Tweet

Use the Lazy Days of Summer for Career Success

Guest post by: Cecile Peterkin

Article Overview: If you’re looking to launch your career to greater heights, getting a new career or new employment opportunities, there’s no better time than summer. While your peers may be thinking of taking the summer off from the job search, you’d be best served to take this time to lay the groundwork for your future.

Use the Lazy Days of Summer for Career Success

Maybe you've recently graduated, are in mid-career shift or are recreating your life after economic downturn - whatever your story, if you're looking to launch your career to greater heights, there's no better time than summer. While your peers may be thinking of taking the summer off from the job search, you'd be best served to take this time to lay the groundwork for your future. Unemployment Lines Await

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), worldwide unemployment is still high at 8.5%, while US unemployment rates linger at a staggering 9.3% and Canada hovers around 7.4%.

The OECD reports that, since the start of the economic crisis some 3.5 million young people worldwide have joined the ranks of the unemployed. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, those under 30 in the US may be some of the hardest hit, with nearly thirteen percent of those under 30, unemployed.

What does all this mean for those trying to establish a new career direction? It means competition in the workforce is fierce. But it's not impossible. According to a recent survey hiring managers are reporting that their companies are confident the economy will continue to expand in the latter half of this year, making hiring more probable. Instead of sipping mojitos by the pool this summer, you'd be better off creating and implementing your new career strategy and getting the jump on the competition.

Summer Slow Down

While you may argue that summer, may be a slower time of year for some industries, with businesses functioning on reduced staffing, summer hours and lowered production, what you'd be missing is the potential opportunities for employment that staff vacations present. For someone looking to garner experience in an industry new to them, summer provides the perfect chance for you to pitch in and help a company maximize production in the absence of staff. Because things are slower, you may also be able to capitalize on some quality one-on-one mentoring.

Interning and Volunteering

Interning has long been a respected way for new grads to get their foot in the door, especially in highly competitive fields, like law and journalism. But interning isn't just for recent grads anymore. Mid-career interning has become the perfect way to change career trajectories or fill-in resume gaps, while keeping your skills and accomplishments relevant. Often internships like these lead to job offers at summer's end, with some even offering nominal pay for your efforts. Even if you don't land a job, though you'll have gained experience for your future career and made valuable connections in your desired industry.

Just because your industry may not typically employ interns, doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Approach and explore the idea with some of your ideal companies, sharing, specifically, what you feel you can offer and why - you might be surprised by their response.

Also, volunteering at a local nonprofit in your field (or a related one) looks great on your resume and builds skills and connections that could lead to the position of your dreams.

Research and Network

* If you're on the lookout for employment opportunities, let people know. No reason to keep it a secret. Reach out to friends, colleagues, neighbors, family and even casual acquaintances - you never know who has a lead on that next great job.

* Go to industry events, conferences and meet-ups. Networking with your peers, in a genuine fashion, can get you the inside scoop on possible job openings and keep you up-to-date on your industry. Nearly 80% of employment positions are filled this way.

* Research: Where would you like to be, ideally, in your career? Look at who is doing what you want to be doing and find out how they got there. Ask them if they would be open to mentoring you.

* Keep up on changes in your industry, researching the current market and any new innovations.

* Develop your skill set further: Is there a new skill you can cultivate or a knowledge base you could expand that would increase your value in the marketplace? Use this time to take a class, be mentored or read industry newsletters and books. This kind of passion for your career shows employers you care.

Remember, in a competitive job market, employers want to see your potential in action, not your vacation photos.

Related Articles
  Finding a New Job in the Summer
  The Fifth Deadly Workplace Sin: Sloth
  Your Best Summer Ever
  Business Success Tips - Six Summertime Survival Tips For Work-at-Home Moms
  Tip of the Week - Don't Take a Summer Break from Your Job Search
  Ode To Summer
  Kick Into Fall
  The Last Days of Summer
  WAHM Strategies When Kids Are Home During the Summer
  Summer Is For...Prospecting?
  Five Ways to Have Sizzling Summer Sales
  Summer Management of Your Home Based Business
  Sales – Are You Up for the Challenge?
  Summer Sales
  Dealing with lazy employees
  The Perfect Summer - Sales and Marketing Training
  Your Reward - Sales and Marketing Training
  What Do Leaders And Winter Have In Common?
  Lazy Is an Entitlement Concept

Article Tags: change career, employment opportunities, employment search, job search, midcareer, new career



Related Forum Posts
Re: Let me introduce myself, I'm Zacman - Hi Zacman, You are welcome to this great forum. How are you enjoying the cold. I prefer winter to Summer here in South Africa. The heat is so much that people nearly put on cloth here
Re: Require Info on CAD Fed/Prov Grants for Restaurant Start-up - I know the Ontario government is starting a "Second Career" campaign, full of internship opportunities for new chefs and catering staff. It may be worth your while to research the possibilities with that. It may work itself out to be cheap labor in the form of a grant. Good luck regardless!
Book: Comeback Moms - Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years Monica Samuels and J. C. Conklin 2006 Jacket: Millions of educated, professional women are quitting their jobs to stay home and raise their children. That would never be you, right? You worked hard for your degree and even harder to get to this point in your career. Quitting now, even for a few years, would kill your career, right? That's what Monica Samuels thought when she found out she was pregnant... Over 60 percent of professional women who leave work to raise children want to get back into the workforce someday. If you even think you might want to go back to work, be it in one year or twenty, you need to lay the groundwork now for a successful reentry or your options will be limited. 1. Quitting: When is the best time to cut the cord 2. Feathering the nest: How to financially prepare before you quit 3. Departure strategies: leaving the office 4. Money and Power: Constructing a new life on the home front 5. Backlash: handling family, friends and angry strangers 6. One foot in, one foot out: How can they miss you if you don't really go away? 7. Part time: It ain't perfect, but it's doable 8. Going back: the when and how of returning to work full time 9. Career counseling: When you need a change 10. Entrepreneurs: True Stories Resources Index
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Emotional Intelligence in Business

Top 5 Qualities in an Outsourcing Company

Good News Travels Fast

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.