-we-need-to-tell-ourselves-Podcast/ Telling the truth, especially in situations that require it, is important to every career. The truth can be hard. It can be dangerous to your job. It can also raise you above others who have decided to ignore the problems that are right before them. Sure, we all tell little white lies to smooth our interactions with others, but in the end, the truth is usually the most powerful tool we own. Listen to this Podcast Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel Visit the video archives and see when each new video is uploaded Also, visit the Career Opportunities playlist -- the home for all my career-related videos   Like Career Opportunities on Facebook The scary part is that we humans have a great ability for ignoring the truth even when faced with it. Worse still is our ability to lie to ourselves. Most of us are great at ignoring the truth in our lives, our relationships and our work. We can go through great gyrations to ignore that one, large, inconvenient truth and when we do so we damage everything around us. This is why it is so important to learn to tell ourselves the little truths we face every day. In our hearts and minds we often see things exactly as they are. When that happens we need to acknowledge those truths, not ignore them. What sort of little truths do we face in our career each day? Sometimes we can know in our hearts that we are not that good at our job. Maybe we lack skills. Maybe we lack training. Maybe we lack the right environment. Some people will lie to themselves and think they are doing a great job, even though evidence to the contrary is right in front of them. It is far better for you to acknowledge your limitations and then work to remove them rather than trying to hide them from yourself and others. This doesn’t mean you have to go around the office explaining to your manager and co-workers just how lame you are at your job. You only need to tell yourself this little truth -- acknowledge it fully -- and then figure out some way to improve your work. This is where the power of little truths can be deeply felt and used. Perhaps you know that one of your teammates, your manager, your CEO, simply isn’t up to the job they have been given. Maybe some form of substance abuse is involved. Maybe they are involved in illegal business practices. You can lie to yourself -- and them -- and explain it all away. It isn’t embezzlement. It’s just creative accounting. No one will find out those parts are sub-standard. What does it matter? Maybe Bob is just having some health problems. He can’t possibly be doing drugs in the bathroom. Lies like these are convenient to you. They let you get through the day with less worry and anxiety. They can also lead to your greatest and easiest downfall. Each of them could bring your job, your company and your career to an end with a short, sharp, shock. While these truths are often the hardest to face, they are also the most important. If someone is embezzling, you want to make it very clear that you had nothing to do with it and, more importantly, brought it to the attention of someone in charge. This is the clearest way of protecting yourself from prosecution, even if it does mean the end of your job. If someone is abusing drugs, and you do nothing, you are enabling their abuse. You may even be enabling their death if the situation is serious enough. You can try small interventions first, but in the most dangerous cases you may have to face the issue head on. It could be that your co-worker is endangering your life and the lives of your co-workers. To stand by and do nothing is facilitating your own injury and perhaps death. In a situation like this, you should see how important the little truths can be. If ignored long enough, by enough people, these truths can turn into dramatic situations. What are some truths that you need to tell yourself right now? What have you been ignoring in hopes that it might just go away? Who is in danger because of your willful ignorance? Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:54 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/The-little-truths-we-need-to-tell-ourselves-Podcast/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Career-Tip-Stop-adversarial-Hiring-Practices/ In this Career Tip - Douglas asks employers and job candidates to "partner" and  work towards making hiring a win-win for everyone involved. Can't see the video above, watch "Career Tip - Stop adversarial hiring practices" on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the Career Opportunities YouTube Playlist   Subscribe to the Career Opportunities podcast via iTunes Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:54 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Career-Tip-Stop-adversarial-Hiring-Practices/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Archives-Video-and-Your-Career-from-LaidOffCampLA-2009/ Showing people "what you do and how well you do it" is an important part of every career. You need to be visible so that people can seek you out for opportunities instead of always feeling you have to go begging for a job. Visibility and Your Career was presented at LaidOffCampLA on May 1, 2009. If you do not see the video above, please watch "Visibility and Your Career from LaidOffCampLA" on YouTube. Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:55 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Video-Archives-Video-and-Your-Career-from-LaidOffCampLA-2009/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Acting-and-your-career-Podcast/ Given my focus on computer consulting and writing, it always seems to amaze people when I tell them that my college degree is actually unrelated to either of these areas. I graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in --- theater! That’s right, I did every possible job in the theater during my time in college. I was an actor, a dancer, a singer, lighting operator, stage manager and more. I think I spent more time in the theater than I spent in the classroom during my college years and even though I do not work in professional theatre now, I think that that time has had a direct and significant impact on my life and career ever since. Listen to this Podcast Now available from Douglas E. Welch and Amazon.com Cultivating Your Career Opportunities by Douglas E. Welch 11,000 Words While we often talk about having one, monolithic, Reputation – with a capital R -- I believe that there are a series of reputations that combine to create the whole. It is often said you can't "do" projects, you can only do the individual tasks that make up the project. The same can be said for reputation. You don't build your reputation as a whole, you cultivate the smaller reputations that create it. Each individual action builds your reputation in unique ways and each requires some thought as to how they relate to the whole. Cultivating Your Career Reputations examines each of these reputations in detail and helps you find specific areas where you can improve your work, your actions and your thoughts so that your overall professional reputation can grow Buy Now   Like Career Opportunities on Facebook So much of your career -- especially at the beginning -- is about how you present yourself to others. If you present a confident, intelligent air, people will think of you as confident and intelligent. If, on the other hand, you enter the office for an interview staring at your shoes and mumbling, you set the wrong expectations from the start. No matter what you may be feeling -- fear, anxiety, lack of confidence -- you can and should “act” like you are fearless, calm and full of confidence. Acting taught me how important it is to stand up straight and speak clearly so that the person in the last row can hear you. It taught me how to look someone in the eye and actually listen to them, as if I was hearing the lines for the very first time. Stage management taught me the importance of organization, working with others and managing them. I never realized how important this would be to my career outside of the theater. Acting the part Presenting yourself well isn’t about any sense of arrogance or excessive ego or pretense. Rather it is about presenting the best image of yourself possible. You shouldn’t necessarily believe that you are the perfect candidate for a job, but you can act like you think the perfect candidate would act. You can present your credentials and experience in the best light possible, even if you are just getting started in your career. You can give yourself every advantage in the interview process. Later in your career, you will also see when acting the part can make a significant difference. There are days when the thought of training another person or troubleshooting another computer wears me down. Still, when I meet the client, I know that I need to “act” like the confident and friendly computer consultant that I am. What’s odd is that after a while, I find that I am no longer acting the part, but I have moved my thinking and my actions into a better place. Before I know it, I am no longer acting, I am simply working at my best. There are many other areas when “acting the part” is especially important. Through the years in your career you will be asked to present on some idea, topic or project, though many people greatly fear public speaking. You see them every day literally shaking as they try to announce some new project or initiative at their company. If you act the part it becomes much easier, Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:55 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Acting-and-your-career-Podcast/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Killer-Innovations-Fighting-the-Corporate-Antibodies-by-Phil-McKinney/ I have been listening to the Killer Innovations podcast since the beginning. Phil McKinney, former VP of Technology for Hewlett-Packard, is an expert on innovation and his podcasts always illuminate the thorniest innovation problems. After listening to this episode -- Fighting The Corporate Anitbodies -- I had to pass it on to you. This podcast comes from McKinney's  new book, Beyond the Obvious, which includes many of the ideas he has discussed in his podcast over the years. When we are trying to innovate, there are many different types of corporate "antibodies" that use their tried and true methods to prevent that innovation from happening. McKinney gives us some methods for counteracting these antibodies and, hopefully, move our innovations forward. I hope you enjoy this podcast. Please share your comments and questions in the comments area. I think this is a great topic of conversation for career builders of all types.   Fighting the Corporate Antibodies by Phil McKinney The antagonist of the innovator is the corporate antibody. Much like antibodies in our immune system attack and destroy foreign objects that might harm the body, “antibodies” in your organization identify and neutralize forces that threaten to destabilize a company. And in much the same way as antibodies can damage the very thing they seek to protect — for instance when they cause the body to reject a transplanted organ — corporate antibodies can stunt a company’s growth (and not address the innovators dilemma) when the shut down the fresh ideas and unconventional thinkers it so badly needs. Some of the types of corporate antibodies are: The Ego Antibody The Fatigued Antibody The No-Risk Antibody The Comfort Antibody Antibodies are the roadblock to innovation. So how do you fight the corporate antibodies? Listen to the podcast … Note: This podcast presents the highlights from Chapter 3 from the book, Beyond The Obvious. Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:56 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Killer-Innovations-Fighting-the-Corporate-Antibodies-by-Phil-McKinney/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Look-outside-your-industry-for-great-new-ideas-Podcast/ “That’s not the way we do things here. That will never work in our industry. It wasn’t invented here so it can’t be any good. Things will never change around here.” How often do you hear phrases like this around your own workplace? If it is like most companies, you probably hear it quite often. Maybe it isn’t laid out so clearly or obviously, but it can be seen the in the action (and inaction) of management and therefore in employees. In the worst cases, it is something that is felt rather than spoken aloud. It is an undercurrent which no one can seem to escape. Instead of changing with the times -- or economic necessity -- companies plod along as they always have until the time when they --  seemingly suddenly -- go out of business. Often afterwards people will stand around and wonder , “What went wrong?” “How could this have happened to us?” Listen to this Podcast Join us for... April 20, 2012 9a-Noon LA Southwest College CareerCampLA.Wordpress.com Like Career Opportunities on Facebook The answer, of course, is quite simple. Like many companies, they kept returning to the same well for ideas even though they knew that that well was running dry. They couldn’t conceive of a time when they would be out of great ideas, so they felt that the collapse happened suddenly when, in reality, it had been in process for years. If they had been paying attention and not wallowing in denial, they would have understood the importance of looking outside their own industry, their own experiences, their own store of knowledge for great ideas. Often when I am talking with owners of small companies or employees of large corporations, I am met with the inability for them to see outside their own business or industry. They immerse themselves in white papers, reports and surveys detailing how everyone in their industry is performing and the methods they are using. While there is certainly something to be gained from knowing the “state of the industry” it can also be stifling if that is the only information you consider. As we have seen in the past several decades, it isn’t just individual companies that can go down the wrong business path, but entire industries. In these cases, looking at and following industry standards could be the worst thing you could continue to do. You are no longer thinking for yourself, you are simply following other companies down the road to ruin. I have seen this demonstrated in conference and conventions I have attended over the years. When the conference is narrowly focused, “groupthink” seems to set in, with people simply agreeing with those around them or thinking the same old thoughts. For me, wide-ranging conferences like TED (and even more so, unconferences like BarCamp) always leave me overflowing with new ideas and thoughts, due to the energy that occurs when unlike ideas bump up against each other. This scenario is why it is so important to look beyond your own industry, your own market, your own area of expertise for great ideas. You never know where the next great idea is coming from, so you must always keep your attention tuned for anything you might apply in unique ways in your own business. Maybe a new theory in process management has changed the textile industry. You might not be able to apply that theory in exactly the same way, but I can almost guarantee that you can find something within the new theory that applies directly to your own business. Has the banking industry figured out a new way to fund capital expenditures? Maybe you could use some version of that, too. Has a regional theater developed a new experience for their audience that is boosting attendance and revenue? How can you adapt that to dazzle your own customers. Too often, I hear businesses and organizations talking about sharing information among their own, narrow, industry. They create a consortium or conference dedicated to their very specific market. In my eyes, this is exactly the wrong direction. For me, Tue, 15 May 2012 23:57:56 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/Look-outside-your-industry-for-great-new-ideas-Podcast/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/What-are-you-looking-for-Podcast/ What type of job or career are you looking for? I often talk to people who have no idea. They seem sure that they want something else, but they have not done the hard thinking about what the “else” might be. If you truly want to escape a job or career you hate, you need to think about what you might like to do, what skills you will need, if you will be required to move and a host of other issues before you can hope to make any progress. We all need a  goal before we can set our path to get there. Listen to this Podcast Career Compass: Finding Your Career North by Douglas E. Welch 5100 Words Download Sample/Buy Now from Amazon.com   View other books by Douglas E. Welch Like Career Opportunities on Facebook What do you want, like and dislike? First, you need to clearly investigate what you like and dislike about your current work or your overall career. In my eBook, “Career Compass: Finding Your Career North” I lay out how you might start to think about this. There are four areas where your current work might fall -- Work you do today but don’t enjoy, work you don’t do today and don’t enjoy, work you do today and enjoy and work you don’t do but think you would enjoy. If you take each aspect of your work -- daily tasks, management, rewards, environment -- and start plotting them into each of these quadrants, you might just discover something important. Often the reason we dislike a job is not about the whole job but rather about certain aspects of the job. There are also tasks that you would like to do as part of your job that you aren’t allowed to do or that aren’t seen as important. You might find that you can alter your current job or career to match your needs without changing everything. You might find that you could transition to a job within your current company that better fits your wants, needs and desires. You can’t do this, though, unless you truly and deeply know what you want and need to be more fulfilled in your work life. You can buy “Career Compass”, a 5100 word Amazon Kindle book using this link for $2.99.  It is readable on almost any device including your computer, iPhone/iPad, and Android phones and tablets using the free Kindle Software. Small, defined, steps Once you have a better idea about what you want out of your job and career you need to start plotting small, defined steps to develop that career. Maybe you need to do some research into the types of companies and organizations that could use your skills in new ways. Perhaps you need to get some more training or a certificate in a particular area of study. It is always a good idea to talk with someone who is currently working in your area of interest and see what they can tell you about the good and bad of their work. It is often hard to get a clear picture of a job from the outside. There are always those little quirks and problems that often only insiders know and understand. Line up these small, defined, steps in your to-do list and start thinking about them every day. Make them part of your daily actions and thinking. Post them in a place where you can see them every day. Job and career changes don’t just happen. They require attention and work. That said, by breaking them down into small tasks, you can often accomplish much without feeling overburdened. Before too long you will start to see movement in your search Even more, when we start taking action on our goals, opportunities often present themselves. Perhaps we ignored those opportunities in the past because we weren’t focused on the change we wanted to create or perhaps your action and initiative has caught the eye of someone who is looking for someone just like you. Action begets action, so get started today. Have you really thought about what you want out of your job and career? Have you thought about what particular parts of your job you love or hate? Can this thought and knowledge lead you to the career you deserve? I think so. Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:03:06 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/What-are-you-looking-for-Podcast/ http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/We-all-do-stupid-things-Podcast/ While it may seem a bit rude to say, we all do stupid things. It is a fact of human nature that there will be times when we do something that makes no sense at all. I do it. You do it. We all do it. That said, stupid things aren’t always simply stupid. Often we are just distracted, upset or angry and this leads us to do stupid things. Most importantly, once we recognize that we are all capable of doing stupid things, we can work harder to minimize those occurrences. This is how we learn and grow. Listen to this Podcast Social Media Self Preservation: Taking advantage of social media without losing your mind Audio Book - MP3 - 42 mins Buy Now View other books by Douglas E. Welch Like Career Opportunities on Facebook Why we do “stupid things” As you might realize based on the introduction, many of the stupid things we do aren’t really stupid at all. Truly stupid things would be those actions taken out of ignorance or lack of thought about the consequences. Sure, there might be a few of those things in your day, but for the average person, these are few and far between. It is far more likely that we do stupid things out of inattention, distraction or anger than actual stupidity. It is easy to become distracted. How many of us have left our coffee cup, briefcase or other object on top of the car and then started to drive away? We weren’t being stupid. Something else was taking our full attention and we simply didn’t have the mental space for the smaller item. I think this is one of my own biggest reasons for doing stupid things. I become so focused on something else -- usually something unimportant -- I leave something where it shouldn’t be or forget to do something important. We can get distracted for any number of reasons. Perhaps we are trying to juggle too many items. Maybe someone else is trying to talk to us about one thing when we should be actively concentrating on another. Perhaps we are worried or scared or not feeling well. Each of us has our own distractions and you will need to notice and learn from your own distraction triggers if you want to reduce the amount of stupid things you do. The next most common reason we do stupid things is out of anger. We all have stories of friends who kicked the flat tire, punched a wall or did something else injurious because we were angry. Anger short circuits our thought processes and leads us to do things we might never do otherwise -- slam doors, throw things, shout loudly and angrily. We almost always regret doing these actions moments later, but when we allow ourselves to be taken by the moment, we can do some amazingly stupid things. This is why the “count to 10” rule is so often advised when we are feeling angry. Simply counting to 10 can help us overcome the urge to lash out and let our thinking catch up to our actions. How to do fewer stupid things First, you must realize that all of us will do something stupid nearly every day. As I mentioned, it is simply part of the human condition. Our goal is not to try and eliminate ALL the stupid things we do, but rather do as few stupid things as possible. Trying to eliminate them all would probably cause you to go mad and, in some cases, insure that you do nothing at all, out of fear of making a mistake. You don’t want to drive yourself to inaction while trying to drive yourself away from distraction. You still have to live within the everyday world. Rather, you want to use a few simple tools to help you reduce the amount of stupid things to a low enough level that they really don’t have a major impact on your life. First, you need to begin to better understand what distracts you and when you are most likely to be distracted. For some of us it is in the morning confusion and rush. For others, it might be in the car in traffic. For still others, it could be later in the evening when you are trying to get something accomplished. Think back over the last few weeks and try to remember when you did something stupid. Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:51:36 EST http://play.callisto.fm/podcasts/by/douglaswelch/in/Career-Opportunities/episode/We-all-do-stupid-things-Podcast/