My goal is simple: To receive support and guidance to help me get from where I am now to where I want to go professionally. Like any good mentor, he asked what I want to do.

Glad he asked. I want to help organizations build a sustainable learning culture in order to facilitate individual and organizational development, as well as to maintain their competitive edge. I have had this goal since being in my graduate program but I had no idea how I might get there.

That is the beauty of having a mentor. From our conversation, my mentor was able to understand what I am trying to accomplish. He left me with a lot of things to ponder and consider. He also came up with an action plan that will help me obtain my goal.

Though this is customized to me and my professional goal, I will share my action plan with you. It may inspire you to do something similar with your own career. Better yet, go out and find yourself a mentor. It is the best thing you can do for your career. Here are a couple of Web sites that might help you in gettin started:

Why you need a mentor

Top 10 qualities of a good mentor

My action plan:

1. Keep up my skills in ID (instructional design). They will come in handy when I recommend learning strategies. By the way, I got kudos for volunteering my time with the university.
2. Get management and leadership experience by joining a team in town to manage projects.
3. Research companies in town and see what they have to offer, i.e. what jobs do they have that I want to do? What jobs do they have now? Find a way to get my foot in the door even if it is to take an administrative assistant position.
4. Consider presenting a proposal to an organization about how I can help them with their training needs.
5. Start talking about training in a strategic way.
6. Keep up on industry news and trends. This is especially critical in our profession.
7. Research groups in town and find out how I can become an individual contributor. Then think about how I can move up in the team to become a team leader and manage projects for them.
8. See what’s available online, maybe even manage a virtual team.
9. Shoot for management positions in HR (human resources) and training.

I felt good about my meeting today. I now have a plan that is clear, focused, and do-able. Now it is up to me to execute them.

The day started with introductions to the staff, followed by an orientation to what they do, how they do it, and what they’re working on. Then, I was taken on a quick tour of the campus.

I was impressed at the caliber of people who work there. Their work looked very good. I was a bit intimidated and immediately thought I should pull out my ID (instructional design) books and start reviewing them again. In any event, I am thrilled about helping them on their projects … and I think they were too. They already gave me lots of things to do! Ha Ha. I am grateful for everything, though. In the few hours I was there, I already learned something new.

I think I will like working with this organization.

It sounds as if most of these job search bloggers have years and years of experience in their line of work. Although I too have many years of work experience, I have less than three (3) years in my current field. I am a career changer with a recent master’s degree in organizational learning and instructional technology. The job search experience is not any easier for those who have six (6) or more years under the belt mind you, but I feel a new college graduate or a career changer may have just a few more challenges they have to contend with in this very tight job market.

For example, I had a job interview today that I was so excited about. Like I do before every interview, I prepared for it by learning more about the company, making a list of answers to questions I could be asked, and noting questions I want to ask about the company. When the call came, I was ready. However, after 15 minutes of conversation, the interview was stopped. I was told they are looking for someone with more experience than I had. Although I appreciated their candor, I was devastated. I asked them for advice about what I could do to gain more experience when no one wants to hire me because I don’t have enough experience. It’s like a catch-22.

My interviewers were very empathetic and suggested that I look for internships with large corporations. They may not pay a lot but it is a way to continue to develop my skills and add the experience to my résumé.

Another suggestion they made was for me to do volunteer work. Funny they mentioned that because starting tomorrow, I am going to be working on a volunteer basis with a local university where I live. I approached the university a few weeks ago to offer my services pro bono and they accepted. They were so grateful since their budget was recently slashed by 51%. Yes, that’s correct. That number is not a typo.

After indulging myself in a few minutes of self-pity from a discontinued interview, I peeled myself off the sofa and decided to keep fighting for what I deserve. I deserve to be useful to society. I am a good person with excellent work ethics.

In spite of a disappointing day, I am excited to go to work tomorrow even if I am not getting paid for it. I see many benefits from doing it:

• It gets me out of the house
• I will meet new people and expand my network
• I will keep my skills honed by working on real projects
• I will help someone who is in need of help
• My prospective employers have an opportunity to see what I am capable of
• And finally, I hope to be considered for a position once there is an opening. My secret dream is that they will like my work so much that they will create a position for me.

All dreams aside, I’ll continue to search for work while volunteering. However, I’m going to be smarter about it. All of the advice I’ve read and heard are all very useful, but as one of my acquaintances said, it is really all about how you sell yourself. With that in mind, here are some things I am doing differently:

• Know exactly what I can offer a company. To help me figure this out, I am participating in an online career intervention workshop presented by Marcus Buckingham, author of Put Your Strengths to Work. You too can join me by going to Oprah.com’s Web site and searching for the workshop called Take Control of Your Career and Your Life.
• Get my name out there by writing articles or blogs and volunteering to speak at professional association meetings.
• Having been in financial sales who made cold calls to find clients, I am going to start doing the same to find people who are willing to give me 10-15 minutes of their time so I can let them know how I may be able to help their organizations continue to succeed. (I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to do that yet.)
• I sought a mentor and we will start our monthly calls on Thursday. I chose someone whom I know is doing what I want to do and is very successful. Having a mentor is like a having a personal advocate who will guide me to reach my professional goals and whom I hope will refer and endorse me for positions for which I am qualified.

These are just some of the ways I’m thinking about how to make myself stand out from everyone else who is competing for the same job that I am. Do you have any other ideas that you’re trying or have tried and have worked for you? I would love to hear them! Please feel free to share them with our readers.

Over to the right you will find links to articles or Web sites I found useful in my job search. Check them out. You might be surprised!