I’ve decided that February is going to be my re-alignment month.

Why?

As a blogger, entrepreneur, marketing coach, author, career strategist, speaker I’ve worn a lot of hats over the last few years.  It’s been an amazing journey full of unexpected surprises, great opportunities and, as you might expect, a few frustrations.

But, just like in job search, we have to be ready to push through the frustrations and obstacles in our path to get where we said we wanted to go in life.

So what does a realignment mean for me and how can you use the idea to help re-energize the things that are important in your life right now?

In the last few years, you must have noticed all the excitement and uproar about The Secret. To many of us in the career industry, “The Secret” is really no secret at all. It’s the law of attraction. If you’re hoping to achieve your goals, you can use this law to your benefit.

First of all, I have to admit that the meteoric rise of the book and then the documentary “The Secret” raised a rollercoaster of emotions in me. On the one hand, I have unconsciously used this law all along. It clearly helped me to achieve many goals. But then, I look at our working world today, and I wonder why some good people who take what seem like good steps don’t achieve their goals. Through my own soul searching and a great struggle with my own faith, I came to realize something. As with most laws, the law of attraction is not a perfect law – but it does increase our chances of success.

So today I’ve compiled a summary of reader favorite posts of 2011.  And If you haven’t read them yet, maybe you should since someone else apparently has.

And if you get really interested, you can get nostalgic and read the favorite career advice from 2010.

Just about everyone has to deal with sensitive issues about their career. By including a cover letter with your resume, you can address many concerns and gain a distinct advantage over your competition.

• A cover letter shows that you are a proactive professional who takes extra effort to present a complete proposal.
• It displays your respect for the recipient – recruiter and/or employer – by addressing him or her directly.
• It gives you the opportunity to display your personality, character, and ethics as part of your submission.
• It can effectively mitigate a number of career issues by shifting the focus to your value proposition.
• It allows you to concentrate on the future and hone in on how you can address the particular needs of the employer.

Yves Lermusi, head of a company called Checkster, wrote an article in September 2011 called “Cyber-vetting’s Usage, Risk, and Future.” The article focused on cyber-vetting from an employer’s perspective, but you might want to pay attention from a job seeker’s perspective–whether you’re currently conducting a job search or might be in the future.

According to Mr. Lermusi, around 80% of employers currently search and track candidates’ online activities when they’re considering hiring someone. This includes online forums you participate in (ask and answer questions, etc.).

In the works for nearly a year, this endeavor would not have been possible without the more than 50 association professionals who contributed their knowledge and experiences – THANK YOU.

Why did I decide to write this book? Simple –

Well, I’ll give the same advice I would if you were dating. If you put yourself out there and try to meet someone, or go on a blind date, you will have at least some percentage chance of connecting. If you never try, you will have a 100% chance of NOT connecting. Same with jobs. If you don’t apply, you have a 100% chance of not being selected.

One day, when coaching an executive client, I substituted the phrase “tell me about your achievements” with “tell me a story about something you did that makes you proud.” That simple change in wording made so much difference to the quality of the information he shared, that I was astounded.

This year LinkedIn reached a milestone of over 100 million profiles. We now know that most Canadian recruiters looking for executives, managers, and senior-level professionals will go to LinkedIn before ever posting a position.

* An opportunity to talk about how the job you are applying for would benefit you personally

* A place to focus on what you’ve learned as opposed to what you achieved
* A document you can use with each job you apply to without customization.
* Something you can slap together without proofreading.