Category Archives: Coaching

The Mid-Career Change Report Volume 1

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There are now over 180 posts on this blog – many about mid-career change.

However I realize that few readers will have the time or patience to go rummaging through the archives looking for diamonds among others collecting digital dust.

Sooo…. what I’m going to do is put together “The Best Of MarkMcClureToday Volume 1” and release it as special report.

japanese-candy-sushi

The report will (probably) be a digital product (Adobe Acrobat pdf) and include supporting exercises (hey! I’m a career coach!) and some audio mp3s – so you can listen on an iPod too.

Price point? About $15.

If you’d like a free, review copy when the product is ready, please leave a comment below describing your favorite post (and why) on this blog to date.

(And make sure your email address is correct!)

As an alternative, you can also let me know via my contact form.

- Mark McClure

PS – Like the digital candy sushi? The real thing’s yummy!

[March 2012 Update: There are now 280 posts and I guess it's time this project was started!]

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The Samurai Writer Takes Up His Elance

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If coaching has taught me anything, it’s that accountability is a formidable tool for personal change when wielded constructively. People often hire coaches to hold their proverbial feet to the fire – and that can be well worth the cost.

Another approach is to follow the ‘success crumbs’ of someone who’s already doing what interests you. That’s how I’m going about adding freelance writing to a mid-career change repertoire.

I signed up for Angela Booth’s “Sell Your Writing Online Now“, and for $37 per month I get a weekly lesson on a particular writing topic – along with some exercises. And usually a bonus file. (BTW – Studying Angela’s online marketing approach for this course is a great way to learn about outsourced passive income streams, ably run by her virtual assistant. But that’s a story for another blog!)

Continue reading →

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Will Your IT Career Survive and Thrive In 2009?

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This post’s for UK-based Information Technology employees worried about losing their jobs but nonetheless determined to survive and thrive – and is a follow-up to my post on ‘career support for IT professionals’.

Having just talked Friday night with an IT career coach back in the Sceptred Isle, here’s a 1st draft outline of what we’d like to cover in a series of teleseminars:

career-teleseminar

There’d be no charge for attending the call – and if you use Skype-Out (or some other Net Phone service) then it would cost ‘nought’.

As we’re both career coaches, the calls would include time for ‘laser coaching’, Q&A time and some followup exercises and ideas for you to test and implement.

The call-to-action will be simple:
Sign up for the call and you’ll also get the mp3 to download after.

2 Questions for you:

1 – Should we cover all topics above in a single call (60 – 90 minutes) or deliver as separate calls?

2 – Any other ‘must-do’ topics?

- Mark McClure

PS - If you’re outside of the UK, you’ll still be welcome to attend but the initial focus will be on the UK market, warm beer, cheese and onion crisps etc ;-)

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Career Support For IT Professionals

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Information Technology professionals are being affected by job losses, offshoring and outsourcing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Just take the recent news by Dell Ireland to move 1900 jobs from Limerick to Poland – no doubt some IT jobs are either included in this number or affected by it.

The final paragraph in this Irish Times article about the story is very revealing:

“It’s no consolation to people in Limerick, I know, but it does give people here an opportunity – for now,” says one worker. “But we know the way things work in the world. We know you cannot depend on Dell.”

When faced with corporate and transnational economic power at work in the world, it’s sometimes difficult for individuals to feel they have much choice or influence over their careers.

If you really cannot depend on corporations, then you must look elsewhere – starting with yourself and your own support network. (You do have one, don’t you?)

And that’s where I want to take the most powerful force for constructive change on the planet – coaching – and let people see how to wield their own power to make changes in how they work and live.

But where to start?

Well, one approach is to bring a group of IT professionals together via a teleconference call and have them (re)discover career options and abilities they have left unexplored and ignored.

As a mid-career IT coach, I’m now talking with an experienced UK-based IT manager / coach about offering some (initially) free teleclasses to help do just that.

Timezone differences between UK and Japan make it practical to hold the initial calls for folks in UK/Europe. We may also do future calls for US and Asia-Pacific if the demand is there.

Stay tuned for a future post about this.

- Mark McClure

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Career Shifters – Get Excited About Your Work

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career shifters

I’ve been visiting the UK-based Career Shifters for some months now.

I highly recommend this site if you’re looking for real life stories and inspiration (and yes, problems too…) from people at various stages of career change.

Naturally, there’s a UK-theme to it but also lots of generic information for anyone in the midst of reevaluating what form they want their working life to take.

I’m particularly fascinated by the ‘Shift Surgeries’ where established UK career coaches respond to readers’ job change queries – rather like a “Dear Abby” relationship newspaper column but without the hectoring or the journalistic sensationalism of an agony aunt.

In fact, if you’re new to career coaches and what they do, you’ll get a sample of coaching’s (usually) non-judgmental, supportive and challenging characteristics from just reading their replies.

(Disclaimer: Yours truly comments there as an ordinary visitor – not yet as a ‘shift surgery’ coach…)

Career Shifters also hold regular workshops in central London – looks like the next one is Wed 28 January from 6:30 – 9:30pm. From the reviews I’ve read of past events I would definitely attend even if I wasn’t a mid-career coach hehe!

Remember that support and inspiration from those who’ve already done (or are doing) what you want to do can be so very, very helpful.

And at only 35 quid – a bargain, even in these tough times.

(Hey Selina, for an economy class return Tokyo – London ticket, I’ll come hang out with you guys no problem ;-)

- Mark McClure

PS – Meanwhile, back to the freelance ghostwriting and copywriting compartments of my own /slash/ career change. More in a future post…

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