Exciting times at FiredUP Careers - here is our recent press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “LIFE’S TOO SHORT. . . DIG WHAT YOU DO” WITH THIS PHILOSOPHY FIREDUP CAREERS EXPLODES ON THE SCENE 

Los Gatos, CA – March 27, 2007 – Just in time to help us leap into spring, FiredUP Careers, a uniquely focused career coaching company, announces the Dig What You Do Process to help working professionals be who they are and “dig what they do.” 

Most people would jump at the chance to find a job that allows them to be who they are and dig what they do.  Most people spend much of their professional career searching for the kind of work that is enjoyable and fulfilling and rewarding.  Unfortunately, most people never find it. Instead, they spend their entire careers stuck in a dead-end, boring and meaningless job that simply pays the bills.

“The Dig What You Do Process builds on a synergy of self-knowledge and analytical observation to unleash the power of intelligent action,” says Chris Fogarty, co-founder of FiredUP Careers.   “When we love our work, it doesn’t feel tedious,” says co-founder Robin Ogden. “It gets us out of bed eagerly in the morning, ready to exercise our creativity. Work should bring deep satisfaction, never misery.” 

The team at FiredUP Careers believes life is too short to spend our lives in an employment rut.  They have created the Dig What You Do Process to help their clients understand and act on the Seven Principles of Career Success.  The Dig What You Do Process, unlike most career coaching programs, doesn’t focus on helping people find their next job or position themselves for their next promotion.  Instead, they teach their clients to integrate the Seven Principles to become more confident and successful in their day-to-day actions and to develop winning strategies to create an extraordinary career. 

The Dig What You Do Process is based on the conviction that when people do work they really enjoy, it fills out their lives and provides the means to enjoy life to the fullest. The Process is built on the premise that one can achieve career success without compromising other parts of one’s life.  What a concept!

The philosophy sounds simple:  know what you need, know what is going on around you, and make intelligent choices.  Most people, however, don’t get it.  Far too many people spend their careers in environments they don’t enjoy; working with people with whom they would rather not be working, forcing themselves into a professional straitjacket, and hoping things will get better. 

To learn more about the Dig What You Do Program and about the Seven Principles of Career Success, please visit the FiredUP Careers website at http://www.firedupcareers.com

About Fired Up Careers

FiredUP Careers is a career counseling company for working professionals who seek greater fulfillment from their work. Based upon the belief that “life’s too short” to be stuck in the wrong job, they help people understand who they are, what they want from their work, and how to balance work with the rest of their lives.  Their products and services help you recognize your deepest and most pervasive career dreams and position yourself to move into a career in which you actually Dig What You Do.

Media Contact:

Julie Scopazzi

The UpLevel Agency

408.354.3400

Julie@uplevelagency.com

Does just thinking about networking make your palms go sweaty, your stomach ache, and bring out your well-rehearsed networking excuses? Well, if this is the case it’s probably safe to say, you may have a ‘networking phobia’. So, what can you do to overcome it?

First of all, don’t be too hard on yourself. Effective networking can be learned and all it really takes is practice, a willingness to connect and some patience (mostly with yourself). Many times when someone is in job search mode they imagine networking as standing around asking people for a job. Nothing could be further from the truth. When networking is approached from what it truly is – connecting, building relationships and staying in touch with others – then your approach can take on a whole new meaning, even when facing job search.

Ok, so you say you’ve heard all that stuff before. But, you ask, what about handling infamous questions, such as “What do you do?” – or, “Where do you work?” These questions usually pop up during networking and can really bring on a good case of networking phobia when you’re not currently employed. Often times when you don’t have a company to apply your profession to at the time, talking about what you do or where you work can turn into a bit of a tongue twister and can even stop you from getting out and networking at all. A great way to handle this is to create a 30-second pitch, or commercial as it is sometimes called, surrounding “what” you do as a profession. Are you an IT Professional? Are you an Accountant? A Recruiter? In other words, don’t focus on the fact that you are not currently applying your profession at a given employer, really focus on “who you are” in your professional world. Create a 30-second pitch that covers what you do professionally, what you’ve done most recently and what you are currently looking for. This way the person who asked you gets a convenient snapshot of you, which can produce good follow on conversation and possibly even a job lead. Let me give you an example:

Fred says: “So, Sally – what do you do?”

Sally says: “I’m an Accountant. Most recently I was with Prima Corporation where I designed and implemented accounting and consolidation procedures. Prima moved their operations to Southern California, so I’m currently exploring new opportunities within the accounting profession where I can use my expertise in building strong accounting policies, as well as working with Sarbanes Oxley compliance.”

So, what you have here is the beginning of a networking conversation between two people. Fred now has several options with Sally. He can ask more about her specific experience, or perhaps more about what she is looking for, or he may even provide Sally with the name of a friend she could contact. Once you become more comfortable with networking you can begin to add “impact statements” to your 30-second pitch, which will tell people more about the value you add to your profession and how an employer benefits from your expertise.

Coaching is a great way to work through developing your networking processes, if you’re interested in finding out more be sure to visit us at FiredUP Careers where we work to help you create career success without compromising your life!

Posted by Robin Ogden - FiredUP Careers

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There’s a lot being said these days about developing your personal brand and how doing so will help you stand out from your career competition. But, just how does one go about doing this personal branding thing? After all, companies like Google, eBay, Microsoft and loads more all have herds of people developing and ensuring brand messaging and continuity. So, where do you start (without having your own herd) and just what type of personal brand do you want? Should you just throw on a new suit and don a new ‘do’? Sure those things always help, but it really has to begin at a much deeper level in order to develop a true and lasting personal brand.

One place to start is by learning more about yourself and how you function in different environments and with different people. Taking a look at your unique inner style and attributes will enable you to decide how best to portray and utilize them for your personal brand. It’s important to know your preferences because in the ‘knowing’ you can the do the ‘building’ of your brand.

There are a number of assessments that can help you discover more about yourself. One in particular is the very popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). If you haven’t taken this well-liked and highly creditable test then I suggest you do. It is best to take this test through someone who is certified in the process. You really will get much more from it than trying to take some ‘quick fix’ version. You may have to cough up the price of the test and consult, but it is well worth it. If you would like some MBTI referral sources email me at www.coach@firedupcareers.com and I can provide you with some.

Once you’ve taken the assessment, I highly recommend a book for you called YOU: Being More Effective In Your MBTI Type by Roger R. Pearman, Michael M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger. This book is a jewel for people who want to grow and enhance their skills, as well as understand how they interact with others. It has great tips and advice on how to be more effective in your work and also provides loads of information on solving interaction problems. Here’s the link where you will find the book: http://www.lominger.com/67_you.html Another good source of reading for MBTI is the book, Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. This book is available on Amazon.com.

In a nutshell, finding out more about yourself and how you function will be your guiding compass in creating your personal brand. It will help you tell people: Here is my value; here is who I am, what I can do for you and how we can work together. You will then be able to align yourself with your company and walk-the-talk by ‘who you are’. You will take a much more authentic approach to what you do. You will be able to state your claim, as well as express and deliver on what you stand for. By gaining clarity around yourself you’ll show up in a way that goes way beyond a new suit – believe me!

Posted by Robin Ogden - FiredUP Careers

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Those of you who are into continued learning (life-long students) may be interested in checking out this link http://www.ocwconsortium.org/about/index.shtml. The OpenCourseWare (OCW) opportunity is available to everyone and is a phenomenal effort on behalf on the member Universities to advance education and empower people. Here’s more information about OCW from their link:

About Us

An OpenCourseWare is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized as courses. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 100 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware.

Are you interested in finding out what MIT is teaching and wish you could take a course there? Well, you ‘virtually’ can, it’s here and it’s FREE - here is the link for MIT’s Open Course Ware - http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/all-courses.htm As of November 2006 MIT had 1,550 courses in the system. Here are MIT’s goals/information for OCW:

MIT OCW is a large-scale, Web-based electronic publishing initiative funded jointly by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation , MIT, and generous support of the Ab Initio software company. MIT OCW’s goals are to:

• Provide free, searchable access to MIT’s course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.
• Extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW and the “opencourseware” concept.

MIT OCW would not be possible without the support and generosity of the MIT faculty who choose to share their research, pedagogy, and knowledge to benefit others. We expect MIT OCW to reach a steady - though never static - state by 2008. Between now and then, we will publish the materials from virtually all of MIT’s undergraduate and graduate courses. We will be continually evaluating the Access, Use, and Impact of MIT OCW. With 1,550 courses published as of November 1, 2006, we are still in a learning stage of this MIT initiative and we will benefit enormously from your feedback, as we strive to make MIT OCW as rich and useful as possible for our users.

This is a wonderful opportunity to increase your knowledge base and stay up to date. If you’re not in need right now, bookmark the sites I’ve provided here and be sure to pass this blog information along to your friends who may be interested.

Posted by Robin Ogden - FiredUP Careers

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Hello All -

Career Advice Talk is your blog for advice, information and more regarding your career (and who knows…now and then I come across some great information about life that I think you’ve got to know - so, you’ll see that here too).  My name is Robin Ogden and you can find out more about me on my website http://www.firedupcareers.com In the meantime, check back here often and pick up tips and advice on career action.