We live in a tough time to be without a job right now. For two or three years now, I’ve been positioning myself and searching for a new career path: furthering my skill set with a certificate program at the University of Washington, redesigning my web portfolio with fresh work samples that highlighted my diverse skill set, and honing my resume to better market the cross-discipline skills that would help me transition to a new field.
It’s not that I didn’t love my old one, but I had grown ready for a change and ready to take on more responsibility and a larger leadership role in my career. And then, six months ago, I made a monumental decision. I fully committed myself to this new career search, and formally resigned from my teaching position.
At the time, I had only a part-time job as a Program Director for a challenge course that had no benefits and was largely seasonal. The risk I was taking was huge. It was a leap of faith, bigger than any I had taken so far. But, once the decision was made, I hit the ground running. I quickly shifted my web portfolio to target myself as a freelance creative. I began marketing myself through my blog, building backlinks and developing a series of inbound marketing oriented articles to help bring in readers who might solicit my services. In no time at all, I was positioning myself to pick up work wherever I could.
And that’s when it hit me. Suddenly I was being called in to interview for not one, but three different positions. Within weeks after having made my leap of faith, I had landed a part-time job with the Northwest Regional Primary Care Association as their Distance Learning Coordinator. Quickly after that, my role on the challenge course began to grow and our business was presented with multiple opportunities to expand. And in no time at all I found myself busy with the challenge course, the primary care association, and freelance web development. It seemed the more I shared my new adventures both online and off, the more work that came my way.
Over that six month period, and the years of preparing that went into that decision, I have learned a lot about myself and the nature of a job search. I’ve gotten advice from countless sources and read countless articles about career shifts, portfolio development, resume creation, and marketability. As you explore some of my past articles, you’ll find information on marketing yourself, developing your portfolio, and creating your resume. So, in my next few articles, I want to talk to you about what to do to move yourself in the right direction. How do you position yourself for a new career?
