As you can see, it has been a month since our last blog post. Let this be a sign for those of you on the job market that better days are coming. We have been working on some hard to fill positions that did not allow me to complete some of the blog posts that I have started. This post was one of them. The inspiration for the title came from the fact that behind the scenes of every job posting, there exists a complete network that is constantly expanding and contracting, bringing in… Continue

It cannot be avoided. It is the new year and talk of resolutions will abound. However, rather than blog about new year's resolutions in December when people are speaking of future commitments or January 1st when we are still buzzing with excitement that we survived another calendar year. I waited a week out when the cloud has been lifted and the high has worn off. Since it usually only takes about a week for most people to start breaking their resolutions, I felt that… Continue

Have you ever noticed that as soon as you land a position other opportunities start presenting themselves? Do you find that strange? What about the phenomenon that occurs when several companies ask you to interview in quick succession? How does that happen and why is it so unpredictable? Well, there are several factors that play into these occurrences. Some things that influence it are the market, the number of positions you applied for, and the depth of your network. However, I am… Continue

On December 9, 2009 we hosted a webinar entitled, "The Anatomy of the Interview Process". During the presentation we discussed how a company's interview process is their formalized relationship building practice. Our goal was to convey to job seekers the fact that like all relationships, the interview process is designed to evolve in stages. Therefore, a key contributor to interviewing success is respect… Continue

With Thanksgiving here, I decided to get festive in my interview analogies by introducing the Turducken as a model for job seekers to consider the next time they sit down for an interview. For those you who have never heard of the Turducken, it is a partially deboned Turkey that is stuffed with a deboned duck that itself has been stuffed with deboned chicken. But that's not it. There's more stuff inside. The minds… Continue

On this blog, we try to offer a thought-provoking take on all subjects related to job seekers and their experience on the job market. As I've mentioned, we believe that empowered job seekers will have a significant impact on the overall turnaround of the market itself. So when we decided to write about Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), we wanted to offer an outlook that you might not find… Continue

In our September 14 posting, Managing Your Emotional Investments In A Job Search, we talked about the gambler’s fallacy as it relates to job hunting and offered some tips on how to navigate the waves of emotion that arise as you look toward securing your next job. In… Continue

How many interviews would you say it takes to secure a job? 1, 2, 5000? The truth is that when it comes to securing a job, the interview doesn't end until your last day at the company. Everyday that you engage with an employer is an interview day. And given this logic, your first "interview" is also your first workday. This is a secret that… Continue

This isn't the first time that the subject of closure has come up on this blog. In a previous post entitled Handling Non-acceptance, we told candidates not to focus on the things that they cannot change. Sometimes you will not know why you were not chosen for a… Continue

Many candidates are not told this, but how they distribute their resume can contribute greatly to the response they receive from prospective employers. To demonstrate this I will use the analogy of a garden to show your resume's relationship to the job market.



In this example you should consider each copy of your resume as a seed with the potential to grow your ideal job. The soil is represented by the places where your resumes end up, such as companies, organizations, job… Continue

One of the most difficult, yet most valuable discoveries one can make on a job search is figuring out how to apply their transferable skills to a new opportunity. This particular ability is especially helpful for people wanting to make a career change or those looking to enter the job market for the first time.



A transferable skill is any ability--whether it is a natural talent or acquired skill nurtured through employment, schooling, etc.--that can be used in multiple… Continue

In military terms, the Rules of Engagement determine when and how much force should be applied to a given situation. The amount of force applied varies with increasing intensity depending on the level of resistance that the troops are coming up against. An example of how to respond to a level 3 resistance according to the US Marines' ROE goes as follows:



Level 3:… Continue

Saying that the job market has changed is an understatement. Everyday we talk to people who have come up short using the tried and true methods of ten years ago. Meanwhile success stories continue to emerge about people tweeting their way to their dream job or being discovered on their blog. Now of course this won't be everyone's experience, but there is a reason why this is becoming a growing phenomenon. These people have figured out that the people… Continue