Career Ownership: Creating 'Job Security' in Any Economy

Taking a unique approach to careers--especially inside organizations-- Career Ownership: Creating 'Job Security' in Any Economy provides you with a career and development model to reinvent the all-but-non-existent job security. This book is the only career approach that actually shows you how to partner with your organization so both achieve a win-win. You can define your value and create a case for your desired career growth and direction.

It is well known: when you know your value, do your homework, market to your customer s needs, and build the (business) case for a match, you make the sale more often than not. And, as all really effective sales consultants know, when you build win-win relationships, the customer wants to work with you.

Within the challenges of the 21st century global economy come those around redefining careers. Workers still want to make a difference, to grow and to advance...even if organizations no longer have career ladders. Organizations more than ever need workers who are motivated, engaged and contribute their best work. So it makes sense that workers who align their strengths with the organization's strategic directions are the most valuable and have the most to offer. Career Ownership: Creating 'Job Security' in Any Economy shows readers exactly how to do that: get clear on their strengths and value, define strategic career direction, determine ongoing learning needs, recognize and acquire mentors and build a business case for proposed career value.

Beginning with a business case for career ownership, the author builds an analogy between home ownership and work ownership. The bedrock of success in the 20th century, home ownership continues to be a measure of maturity, stability and pride. It s also the foundation of many financial portfolios, yet most people who have a career, rent or lease it to their current employer. And it is your work, your career that is the foundation for your lifelong earnings capacity. So it makes little sense to rent the very asset that provides your earnings, yet changing is difficult often because outdated mindsets sabotage actions that could move you in a beneficial direction. Career Ownership shows you how to develop your ownership capacity.

With the instability of employment markets, jobs morphing into outsourced and contract work, and the need for flexible workers in a globally competitive economy, any renter is putting his or her future in the hands of the landlord...without a lease! Career Owners take a new and different look at the 3 R s: they are Ready, Responsive and Resilient.
Career Owners: *enroll in annual upgrades to and maintenance for their skills and knowledge;
*recognize and treat their employer as their #1 customer;
*continually seek new and challenging work experiences: shadowing, mentoring, requesting growth projects, and participating in strategic company initiatives;
*demonstrate and speak their value and customer service bias every day;
*clearly know their strengths and best work directions;
*recognize the rules of 21st century careers and become responsible for creating their own job security.

With 17 worksheets and anecdotes throughout, Career Ownership guides the reader to approach professional development and direction with a clear responsibility, one that can be updated and sustained for all workers...from the one nearing retirement to the one looking ahead to the next forty years.