Loosing a job is quite an emotional experience – looking for your next opportunity leans more toward the cerebral. Until you can come to terms with the first, it is difficult to tackle the later. I recall my last job loss more than 10 years ago as if it were yesterday. I have always had the reputation of being the logical, analytical one that doesn’t get sidetracked by the emotional aspects of life. There is some truth in that, but it all changed when my employer showed me the door. I was 100% emotional! I couldn’t look for work when it was a struggle to just get up. My husband, friends and relatives kept trying to cheer me up and encouraged me to look for other jobs. I wanted my old job back – and I wanted the pain to go away and the grief process to end.

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I was recently coaching a job seeker who was lamenting the fact that she has had multiple job changes over a course of five years. She attempted to minimize attention to this fact by combining positions on her résumé, not revealing that she had recently ended one job and begun another. She attempted to direct the employer’s attention to what she labeled “Summary of Qualifications”, although nowhere on the résumé did she answer the question, “Qualifications for what?” Her situation was not unique. In fact, the norm is for people to change jobs as many as nine times during their career: many by choice; others by circumstance. Companies merge, restructure, are acquired or shut their doors, and talented, hard working employees loose their jobs. A shaky economy results in fewer direct hires and companies turn to employment agencies to fill vacant positions with short-term, contract professionals. My client realized this, yet she felt somewhat ashamed of her many job changes. When she was successful with her résumé disguise and landed an interview, she quickly turned things around by responding to the hiring manager’s innocent inquiry about her job changes with a defensive stance, stating a version of, “It’s not me, it’s the economy.” Trying to disguise the facts or... ... Read more

One of the more difficult hurdles to surmount when making a career change is to begin thinking and talking about you in a new way. When we have been in a role for a very long time, we have an ingrained way of thinking, communicating and acting that reflects this. If you want your prospective employer to see you play the part for which you are “auditioning,” it is essential that you take on the persona of that “character”.

I was so entrenched in my previous role that knowing how to look, act and talk like a professional was challenging.

When I initially went out on my own as a single mom with the intent of changing “careers” (from full-time wife and homemaker to professional), I struggled with ... Read more

Recently I began providing job search coaching for clients who are receiving services through their university. Each coaching session is done over the phone and limited to one hour, so it is imperative that I cover as much as I can to help each job candidate jumpstart or enhance their job search efforts. All of my calls cover a variety of topics; however, if I were only able to provide just one nugget of advice that would dramatically alter each client’s job search efforts and lead to quicker success, it would be this: Stop being “Open.” I understand where job seekers are coming from; they believe that if they are too specific about what they want in a job and an employer, they will limit their opportunities. On the surface, this seems to make sense, but it does not work. Here are some of the reasons why: ... Read more

Sometimes job seekers do the strangest things. Take the interview, for example. As with football, sometimes things can go badly in a split second and put you out of the game. Some of the common reasons interviewers reject candidates are things that are totally within the job seeker’s control. Naturally, I can reference a dating experience to illustrate many of these:   ... Read more

Ensuring that your résumé format works in every situation is a bit tricky. Do you create it using MS Word or is an alternate word-processing program acceptable? Is it okay to include tables, graphs, shaded text boxes, and/or borders? How about color and graphics? Yes, I do have a dating analogy to answer those questions! ... Read more

To achieve career success, take the time to know who you are and what you bring to the table.

That was the overriding message delivered by the trainer in a teleseminar I attended today on the subject of personal branding. I couldn’t agree more, yet most job seekers have never taken the time to do this.             ... Read more

If you’re looking for work, surfing the Internet for job openings and submitting your résumé is a low-risk activity. You don’t have to talk to anyone, explain why you are in the job market or deliver a sales pitch. Plus, few will question your sincerity about wanting to find a job – after all, you are spending hours at your computer every day and sending out dozens of resumes! Unfortunately, this approach is taking all your time and keeping you from engaging in more productive activities. If you’re serious about starting over and landing a new job, then you have to ... Read more

Some work environments bear many of the characteristics of a dysfunctional family with the boss playing the role of the emotionally abusive parent or spouse and the employees each finding their own way to adapt. The success of the television sitcom, “The Office,” suggests that a huge portion of the population can relate to this unfortunate scenario. For some professionals, this “dance” will continue on for years until either the company downsizes, the employee gets fired, or buckles under the stress and ends up quitting. During the time leading up to the final departure, many of the interactions one has and the feedback one receives begins to influence his or her self-perception, which in turn influences his/her ability to effectively look for work and make the best career decisions. I frequently receive calls from potential clients who have “left the dance” (by choice or circumstances) and believe that their immediate need is a new résumé so they can quickly move on to their next employer. Unfortunately, for some, the quality of the résumé is not the primary thing standing between them and their next job… it’s their belief system. Often when working toward an employment goal, what one desires can actually conflict with one believes is possible. Be it a “self-fulfilling prophecy” or the “law of attraction,” the reality is that if one sees himself as “damaged” in some way or undeserving of job satisfaction, he will subconsciously seek out scenarios that will confirm his beliefs.         ... Read more

I’ve been working with job seekers for more than 25 years, yet I constantly encounter individual approaches that cause me to shake my head in wonderment. For example, I had a message on my office voice mail earlier this week that went like this: ... Read more