To Pay or Not To Pay, That is the question

My general advice to job seekers is not to pay for something you can do for yourself.  This is what I mean.  There are literally thousands of free and reputable resources for job seeking advice.  Find them and use them.  That is part of what my blog is for. 

• Never pay for someone else to find you a job...

• Never pay money to have someone email your resume to 100s of companies
• Don't pay to access jobs paying $100K+
• Don't pay someone to write your resume

The old saying, "if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is" applies.  We look for shortcuts- ways around doing the painful acts associated with job search. Paying someone else doesn't make the situation immediately better, you are still out whatever you paid and still not in the dream job. 

The journey through job search is a valuable life lesson.  Something you will undoubtedly experience again in your life (sorry, sad but true).  It is also a life skill that you need to pass along to your children, no matter their age.

There are some things you MUST pay for.  Your own personal development.  Don't become stagnant.  Invest in you and the rewards are much greater. 

I was overseeing a workshop this week and a woman expressed her concern over not being able to get into a free workshop.  I empathized with her and told her she could get similar training for $25 which included lunch.  She shook her head and said she didn't want to pay the money.  I then offered her the names of some books that also addressed the topic she was interested in, she didn't write them down and seemed less than interested.  Oh well.  How badly did she really want the skills from the workshop if she wasn't willing to work at it. 

When was the last time you attended a professional development workshop?  A seminar related to your occupation or industry?  Shut up, that long ago...

Your development is definitely worth paying for!

Comments

[Career Sherpa]

The fact that you even ask me to define it means you are doing something. Everything you cited is professional development. It doesn't have to be formal, you just need to be a life-long learner. Use of this knowledge is also important. Not all formal training is useful, I will agree. What is the sense of training machine operators on MS Word if they never have a chance to use it on the job...coaching post training is really nice (read, mandatory).

[Mike Lally]

You shut up! :) Lol. I need you to define professional development for me. I try to develop myself every day. Are we talking "formal"...like going through a training class? It has been awhile. 2 years since I sat for a week in Nashville learning Aspect's Ensemble Pro system. I will never use it again.

I like the Personal MBA. I am working my way through it. I went through a Finance and Accounting stage. I'm reading "The Lucifer Effect" right now...its not in the PMBA. But it gets into group psychology and the effects of systems and situations on groupthink. Heavy. But I'm weird like that.