The doctor says...

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
~Theodor Seuss Geisel

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Marine theme

"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water."
~Rabindranath Tagore

and

"You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there”
~Edwin Louis Cole

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Re-focus

To continue in the same train of thought:

"If a captain does not know the destination, for his ship any wind will be wrong"
~unknown

and 

Alice: Can you tell me which path I should take?
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to go!
Alice: I don't really know.
Cheshire Cat: Then, clearly, any path will do!
~Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Why Chose?

Some of the workshops I facilitate are for clients referred for career decision making (CDM) tools such as the Strong Interest Inventory.  Recently one participant was quite resentful that her referring employment counsellor felt that a decision had to be made.  She was an experienced worker with a varied background and she did not want to commit to focusing on any specific type of work. She felt that choosing only one would hamper and limit her.

Although I encouraged her to discuss her feelings with her counsellor and find out why s/he thought it would be useful for her to go through this process, when I put it in the context of job search it began to make more sense to her.  Another participant had been a manager and stated that she never hired people who said they would "do anything", that it was a red flag that the person would likely be uncommitted.

When I used the analogy of catching 2 rabbits (see previous post), the client seemed to "get it".  She saw that it would be more effective, and a better use of her time to focus on a specific type of work, even if only for one day or one job posting at a time.

"One never goes as far as when one doesn't know where one is going."
~ Goethe

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Focus

Phrases I hear daily are "I just want a job" or "I'll do anything."  Kudos for motivation and willingness to be flexible, but not the most useful approach to job search.  They often don't realize that employers usually prefer someone who has experience AND interest in the specific task that they are hiring for, not "anything". Being a team member and willing to take on anything requested of them is different from saying that they will take any job.  Care about the specific job, then add the flexibility.

"If you try to catch two rabbits, both will escape."
~ proverb

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

T or F?

I am one of those people whose preference is not immediately clear on the Myers-Briggs Thinking/Feeling (T/F) scale.  My colleagues sometimes think that I am a T, probably because I love learning and puzzles and can be quite direct at times.  I find it easy to be analytical, and as a strong Introvert I don't always express my feelings as readily as they might themselves.

However, my decisions are almost always made based on my personal values. If I am analytical, it is because I choose to use that ability in order to fill a need or because someone asks/expects me to. I am objective only when I make the effort to be so. Subjective is my natural preference.

From early childhood I was wondering what my ulitmate purpose is.  What is my contribution to the world?  I am proud of and foster my uniqueness.  Being authentic and following my own path is very important to me.  That includes using my mind, my curiousity and my creativity.  So I may appear "green" or "T" rather than "blue" or "F".  In True Colors and Personality Dimensions I refer to myself as Teal - comfortable in both worlds.

Thoughts or comments anyone?

"At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Ageless

Today is my father's 83rd birthday, and when I called he was working on a Photoshop project.  He is taking a class (he says the rest of the students are a third of his age) and enjoying learning new techniques.  Last year he sent me a DVD of a series of documentaries he made on the Bluenose II.  He had to sleep on the floor while shooting as he sailed with her on several long journeys.

He is always involved with something, always learning, always creating something.  When I do my MBTI and Personality Dimensions, he is in my mind while describing NT and Inquiring Green qualities.

He says that he still has most of his hair, but it is turning grey now.  I asked for a photo of him as he is on the other side of the country.  If it arrives, I will post it here.

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
~Mark Twain

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

On Remembrance Day

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
~Maya Angelou

With Respect
Keltie Creed

Reframing problems

Hard to remember when you are caught in the moment, but still a favourite of mine.

"Problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity."
~Gerhard Gschwandtner

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Starting today

Many of the clients I work with these days have a preference for Sensing and Perception (ESTP, ESFP, ISTP, ISFP) or Orange temperament.  It can be challenging to keep them engaged, and but they often also have an innate optimism that can help them through their unemployment.  They are especially likely to take to heart the following:

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
~Maria Robinson

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Change

A lot of my clients are very resistant to change. But the ones who seem happiest, who have the most success in their job search usually are the ones who either welcome it as a new opportunity, or at least accept it as a part of life and look for the best direction. Change is movement, and if we aren't moving we aren't really living.

"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge."
~Tuli Kupferberg

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed

Finding Yourself

Every week I hear at least one adult job seeker say, "I don't know what they want to be when I grow up." Often they are hoping that I will provide them with an answer, which of course I can't. I can interpret assessments for them, offer observations on their skills and abilities, offer occupational information and listen to them while they work it out for themselves.

Some people need longer for self exploration, perhaps because they never had the opportunity in earlier life. Others know themselves pretty well already and still others are looking for excuses or avoiding taking a close look at themselves.

I love working with the people who see this period of challenge and change as an opportunity to be a different person. Perhaps the one they dreamed about being in the past, or perhaps discovering a whole new and exciting direction.


"Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself."
~George Bernard Shaw

Enjoy!
Keltie Creed