The Importance of Personal Brand Reputation I have always said that the job search process is a marketing process.  Employers are the shoppers and job seekers are the products.  Which product an employer chooses is influenced by the marketing collateral (resumes, cover letters, portfolio), the sales pitch (interview), product testing (personaity tests, skills assessments) and product reputation (Letters of recommendation,

Healthy Frustration vs. Chronic Complaining In this economy, there are many frustrated people looking for work or looking to progress in their careers. There’s nothing wrong with frustration as long as you learn to deal with it in a constructive manner. However, there is a difference between those who are merely frustrated and those who are just chronic career complainers.

Reverse Job Search: Definition Review As stated in my past article, the reverse job search describes the process of marketing one’s talents, skills, achievements, qualities, and reputation to a target audience so that those with the jobs you want are finding you.  Consider how you market yourself.  Having a targeted resume, cover letter, letters of recommendation, references, etc. are all

If you Make it Easier, it is More Likely Employers will Notice You Consider your goal when you submit a resume to an employer.  You want the employer to contact you for an interview.  Consider the goal in the interview which is to gain an offer to continue in the hiring process until you are offered the job.  A basic,

 Getting a Job just got Harder If you thought it was already difficult to get a job, beware of the new background check!  So many barriers to gaining employment already exist including criminal background checks, drug screens, personality tests, skills assessments, and credit checks but make way for a new type of background check….your digital footprint!  Also known as

Why don’t you have a portfolio? When I ask people who aren’t artists why they don’t have a portfolio, the majority say they don’t have a portfolio because they aren’t artists. If you are an artist and don’t have a portfolio, that’s a different conversation because you most definitely should know you need one. I can imagine the IT professional

If employers hired people because of their degree, why would they need to go through an interview process?  Many people think the point of going to school is to get a degree when the real point is to gain valuable skills through the entire college experience.  College is a training ground and whereas the degree is merely a credential, the

We all remember this famous movie line but perhaps more memorable are the questions it made us all ask – build what and who will come?!  As often as career professionals talk about the importance of personal branding, it seems as if the majority of the general public is not familiar with this concept or why it matters so much. 

Do job seekers enjoy spending hours researching job openings, completing online applications, and emailing their resume to countless employers only to never get a response?  This process is analagous to the old-fashioned sales mentality that if you knock on enough doors giving your pitch, you’re bound to get a sale.  No one likes it, yet so many job seekers conduct