Career Opportunities with Douglas E. Welch

Self-Knowledge: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 5 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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While having a deep knowledge of the world around you is incredibly important in your career, even more important is a deep self-knowledge of your strengths, weakness, wants, needs, and desires. You must know what you want out of your life and career, what you know, what you don’t know and the difference between them. It is only in this way that you can make the best decisions for yourself and your own, unique career. Otherwise, you will be susceptible to control by others or even arrogant about your own knowledge and skills.

Read Self-Knowledge: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 5 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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Empathy: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 4 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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Empathy is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another”. This can sound a bit confusing and academic, so I often think about empathy in this way. Empathy is imagining how you might feel were you placed in the position, given the same experiences and basically, lived the life of someone else.

 

Read Empathy: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 4 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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Troubleshooting: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 3 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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You might typically think of troubleshooting skills as something specific to computer and technology support roles, but I can assure you that troubleshooting is an elemental skill of every successful careerist, regardless of the work you do.

I first learned my troubleshooting lessons at the knee of my master mechanic father, Harold, who can disassemble nearly anything, fix it and put it back together in even better working order. I watched him fix everything from home appliances to earthmovers the size of small houses and I think I organically absorbed his troubleshooting strategies long before I ever consciously recognized that the concept of troubleshooting even existed. I then took these skills and turned them into a very lucrative and success career in computers and other technology. I often say that I do the same work my father did, but my hands don’t get nearly as dirty.

If you want to be successful at troubleshooting anything, and also at your career, here are some guidelines to follow when solving problems for yourself and other.

Read Troubleshooting: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 3 — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! 

Communication: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 2

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You would think in this world of constant communication, we would all be excellent communicators. Surely, you must get better at something you do all day, every day. As you know, though, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are those among us who actually communicate worse, due to their constant engagement. Instead of communicating WITH people they end up shouting AT people. If you want a successful career, though, you must cultivate high-quality communication in everything you do. You must say what you mean, mean what you say and do it in such a way that others can easily understand you. Miscommunication leads to and exacerbates so many other issues in the work environment. These associated problems could easily be avoided if we all took some time and care with our communication.

Read Communication: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist – Part 2

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Career problems often stem from life problems — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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Life and career are intimately intertwined. We can try to keep them as separate as possible, but the fact remains that it is an impossible task. Our daily work life directly effects our life outside of work and vice versa. Instead of ignoring this connection, we all need to be aware how each side can cause issues for the other.

Read Career problems often stem from life problems — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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Those who “need” your help, but don’t really “want” it — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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It is important to remember that every job, every career, involves some aspect of customer service. In some cases we might be supporting our outside customers while, in others, we are supporting our fellow, in-house, coworkers. Whatever the reason, though, it is often part of our job to help others do theirs. As someone who has made a career out of customer service, I would like to warn you about a frustrating situation that can occur — people who “need” your help but don’t really “want” it. I know that can sound very odd, but I think you will recognize these people in your life and work when I describe them and their behavior. These people can make your work very difficult if you don’t understand how to recognize and deal with them.

Read Those who “need” your help, but don’t really “want” it — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! 

Organization: The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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When most of us think about organization, we think about calendars, address books and to-do lists, but organization, as it relates to your life and career, is so much more. We all know  from personal experience how unorganized people and companies can make our lives much more difficult than it need be – sometimes to the point of chaos. Why would we wish to inflict this on others ourselves? If you want to have a successful career, you must become organized – at least in some basic way. Thankfully, and despite what you might think, it’s relatively easy to be organized. Even more, the slightest bit of organization, will help you to stand out among those who haven’t yet learned that lesson. Organization can be an excellent way to build a very successful career.

Read The 7 Skills of a Successful Careerist — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! 

Make your own Career Classroom — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

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The explosion of educational MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) seems to indicate a large, renewed interest in nontraditional educational opportunities. People are looking for new opportunities to learn when and where they can. While there are a tremendous amount of large MOOCs available, and you should be investigating them, this trend has also sparked my own thinking about smaller, self-directed learning opportunities. You don’t always have to rely on someone else to create your learning opportunities, like traditional schools and universities. You, along with a small group of friends, family, or coworkers can create your own time and place to learn together. In some ways, I think that these smaller groups can help you learn more deeply, in a more intimate learning environment, than any MOOC possibly could.

Read Make your own Career Classroom — from the Career Opportunities Podcast

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!