The Life-Changing Magic of… ONET – a powerful tool for career research

Career and job research can often feel like a slog, but ONETonline.org (aka ONET) is like the Marie Kondo of career resources.

It can ?spark? some serious joy in your career planning.

Let’s dive in.

ONET is a fantastic resource for career exploration and job analysis. Whether you’re an executive looking to move on or an artist looking for a suitable day job (#SummerofStrikes #SAGAFTRAStrong #WGAStrong), you will get a ton of actionable and inspiring data from ONET.

Created by the U.S. Department of Labor, ONET is an online repository that lists over 900 occupations across the United States and includes detailed descriptions of jobs, including skills and education requirements, salary ranges by state (and even by zip code!!), and job outlooks, among many other features. It’s a career encyclopedia at your fingertips.

You can search occupations by skills you have (or are interested in acquiring), including soft skills like “active listening” and job duties, professional associations, and more. There are databases to access by Industry, Career Clusters, and Bright Outlook.

The Bright Outlook list includes professions where there is expected rapid growth in the coming years or a large number of job openings. When I searched the Rapid Growth section, Actors and Actuaries were the first two professions that popped up! See below.

Because ONET uses robust national datasets, you can also use it to gauge median and average salaries in your field if you were to move to a different state, city or zip code.

You can type any term into the search bar and several option will appear for you to go down your own personal rabbit hole.

You can even search by STRESS TOLERANCE!

Whaaaaa???? I know, right?

Not to overwhelm you, but you should also know that at the bottom of every occupation’s page is a section called “Additional Resources” that includes professional organizations and other information about that job. The opportunities for learning and understanding are endless.

I’ve only just scratched the surface about this crazy-good tool, but I think I’ve given you a lot to play with, friend.

When I show this site to my private career coaching clients, it’s as if a lightbulb goes off in their eyes.

ONET can be a powerful tool in your toolbox as you seek out your next opportunity. It can help you:

  • Open your eyes to opportunities you weren’t aware of before,
  • See how your current skills could translate to a new role, and
  • Learn what you need to get yourself ready for what you want to do next.

What do you think? If ONET can empower you to make more informed decisions and take meaningful steps toward your next step, then why not try it? Because you may not always be thinking about this, but it's true: a happier YOU sparks joy for everyone in your circle. And that, my friend, is life-changing magic.

Why I turned down a Broadway audition, Part 2

As I was saying…

When it comes to huge opportunities, I might be in the minority, but I believe that sometimes you can and should say No.

But this is not permission for you to cop out of stepping up to meet your opportunities.

You only have permission to say NO for the right reasons – for example, when you know you can’t do the job right now and what you need to learn or relearn/figure out will take a few months or years. Or if your life is a mess right now and you can't handle the load of a much bigger job, say NO so you can get your act together. For everyone's sake.

How do you say NO?

You say NO nicely, using a great excuse to preserve that first impression so that when you are prepared it is that much more impactful.

In the case of acting, it is not obvious to Casting that my singing needs a tune up – I don’t advertise it, after all. But… I am professional and seasoned enough to realize that I can’t fix a couple years of vocal neglect in 72 hours. And? I don’t want them to see me unprepared and unprofessional, and then decide to not see me for other projects. So I was kind and very sorry to not be able to audition, and above all, I was grateful for the opportunity.

Let’s go back to human nature: it’s not conscious necessarily, and it’s certainly not fair, but when you don’t put your best foot forward, someone will probably notice and it can stick with them, to the point that they won’t consider you again for a long time. There are casting offices where I’ve tanked auditions and then wasn’t invited back for five years or longer. That's life.

Is it right, is it wrong? Does it matter?

Getting a job in a corporate or any other professional setting is almost as tough as getting an acting job, especially nowadays with the hordes of overqualified and underemployed jobseekers running around.

Sometimes you’re not even looking and an opportunity will pop up, making you scramble to get your resume together, write a quick cover letter and find someone to give it all a quick edit. This quick effort may not get across the depth and breadth of what you can do and who you are as a professional but in a pinch… it’ll do.

Lots of people do this.

But… are you basing your next career move on what you can manage in a pinch?

If you’re thinking about moving on to a new position or entirely new career, I can help you. I design and write resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles that are meticulously tailored to you and your career aspirations. My packages include varying levels of coaching depending on how much support you need or want and in our sessions, we work to figure out your next moves, how to access the hidden job markets amidst all the search sites, and more.

And if you’re a closet creative looking to get back in or finally transition into a professional acting or creative career from another career, I can help you with that, too.

Opportunities come and go and come back again. Next time, I'll work on being ready.

What about you? Will you be ready the next time a possible new venture falls into your lap?

Why I turned down a Broadway audition

Earlier this year I was invited to audition for a workshop of a new Broadway musical. Big auditions like TV shows, films, Broadway and Off-Broadway can be difficult to come by, and to receive a request for a tape is a big win.

But I said no.

On paper I fit the role – heavyset, Spanish-speaking, Latin woman who’s old enough to have an 18 year old daughter. Check, check, check. But I know that despite my acting chops, videos, photos, resume and my agent pitching me, the most important and intangible asset I have is the impression I leave behind. Because even very successful actors may book 1 in 10 jobs, if that.

So we learn to “book the room” and make them want to invite us back for the next thing.

This happens in the corporate world, too. People move on to jobs and when they need to create their teams, they reach out to the people they know and the ones they liked from interviews that they weren’t able to hire before.

Because when the opportunity came, those people were ready. And the ones who interviewed them or watched their auditions knew it.

Years ago I read that casting people wrote “NRFT” on the top margins of resumes at in-person auditions. It stood for “Not Ready For This.” And while that doesn’t mean “never” ready, it sure would preclude them from calling you back anytime soon.

I wasn’t ready to sing for a Broadway casting director this year. No shame in it, it’s just how it is right now. After focusing on film and TV for a long time while doing theatre only sporadically and neglecting my singing, I’ll be the first to admit that when I got that singing audition, A) I was NRFT, and B) I didn’t want to go into the room if I wasn’t going to book the room.

This is applicable to corporate, the arts, everything. Have you ever interviewed someone and it went badly? They weren’t prepared or they just bombed the interview.

Here’s a human nature check-in: would you think to call those people again? Or even if they prepared and did a decent interview, but just weren’t ready for the level of work or the job in particular, how would you respond? Would you trust their judgment after meeting them for something that was far out of their professional purview?

Or maybe… the shoe’s been on the other foot: if you’ve ever gone into an interview and half-assed it, how did that go? Did that interviewer ever call you back? Or friend you on LinkedIn?

When it comes to huge opportunities, I might be in the minority, but I believe that sometimes you can and should say No.

Let's talk more about this big word – NO – next week. See you then.​

Transforming envy around work and life

It’s a long weekend here in the United States because we are observing Memorial Day for those service men and women who perished while serving our country. And this is also the unofficial start of Summer.

But right now, everything seems to be going crazy, doesn’t it?

If you’re looking for a job in business, all the news screams about is a “strong job market” even as everyone seems to be getting laid off.

And if you’re an actor or creative, the WGA strike has put a whole lotta stuff on hold and precipitated great change all around. Actors are getting dropped from their reps' rosters, signing on with new representation and the dire warnings of a SAG-AFTRA strike (vote YES if this applies to you!) permeate our airwaves and social media.

So, when there’s a big ol’ s***-show going on, what do you do?

Some people:

  • Hibernate, go on vacation, get lost in their day-to-day lives;
  • Say, “to hell with it all” and just hunker down to watch Ted Lasso and Yellowjackets;
  • And some people – many of us, I’d wager – start to engage in Compare-Despair behavior, noticing what others are achieving and doing – awesome new job – a new baby – a series regular audition – and feeling desperately unhappy because those amazing things are not happening to us.

On Dictionary.com, it says that “jealousy centers its negative focus on the person who has the thing that you don’t, while envy is more centered on the desire for the thing.”

So, I’m going to go ahead and call this feeling we’re talking about ENVY, that familiar green-eyed monster that derails our ability to bask in the light of others’ successes.

Yuck. What an awful feeling, isn’t it? But… instead of pushing that envy away, what if you were to welcome and examine it?

Your envy is a symptom of you not being, doing or having the thing you want.

So, what is that thing? If you’re not close to it, that’s OK. What matters is that you have a plan to get there and more importantly, that you get to a better feeling place about it.

This is where the 2nd Strategy in my free Dos and Don’ts Guide comes in. It’s all about listing your successes and achievements. On a business resume, these should be quantifiable – use numbers, percentages and so on.

For creatives whose successes might be more amorphous (I got 5 auditions doesn’t usually translate to “I got 5 jobs,” unfortunately), the basic action is the same: make lists of achievements – auditions are getting better (you should be keeping track), callbacks are coming more often, the feedback at workshops is changing from “Try it this way” to “That was perfect, I have no notes.”

Why don’t you do it now? Grab a pen and paper or open a new document. Go ahead.

Here’s the template:

I was feeling ______ (jealous, envious, upset) that _______ (B got a new job while I’ve got way more experience than she does), but now I realize that:

I did/got _____________ (some examples below)

  • 50% more sales in the past two quarters than in the previous year;
  • Went to a networking event and have lots of interesting new contacts to follow up with;
  • New and amazing headshots that I haven’t unveiled to the world or social media yet.

Do you see how this simple action can shift your feelings about everybody else's wins?

You're on your journey, they're on theirs. Maybe B got that new job but now she has to scramble to meet the people you already talk with on a day-to-day basis. We don't ever get to know what's going on with people and everyone is fighting some battle at some point or another.

I know that, to quote Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, “Times is hard,” but you are so much more successful and ahead of the game than you think you are. Even now, in this weird time of flux. If you try the exercise above, please let me know how it goes for you.

With warmest wishes,

Gladys

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