Fed up of going to the same workplace every day? Has your career stagnated to the point that you dread Monday mornings and feel deflated every time you think about work? You shouldn’t carry on like this and the start of a new year represents the perfect opportunity to do something about it.

There are so many ways that you can adapt the direction that your career is going in. It might not even be a large scale change that you need, maybe you just need a little side-step into a role that you would get more satisfaction from. Either way, if you don’t do something about it now, you may never take the leap and never discover that a happier working life exists.

How to plan a career change 

If you don’t already know what area you want to move into then you need to do some research. What are your main skills? What do you enjoy doing most? Where in the career market do good opportunities exist?

Do the Research

There are lots of analytical tools that you can use to help define a career path that suits you down to the ground. Use LinkedIn and other career resources like Indeed, Jobsite and Monster to find out jobs are currently out there that you would like and find out the key skills and experience those roles are looking for.

Boost your skills 

Once you’ve found out the key skills required, if you haven’t got some of those skills then you can always try to acquire them, don’t just give up hope if you’re a few skills short. Whether it’s a course that you need to study or some online tutorials to get an in depth understanding of a subject, there are loads of free resources or free trials out there like Lynda.com. You can also sometimes find discounts for online courses and other types of training and resources on sites like 7coupons.in to help fill some of those skills gaps.

Have Confidence 

The statistics show that women are less likely to apply for jobs than men of a similar skillset. Men are more inclined to try to ‘wing it’ or hope that once they have started a job they can build the required skills up. You need to have confidence in yourself and your own ability and work on boosting your own self-esteem.

Refresh and Customise Your CV 

It may sound like a given but if you upload your old CV without checking it over then you could be ruling yourself out without even realising it. When you apply for your ideal job, you should customize your CV so that it shows good examples and experience of the key skills and experience that they are asking for. If you applied for a job a few months ago that required completely different skills then it is a bad idea to re-use the same CV.

Hone your Interviewing Skills 

It goes without saying that you need to put effort into interview preparation but the more you practice, the more you will be able to provide relevant examples for interviews.

Top universities are making their distance learning programs available to more students. Online degrees are making it possible for many to pursue the degree of their choice without leaving their career or relocating closer to the university of their choice. We’ve even covered some of the most interesting online degrees you can pursue today.

To successfully complete the online course, however, there are a few things to prepare. We are going to take a closer look at how you can prepare for your first online degree in this article.

Choosing the Right Degree to Pursue

The first thing you need to do is choose the right degree to pursue. Top names such as the University of Maryland now offer online MBA options, as well as many other degrees to choose from. You can either go for a degree that will help support your career or one in a field you really like. The latter is often the better way to go simply because you will be able to stay motivated throughout the course easily.

Next, you need to understand the course requirements and see if you can meet them without a problem. When you want to pursue an MBA degree online, for example, there are a series of online MBA questions that you can ask yourself – and find answers to – before you know for sure that the course is for you.

Making a Schedule

Just because online programs offer more flexibility to students, it doesn’t mean you should take the programs lightly. Taking an online degree can be a bit more challenging than completing an offline course. You are required to allocate enough time for studying and setting your own schedules.

As long as you can allocate at least an hour every day for studying, you should be able to complete the course without any hassle. Make sure you schedule your study times properly and that you stick to the schedule no matter what. It is easy to get tempted by other activities and abandon that pre-allocated time altogether; this is exactly the kind of thing you should never do.

Lastly, make sure you can also keep up with course assignments and exams. You can’t study for an exam the night before; not when you’re trying to get good grades and graduate from the online program with a valuable degree.

Get Familiar with the Resources

The best online programs are conducted through the universities’ online learning platforms. These platforms offer anything from course materials to access to lecturers and fellow students. You can also stream classes and other videos to make learning a lot easier.

Before you start your course, spend some time getting familiar with the online learning platform. Don’t forget to also introduce yourself to the lecturers so that you can ask questions easily whenever you run into problems with the course. Lastly, make sure you have the right tools for completing the online course.

Make these preparations and you won’t have to worry about the challenges you will face as you pursue an online degree. You’ll be able to complete the course in as little as 12 months and boost your career to a whole new level.

For most adults and people who are already in the workforce, pursuing a post graduate education is simply not an option. Traditional learning has many caveats that nearly makes it impossible for people with tight schedules to further their education.

However, with recent advancements in online education, a wide variety of new degrees are available to students. And the number of degrees available keep increasing, with sometimes interesting courses that were once relegated to brick and mortar institutions. In this article, we’re going to explore five unusual degrees that are available online.

Bachelor Degree in Aeronautics

A growing number of industries are searching for graduate level aeronautics students to fill a variety of pilot positions. The program was initially created to fill the demand of the army and regional airlines who needed their certified pilots to complete purely academic courses. Courses include multi-engine theory, aviation weather and high speed aeronautics.

Bachelor in Integrative Health

With the recent advent of holistic and natural healthcare alternatives, there has been a growing demand for certified professionals in this area. Unfortunately, not a lot of traditional colleges offer this option. This program is especially good for those who didn’t have the qualifications to complete an administrative health degree. People with a degree in integrative health can fill jobs as educators in various healthcare facilities who will steer patients towards alternative healthcare options.

Online Master’s in Engineering

While most people think that acquiring a valid engineering degree from an online institution is nearly impossible, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Colleges like the University of California, Riverside, offer a variety of engineering classes that can be taken almost entirely online. Their master of science in engineering and master of engineering management not only gives students the basic tools to work in engineering, but also gives them the business savoir faire to coordinate projects that demand advanced knowledge of engineering principles and work as managers across many engineering fields.

Masters in Packaging Science

While packaging doesn’t seem like a particularly cutting edge field, there is a significant demand in this industry with very few qualified students to fill this need. Many online universities offer packaging courses where students will learn the ins and outs of tamper proofing, product specific packaging, packaging permeability and more.

Bachelor in Economic Crime Investigation

This degree is particularly suited for people who are interested in statistics and have a certain interest in finance. Students who follow this program will learn how to decipher financial documents and investigate Ponzi schemes, money laundering cases and fraud. This program combines criminal justice, mathematics and sociology among other things to give students a skill set that will allow them to fill a variety of jobs in law enforcement.

If you’re looking for a good degree that will allow you to get an edge on the competition and seek jobs that are in need of qualified students, consider these career alternatives. Not only will they increase your chances of finding a job straight out of college, they might steer you towards a vocation you didn’t even know existed.

Successful job seekers have a number of common traits. These things stand out and may help people secure work in the line they want – so what are they? We asked Spotlight Recruitment for some information on what they thought were the attributes of successful job seekers.

What’s A Mindset?

While a skill set is about what you can do, mind-set is about what you can see, believe, and think about. If it is used right, it can get any one of us to stand out of the group.

With technology advancing at such an unprecedented pace, some specific abilities have become obsolete more rapidly than ever before. Nevertheless, while nobody can foresee the skill sets needed in order to be successful in ten or five years’ time, the mind-set remains steady.

Echoing these sentiments, in a study of over 800 companies,  96% of them picked mind-set over skill set as the essential component in what they look for when employing (and keeping) staff. Based on these sorts of findings, here are the best five features of successful job seekers:

5. Accountability

72.56% of the companies emphasized that responsibility as an essential attribute when looking for new workers. The people who prove accountability most efficiently, are the ones who try to go beyond the ordinary confinements of their responsibilities in any manner they’re able to. They essentially take responsibility for things that go wrong or go past the boundaries of their job description.

For instance, the best way to use responsibility in your CV: ‘Sought after one to one training in order to enhance my value per trade, enabling me to hit the set targets on not only those of the team, but also my individual targets in  a period of six months.’

4. Adaptability

Probably unsurprising, but adaptability was selected as crucial by 75.12% of the companies surveyed. Those who are able to genuinely demonstrate inventiveness, ingenuity, and flexibility in maintaining a dynamic approach strategy, rise up to any challenge they confront, and positively react to it all, will automatically raise their employability.

One of the best ways to use adaptability in your CV: Due to a change in staff, I raised my workload for one quarter to compensate for the loss (until another hire was made), successfully accommodating my ways and approach to meet the prevalent requirements, and making sure that the team’s goals were continually met.

3. Trustworthiness

Whatever business you engage in, the sense of trust in those around you is essential for a harmonious workplace. Maybe that is why 90.93% of companies selected trustworthiness as their next fundamental aspect when hiring.

There are several ways through which you can showcase this in your CV or at an interview, from both a moral sense (e.g. opening tills, cashing up etc.) and from a teamwork or delegation of work point of view. Improve your trustworthiness efficiently, and you will see a box is ticked for the hiring supervisor.

For instance, you can showcase your trustworthiness in your CV: Economically handled my own personal workload, which involved maintenance of exceptional productivity, delivering documents to external agencies punctually, establishing deadlines, as well as ensuring the quality of work was of high standard.

2. Truthfulness

Affirming the old adage, 91.4% of hiring managers believe that honesty really is the best policy. Although honesty is usually linked to responsibility and trustworthiness, having the ability to virtually demonstrate and embrace it is an important element of your mind-set is critical. It does not have to be overly hard-hitting; a few words to show your morals are in the correct area should be enough.

How to demonstrate truthfulness in your CV: In my job as manager, I’ve lately had to work with a member of staff whose recent work has been unsatisfactory. Yet, instead of officially disciplining them, I discussed with them to determine the cause. Their work has drastically improved because of this.

1. Commitment

According to our research, the core attribute of a successful jobseeker is commitment. 92.09% of all companies said that this was certainly crucial for all their team members and prospective hires.

Commitment certainly has a clearly powerful effect. If it is there, it earns respect and engenders trust. It is extremely difficult to replicate or gain belief from any level of business if it is missing.

Your devotion should be exhibited actively, and you will set yourself for success. (Warning: Saying you consistently give 110% isn’t the best approach to get this done. It also seems hopeless!).

Writing a job description is an essential skill for businesses that want to be matched up with the appropriate people and hire productive employees. If you are looking to craft excellent descriptions that will help you retain and manage your team effectively, you need to start by describing the responsibilities and duties that you need your staff to fulfill. There are several important considerations to be mindful of when writing a job description.

Clarity

Be specific in the things that you include when you write your job description. The more specific information that you can provide, the easier it will be for you to weed out inappropriate candidates and attract people that have the skills that you want. This is especially important for job candidates in fields such as IT or sales, where roles often change regularly. Inc.com suggests including the person or position that the candidate will report to, the title of the position and the department the position will be in. From there, include a bulleted list with job responsibilities that the new hire will need to handle at the company.

Think Big Picture

If you are hiring, it is likely that your business is growing and responsibilities and roles may change as this growth continues. While you need to iron out a list of duties and tasks that you want your employees to handle right now, you should also anticipate future changes to their role. Add in words that leave the door open for future responsibilities to be assigned to the hire so that you can reasonably adjust their position as necessary. This can prevent problems with a new hire from cropping up in the future.

Add Qualifications

Some consider qualifications to be the most important part of a job description. Without proper qualifications included, both you and potential applicants will be frustrated at not being able to determine whether or not a job fits the bill for a particular set of skills or experience. Common qualifications included on a job description are education level, work experience, and certifications. Again, be certain to spell out specific skills. Instead of saying you would like an applicant to be “good with computers,” include particular programs that you want your team members to understand how to use. Instead of mentioning that an applicant needs to “provide good customer service,” state the specific type of customer service they will be offering and to which particular kinds of customers they will be offering service, whether they are individual consumers, business buyers, or lager groups or organizations.

When it comes to education, the more specifics you can include about degrees, the better. However, it is acceptable to cover a broad field of study in this area. For example, you could include that you want a candidate with a liberal arts or sciences degree. Also consider adding one section of preferred qualifications and one section of minimum qualifications, which may lead you to a candidate that fits the job description well for reasons besides their qualifications on paper.

Employment Conditions

In today’s competitive economy, some employers will reserve the right to screen potential new hires and state conditions for the terms of their employment. Virginia Tech’s Human Resources department provides these common examples of pre-employment conditions to those writing descriptions for positions within the university:

• Drug screening and driving record checks for positions that may involve operating a company vehicle
• Medical screenings for positions that require a level of good health such as police officers, manual laborers, or other positions that involve physical duties.

Physical fitness tests/requirements for jobs that often involve moving or lifting. Be sure to include specifics about what particular type of physical activity your hire will be engaging in so that they have an idea of what to expect: for example, list the average weight of packages or shipments if you will require your employee to lift and move boxes or pallets.

These examples are just some conditions that you should incorporate to be certain that all hires can perform the job duties that you expect them to. Consult with your HR department to learn more about legal conditions that candidates must meet in order to be employed in your particular state or county.

We know from getting our masters degree in human resources that job descriptions are a vital step in the hiring process for any organization, large or small. By clearly stating what types of qualities you are looking for in your hire, adding in language that incorporates fluidity into the position, and offering minimum and preferred qualifications, you can get the type of employees that will help grow your company. Write and revise your job description following these guidelines and you can reduce the amount of time and stress that hiring new people usually involves.