"My Boyfriend's A Stripper"

moving cross country, finding a great partner... or lobbing off all your hair a la Karlie Kloss). But don't fret: It's not an impossible task. It just takes some thought—and great advice.

"A lot of times people don't like what they're doing in their current job, but they haven't defined what they want to be doing in their potential new job," Nicole Williams, career expert and author of Girl On Top, tells Cosmopolitan.com.

She says nabbing your dream job starts with doing some soul-searching: "I ask people to assess components of their current working life, and match them against the career they are looking to get into."

Try asking yourself these questions...

Time: How many hours do you want to work and in what kind of environment? Big company, small, telecommute, work-from-home flexibility (you know, the kind banned at Yahoo!)

Challenge Level: How important is growth potential and being challenged to you? Are you ambitious and ready to lean in, or just looking for a 9 to 5 to fill your time?

Work Environment: Define your best possible scenario in terms of work relationships. Who are you working with and for? What kind of boss would be ideal? Do you have dreams of becoming a boss?

Passion: How important is passion to you? For example, a woman we know races triathlons and feels like she doesn't need to be passionate about her job; her passion is attached to her sport.

6. Money: How much do you need to make? How much money do you want to make?

Steps To Making A Career Change

Stop Delaying

"The longer you are in the job you are thinking of leaving, the further away you are from new opportunity," says Williams. "It doesn't get any easier. Doing it earlier is emotionally, mentally and professionally better."

Be Willing To Sacrifice Something

You may have to start from the bottom (or the middle) and work your way to the top; Either way, be ready to drop a few rungs on the corporate ladder.

"Internships can be a good idea—or be willing to take a pay cut," says Williams. "If this internship, for example, introduces you to influential people and helps develop a skill-set, you'll be able to take these things to leverage them into a bigger position."

Start Saving

"Have a solid idea of the risk and savings in the bank," advises Williams. Even if it means cutting back on luxuries. "If you know the internship is going to last for six months at a minimum, that's the number you need to have in savings, and I normally advise 10 to 20 percent in savings as a risk buffer."

Network

"People love to talk about themselves," says Williams. "Find them on LinkedIn and through people you know, and consult with them."

Williams suggests asking those in similar fields questions like, "I wonder if you'd speak to me about your day-to-day life; What do you love most about the work that you do; What do you wish you would have known going into this career?"

"Those kind of questions are going to give you the information you need and will help you know the people you are going to need to know," she adds.

Now that you are armed with more than just your resume and a fresh manicure, it's time to start hitting the pavement. Happy hunting, gals.

Want more stories from Carson? Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Getty Images">

moving cross country, finding a great partner... or lobbing off all your hair a la Karlie Kloss). But don't fret: It's not an impossible task. It just takes some thought—and great advice.

"A lot of times people don't like what they're doing in their current job, but they haven't defined what they want to be doing in their potential new job," Nicole Williams, career expert and author of Girl On Top, tells Cosmopolitan.com.

She says nabbing your dream job starts with doing some soul-searching: "I ask people to assess components of their current working life, and match them against the career they are looking to get into."

Try asking yourself these questions...

Time: How many hours do you want to work and in what kind of environment? Big company, small, telecommute, work-from-home flexibility (you know, the kind banned at Yahoo!)

Challenge Level: How important is growth potential and being challenged to you? Are you ambitious and ready to lean in, or just looking for a 9 to 5 to fill your time?

Work Environment: Define your best possible scenario in terms of work relationships. Who are you working with and for? What kind of boss would be ideal? Do you have dreams of becoming a boss?

Passion: How important is passion to you? For example, a woman we know races triathlons and feels like she doesn't need to be passionate about her job; her passion is attached to her sport.

6. Money: How much do you need to make? How much money do you want to make?

Steps To Making A Career Change

Stop Delaying

"The longer you are in the job you are thinking of leaving, the further away you are from new opportunity," says Williams. "It doesn't get any easier. Doing it earlier is emotionally, mentally and professionally better."

Be Willing To Sacrifice Something

You may have to start from the bottom (or the middle) and work your way to the top; Either way, be ready to drop a few rungs on the corporate ladder.

"Internships can be a good idea—or be willing to take a pay cut," says Williams. "If this internship, for example, introduces you to influential people and helps develop a skill-set, you'll be able to take these things to leverage them into a bigger position."

Start Saving

"Have a solid idea of the risk and savings in the bank," advises Williams. Even if it means cutting back on luxuries. "If you know the internship is going to last for six months at a minimum, that's the number you need to have in savings, and I normally advise 10 to 20 percent in savings as a risk buffer."

Network

"People love to talk about themselves," says Williams. "Find them on LinkedIn and through people you know, and consult with them."

Williams suggests asking those in similar fields questions like, "I wonder if you'd speak to me about your day-to-day life; What do you love most about the work that you do; What do you wish you would have known going into this career?"

"Those kind of questions are going to give you the information you need and will help you know the people you are going to need to know," she adds.

Now that you are armed with more than just your resume and a fresh manicure, it's time to start hitting the pavement. Happy hunting, gals.

Want more stories from Carson? Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Getty Images">Whether you're a doctor who dreams of doing hair, or a hairdresser dreaming of climbing the corporate ladder, career expert Nicole Williams has pro tips on how to get started.

From Cosmopolitan.com. Visit Handbags reviews and advice for best reference here

"My Boyfriend's A Stripper"

Do you find dating a male stripper—or former stripper—unfathomable? Considering all of the dry humping, bachelorette parties, and cheap Champagne, we would understand why.

But Jenna Dewan-Tatum did it—and married him—albeit after Channing Tatum's days at the club. And right now, Eleni, 24, is dating an exotic dancer who is still working the pole.

The fashion associate has been dating Dan, 27, for six months now, and she swears up and down that their relationship is as normal as can be. They go to the movies. They fight over the remote on Sunday nights. They both love Italian food.

Except Dan sheds his clothes to disco tunes for money.

Dan was fully clothed when they met at a party at the man mecca where he collects dolla bills. Eleni was there for a 25th birthday, and Dan took notice of her when she bought a lap dance for the birthday girl from another stripper who, incidentally, was wearing a parrot thong.

"It wasn't like [Dan] was thrusting anything around me. He was just a normal guy with a beer, so I said 'yes' (when he asked me for my phone number)," she explains.

And she kept saying yes, over and over. "I didn't think it would ever be serious," she admits. "I didn't think I would actually date someone who was a stripper."

Though Eleni never saw Dan shake his money-maker on Night One, "I've seen him dance," she admits. "I don't like to watch, but I have seen it. He is good at it; He knows how to naturally move, you know? But then it's hard to call him a good dancer when he's doing all these body rolls and crawling on the floor and picking up dollar bills with his teeth."

Still, she claims jealousy isn't an issue.

"I don't care about other girls looking at him, and having to touch him... The girls who go in those places... I'd never be jealous of them," Eleni insists. "He'd much rather be with me and come home to me. I know if anything, he's jealous of what I'm doing when he's out there at the club."

And yet: "It's the faces he is paid to make at them that bothers me—like he likes it or something... And I know he doesn't."

When it comes to bringing some of his little outfits into the bedroom, which consist of g-strings, sparkly Speedos, and even a cowboy costume complete with a whip and furry boots? "Sometimes I'll be all like, 'Hell yeah! Let's do it!' and other times I'm like, 'Ew, no! People pay to see that costume-y s--t and I am your girlfriend!' I like stuff a little more romantic.'"

She doesn't go see Dan perform, or let her friends go see him, although she will go to the club and meet him for a drink at the end of the night, as long as he's not performing and he's already dressed. But as one might suspect, it's not easy dating a male stripper. Dan has driven a wedge between Eleni and her mom, who doesn't approve.

"Things have been much better (between us)," she says of her mom, who has never met Dan, but after finding out his full name, Googled him and was unhappy with what she saw.

"(My mom and I) have barely spoken since (Dan and I) started dating," she admits.

Eleni is hoping to turn things around—as soon as Dan stops stripping. Just like Magic Mike dreamed, Dan is part-owner of the club where he works—but just a small part. The couple is currently discussing a future together—one that does not include Dan's job.

"Some guys in those clubs, you can tell they are lifers. That's what they call them, and you can tell they love it, or at least like it, and they are so good," she explains. "That's not Dan."

"He wants to get into nightlife—and get out of what he does now—if we decide to move in together," she adds.

Eleni says she doesn't know if Dan is "The One," but she's not ruling it out.

"I would never marry a stripper," she says adamantly. "But Dan's not going to be a stripper forever."

Ladies—would you ever date a real-life Magic Mike? Hoot and holler at us in the comments.

Want more stories from Carson? Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

From Cosmopolitan.com. Visit Handbags reviews and advice for best reference here