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Archive for the ‘Careers Employment’ Category

Self-employed workers set their own work hours and take vacation solely at their own discretion. They also give themselves raises throughout the year by performing work for higher paying clients.

Some careers, like jobs that you complete using a computer and jobs that do not require travel, are better suited for self-employed workers than others.

Freelance Writer

If you like creating short stories, novels or poems you can earn a living working as a freelance writer. You can self-publish, market and sell your own books or you can work through a literary agent and land a major deal with a mainstream book publisher.

As a freelance writer, you can also complete nonfiction writing projects for online and offline clients. For example, you can create brochures, email marketing campaigns, articles and website copy for public and privately owned companies.

Set your own rates, work as an independent contractor and earn an attractive income from the comforts of your own home.

Some companies might require you to have an undergraduate degree in marketing, communications or/and journalism to land freelance writing assignments.

Customer Service Representative

Self-employed customer service representatives provide services to companies as independent contractors. As a customer service representative, you are responsible for handling inquiries and complaints from customers of the clients you serve.

For example, you might walk customers through conducting minor repairs on their computers via the telephone if you provide independent contractor services to a technology firm.

To work as a self-employed customer service representative, you need Internet access, software experience and a reliable computer and telephone.

Instructor

After you get a teaching degree or a degree in your passion field (e.g., music or technology) you can start working as an instructor.

If you land contracts with Fortune 500 firms you can travel to their work locations and teach their employees how to use software packages; you can also teach them procedural steps to perform job functions.

Check with your local or state government to see if you are required to have teaching licenses like driver training or life coach licenses before you start working.

Motivational Speaker

Working as a self-employed motivational speaker might fit your personality if you like inspiring and offering advice and guidance to other people. A passion for traveling is a plus in this job.

As a motivational speaker, you can use tools like web and video conferencing platforms to teach your students virtual or online courses. Read the rest of this entry »

Private sector employees aren’t alone in often feeling trapped in their current position or career path. Like anyone else, government employees can desire change or mobility in their careers.

Career counseling, a frequently overlooked option available to all government employees, can help them improve and progress their careers.

Career counseling provides direction and advice to guide employees on successfully capitalizing on career opportunities.

Benefits

Career counseling ultimately helps employees navigate the changes necessary from the position they currently occupy into the position that would make them most fulfilled and useful to the parent organization.

Using career counseling available to government employees can assist individuals in getting access to distance- or evening-education programs that can enhance their promotion potential, and details how to most effectively evaluate merit promotion plans.

This service helps them understand and work toward the qualities necessary for advancement.

Career counseling also helps assess and match skills, interests and work experiences into specific positions and job series, narrowing down opportunities into those in which employees would most enjoy working.

Types

The Career Development Quarterly identifies the most common types of career counseling open to government employees as counseling interaction, career education and experiential learning.

Counseling interaction involves interactive sessions in which a counselor helps an employee develop career-related problem-solving skills; according to the Career Development Quarterly, this practice has a primarily psychological nature.

Career education programs aim to educate employees about or how to perform the duties of a job and can include such programs as foreign language classes, software instruction or team-building exercises. Read the rest of this entry »

Career development activities and opportunities train, motivate and challenge employees for greater productivity in the workplace. For example, an employee might have have an interest in developing interpersonal skills.

The ideal environment for your employee is the opportunity to interact with customers. Activities in job rotation, working with a mentor and internships provide similar opportunities for your employees to have individual exposure to many environments for their career development.

Job Rotation Activities

Being in one position for a long time can stifle an employee’s growth. As a career development strategy, job rotation breaks the monotony by moving an employee, temporarily, into another position to gain exposure to another function.

As an activity, have your employees participate in a series of job rotations based on their individual learning needs. Upon completion of the rotation, your employees are capable of applying what was learned to their current position and assisting in new functions within the organization.

Mentoring Activities

Assigning a career development mentor to an employee provides support for career development and professional aspirations. For example, an employee from another country shares with her mentor experiences of work culture in both places for the mentor to help her adjust to the workplace.

She looks to her mentor for tips on her resume and cover letters. Other activities you can suggest are role-play job interviews, and “what-if” scenarios of challenges and solutions in the workplace.
Internship Activities

An internship program is a career building strategy for employees’ development in leadership skills. Under the internship program, your employees develop new experiences and training in interpersonal skills to feel comfortable with assertiveness to handle issues such as conflict resolution. Read the rest of this entry »