They say timing is everything. Nothing illustrated this more than when I entered a hall full of networkers today, and a woman I had never met approached me before I even put my dollar in the contribution jar. It was as if she came out of nowhere like a dive-bombing sparrow from the sky.

Honestly, I…

A customer came to me exasperated because he hadn't heard from the recruiter who was trying to place him at company for an engineering position. My customer told me the process had been going really well. He and the company were in the final stages, the hiring manager told him it looked promising, it was just a matter of…

Welcome to the most professional club on the Internet, LinkedIn. Of the major social media sites, LinkedIn does the best job of creating an atmosphere of professional online interaction and...preventing its members from making idiots of themselves.

Why will LinkedIn NOT allow you to cross the line from professionalism…

I'm not talking about stacking blocks or putting round objects in round holes or pealing bananas and feeding them to their young or anything monkeys can do. I'm talking about  complex duties that have become so routine you're starting to feel like a...monkey.

Has your job become so mundane that you no longer…

Have you experienced a situation like this at an early-stage interview--you're excited to be there, a bit nervous expecting the difficult questions to be fired at you, but the interviewer is doing 100% the talking?

Then toward the end of the interview, you ask if he wants to ask you any questions, to which…

Here’s a fact: Very few people like reading résumés, especially those who read hundreds of them a week. Ask any recruiter. I critique and write résumés as part of my job. I’ve read hundreds of them and have conducted numerous critique sessions, but I've got nothing over recruiters.

The only bright spot in this…

A recent entry, The Angry Young Job Seeker written by Amy Ala, speaks of the ignorance and downright audacity of a talented gentleman this recruiter was trying to place. Demanding, belligerent,…

People who proclaim that most interview advice is simplistic irritate me. These are people who view advice on eye contact, handshakes, how to answer difficult questions, and avoiding smoking before an interview, as obvious and unworthy of  mention. Their "expert" advice is often sarcastic, blunt, and…

In my LinkedIn workshops I ask how many attendees are on LinkedIn. Some reluctantly raise their hand, clarifying they're on LinkedIn but haven't touched it in years. I tell them we'll do something about that, because otherwise it's a waste of time.

Alison Doyle of About.com wrote an honest article entitled “…

No one will argue that being unemployed isn't a traumatic experience, especially me. I was on the receiving end approximately nine years ago and I meet jobseekers daily. Being unemployed isn't what I'd wish on anyone.

This said, if jobseekers aren't mindful of the attitude they project, it can hurt their chances of…

Forbes.com came out with an article on 10 of the toughest interview questions. Topping its list was, “Why should I hire you?” This is understandably one of the most unnerving questions to be thrown at you; but…

On a visit to my brother's school (he's a principal), I noticed a whiteboard in his office with various notes on the school's vision written on it. "Brainstorming session?" I asked. He nodded.

I thought to myself that I wouldn't want to have been in that room when a group of people were throwing ideas against the…

If that got your attention, good. I don’t know any other way to say it; I hate it when people talk too much. This is a personal issue of mine, a lack of tolerance, perhaps; but mind-numbing talking can affect one’s job search and performance/acceptance at work. 

Networking events: When you’re at…

They say timing is everything. Nothing illustrated this more than when I entered a hall full of networkers today, and a woman I had never met approached me before I even put my dollar in the contribution jar. It was as if she came out of nowhere like a dive-bombing sparrow from the sky.

Honestly, I can’t…

Okay, now Forbes magazine in its article, Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions,  has confirmed what employers are looking for in…

The other night I saw The Hunger Games with my daughter and one of her friends. When we got into a discussion about the various scenes in the movie, we all agreed that Rue’s death was the saddest…oh, I hope I’m not giving away too much of the movie.

There’s another scene I would classify as more bloody and…

According to a report from ABC News, 80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking. This percentage of networkers represents smart jobseekers who understand that looking for and finding work takes...work.

They understand that personal networking coupled with online networking will yield better…

It’s no surprise that when you read articles like Nine Tips for Networking for Business Success they apply nicely to the job search—as in nine tips for networking for job search success. This is because the job search is like running a business…namely yours. That’s right, you have a marketing campaign which heavily relies on your ability to network your way to…

There are many self-help books for introverts—Self-Promotion for Introverts, Ancowitz; Networking for People who Hate Networking, Zack; The Introverted Leader, Kahnweiler; to name a few. This appears a bit odd to me, because I never thought that introverts need that much help.

I’ve often wondered…

Some of my customers, who are jobseekers, for the most part think recruiters—internal and third-party alike—are unfair and the reason for their failure to get a job. They think recruiters are only concerned with two things: 1) determining if my customers meet 10 out of 10 requirements and 2) want them to work for peanuts. I know this is not necessarily true, I know that recruiters have a job to do, which is to find what the employer wants. This is how recruiters get paid.

I’ve read…