What is “Required” to Get a Job? The question in this headline calls to attention everything that is wrong with the mentality of many job seekers and arguably, many career coaches.  The only thing “required” for one to obtain a job is that an employer makes an offer which one accepts.  How does one find themselves in the position in

What is a Listening Post? A listening post is simply an automated method of monitoring what is published on the web.  The web is full of content and to filter the noise from the news, listening posts are excellent tools that save time while monitoring relevant information.  Automating your job search with listening posts can help you stay informed quickly

What is a Personal Brand? Personal branding is a term that has gained a lot of buzz for those who work as a career professional but what is it?  Personal branding refers to how we market ourselves strategically to influence public perception.  This is my own definition.  If you think about it, people have always marketed themselves to influence others’

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 all the articles that exist that suggest best practices for using LinkedIn, I thought it was necessary to discuss the wrong way to use LinkedIn. Given that there are so many job seekers, recent college graduates, and professionals still trying to grasp how to make the most of their LinkedIn experience, many may still not understand what they might

Re-think the Resume Career professionals and students alike need to re-think the resume.  The term resume derives from the English word “resumen” which means summation and from the French, “Resumer,” which means to summarize.  However, resumes should never be written to simply summarize; they should be written to persuade.  Resumes have obviously changed but the change is not only in purpose;

The World Has Changed As we approach the new year, it’s a good time to reflect on the past.  2011 was a tough year for many and 2012 is likely to be the beginning of a long-term transition for many job seekers and companies adjusting to all the changes that have occurred in the marketplace.  Although unemployment in the U.S.

The problem with job seekers is that they think like job seekers.  Just the words alone imply that getting a job is about seeking for jobs as if all one must do is search and find.  What happens after you find a job?  Do you apply and then hope things will go your way?  What happens once you land a

Finding a job takes hard work but the work only gets more challenging once you’ve landed the big job you wanted.  Naturally, you’ll be working because of the tasks your job requires you to do but you’ll need to acclimate to the politics, the environment, the culture, the challenges, the opportunities, the people, and all the other variables surrounding your

Introduction of a New Metric Social media has created a system in which we can now visually graph our relationships showing how we are connected to people.  Additionally, by observing how we interact with one another on social media, we can also see who in our social graph influences us based on how we respond to their social interactions, how