Page 23 - Complete Idiot's Guide to The Perfect Resume

02 0028633946 CH01 12/21/99 12:27 PM Page 5

Chapter 1 ➤ Mapping Your Job Hunt

skills, and interests and to brainstorm about how those can be fulfilled by your
career.
➤ Work with a career coach, someone who will help you develop a strategy and motivate
you to reach your career goals.

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you can plow through the career-planning stages on your own.
Try these strategies:
➤ Take some of the online career-development tests to help you determine what line of
work suits you best. On my Web site (http://www.susanireland.com), you’ll find links
to career-test sites I recommend. They’re also listed in Appendix C, “Other Cool
Resources.”
➤ Conduct some informational interviews with folks who do the kind of work you’re
considering. These interviews can be fun and will give you a taste of what it would be
like to work in that arena.

Bonus Check
Want to change careers but don’t know what to change to? Here’s a way to get some
ideas:
➤ Make a list of keywords that define your areas of interest.
➤ Input those keywords into your Internet search engine, entering between one and
three words per search.
➤ Check out the Web sites that come up and see if those sites stimulate any ideas for
your career change.
See Chapter 19, “Getting Hooked on the Internet,” to learn how to get up and going
online.

➤ Volunteer in the field before looking for employment there.
Some real experience will tell you if it’s what you want.
➤ Follow the tips in Part 5, “The Electronic Job Search,” for
conducting an online job search.

Whether you want to get help from a pro or figure out your career
plans all by yourself, use the following worksheet to articulate Career Casualties
your career goals. Yes, go ahead and write in the book! Never ask for a job during an
informational interview. An
informational interview is strictly
for gathering information about
a profession that interests you,
not for gathering a job!

5