“Oh, I notice you went to Whittier College. So did I.” “You were at Disney for two years? I worked for Disney, too.” “Toastmasters? I’m in Toastmasters, too.” All of the above are opening gambits that I’ve used while interviewing candidates. They often were greeted with an “uh huh” while the interviewee waited for a
It seemed as though every Monday morning in my 20-year career as a lawyer I sat at a desk and dreamed of just not being there anymore. “If only I could retire,” I sighed. Then with a felicitous combination of savings, luck and daring, I did it at age 46 on Jan. 1, 2000. A
Americans value modesty. This is a fact. Whether you’re a Rockefeller, Rothschild or Kennedy, the expectation is that modesty will prevail, and you’ll present yourself as a humble person, never flaunting your fame and fortune. And whether or not it behooves us to be humble in any given situation, we nonetheless comply. In fact, in
In 1998 I found myself, for the first time in my career, a “free agent,” meaning that I was not a “regular” employee anywhere; in fact, I was untethered to any organization and loosened upon the world. Fortunately, my spouse works, so I wasn’t desperate to accept just anything. I had his health insurance and
Even senior-level executives with decades of experience and six-figure salary histories still make mistakes when it comes time to look for new positions. Over the years, as a recruiter and more recently as head of an executive-career-services firm, I keep seeing executive job seekers — especially those age 50 and older — commit the same
As a captain in the Indiana Army National Guard, I’ve been on active duty since Jan. 2, 2003, and serving in Southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since Feb. 12, 2003. I’ll be returning to my job as a manager for a chemical company this month. It’s been a long year, but in
When networking is mentioned as a job hunting or career-advancement tool, you probably think of industry or professional meetings with picked-over hors d’oeuvres and people wearing “Hello, I’m…” name tags. The mere specter of working a room this way can cause even the most practiced executive to break out in a sweat.
For much of the past seven years, I dished out career and job-search advice through a weekly newspaper column. “Network, network, network,” I said. “Keep your resume up to date, ready to post online and easy to adapt to a variety of jobs.” “Join professional organizations.” “Research alternative careers.” “Follow your bliss.”
1. Poor personal appearance 2. Lack of interest and enthusiasm; passive and indifferent
Here’s a listing of the questions.
One key to a positive interview experience involves doing your homework on a potential employer. The goal is to find as much information about the company to give you a better understanding and appreciation for their business. Here are three major resources for locating information.
Applying a dedicated and systematic approach to locating a job can simplify the process of finding a job. The goal of each process is to make contact with a prospective employer for the purposes of setting up an interview. Here are a number of a useful techniques and resources that can be used to find
Dressing for an interview can be quite challenging for most people as each job may not have the same dress requirement. For example you would not dress the same for an Auto Mechanic position as you would for a Sales Manager position.
Job Search Tips Searching for a job in today’s environment can be challenging at best. Most people complete their education and end up working in a completely unrelated field. The fact is that we have to work to pay bills and support families. This means that sometimes we take jobs we don’t necessarily want to
As a student it is not the easiest thing to get a job. There always seems to be something , such as the employer wants some experience. The problem is you don’t have any! You need part time but they want you to work full time evenings and weekends. The best answer to this problem
Given the tough competition that we have in the job market with fresh graduates still perky to grab the spotlight and early retirees updating their resume with more experience, grabbing the job of your dream becomes more challenging than before. Today, it’s a matter of who can amaze the employer more and make a memorable
Good news for summer job seekers: Jobs should be more plentiful this year and a majority of employers have jobs paying more than $15 per hour, according to a new report. The $15-per-hour wage has been highlighted this week by thousands of demonstrators at McDonald’s headquarters, where workers demanded higher wages for frontline employees at
Whether you’re an avid soccer fan or just cheering on your home nation, the World Cup is an exciting event. As you celebrate victories (go USA!) and embrace defeats over the next week, your focus and productivity might take a hit. While some things can wait, not everything can be put on hold until the
The job search can be riddled with frustration. Believe it or not, some of this frustration may be tied to common job search myths. Several of these little monsters are floating around in dark clouds waiting to rain on your job search parade. Let’s shake a few of them out of the clouds, debunk them
It’s still a tough job market out there, and you’ll need to be on top of your game throughout the job search process to get hired. While your experience is important, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Recruiters are evaluating everything to determine if you’re going to be a fit for their team, and
