Looking Ahead-2015

It's a new year.  It's time to put away the past and learn from the mistakes.

Last year was very interesting for me.  I had the opportunity to work in a contract job, with an IT company, as a temp, working in teams, working for staffing agencies, and starting my Masters degree.

Some of the things to learn from last year is that sometimes even working your hardest and best, it doesn't always get you the job.  I'm learning a lot about the importance of connections.  I have a huge pipe line of connections, but sometimes the people in the pipeline are in the same situation as you are when you don't have a job.  In fact, the majority of people I know either are not working, or retired, or are not interested in the same areas that I am trying to break.  Hence, the desire to get into recruiting.

So, I went online to take a look to see what some of the websites offer for the new year in the workforce and I found two websites that have some very interesting things.

The first one came from Hubspot.  The title of the article is called, "9 professional resolutions you should actually keep."  I thought it was a pretty good title and it enticed me, so I peeked and found that I agree with a lot of the suggestions.

The first one was master Excel.  I consider myself pretty good but I am old school with some of the formatting and keystrokes.  Mastering Excel is actually one of my goals to do after finish my Masters degree this summer.  I'm planning on taking a very intense course on advanced use of Excel.  I use Excel and most programs on Microsoft all the time, even in my personal life.  I use Excel to keep track of programs I use at church, personal finances, and other lists that I feel Excel would be effective.

The second one was improve your design skills.  This is another one of my goals after my Masters degree, to get into design, especially with websites.  I used to have my own website a long time ago and really had fun designing my pages although I probably wouldn't be considered a web designer.

The third is hire new, awesome teammates.  I don't have that option right now, as I'm not working, but I am awesome teammate and I can be new anywhere they have me.

The next one is develop a mobile strategy.  I get that everybody does their stuff on the phone or tablet.  I still like my keyboard.  I've had a lot of mobile application ideas and if I don't get them out soon somebody will probably get to it.  Another thing to do after I finish my Masters degree or maybe even use it as part of my Masters paper.  Who knows?

The next one really hit me.  Blog consistently.  I didn't know that blogging was still a big thing and compared to people who have accounts with various social forms, blogging seems to be a bit passé in some areas.  I mean, how many times do you go to a website to read the blog?  Did you know that the majority of shopping websites have blogs?  Even with such little return on website information or investment, blogging seems to be really important.  I love blogging.  Maybe I should consider a career in writing.  I suddenly have three ideas to write for books, which is something I never dreamed of doing before.  I have this blog, my personal blog, and a couple of blogs that I keep with my other interests.  I use all kinds of social forms and look for new and exciting places to share my interests.

The next one is don't forget your older content.  Last year, I did have to close up one of my personal blogs or transfer them and I haven't done it fully, completely yet.  I really haven't found the blogging place that I really gets me going.  My last blogging sites had everything I wanted except for one thing that bothered me.  But that one thing wasn't a big deal.  Compared to the content and the allowance of creativity, one little thing didn't bother me.  I've yet to find a website or blog site that allows me that outside of this blogging hosts.  Maybe it's one of those things that have to come up with myself.  I'm the kind of person who tries to find what I want in a product, and if it's not there, I'll start thinking about how I'm going to get what I want.  I don't wait for someone to make it but sometimes I'm not the only one thinking about it.

The next two I put together: run big strategic test and invest in better measurement.  At this point in my career, the biggest test I have is just to put myself out there and to identify everything I know how to do.  And then the measurement is how many responses I get back right away.  I keep track of those responses and all my work in various Microsoft programs.  I'm constantly updating my skills or practicing my skills in those kind of areas.  But I know that when the position of my career comes along, I will be ready for these kinds of measurements.

Last but not least, moved to the next level of your career.  My goal this year is not only to find a permanent, full-time job but to get a position that allows me to grow and learn.  I'm really excited because there are a lot of different type of companies I have never put my foot in.  I would like a little bit of experience in a lot of different things.  I am really opening up myself to not just one area business, but to all the types of businesses with experience and positions I have had, to find that one position that I can count as my career.

This is it for the first blog that caught my eye.  I think I'll do the next one in a couple days.  Hope I will have the steam to keep up with the blogs again this year.  I will have a lot of information, especially finishing up my degree and see where to go from there.  And of course, finding the primo position.