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    What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life?
    What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life?
    What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life?
    Ebook259 pages3 hours

    What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life?

    By Roberta Cava

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    About this ebook

    Are you facing dismissal or company downsizing?
    Are you being forced into early retirement?
    Hate your Job? Want a career change? Then this book is a Must read!
    Readers learn how to motivate themselves into action so they can gain what they want from life; remove negative tapes that are holding them back, handle criticism and the fear of failure. Learn how to:
    Determine your transferable skills
    Where those skills could be used in other kinds of employment
    Where to obtain career counselling
    How to handle a second career
    What to do if you've plateaued
    How to obtain the salary you're worth

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCava Consulting
    Release dateApr 9, 2011
    ISBN9780958583459
    What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life?
    Author

    Roberta Cava

    Roberta Cava is the author of 30 books. Two of them are international best-sellers. Her Dealing with Difficult People book was published in 1990 (23 publishers in 17 languages). She was born in Canada but now lives on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.

    Read more from Roberta Cava

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      Book preview

      What Am I Going To Do With The Rest Of My Life? - Roberta Cava

      Introduction

      Chapter One: Laid off, fired, or forced to take early retirement?

      Company downsizing and laid off employees

      Results of downsizing and firing- case histories

      Fired, sacked, terminated, dismissed or canned employees- case histories

      Chapter Two: Do you hate your job or want to make a career change?

      Reasons people choose the wrong career

      Could this be you? - case histories

      What are the answers?

      Don't have a high school diploma?

      Chapter Three: Mid-career changes

      Job, occupation, career

      Making a mid-career change?

      Have you plateaued?

      Using skills in a different way

      Career decisions

      Taking the initiative

      Are you ready for a promotion?

      Chapter Four: Planning your career and identifying your transferrable skill

      Why set career goals?

      How much time do we spend in the workplace?

      Career stages:

      What do you like to do?

      Kinds of tasks you prefer

      Obtain career counselling

      Choosing a professional career counsellor

      Tests and tools

      Determine your transferrable skills

      Choose your career

      Sample career changes

      Upgrade skills

      Decide how you'll get into your chosen field

      Where to start

      Find a position

      Where to look

      Keep ready

      Applying for the job

      Pointers for writing resumes

      Kinds of resumes

      Attend an interview

      Dream jobs

      Chapter Five: Employment interviews

      The interview

      Employment interview questions

      Responding to interview questions

      Employment testing

      Dimensions tested

      Interview stages

      Panel versus individual interviews

      Handling illegal interview questions

      Human rights legislation regarding employment

      Questions often asked of women on interviews

      How companies might evaluate you

      Why are applicants rejected?

      Reference checks

      The job offer

      How to obtain the salary you're worth

      Chapter Six: Entrepreneurship

      Having your own business

      Why people want their own business

      Qualities of successful entrepreneurs

      Problems you may face

      Male and female entrepreneurs

      Characteristics of male and female entrepreneurs

      Types of self-employment:

      Ten steps to a successful business

      Know your business - and yourself

      Starting your own business:

      Marketing and advertising

      Pricing

      Distribution

      Financing

      Business plan

      Staffing

      Managing

      Organizing

      Chapter Seven: Dynamic goal setting

      Where do you want to go?

      Setting goals

      Too old to change?

      Goal clarity

      Positive/negative goals

      Sample good and bad goals

      Life inventory

      Using your potential

      Why is goal planning necessary?

      Lifetime & career goals

      Guidelines for setting lifetime goals

      Goal setting plan

      Driving and restraining forces

      Rules for brainstorming

      Using the goal setting plan

      Putting the goal plan into action

      Chapter Eight: What's holding you back?

      How well do you like yourself and your lifestyle?

      What's holding you back?

      Low self-esteem level

      How to improve your self-esteem

      Rate your self-esteem level

      Over-estimating the magnitude of the situation

      I should have ... If only ...

      Using negative instead of positive thinking

      Need approval

      Inflexibility

      Resistant to change

      Chapter Nine: Overcoming negative experiences

      How do we get negative tapes?

      Destructive criticism

      How do we remove negative tapes?

      Chapter Ten: Overcoming your fears

      Afraid to take risks

      Risk takers

      How can you improve your risk-taking?

      Fear of failure

      Eliminating the word failure

      Fear of disapproval from others

      Fear of success

      Fear of being locked-in

      Fear of independence

      Fear of making decisions

      The man in the glass

      Fear of saying no to others' requests

      Chapter Eleven: How can I change my approach to life?

      Where do you want to be?

      How to turn things around

      Count your blessings

      Make promises to self and keep them

      Be good to yourself

      Learn how to accept compliments

      Change the situation

      Change your response

      How you appear to others

      Non-verbal communication

      Your physical appearance

      Using colour to boost self-esteem

      Ability to communicate

      Energy level

      Enthusiasm

      The hurry-up epidemic

      Chapter Twelve: Making it happen!

      Obtaining inner peace

      Don't worry - be happy

      Can you do it alone?

      The importance of friendships and support groups

      Male/female friendships

      Conclusion

      Success

      How do winners differ from losers?

      How to tell a winner from a loser?

      Putting it all together

      Unique Career Counselling Opportunity

      Bibliography

      INTRODUCTION

      With today's high unemployment and poor economy, it appears that nobody's job is secure. Even those who are employed and feel their positions are secure can benefit by reading this book. This way they'll be prepared to handle the situation, should the axe fall on their positions.

      Are you one of the many employees who gave your all to your company or organisation, and felt that because of your excellent performance appraisals that your job was secure? Did you suddenly find yourself out on the street without a job? Did you wonder - Now what? Where do you start - when the thought of looking for a job gives you cold shivers and nightmares?

      With high unemployment, this may seem a monumental task, but for many, being forced into unemployment may be a blessing in disguise. Many have continued in a job, keeping their heads down, concentrating on their jobs, but didn't take time along the way to evaluate whether they truly liked the work they were performing. Many others knew they didn't like their work, but didn't want to rock the boat and think of alternative ways of making a living.

      Now they've been forced into the position of deciding what they're going to do with the rest of their lives. Many just dive into the same kind of work they've always done, whether they like it or not. In some cases, because of the acceleration of new technology, some positions are simply abolished. New positions have been created which balances this. However most of these new positions require specialised training. It might be necessary for the unemployed person to obtain the necessary training in order to be employed again. Unless employees are diligent, and keep up with technology, they'll simply be left behind or replaced.

      Others are offered early retirement packages (many years before they felt they were ready for it). The steady income is welcomed, but what can they do to make up for the remainder of the cash needed to pay their everyday bills? For some, the thought of sitting around doing nothing, sends them into a panic. Often peoples' self-worth is clearly linked to their ability to produce. When that ability is taken away from them, their self-confidence and sense of security are shattered.

      I've attempted in this book to help people find new ways of looking at employment. I help them identify their transferrable skills and locate alternate occupations that can use those talents. The topic of entrepreneurship is also discussed. Many have opted to offer their services on a contract basis (often to the companies that let them go in the first place). Unfortunately, unless they build the extra cost of benefits into their hourly or daily rate, they'll find that they're working for substantially less than they did before being let go.

      If you're still employed, but unhappily so, this book might give you the incentive to look to greener pastures and obtain your dream job. This won't occur unless you're willing to put in the needed energy and effort to make it happen. There are simply too many qualified people out there for you to succeed unless you do. No one else can do it for you, so get cracking, and decide What you're going to do with the rest of your life!

      Back to Top

      CHAPTER 1

      LAID OFF, FIRED, OR FORCED TO TAKE EARLY RETIREMENT?

      Company downsizing and laid off employees

      How could this be happening to me? I work hard, am seldom late or away from work, and have attended all the necessary training courses. I've just been laid off (or forced into early retirement). What went wrong? Better yet, what am I going to do to get my life back on track? I'll go nuts if I have to sit around doing nothing all day! Besides I have bills to pay and my family needs my income. What should I do, and how should I start?

      Sound familiar? Whether the term used is downsized, retrenched, laid off, let go, or forced into taking early retirement - it still amounts to the same thing - you are no longer employed!

      Because of the economic downswing, many have had to adapt to the fact that they're unemployed - some for the first time in their lives. They're forced to take time to decide what they really want out of life. If they put their minds to it - they can turn their lives around.

      Were you one of those employees who plodded along, week after week, month after month and even year after year in a job you simply tolerated? Were you suddenly jolted out of your lethargy by the fact that your job was either in jeopardy or under the threat of becoming obsolete?

      Results of downsizing and firing

      Many are devastated when their companies lay them off or fire them. They wonder how they can put the pieces of their lives back together again. Somehow, their ability to bring home a paycheque is all wrapped up with their feeling of self-worth. They feel there's a big hole in their lives when they're not working and being productive. Many become depressed - others suffer through family breakups, and still others contemplate suicide. After careful contemplation however, they may find that:

      a. They didn't really like their previous secure jobs at all, but didn't want to rock the boat by taking the chance that their company might learn that they were looking elsewhere for better employment.

      b. There were far more interesting and exciting things they would have liked to be doing with their lives - but they couldn't risk leaving, because their families depended on them to bring home a steady paycheque.

      c. They were afraid to try new ventures. It was much more comfortable and safer staying in the rut they were in.

      d. Some loved their jobs, but with so many layoffs there didn't seem to be many positions available where they could use their skills. Nurses, teachers and technicians wanted to remain in their own fields, but found that those jobs were not available. (They were forced to find alternative employment that utilised their transferrable skills).

      Here are some case histories:

      Phil:

      Phil had been feeling more and more apprehensive as he watched his co-workers' positions slowly but surely being eliminated over the years. Presently, he was doing the same amount of work that two had completed just five years before. There seemed to be no let-up in the amount of work he was expected to complete. Although he swore he would never do so, he often took work home from the office, so he would be able to spend some time with his family.

      His family's financial situation was the best it had been in years, because his wife, Julie had decided to start a business out of their home. She specialised in accounting and had been able to obtain several regular clients. Phil's evenings seemed to be taken up with chauffeuring his son Brad to his hockey games and his daughter Michele to her gymnastics classes. This gave Julie time to finish her accounting work. However, he found that often he was still completing his own work at eleven o'clock at night.

      He and Julie decided to purchase a high-tech computer, which would speed up her accounting work, but soon, Phil, Julie and their children were fighting over who would use the computer in the evenings. They contemplated getting another computer just for the children, but felt they couldn't afford the expense.

      When it became apparent that Phil's job was in jeopardy, everyone was on edge and tempers were short. Both he and Julie were so exhausted, that their sex life began to suffer, and their former closeness was jeopardised. Phil returned to his old routine, spending more and more time at work, because he hated to come home to his family squabbles. Life became nothing but work, work, work!

      He was very apprehensive about the security of his own position. What would he do if his position was eliminated? How would his family survive? How would HE survive? Lately he didn't feel as if he was doing much of a job of providing for his family.

      After several months of tension, his boss Mel Mowat asked him to come to his office. Phil found that he was holding his breath as he entered the room. Then his worst fears became reality. Mel began, I'm sure you've been expecting this for a while Phil. I've held off as long as I could, but we've now been told that we have to cut even more positions, and yours is one of them. He went on to explain the severance package that Phil would receive. At the age of thirty-seven, he was out on the street - laid off from a company where he had held several positions for fifteen years. What should he do to get back on track?

      Bill:

      Bill is an energetic forty-nine-year-old who has always pictured himself working until the day he died. His company has just offered him an early retirement package. He knows that this isn't really a choice. If he doesn't accept the early retirement package, the company will likely be forced to let him go anyway (possibly without the good retirement package). He also knows that there simply aren't many positions available for a forty-nine-year-old designer!

      Although he enjoyed the first six months of his retirement, he soon found himself wandering around his home looking for something to do. He found himself asking, What am I going to do with my time? Then he chided himself, This has got to stop. But what can I do? Who would want to pay me - and for doing what?

      Both Phil and Bill should have seen the writing on the wall and started looking for a new position as soon as their positions appeared to be in jeopardy. Now, their best actions are to:

      a) look for work in their own fields

      b) obtain professional career counselling

      c) identify their transferrable skills so they can consider other alternative occupations

      Fired, sacked, terminated, dismissed or canned employees

      Martin:

      Martin has over twenty years' experience in computer science. He has an MSc in Electronics Engineering, has extensive knowledge of most types of computers, has installed and run many Local Area Networks and knows most software packages. He's having serious problems obtaining full-time employment.

      For the past four years, he has not been able to keep a steady job. Even with his wealth of knowledge, the longest he has lasted is six months at each position. Now, he can't find employment at all because of his poor employment record. Part of his problem is that he has strong ideas on how things should and should not be done (but lacks tact to get his way diplomatically), so often he's at odds with his employers. They simply won't keep him on board because of his personality. Martin desperately requires people skills training which would enable him to get along better with others. A possible alternative might be for him to become his own boss, and start his own company.

      Christine:

      Christine had made wonderful strides in her company but ran into resistance from her new boss. She'd been appointed to a junior position in his department, but soon realised that she had far more knowledge and experience in that field than he. Time and time again, he requested her to do assignments, only to make her do them over again using a different method.

      Soon she became confused about what he wanted her to do, and if she asked for more details, she was met with a curt, "You've worked in this department long enough

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