The month of love is currently upon us. Valentine’s Day advertisements are swarming us from all angles, and we are feeling the pressure to plan the perfect gift or night out with our special someone. With all of the romantic notions in the air, do you ever stop to consider all of the loves in your life? Aside from your favorite people, what else have you fallen in love with throughout your lifetime? For many, this question takes some time to ponder, and your job does not rank very high on the list. Maybe your career has not been anything but a means of making ends meet and surviving the work week without punching your coworkers in the face. However, imagine what it would feel like to love what you do! To look forward to your work each day and truly [...]

An intense job search is not for the weak of heart. It takes a lot of guts and stamina to cycle through the ups and downs of seeking to find the job of your dreams. You can sometimes put in hours of effort and never see the fruits of your labor, whereas other times you are able to advance through to the next phase of consideration because of all of your hard work. It is at that point that most people think that the tough part is behind them. They have spent weeks, or even months, scouring through the newest job openings and submitting resume after resume. Finally, the phone call or email has come through announcing that your work has paid off and an interview is on the calendar! Now you can take it easy, right? Wrong. If you want [...]

Have you spent your career only investing in yourself or investing in others? The answer to that question can sometimes become blaringly obvious when it comes to a colleague's review of your career thus far. When a hiring manager is looking for clues about what you would be like as a potential employee, he or she wants to hear the good and the bad. Not only what sort of record numbers you produced for the company’s sales, but also what you were like around the coffee pot at break time. You see, your job search is only as strong as your weakest reference. Therefore, when you're putting together a list of references, you want to include those people that know you best and have had a clear vision of both your strengths and weaknesses. You don't want to be dishonest and [...]

As you embark on this new year and the new job you hope to be interviewing for, there is a deep need to be set apart as a unique job candidate. You are no longer interested in settling for second best or offering your last ditch efforts in regards to building a resume and cover letter. If you wish to stand out among the competition, then you have to create an edge by developing customized documents that reveal your stellar character and define your strengths and accomplishments. A standout cover letter helps set the mood for exactly what caliber of a job candidate you are, capturing your values as an employee and spelling out your skill set in an abbreviated fashion. After all, this is often the first piece of documentation that the hiring manager will see, so you want to [...]

If you’re anything like the rest of us, then you often meet yourself coming and going and find that there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the things on your to-do list. That time that you have set aside for catching up on emails and networking always seems to get taken up with another task instead. And, despite your best efforts, your resume will never be kept current if you never get around to actually working on it. As is with everything at the start of a new year, we feel fresh and ready to set new goals for ourselves. We will save more rather than spend more. We will work harder and then play harder. We will be more attentive and more efficient. So, how can you add to that list of new goals by [...]

Was 2017 a bit of a sleeper for you? Lots of change and fresh beginnings going on around you, yet you’re still stuck in a bit of a rut? For many, the end of the year is a reminder of all of the career accomplishments that have been achieved, deals that have been successfully closed and exciting projects completed. For others, however, the year is ending without much to brag about. You have managed to hang onto a mediocre job and pay off a few debts here and there, yet you are lacking the drive to truly get excited about your work. How can you give your career a jolt and look forward to the year ahead? How can you make 2018 the year that will forever change your life and your perspective? The initial step in assessing your level of [...]

The long awaited holiday season is finally upon us, and plans to travel and gather with our loved ones are in full force. There are always unforeseen glitches in our annual traditions that are completely out of our hands, such as flight cancellations, snowstorms, or a last minute case of the flu. However, there is one black cloud that always hangs over our Christmas festivities that we can control, which is our work. Everyone admires a hard working individual, and we're all taught from an early age that good work ethic is something that we should all aspire to embody. The problem, however, is that the message gets skewed along the way, and we get confused regarding the actual definition of what hard work looks like. You can be a hard worker and achieve remarkable numbers and goals for your company [...]

Most of us in the American workforce have been invited to attend some sort of a holiday office party this Christmas season. This might be your first party at a brand new job or something that you’ve experienced for many years in a row. Some companies pull out the red carpet and require formal dress attire with a night of fancy hors d’oeuvres. Smaller businesses with fewer employees might throw together a more casual gathering at the boss’ house.   For some, this is a loose party invitation. Your coworkers might want your white elephant gift at the party or your wife’s famous chocolate fudge, but there is little care as to whether or not you actually show up. For others, the invitation might as well be referred to as a court summons because you either plan to attend or plan [...]

There’s no better time to update your resume than when you have a new job in your sites. Of course, in a perfect world, this is something that you would keep updated on a steady basis.. ready to fire whenever the need arises. But, time gets away from all of us, and we often end up in panic mode, scrambling at the last minute to gather ourselves.   If you have a new job opportunity in view, then it is time to ensure that your resume is polished and prepared for the eyes of the potential hiring manager that awaits you. You don’t want to simply throw together the pertinent details in a haphazard fashion just to get the application in by the deadline, but you want to submit a resume that rises above your competitors. Anyone can piece together a [...]

We’ve all got that friend who would be considered a “job hopper”. The new job is always quick to become the former job. The lofty expectations soon become a watered down vision of disappointment, and the hopes of career growth and success spin into feelings of frustration and failure. Starting a new job is not an easy task to take on!   The question to be asked, however, is who is failing who? Was the new hiring manager dishonest about the reality of this new position? Is the daily workload more or less than was specified in the interview? Is the working environment more harsh or stressful than it was described to be?   Many times, the typical “job hoppers” are those who feel as though they got cheated when, in fact, they were the ones who cheated themselves. Adjusting to [...]