If your career is a car, are you driving down a straight road? Or, do you picture yourself going around a rotary, seeing a number of exits, and then selecting one? In other words, is your career path more like a straightaway or a rotary? This is an important question to understand as you go about your personal branding, executive resume writing, and career management.Let's imagine you are a VP of IT. Did you get there by st...

Many technical resumes suffer because engineers, developers, researchers, and other technical job applicants have trouble communicating what they do. Many of them are more at home drawing a diagram than writing; and many are used to communicating with their peers at a level where a hiring manager or recruiter is simply lost. Still, the hiring managers and recruiters are the ones who will ultimately examine a resume and deci...

Interviews: They’re all about pressing the flesh or running for office, or a first date. You are talking to a complete stranger. Sweat comes out of glands you didn’t know you had.Relax: It’s probably easier to just blow them off. If you want to know how to “blow” an interview, be sure to take any or all of the following actions:» Don’t prepare. Your intention to be spontaneous is important. Let them talk about their com...

No employer is going to hire you because you’re a good person–likable, presentable, etc. Not even if you really need a job, sad to say. You’ll have to do better than that if you want to land the new job you’re after.What you need to consider is why the prospective employer should care, why they would think you could be the answer they’re looking for. That’s it, pure and simple. Of course, it’s really not quite that simple.Y...

Interview preparation is hard work. You need to practice your STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) responses. You have to vet out possible behavioral questions and craft compelling responses to them. You must ensure that your image reflects your professionalism—your shirt must be ironed, and your shoes must be polished!Be sure that you are focusing your efforts in the right area, by narrowing in on what the interviewer i...

You’ve probably heard that most businesses fail, but the reasons why are not always clear. Lack of managerial expertise may be one factor. After all, most inexperienced people who get jobs in large corporations aren’t put in charge right away. Rather, they may be given small responsibilities until they have sufficient business acumen to be trusted with larger ones. On the other hand, small-business owners are often overconf...

Time to retire the term “elevator speech” from the job seekers lexicon.Does it really work for job seekers? Isn’t a “speech” about 30 or 40 minutes? Most elevators are very short rides here in California.So what is the standard definition?From Wikipedia:“An elevator speech, or elevator statement is a short summary used to quickly and simply defines a person, profession, product, service, organization or event and its value...

I recently interviewed four candidates for an entry-level position on my team. One thing that is absolutely clear at the end of this experience is that college career centers are giving their students bad, outdated advice! All four of these young people had objective statements on their resumes, and presented themselves in the same bland manner. They talked about their academic achievements, and how great they were, but the...

It’s commonly understood that there are many reasons to network with professionals in your field. What is not as widely recognized is the need to network with others outside of your field of interest and the benefits that can be gained. Networking outside of your comfort zone can lead to unexpected learning opportunities that can add to your development as a responsible citizen, employee or emerging leader.To start thinking...

You didn’t get the job. All factors point to you being the perfect candidate for the job too, which can be the most angering of the job-search process.You have the right experience, exude leadership talent, possess above-average interview skills—but you didn’t get the job. It’s likely that even if you ask the recruiter or interviewer you won’t get an entirely truthful answer as to why you weren’t their top choice.Here are 5...