1. Master of Business Administration (MBA)
An MBA is often considered the top degree in the business world, although PhDs in certain specialties are certainly available. No matter what industry you’re in, an MBA degree will be an enormous asset. Some companies will provide tuition assistance or reimbursement in exchange for your commitment to continue working for them after you earn your degree.

Potential Careers:
Entrepreneur
Sales and Marketing Manager
VP Business Development
Chief Executive

Salary Range:
$50,000-$105,000

2. Master of Health Administration
An MHA is an advanced degree from a college or university awarded after a minimum number of academic units are completed, usually requires a thesis paper and/or an extensive internship and takes two years to complete. A Bachelor’s degree is a required prerequisite. Coursework includes classes in population health, economics, and healthcare marketing.

Potential Careers:
• Healthcare Administrator
• Case Manager

Salary Range:
$66,900 – $105,200

3. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic, Fashion or Interior Design
BFA programs in fashion design will include training in textiles, fabrics, and ornamentation as well as studies in creative design and drawing, pattern-making and sewing, management, and commercial realism. Interior design programs will strike a balance between mastering design skills and fostering creative, innovative thinking about interior spaces. In a graphic design program, you’ll learn design principles and put them to work with the computer software all designers use today. A BFA and portfolio are required for most entry-level and advanced design positions.

Potential Careers:
Fashion or Textile Designer
Interior Designer
Graphic Designer
Creative or Art Director

Salary Range:
$35,000 – $100,000

4. Bachelor of Arts in Elementary or Secondary Education
A Bachelor’s degree in elementary education provides graduates with the training necessary for initial teaching certification K-5. A Bachelor’s degree in secondary education provides graduates with the training necessary for initial teaching certification 6-12. Students concentrating in secondary education choose a content area specialty and pursue a dual major in their content area and in education. Students can pursue a teaching certificate in secondary education in a variety of subjects, including mathematics, science, English, social studies, and foreign language. Keep in mind that a Bachelor’s degree is the minimum education requirement for the field of teaching.

Potential Careers:
K-5 General Classroom Teacher
Middle School Teacher (variety of subjects)
High School Teacher (variety of subjects)

Salary Range:
$33,000 – $53,000

5. Associate of Arts in Financial Services
This two-year Associate of Arts degree provides students with the foundational knowledge and skills used in a broad variety of financial service industries. Students learn the core fundamentals of banking, accounting, insurance, investment, and financial planning. These valued skills open up a variety of career opportunities for graduates.

Potential Careers:
Financial Services Agent
Insurance Sales Agent
Stock Broker

Salary Range:
$46,000-$51,000

SOurce: www.excelle.com

Career Stalled? Spiff Up Your Skills!

Whether you are currently employed or among the many who were recently downsized, keeping your skills and knowledge current and relevant can mean the difference between moving ahead and lagging behind.

What’s next for you? Is there a promotion you’ve set your hopes on, or a job that’s just slightly out of reach? It’s time to “get real” and put a plan in place to increase your skill and knowledge set, improve your marketability and build your confidence. Here’s a process and tool to get there.

1. Conduct a skills/knowledge inventory. Look at your last performance review. What were the strengths identified? What areas were indicated as “development needed”? Make a list of both strengths and development areas. Think about what’s next for you. If you are currently working and want to progress in your career path, what skills and knowledge are needed to get to the next level? Is there a certification or license required that you haven’t earned yet? Add these to your list. If you are looking for a new opportunity, what are the requirements of your target position? Which ones are you lacking? Add these to your list.

2. Create a personal development plan. Determine which of the skills/knowledge you’ve identified in step one will most contribute to you successfully attaining your next career goal. Select one or two that you will focus on in the next three months. Do some research to find resources to help you develop in those areas. Create specific development actions for each skill/knowledge area. Commit to paper a plan that includes:

· Skill/knowledge to develop/enhance
· Resource
· Target completion date

3. Execute the plan. Post your plan somewhere visible – your calen-dar, your refrigerator, your desktop. Stay focused! Concentrate on the one or two areas you’ve prioritized – don’t get distracted by the other areas on your inventory list. You can work on them in your next plan. Take a melting pot approach. Keep your eyes and ears open for articles, blogs by experts, presentations, webinars, etc. on your focus areas. Learning comes in many forms, from many places. Capture it! Be accountable and/or enlist someone’s help to keep you account-able. Reward yourself for completing your development goals.

4. Update your resume/personal “infomercial.” When you have gained proficiency in the skill/knowledge area, add it to your resume, if appropriate. Practice incorporating your new knowledge/skill into your interview discussions. Blend it in to the evolving “you.”

5. Review, revisit, and revise the plan. Spend some time reviewing your plan and how it worked. Did you set reasonable goals? Were the resources worthwhile? Did you find additional/alternate ones you’ll use next time? Revisit your inventory. What are the skills/knowledge areas you’re going to work on next? Create and execute a revised personal development plan that reflects your new focus areas and development goals.

Too often when we’ve “got the job” we become complacent and/or too busy to think about what’s next and prepare for it. Especially in today’s economy, putting a plan in place to continually add to your abilities and knowledge is an investment that will keep your market value on an upward trend.

Use the template below to create your plan. Don’t stop believing!

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Article contributed by Karen Colligan, founder and principal of PeopleThink and author of The Get Real Guide To Your Career™ series of work-books, is an industry-recognized leader in the field of career, leadership and team development.

Ginger Asks:

Dear Dr. Rosie,

Interestingly enough, I’m in a similar situation as Veronica and Usha. I’m looking to change careers after many years as a nurse. I want to go back to school but am being financially taken care of as long as I stay in my current nursing position. The other very real issue that comes up when I think I want to commit to a certain path is that I begin to doubt that this is really what is correct for my spiritual path. . . . Will this just reinforce the ego and distract me or should I accept things as they are and continue from here?

I really enjoy your writing. Thanks! 

Ginger

__________________________________________________________

From Dr. Rosie:

Dear Ginger,

As human beings we have a very complex, multidimensional world to live into. We have our physical needs, our emotional needs and our spiritual need – all of which call for equal attention. Balancing our spiritual well-being with our physical and emotional well-being is quite a practice. It’s the foundation of the work I do with all of my corporate, and individual clients; to cultivate not only awareness of their whole being but to empower them to practice being present to and acting in alignment with all of themselves.

When we think about our physical needs being met we often think that money is an essential requirement. And, for many of us having money also calms emotional needs for a sense of safety, security and stability. When we think of meeting our spiritual needs, however, more often than not money doesn’t even enter the conversation. From a spiritual perspective, aside from tithing or making donations, money is too often seen as the root of all evil and, like Ginger, we begin to doubt that we have the right to live into our passion or calling and enjoy perhaps more affluence. We become afraid that we are choosing incorrectly and somehow we’ll just reinforce our ego and distract ourselves off our spiritual path.

The dilemma is that, in this multidimensional world we are experiencing a physical reality and a spiritual reality simultaneously. We are both spiritual and physical beings at the same time. Can we choose in such a way that serves both in a good way? If so, how do we choose to choose?
Quite often – but not always, people who choose solely based on their physical and emotional needs and desires come up feeling unfulfilled or empty. Those who follow solely their spiritual needs and desires sometimes, but not always, aren’t grounded enough in the physical world to feel fulfilled in the more “human” domain. Each of us has to be present to that choice point where we have to be clear of what we are wanting, what’s at stake, and, is it worth the price?

In the physical and emotional domains, it is definitely scary to consider leaving a situation where we are comfortable and taken care of. Many individuals in unfulfilling marriages or jobs have to come to terms with “is it worth it” to leave, believing that the security will disappear.

As I write these columns I sometime google quotations from different authors. Helen Keller popped up today. Here’s what she says: “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” 

Now, if building character is important to you then this statement might spur you to be with your choice-points from a more daring point of view. If safety, security and stability are your higher priority, than Helen’s quote will drive you back to that. Each one of us has to take inventory of what our highest priorities are and then be willing to accept that the path in front of us will bring forth opportunities to fulfill those values. Letting go of the “Yes, buts,” and the “What ifs,” becomes a spiritual practice, doing so in such a way that our emotional and physical limits aren’t triggered into such reaction that we become paralyzed.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to step into your desires – not knowing the outcome? Are you willing to practice leaps of faith and living without doubt? A leap into faith doesn’t have to be jumping blindly off a cliff. It can be taking just one step towards what you say you want and, most importantly, being with what shows up in that very moment. For me, this is the foundation of every spiritual practice on this planet. Take the step and be with what shows up. If it feels too scary, take a smaller step and get support from a community, support group or coach. Hear the voice in your head that says – “Yes, but, I should be further along;” or “It shouldn’t take this long, there must be an easier way!” You’ll hear many conversations like this; most often that is your ego talking. In these moments you have to choose to choose to choose, in service to what you say you want, whether that’s stability and security or something else. And, there is no right way and no wrong way. It’s just the practice of taking the first step, then taking the next first step.

To answer Ginger’s question specifically: It doesn’t matter if you choose to stay in your current situation or choose to change careers. By truly committing to either you’ll begin a spiritual practice. This will include accepting and allowing what is, letting go of what is no longer, intentionally living into your choice, one moment at a time, and letting go of the conversation that you should have or could have chosen differently. Again, there is no right or wrong way; there is just you choosing to choose what you choose and practice living into that, one step at a time.

Book: Self-Empowerment-101

Email: rosie@dr-rosie.com

Websites: www.dr-rosie.com       www.theparadigmshifts.com

Blogs: http://www.blog.invincibelle.com/category/ask-dr-rosie 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/RosieKuhn:

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=2396121&trk=tab_pro

Women across the world are on to an online revolution – As a result, the workplace will never look or feel the same. Everywhere there are evidences that the CHANGE has begun…what it will become – is something will be shaped by women who are building new, restoring old and nurturing their existing relationships predominantly online and offline.

Here are some groundbreaking trends:

1. Social Networking - a competitive advantage – Women are using social networks more effectively – Linkedin networking has become popular among women. Who says we don’t professionally NETWORK among each other. Facebook is connecting women who are friends all across the world. They are now back in touch with old friends who are probably working in industries and companies across the globe. Even the gaming industry, found that women who are 35+ years old are playing more games online. Who could ever imagine that? What happened to the image of a 18 year old male teenager with the console, sitting in front of the screen playing video games!!!

“Social Media reaches “empowered women” : 42% of these women were reported visiting social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, according to a new Forrester report (MediaPost). Twitter US demographics: 53% female, these stats show more heavy weighting in 18-34 age group (quantcast). This is becoming the NEW ONLINE VILLAGE.

2. Internet Careers - Women are moving away from traditional ways of making a career. With internet and globalization, women are pursuing their passion for arts. This includes painters musicians and designers. They are learning to leverage the social networks like zazzle, eBay and other niches sites to set up a store and sell online.

Some women have been able to leave their corporate jobs and made a career from their passion of sharing their experience with others. They have become key influencers and bloggers. They have created a community around topics of shared interest.

3. Online MOM Gets ahead – Working mothers are getting ahead in their careers by taking online courses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one in ten families in America is headed by a single parent. In five out of six cases, this parent is the mom. On top of this, only one in twenty single moms earn more than $75,000, and the picture becomes clear.

The number of scholarships awarded to mothers taking online courses have been increasing. This means moms don’t have to wait for their children to grow up to start building a career of their dreams.

Welcome to the new era!

Do you have what it takes to keep climbing that corporate mountain? Of course you do!

For many executives I know, the increasing demands of work, family, outside interests, managing your career and the omnipresent pressure to be “on” 24/7 in the social media universe often makes us feel terribly inadequate, wondering how we ever managed to accomplish so much in the past. Many of us question whether we still have what it takes to continue to grow and achieve; where is the passion and motivation we had early in our careers? And, if we are in the midst of a job search, we might silently wonder, who is going to take a chance and hire me now?

As an endurance athlete, I like to use the many powerful comparisons of sport and business, and consider how the strategies and disciplines of athletes can also be used effectively to not only survive, but thrive, in today’s increasingly demanding workplace.

I was reflecting back to the day more than five years ago when, at the age of 53, I completed my first Ironman distance triathlon at Lake Placid. And while it was painful (as I heard one Ironman veteran say recently – “If it was easy everyone would be doing it”) it clearly remains one of the highlights of my life. I can clearly remember how nervous and anxious I was in the days leading up to the race; the ghosts of past failures and constant self-doubts had been gnawing at me for months. “What was I thinking when I signed up for this? I’ll never finish; I will disappoint all those people who supported me for 10 long months of training.” These thoughts and others played over and over in my mind that long day five years ago.

In many ways, an Ironman race day is like any long-term commitment you take on: you question your ability; you wonder if it will be worth the commitment and sacrifice; you try to visualize yourself reaching your goal. And yet through the process you learn so much about your capabilities and your vulnerabilities; you gain a deep understanding of the meaning of commitment, perseverance and persistence; you learn the power and humility of relying on others and accept the grace that comes with giving everything you have to a goal.

When I crossed the finish line some 16+ hours after the race started, I was hooked! Hooked on that feeling of accomplishment, of pushing yourself beyond what you thought possible, of realizing a major goal.

So five years – and many more Ironman races later - I often reflect back to that experience that gave me the energy, confidence and self-knowledge to set and strive for new goals, particularly when I am experiencing disappointment, setbacks and self-doubt. That race is one of the events on my “highlight reel”, which helps me manage myself through the ups and downs that come with working toward any worthwhile goal – whether it’s my next Ironman race or a major project. So what’s on your personal highlight reel?
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Article contributed by Bobbie LaPorte. She teaches corporate leaders how to integrate the many disciplines and strategies used by endurance athletes to win in business. In her Women at the Top of Their Game program, she equips leaders with a competitive edge as she describes how you can use the mental strategies of sport to deal with the daunting work-life demands placed on women by today’s corporations. She blogs: http://theroadtokona.typepad.com