Back in the day, workers spent a lot more years with a single employer than they do today. We once thought we’d spend our entire careers with a single employer, but this is no longer the case. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly rare for employees to spend more than 5 years with a single employer. …
Bob went for his interview at a major market radio station excited and grateful that he was being considered to fill a rare and much coveted on-air news position. He felt prepared to meet the station’s news director, and had done a lot of research about this station, its lengthy ratings dominance, its audience and…
Ah yes, the end of the year. Now is the time year when almost anyone with an audience looks back on the past twelve months to reflect on the best of this, and most important of that. Brief perspectives such as the “top ten list” can be very handy in providing a close-up view of…
Recently, I was reviewing resumes, cover letters and doing some interview preparation for job seekers at a job fair. Although the age of the participants skewed a bit older than most of these events, the employment hopefuls were as diversified in their skills, experience and positions of interest, as would be expected. But one of…
There was a time not too long ago when job seekers routinely sent out their job search documents to unknown recipients. More times than not job announcements instructed job seekers to send their resumes and cover letters to blind addresses – Post Office boxes or routing numbers in care of the newspaper that ran the…
Unless you’re devoid of any feelings, one of the toughest things to hear from someone is that they lost their job. This is a hard thing to hear from anyone, particularly if you know the person well, and know that they have committed themselves for a long time to that gig. And even if you…
In my last entry, we talked about Marilyn and how her efforts to find a new job were thwarted when she turned the focus of her interviews to her needs rather than those of the job and the employer. This time out I want to reiterate and expound further that you should not ignore your…
Did you ever go on a first date with a too chatty gal or guy who told you far too much about themselves? Was he or she too self-absorbed? Too much superfluous information provided too soon can ruin your chances of getting to know another person. In job search, just like in dating, or other…
“Location, location, location!” usually refers to the three most important things to consider before buying or opening a retail business. But have you given much thought to the location of your interviews? Interviews today won’t always take place in an office. Your next interview might be in a conference room, in a lunchroom, at a…
If you’re looking for work, there’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn, and telling others about the quality of the work you do. In fact, it’s expected! Being able to tell others what you are good at what, and how it relates to what they do, is as important as where you send your…
My client Lanni called the other day sounding quite frustrated and angry. I encouraged her to take a few calming breaths. After a long pause she finally blurted out, “They wouldn’t let me interview! I sat in their reception area listening to that insipid instrumental background music for over 45 minutes, and the assistant finally…
In simpler times, job seekers would send their resume to a prospective employer, or fill out an application in person. A few days later, if the employer believed the applicant was qualified, they would receive a phone call about scheduling an interview. Dressed appropriately, the applicant would meet with the employer, learn more about the…
Job search is sometimes cruel. You go on interviews, tell the prospective employer “all the right things”, and too often they: a) don’t get back to you at all; b) take forever to follow up; c) thank you for your time, and inform you they’ve decided to hire someone else. Few and blessed are the…
Statistics from the US Department of Labor indicate that those entering the workforce now will likely change careers at least five times in the course of their working lives. Not just change jobs, but change careers. Some will discover that they are not cut out for the careers they planned, or they have burned out…
There’s a biblical quote that says: “the eyes are the window to the soul.” If that is the case, from what I’ve seen lately, too many people have their windows drawn shut, and don’t want to let anyone see what’s inside. While conducting a bunch of practice interview sessions recently I was reminded how many…
Listen and repeat! For many years, high school students had that phrase drilled into their heads when they were learning a foreign language. Regardless of the foreign language being studied, the prerecorded voice of the instructors in the widely used ALM series preceded each expression with “Listen and repeat.” In those days, students learned key…
There are three old but still relevant axioms I’d like to quote here. The first is: You can’t judge a book by its cover. The second is: What you see is what you get. And the third is: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Now when we think of how…
Have you ever read a feature (online or in print) that claimed to offer two views of the same idea, topic or product? There are all kinds of examples of this “two sides of same coin” column in a wide variety of publications. But upon reading them, frequently the questions asked are not the same…
Despite the recent slight uptick in job growth, the graduating class of 2010 will face the toughest job search challenge of the past 20 years, maybe longer. Sadly, it will be harder for most new graduates to find work related to their degrees than in recent memory. While so many earlier generations were promised unlimited…
The concept of up-selling (trying to sell the customer more than just what they asked for), has been around for a long while. Whether it’s the waitress asking, “Do you want fries with that?”, or the appliance vendor asking if you want the matching stand for the plasma TV, offering more to the customer than…
