Preparing Yourself For the Unconventional Interview The unemployment situation has taken a turn for the better recently, as government figures show higher levels of hiring and a declining unemployment rate. But this does not mean that the economic recession is over or that job seekers will finally find some relief. There are still many more applicants out there than there

What is a Purple Squirrel? Unless you are in the recruiting world, you probably haven’t heard of the purple squirrel.  So, what is it?  In the recruiting world, the purple squirrel represents the perfect candidate with all the exact experience, qualifications, skills, education, and anything else needed to fill an open job.  Because there is no such thing as a

With Thanksgiving here, I thought it was perfect timing to write a blog about the importance of the thank you letter. One would think sending a thank you letter upon completion of a job interview would be common sense, but many candidates don’t ever do it, no matter their experience level.  Why does this happen? Perhaps it is because job

If you are a Career Coach, you’ll likely agree that there are many clichés out there when it comes to career advice – just as cliché as the image I purposely decided to use for this post (I’m going with a theme here).  It is frustrating when you try to work with clients or students who have been given cliché

A Guaranteed Way to Stand Out Before a job interview, conduct as much research as humanly possible about the organization and gain a strong understanding of the company’s history, their current position in the industry, and their future goals.  Learn as much as possible about the industry as well.  If you can understand the company’s potential challenges and the challenges

Interview with Laura Lashua: Expert Recruiter Laura Lashua has 33 years of recruiting experience and 13 of those years have been solely for the game industry.  She is the founder of Vertex Search & Consulting based in Washington, a well-known and often used recruiting firm among the largest game publishers and developers in the world.  With Laura’s experience and reputation,

21 of the Funniest Job Interview Spoof Videos on Youtube There have been many spoofs on the “horrible” job interview in television, film, comedy sketch shows, and Youtube channels. Take a look at some of the funniest on the web. FUNNY JOB INTERVIEW COMEDY SKETCHES 1. Passing the Test- Hilarious Take on “Trick” Questions 2. Evil Panel Interview – Overly

Discussing salary can be one of the most difficult and uncomfortable aspects of an interview, particularly for recent college graduates.  I often get questions from students on when they should bring up salary and how they should respond if the employer decides to bring it up.  Discussing salary is a sensitive topic that requires delicate and diplomatic discussion with excellent

The best interviewers are the ones who know themselves inside and out and because they have insight to their own behaviors, attitudes, goals, strengths and weaknesses, they can comfortably talk about them to an employer. However, interviewers must also be strong communicators. Whenever I tell people this, they immediately think that I mean they must be able to speak well

Having conducted hundreds of interview trainings, I have observed that job seekers tend to struggle the most when responding to the “weakness question.”  The advice most job seekers receive about responding to questions regarding their weaknesses is to simply ”turn a negative into a positive.”  I cringe when I hear this advice because it encourages job seekers to avoid a true analysis of themselves