I don’t have all the answers. There, I said it. The key to being a good career counselor is asking good questions. Often the client has the best answer. He or she just needs help getting to it. With respect to career options, there may be a single answer, and then again, there may be several options with varying degrees of satisfaction, risk and return.

If you are STUCK in your career, ask yourself a few of these questions.

• Why don’t I make a move?
• What am I gaining by staying here?
• If I did make a move, what would I do?
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I recently attended the annual CPI meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. After one session ended, my husband and I toured Taliesin West, the winter home, studio and facility built by the renowned architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The tour guide related a story about Mr. Wright that shows the importance of building and maintaining your network. After he became a successful architect early in his career, Mr. Wright’s practice declined, perhaps due to his scandalous personal life. It was said that he was generally written off and forgotten by the public and the profession. During this period h… Read More >

The secret is out.  We don’t have all the answers.  Career consultants, just like job seekers, have ups and downs and need help and advice.

My question:  Why is it that many job seekers don’t develop a target list?

I’ve encountered people who have been looking for months and still haven’t developed a target list.  They have books, research tools and industry knowledge.  What is standing in the way?  The way I see it, you develop your target industries or companies and locations or other parameters.  You … Read More >

A well prepared, well read career coaching client recently reminded me of the importance of a firm handshake.  Frankly, I’d been taking the handshake for granted.  The handshake completes the first impression package.  Here are a few tips:  stand up, make eye contact and smile before you shake, thumb to thumb and web to web.  Shake up and down not side to side.  End with a smile.  Women, don’t be shy about shaking a man’s hand.  Men, women won’t break.  If interviewing, generally, the interviewer will offer his/her… Read More >

What do you stand for?  What differentiates you from others in the marketplace?   You are the PRODUCT in the job search campaign.  It may seem unnatural,  but thinking this way will help clarify your marketing message. The prospective employer will PURCHASE your services over the services of other candidates.  Recommit to your brand.  What is he or she getting when he hires you?  Take time out with paper and pen … capture your purpose, values, how you can position yourself in the marketplace, what you’ll deliver better than others.… Read More >

To me, 2010 has all the signs of being a better year than 2009.  I’m not being Pollyannaish about it, I know that we are facing a slow recovery but there are signs of improvement.  If you have shelved the idea of looking for a different position within your firm or changing companies, you can be making plans for your future now.  No time like the present.  Take a look at your resume …. does it reflect the YOU that you want it to?  Are there any training programs you should be investing in next year?  Careers keep moving.  If you ha… Read More >

Birmingham ABC 33/40 recently did a story about job applications for our top city school job – Birmingham Superintendent  of Schools.  Dr. Kelly Russell, a Birmingham Southern professor graded applications.  Her grades for the top three candidates were “incomplete”, A- and C+.

Hopefully, your job application won’t end up on the evening news.  It will end up in the hands of the people you’ll interview with.  They’ll be making judgments about your penmanship, your prose and anything else you put in writing.  The… Read More >

I was reminded of the curse in my book club – www.theexecutivebookclub.com.  We read Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath.  The concept of “the curse of knowledge” was addressed in the book, and I believe it is a useful one for resume writers.  Basically, the curse is that you know something so well – your job, your industry, your market – that you can’t imagine not knowing it.  It can really get in the way of writing a great resume.  If you’ve g… Read More >

LinkedIn has become a place to see and be seen. Job seekers and employers are using it. I recently facilitated a Career Assistance Ministry session in town. One of the participants asked how to handle “different versions of her resume on LinkedIn.” The consensus of the group was to have a GENERAL, HIGH LEVEL version of your resume on LinkedIn. This advice was supported in a separate conversation I had with an HR executive. This HR leader recently revi… Read More >