“Knowledge is power.” – attributed to Sir Francis Bacon

This week I got pretty animated sharing process patterns of the industry I work in. It’s not the most exciting topic, but it’s the baseline of what we do.

Frankly, if you aren’t working in the area it’s one of the most boring topics imaginable.

That being said, if you don’t realize that there are natural patterns to it you’re at a disadvantage. Knowing the basic building blocks gives context to make all the other work make sense. Without it you have to reinvent the wheel if you want to get anything done.

This experience got me thinking about how people use knowledge. The only way to increase knowledge is to share it or have it shared. The more knowledge is shared, the more tools people have. The more tools people have, the more open we all are to new ideas and new opportunities are easier to find.

On the other hand, hoarding knowledge prevents it being useful.

I’m sure you’ve met the “wizards” of the workplace. The person or small group of people whose vast knowledge of some critical business activity makes them indispensable. Other people line up to ask questions and come away with the tidbit that they were looking for, only to come back later for the next pointer. Nothing functions when they go on vacation. Everything in their domain of understanding comes to a grinding halt when they are absent.

Have you watched their reaction when change comes knocking?

Change is scary to a lot of people, but to the “great Oz” it’s terrifying. Change means their power, their security, their perceived value to the organization shrinks. They are usually the most vocal proponents of why something new won’t work and the fastest to latch on to any fumbles as signs that a change spells doom.

Don’t get stuck as a “wizard”. The knowledge of the way things are done prevents you from seeing the benefits of a change and, more importantly for your career, even prevents your growth. If nobody else knows what you know, how can anyone step up and take your place? If nobody can take your place, how can you possibly take on other, more interesting roles?

Who can you share knowledge with today?

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

For many people “career” equates to “job”, but they’re quite different things. A job is what you do now. The way you pay the bills and spend a good portion of your waking hours. A job is a temporary situation. Ultimately it’s an exchange of time for money that may or may not be in line with your goals. Jobs change even when you don’t change employer or group. Your co-workers and boss will change. The work you do will change. Even the location you work in will probably change.

A career is more than a job, representing a calling to do something in a particular fit with your life. Your career is special. No matter how much it has in common with someone else, you will do it differently. Your career is an expression of who you are, no matter how far off your current job feels. Sometimes your career has nothing to do with your job at all!

This is why changing careers is often such a huge proposition. Real career change is recognizing and expressing a shift in how you see yourself. It’s traumatic to make that kind of change, but it opens you to a new and rewarding chapter of your life. Career changing is a much bigger topic that I’ll come back to another time.

Your career may not have anything to do with your job at all! It might be that your volunteer activities or your family life might be your real career with its own goals and aspirations. Recognizing that your career may or may not be a “professional” endeavor is important. If you work nine months of the year to volunteer in disenfranchised and under-privileged communities, which is really your career?

It might be that you work at jobs to support your career.

Your career is something you draw a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from. Getting fully engaged with it might not require you to make any life changes or it might mean drastic change is needed. The clichéd adage “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” might need some adjustments when you think about your career.

Framing why you work and reminding yourself where you are going and what your career means to you are crucial to knowing that it is going in the right direction. Getting excited about your career begins with knowing what your career is and where you want it to take you.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

In the progression of legendary journeys the “Union of Opposites” often revolves around reconciling the differences between the sexes or between some conflicting parts of the heroine’s personality. We see similar dualities overcome by bringing together different cultures to share and understand one another. Around the world we’re faced with news of the disharmonies between western and arabic cultures, racial inequalities and backlashes against immigrant populations.

In organizations we see silos built up to separate groups who are both intertwined and interdependent for success. Functional areas who jointly support large, value-driving processes often don’t communicate enough to see how the different parts interact. Pain in one group is diminished in the face of the easier solution in another.

More important to your career is the internal struggle to reconcile opposing perspectives. Open your eyes to the way different pieces integrate into a cohesive whole. The small changes made in one place can create large variations for someone else and realizing this lets you negotiate successful outcomes for everyone.

The objective is not to see the world in black and white or good and bad. Bringing together the different thoughts on your own is usually impossible. Reach out and find someone who sees the situation differently and really listen to what they have to say.

What you’ll probably find is that the “bad” responses and interactions are actually “good” for someone else. Find ways to bridge the gap and find ways to make both sides “good”. You’ll quickly find allies on the “other” side who are interested in solving issues for everyone. The successes that come from those solutions let everyone join in the rewards as well!

Shift your perspective to include more and see the success that follows.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Labor Day, to quote the US Department of Labor, “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” A fine rationale for a national tribute and a great moment to get perspective on what accomplishments you as an individual have had in the previous year. It also marks the start of the fall hiring season for most industries.

For me, this combination sounds like a great time to figure out how to describe and present your achievements. Whether you’re intending to look for a new job or not, it’s good to regularly take stock of accomplishments. If you’re ready for a new challenge, describing your successes prepare you for writing and speaking about your resume to a new employer or group. If you’re not ready for that change, that same description lets you share the same information with your boss and prepare for reviewing your performance.

So spend some time thinking about your sucesses, your achievements, the benefits you’ve provided to others. Once you start you’ll find things coming to mind you haven’t thought and the growth of your list will surprise you. Don’t limit yourself to professional achievements and let the accomplishments flow.

Also, write them down. I can’t say this enough when it comes to goals and achievements. The simple act of recording your successes reaffirms them in your memory. You can be assured that the more you remember your successes the better you can share them with others and the more others will understand your impact on “the social and economic” success around you.

So on this Labor Day relax and take time to reinforce how successful you really are.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

When you’re faced with a problem, what do you do? For myself I’m a “fixer”. The guy who likes nothing better than digging in and solving problems. But what if the number of problems are overwhelming?

At their core problems, or opportunities for those who like the “positive politically correct” translation, are situations where someone can picture a better situation. Often a problem doesn’t exist on its own but is linked to two or three others, which in turn are connected to more. Digging to the bottom of the pile you will come to a point where there is something fundamental that needs to change.

Whether you have the ability to fix or influence someone else to fix an issue will often mean walking into a web of politics and emotional attachments that make a simple fix impossible. When faced with this, there is a choice that isn’t always obvious but that will always be made: Is this something I’m going to fight for?

What kind of mountain are you trying to climb? Is it a mountain where the cliffs are steep, slick and slippery? Do you have the support to face it? Do you get to decide to climb this mountain or does someone else?

All of these questions and more have to be carefully weighed. Sometimes just going around the mountain to have the energy and resources to climb a bigger one beyond is the right thing to do. Sometimes not clearing a roadblock gives you the ability to move beyond it to solve more important concerns.

Have you asked yourself if what you’re fighting with now really helps you? Are you going to improve something by continuing along a path or are you just being stubborn?

Take the time to reassess something you’re stuck on today and see if it really is as important at it looks when you’re in the thick of it.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Fluffy stuff aside, we all go through trials. Tests and trials are rights of passage and doors to new life stages. Whether we’re sitting high school exams or college finals, or engaged in an apprenticeship our mental models are being challenged and tested as much as our knowledge or skills.

Making these mental shifts let us migrate into a new sense of ourselves and prove to everyone that we have what it takes. Developing a variety of mental models lets us be flexible in solving problems. We can academically learn about new models all the time, but sometimes to really understand the benefits of the mental model in a concrete way takes being at a loss and being challenged to use a new way of thinking.

Sometimes proving to ourselves that we are competent to do something is the only part of the challenge with any meaning. The struggle lets us see that we can accomplish the “next great step”. Each time we face down a right of passage we come out of it changed.

Professionally, taking on a role that we haven’t done before often challenges our sense of worth. It’s common that people feel like they’re “faking it” until a challenge comes, is met and passed. That challenge tests us and makes us draw on elements of ourselves that we weren’t expecting to find. The confidence that follows brings out new possibilities and new ways of approaching problems learnt from the struggles.

Taking an example from the personal life side, dealing with death is a clear stage that all of us will face eventually. Particularly dealing with the death of someone close to us forces us to challenge what we think about life. It’s a common experience that this grim context gives a different perspective and offers a chance to break old ways of being. Individuals often get an opportunity to consider how they’ve used their own lives and to relish the gifts left by the deceased. New appreciation for lessons learned and wisdom left behind come back with truths we might have missed.

Whatever the trial, whatever the right of passage, reaching beyond gives us more opportunities, a greater sense of self and new insights into ourselves.

Grab hold of the challenges and take yourself on to bigger and better things!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

Even if you don’t use a professional resume writing service, please, Please, PLEASE(!) take the time to have someone review your resume. In my experience, there isn’t a single answer for how to put a resume together for everyone. Rules of thumb exist all over the place, but most of it is general information and often different groups will provide conflicting information.

I recently stumbled across this list of blunders over at ResumeBear.com and the honesty of the first statement struck me:

“Most articles on this topic list blunders that very few people are dumb enough to actually make.”

That being painfully true in many places, I have to recommend ResumeBear’s list. Taking apart many of the crucial failures, it’s a good primer on how not to completely mess up.

At the same time, I have to disagree with some of the generalizations. If you work in an arena that respects (needs/craves/expects) you to have an eye to design elements, sending in a stock Microsoft resume template is probably not going to do you any favors. Being outlandish in your layout when you’re going for a corporate job isn’t going to help either. Moderation and awareness of who you’re communicating to are essential.

That same moderation needs to be applied when we’re talking about the content you put into your resume as well. Recognizing that often the first person to see your resume will be some one (or worse, a piece of software) that is looking for keywords is important. Writing your resume so that these filters and the hiring manager see the value you bring is crucial. Making every second word a keyword from the job description is overkill.

The best resumes are short, sweet and to the point. Making it legible and error free lifts it a couple of notches, and finding creative ways to get it into the hands of a hiring manager can change the game for you.

As with many areas of life, a little common sense, a good sounding board and a good dose of humility go a long way to getting your resume in great shape. If you need professional help, contact us to talk about your resume today.

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkein

I’ve talked about receiving a call, but once you’ve received it there is always the first step. Not that that first step is easy at all. Once you’ve accepted the call to action, you have to get out of your comfortable space and cross your threshold into the wild beyond.

That first step requires a lot from you. Not only are you leaving behind (at least some of) the comfort of your former life, but you’re treading into the unknown. You don’t know if the maps you’ve drawn or picked up are correct, current or even relevant to your journey. You don’t know if your provisions will get you to your destination. And in that crucial first step you’ve left behind any support not carried or travelling with you.

But this is how an adventure starts! This is how your adventure starts!

The heroes and heroines of legend receive all manner of help at this point. A mirrored shield for facing Medusa, magic swords and instruments, guardians or guides for the road, even a lock of hair from a loved one become talismans to carry forward and help in times of need.

While they might not have the supernatural abilities of their mythological counterparts, coaches and mentors like (shameless plug) CareerSherpas can help you make that transition and offer support in the face of obstacles. Friends or family who have been successful professionally, former and current bosses and others who work in your fields are all great places to find support too. With the right support even the most perilous of opportunities can be smoothed out.

Need help with that first step or any other point in your journey? Contact us!

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.