Hi.

I am looking for some ideas for getting a career that fits me a little better. I recently quit/got fired from a local Walmart and am probably going to move to a bigger city. The towns I have lived/worked in the past few years have been around population 6000. I may end up moving back to my college town of Chico, CA.

I figure with a good job and/or starting my own business can propel me to a different town, one hopefully with more women in it for the taking. The main reason I am writing this is that I am having trouble narrowing down the career field. My degree in college was in Environmental Economics, and I also have some accounting knowledge too. I would really like to go for a Green/environmental career. There are many books and resources it looks like for environmental jobs, but they are a bit confusing...

I could go into solar, wind, geothermal, bio-fuel, pollution abatement.... there are tons of paths I can take. Do any of you have an idea of which direction is a decent path to begin on or any resources for this type of work?

-Chicoman

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Start your own business.

That sounds like a good idea. I'm on unemployment now, which is going to be maxed out fairly soon and I just got SSI. I am thinking of moving to Chico, CA, a small college city and getting a part-time job there somewhere in town. I can always pursue my dreams of owning my own business too.

My dad told me once, "You've got the world by the tail..."

_________________
"Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
My blog - http://pickupartistpua.blogspot.com/
http://www.toastmasters.org

20 Minute Phone Coaching Session with The Venusian Arts! http://bit.ly/15iipY0

All you need to have is faith in you and keep yourself cool and calm and wait for the right chance to come.

I saw Style use a routine where he gets a girl to qualify herself to him. He did it on the David Letterman show to Jessica Alba and presents it in his Annihilation Method DVDs. He says to the girl "looks don't mean anything because it just means you got lucky in the gene pool. So can you tell me 3 things about yourself not related to looks that would make me want to get to know you better?"

My question is: Can this be used in a job interview whether the interviewer is a man or a woman? So at the end of the interview you could say "tell me 3 things that should make me want to work for your company." Maybe it would be even better if I asked that at the beginning of the interview as it would show me taking control of the process, but that might be overly intimidating.

What do you think? Thanks for replies.

To tell you the truth, I have been told a few times to "sarge" your job interviewer. This makes sense to me, because I believe that you are basically man whoring (selling) yourself to the company. Not to quote Mystery Method too much, but you are trying to DHV (demonstrate higher value) to your interviewer to get that job that pays you money.

One of my favorite questions is when an interviewer asks you, "What is your greatest strength/weakness?" I was taught to not beat yourself up over your weaknesses... You don't really want to DLV (demonstrate lower value) too much to the job interviewer. Instead you could say something typical like, "I tend to be a perfectionist but I get the job done by the deadlines." Good eye contact and smiling helps a lot during interviews.

Something I learned NOT to do was hold my breath during an interview. Relax and breathe... I interviewed for a grocery store position that I felt I REALLY needed. The first "question", "tell us a lil about yourself..." I ended up hyperventilating a bit and just needed to relax. The interviewers understood and offered me a soda. It was like having approach anxiety all over again... After that, the interview went fairly smooth.

Another place to work on job interview skills is Toastmaster's International. Their website is in my "signature". It's an inexpensive group where we work on public speaking/speeches, leadership skills, and things like job interviews. I have given over 10 speeches there and earned my Competent Communication award, and now I am working on my Competent Leadership award and more advanced speeches. It has really helped me enhance my vocabulary and not be so nervous talking in front of people. I highly recommend finding a meeting of Toastmaster's, even if you only show up as a guest. The educational path of Toastmaster's takes years to master, climaxing once your reach the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. Even at that stage, your journey can still continue. Check out the website, under free resources, they have past magazines in .pdf form with a few articles on "job interviewing".

_________________
"Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
My blog - http://pickupartistpua.blogspot.com/
http://www.toastmasters.org

20 Minute Phone Coaching Session with The Venusian Arts! http://bit.ly/15iipY0

As someone who's self-employed. I urge you not to go this route. You don't even know what field you want to go into. The last thing you're going to do is be successful in a small business.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvtxOzO6OAE[/youtube]

That's cute. :rolleyes:

But seriously. Have you ever started a real business from scratch?

Look forward to the next 5 years of hell, working 24/7. Having stress beyond anything you can imagine. And that's only if you don't go bankrupt first. I'll admit, there's nothing better than being your own boss. But if I had it to do over again. I'd have finished med school.

Yeah, actually... I have. Reference the link in my signature for the company website.

Yes... I work 24 hours a day. My mind is always moving. I'm always under a tremendous amount of stress. I've been through hell and back starting my company. But you know what, it's ALL WORTH IT.

You know why people go to college after highschool? Because they are lazy. Because they want to be told what to do. They want to work for someone else so they don't have to figure it out on their own. This generation of people is told "go to school and that will get you a job." They are scared to try and figure it out.

If you started a business, you know that it takes a massive set of balls and a completely fearless mentality.

Doing something for yourself is way more rewarding than "going to school and getting a job." All it takes is balls, being fearless, and a tremendous amount of passion for what you are doing... You don't need to be extremely smart. You don't need a college degree. You simply need to want it bad enough and not let anything stop you.

Please stop discouraging people from doing something more with their lives than "getting a job."

It takes a passion and particular skill set to make it. This guy doesn't even know where to start, which is why he's here looking for ideas and advice. My point wasn't to tell him never go into business for yourself. It was that until you have something worth going into business for. It's not worth it. The failure rate for start-ups is more than 75%. He'd be smarter to go work someplace while he figures everything out rather than to go half-cocked into a business because his unemployment is running out and he needs to do something quick... Oh and that's the other thing about owning a business. You're the last one to get paid. And a lot of times end up working without a paycheck in the beginning.

Environmental compliance consulting is a goldmine. It would take a low startup cost....just a small office, computers, a few experienced environmental compliance officers from KBR or Schlumberger, and some hosted solutions from a local data company to provide corporate exchange and a website.

Get on linked in and reach out to some guys in the area that would like to start up with you.

Majikal, I don't think starting my own business would have been more rewarding than working my way through university and starting to work my way up through the sector I currently work in. It's something I'm good at, something I enjoy doing, something which pays extremely well, something which is hard work a lot of the time, but I know that at the end of it I'll be getting my nice wage packet. If you start your own business and you're crap at it, then do you think it would be worth it when you're broke, can't pay your rent or bills and are having to move back in with your parents to try and save enough just to pay off enough of your debts to be able to start renting again?

I think if you've got a decent idea for a business, then it's worth looking into. If you've sat down and identified a suitable gap in a market or something like that, then it might be worth look into. But just sitting there randomly and thinking "hmm, I fancy starting a business today, what should I do" is a fairly poor bit of advice. Even if you've got a good idea, it's worth checking with accountants etc. and then making sure you've got a pretty decent business plan before you get started. Yeah it's great if your business goes well, but it's not the best bet for everyone. Oh, and I can tell you that people in my profession are anything but lazy through college and their careers.

It's not about discouraging people. It's about opening their eyes. If everyone could start their own business and make millions, everyone would. If all you're going to do is start your own business which will earn enough to earn a reasonable living, then is it worth it? If you're the sort of person who wants to work extremely hard for something that is yours, then great. But if it's only a reasonable living that you're going to make rather than millions, then why not get a 'normal' job where the work load will probably be less (so more free time) and you're guaranteed a wage at the end of the month - as opposed to always being worried that if you have a bad few months you might end up going under and being screwed. Personally, having my own business has never been even remotely attractive to me. Working in the career I am doing, working hard, but also having a reasonable degree of job security that I get is far more important to me.