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Traditionally, career counseling has focused on career exploration, career redirection, assessment, education/ training, job search skills and placement. Little consideration has been given to the complex emotional dynamics of grief associated with job loss. Understanding grief in the context of job loss and lifestyle adjustment is particularly important when clients are confronting a major life change. Oftentimes, an overwhelming sense of loss distracts or impedes a person's readiness to conduct a job search or effectively move forward with a positive career-life change. Career Counselors working with clients who are experiencing a job or career loss compounded by the need to adjust lifestyle expectations need to comprehend the grief process if they are to empower their clients to succeed.

"he Career Counselor's Handbook (2nd Ed.) by Howard Figler & Richard N. Bolles. Ten Speed Press, 2007, 301 pp. ISBN 9781580088701. $19.99 Both Figler and Bolles have over six decades of experience in the field of career development, and both have written best sellers about the subject, including The Complete Job-Search Handbook (Figler, 1999) and What Color is Your Parachute? (Bolles, 2009). Figler and Bolles have combined their experience to produce a practical guide with The Career Counselor's Handbook. The book includes a discussion of the history and definition of career counseling, a sample of tools, tips for dealing with difficult clients, an overview of the values that shape career work, and guidelines for establishing and maintaining a career in this field."

15 Career Mistakes I've written other newsletter articles about careers (see the links throughout this article as well as at the end of the article), but until now I've never specifically written an article about career mistakes. I think the subject has been too personal - I've made a lot of these career mistakes myself, and it's hard for me to admit my failures. But in the interest of helping others avoid some of the mistakes I've made, I've decided to go ahead and create a list of the major career mistakes that I've made or that I've seen other people in IT make. Let me know if you think of other mistakes that should also be on the list.

Hope is related to optimism. Snyder (1998) described hope as "the perceived capacity to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways" (p. 249). In Career Flow (Niles, Amundson, & Neault, 2011), hope is at the centre of a career development model and essential to each of the stages (i.e., self-reflection, self-clarity, visioning, goal-setting, action-planning, implementing, and evaluating). Without hope, clients are unlikely to be motivated to engage in career planning activities or ongoing career management.

"In 2003, Career Development Alliance (CDA) was challenged to provide quality career services to the diverse, geographically dispersed workforce of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA)-and to do so on-demand and at a reasonable cost. We met this challenge by designing a dynamic system of telephone and Internet services provided by over 30 career counselors across the U.S., supported by a state-of-the-art website, streaming video, podcasts-tech tools. At the seven-year mark, we have provided career counseling, training, and executive and management coaching to thousands of clients and have worked within budget while garnering consistently strong feedback."

"In 2003, Career Development Alliance (CDA) was challenged to provide quality career services to the diverse, geographically dispersed workforce of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA)-and to do so on-demand and at a reasonable cost. We met this challenge by designing a dynamic system of telephone and Internet services provided by over 30 career counselors across the U.S., supported by a state-of-the-art website, streaming video, podcasts-tech tools. At the seven-year mark, we have provided career counseling, training, and executive and management coaching to thousands of clients and have worked within budget while garnering consistently strong feedback."

Our careers and our lives are constantly changing. With so many twists and turns it is almost guaranteed that our career plans will not be stagnant. There are many different types of individuals who are moving in/out of a traditional career. Recently the term "comeback parent" has been coined for the parent who has left a paid position outside the home to raise a family, and is now returning to paid external employment. Another example is the graduate student who alternates full time employment with full or part time education. Some leave to take care of an aging relative, start a private practice or a business, attend to personal health issues, or even work part-time from home. While juggling various roles in life, it is important to manage our careers even if it is not currently the highest priority. Networking is an important way to effectively and efficiently tend to your career at all times.

"BeMIS: A New Career Matchmaking Tool An individual's personality and character play an important role when it comes to choosing the right career and being successful in it. Finding an effective way to measure these two factors is one of the keys to helping clients achieve their employment goals. BeMIS (the Behavioral Management Information System) is a powerful tool for identifying relevant character and personality attributes, and includes personalized development plans for helping clients to develop new career-facilitating behaviors and eliminate those that impede successful career choice, competence and satisfaction."

Job into a Career conversion If you're a recruiter, hr leader or hiring manager here are some points to think about if you wish to visualize and hire a lot of top people who are searching for careers, not lateral transfers:

"Personal Branding redefines many of the concepts used in career development and shows our clients why career development is important at all phases of their careers and not just when they are in transition."

The role of narrative and constructivist thought in career development continues to be the subject of healthy debate and discussion. As career practitioners, what are the best tools to use? There is no right answer. Different tools can be effective for different clients. So, while traditional assessments continue to be useful, no career practice is complete without the use of narrative. Our challenge as practitioners is to integrate the power of narrative into our service delivery tool kit.

"I was privileged to hear His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speak as he accepted the International Freedom Conductor Award in Cincinnati, Ohio in October 2010. As a career coach, I reflected on his words to see how these might apply to life and work, especially for those in a life or career transition. These ideas are applicable to both career coaches and clients alike."

"I'm passionate about "career management," a phrase I use to talk about taking personal responsibility for our individual careers. Long gone are the days when a company had loyalty towards employees, specifically keeping them on-board for decades and providing a healthy pension after retirement. How many companies are offering a lifetime job with nice benefits after retirement? Not many. "

What are the advantages of guiding workers to collect stories directed at organizational career management? Expressing accomplishments in story form is a huge advantage because a compelling, engaging story is memorable to the manager making a promotion decision, while people who aren't telling stories may be forgotten. The decision-maker gets to know and trust employees through their stories, which may also help establish an emotional connection that inspires investment in their success. (And, by the way, the same storytelling principles that work for other employees also work for your own career progression.)

Career Management: No one can manage You Inc. better than you. And here's how to do it.

"Working adults sometimes assume that career development means going to classes or undertaking developmental roles outside of their jobs. They may even believe that development is only for those interested in promoting up the management ranks or for those on the "fast track." However, it is critical to both the individual and to the organization that employees continue to grow in knowledge and skills regardless of rank, tenure, or career movement."

Dear J.T. & Dale: My husband and I both have worked in high tech for more than 20 years. With all the stress from outsourcing and reorgs and overly aggressive management, we feel like Lucy and Ethel in that famous "I Love Lucy" episode where the assembly line keeps gets cranked up faster and faster. We've been investigating alternative careers, but none of the resources we've used addresses how the work environment fits into the picture. We fear making a career change that ends up trapping us in a new toxic environment. - Kathy

Vault will be the indispensable provider of information and solutions for professionals and students who are pursuing and managing high-potential careers. We will achieve this goal by delivering the timely and actionable insider information and advice that allows them to define and achieve personal success at every stage of their careers. Based on our knowledge of professionals and students, and our relationship with them, Vault will be a vital partner for companies seeking engagement with this valuable audience.

"People in the midst of a career reinvention don't have the luxury of a manager who sets priorities for them. The most difficult part of making a career change is starting it, especially with only your desire to propel you. As an independent filmmaker, Adrian Belic, 40 years old, is accustomed to making things happen. The first film he made with his brother, "Genghis Blues," won a Sundance award and received an Academy Award nomination. But despite this success, he found it difficult to get a second project off the ground."

"Recently, I said goodbye to a beloved coworker and former boss who left to pursue new career interests. She was here for less than three years-I've been here for 10-but during her short tenure, she made a very big impression on me. Her management and editing style was stronger and more inspiring than that of anyone I had reported to previously, and under her guidance, I saw my career ascend to a much greater level."