Engineering Career and Job Hunting Advice for 1st Day of Spring 2015

The vernal equinox is in the air, as they say, and hope springs eternal. Poets use Springtime metaphorically to elicit the idea of ushering in new life, new ideas, new commitments. To wit: "No [vernal equinox] nor summer [solstice] beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal [equinox] face" - John Donne, "Italy, and the [vernal equinox] and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy" - Bertrand Russell, "O, wind, if winter [solstice] comes, can [vernal equinox] be far behind?" - Percy Bysshe Shelley, "[Autumnal equinox] arrives in early morning, but [vernal equinox] at the close of a winter [solstice] day" - Elizabeth Bowen, "[Vernal equinox' shall plant and [autumnal equinox' garner to the end of time" - Robert Browning.

The concept can easily be extended to finding a new career situation, either because you are tired of the same old rote routine, tired of being misused, feel underused, want to change directions toward a new aspect of your present field, or desire to embark on an entirely new career. Every week or two I scour the Internet for articles whose authors claim knowledge and advice that you need to heed. I try to filter out those that appear to be mere regurgitation of other people's work or are just out to promote their own agendas. Some websites are full of those kinds of columns. One in particular has decent articles, but the responses are filled with people that add basically nothing to the value of the conversation; rather, they offer inane anecdotal comments or gush over how wonderful the advice is just to increment the count on their participation/engagement meters.

• Should You Take a Transition Job?, Carol Vecchio
• An Easy Way to Make Sure You Never Stagnate in Your Career, Caris Thetford
• Take the Sting out of Short-Term Jobs on Your Résumé, Dawn Rasmussen
• The Mr. Spock Test: Are You Making Illogical Career Choices?, Danny Rubin
• The Definitive Guide to Social Media for Job Seekers over 50 by Rachel Stamper
• Want a Successful Career in Tech? Don't Get a College Degree, Saurabh Tyagi
• 50 Happiest Companies in America for 2015, CareerBliss
• Signs Your Resume Isn't Ready for Today's Job Search, JobScan Blog

Posted March 20, 2015