Work Lessons 101 - What they Don't Teach You in School
Careers aren't linear, and they don't become successful by accident. They take preparation, ability, time, working smart and patience… But what if you could learn the hard career lessons long before you ever have to face these difficult obstacles yourself? Well, the answer is here, Work Lessons 101 provides you with the blueprint to launching a successful career and manoeuvring around sensitive work situations.
Fortune 500 Project Manager and Career Coach Sabrina Woodworth has compiled over 400 Work Lessons covering 50 topics critical to navigating a successful career. The book covers the full spectrum of career development, from discussing the 'Why' to learning the 'How.'
Many people struggle to progress forward in their careers. The old advice of work hard, put your head down, and you'll be promoted is terrible advice, and the education system has failed to adequately prepare students for their post-academic careers. Theory doesn't work by itself in an environment that requires you to be practical.
Work Lessons 101 is applicable to students and aspiring professionals who want the tools to launch successful careers. Graduates will face an uphill battle securing a position with the current employment climate. They don't need fluffy high-level sentiment; they need practical, no-nonsense career advice that will teach them how to create career opportunities and open their own doors. Sabrina shares career advice and strategies that secured her 6 promotions in 8 years, which built the foundation in which her career skyrocketed.
If you want to accelerate your career development, achieve your goals and accomplish more than you could ever imagine, you must read this book. It will help you reach a higher potential, develop missing skill gaps, navigate difficult situations, create differentiation between you and your peers and bring solutions to challenging problems. These lessons will help prepare aspiring professionals in bridging the gap from college through uncharted areas to building strong, lasting careers.
You need this book if:
- You're ambitious and want to accelerate your career development.
- You want to build a successful career and don't know where to start.
- You're feeling stuck and need a guiding hand to help navigate your career.
- You're feeling burned out because your current work situation is overwhelming.
- You're struggling to understand how to sell your credentials.
- You're struggling to isolate your missing skill gaps and build your network.
- You're actively pursuing your career but aren't being promoted.
What you'll learn from this book:
You’ll learn how to:
- Recognize your organization's unwritten rules
- Win people over and influence decisions
- Establish your professional credibility
- Secure and deliver results
- Manoeuvre around a bad boss
- Build a bulletproof reputation
- Build an influential network that will help you create career opportunities
And much, much more…
Who is this book for?
- Aspiring professionals
- Students and new graduates
- Career changers
- Anyone who wants to build a successful career.
- Anyone who is feeling stuck in their career, who needs a shock of positive energy.
- Anyone who is working hard but not getting their desired results.
- Anyone who is struggling alone and needs a guiding hand through a career mentor.
If you want the blueprint to catapult your career ahead of your competition, this book is for you. It provides practical, no nonsense work lessons that will teach you how to strategize, create opportunities and progress forward in your career.
The Book is available on Amazon.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD........................................................................................................ 1
WHAT I'VE LEARNED IN THE FIRST DECADE OF MY CAREER........................................ 5
WEEK 1 THEME: BE SELECTIVE IN CHOOSING A CAREER............................................. 8
WEEK 2 THEME: PURSUE YOUR PASSION TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE............................ 15
WEEK 3 THEME: DO NOT POSTPONE PURSUING YOUR DREAMS............................... 22
WEEK 4 THEME: DON’T ASSUME EDUCATION GUARANTEES SUCCESS........................ 31
WEEK 5 THEME: HAVE AN EFFECTIVE RESUME & BE PREPARED FOR AN INTERVIEW..... 39
WEEK 6 THEME: BUILDING YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE.............................................. 46
WEEK 7 THEME: HAVE BOTH SHORT- & LONG-TERM CAREER GOALS.......................... 55
WEEK 8 THEME: TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUR OWN CAREER......................... 63
WEEK 9 THEME: TURN OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES........................................ 71
WEEK 10 THEME: DON’T LET A BAD BOSS UNDERMINE YOUR PLAN........................... 78
WEEK 11 THEME: SAY “YES” OFTEN...................................................................... 85
WEEK 12 THEME: BUILD YOUR NETWORK.............................................................. 92
WEEK 13 THEME: FIND EFFECTIVE MENTORS.......................................................... 99
WEEK 14 THEME: PREPARE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING............................................ 106
WEEK 15 THEME: KNOW YOUR COMPANY’S HIERARCHY........................................ 115
WEEK 16 THEME: KNOW YOUR COMPANY’S CULTURE........................................... 122
WEEK 17 THEME: KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SELLING.................................................. 128
WEEK 18 THEME: KNOW YOUR CLIENTS PRIORITIES.............................................. 135
WEEK 19 THEME: ASK POWERFUL QUESTIONS...................................................... 141
WEEK 20 THEME: KEEPING UP APPEARANCES....................................................... 146
WEEK 21 THEME: THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF THE WORKPLACE............................... 153
WEEK 22 THEME: CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES WISELY................................................ 160
12 LESSONS OF LIFE.......................................................................................... 167
WEEK 23 THEME: WORK BOOTCAMP.................................................................. 177
WEEK 24 THEME: CAREER MYTHS VERSUS CAREER REALITY.................................... 185
WEEK 25 THEME: ACING THE INTERVIEW............................................................. 192
WEEK 26 THEME: IMPORTANT CAREER STATISTICS................................................ 200
WEEK 27 THEME: JOB SECURITY......................................................................... 207
WEEK 28 THEME: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM.................................................... 213
WEEK 29 THEME: CRITICAL CAREER VARIABLES..................................................... 220
WEEK 30 THEME: THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE......................... 226
WEEK 31 THEME: THE ART OF THE RESUME......................................................... 233
WEEK 32 THEME: THE RULES OF TRUST............................................................... 240
WEEK 33 THEME: THE POWER OF TIME............................................................... 246
WEEK 34 THEME: THE RULES OF TALENT.............................................................. 253
WEEK 35 THEME: EMBRACING CHANGE............................................................... 260
WEEK 36 THEME: KNOW YOUR MANNERS........................................................... 266
WEEK 37 THEME: BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE.................................................. 272
WEEK 38 THEME: COPING WITH AN UNHEALTHY WORK ENVIRONMENT.................. 278
WEEK 39 THEME: CLIMBING THE CORPORATE LADDER.......................................... 284
WEEK 40 THEME: THE ART OF COMMUNICATION.................................................. 290
WEEK 41 THEME: THE POWER OF TEAMWORK..................................................... 296
WEEK 42 THEME: POWERFUL CAREER MOMENTS................................................. 302
WEEK 43 THEME: BAD CAREER ADVICE................................................................ 308
WEEK 44 THEME: BEST CAREER ADVICE............................................................... 315
WEEK 45 THEME: ASSESSING YOUR CAREER......................................................... 321
WEEK 46 THEME: TRUE LEADERSHIP................................................................... 327
WEEK 47 THEME: THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE WORKPLACE........ 333
WEEK 48 THEME: THE POWER OF DIVERSITY........................................................ 340
WEEK 49 THEME: PAYING YOUR DUES................................................................. 346
WEEK 50 THEME: WORKPLACE STRESS................................................................ 352
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................. 358
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT....................................................................................... 360
ABOUT THE AUTHOR......................................................................................... 362
Why I wrote Work Lessons 101?
Reflecting on my academic life, I recognized that my higher education didn't prepare me for my career. Five years of education and over 150 college credits, not one of those credits was spent teaching me how to:
- Create a career development plan,
- Write an effective resume,
- Prepare for an interview nor,
- Sell my credentials to an employer,
- Recover from failure, and
- Find effective mentors.
As I entered the second decade of my career, I came to a crossroads. Pursue the executive track and take a significant promotion leading a department team overseas or take a step back and start an organization that can help millions of aspiring professionals; I chose the latter. With the love of teaching, sharing my experiences and having a passion for mentoring, I founded Work Lessons 101, an organization that focuses on sharing experiences from the work environment by assisting, guiding and teaching people the essential work lessons to empower success in their careers.
Many of the lessons I've learned are presented within this book. These are the lessons I wish I had known when I started my career. The lessons are applicable to students and career professionals who want the tools to launch successful careers. Graduates will face an uphill battle securing a position with the current employment climate. They don't need fluffy high-level sentiment; they need practical, no-nonsense career advice that will teach them how to create career opportunities and open their own doors.
Work Lessons 101 is dedicated to sharing the critical work lessons that they don't teach you in school.