Friends – What are you expecting?

I’ve been hearing a theme from people and reading the advice columns of how often we are disappointed with our friends. It sounds like this: “I always do [fill in the blank] for her, but she never reciprocates.”  “I was there for him, but now he’s too busy to help me.” Whether its remembering birthdays,Continue reading “Friends – What are you expecting?”

Career Management in 10 minutes or less

You can forge the direction of your career with short, strategic conversations. We often only think about our careers once a year as a new year resolution or a performance review.  Yet we know that frequent feedback, sharing information and asking for help are the keys to growing and developing our careers. If you keepContinue reading “Career Management in 10 minutes or less”

Your References – Care and Feeding

Many of us set a goal for new employment this time of year. Along with updating the resume, online profiles and reconnecting with people, make an appointment with yourself to consider your reference strategy. My what? My references are my former employers, right? Not necessarily.  Yes, potential employers traditionally want past bosses, but they oftenContinue reading “Your References – Care and Feeding”

What’s Your Professional Development Strategy?

The most frequent responses I get to this question is #1 Strategy: keep getting a paycheck and hope to get promoted;#2 Strategy for Free Agents: Keep current contract(s) or get new clients. I consider these non-strategies. Too many people approach learning something work-related as a task they have to do to keep their jobs orContinue reading “What’s Your Professional Development Strategy?”

3 Reasons + 5 tips to Update Your Resume

Here are 3 reasons why September is a good time to update your resume: Its nearly time for your annual performance review and you want to position yourself or a raise. One of your contacts approaches you with a great job opportunity and needs your resume, now! You learn that your job is in theContinue reading “3 Reasons + 5 tips to Update Your Resume”

After the Interview – Your Next Step

The interview is over and you can take a deep breath.  The people who just interviewed you spent their time and efforts to determine if you are the best fit for the role. Do you appreciate this? Then let them know. After the interview most of us immediately begin to replay in our heads whatContinue reading “After the Interview – Your Next Step”

The Black Hole of Job Boards

The odds of getting a job by simply applying to online boards are slim.  It does happen happen occasionally. But the biggest complaint I hear is, “I’ve submitted hundreds of applications and never heard a thing.” Well, maybe not” hundreds.” Job boards or Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are designed to screen out, not in.  NowContinue reading “The Black Hole of Job Boards”

Key Job Search Strategy – Volunteer!

The  Corporation for National and Community Service  has released new research,“Volunteering as a Pathway to Employment,” which provides the most compelling empirical research to date establishing an association between volunteering and employment in the United States. The results of this study suggest a statistically significant and highly stable association between volunteering and employment.  Volunteers haveContinue reading “Key Job Search Strategy – Volunteer!”

Update Your References This Week

The first week of May is a great time to re-connect with people and enhance your career.  You don’t need to be in a job search at the moment to touch base with key people in your work-life.  A key element of effective career management is that we don’t wait until we’re in job huntContinue reading “Update Your References This Week”

Don’t Fret a Furlough – 5 Ways To Take Advantage of It

The main thing we don’t like about looming sequestration furloughs is that it is unpaid time off. While many of us will just enjoy sleeping late and relaxing, you can also use that day(s) to your advantage. Here are 5 things for your to-do list: 1) If you’ve been putting off learning how to doContinue reading “Don’t Fret a Furlough – 5 Ways To Take Advantage of It”