A common career decision is whether to move for a job opportunity or to stay in a place where you already have strong ties to family and friends. There isn’t one right answer, of course, as people have different values and priorities, so I interviewed people who made different decisions to hear their perspectives for […]
Health & Patient Advocate Career Advice From Industry Experts
By Last updated: Tuesday, August 7, 2018
In the United States, the healthcare system is complicated and confusing. People who need healthcare are often too sick to effectively navigate the labyrinth to get the care they need, so family members and friends may try to help but become overwhelmed as well. Because of this sad reality, patient advocates are starting businesses to […]
How to Change Careers From Higher Ed
By Last updated: Sunday, January 6, 2019
Recently a reader of this site wrote to me asking me how to change careers from higher ed. He said he loves helping students, but he feels frustrated that universities increasingly view students as numbers rather than individuals. He is exhausted and burned out rather than energized by solving the same problems over and over. […]
How to Know When to Change Careers
By Last updated: Monday, October 23, 2017
Dear Career Coach, I work in higher education. I taught chemistry for 8 years at a community college. From there, I moved to a 4-year university to become a professional academic advisor. I spent 8 years there as well. My first 6 years there as an advisor and the last 2 years as the director […]
Career Coaching Success Stories
By Last updated: Wednesday, November 21, 2018
I love reading success stories of any type, so I thought it would be fun to research some career coaching success stories to share with my readers. I am not affiliated with any of these career coaches and they don’t know I am writing about them. These are success stories sent to me by happy […]
Should You Have a Plan B?
By Last updated: Sunday, April 8, 2018
When you are setting goals related to your career or business, should you have a Plan B? There are successful people who argue that you absolutely should not. Actor Will Smith says, “There is no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A.” (1) Sunny Nunan, founder of Core24, a business […]
How to Become a Freelance Writer
By Last updated: Thursday, September 13, 2018
Dear Dr. Civitelli, I am a former newspaper journalist who was finally affected by all the layoffs in my industry. I don’t have a lot of savings so I need to make a career decision fairly quickly. I’ve read about hundreds of careers and the only thing I really want to do is write, but […]
Avoid the Sunk Cost Trap
By Last updated: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Sometimes my educational backgrounds in economics and psychology converge. One of those times is exploring how to avoid the sunk cost trap in making career and life decisions. In the field of economics, sunk costs are costs you already paid and that you cannot recover no matter what you do. Examples of sunk costs are […]
How to Use Journaling to Make Decisions
By Last updated: Monday, September 12, 2016
For many people, writing is one of the best ways to increase clarity about your true feelings about different life and career choices. This article explores how to use journaling to make decisions that are aligned with your values, interests, and goals. I also recommend keeping the journal so that if you question yourself later, […]
Success Story: Career Interest Assessment
By Last updated: Saturday, March 17, 2018
Brian Stewart was uncertain what career to choose so he decided to use career interest assessment to help him make a career choice. Brian took an assessment that uses a Holland type code to categorize his interests. (This is the same type of code used in the most widely used career interest assessment, the Strong […]
