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Show Up for Yourself: Quiet Quitting and Career Transition

I already identified as a quiet quitter. When I took a break from IDOL, was I also quitting on myself?

When I started the IDOL journey, I thought “I’ve got so many transferable skills. I’m already qualified for many of these jobs!”  I dutifully created a website, crafted an ID resume, and refreshed my LinkedIn profile. I knew I faced hard work to upskill and learn about the ID field, but I had time to invest and a big IDOL goal that seemed reasonable to me. But five months later, no job offers. Not even a single interview! “What gives?” I wondered. I already identified as a quiet quitter from my day job - that’s why I became an IDOL! Was I now also quitting on my career transition? 

Sometime in 2019, my long-time enthusiasm for teaching began wearing thin. Twenty years of teaching freshman composition will do that to you, I reasoned. So I jumped into innovative teaching practices in an effort to continue learning and challenge...

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Perfection Paralysis

 Many people strive to be perfect. Social norms push people to have this belief that we are less than if everything isn't perfect. Trying to reach perfection can be paralyzing, and most of the time, we do nothing.

Do you know what perfection paralysis is?

A defense mechanism. It protects you from being seen as less than or not seen as entirely perfect. Feelings are complex, and perfectionism paralysis could be similar to the fear of rejection. Don't expect to win the first prize trophy the first time you do something. Practice doesn't make you perfect. Practice makes you better. Better than you were the first day you started. The work you produce the first year you are an instructional designer will probably be a little embarrassing the fifth year in your career (keep a copy to compare). This is called growth, and it's the best part of life.

Perfectionism paralysis comes in many forms for instructional designers:

  1. Primarily the Inability to start
  2. Fear of putting your work...
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ESL to Instructional Design: It’s Closer Than You Think

I started teaching English as a Second Language because I loved working with people and I wanted a job that would stimulate me. I worked in the field for ten years, teaching overseas, in private language schools, and at community colleges. I really loved it, but eventually, I started to burn out.  I wasn’t alone. There are a lot of former teachers who have pivoted to instructional design with the help of IDOL courses Academy. It’s a common career move and teachers, in general, have a lot of transferable skills we bring into the field. I may be biased, but I believe that us ESL teachers have some secret talents that come into play when we start transitioning. In this article, I’m going to talk about four areas where ESL teachers are already rock stars when it comes to instructional design. 

 

We Have the Technology Skills

Setting up assignments and grading papers online felt like more of a chore than anything else back when I was teaching. ...

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Overcoming the New ID Overwhelm and Maintaining Focus

 Are you making a career change? Do you feel like there’s just so much to learn, and you don’t know where to start? Do you wonder if you’ll ever reach your goal?

This was me. And this could be you. But you’ll get there!

Making a career change can be overwhelming. Thinking about all the new things you will need to learn in order to get a job can produce a lot of anxiety and imposter syndrome

When I first decided to change careers from a special education teacher to an Instructional Designer, I was excited to learn more. Then it hit me. The more I learned, the more I got overwhelmed with all of the tools, theories, and practices I needed to know to be successful and confident. I learned several things along the way to help calm down that overwhelm to focus on my goals and learning. Here are my tips:

  1. Analyze job descriptions - There are so many tools out there, and when I first joined the IDOL courses Academy and...
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5 Strategies to be Successful with Recruiters

Changing careers comes with many new experiences. If you are like me, having recruiters contacting me was one of those new experiences. 

 I left public education for the corporate world. Once I updated my LinkedIn page and toggled on the switch “open for opportunities,” I was inundated with messages from recruiters who thought I would be the “perfect fit” for their opportunity. I was so excited! They were already knocking down my door to offer me a job. I will land my coveted IDOL role in no time I thought.  I quickly learned that was not the case. I had become part of the very competitive world of recruiting.  The recruiting process is more about helping the hiring company and recruiting firm than it is about helping a candidate land her dream job

Companies often hire external recruiters to find viable candidates to fill open positions. Recruiters search for those candidates in places such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and other job...

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I Landed My First Corporate Instructional Designer Role! Now What?

 For months, I’ve been preparing to be a Corporate Instructional Designer. I signed up for the IDOL Academy so I would be able to fill in the gaps and to receive an inside scoop on what it truly takes to be an Instructional Designer.

After a few phone interviews with recruiters, I finally received an invitation to have an in-person interview. Immediately, I went from excitement to shock. Well, my thoughts were, “How am I going to convince the interview panel that my previous teaching experience is transferable? How do I NOT talk about my teaching experience? Will my instructional design experience in the school district even matter? I placed my fears aside and sent Dr. Robin Sargent an email, informing her that I had an upcoming interview. She reminded me to use the resources in the IDOL Academy and provided me with a few interview questions to ask.

During the interview, I was able to speak confidently about how my teaching experience, graduate and specialist...

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