July 2016

This is a re-post of one of the most popular articles I have written. Viewed by almost 50,000 readers it truly struck a nerve and it is an honest assessment of jobs posted online. It is also evidence, why relying predominantly upon internet resources in your job search is not the best use of precious time. Originally posted 1 September 2014: As you read this, if you are looking for a job you will no doubt get depressed, however, that is not the intent but, instead, to jar you out of your walking coma. More about that later -- if you are someone who does not look very often or regularly at the job portals and postings, you won’t notice; but if you do, it is increasingly frustrating. There are jobs, but fewer and fewer are the good jobs that people want. You

“Time Kills All Deals” – as the saying goes among sales professionals. I often write about obstacles that lay in the path of an individual’s efforts, when trying to advance their own job search and interview progress. But on the opposite side of the subject, there are those who handicap themselves, messing up otherwise promising situations. For example: I recently introduced a very talented and successful person to a company and there was seemingly instant rapport, both sides liked one another and shared mutual interest in the potential opportunity. As perfect a potential fit as could be hoped for. However, something happened after that. The candidate became aloof and was hard to communicate with. Afterward, she acknowledged a high level of interest. The client was likewise very expressive about their interest and stated they would do what they could to accommodate

There are already plenty of obstacles built into the process of seeking a job. The interview process is daunting enough but to get there, you must first find an opportunity, avail yourself and get an invitation. By the way, I really laugh with incredulity when people tell me they know what to do and how to find a job and interview. When, actually, the majority of people haven’t a clue but after 5 minutes with me, they are suddenly freaked out because until then, they didn’t know what they didn’t know – and this includes senior-level professionals who think they know it all. But as I said, you first have to find and then you have to inquire and apply for the opportunity. However, there is more than one way to do this although the gate-keepers would tell you otherwise;

I was recently asked by a reader about my thoughts on discrimination and what one can do about it. We do unfortunately live in a world where people make snap judgments about others, casting aspersions and thereby exposing their own insecurities. But discrimination goes much further than the most noticeable discrimination, that of racism. There is no end to what could be termed discriminatory but it all comes down to assumptions made by some about others. Sometimes a person discriminates according to one’s own personal experiences but most often it is based upon pure assumption, as it is easier to generalize than it is to apply scrutiny on an individual basis. By no means am I justifying any kind of discrimination but, instead trying to put it into some kind of perspective. I think it’s counter-productive to dwell too much on