Rosemary Hook commented on my previous post about completing my first year of teaching.  Rosemary is a career counselor at St. Edwards University and a very cool lady. She made the comment on my Career Pivot FaceBook page where I post a link to my blob.  She stated:

“Great blog! This is exactly what people do — take the path of least resistance and are then surprised when they learn too late that skipping steps typically leads to gaps later. I’ve encountered many a career changer who skipped the student teaching step or taking on professional internship or the volunteer-to-get-experience step only to find out that they don’t really want to do the job after all. “

Do not skip steps

I cannot emphasize enough not to skip steps or take the fastest path to that new career.

• Was rejected from a Alternative Certification Program because I was not in their target market.  I did not listen to the little man on shoulder telling me that I should have gone with a regular certification program from a local university.
• I selected a ACP that was in their first year. Do you buy the a brand of car in it’s first year?  I was in such a hurry to get to the classroom that I did not follow my gut feelings.
• I talked to a few teachers but they mostly told me what I wanted to hear.

I tried to skip steps and I did not follow my instincts.

Follow your instincts

One of my major mistakes was not following my instincts and being way to much in my head. I did not listen to my inner voice.

As you go through a Career Pivot you really have to follow your instincts.  If it does not feel right then understand what is going on.  Do not ignore your feelings and your gut reactions. You will find that they are usually right.

Do you follow your instincts?

I am going to be releasing a free 14 page white paper “Don’t retire even if you can – A Baby Boomer Manifesto” later this month (I had a professional writer work on this with me). I will be launching the new Career Pivot brand at that time.

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Earlier this week I posted a item called Career Pivot – To Find Happiness, Forget About Passion. This obviously hit a nerve as it has been shared close to 100 times, I have had close to a dozen comments on the various LinkedIn groups where I posted a link and it is one of the most heavily read items in the last few months.

Similarly, I have had a couple of clients recently who have had long successful careers.  When I reviewed their Birkman assessment with them their interests were completely counter to what they were doing at work.  Their skills (organization focus in Birkman terms) were in line with what they were doing at work but not what they were interested in.

When I left teaching, I was completely lost. (I will complete the story in my next post) I went to a career coach and I was given MBTI assessment.  This is pretty standard and it told me I was a teacher and trainer.  I went DUH! I was told to talk to former colleagues and have them tell me what they thought I was really good at.  They told me that I was phenomenally good at taking very complicated technical systems and explaining them in terms just about anyone could understand.  DUH!!  I knew that and more importantly I did not want to do that anymore!!

I have a client who is in sales.  He is a good salesman and has all of requisite skills to be successful in specific sales situations.  He just does not want to do that anymore.

My skills had been honed over 25 years in working in corporate America.  My skills no longer matched what I wanted in my career and more importantly my life.

Has this happened to you? Do you have valuable experience in arenas that no longer interest you? I have found this to be true with several of my clients.

The trick is to channel those skills into the area that interest you.  This takes some research and more than likely experimentation. We will talk about this more in future posts.

I am going to be releasing a free 14 page white paper “Don’t retire even if you can – A Baby Boomer Manifesto” later this month (I had a professional writer work on this with me). I will be launching the new Career Pivot brand at that time.

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

When I wrote about building a fan club I told you about the following I created by just sending out an e-mail every three weeks to about 100 people.  That e-mail was being forwarded all over the place. When I left the teaching profession I ran into multiple individuals who had been regularly reading my e-mails that I had no idea that they were getting them much less reading much less enjoying what I wrote.

Those e-mails that I sent out will eventually be turned into a book.

When I missed an issue, I did not send out an e-mail after three weeks during my second semester of teaching, I got hate mail.  Well, maybe not hate mail but people complained that I had not sent the e-mail. They looked forward to reading about my experiences.

When I suggest to people that they need to create a blog to either document what they know or just to let people know what they are experiencing, they say I cannot do that.

My response — Bull Hockey! I am trying to be politically correct. If I can write a blog anyone can.  Why do I say that?  Let me tell you a few tidbits about me.

• When I graduated from high school I read at less than 50 words per minute.  It took me so long to read a book … well … I just did not.
• I did not read my first book for enjoyment until my late 20s.
• I have an engineering degree from Northwestern University without taking a single English class.  I worked the system, which is typically of high intelligent learning disabled youths.
• At 46 years of age, I was required to prove I could graduate from high school by taking the English TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) exam to get my math teaching certificate.  I passed with the equivalent of a B. 8^)

I have gotten compliments on my writing style for this blog.  I ain’t no writer!!

There are a several simple steps to writing a blog:

• KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid – You may notice I use simple grammar and vocabulary.  I am a recovering engineer!
• Write from the heart.
• Ask for feedback.
• Adopt a measure for success. When you share a blog post on Facebook, LinkedIn or e-mail I take that as a signal you thought it was worth your time to read.

So do not tell me you can’t write a blog! If I can …. anyone can!

I am going to be releasing a free 14 page white paper “Don’t retire even if you can – A Baby Boomer Manifesto” later this month (I had a professional writer work on this with me). I will be launching the new Career Pivot brand at that time. 

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page. If you “Like” my FaceBook page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 must know facts about Baby Boomers and the issues we face.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

Last Friday, yes it was Friday the 13th but…. that is January 13th, 2012, there was an blog post titled “To Find Happiness, Forget About Passion” in the Harvard Business Review.   I rather liked this article therefore, I posted it on my Career Pivot FaceBook Fan Page last Friday.

The HBR blog post was about how the current twenty somethings have been following their passion. We (Baby Boomers) encouraged them to do this. What they discovered is following their passion did not always pay the bills.

The closing  statement said:

“Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. We’ve been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped developed the second. It’s time we put more thought on the third.”

It is my claim we pushed our children to follow their passion because we sure did not! I know I sure did not. I did not explore enough to know what I was passionate about!

Have you followed you passion in your career?  Why not do it now?  Do you even know what you are passionate about?

I am going to be releasing a free 14 page white paper “Don’t retire even if you can – A Baby Boomer Manifesto” later this month. I will be launching the new Career Pivot brand at that time.

You can also download my whitepaper “Don’t Retire Even If you Can and What to do Instead – A Baby Boomer Manifesto”

Go read the HBR blog post and see if you can apply it to your current situation even though you are probably not in your 20′s!

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page. If you “Like” my FaceBook page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 must know facts about Baby Boomers and the issues we face.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

When you make a Career Pivot you are doing something new.  The standards you applied to measure success in your old career may not apply in the new one.

After teaching for a year I could apply multiple measures to my performance. There was also the measurement that the school district accessed my performance. I found the school district assessment (I did just fine) was not an authentic measurement of my performance.

I could measure my performance in a lot of different ways:

• Were my students happy with me as a teacher
• Did my students pass my classes at above average rates
• Did my students pass TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tests at above average rates
• Did my seniors graduate on time

I had three sections of Algebra I with mostly freshmen and a few sophomores. I was playing disciplinarian as well as educator with these students.  As the year we on it got easier and easier.  Unfortunately, some of my biggest problem students either dropped out or were in prison. It is a sad commentary on dealing with students of poverty.

I decided to measure my success based on my two sections of Algebra II. My biggest challenge was getting my Hispanic senior girls to pass the TAKS test.  They took the test four or five times and still did not pass.  They could pass my class but they did not believe that they could pass the test.  I spent significant amount of time pumping up their confidence and playing cheerleader.  All but one of the more than a dozen seniors walked the stage at graduation.  That was a very proud tangible moment for me.

I learned almost a year later that my juniors scored at an amazing rate on the exit TAKS test.  The school average had around 40% of the juniors passing on the first attempt.  My juniors passed at 70% rate on the first attempt and 99% passed after two tries.  Did the school district tell me?  NO!  I was informed by a University of Texas professor who was studying the TAKS scores for the district and my scores stuck out.  She interviewed me on my classroom strategies. Only then did I learn just how well I had done.

Schools do not reward teacher achievement like you find in the corporate world. How did I know how I was doing?  I had to come up with my own measurements. Given this was my first year of teaching this was really difficult. On top of that, I was exhausted by the end of my first year, both emotionally and physically.

When making a Career Pivot you need to be able assess your progress because the measurements you are accustomed to may not be there.  I did really well my first year but no one told me! I was really proud of my seniors when they walked the stage to get their diplomas but I was exhausted!

How do you measure success in your career?

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page. If you “Like” my FaceBook page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 must know facts about Baby Boomers and the issues we face.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

My last post was on Building Your Team. This leads naturally into the discussion of asking for help.

I admit it – I am a guy.  I do not like asking for help.  I do not like asking for directions.  There I said it.

Sometimes, we are thrust into situations where our choices are to quit or ask for help. Admit it, you have been there!

For most of us guys, this is a pretty miserable experience.  Like I said in my previous post, I was a very experienced professional.  I was successful in whatever I had done in my career.  I had never really failed miserably at anything.  I was at the point where I was nearly ready to quit.

I kept expecting some one to come to my aide.  Teachers are an interesting cultural demographic.  In my second month at school, I suddenly realized that all of these teachers were exactly like my wife.  My wife is a massage therapist and a RN.  Teachers have very similar personality types to nurses.  They are natural care givers.  They are:

• Kind
• Caring
• Giving
• Do not know how to say no
• Do not know how to negotiate
• Do not take care of themselves

It is all about the kids. I found teachers would not offer to help.  However, if you asked they were some of the most giving people on this planet.  You have to ask for help!

Once I asked for help from a variety of teachers, the magic folder would appear.  The folder would contain lessons, transparencies, worksheets and other teacher materials.  Usually, it would all be hand written materials which I would type up, convert to PDF and then make them available to everyone in the math department. This was my attempt to create an environment of giving and sharing.

What all of this means is when you make a Career Pivot you will need to ask for help.

Depending on the magnitude of the pivot you will you will have to suck it up and be humble.  You are no longer the expert.

I have a friend who is making a major change into green energy.  He is working as a apprentice electrician.  He is learning to be humble.

Are you prepared to be humble?

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page. If you “Like” my FaceBook page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 must know facts about Baby Boomers and the issues we face.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist

In a previous post I told you to build a fan club. Now it is time to build your team. You do not and should not do this alone.  The earlier you assemble your team the better.

I was hired to teach three sections of Algebra I and two sections of Algebra II.  I was assigned a mentor by the school district.  Sarah (not her real name) was the curriculum specialist for Algebra I in our school.  She was an expert in teaching Algebra to students from a variety of socioeconomic groups.  She was not just good, she was superb.  She also did not pull any punches with me.

Sarah provided lesson plans for ALL of the Algebra I teachers.  We were using a hands on curriculum where we went to a computer lab two days a week.  The structure of the curriculum and having a marvelous mentor made it bearable.

In my second month of teaching, I had a near meltdown with my freshmen students in Algebra I.  I had a real hard time not taking the abuse from the students personally.  Sarah explained to me that I had a choice, work with the behavior or get out.  It was not going to be easy.  I so appreciated her candor.  I was lucky to have such a great mentor.

At the same time, I was struggling teaching Algebra II. I had two sections of Algebra II which were comprised mostly of juniors. I needed help in the worse way.  I somewhat expected another teacher to reach out to me and offer to help.  That did not happen.

After weeks of struggling, I swallowed my pride and went to Gina (not her real name) , a 27 year old teacher who had taught Algebra II for two years and had the classroom across the hallway from me.  I asked her if I could have her lesson plans, and I would stay exactly two days behind her.  I would play little puppy dog.  Whatever she did I would do – no matter what. This allowed me to read the lesson plans and if I did not understand I could come down to her classroom on my off period and watch her.

I was old enough to be her father.  I had been a senior manager at a major corporation.  I had been pulling down a six figure salary.  I was now at the bottom of the employment totem pole starting over. I needed her to survive my first year of teaching.  I swallowed my pride and asked for help! (I am a guy!!) I found my own mentor.

When I decided to start my career consulting business, I knew I needed to assemble a team to support me.  I first hired a my own coach and I did my research to find the best. I have multiple mentors based on different disciplines.  I hired a writer and a branding expert to help me. I assembled a team to support me.

I AM NOT DOING THIS ALONE.

You do not have to either.

You can subscribe to this blog and receive regular updates by filling out the menu to the right or click here. You will find other related information on the Career Pivot FaceBook Page. If you “Like” my FaceBook page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 must know facts about Baby Boomers and the issues we face.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist