Daisy Swan – Career Coach Guest Contributor for My L.A. Lifestyle Do you love to look around to find the unexpected? Love to scour racks of clothes, or shelves of shoes, for that perfect surprise item that pulls an outfit (or maybe starts one) together…? Not everyone loves this kind of thing. Some people want the goods all laid out, put together, done. But some of us like the thrill of the adventure. We are mystery shoppers. Some people are actually employed as mystery shoppers…people who are planted in stores to surreptitiously shop the aisles, watching how salespeople manage patrons and merchandise. I’m not talking about that kind of mystery shopper. I’m talking about being a mystery shopper in your own life. Tuning into our own lives like a mystery shopper, means tuning into what’s really happening with us, and the world around us. We get… Read More
career development
Think You Have to go to SFO for Cool Work? Think Again.
L.A. County Has Most High Tech Jobs in Country By MELISSAH YANG Los Angeles has more high-tech jobs than any other metro region in the country, including its northern neighbors in Silicon Valley, according to a report released Monday. The county in 2013 employed more than 368,500 people in its high-tech sector, defined as businesses with a large proportion of technology-oriented jobs. The biggest high-tech segments for Los Angeles were in aerospace, wholesale production, engineering, consulting and computer software development. High tech made up 9 percent of all L.A. jobs, above employment numbers posted by manufacturing; accommodation and food services; and trade and logistics. “Los Angeles’ tech industry is now as critical to our economy as our manufacturing and entertainment sectors – and we are outperforming New York, Boston, and Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti in statement. “If we want… Read More
3 Actions To Get Over Who, Or What, Is Driving You Crazy At Work
Boss driving you crazy with micro-managing, irrational, controlling behavior, or not giving you the support and direction you need? Co-worker stealing your ideas and taking credit for work that you did? Mind-numbing, repetitive work or projects making you feel like quitting your job, right now? Or do you feel intimidated and under-qualified for the job…not talented enough, not smart enough, and generally overwhelmed? You’re in good company. These stress and anxiety-provoking thoughts and feelings induce a kind of tunnel vision. We hyper-focus on what’s not working, and often our conversations and thoughts keep coming around to the same points of dissatisfaction, and how we’re wanting to get rid of the problem. Here are a few actions that have worked for my clients and have created some mental space, to alleviate some of the anxiety: 1. Take some time right now, and consider what your boss – or other annoying… Read More
What Kind of Optimist Are You?
I always encourage lifelong learning, but now is absolutely the time to stretch out of our comfort zone to embrace the possibilities that this time of change presents. Stepping into change stems from hope….
When you see spontaneous social protests erupting from Tunisia to Tel Aviv to Wall Street, it’s clear that something is happening globally that needs defining. There are two unified theories out there that intrigue me. One says this is the start of “The Great Disruption.” The other says that this is all part of “The Big Shift.” You decide.
Paul Gilding, the Australian environmentalist and author of the book “The Great Disruption,” argues that these demonstrations are a sign that the current growth-obsessed capitalist system is reaching its financial and ecological limits. “I look at the world as an integrated system, so I don’t see these protests, or the debt crisis, or inequality, or the economy, or the climate going weird, in isolation — I see our system in the painful process of breaking down,” which is what he means by the Great Disruption, said Gilding. “Our system of economic growth, of ineffective democracy, of overloading planet earth — our system — is eating itself alive. Occupy Wall Street is like the kid in the fairy story saying what everyone knows but is afraid to say: the emperor has no clothes. The system is broken. Think about the promise of global market capitalism. If we let the system work, if we let the rich get richer, if we let corporations focus on profit, if we let pollution go unpriced and unchecked, then we will all be better off. It may not be equally distributed, but the poor will get less poor, those who work hard will get jobs, those who study hard will get better jobs and we’ll have enough wealth to fix the environment.
What’s Next?
It’s easy to get down and depressed when it seems like so many things aren’t happening the way you want them to. I meet with men and women who are working hard to find the next right thing for them and they come in stooped and frustrated. But they do perk up and become inspired once we scratch the surface and find the quiet possibilities that lie, often, just below the surface.
I Don't Know What I Want To Be When I Grow Up
While visiting friends in Colorado over the holidays I had the great good fortune to meet and spend time with a woman who told me she didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up. She is 86 and an artist who brought a train car onto her property and transformed it into her home. Bright and warm, her sense of color and design fill the space. She has brought striking color and imagination to the lives of so many, and continues to develop ideas and create art. She is curious about the internet, i phones, and cameras. She asks pertinent questions, and keeps important quotes nearby throughout her cozy home. And she’s on alert for learning more about what she wants to do when she grows up. This artist embodies the curiosity and playfulness that empowers her to keep trying new things in her work, and… Read More
Key to securing jobs in growing fields
Landing a Job of the Future Takes a Two-Track Mind Career Experts Say Positions in Growing Fields Will Require an In-Demand Degree Coupled With Skills in Emerging Trends By DIANA MIDDLETON If you’re gearing up for a job search now as an undergraduate or returning student, there are several bright spots where new jobs and promising career paths are expected to emerge in the next few years. Technology, health care and education will continue to be hot job sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ outlook for job growth between 2008 and 2018. But those and other fields will yield new opportunities, and even some tried-and-true fields will bring some new jobs that will combine a variety of skill sets. The degrees employers say they’ll most look for include finance, engineering and computer science, says Andrea Koncz, employment-information manager at the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But to… Read More
Managing Your Career as a Business
Entrepreneurial Edge: Managing Your Career as a Business By James Flanigan Amid job uncertainty, more people are finding online employment sites and social media a way to take control of their own careers. EMPLOYMENT experts have some advice for the many Americans either looking for work or fearing they soon will be: Consider yourself an entrepreneur — of your own working life. The term entrepreneur is usually applied to people seeking to start their own small businesses. But those in the recruitment and employment industry say the uncertainty in the current economy means that workers need to think of their careers as their own small businesses. “The lesson of today is that you’re working for yourself,” said Janice Bryant Howroyd, the founder and chief executive of Act 1 Personnel Services, a staffing and employment company. “Most people say they’re giving their lives to the company, but it’s more of… Read More
My Graduation Gift
What’s the best graduation gift? Money? A watch? A car? A trip to another country? All good! But I’m giving something some might think is rather dry. I’ve decided to give the gift of education…I’ve been reading about the difficult time new grads, and those who haven’t even graduated yet, are having finding jobs this summer and I want to do something to help. I’m offering our Interviewing Excellence program on June 10th for free to those people out there who are under 23. I may even do that with our Navigating Career Change panel on July 10th, too. There’s just so much you don’t really know about work when you’re just getting started. I know I didn’t know much about how to handle an interview when I was 21, or 23 (and sometimes when I was older, too, although I did get really good at it). My life… Read More
Raising Career Savvy Kids
Check out my article “5 Ways to Raise Career Savvy Kids” at OnTeensToday.com with Vanessa Van Petten: OnTeensToday.com… Read More
