Every woman can justify the over-sized bags she carries with her every day. She needs her credit cards (sales!), she needs her lip gloss, her lipstick and her lip liner. She needs a translucent powder for midday touch-ups, and medical and dental cards (just in case).

She needs her wallet for holding latte money, change for the parking meter and her drivers license (just. in. case). She needs a pen or two or three - usually in varied colors. She needs a small package of tissues (runny nose season), wet hand wipes (KIDS!), a pad of paper and/or a journal. She needs space for her cell phone when it isn’t glued to her ear, spare earrings in case she loses one that should be glued to her ear and something to tie back her hair so you can see things dangle from her ear.

She needs a tweezers, nail clipper and at least one nail file. She needs unmentionables, a list of things to mention at an upcoming meeting and a pack of gum so as to avoid offending meeting participants.

She needs something to make her stink pretty (mmm…perfume), check her pretty (mirror, mirror) and fix her pretty (oil blotters anyone?).

Women, for as organized as they are, seem to consistently forget to have one very important accessory with them

EVERY

WHERE

THEY

GO.

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I have held positions in a variety of areas where it would be appropriate to take specialized training and take a certification test in that particular area. Examples of this are Project Management and Business Analyst certifications.

There are also many national and international associations that we professionals have at our disposal. I have never been prone to joining these formal associations and while I have held many high level positions in project management and business analysis, I am not certified. I have actually done formal trainings to organizations on the principals of project management yet I am uncertified.

I have never felt it was necessary to get a formal certification in the areas that I work in. It certainly has not had a negative impact on my career but lately I have been wondering if there might be some value to joining an international association, and getting formal training and certification in my areas of expertise.

Are certifications common in your field and if so, are you certified? I’m interested in other people’s thoughts on the subject.

Discuss…

One of the things on my mind lately is the subject of career management. I feel like over the years I have been incredibly lucky when it comes to my career. I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn’t go to college until I was 23 and when I did I only pursued an Associates degree as I still wasn’t convinced I had decided on the career of my dreams.

Midway through college I realized that while I enjoyed the social side of a career in broadcasting, I wasn’t convinced that broadcasting was truly my passion. As college graduation drew closer I decided to leverage my broadcasting and media training to get a job in advertising which I did. After a successful stint at a local ad agency I was pursued by a client to join their organization.

I had some reservations about going after the opportunity presented to me. First of all, it was an area that I had no training or experience in and second I was fearful that I would regret leaving the agency because the reality was, I very much loved my job at the agency and the people I worked with.

After much thought and consideration and even a handful of conversations with the manager of the ad agency I decided that pursuing the new position was the way to go. While I had no formal training or experience in the area (the client that wanted to hire me knew this) I was confident of two things:

1. I could do the job and what I didn’t know I could learn.
2. The company I would be moving to was much larger and would likely have many more opportunities for career growth than the advertising agency I worked for.

It turned out that my confidence was spot on. I was given great opportunities in my new role and gained experiences I never dreamed possible. It was an amazing place to be for someone who still couldn’t quite pinpoint (at the age of 27) what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Making the decision to leap into something completely new and unfamiliar became rule #1 in managing my career. Over the years I have taken many risks and tried a lot of new things. The experiences I have had (flying on corporate jets at the age of 28) and the skills I have learned (how to stand in a room full of stuffed suits and win them over) have been essential in getting me to where I am today professionally.

Some of my rules for caretaking my career are:

1. Fear is for ninnies. I have left positions that I loved over and over again to take a chance on something new. Sometimes those moves have been scary as hell but I use that fear to motivate me, not stop me.
2. Network like you brush your teeth: DAILY. I manage my professional network each and every day. I am constantly reaching out to former colleagues to keep current on where they are at, how they are doing (personally and professionally) and where I might be able to help them out. When I find information that might be useful to someone in my network I share it with them promptly. I talk to my core group of recruiters about 4 times a year whether I’m looking for a position or not.
3. She shoots! She scores! I set goals for my career regularly. In my 20’s my goal was to make a six figure income doing a job I was crazy in love with by the time I was 30 years old. I missed that goal by 1 year but I still accomplished the most important part: I had a career that I loved and I was paid well to do it. I also set goals for myself related to training and career advancement. Nobody is going to take care of my career for me so I am constantly mindful of where I am and where I want to be.

What do you do to manage your career and do you feel like you have been successful at doing so?

I have a confession to make:

I like my co-workers.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like them all every single day. There are some days that I don’t like anybody on the planet, but mostly, my co-workers are good people.

I used to be in business for myself. While my work did call for interaction with customers it was mostly a job done in solitude. Working alone has it’s perks like you can skip the morning routine of getting all dolled up. But working alone also has it’s pitfalls.

Like it is lonely, lonely, lonely.

All the years that I spent working alone I feel like I missed out on something. Actually, more than that I feel like I forgot a very important skill and that is how to have fun at work. I have always enjoyed my work, enjoyed what I have done but isn’t having someone else around to laugh at your jokes so much better than laughing at them yourself?

Now that I am working in a corporate environment that requires me to actually show up at the office each and every day I am realizing just how dusty my social skills are in the workplace. Sure, I get along with my co-workers but I have hesitated to participate in most of their events.

One of the things my co-workers have going on is a fitness challenge that is somehow tied to the show Survivor. People are voted off the fitness island from what I understand. They have to take their wheat thins and go back to their cubicle. It started, I believe, shortly after the holidays and is still very much in the works. I don’t know all the in’s and out’s of this challenge but I do know that each week a whole bunch of them spend their lunch hour weighing in. I don’t have any major fitness goals but when I hear my co-workers teasing one another about weigh-in I think, “dang. sounds fun.”

Every so often there is a pool for the lottery (comon lucky powerball) and each winter there is a football board. Knowing absolutely nothing about football has kept me away from the football thing in the past but this year I signed my name into a square and handed my $5 to the coordinator. She assured me I need to know absolutely nothing about football to participate and I’m gonna hold her to that.

There are lunch outings that are impromptu and informal, lunchtime basketball games that happen weekly and other events that people within my department coordinate. I’ve decided I have been passing up many of these things for long enough and the time has come to start joining in on some of the fun.

All work and no play makes KathyHowe’s mind go batty.

One of the things I’d like to coordinate is an office/team dance competition because I LOVE the show Dancing with the Stars and several of my co-workers know it. Never mind that I work mostly with men and never mind that I can’t dance to save my life. I’m sure everyone would love the idea.

Or vote me off the island.

Does your office have any fun activities that are either company sponsored or team coordinated?

A question I get asked a lot is how I got so lucky to find a job that I love so much. I am lucky to love my work and there are many reasons why I can make that statement. One of the top reasons I love my work is because I really enjoy the people that I work with.I haven’t run the numbers but off the top of my head I would guess that 75% of the people I work with are male. Sometimes working with men has its challenges. They are SO moody donchyaknow. **winks** Honestly, I can say that I work with fun (funny!), intelligent, caring men.

Yes, I said “caring” and “men” in the same sentence.

The women I work with are passionate about their careers and know exactly how to play with the big dogs. They too are fun (funny!), intelligent and caring.

As much as I like my co-workers I do not socialize with them much outside of the office. Oh sure, there is the occasional happy hour that I’ll attend and lunch with co-workers is never out of the question. Where I draw the line is attending any event where there may be a lot of drinking or space for people to get very personal in their conversations. I would sure hate to be in a position where a weekend of fun with co-workers made being at work uncomfortable for anyone the following Monday.

I also know that I spend a lot of time in the office with the people I work with. Sure, my projects change and so do the project resources. But for the most part I work regularly with the same core group of people. As much as I enjoy them during the 9-5 hours I would sure hate to burn out on spending time with them.

Maybe it is because I work with men (and I am a single female) that I have these socializing rules in place. I would hate for my reputation to be tarnished by untruths assumed by someone that may or may not witnessed a social activity. I would also hate for the truth to ever be misconstrued.

That said, I am the Queen of Networking (not to be confused with my duties as the Grandmother of Blogging). I am not cold or distant with my co-workers and have been confided in by a few about personal topics. When the time comes that one of us parts ways from an employer I do typically keep in touch with people that I worked closely with by scheduling dinners and happy hours for catching up.

How do you feel about socializing with co-workers? What is or is not acceptable in your mind? Do you have any stories of how socializing with a co-worker may have helped or hurt your career?