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Not Your Father’s Job Market

If you haven’t looked for a job in the past five years, you’re probably unaware of some of the subtle changes that now define the job market.  What defines the overall job market, also defines a successful job search.  Jobs are constantly being re-structured, which means an inherent lack of job security. This article in […]

Working with a Recruiter

This question has come up a couple of times during the past few weeks.  Clients often ask me whether it’s a good career move to work with a recruiter.  Several of them have been approached by a recruiter directly, which I predict will be a growing trend as the talent shortage increases (I’ll write more […]

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day is a great holiday for career coaches.  The press, looking for interesting article angles, profile workers, job trends and all things labor-related.  Nothing better than enjoying a cup of coffee with an interesting array of career-related articles on hand. This Labor Day (oh, how I naturally want to spell it “labour”) I’ve been […]

You’re Fired!

I just read an interesting article about how Sprint, ING Direct, and Best Buy (and others), have fired customers for being “difficult” or consuming too many company resources because of the number of complaints they’ve made, needing too much support, or habitually returning merchandise. Can you imagine being one of those customers?  Well, I’m guessing […]

20 Ways to Use LinkedIn Productively

Here’s an article about how to use LinkedIn. LinkedIn, like any social networking tool, is a great tool… but it’s just one tool that you need in your career search toolkit. You still need to network in person, expand your contacts in person, etc. Suggestions #8 and #16 are especially worthy!! http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/06/15/20-ways-to-use-linkedin-productively/

Standing Out vs. Fitting In

I think the fear of standing out keeps a lot of people from pursuing opportunities that they know are a *perfect* fit for them. They really want to be more gutsy with their job search strategy, but they’re held back by fears of looking foolish, appearing too aggressive or looking like they don’t know what […]

Why I Hate Informational Interviewing

Informational interviewing is when you make contact with people you assume can help/aid you in your job search. You ask them questions about their work, trends in the industry/profession, with the intent being that they might offer you an important job lead. If this is how you define informational interviewing, it’s not a technique you […]

Networking 101

Last Tuesday night, I got into a fascinating discussion with a couple of women about networking. We were at a women’s networking event (www.pdxfx.org) and the conversation was with the two women who were sitting on either side of me at our table. We talked about what we did, who we were, etc. I like […]

Career Distinction

Tomorrow, June 12th, Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand will be available. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy – read my review on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Career-Distinction-Stand-Building-Brand/dp/0470128186/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4651325-6006338?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181573268&sr=8-1

Illegal Interview Questions

When I was teaching Professional Development to college students, this topic was one of the most popular. Actually, the whole section on interviewing seemed to get the students’ attention. My theory about interview questions is that if it makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s likely an unlawful inquiry. Having said that, I also take a “big […]