“How much did they pay you to give up on your dreams?”

That’s a direct quote from George Clooney in the movie Up In The Air. My wife and I saw it yesterday, and it really made an impact on me.  One, because this is some of the work I have been doing for the last 16 months – not the firing part, but the part about helping people move past the job loss on to a new opportunity.  Two, because it deals with an issue that more that 20% of us have had to face in the last 12-18 months — losing a job and its affect on our career, family, psyche and life.

I won’t spoil the movie for you. You should really go see it.

Now read this next part carefully, because if you don’t you may think I’m saying that working isn’t important.  I’m not saying that at all.  Our jobs allow us to exchange time for money.  Money allows us to purchase the things we want and need — i.e. food, clothing shelter, and cool stuff like iPhones and computers.  The problem is that too many of us take a job to pay the bills then end up settling for something less than we really want.  We work our jobs and they consume us.  We get tired and worn out.  Something has to give, so we settle.  We HAVE to have a job, so we give up on the one thing that really matters to us . . . our dreams.

If you have lost your job recently you have been forced into something that you didn’t want and which doesn’t feel very comfortable.  The good news is that the time you have been given may just be the ticket you need to re-focus on what really matters to you. I hope you will take the time to do that, even though it may be uncomfortable (or even a bit painful).

When our clients are evaluating their next career position we coach them to look at 4 things:

1. Job Satisfaction
2. Growth Opportunities
3. Proper Environment
4. Compensation ($$$)

When you evaluate your next position you should look for a balance of these 4 things.  If you don’t, you will probably have an opportunity to do it again within 18 months.  That’s because studies show that more than 50% of all employees are dissatisfied with their current job.  Nearly half of them state that they are looking for a new position. I assure you, that will be YOU if you don’t try to balance job satisfaction, growth opportunities, proper environment and compensation within your next position.

You don’t have to settle.  You don’t have to take a position that will suck the life out of you. You don’t have to give up on your dreams…and I hope you don’t, because life is just too short!

Happy Hunting!

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Welcome December!  This month I am participating in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge with some other bloggers.  As you know, this blog is all about helping people find a new job. Not just any new job, mind you, but rather, the perfect career. That’s why we write about acing the interview, cutting time off your job search, and using Internet job boards (like LinkedIn, Monster.com, and Twitter).

This 30 day blog challenge will allow me to develop some new material to use in the Careers 2.0 website.  That means two things for you: 1) you get the opportunity to add your 2 cents to the conversation, and 2) you get it for free before everyone else! This blog is all about offering free job advice, free job resources, free resume examples, and much more. We deal with topics such as networking, building a personal brand, working with recruiters, unemployment, interviewing and salary negotiation. What would YOU like to see us cover during the 30 day challenge? I hope you will participate by adding your thoughts to the conversation.  Actually, it won’t be much fun without you! Oh, and don’t forget to pass the links along to your fellow job seekers.

While the long term goal of this blog is to help everyone in America find the perfect career for this time in their life, my short term goals are a bit more attainable. Here are my goals for 30 day blog challenge:

1. create 5 posts on Personal Branding as it relates to the job search.
2. create 5 posts on interviewing and interviewing tips for job seekers.
3. add 50 followers to Facebook blog list.
4. add 200 people to newsletter mailing list.
5. get 3 posts to get picked up by a national venue.

Thank you for joining (and encouraging) me on this 30 day blogging journey.  And don’t forget, happy hunting!

30 Day Blogging Challenge – day 1.  Tomorrow’s post: “Do You Have A Professional Photo?”

There are no tricks to finding your perfect career, but going about it in the wrong way can distract from your job search and making it take longer to find your next position. For instance, many job seekers spend much of their day on the Internet searching the job boards.  Unfortunately, only about 6-10% of all jobs are ever posted on these job boards.  Smart job seekers understand that the key to finding the perfect career fit requires them to conduct a career marketing campaign.

A career marketing campaign begins by helping you focus your strengths and accomplishments into quantifiable statements that will show prospective employers what you can offer them – i.e. ways you can help them make or save money.

Once you have determined your key accomplishments, the next step is to find people and companies who need what you have to offer.  Sending out resumes en massé will just put your name into a pile of 500 to 1,000 candidates.  A proactive career marketing plan will allow you to be one of only a handful of candidates, rather than one in 1,000.

So why would you want to calculate how much you unemployment costs?  Isn’t that just a straight shot to depression-ville?  Not really.  I believe that one can make wiser decisions when they are better informed.  If you don’t know what unemployment is costing you, you should take a few minutes to do the calculations.  Trust me, it WILL help!

Here’s a simple way to calculate the cost of your unemployment.

1) Your desired monthly salary    $_______________

2) Subtract your current monthly income (i.e. unemployment, severance, etc)    $ _______________

3) Equals your monthly LOSS of income    $ _______________

If your monthly loss of income is $500, then in 3 months your will be out $1,500.  If you are $2,000 in the red each month, 3 months will take $6,000 out of your savings or put you that much deeper in debt!

When you know this information you really have two options:

1. Trim expenses.
2. Invest in tools to help you cut time off your job search.

What is it worth to you to cut time off your job search?  What is ONE week worth?  A month?  3 months? How much more time are you willing to WASTE on your job search?

The tools found in the Premium membership of Careers 2.0 can help you cut as much as 50% of your job search.  Isn’t that worth a $149.00 investment?

Click here to get started with your Career 2.0 Premium subscription.