How greed creates career opportunity - By: Chris Makell

If you've been in the workforce for the last 10 years, you've seen more scandal, mergers & acquisition, entirely new industries created, less loyalty - for employers and employees and more people opting out and developing their own businesses. And of course, there are the recent layoffs, reorganization of some companies and those "titans" who have but all disappeared. Gone are the days of planning for retirement after 30 years, when you're in your late 50's or 60's, now it's moving on to your second career after retiring from your first!

While all of this can be overwhelming, can you imagine the future for those just entering the workforce? It can be even scarier for those who don't have the skills today, to compete? With all of this constant and unpredictable change how do you protect your skills, expertise and the investment made in YOU? To some degree, we have to go back to the days of the movie "Wall Street". If you're familiar with the movie, the Wall Street tycoon played by Michael Douglas, was solely focused on himself and his success. Perhaps you've heard or can recall the famous line - "Greed [...]is Good, Greed Works". It's classic Wall Street...even in this past 12 months, right? And I'm not just talking about Bernie Madoff! Now I'm not suggesting that everyone become like the character Gordon Gekko, but I am strongly suggesting that you take a more selfish and "greed-based" look at developing, not only yourself, but your career. What does that look like?

We know that companies have several types of plans for how much profit they plan to make in the next year, next 5, and next 10 and so on. What plans do you have for how you will profit - personally and professionally?

- Are you watching and forecasting where your "personal marketplace" is moving?

- Have you considered a particular skill or talent you want to develop that will help you continue in or enhance the lifestyle you enjoy?

- Do you have the right people around you to help you be successful?

- Are you considering staying where you are or moving to another company or physical location?

- What can you outsource or layoff to increase your efficiency and effectiveness?

- What's your planned profit for the next year, 5 or 10?

I'm sure you know that these are some of the key questions companies ask themselves when they are building their strategies. You can use the same strategy to focus on your life and career and protect both when in the midst of change. You see, not only is the world of work changing, but so too is the way that you approach it, whether a new hire, 10-20 year mid career or moving toward that "second career" professional.

As more people enter the world of career change and transitions, they are missing the golden opportunity of pursuing what they want for their own sake. This is the perfect time to use the questions above as a catalyst to get as much training, experience and knowledge from those who have either done it or are still doing it. There is a level of compassion and support from experts, available today, which we've not seen in a long time. You should take advantage of all that is offered and available. Online and offline networking organizations can put you in touch with the "experts" and even an "Answers" function on LinkedIn can help you both learn from and ask questions of those experts!

So I say, be selfish about your career and be greedy in getting all the tools, resources, training and development that is available to you to and make this dynamic environment work for you!

About the Author

Chris Makell is the Career Transitions Specialist who helps career professionals get clear on their outcome and create crisp, achievable transition plans that get results. Her clients have increased their incomes, obtained high level and executive positions, and achieved career success with life balance. Get Chris' powerful audio program and transcript to create the mindset for career success, available at => http://www.CareerXing.com

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