•4 Basics Steps That Cement the Foundation of Your Resume's Success
In times of greater competition for jobs - no matter what level of the workforce we're talking about - you need to raise your resume game. And that's true whether you're submitting resumes by hand (some people still do!), by email, or through a resume distribution service.
Some people elect to do this by using a paid resume writing service, and that's certainly a viable option, too. But for those folks who either can't afford or can't see the value in such a service, there are some basic...
•3 Simple Questions to Help You Find Your Ideal Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a tricky thing to opine upon. In the abstract, it's kind of meaningless. It's not like you can say, "1.5 hours of work is the equivalent of 2.2 hours of conscious life (removing sleep from the equation), and I'm at work for 9.5 hours a day on average, and my commute is about 1.25 hours per day each way, and it takes me about 0.45 hours to de-brief my spouse on the work day when I get home, and I'm usually awake for 17.5 hours a day, so that means I must stay awake an extra...
•Three Networking Basics to Get You Into a Networking Comfort Zone
Let's talk about networking, shall we?
Stop ten people on the street, and ask them about networking. Nine of them will say things along these lines:
---I don't like to do it.
---It doesn't work for me.
Other answers, like "I never get anything out of it," "I'm shy," and so forth are just reflections of these basic issues. In fact, you could even sum it further into the broader "It's a waste of time," but for purposes, we need to work something a little more specific.
Here are the three...
•3 Steps to Making the Informational Interview Work for You
In talking about interviews, we have to widen the net to include a couple of other topics. These days, the interview process often includes behavioral and skills testing, and people who talk about interviews often focus on the on-the-nose issue of the job interview, to the exclusion of the highly useful and related topic of the informational interview.
But if you're really determined to get the job you want, it may be time to embrace the informational interview as part of a more complete job...
•The Counter-Intuitive Secret to Success in the Workplace
My whole philosophy about fun in the world of business, and in relation to the executive, management, and professional audience is this: If you don't enjoy what you're doing, is it worth doing?
Because the higher up you go, the easier it is to think that you have to get more "serious" about the work you do. Well, you were "serious" about it when you were lower down the totem pole, weren't you? And you were still having fun then.
A lot of this has to do with responsibility. As we add on more,...
•Improve Your Salary Negotiation Skills With These 3 Must-Dos
If it weren't for the whole "copyright violation" thing, I'd reprint a certain article in its entirety on my blog. It's called "The Salary Game," by Donald Asher, and I love, love, LOVE it. It made me laugh out loud, and it reminded me strongly of the absolute impenetrability advised in my favorite section of J.P Donleavy's hysterical book, The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners. (That would be "Upon the Sudden Reawakening of Your Sordid Background.")
It's from the...
•The Four "Big Ideas" About Staying Educated on the Job
Edu-ma-cation. Hittin' the books. Readin', writin', 'n 'rithmetic.
If you thought those days were over when you left high school or college, you've probably learned how wrong you were.
From the kinds of continuing professional education credits required in some fields, to staying up with changes in technology so your job skills don't get out-moded, and everything in between, constant learning is the baseline expectation of the professional workforce, at every management level.
Here are the...
•Design an Ideal Job by Identifying Your Must-Have Benefits
I first came across the list below and used it as part of a tip about salary negotiation ("33 things to think about when negotiating your executive compensation"). It can also be looked at in another way. These things are essentially a laundry list of the kinds of job benefits you could see as part of your employment package:
* 401K eligibility requirements
* Bonus structure
* Business travel
* Car/Allowance
* Cell phone, PDA, laptop, etc
* Child care
* Club memberships
* Competitive...
•The Three Worst Things You Can Do With Networking Events
I'm sharing this little tidbit because I can always use the occasional reminder, and I bet many of you can, too. Even if you aren't thinking about switching jobs right now, aren't writing and re-writing your resume, are perfectly happy with your executive position, there's great value to be had in building and freshening your business network.
It doesn't require any more social skills than having polite conversations with the gardener, the guy at the checkout counter, the gal on the customer...
•The Best-Laid Plans of Your Executive Career Search
I'm writing this while thinking about how we all start the year off with the best of intentions. The resolutions, the promises, the goals we set for ourselves.
If the word on the street is to be believed, very few people follow through on these commitments.
Sometimes it's because we set too high a bar for ourselves. Sometimes we never fill in the "how" that would fill out a successful Point A to Point B trip.
When it comes to our careers, though, it's easy to fall into another trap - to put...
•You're Saying One Thing, but Your Body's Saying Another in Your Executive Interview...
Whether you've gone on dozens of interviews yourself, or conducted dozens more, it's always worth a little time brushing up on your interview skills - especially the ones that most people aren't even trying to control, despite how helpful (or damaging) those skills might be.
We're talking about body language, and if you've made it to the short list of candidates being interviewed for that executive position, there's no sense in getting sabotaged by some errant twitch you never knew you had....
•Salary Research Makes Your Executive Job Search More Profitable
How about that Robert Wright? He got more than $15.6 million in compensation from General Electric in 2006, including $520,291 in above-market earnings on an employee salary deferral plan.
But if you're thinking about a job change - regardless of whether you're after a payday like Robert Wright's - money's still something to consider. And until recently, I thought Salary.com was the only game in town when it comes to doing research on salary rates.
Turns out I was wrong. One source is...
•What to Do Before You Walk Into the Executive Interview Room
Each year, millions of people go job hunting in an effort to find better and higher-paying jobs. And each year, millions of people fail to land those jobs.
Only a select few ever get the job of their dreams - the rest are stuck in their same-old, same-old jobs (yes, even executive and management-level positions can get boring after a spell).
The sad thing about the entire situation is that most of the people who "lost out" didn't have to. Many of them have the skills, the experience, and the...
•Fun With Resumes and Executive Job Searches
Job hunting? Fun? Surely you're joking.
Someone recently described job hunting to me as a "grueling and decidedly unpleasant activity. After all, what could be more tiring than going from one place to another and peddling yourself?"
It's hard to argue that point, especially when you hear reports about the average number of months (4) it takes people - even executives and managers - to land a new position. And the articles talking about the hundreds of resumes submitted for a given position....
•Get Happy, Get Educated, Get Your Resume in Order
Someone told me recently that studies show our occupations play a major role in the overall quality of our lives.
In other words, the job you hold more or less determines just how happy you'll be.
It seems like common sense. After all, if you're in a bad mood for eight or more hours every day at work, do you think you'll just magically snap out of it on the commute home? Do you stay happy and jolly on the ride in to a miserable management situation?
Of course not.
In this type of...
•Career Education Doesn't Stop at the Executive Offices
When some people reach a certain level in your executive career, they start to ... well, coast a bit sometimes.
Are you one of them? Be honest, now. Have you decided - actively or not - that you already know enough, and don't need to continue improving your skill set?
Call it a feeling of invincibility. It has its advantages in the business world, but it can have its drawbacks, too. Particularly when you start thinking about changing careers, and especially when you start thinking about...
•"Workaholic" Doesn't Sell on a Resume
Yes, yes, all work and no play makes Jack and Jill a dull boy and girl.
I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard before - but the four most dangerous words in the English language are, "I already know that." So give a listen one more time - it might sink in better than it ever has before.
No one ever tells you, the executive, manager, or C-level professional to work FASTER, right? Smarter, sure. Harder, yes. Faster? No way.
In fact, when it comes to speed, the only advice anyone gets...
•What's the Best Time for a Career Change?
? I've been asked if there's ever one time that's better than another for a career change, and the simplest answer I have is, "When you're ready for it."
It sounds like a bit of a flip answer, but I assure you, it's anything but. There's never one time that's better than another. Too many variables for too many individual situations make it impossible to pick just one moment.
And what's more, until you're truly ready for it, you're not going to be "into it," so to speak. You won't have the...
•Give Your Career Search a Boost With Blogging
Even if you're not looking for a job right now, it might be time to consider starting your own blog.
I've been reading Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, and it's got advice that's helpful not just to businesses, but to professionals as well. Specifically:
* C-level executives
* Senior managers
* Mid-career professionals, and
* Anyone business person with lots of experience to draw from and share with an online audience
If Google is not just a search engine, but a...
•Free Online Learning Opportunities to Bolster Your Resume and Reputation
Online classes, or "distance learning," used to have a meaning limited to computer-based interaction with teachers and students. And unfortunately, the concept got tarred with a bad brush for a while.
Particularly in the case of online-only institutions, which were often compared to diploma mills and old-school correspondence courses, online learning went through a period where the concept had to fight for respectability.
And if we're being completely honest, it affected hiring decisions,...
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