Just Say the Word

I'm burying the lead in this blog, a term newspaper people use for putting the article's function, like giving you job advice in this case, too far down in a column. I'm doing so to first give my history so that you know that I have experienced much of what you may be going through.

I started out having jobs not a career. When I was 25, in fact, I was working at a Burger King. I had gotten out of the Navy and frankly had never even thought about what my next step would be but college; except, it’s hard to be in school when you have had money in your pocket. I was at Burger King because I had ended up dropping out for a semester to consider where I really wanted to go in life; at least that was the idea.

I hated my college courses. I chose the wrong classes based on everyone else's ideas for success.

I ended up eventually heading down to Maryland and getting a good paying job because I had a good resume which was more impressive than my actual accomplishments. For instance, I supervised the evening shift of a work station in the Navy; except on night shift, which the resume didn't reveal, I was the only one there. Still, it sounded fantastic.

At any rate, after gaining knowledge and experience, I left Maryland and went back to school. I got really good grades in classes I loved and used the education, the training from the Navy and my employment in Maryland to get my new job. From there I would eventually retire.

Now, to be fair, I worked for my brothers eventually becoming a co-owner. It can be said that it's easier to get a good job when your family offers you one. Still to be even fairer, they had no interest in hiring me until I was 33 when I was of value to them. They didn't run the business to be a welfare center. I had to earn my job.

So, I know what I write about, and I have taken my own advice. So, where do I think trends are working towards which can offer employment? Languages for those who are good at them are a great opportunity; especially if you can travel. There are programs which let you teach, for instance, overseas, after you learn your language.

This kind of education gives you experience which you can use on a job in finance. If you speak the language and have been to the country, a country which is a major trading partner with the United States, or in an emerging market, this improves your look and makes you stand out from others.

Some good languages to know are Cantonese, which is a major language in China, Japanese, the Romance Languages which come from the ancient Roman Latin ( Spanish, French, are needed in the business world) and German along with its offshoots as Germany is an economic powerhouse. Hebrew's a good language to know too as next to the United States, Israel has the most patents every year.

The point is that knowing a language helps the client, helps your boss know the mind and heart of a customer through you and thus puts you a step above. For more information go to www.FinancialJobBank.com. Another good site is at Berlitz.