I just found a cool new career site that really summarizes what I think about careers. The site is careerealism.com and the tagline is “because every job is temporary” – genius.

And that’s exactly how I feel about jobs nowadays. No job is guaranteed to last forever, and everyone needs to position themselves as a free agent to survive in this economy.

Careerealism just posted a great interview with Seth Godin (the author of several amazing books on career and marketing, including his newest, Linchpin) called The New Career “Normal” = Get Reckless. I really liked what Seth had to say about changing careers and marketing yourself. Go check it out!

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Once you decide to transition to a new industry you need to start taking an active interest in what is happening in that industry. For instance, when I decided to actively move into the world of fashion design, and shoe design in particular, I became a devotee to keeping up to date on what was happening the fashion world. I read shoe design blogs, style.com, and Women’s Wear Daily (the “Wall Street Journal of fashion”) As many of you may know, the fashion world is held captive twice a year during the Womenswear Runway shows. These 4 weeks of live fashion shows take place to herald the coming trends of Fall and Spring every year. For an aspiring shoe designer, it was very important to me that I start to review the images from all of the top design houses and many of the up and coming designers. From New York, to London, to Milan and finally Paris, there is always plenty of innovation and fresh ideas in apparel design, shoe design, and beauty.

What was surprising to me is that not every career changer is aware of how important this is to their own transition. I cannot tell you how many people I interviewed for shoe design internships that did not follow Fashion Week at all, nor could they even tell me who their favorite designer was! The problem with being unaware is that you are starting out in a new industry about which you claim you are “passionate.” Hmmmm. Are you so passionate that you can’t even read the headlines about the biggest news in your industry?

So keep this little anecdote in mind when you talk about your dream job. Make sure that you show your passion and interest by keeping up to date on the news in your industry. Even better, read blogs and newsfeeds daily so that you can form your own opinions and actually discuss your new industry.

For those of you interested in learning more about Fashion Week here are a few websites that I like:

www.style.com

www.nymag.com/fashion

www.fashionweekdaily.com

If you are interested in shoe design, like I am, be sure to click on the “Details” tab for close-up photos of the shoes and other accessories presented on the runway.

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