10 Ways to Take Control of Your Job Search

by •, , , , ,

businesswoman flying take control shutterstock_195916973It can be tempting to attribute a long job search to factors beyond your control. The factors that I hear jobseekers mention include age, experience (i.e. over- or under-qualified), resume gaps, weight, ethnic background, gender, or some other physical feature. While, at times, these factors and biases do cause problems for job-seekers, nine times out of ten I see that the problem is actually in their job-search strategy or execution.

So, here’s a checklist of 10 questions to ask yourself first, before attributing a long search to factors beyond your control. Your answers will help to put you back in the driver’s seat and on the road to the job you want.More

Employment Data Shows Pockets of Opportunity

by •,

The latest BLS report showed the unemployment rate stuck at a dismal 9.1%. BUT, more positive news for many jobseekers can be found within the data. In particular, the unemployment rate for those with a bachelors degree or higher remained much lower than the overall rate, at 4.3%, More

Performance Reviews, Part 1: What Managers Should Know

by •,

This post first appeared on the Five O’Clock Club’s website
Performance reviews are widely used in organizations, yet are implemented inconsistently and are often controversial: Do they work? What’s the best way to implement them? Don’t unfair grudges or favoritism, or other forms of bias, fatally compromise them? I’ll begin to share with you a few thoughts on each of these questions in this first of a two part blog post.More

Sending an email vs an old-fashioned letter

by •,

Job-search clients often ask me whether they should mail or email their cover or followup letter.  I tell them to default to email unless there is a compelling special case for sending a traditional letter.  The reasons I recommend email:More

Four Ideas for Getting Interviews via the Hidden Job Market

by •, ,

Most of my job-search clients get interviews by tapping into the hidden job market; they are both reaching out to their network and cold-emailing/calling people they don’t know.  You, too, want to prioritize efforts that will allow you to bypass the glut of applicants going through job postings or recruiting firms.  Spend only 20% of your valuable job search time on postings and recruiting firms, and the remainder on the hidden job market.  Here are four ideas to get you started.More

In a Job Search? You Should Be On LinkedIn

by •, , ,

LinkedIn, accessed for free at www.linkedin.com, enables users to keep in touch with and expand their professional network, get introductions to others outside their network, and join groups of professionals organized around industries, professions, and associations.  Recruiters routinely use LinkedIn to scan profiles for viable candidates.

LinkedIn has become essential to conducting an effective, productive job search! I hear from clients almost every day about how they got an interview or informational meeting via LinkedIn.  Below I’ve included a few success stories culled from my clients’ experiences, to help generate ideas on how you can use LinkedIn.  Read More

Six Keys to Success On-the Job Part 1 (Keys 1-3)

by •

I’ve created a podcast from the mini-talk that I gave on January 17th as part of my weekly Monday seminar series, “Ask A Career Coach“.  You can access the podcast HERE.  FYI, the Six Keys are:  1) The New Goal is Marketability, 2) Manage Up, Down and Across, 3) Develop a vision for your Career, then a Plan, 4) Build and Maintain a Network, 5) Know when it’s Time to Move-on, and 6) Demonstrate Leadership.

Work experience too “dated” for your resume? It depends.

by •

I recently received a couple of questions about the most appropriate resume format, and whether a friend’s comment is true that all experience older than 10 years should be left off the resume.  Here is my response:

1) You need to put your resume in “reverse chronological order”, meaning most recent experience first, because that is what hiring mangers are used to seeing.  Try something different and they will either a) not take the time to figure out your format (given the More

Letting People Know about your Job Search

by •

The Five O’Clock Club’s book Shortcut Your Job Search has a great technique for getting interviews.  My clients have used it to land interviews in organizations they are interested in.  A prerequisite is that you have a list of target organizations ready, i.e. your “job-search marketing plan”.  Then, send an e-mail out to everyone you know– family, friends, former business associates, old More

Employment Trends: Health Care Hot, Real Estate Not

by •, ,

Indeed.com, an online job-search engine that aggregates job postings from across the web, released an analysis of employment trends by industry and geography.  Their findings could be helpful to those of you who are looking to develop job targets– I recommend checking it out.  My observations from their data:

  • The health care sector shows the largest opportunity by far, with a total of 813,000 job-postings, followed by Retail More
«‹ 5 6 7 8 9 ›