Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist. Advice at the intersection of work and life.
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Browsing category "Finding a career"

Five steps to make yourself great

May 7th, 2009
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The best way to get control of your career and stability in your life is to be great at what you do. Superstars are not out of work right now. Really. Even in finance. If you have an amazing track record in your field of work, you’ll have a job. And if you need to [...]

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Twentysomething: Why it's smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work

March 11th, 2009
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This is a guest post from Jamie Varon. She's 23 years old. Her blog is called intersected.
Not too long ago, I started a new job, in which I moved my self from point A (college town) to point B (Bay Area). This was supposed to be my career launch. It took me about two weeks [...]

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How to build a career as an artist

February 6th, 2009
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Here's a post for all the people who are trying to be artists. It is not a friendly post. I do not think that people who want to create art need to get paid to do it. Do you get paid to have sex? No. Same thing. You love it, but you just do it [...]

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Don't try to dodge the recession with grad school

February 3rd, 2009
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A recession is typically a good time for graduate schools. Their application pool goes up because people see them as safe shelter from the storm. The scariest part of a down economy is the idea of having no income. Of course, graduate school does not solve for that. But graduate school does solve the second [...]

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How to figure out what you should be doing with your life

January 15th, 2009
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There is no other way to figure out where you belong than to make time to do it and give yourself space to fail, give yourself time to be lost. If you think you have to get it right the first time, you won't have the space really to investigate, and you'll convince yourself that [...]

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Seven reasons why graduate school is outdated

June 18th, 2008
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It used to be that the smart kids went to graduate school. But today, the workplace is different, and it might be that only the desperate kids go to graduate school. Today there are new rules, and new standards for success. And for most people, graduate school is the path to nowhere. Here are seven [...]

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Secrets to smart decisions when you graduate from college

May 21st, 2008
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The transition from college to adulthood might be the hardest one we make in our whole lives. After we spend twenty years learning how to get good grades, we go into a workforce where those skills are largely irrelevant.
In fact, the skill that is most important in adulthood is self-knowledge—knowing what you like, what you [...]

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Why you already know what you should be doing next

May 12th, 2008
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Do you want to know what you should do right now? Do you want to know what your best bet is for your next career? Look at what you were doing when you were a kid. Nothing changes when you grow up except that you get clouded vision from thinking about what you SHOULD do [...]

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Steps to figuring out your next career move

Posted to: Finding a career
February 25th, 2008
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Here's how you figure out what to do next in your career: you line up all the stuff you like to do and you figure out which one will pay best. Don't complain to me that I'm too focused on money. Really. Just do the exercise. The ones who are complaining the most right [...]

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What's the right timing for graduate school?

December 23rd, 2007
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What's good timing for grad school? For some degrees, the best timing is probably never. The benefits of the degree will never outweigh the problems it creates. For some degrees, going fast is key, for others, taking your time can ward off common missteps. Here's a primer on how to approach a looming graduate application:
Timing [...]

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Bad career advice: Do what you love

Posted to: Finding a career |  Fulfillment
December 18th, 2007
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One of the worst pieces of career advice that I bet each of you has not only gotten but given is to "do what you love."
Forget that. It's absurd. I have been writing since before I even knew how to write – when I was a preschooler I dictated my writing to my dad. And [...]

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Lines blur between non-profit and for-profit workplaces

Posted to: Finding a career
November 12th, 2007
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Jobs in the nonprofit sector are growing at a faster rate than jobs in the business sector. But this might not even be the big news. The big news is that the difference between the nonprofit sector and the business sector is shrinking, according to nonprofit veteran Seth Rosen who blogs at technovist.com.
"As the nonprofit [...]

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Strategies for survival on an entry-level salary

October 1st, 2007
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Most entry-level jobs do not pay enough to support someone living in a large city. This is a problem for recent grads. They imagine life in a big city as lots of entertainment, crowds of young people for fun, and a great dating scene. But it's a hard life to fund: The cost of college, [...]

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Twentysomething: The safe route is overrated

Posted to: Finding a career |  Goal setting
September 18th, 2007
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By Ryan Healy – Safe for me is a cushy, decent job that pays well. Safe is making a steady paycheck that will cover my student loans, rent and living expenses with a small amount left over to put in the bank. Safe is having the spending money to eat out on Tuesday, [...]

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New guest blogger: A.J. Jacobs, from Esquire magazine

Posted to: Finding a career |  Journalism
September 10th, 2007
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There's a new guest blogger on Brazen Careerist: A.J. Jacobs. He is an editor-at-large at Esquire, and from what I can tell, it's one of the cushiest jobs in the world. He doesn't go to meetings, he seems to have some sort of tenure-track thing where he would never be fired, and he doesn't even [...]

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Twentysomething: Be responsible, go back home after college

September 4th, 2007
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By Ryan Healy – According to Monster.com, 60 percent of college graduates move home with mom and dad after graduation and the trend is on the rise. The statistic holds true with my friends from the class of 2006. More than half moved back to the suburbs to start adult life, much the [...]

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To find a dream job today pick a path with twists and turns

Posted to: Finding a career
August 5th, 2007
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Today's workers have three, clear priorities: Flexible hours, work that leads to personal growth, and the ability to spend a lot of time fostering personal relationships.
These are not the characteristics of jobs that typically attracted the best candidates. Most lawyers have terrible hours, most doctors have little flexibility, and most consultants sacrifice personal time for [...]

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Choose a career path that makes you scared of failure

Posted to: Finding a career |  Fulfillment
July 22nd, 2007
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It is clear from a wide range of polls that the majority of both men and women under 40 are willing to give up power and money to get flexible and interesting work. The problem is that this is not so simple. Taking a low-paying, unimpressive job is not going to give you flexibility. In [...]

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Twentysomething: Young workers are impatient with good reason

June 26th, 2007
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By Ryan Healy – I have read that my generation grew up with constant change and amazing new technologies like cell phones and the Internet which caused us to not appreciate patience and experience.
I don't buy that.
Surely there are a variety of social and cultural factors influencing impatience, but as far as I'm concerned, the [...]

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Twentysomething: The Paradox of Choice, gen-Y style

June 12th, 2007
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By Ryan Healy — Go to college, graduate with a technical degree and become a professional, preferably a doctor, lawyer or accountant. Join the workforce for a few years, then get married and have a kid or two."
According to my father this was the typical advice given to young baby boomer boys growing up. [...]

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