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New at Career Choice Guide

Share Your Job Search Experiences

Do you have an unusual or interesting job search experience that you'd like to share? Share your career experiences here:
Have you experienced an unusual job interview technique?
What is the most unusual resume you've ever seen or heard about?
What is the most unusual or creative strategy you've used to find a job?

Readers' Job Search Experiences

Creative Job Search Strategies That Worked
Persistence Paid off in My Son's Job Search
It Paid to Talk on the CB
Out of Work for a Long Time
It Pays to be Persistent
Finding My Dream Jobs

Unusual Interview Techniques
"Horrifying" Experience
First Interview Just as Bad as the Second
Salary Negotiation Issue
My Worst Interview Was No Interview
Odd Line of Interview Questions
Lisa's Response to "Odd Line of Interview Questions"
An Interview Where Being Honest Burned Me
Lisa's Response to "An Interview Where Being Honest Burned Me"
Interview With a Mad Woman

Ask a Career Expert

Get timely answers to your career planning and job search questions. Ask and get answers to your job search and career-related questions here: Ask a Career Expert

Your Questions Answered

Becoming an Entrepreneur - Rewards and Challenges
What are challenges and rewards for entrepreneurs?

Career Change Question
Can you tell me where I can look to find out how my skills translate into other, non-computer type job qualifications?

Entrepreneur Questions
What classes or programs do I need to take in high school if I want to open my own small club business...and what college school will help make this come true?

Career Choice Guide Blog

New Articles on Career Choice Guide

Job Interview Questions
The amount of job interview information on the site has been growing quickly. In order to keep everything organized and easy to find, I've added a new section for articles about job interview questions.

Interview Stress
If you feel you are experiencing more than the usual amount of interview stress, you may actually be in a stress interview. Sometimes employers purposely cause a certain amount of interview stress because the job they are filling will involve a certain amount of stress, and they need to know how you perform in stressful situations.

Pre Employment Testing
Some employers use pre employment testing to assess your personality or your aptitudes (the things you will likely be good at) as they relate to the job. These tips will help you make a good impression during pre employment testing.

Being an Entrepreneur - Advantages and Challenges
Based on my own experience being an entrepreneur and talking with other entrepreneurs, the most common challenges related to becoming self employed are...

Career Research Tools
Career research tools used by professionals and how to use them yourself.

Transferable Skills Analysis
A transferable skills analysis is simply a thorough list of all of the skills and qualifications that you can offer an employer. Knowing this information about yourself is crucial if you intend to make a career change.

Feature Article

7 Things to Consider When Making a Career Change

1. Your Values
People think about money or prestige when considering career options, but they rarely talk about work values when making a career change. A mismatch between your values and the realities and requirements of your job is the biggest source of career burnout.

Many people easily tolerate working odd hours or a long commute when they feel truly invested in the value of the work that they do. As soon as you don't buy into the big picture importance of your job, all of the little stresses and annoyances pile up and wear on you.

If you ensure your work is in line with your values and you believe in the value of the work that your do, you will be taking to first step toward a smart career decision.

2. Your Current Lifestyle Based Needs and Expectations
Do you have a mortgage to pay, or a child or partner who is dependent upon you for income? Have you become accustomed to a certain lifestyle that your current job allows? Before you make a career change, assess your lifestyle related needs to ensure your new job will meet those needs. If you have a spouse, or other people in your life who will be significantly impacted by your career change, discuss your plans with those people. If you take their needs into account as much as possible, you will have an easier time getting the support you need through this change.

3. The Influence of Others
Are you making career choices based on your own needs or based on the expectations of others? While it's important to consider the concerns of people who will be impacted by your career change, basing career decisions on the expectations of friends and family can send you into a job that is not a good fit for you. You are the one who will have to get up and go to work every day, so you need to make career choices based on your own definition of success, not someone else's ideas about what may be right for you.

4. Your Education and Skills
Do you have the education and or skills required to be competitive in your new chosen career? If you don't, are you ready and able to commit the time and perhaps financial resources needed to upgraded your education or get needed experience? If a particular job requires a master's degree, and you are just not willing or able to commit to pursuing that degree, then that job is not a good fit for your needs.

5. Your Aptitudes
Consider the kinds of tasks that you are naturally good at and work to your strengths. Too often we focus on our weaknesses. Instead of always concentrating on your areas for improvement, look toward those things that come naturally to you and use those skills as a starting point for making career choices.

6. Your Interests
You will spend countless hours each year at your job, you might as well be doing something that piques your interest. Consider the types of subjects that interest you when making career decisions.

7. Labor Market Conditions
Is it realistic to expect you will find a job in your chosen field within your local area? Will you need to look outside of your community to find work in your new field, and if so, are you willing to commit to a move or a commute to make your career change? Particularly in smaller towns, labor markets can quickly become saturated in some fields when new training programs emerge.

Imagine, for example, you live in a small town, and the community college has just launched an aesthetician certification program. Suddenly there will be an perceivable increase in the number of people in the area who are trained aestheticians. The first few graduating classes may have no trouble finding work in the local area, but if there are only a limited number of jobs in the area in this field, as more people graduate from the program, graduates will need to look beyond that community for job opportunities.

Before you make a career choice, ensure that there are jobs available locally in your filed, or that you are willing to move or commute to an area where those jobs are available.

Think through your needs and fully understand the realities of your new career, and you will ensure that you make a smart career choice and a smooth transition to your new career.