life@work

Despair Can Crack You Up (in a Good Way)

A friend of mine told me about Despair.com after reading my post on optimism.

This is an extremely clever website that sells products that spoof motivational items such as the posters some corporations choose to display. You know, the ones that are about being the best you can be, reaching for the stars, etc.

Those must be the same companies who shell out the big bucks for Lucite plaques as service awards, so keyed in are they to what truly motivates employees.

Be sure to check out the Bittersweets. Guaranteed to put a new spin on your Valentine's Day.

Optimism is good for you - but pessimism is funnier.

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

"When HR Goes Too Far"

The title of this post is the tagline of a movie I just watched, called The Method. It was released in Spain in 1995 (El Metodo), had a limited release in the US earlier this month, and goes to DVD on August 14. The screenwriter for this movie, Mateo Gil, also wrote the screenplays for Vanilla Sky and The Sea Inside.

A few weeks ago on Career Hub I wrote about my worst job interview ever. But it's got nothing on the interview process dramatized in this movie!

Imagine you are interviewing for a high-level corporate position in the same room and at the same time as six other candidates.

Before continuing with the interview, you have to complete HR paperwork that you've already completed (nice touch!) and agree to submit to "The Gronholm Method", an unexplained interview process that conjured up images in my mind of nasty Scandinavians in lab coats.

Of course you agree because you want this job. How bad could it be?

What follows is a series of mind games that make you grateful you have never heard of The Gronholm Method. It's a little like Survivor meets The Usual Suspects meets Twelve Angry Men, with a little European lavatory sex thrown in for good measure.

I thought it was fun. I can't say that watching it would exactly prepare you for your next interview, other than to perhaps remind you that keeping your clothes on during a job interview is still advice that universally applies!

Check it out. You can see it on the big screen on various dates coming up in various cities such as Portland, Cleveland, San Diego and Rochester, NY.

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

What's Your Career Type?

It's Saturday at 5:42pm, and I'm wondering what I'm doing writing a post rather than sipping a glass of wine.

Who knows, except I was cruising around and found this fun and frothy little 5-minute quiz and thought I'd pass it on to you.

Whew, I'm so relieved to be in the right career! I'm not sure that I would put "parole officer" as one of the top ten inspirations for the "social" career type, but hey, I'm sure that checking on all those parolees must make for some interesting chat time.

And now on to that wine...

Your Career Type: Social

You are helpful, friendly, and trustworthy. Your talents lie in teaching, nursing, giving information, and solving social problems. You would make an excellent: Counselor - Dental Hygienist - Librarian Nurse - Parole Officer - Personal Trainer Physical Therapist - Social Worker - Teacher The worst career options for your are realistic careers, like truck driver or farmer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Positive Psychology Degree Program a Happy Idea

Writing a blog about finding career happiness is an interesting challenge for a person who tends towards pessimism.

I could say instead that I'm grounded in reality and am practical, which are both true, but I also know that I understand where Chicken Little is coming from.

You say the sky is falling? Of course it is.

In some ways I named my coaching company "Dream Big" as a personal reminder.

So in addition to having a professional interest in both career development and understanding how people experience happiness, my personal mastery of seeing half-empty glasses has led me to learn as much as I can about the field of positive psychology.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. Its focus is on studying what makes people happy instead of on mental illness. Optimism is one of the areas of study in positive psychology.

The most famous researchers in the field are Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal experience, and Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism and Authentic Happiness.

Recently I've learned that there is an M.A. program at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctoral program at Claremont Graduate University in positive psychology.

What this has to do with you, the person interested in career happiness, is that recognizing career happiness has a lot to do with how you expect, seek and recognize happiness in general. And that's where positive psychology comes in.

Exploring this area is a great way to begin or continue your search for career happiness. The UPenn Positive Psychology Center website is an excellent place to learn more. One exercise I highly recommend is the VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire.

For me, thinking optimistically is an ongoing process which is often challenging. It's an essential skill that I bring to the table in my coaching, and in a nutshell, it makes life a whole lot more fun.

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

 

 

What Would It Take to Find Career Happiness?

It occurs to me that I do quite a bit of guessing about what you, the reader interested in finding career happiness, wants to hear about.

Maybe you don't want to read another single solitary word about how to get a job. Maybe you're up for a philosophical discussion about happiness, or maybe a conversation about how to avoid having a career would be fun.

What would it take for you to experience career happiness? What has to change?

Look over to the right sidebar at my handy new poll from Vizu. I'd be much obliged if you'd take a few seconds to let me know what one change would have the biggest impact on you finding career happiness.

You don't have to register anywhere or leave an email address, and you get to see the results right away. Nothing could be simpler! If you don't see an answer that applies to you, feel free to leave a comment.

I'll have the poll up for a week. Then I should have a new crop of fresh ideas for this blog.

Thank you!

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Jobs Here

I just love Eccentric Employment, a blog that lists, well, eccentric employment opportunities.

Among my personal favorites are snake sitter, wine maiden, soap decorator, cupcakes associate, and puppet costumer.

I'm holding out for "professional napper" or perhaps "Chief Cocktail Tester".

But seriously, it's smart to expand your perspective when you're thinking about your Perfect Job. It doesn't have to be traditional or corporate.

Eccentric Employment also includes links to books about odd jobs, weird jobs and jobs for non-conformists.

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

Technorati Tags: jadewalker jobs jobsearch

Take This Job and Shove It

If you're feeling bitter about your job and are ready to get out of Dodge, you may have spent some quality time imagining the perfect letter of resignation.

It wouldn't say, "I've really appreciated all the opportunities I've been given here", would it?

NW Jobs has an amusing template called The Resignator you can use to write the resignation letter of your dreams, a la Mad Libs.

It's clever advertising for them, too, if you forward your letter of hilarity to your friends (uh, not from your machine at work, OK?)

Heather Mundell
Dream Big Coaching Services
www.dreambigcoaching.com
heather@dreambigcoaching.com

Technorati Tags: resignator nwjobs funny