Tamara S. Raymond - Careering: The Pocket Guide to Exploring Your Future Career

Careering

CAREERING

The Pocket Guide to Exploring Your Future Career

TAMARA S. RAYMOND

NEW YORK

NASHVILLE MELBOURNE VANCOUVER

CAREERING

The Pocket Guide to Exploring Your Future Career

2018 Tamara S. Raymond

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other,except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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9781683504023 paperback

9781683504030 eBook

Library of Congress

Control Number: 2017900327

Cover & Interior Design by:

Chris Treccani

3 Dog Design

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to everyone at Morgan James Publishing for believing in me and making my book a reality, a product that I am proud of. I appreciate your hard work. Thank you, David, Bethany, Chris, Jim, Nickcole and a big thank you to my managing editor, Megan, for answering my many questions and holding my hand through the process.

I want to thank everyone who has made a difference in my life. I know they say it takes a village, but, in my case, it probably took many more. Thank you to those of you without whom this book would not exist.

Thank you, Mom for always being supportive and allowing me to chart my own path. Thank you, Dad; without you, I wouldnt be the person I am today, strong enough to weather many a storm. Thank you to my sister, Natalee, for being my unwitting and, in some instances, reluctant test subject over the years. I love you.

Thank you, Susan, for all your unwavering love and supportand for being a royal pain at the end of this process, cheerleading me to the finish line. Thank you, Ayfer, for being a huge part of this project; without you, it would probably still be a great idea, without actually coming to fruition. Thank you to my wonderful friends: Barbara, Manisha, Mikey, Serena, and Karroo. You have been with me through my journey.

Aunt Joyce and Aunt Bernice, I appreciate your unconditional support, love, and kind words. Aunt Cons, thank you for always being ready with an encouraging word and for being my editor extraordinaire.

A big thank you to all my readers for allowing me to fulfill my dream of contributing to your growth.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

I wrote this book after hearing from students like you, who told me about the challenges and difficulties of navigating the whole job scene. This book is full of helpful hints and tips to guide you along the way. It is designed to get you out there doing, exploring, researching, trying new things, and having helpful, career-related conversations with others.

It is not my intent to add one more thing to the list of fifteen extracurricular activities and ten chores you have to do each day. It is my intent to create a whole new perspective for your thoughts about the future. I want to bring fun, exploration, and adventurecased in responsibility and accountabilityto finding out whats next for you in life. As a certified leadership coach, I wrote this book to share my years of coaching experience, as well as my personal experiences. I hope to bring a sense of ease and purpose to you as you move forward in exploring what life has to offer.

Ive been many things in my professional life: successful, an entrepreneur, employed, under employed, unemployedand the list goes on. Ive realized, for a major part of my life, I defined myself, as we often do, by how successful (or not) I was at a given point in time. I often got frustrated because I wasnt where I thought I should be or where other people thought I should be.

However, I have now learned to take a step back, look at what I want, define what success really means to me, and envision what success looks like. Then I can decide Im worthy of having it. It doesnt have to look like everyone elses brand of success, as long as I am fulfilled and can make a contribution to others. After all, people have different viewpoints on success.

What Careers and Industries Are You Most Interested in and Why?

Consider the following questions as you determine your career interests:

What impact would you like to make on the world?

What changes do you want to see in the world/your community/your neighborhood, and how can you use your talents to make it happen?

What are your gifts/talents?

Is it possible to make a difference and make a living doing it?

What do you like to do?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What are you passionate about?

I think these are necessary questions, but, for me, these questions and variations on them have all, at some point, led to varying answers, such as:

Are you kidding me? Im fifteen years old.

No, I cant sing.

No, Im not artistic.

I respect nurses, but I dont want to be one.

At one point, my standard answer was, I want to be a doctor. In full disclosure, I used to give this answer to get people to stop asking me more questions. Yes, I know; I was cheeky even at fifteen. But the constant interrogation from adults led to feelings of frustration, excitement, and sometimes more questions. I would often think, I know what I like to do, but how is that a profession? Whats next for me? Spoiler alert! The goal of this book is to help you figure out some of these questions by giving you helpful and practical steps.

In listening to others, both professionally and personally, one comment I often hear is, I wish I had tried ______, or I didnt think about doing ______, not to mention, I wish someone had told me ______.

So here it is. Ive decided to share career-exploration tools many of us didnt have when we were teens. Let my past experience be your guide. I am drawn to coaching and leadership development because I enjoy helping other people and watching them grow personally and professionally.

Who Am I

Heres a little about me. My college major was psychology, but I went on to receive a masters in organizational sciences (management). I also have certification in leadership coaching and The Birkman Method. Ok, enough about me. Lets get started.

As for my career, Ive worked in numerous positions, including human resources, recruiting, coaching, leadership, organizational development, and project management. As for industries, Ive worked many sectors, including finance, banking, insurance, local government, and engineering services. Ive also coached and consulted in other areas.