Career Magellan: How to Begin Your Career Journey, is a simple, easy-to-use guide full of ideas to help define the employment for which you would excel. The best thing is that you are the one who decides what to do, where to go and whom to see.
The workbook, which features actual cases as examples, also has two full pages of resource materials.
Taking Inventory
The workbook guides you through a series of exercises, asking pertinent questions to match your interests and passions to possible careers. It just might surprise you to learn how many different ways you can use your talents in the marketplace.
You are asked to devise lists designed to kindle those creative thoughts, and to suggest follow up self-inquiries. You are your own best source.
I completed several of the exercises myself and found them to be thought-provoking as well as meaningful.
Authors as Career Guides
Fireman and Maurer came from different backgrounds and have found a connection in giving people information that directs them to career opportunities.
As they write on their web site, "Washington Career Services (WCS) is a career management firm specializing in organizational and career counseling for individuals, academia, and industry. Our mission is to provide career planning services and comprehensive training to our clients."
Fireman attended Rosyln High School in New York (on the north shore of Long Island) before pursuing her ambitions at the University of Maryland (undergraduate) and Johns Hopkins (graduate).
Maurer, born in San Mateo, California, attended Andover High School in Massachusetts for two years before graduating from Robinson Secondary in Fairfax, Virginia. She went on to pursue an undergraduate degree at Mary Washington University, where she also played intercollegiate softball, in Fredericksburg, VA. She was a graduate student at Marymount University in Arlington, VA.
Different Backgrounds Lead to Expanded Perspectives
The authors, who are also business partners, have real-life experiences from divergent area of the country upon which to draw. Their experience and knowledge in the field of career planning has been documented by publications such as The Wall Street Journal and on various television news shows in the Washington D.C., New York and Boston markets.
As the authors suggest, "it us becoming increasingly challenging for clients and employees to define their talents, passions and values." This workbook is one way to explore just how to mesh all three components that lead to a rewarding career.
The Job Market
The current state of affairs in the United States makes it all the more imperative to seek alternative ways to reach your goals. Career Magellan is one such avenue, worthy of exploration.
Fireman and Maurer created the workbook in response to the challenges of a new age. "It is designed to help people take stock of what is important to them," they write.
The cover art, and illustrations throughout the workbook, was created by Mike McDermott's art class at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland.
Let the journey begin.
Rick Eymer - I have written for The San Mateo Times, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and am currently working part-time as an assistant sports editor at ...
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