Week 15- What Color is Your Parachute

 Throughout the course reading this book has guided me and the last section oft he book is about finding your mission in life. We all wonder what our true purpose in life is and some of us think we know but others are so unsure have the time.


In this section Richard Bolles mentions that for a lot of us we want to do more then just go to work and then come home from work that their has to be more of a purpose for us than that. This brings in the word mission which is defined as task or responsibility that an individual is set or destined to do.


Finding your mission according to Bolles is is in three steps. 1. Is to seek to stand hour by hour in the conscious presence of God, the One from whom your mission derived and to share with everyone on Earth. 2. To do what you can by taking it day by day, step by step and believing God is with you. 3. using the talent that you were given on Earth.



The goal is to find a job that allows you to say I feel like I have done more in life then just going to work everyday and that maybe I made a difference but either way this what my purpose in this life was.

Week 14- What Color is Your Parachute

This next chapter is really important to me it's about starting your own business. This is the chapter I can relate to the most because that is exactly what I want to do one day.

Now some of us get lucky in life and know exactly what we want do and some of us don't for those that don't but know they want to be their own boss Richard Bolles chapter 12 has some advice for you. First he tells us to write your ideas down, create your resume, and write down what you love to do and what you can do. Next is to read the research you find on starting your own business. Explore is interviewing people that have started their own business and figure out what worked with theirs and what didn't. Last is to get feedback asking if your cut out for this and speaking to people you know about your idea and seeing what their response is.



Bolles ends the chapter with saying that their are a bit of uncertainties with starting anything new but if you keep three things in mind everything will be good.

1. There's always risk but the goal for everyone is to try and avoid that risk.
2. Talking to others that have already done what you want to do will help you.
3. Have a plan B just in case what you want to do doesn't play out.

Week 13- What Color is Your Parachute

Throughout Richard Bolles book he has given us many different pieces of advice in terms of finding a job, what the job seekers look for, etc. Now in this chapter he talks about how to choose or even change career choices. He breaks it up into five different ways.


The first way is by using the internet and being able to categorize the career you are looking for whether its by industry, largest number of openings, etc. Then once you have selected that it allows you to narrow down your search. The internet is a good way to help with career selection.


The second way is Tests or assessments. The thing about this way is that the tests aren't always accurate based on six things Bolles mentions about test 1. You are absolutely unique which means no test can measure you. 2. Don't try to figure out ahead of time what you want the results of the test to be. 3. Be looking for clues and suggestions and not a for sure answer. 4. Take more than one test. 5.  Broaden first then narrow down later. 6. There will always be mixed reviews about tests. So tests can be good but often don't read to much into the test.

The third way is to use the flower exercise which is organizing who you are and then putting your five favorite skills and three favorite fields of knowledge. Throughout the process you may be able to combine your favorite fields with one career. Once you find one then you start talking to those experts in those careers and see if you like it.

The fourth way changing career in two steps. Bolles in his chapter uses the words Difficult path which is changing both your field and title at the same time. In this chapter and with this way it's better to change one because then you can show prior experience instead of changing both at a time.


The fifth way is finding out what the job-market will need and what is going to be upcoming in the years to come.

To wrap up there are many ways to go about finding a career these are just some of the ways to think about.

Extra Credit 2- AI Impact on Business Jobs

Business is  a fast moving idea and in this day in age so many college students are getting a degree in business (me being one of them). Many of us that are in the business field dream of owning or running or even starting our own business but now we often wonder with this new idea of Artificial Intelligence will that be changing the way business operates. Todd Kelsey article Artificial Intelligence Impact on Business Jobs gives us a little insight by using the four sample areas  accounting/finance, Marketing/Analytics, Entrepreneurship, and Human Resources.


Let's start with accounting/finance so when we think of these two areas the first thing that comes to mind is numbers and checks and balances. So one would conclude that maybe Artificial Intelligence would not necessarily have a negative impact on this area of business in terms of jobs. Todd Kelsey article states "Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 11 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. In general, employment growth of accountants and auditors is expected to be closely tied to the health of the overall economy"(Kelsey.2017). See this looks good but as mentioned doesn't consider AI so maybe it will effect this area of jobs. An example that is mentioned in the article is Global firms have developed a software that creates less work for an accountant and auditor to prevent repetitive tasks. In the end AI is going to affect the accounting/ finance job area but how drastically and positively or negatively we will just have to wait and see.

Next is business analytics which is big in the artificial intelligence but in a good way based on the article.  That means that a lot of the jobs in these two areas are looking for that knowledge on AI and automation. "For example, in LinkedIn's list of top skills to get people hired for 2017, among the very top ten include statistical analysis and Data Mining, and Data Presentation"(Kelsey.2017). For those individuals that are in this field it's important to educate yourselves on Artificial intelligence and automation to get yourself ready for the jobs to come.


Entrepreneurship is a growing field and the goal is to create jobs and opportunities for individuals. What I found interesting in this article regarding entrepreneurship is "A survey from Bentley University suggests that millennials sense that career success will require them to be more nimble, independent and entrepreneurial than past generations. Only 13% of survey respondents said their career goal involves climbing the corporate ladder to become a CEO or president. By contrast, almost two-thirds(67%) of said their goal involves starting their own business"(Kelsey.2017). I found this to be very interesting because this couldn't be more accurate because so many millennials have realized that what will make them the most happy and successful is if they are their own boss running their own business.

The last area is Human resources is the short point is that some areas of human resources may require automation while some areas may not so it's just better to be educated so that those in that area are ready for which ever job comes their way.

At the end of it all four areas will be affected with artificial intelligence and it's best to learn now.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/artificial-intelligence-impact-business-jobs-todd-kelsey

Extra Credit Blog-Surfing the Tsunami AI

At the beginning of the class Artificial intelligence was mentioned by Professor Todd Kelsey but it wasn't til seeing his research that we all knew that it was something that we all need to consider and take seriously. In his article Surfing the Tsunami he talks about three different perspectives.  The first perspective is to Adapt meaning that AI is coming and its better to learn more about it now and be aware of the direction that it is heading. The next perspective is Adopt which means to start incorporating the AI tools and platforms so that when it comes to it one is able to manage AI. The last perspective is Adept which means getting directly involved in AI and learning the coding and how everything works.

AI at this point is moving drastically and it's going to come quicker than expected. In the introduction for his book Todd Kelsey is mentioning how AI  is heading in the direction of many job loss for the next 5 years or so. This is a strong assumption to make because that is what the people  fear is that eventually robots will be taking over peoples jobs. What  I like about this article is the example that is used which is "For example, for a publicly-traded company, when profits are falling and there is pressure to cut expenses to maintain profitability, a company may hide behind the amoral rationale of duty to shareholders, and make whatever decision benefits the shareholders and the stock price". This is so true because then what happens is people end up getting laid off which then increases the stocks. At the end of the day the company has to be worried about the people and society while maintaining their bottom line.



Another valid point that is made in this article is that if in fact AI is going to create job losses there is really nothing we are going to be able to do about it so we almost just have to roll with it and be  to date with our information on it to prepare ourselves. The key takeaway is at some point or another a industry will under go changes of some sort and employees and employers adapt, adopt, and adept those changes and that's what the goal of this article was in my opinion.


For more information on this article check out the link below

http://www.tsunami.ai/introduction

Week 12- How to use social Network to boost your career?

So we all have social media networks and make connections but are those connections for personal reasons or not.  Social media is important but did we ever wonder about using our social media networks for job searching.

Allison Doyle article using social network to boost your career talks about social media searching which is using social media networks such as LinkedIn or Facebook for a job opportunities. Using these social media networks as job opportunities allows you to get a feel for the company and be able to check out the job right then and there and fill out the application instead of seeing the job post and then going into to fill out the application. Also by  seeking opportunities on social media networks it allows the job recruiters to see who you are.


Allison Doyle talks about how employer recruits use social media. She states more and more employers have been expanding their hiring procedures to incorporate social networking sites. hiring managers and recruiters use social media to source candidates, to post jobs, and to accept job applications(Doyle.2017). This is key because so much is being done online now and as mentioned already this gives us the employer a chance to dive in deeper on who you really are and how you would fit into their company.

Social media networks are great for the personal aspect of staying connected with your friends but keep in mind  of the job postings and that recruiters may be noticing what is being posted on your networks.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-use-social-networking-to-boost-your-career-2062607

Week 12- What Color is Your Parachute- How to deal with Any Handicaps you have?

Do you ever wonder what went wrong, why didn't I get the job or the interview? The reality of it is that your not alone everyone feels like that at some point in their life. Richard Bolles chapter is here to tell us that everyone is handicapped in some way and tells us to not think of all the reasons of why an employer wouldn't hire you but why they would be lucky to get you.

In chapter 10 Bolles mentions dream killers which are certain disabilities that knock down your dreams and he gives examples that show how to get around those dream killers. The example that stands out is "One career counselor was working with a young adult who was dying to be a commerical airplane pilot. The killer: his eyesight was too poor to be a pilot. Well, there was a clue as to where to go from there. It was the way our would-be pilot talked about planes. The counselor sent him to the airport to right down all the other occupations you can do their beside being a pilot and when he came back he told said he loved the idea of making the seats that they put inside new airplanes and now he still works in the airline industry"(Bolles.Chp10.2018). Don't be discouraged theirs ways around the dream killers.


Now this topic has been a upcoming issue with the prejudices of employers Bolles mentions 7 but I will talk about the first three 1. Is out of work too long.  This is not hiring you because you have been out of work for a year or more. 2. Is racial, religious, or sexual stereotypes being prejudiced against blacks, Muslims, Mexicans, or Asians, gays, transgender. The anti-discrimination laws won't stop them they will find a way around them. 3. Age this is the big one because alot of the baby boomers are starting to reach the retirement years but those of that age will get hired if they show the energy and positive attitude and don't show their age so to speak.

The biggest handicap is shyness so John crystal came up with a method called the PIE method which stands for Pleasure, Information Interviewing and Employment to get familiar with P which is pleasure is to get comfortable first talking to family and friends about a topic that interests you then your able to go from their and start it out with relating it to the job process.