LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” feature can potentially let employers, recruiters, and your network know you’re looking for a job. But, should you use this feature? Before I share my thoughts, a word on how to access this feature: click the Open to Work button under your profile picture. You can then share your open-to-work status by checking either “share with recruiters only” or “share with all LinkedIn members.”
A powerful pitch, one that resonates with your target audience, can give your job search a big boost in this challenging economy. Employers and networking contacts will be impressed when you concisely and engagingly describe what differentiates you from your competitors. Plus the process of creating your pitch is, on its own, well worth your time; the deeply self-reflective thinking that’s required will help you to sell yourself. You’ll need two versions of your pitch:
Below I share some of the career and job search advice I’m giving concerned clients as we navigate this challenging time. The key to making it through and achieving your career goals is to use this time wisely now to set yourself up for quick success later, once the economy starts to rebound. Here’s a list of 10 things you can do now to boost results:
A new client was describing her frustratingly long and unproductive job search to me. She said “I had a lot of great meetings a year ago with people who could potentially hire or refer me, although nothing panned out.” I asked what happened to those people and conversations. She said, “I don’t know, we just lost touch.” I told her that was a major part of the reason she had been searching for so long. If she had kept in touch with them, she would probably have gotten the interviews and offers she was looking for long ago.
Being good at networking isn’t just about meeting new people—that’s only half of it. The other half involves
A number of techniques 
make the challenge of achieving ambitious career and job search goals easier. Here’s a list of those that have either helped me or my clients to overcome obstacles to goal achievement. May they give you the boost you need to reach your goals.
Picture your goal to get motivated: Use physical pictures or imagery you conjure up in your imagination. The reason this works –
When clients first contact me for résumé help, they often say things like “I heard that you should never…” or “I was told to always…” Most of these rules are just plain wrong, because they contradict the one Golden Rule of Résumé Writing: your “why you should hire me” message needs to jump off the page in the 15 seconds or less that your résumé is being reviewed (one study says your résumé is looked at for only 7.4 seconds).
Keeping the Golden Rule in mind, let’s look at the top four résumé myths that I’ve come across in my work with clients.
So you’re feeling stuck in your job or career; you’re unhappy and unsure what to do about it. To get unstuck, take the first crucial step and conduct a thoughtful self-assessment. Accurately diagnose the cause and identify the cure by reflecting on three areas: your life experiences, your current situation and your vision for the future. Answering the following 10 questions can help you to gain this insight.
You can improve your odds of getting a raise, promotion or job security by creating a plan to achieve success in your current role. Like any effective strategic plan, your plan needs to answer these questions: 1) What’s my current situation? 2) Where am I going? and 3) How will I get there? Address these questions by incorporating the following five elements into your “Strategic Success Plan” (SSP):
If you’ve been out of work for a while, you may face a well-documented bias against the unemployed in your job search. But fear not; there are ways to easily fill the gap, preempting any potential uneasiness about your unemployment while reassuring employers that you’re current in your field. Here are three of those ways, followed by what to say when asked about an employment gap in an interview.
How to Spot Job Search Scams and Protect Yourself
by Robert Hellmann • General, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Job-Search Strategy