Important Objectives of Career Development

Efficient career planning has assumed great importance in today's competitive job market. In order to excel in our chosen field, we need to be completely focused, have the basic knowledge and skills, and possess a genuine interest for the field. These days employers make an effort to launch career development programs for their employees in order to increase their productivity and help them achieve their organizational goals. Before we learn about its objectives, let us understand this concept first.

About Career Development

Career development refers to the process of continuously managing your professional work. This process assists people in defining their career goals and aspirations clearly. Education is the first step towards developing a career as without access to education, people will not be able to deliver their best at their place of work. Education received in various institutions such as elementary school, high school, and university helps in increasing the depth of a student's knowledge. Career enhancement and development is also concerned with personality development as a person needs to present himself in the best possible way in his workplace to make a mark for himself.

Along with quality of education, career planning also emphasizes on the vital aspects of training and employment. Knowledge and facts learned in classrooms need to be applied smartly to do the work assigned in a satisfactory way. For this, good deal of training needs to be provided to the employees by their employers. Also, the result of the training should be monitored by consistently evaluating the performance of trained employees on various projects. By delivering a good performance and meeting targets in set deadlines, employees can climb the corporate ladder faster and obtain promotions with increased compensation.

Different Careers in Fashion

She, the Vogue goddess, looked mesmerizing as she walked the ramp, clad in a D&G halter dress. The guests couldn't admire her more, and millions saw her walk in panache on the tube. An unmistakable glamor doll, she was a supermodel who stole the hearts with every step she took. Makes me wonder, what would be the world of fashion really like? The models, the clothes, the guests, the cameras, the makeup, and not to forget, a horde of assistants who contribute to make the show a successful one. The world of fashion makes sure it allures you to the core, and gets you blinded by the lights and fanfare that this field enfolds within. But hey, fashion doesn't just equal to a fashion show. It might astonish you to hear that there are endless fields in this profession where you could carve your niche. From modeling to fashion designing, advertising to store management, there's so much to do while being a part of the fashion industry! If you're disgusted by taming algebraic equations and scientific formulae, here's an opportunity for you to switch to corduroys, satins and linens. For you, the future Roberto Cavallis and Valentinos, here is a fantastic chance to turn your passion for fashion into a career, and unveil the many fields in this interesting profession. Here, I give you a chance, to turn the page.

Major Careers in Fashion

There are many who refrain from taking up a job in the fashion industry, simply believing that fashion is marked by instability, competition, and at many instances, low income. However, they cannot negate the fact that the fashion industry is a wizardly world of opportunities and 'big breaks'. The glamor, it makes you slog till eternity, to get your job done. Among the many vocations in the domain of fashion, the following are a sure bet, as far as a hefty pay scale comes into talking.

Fashion Media
Supervision of the presentation of content dedicated to fashion in the media world is what inspires many. A career in fashion-oriented newspapers and editorials, fashion segments on television, and trade publications, could give you endless opportunities to meet beautiful people everyday, and build contacts with the big guns of the fashion industry. As far as the pay scale is concerned, you could start with a cool $40,000 p.a., and end up earning much more than $100,000 in just a few years time. Following are the major fields you could choose from in the world of fashion media:

Creative Career Choices

If there's one kind of job that everyone wants, it's a creative one - where you're doing what you love, and knowing that you are happy with your career choice. A lot of people are stuck in dead-end jobs, whiling away the days of their lives doing something they have no interest in, that has limited brain activity while doing it, that is too stressful to ever let you slow down, or a routine that you've accustomed yourself to.

A lot of us want out, while others take what they get because they need to pay their bills and have at least two hot meal options a day. What about if you're over and done with the whole mediocrity of having a job that has to dictate what you have to do, where what someone else wants is what you have to enact every single day? Creative jobs give you the freedom to be yourself, since people give jobs their best when they love what they're doing. Let's take a look at some interesting creative career options that you can ponder about taking up yourself.

Creative Careers List

The following creative career ideas could just be your kind of thing, since we all have to look for our own fortes before we perfect it, or implement what it is we already are good at, before we take it to the next level.

☂ Street Dance Performer
People love dancing - whether it is to sit back and watch all those dance shows, or if they're the kind to bust a move every time a song comes on. Street performers grab a lot of attention when they can work out on some elaborate/never seen before moves while keeping audiences spellbound. You can broaden your choices by even playing an instrument and singing along, or asking people to be a part of a magic trick perhaps. Who knows, you may strike it big if an entertainment agent sees some potential in you to make it big.

☂ Pastry Chef
Being an all round chef is one thing, but being a pastry chef is an all together different plateau in the creative job arena. These are one of those creative careers that pay well, making you seriously rein in some big bucks if you're as good as you think you are. Take up a class and put in as much money as you can initially, to learn the ropes of the pastry making business. Once you adapt yourself to the ins and outs of the game as well as perfect your kitchen skills, people will be lining up to your counter in no time. Just be sure to widen your variety when it comes to pastry making; people love it when they're spoiled for choice. Be sure to include all time favorites as part of your menu, because certain eats just never go outdated.

☂ Freelance Writer
Being a writer in a full-time job has its disadvantages, giving you less freedom to exercise your writing skills in different areas. Freelancing gives you an opportunity to work with different kinds of people who want your great writing abilities to give the public something memorable to read about. Experiment with travel writing, book/album/gadget reviewing, fashion blogging, product promotion, and advertisement copies to name a few.

☂ Tutoring
Are you good at something where you wish to impart the same know-how to others? If you know how to play an instrument, cook, sew, take professional photographs, speak a foreign language and so on, you can provide classes to those who are interested in learning how to do these things. It gives you a chance to strengthen another's passion as well as your own while you give them knowledge about what you know.

☂ Tour Guide
If you have a love for new cities and old, you can equip yourself with everything there is to know about them. Put up ads in the paper stating how you can be a reliable tour guide, with information on everything tourists need to know about - like the best restaurants, hangout spots, city highlights, shopping destinations and so on. Have a transportation of your own to accommodate your tourists so that you come off as more believable and someone they can rely on for a legit good time.

☂ Secret Shopper
There's a system that companies work on called 'secret shoppers' where they have people step into a position that masks their true identities, making them regular customers in a particular place. Only here, you have to report back to the company on how the target venue scored based on whichever criteria the company wants you to cover. It can be quite fun since you get to play many roles spun into one, like a secret food critic, a regular at the movie theater, a shopper in a well-known mall, a customer at a bank and so on.

These jobs are just some of a whole list of other alternatives that you can look out for and try. If you like to skip and hop through different job profiles and experiment in that respect, then you'll have no problem finding something that you can finally stick to and enjoy doing.
By Naomi Sarah
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/creative-career-choices.html

Job Description of a Seamstress

If you want a suit that is tailor made to give you a perfect fit, then a seamstress is a person you should go to. The job of a seamstress is to sew dresses for you after taking your measurements, so that you are more than happy with the fit. Moreover, if you are creative enough, you can give your own inputs to the seamstress and see your dream designs come to life! Seamstresses can choose to work in different environments. While most of them choose to work on their own, some are employed by design houses, garment manufacturing industries and even by some garment retail outlets. Those who choose to work on their own, do so by setting up individual boutiques.

Description of the Job of a Seamstress

To have a comprehensive knowledge about the job description of a seamstress, we shall look into the skills required for the job, the duties and responsibilities of the job, and the minimum qualifications required.

Educational Requirements
There is no strict criteria regarding educational qualifications when it comes to this field. What is more important is acquiring the desired skills and work experience; the more experienced a person is, the better. However, some employers insist that a seamstress should at least hold a high school degree. Some colleges offer advanced courses in sewing, apparel designing, etc., and such courses can fetch better job prospects for the aspiring seamstress. Also, spending a few months on training with an experienced seamstress, helps.

Skills Required for the Job of a Seamstress
To be successful as a seamstress, one needs to have the following list of skills.

Good Career Choices for the Future

It is said that the jobs of 21st century are going to be knowledge-centered. Even if the knowledge-based scenario has opened up many career opportunities for the current and future generations, it has also become difficult to make the right choice.

Best Career Choices for the Future

Here is some useful information on the topic of which career to choose in the future. The field of healthcare and information technology are always going to score above most of the jobs in all other fields put together. There are few interesting career options mentioned below that would require special skills. Following are the best careers for the future.

Healthcare
The healthcare sector should provide you with a good career in the future. In most developed countries, the aging population is growing increasingly. This population would need medical treatment and facilities more than any other age-group. The number of hospitals would thereby increase. Employment opportunities in the healthcare sector are not limited up to working as surgeons, physicians, and nurses alone. Workforce is also required to handle the numerous administrative tasks. Dental hygienists should also enjoy good career opportunities in the times to come.

Information Technology
It is a vast and developing field where you can find a lot of career opportunities. You can perform a variety of roles in this field. Following are some of the important ones: web developer, system analyst, information manager, etc. It is not that only software professionals would be in great demand. Those working in the computer hardware sector too will be required for maintenance work.

Best Jobs for a Career Change

If you are thinking about a career change, you should know that you are not alone. If findings of the latest surveys were to be believed, more Americans are contemplating making a career change now than ever before. There are a number of reasons that have encouraged people to look into other avenues and the dream to become one's own boss tops the list. Some other factors that have made people think about a career change are age, stress levels or a desire to make a living out of your hobby. Whatever the reason might be, there are myriad avenues in which you can start your new career. Let us take a look at the best jobs for a career change.

Opportunities for a Career Change

Before we go ahead and divulge some details on the best fields to start your new career in, we would like to tell you that there is a substantial difference between career change and job change. If you are opting for a job change, you may be merely changing your current organization to join a new one which offers you relatively better benefits. The experience and skills that you have developed over the years will be still useful to you. In case of a career change, you will be charting into a completely new territory and you will have to do the learning all over again. So, it is important that you do a bit of retrospection about what essentially you are looking for. We can provide you with some ideas of career change in this article, but you are in the best position to judge what will work well for you. Before you start your journey on the new career path, it is essential to understand whether you will be able to do justice to yourself. Once you are sure about this, you can take the next step and look for opportunities in your field.

Entrepreneurship
Becoming an entrepreneur is easy, being a successful entrepreneur is difficult. If you have got some savings and want to invest it to give you a steady source of income, starting a business of your own is one of the best options. Becoming an entrepreneur doesn't necessarily mean that you need to have a million dollars in your bank, but what you should essentially have is a great business idea. There are numerous businesses that don't require gobs of green to set-up and the returns are good enough to ensure that you live a financially stable lifestyle. Some businesses that you can think of starting are -

Accounting
Computer Maintenance
Landscaping
Cleaning
Event Management
Catering

Top Liberal Arts Colleges

Liberal arts colleges allow students to develop an all round personality, thanks to their emphasis on general knowledge and a general curriculum, as compared to a college that offers education in a professional or technical field. Colleges in Europe laid the foundation for what we know as liberal arts colleges in the United States. The top colleges for liberal arts in the country impart education that makes undergraduates more aware about the various avenues available to them. Also, most liberal arts colleges provide students with more personal attention, with classes not being larger than 50 to 60 students, which is a factor that should be considered while determining how to choose a college. Despite the fact that a very small population of students graduate from liberal arts college, there is quite a percentage of representation of liberal arts college graduates in Peace Corps volunteers, Pulitzer prize winners and even US presidents. So, if you want to get into one of the top colleges for liberal arts in the country that will allow you this personalized attention and generalized education enabling you to decide better, then you need to take a look at the list given below. You may also refer to career education, if you want more information about different educational courses and colleges in various disciplines.

Top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges

Amherst College
Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, Amherst College consistently ranks amongst the top liberal arts institutes in US. Established in the year 1821, Amherst is also one of the oldest educational institutes in the world. It is one of the most selective institutions, as categorized by the Carnegie Foundation. It has a semester system and the college closes its applications in January every year. The college turned coeducation in the year 1975.

Bowdoin College
A private liberal arts college, Bowdoin college with a student capacity of almost two thousand students, is located in Brunswick, Maine. Co-educational since 1971, the college has been consistently featured in the top 10 liberal arts colleges. The college has two semesters each year and offers 33 major courses. The college also has a coastal studies center in Maine.

Top Universities in USA

There are hundreds of thousands of students who wish to attend the top universities in USA, but not everyone gets the chance to do so, because of the caliber of the entrance tests and examinations to be cleared, and also the high amount of finances required.

If you happen to be one of those people who wishes to study in a prestigious university in the United States, you need to prove yourself to be worthier and more deserving than the many other candidates who are competing with you. A lot of hard work and preparation goes into clearing the entrance exams, and then convincing the university to accept you.

Depending on your choice of subjects to pursue, you can decide which university you want to apply to. There are many great universities to choose from; here's a handful of the best of the lot.

Engineering

If you wish to pursue engineering, then these are the universities you could choose from.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
345 South Hill Avenue Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 395-6811
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 253-1000
Princeton University
Roper Lane Princeton, NJ 08540
(609) 258-3000
University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley)
Berkeley Campus Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 642-6000
Stanford University
450 Serra Mall Stanford, CA 94305
(650) 723-2300
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
405 Hilgard Ave Los Angeles, CA 90095
(310) 825-4321
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
900 Atlantic Drive Northwest Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 894-3600
Carnegie Mellon University
NASA Research Park, Building 23 - Moffett Field CA 94043
(650) 335-2810
University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)
2400 Inner Campus Drive Austin, TX 78712
(877) 475-6633
University of Michigan (U-M)
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
(734) 764-1817
Cornell University
Day Hall Lobby, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 254-4636
University of California Santa Barbara
2528 Physical Sciences Santa Barbara, CA 93106
(805) 893-5270
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
601 E John St Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 333-1000
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 263-2400
University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093
(858) 534-3583

Business

For people interested in pursuing business education, here are some of the top universities in USA for MBA.

Harvard University
Harvard Yard Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-4313
Stanford University
450 Serra Mall Stanford, CA 94305
(650) 723-2300
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
Vance Hall, Suite 111
3733 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.6340
(215) 898-6183
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
Northwestern University
2145 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208
(847) 491-3345
University of Chicago (Booth)
5807 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 702-7743
University of California Berkeley (Haas)
2220 Piedmont Avenue Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 643-6000
Columbia University
116th Street and Broadway, New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-1754
Dartmouth College (Tuck)
100 Tuck Hall, Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-8825
Yale University
246 Church St # 2 New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 432-0167
New York University (Stern)
44 West 4th Street New York, NY 10012
(212) 998-0100
Duke University (Fuqua)
100 Fuqua Drive Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-7700
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ross)
701 Tappan Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 763-5796
University of Virginia (Darden)
100 Darden Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA 22903
(434) 924-3900
University of California, Los Angeles (Darden)
405 Hilgard Ave Los Angeles, CA 90095
(310) 825-4321

Top Undergraduate Engineering Schools

Students, particularly those who're interested in engineering courses, have great admiration for some of the best engineering colleges in the US. Certainly, completing engineering studies from best undergraduate engineering schools in the US qualifies students to be eligible for some of the highest salaries in engineering field. Moreover, the opportunity to work with some of the best firms in the world is no less rewarding. A comparative analysis of various salary ranges for jobs will present before you that engineering jobs are one of the most decently paid jobs all across the world. Be it the IT jobs or the civil engineering field, engineers of respective fields earn very competitive salaries.

Of course, it must be kept in mind that an individual has to work hard and must have a certain aptitude to get into these best colleges by cracking their entrance exams. The real challenge of such kind of career education starts once students enter these best universities in the world, as the pressure of rigorous training and studies are very challenging. Students seeking admission in such reputed colleges must understand that they will be among the best brains of the nation and so they've got to work hard and prove themselves. Only then, big firms and world-class MNCs that visit their college campuses during placements will recruit them. Well, names like MIT, Stanford, University of California have always been amongst the most reputed undergraduate engineering schools in USA. MIT, for instance is one of the top 10 undergraduate engineering schools 2010. It has maintained its top position owing to its world-class teaching facilities, extensive research methodology in studies and tough competition in this field.