January 2015

There are two items that are on the minds of many job seekers. One is the frustration of sending a resume to a company with the understanding that there are other tens, hundreds, even thousands of resumes submitted for the same jobs. People are not stupid; they know the vast majority of resumes submitted will never be seen by a human being and are therefore never considered. The second thing about which people feel powerless is they cannot establish contact with any flesh and blood person and, especially, not a responsible hiring manager. This second concern is especially frustrating for pro-active people, who are ambitious and rightly understand emailing a resume is mostly a waste of time. Isn’t it ironic: these are precisely the kinds of people that companies claim they want to hire. I know a lot of very good

The first interview is the most critical step of the entire hiring process for you, the applicant, job seeker,  candidate, or in whatever manner you may describe yourself. To be clear, the first interview is characterized as the first face-to-face, in-person meeting initiated by a handshake. Telephone, Skype or any other remotely conducted interview does not count. In my opinion, yes, they matter and you must get through it to reach the first real interview, although those are events that are primarily meant for screening; in most professions the serious stuff occurs face-to-face. This being a blog, I cannot go into great detail, but in future blog entries I’ll address the finer points. Although styles and process can differ, there are some common and predictable, almost ritualistic features of most interviews that you can anticipate. Preparation I’m not going to advise about

For most job seekers the term interview causes increased anxiety at the mere thought of the word. I know -- I have been coaching and advising both job seekers and hiring managers for over 22 years and counting. For most people, interviewing is not something we choose or like to do, but rather cope with whenever it’s time to make a career change, either by choice or necessity. As it is and has been until recently, most of us learn our interview skills by trial and error, so that by the time we reach the middle of our careers we have for the most part figured it out. But considering the job market trends, this is not something we can take so lightly anymore; we cannot as simply write off opportunities we flubbed and say, “Eh, I’ll get it right the

Well here we go again, another year behind us and a new one ahead of us. For six years the economy has settled into the new normal. For some people it is okay, for a very few it is great, but for most the economy and jobs market seems stuck on mediocre to poor. However, often perception is reality and while a large number of people are willing to accept reality, as told to them by others, the more determined and goal oriented among us say no, we want better, we’re determined and nobody’s going to tell us otherwise. And we really don’t care what others think of our determination. If you feel stuck, if you have long felt dissatisfied, as though your career progression is stalled, do something about it. For years I have watched as people increasingly make more