Learn how to position yourself

Here's an example of positioning and how it works.

When I was 19, I decided to teach aerobics, since I'd been going to classes and enjoyed it so much. I bought a Jazzercise franchise and had several successful classes. But I knew that I didn't want to make a career out of teaching aerobics and was already enrolled to do a post-graduate course. So I used my experience running my franchise and leading classes to get part-time jobs both inside and outside the university.

By the time I graduated with my Ph.D., I had experience running a business, managing volunteers, marketing, doing public relations, writing for publication, editing a newsletter, assisting with teaching large lecture courses, teaching small courses, consulting and designing instruction. All of these skills came from my first job - teaching aerobics - and were fine-tuned as other jobs drew on those abilities.

We all have skills in various stages of development. To position ourselves, it's a good idea to develop all of them in ways that relate to what we do and what we want to do.

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Career planning