Career Dynamics: Five Step Approach to Career Change Success

A quick video slide show of the main ares of the course

In the last few years, I have dedicated my time to writing career development books and creating an innovative and highly successful course based on my Five Step Approach to Career Change Success that would help people with their own career vision in today’s employment landscape.

Prior to owning and operating a successful media company for over 20 years in Los Angeles, I was an executive with 20th Century Fox; Vice President at the Los Angeles Olympic Games Organizing Committee; Consultant to multi-national financial Deloittes & Touche and a full time University lecturer at the University of Miami, School of Business. In addition, I have worked with many Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, business owners and individuals helping them achieve their full potential. In addition, I have written eight books, three on career development

I personally have gone through two major seismic events in own career. My latest, which happened a few years ago, prompted me to develop and create The Five Step Approach to Career Success to help others in achieving their own  career vision and overcome all the obstacles, anxiety and stress career rejuvenation, re-invention or re-calibration cause

I personally have gone through two major seismic events in own career. My latest, which happened a few years ago, prompted me to develop and create The Five Step Approach to Career Change Success to help others in achieving their own  career vision. I also saw first hand, students at the University I was lecturing at, grapple with career development plus my father was in the Royal Airforce (United Kingdom) for twenty seven years.He decided to leave the military when I was eleven because all the travelling was negatively affecting my schooling.At such an early age, I saw the difficulties my father had in the transition from military to civilian life.

When my world changed so dramatically I had to re-invent my career. I thought about what my father had gone through, I vowed to help veterans with career change.

The Five Step Approach will help you… I know… it did for me.

My experiences having gone through major career changes myself, has allowed me to develop this step by step career change approach to help everyone contemplating career change 

What do you want? To be able to identify what you really want in your career is very critical. If you feel a disconnect between what you are doing now and what you feel you really want to do - then it’s time to re-evaluate and ask that one important question!  

Such a simple question; however, this question has huge ramifications. The answer to this question will provide the cornerstone for everything that matters to you. What you want, your dreams and desires, has to be tempered by realism.

Ask yourself these question

• Do you know exactly what you want from your career?
• Can you truly identify your goals, desires and ambitions?
• Are you happy and satisfied with your career?
• Are you as financially strong as you need and want to be?
• Are you living the life you really want and having the career you really want?

Each person is unique; therefore your needs, desires and ambitions are different. It is up to you to make decisions and find for yourself what you really want.   

What are your goals in your career? What do you really want and what kind of career do you want? Everyone is different. Goals over time will change; but, it is important to begin this process of what’s important to you and what you want in a career.

• What are your goals?
• Your dream career?
• What are your skills/talents?
• What are your values?
• What is ideal for you?

The first stage in setting goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your career, your life, in the long-term. Long-term may mean five or ten years – your decision. Setting these major goals provides the overall template that shapes all other aspects of your decision making.

Goal setting approach in summary:

• What do you really want to do? 
• Career goals must be identified
• Set your career goals and tasks

Identify and clarify your career goals in detail.

Set meaningful and attainable goals.

Every task has a clearly defined outcome and time frame.

Each task is a building block in achieving your larger goal.

Let this course help you in your goal setting.

The average person can expect to change careers several times in their lifetime.  What circumstances would cause an individual to potentially change careers? Are you thinking of a career change? 

Are you contemplating or in the process of a Career Change?

Are you looking for help and guidance in your future career path?

Are you looking for a proven and effective Career Change Approach?

This course will answer many of your questions and provide that service. 

Why? How? When ? etc., are all questions we shall discuss

Identifying what you want in a career and the potential for changing career paths requires a great deal of determination and perseverance. Focus on " anything is possible and if others can do it why not me". Once you grasp that meaning suddenly your goals become achievable and the 'why not me" becomes attainable.  

It is interesting to discuss whether you feel you are a left side of the brain person or a right side of the brain person?  Are you the creative type or the numbers type?  Business, finance or creative, marketing… Or both?

People tend to view themselves one dimensionally - artist or accountant. People who are left-brain thinkers are often better at and enjoy math and science over art and literature, making them perfect candidates for a career in engineering.

Socially-oriented people are usually right-brain thinkers. Right-brain thinkers love visual explanations over text explanations and are more interested in the initial creative process.

Those who are left-brain thinkers are more into processing information and analyzing the details than focusing on the creative.

So which are you and does it affect your thoughts on a career path?

A short concise video presentation of the major points and highlights of the section

Evaluate your present situation. The ability to focus and analyze where you are presently in your career is an important step in your evaluation of where you might wish to go. Is it time for a serious re-evaluation of your career status? Is it potentially time to make changes? How do you know when you need to change your career path?              Ask yourself theses questions?

•  Are you happy?
• Are you challenged?
• Are you compensated adequately?
• Do you have job satisfaction?
• Do you feel your career is going in the right direction?
• What are your priorities in life and your career?

Lets examine and evaluate your situation.

Understanding where you are at the present will give you a clear insight to where you need to go. Self-analysis is an important aspect of your journey. To be able to evaluate yourself critically and with honesty is integral part of the process. Lets examine your situation:

• Identify your strengths?
• Identify your weaknesses?
• What are potential opportunities?
• What threats are identified?

By answering these questions honestly, you will gain clarity on your career choices. 

This lecture will go through in detail what you need to address and focus on in your career development

To assist you in this process of self evaluation I have created this video which identifies and discusses in depth my own strengths and weaknesses I identified after my second career change seismic event. it provides a practical and insightful look at my own evaluation and will provide you insights on how to proceed with your own self evaluatution

A short concise video presentation of the major points and highlights of the section

If your career is not going as you wish and there is a feeling that a change is in order, whether it may be a re-focus; re-direction, or a major overhaul, this approach will allow you to analyze, then make informed decisions on your future direction. 

The Five Step Approach focuses on the many aspects on what it takes to have a successful career in to-day's economic and employment landscape. Identifying  the trends and requirements needed in this continuously evolving marketplace.  Each step will provide a clarity of purpose and direction, culminating in an effective path for your career vision. The approach is geared to be definitive in ensuring you have a laser focus on what’s important to you in your career path. Effective, efficient and targeted for YOUR requirements. It worked for me and many others and it will work for you.

Career Roadmap specifically for you. The object of The Five Step Approach is to create a manageable working plan that provides tools,techniques and strategies to enable you to achieve your career goals. The end result is a clear, defined, achievable action template, your Career Roadmap to career change success.

Each of the five steps are clear and concise with the specific focus of identifying your needs and requirements regarding potential career change. This includes in-depth instruction, practical examples and personal experiences to highlight the points required for clarity of thought and purpose. Each step logically leads to the next in a defined commonsense manner which culminates in the creation of a career roadmap and its implementation. 

Do you have the right tools, strategies, skills and techniques to succeed in your venture? Do you have the right skills and experience for your forward career development. They need to be identified, quantified and evaluated. This lecture provides the questions and asnwers to assist you in understanding what it takes to  move forward in your own career development.

Transferable skills are the skills acquired during your working career.  These skills are an integral part of the baby boomers pool of assets. The concept of transferable skills is a vital career component.

Which skills are best suited to achieving your goals?  Without being specific to certain career paths we can identify certain skills that are required to be successful in any career. What are these fundamental requirements for career success?

Unlike job-related skills, which tend to be used only in one type of employment, transferable skills are skills that can be used in every occupation, regardless of the type of work. They are universal skills — you can transfer them from one type of work to another without much effort on your part or training from the employer.

We shall examine the five categories and evaluate your particular skill set against those categories and find areas to improve and enhance your own asset portfolio. 

In today's career environment it is important to focus on providing true value to who ever your work for or with. Therefore it is important to understand and very very aware of the difference between activity verses accomplishment. This lecture discusses this area and why so important.

Both Career management and Time management are skills that are required for career success.

Career management means taking an active involvement in where your career is going. This demands thought and contemplation. The outcome of successful career management should ensure professional fulfillment, a balanced life and career, effective goal achievement and financial security. Taking your career into your own hands, molding it to what you wish and finding the career plan that works for you. That is career management. 

Time management is planning and exercising control over the amount of time spent on specific activities in order to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.Time management is a skill. You need practice and you need discipline. Organization allows you to plan

A short concise video presentation of the major points and highlights of the section

We have progressed through Steps 1, 2 and 3 of the Five Step Approach. These steps have created the platform to focus on Step 4… Career Roadmap.  By this stage, a pathway has been created to provide a vehicle, a template to achieve success.

WHAT IS A CAREER ROADMAP

To be successful you need a plan – a career roadmap to help guide you and keep you on the right path. A career roadmap will help you create a clear set of tasks and goals that are uniquely your career DNA. The roadmap will assist you in creating a well-defined action plan to provide you the focus and confidence necessary to attain those goals.

You will create your own Roadmap from all the work you have done in the previous steps of the course.

Every individual will have their own way of developing and creating their career roadmap. We all are unique in our career skills, experiences and education. We also have our own career desires and goals. Therefore, no two career roadmaps will be the same. All the steps leading to Step 4 will provide you the goals and tasks you have identified to create your own Career Roadmap.

Part 1: To assist you in this process of creating a career roadmap, I have created this lecture which identifies and discusses in depth my own process I identified after my second career change seismic event. It provides a practical and insightful look at my own career roadmap process and will provide you insights and my own practical experiences on how to proceed with your own roadmap 

Part 2: To assist you in this process of creating a career roadmap, I have created this lecture which identifies and discusses in depth my own process I identified after my second career change seismic event. It provides a practical and insightful look at my own career roadmap process and will provide you insights and my own practical experiences on how to proceed with your own roadmap 

A short concise video presentation of the major points and highlights of the section

Are You Prepared for the New Employment reality?

Understanding the new employment landscape and the fundamental and significant shift that has happened in the last few years is critical in evaluating your future - both in your career and your life.

Based on the major changes that have happened to the economy and industry over the last decade or so, it appears that your future career(s) will be in a constant state of evolving, changing and morphing dependent on what industry and what the employment landscape need and require. Being flexible, adaptable and acquiring and changing skills / credentials as you age, will be the norm – a constant state of flux! Go with the flow and be willing to learn new skills and adapt.

As the employment landscape changes and the needs of industry and customer’s needs change, so does each person’s career path meet new demands.

The current employment environment appears to be moving to short-term, contract type,  project based employment that is constantly being reviewed with limited benefits and limited security – truly a new world order! Adaptability, flexibility and a willingness to change to meet these new requirements is the new reality.   This course will help you by providing structure and guidelines to help in career change.

How are the structural,technological and economic changes over the last decade affected the world we live in and your career path? What has the future to offer and how will future changes affect your career choices?

This step is all about execution!

Once the career roadmap has been created, action is required. The career roadmap provides a comprehensive list of goals and tasks that need to be completed on a daily, weekly, monthly or annually basis.

Career plans are only as good as the ability of the person to act and execute the tasks required. The ability to execute and follow the roadmap in a timely fashion is important to your success.

This lecture explains the importance of execution in any career path.

Personal and social media networking and the contacts generated are a vital aspect of any career roadmap and these categories will be examined in depth and discussed how they can enhance your career development :

• Personal Contacts
• LinkedIn: Personal connects and groups
• Facebook: Personal/groups
• Twitter
• Meetup groups: Your industry/job type
• Internet communities: Your industry/job type
• Websites:  Career resources
• Career websites:  Detailed assistance/resume etc.
• Industry websites
• Job websites
• Personal Branding

What do we mean by career opportunism?  Career opportunism refers to discovering and pursuing avenues that could potentially benefit your career path.

Being active and maintaining business connections, relationships and resources that may provide a business opportunity is an important part of career development. Pay attention to what is happening in the employment world and observing developments and changes in various sectors of industry.

Such an appraoch will be discussed in order to focus your attention on career development.

A short concise video presentation of the major points and highlights of the section