Heather S. Hughes has a great post at the Black Star Rising photographers’ blog where she discusses making the career change from newspaper staffer to wedding photographer. It looks like her career transition should go well — and the reason is how well she’s planned for it. As she puts it:

I chose wedding photography because it is stable (people will always get married), requires advanced planning (most are booked at least six months out), and will still allow me to work as a freelance photojournalist on stories I care about. I am taking the plunge now because wedding season starts soon…

To my credit, or not, I am an obsessive planner and enjoy organizing and making lists … I read a lot of books to help me with my lists, and things were added to it each week, which is why it is important to start this process before you leave your job, so you aren’t rushed into making mistakes. Lists also help you figure out what will make you happy and what you really want. They can reassure you that you’re making the right decision.

We know what many of you might say in response: I’m too busy — too engaged — in my current job to start planning for what I’ll do next.

Believe me, we understand. And that’s one of the main reasons we created RiseSmart. We know that $100k+ managers and executives often don’t have 30 to 40 hours per month to devote to searching for their next job online. And so we do it for you.

Now what’s your excuse for not planning ahead?

ABP. Always Be Planning. It’s about the best career advice we can give.

Here’s a funny take on both the state of the U.S. job market and the ongoing immigration debate, courtesy of Jonathan Browning:

If you’re looking for management jobs, we’re the better way to find them!

The new issue of Presstime, the publication of the Newspaper Association of America, has a great interview with Susan C. Lavington, the senior vice president of marketing for the nation’s largest newspaper, USA Today. Lavington talks about winning her dream job and offers some useful advice. An excerpt:

While sitting on the beach in Nags Head, N.C., in June 1999, Lavington told her husband, Michael Welther, that her dream job would be doing marketing for USA Today.

“My husband said, ‘Go and get that job,’ ” says Lavington, who at the time worked for US Airways Inc. When they returned home to Alexandria, Va., she saw that Gannett Co. was advertising for a director of marketing for USAToday.com, so she applied.

“Within a week, I had a job offer,” Lavington recalls.

Lavington’s story underscores the importance of pursuing your long-term career goals, even when you are fully engaged in your current job.

How many people are in the position Lavington was in at her previous job — unsatisfied and yearning for something else? And yet, when urged to “go and get that job,” too many people come back with excuses:

• “I’m too busy with my current job to look for a new job.”
• “I’m got too many family commitments to search online at night.”
• “I don’t have time to network.”
• “Online job searching is like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

I’ve been there, believe me. Our whole management team has. And that’s why we created RiseSmart — to take away those excuses. To inspire you to GO AND GET THAT JOB!

You know, if you’re curious, you can sign up for a free trial for a limited time.

Oh, I almost forgot — when asked for the best career advice anyone had ever given her, Lavington offered the following: “Actions speak louder than words.”

Amen.

If you’ve found this blog post, you’ve arrived at the home of RiseSmart, a new subscription-based search service for online jobseekers.   For senior-level professionals who have been frustrated with the challenges of searching for jobs online, RiseSmart offers a fresh approach — and a helping hand.

Traditional online job searches can be difficult, to say the least. First, jobseekers must decide which of the thousands of Web sites to utilize in their search. Then, they must run manual queries on each of the sites they choose; often, they are required to upload resumes and complete lengthy profiles as well. Finally, they must wade through a deluge of automated search results — the majority of which are poor matches.

It’s not a fun process — in fact, for many, it’s the single biggest barrier to finding a new job.

So, with the millions of job boards, corporate HR pages, and others listings online, how can you give yourself the best chance to find a job that is the right fit for you?

Unlike competing job search sites, RiseSmart runs searches for its members and then prescreens the results, ensuring that you receive only the most precise job matches. We are dedicated to helping our members search smarter – so they can rise faster in their careers.

You can learn more about our service from this two-minute video. 

In addition to our job search service, RiseSmart offers ancillary services to members — including resume writing, market intelligence, salary information and more.  We’ve also created the RiseSmart Blog as a way to share our insights and join the online conversation with senior-level jobseekers, HR bloggers, and executive recruiters.  As an additional resource for jobseekers, we’ve assembled some of our favorite career-advice feeds in our Research and Insight section. 

We’re going to continue to tinker with these resources as we work to enhance the RiseSmart service offering.  Please leave a comment or drop us an e-mail to tell us what you think!