CareerActivist.com

Mark Swartz, MBA., M.Ed.

Mark is a nationally known Canadian career coach, speaker and author who specializes in helping you get the most out of your worklife. What this comes down to is basically the following:

• knowing who you really are (beyond all the smoke and societal expectations)

• rediscovering what you truly value in life and work

• deciding on what you are willing to trade off in order to get what actually matters to you

• taking deliberate, manageable steps to get what you are striving for

The result? Greater employment security and increased satisfaction for yourself no matter where, or how, you make your living. Of course, especially these days no one can guarantee you security in any specific job or work arrangement. Positions come and they disappear. Being "employable" and marketable is the name of the game. So is loving what you do, if possible. Better yet if you can feel like what you do matters.

Mark as Author and Career Columnist

Mark was first published back in 1997 by Prentice Hall Canada, and his site has been online in one form or another for a decade. Since then his best-seller "Get Wired, You're Hired," has been revised numerous times, and is just about due for a brand new debut - possibly in late 2008, and hopefully for free on this site.

He always had a love of writing and was fortunate to have his own column in the Toronto Star's Careers section for two and a half years. He was able to write on such provocative topics as...

How to blow the whistle at work

Ways to look Younger at interview time (for "mature" workers)

Can your employer spy on you?

Leveraging your current job to become more marketable

All of the above topics, along with close to 200 of Mark's articles in all, can be found on this site, in addition to the many others from across the country.

These days Mark has the privilege of sharing his acquired insights as the National Career Advisor on the homepage of www.workopolis.com, Canada's leading job site with more than 2.5 million unique visitors monthly. As has been the case for well over a decade, Mark does this work on a contract basis. He has been self-employed since 1995 and enjoys the diversity his days bring. Recently a Globe and Mail website contracted Mark to serve as their Career Activist too.

Mark's Experience in a Nutshell

In his early work years, Mark held jobs in the field of corporate marketing and strategic planning. He was employed by such companies and Citicorp and Kodak. Shortly after being downsized back in 1993, Mark secured sessional work as a university instructor in business communications. It was at that point he began working on his Masters in Education part-time, to gain experience and credentials in Adult Education and Counselling. During this period Mark was a self-employed Senior Associate with what then was one of the world's leading career/HR consulting firms, Drake Beam Morin.

His Education

Mark did his B.A. at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario ( in Literature and Social Psychology, two of his passion areas), This was followed immediately by an M.B.A. at the Shulich School of Businees at York University. Then, as mentioned above, as an adult student in his late 30's, an M.Ed. from the University of Toronto�s OISE

Why He Does What He Does

Having worked in (or with) corporate Canada for the better part of two decades, Mark has been increasingly shocked by how many good people suffer because of how unhappy or over-stressed they are at work.

It has become a struggle for many people to simply do their job well and get paid decently for their efforts. Whether you have a full or part-time job, are self-employed, or are graduating soon or are in career transition, the pressures have risen slowly but steadily for the past two decades or so.

In a job this can be seen when having your ideas ignored, when feeling coerced to always go along with what the boss thinks, when becoming overworked and losing life-balance, and when putting on masks to get along. Top this off with having little control over getting downsized.

As for the self-employed, trying to compete and staying at the top of your game requires a great deal of your time and energy. Seems there is always someone willing to undercut your pricing or offer something that makes your offering look wanting.

Every so often, in all of this whirl, you have a burning career-related question that no one seems to be able to answer adequately for you. Maybe your boss is behaving badly, and your own job is therefore on the line. Or you have been self-employed for years but want to get back into the traditional workforce to stabilize your income for a while. Could be you have wanted to change careers for years but could never figure out what to do now that you're a grown up.

If only you had access to good advice from qualified professionals at these times, things might be a little easier for you. That's the reasoning behind this site: Mark's goal is to bring quick, affordable, professional suggestions to those with career-related questions. And to provide the option for more intensive coaching for people who want personalized, in-depth advice.

After being downsized twice, married at the time with my wife pregnant on both occasions, it became clear that my loyalty to a specific employer was misplaced. I want to help give people a chance to get what they deserve from their worklife. Creating community in this area is important to me too." Mark Swartz

Mark in His Own Words

"As a Career Consultant with leading international firms for the better part of eight years, and within my own private practice since 2002, I have had the pleasure of meeting people from many different backgrounds who are trying bravely to increase their sense of security, derive more satisfaction from work, and bring as much of their true self to work as possible.

My areas of specialy are therefore teaching people how to: take charge of their worklife; leverage their existing employment to improve their own marketability, make a strategic job change, if need be, or shift careers altogether, in order to better connect with their core values.

On the personal front, I have two terrific children; a teenaged boy and a girl - who are growing up in the blink of an eye! In my leisure time I love to read contemporary novels, head out for a refreshing jog, or speak passionately about the importance of preserving our freedom of expression.