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New Year, New Career? How to Reinvent Your Career Path in 2019

For most people, the new year tends to inspire a lot of reflection, both personally and professionally. As 2019 begins, perhaps you’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time for a change—a big one. Maybe you’ve decided you need a brand new career. You’ve got an exciting, and daunting, project ahead of you!

January is the perfect time to start the process of career transition. However, there’s a lot to think about. It’s not something you can simply do overnight. A successful career transition takes time to organize and execute.

Plus, if you’re not sure what the right next step looks like, you’ve got to figure that out first. If you just jump into something new without really assessing it fully, you could easily end up on the wrong path.

If you’re ready to make a career change in 2019, or if you’re just exploring the option, I’m offering a BONUS free webinar this month to help you understand exactly what’s involved. Even if you’re not quite ready to make the leap, don’t miss this critical training. That way, if and when the time comes, you’ll be prepared to launch a successful career transition.

NOTE: This is a BONUS webinar; it is being offered in addition to the January webinar on How to Prepare for Important Career Conversations.

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7 Ways to Position Yourself as an Admin Leader

Position yourself as an admin leader

As a proud former administrative professional, I’ve always enjoyed being a part of the admin community.

In fact, from the moment I got involved in the field, I wanted to be an admin leader. I felt called to it from day 1. I loved the work and the people, and (even as a total novice) I thought I had something valuable to offer.

So, back in 2006, I started a blog for admins called The Executive Assistant’s Toolbox, where I shared tips and tricks for success in the field. I was by no means an expert. I was simply sharing my own experiences. It was a passion project and I loved the idea that, by sharing my workplace challenges, I could help other admins.

Shockingly, that blog got really popular really fast. Before I knew it, my entire world had changed. I was no longer an anonymous admin; I was officially seen as a leader in the admin field. I was being interviewed by major news publications! My writing was being featured on some of the biggest websites in the world!

In 2008, things got really crazy. My blog was actually purchased by a start-up company (an online community for admins) and I was hired to help build it. Unfortunately, that company is no longer in business, but I spent a few years as their community spokesperson, writing professional development articles for admins and traveling the country to meet our admin community on a regular basis.

In short, I became an Admin Leader, just as I always wanted to be. I eventually started my own company providing career coaching and training—and the rest is history!

Today, I am still a true supporter of administrative professionals. Over the past 10 years, we’ve had more and more people step up to become Admin Leaders themselves—people who are currently working as admins fulltime and those who (like me) have transitioned to other fields but still remain dedicated to the admin community.

Even with all of these fantastic admin leaders, we still need more. We need people who embrace the admin role as a career of choice and want to help elevate the administrative profession. We need people who are vocal advocates for their fellow admins and understand what it takes to thrive as an administrative professional. We need people to step up and provide support to support professionals—the people who often need it most but rarely get it. 

As an Admin Leader, you also stand to gain a lot personally and professionally. You will raise your visibility in the workplace and others will start to view you as not only an Admin Leader, but as a leader in general. You will discover amazing opportunities you never knew existed, and you will expand your skills in ways you never thought possible.

If you’re an admin who appreciates the role and you believe you have something to offer your fellow administrative professionals, I strongly encourage you to position yourself as an Admin Leader by engaging in some (or all) of the following activities. 

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How to Prepare for Important Career Conversations

In the past, the “Annual Review” was the time—once a year—when you knew you would have the opportunity to sit down with your boss and get feedback, discuss career goals, and possibly even request a raise or promotion.

However, in recent years, the Annual Review has become somewhat of a relic in the modern workplace. Many organizations are now taking a different approach and implementing a “Frequent Feedback” model instead, where important career conversations take place more regularly, informally and throughout the year.  

Perhaps your company still has a yearly review process, or maybe it’s quarterly, or maybe it’s not even called a “review” but rather, you just have casual check-in conversations with your boss.

Regardless of what they’re called or how often they happen, the fact remains: important career conversations will happen. And when they do, you want to be prepared.

Whether you’re preparing for a planned sit-down with your boss or engaging in an impromptu discussion, you want to use this time wisely. But unfortunately, many people fail to do so because they don’t know what to expect…and often don’t even know what they want to achieve from the conversation. As a result, they simply allow their boss to run the show, and when it’s all over, they inevitably feel disappointed with the results.   

Don’t let this happen to you! This webinar will help you prepare for important career conversations with your boss so you can walk in feeling confident and empowered. You’ll have everything you need to set yourself up for success so you’ll be ready whenever you find yourself discussing important career matters.  

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How to Make & Break Habits

Ah, ’tis the season of inspiration, my friends!

Every December, I find myself spending a lot of time reflecting on the past year and planning for the new one. As I’ve shared many times before, I am a total geek for goal setting. It makes me feel unbelievably motivated and optimistic about the future. So, this time of year is my “happy place.”

Lately, I’ve also been thinking a lot about habits.

Habits are an interesting sub-set of goals. Over the past 6 months, for example, I’ve developed a new habit for morning workouts—and as a result, I’ve come closer to attaining several of my health and fitness goals. It’s no secret that developing strong habits can propel us forward, while holding onto bad (unproductive) habits can stifle our progress.

A lot of people set “goals” that are really habits they want to make or break: drink more water each day, workout more frequently, wake up earlier, watch less television, eat out less often, etc. In my experience, these habits are really step stones toward achieving some kind of bigger goal—eating out less often may relate to a goal of saving money or losing weight, watching less television might support a goal of spending more quality time with the kids, and so on.

The process for developing or breaking a habit is similar to the process for achieving a goal, but it’s not precisely the same. You see, habits are engrained patterns of behavior. While a goal can be attained and completed, habits are meant to be ongoing. They’re never really done. So, when you want to develop a new habit, you have to go through certain steps to “imprint” the behavior in your brain. The same is true for breaking a habit—there’s actually a specific formula that makes the process of deprogramming the behavior much easier.

If you’re in the middle of setting goals for the new year, it’s worth your time to consider the habits you might need to make or break to improve your chances of success. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to leverage the power of habits to boost productivity and help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

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Time Management for Admins

This is an excerpt from a special report available in the Career Resource Library, a convenient and affordable training program featuring 100+ on-demand professional development resources for career advancers and administrative professionals. Learn more and access the full report by visiting www.MyCareerLibrary.com/about

Administrative assistants and executive assistants have a unique set of time management challenges. In essence, as a support professional, your time is not your own. Your job is (primarily) to help others accomplish their goals. Therefore, when they need something, you’re supposed to drop what you’re doing and help. To make matters worse, they often need things that are both unexpected and urgent. Simply closing your door and focusing on your own priorities isn’t an option. All of this can make time management feel like a nearly impossible task!

But take heart, my dear admin friend. There are strategies that will help you make the most of your time, while still being appropriately responsive to the needs of the people you support.

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How to Hide Your Age on Your Resume

As a career coach and professional resume writer, I work with a lot of “older” job seekers. I use quotes there because age is relative. It always surprises me that the people most concerned with age discrimination are usually women in their mid- to late-forties. I hardly consider this old!

However, when launching a job search, insecurities are often heightened, and age discrimination is, indeed, a real thing. So, when people ask me how you hide your age on your resume, I understand where they’re coming from—even if I find the question a little silly.

Hiding your age on your resume is not necessarily a smart move, for a number of reasons. First, depending on the role you’re seeking, a few more years under the belt professionally might be considered a great thing.

Secondly—and this is a biggie—your age is part of who you are, like it or not. You don’t have to shine a great big spotlight on it, but you can’t change it. Unless you’re Benjamin Button, your general age range will become evident sooner or later.

Still, if you’re concerned about age discrimination in your job search, it doesn’t hurt to de-emphasize your age on your resume. Here are a few strategies to try.

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