Our intent is to help you to make a transition into what structured learning is about. We explore focus and commitment to help you achieve your goals, both in education and in preparation for a career path that will continue to serve you long after you have graduated regardless of career choice preferences. If it has been a few years since you were in school you may need this course to get started on the right track. This starts with self-discovery, and creating a focus on the successful completion of your studies. Self-discovery is an important aspect of planning what to do with your future: selecting a program of study simply because it sounds impressive will not be the most effective outcome for many people, as we can see individuals with university degrees that have no interest in pursuing a career based on that academic foundation.

The most sought-after skills in business today are selling skills. Many people think of selling in a narrow context like retail, but in actual fact there are 5 major areas that directly influence the potential for success in any area. Any new business idea requires an introduction that depends on an individual’s selling skills to gain acceptance for the idea, as well as business- and financial skills to demonstrate a sound value proposition for an implementation project. Selling skills are equally critical success factors for obtaining employment, or starting your own business venture, which is the reason why we teach you how to sell yourself first. This is a common notion, but we may say “Don’t sell yourself short” without thinking what that really implies. You need to create a self-awareness of what you bring to the table when you pursue a job, and how you enable the employer so that they obtain a net benefit from having you work for them.

We focus on how to find job opportunities, apply and complete a successful interview to obtain a career starting opportunity. It is important to look at everything you have studied: reflect on direct skills and indirect skills, projects, exercises, or experience that you use to show what you have achieved. This is separate from the impetus for starting your program of study – you are focusing on how you will use what you have learned in order to make an impression on the hiring manager, while later you can explore what other learning is helpful for building your career. At this stage we assume you are done with your studies, or you have been downsized, or you find it necessary to change jobs to maintain your sanity – this can happen to anyone at any time, and it can be helpful to use this particular course as a guide that steps you through the process.

The workplace has changed dramatically yet many people seem lost in terms of what behaviour is acceptable. We have seen the spectacle of well-known radio and TV personalities caught in a web of sexual harassment that besmirched individuals as well as the organizations they worked for. The key here is that people seemed to have lost their morals in the course of embracing the concepts of equality in the workplace. Many people treat this as a joke – they discover too late that destroying a career and a reputation tends to be final, no matter how clever a lawyer may be trying to diminish the serious nature of the interaction. Many lesser offenses can equally ruin a career when the outcome is a lack of trust – something that is extremely difficult to rebuild after the dust settles. The fact that the hero gets away with it in the movies seldom translates in the general acceptance of such behaviour in and out of the workplace.

A different twist on Career Management is for employees that are subject to downsizing in their workplace to get an orientation to refocus their career objectives as outlined in the courses that are listed above. Most companies do not merely close their doors: the right approach is to help employees come to grips with the reality that new opportunities must be found elsewhere. We recommend against a “revolving door” employment strategy where people without specific skills are let go while people with those skills get hired – our focus is on re-training as a more practical strategy (even if this may not work for all employees they will at least have a chance to succeed), but we also understand that sometimes union seniority rules can undermine these options: it is important that all parties are in agreement for the benefit of the affected employees.