Stop the Madness: One Resume Is Enough!

Stop the Madness: One Resume Is Enough!   Do you feel confused, stressed out, overwhelmed or even a little bit schizophrenic trying to manage the different versions of your resume? Most of my clients feel this way. They spend so much time and energy rewriting their resume for each and every job that they want to apply to. But if you are like most of my clients, then you’re probably doing way more work than you need to!   Well, guess what? You don’t need a new resume for every job you want to apply to! STOP THE MADNESS!   All you need to do is write one main resume that communicates your FACTUAL story (not your brother’s, cousin’s or sister’s story—just yours). This is your professional history, and there is no reason why your history should be changing. I work with my clients to help them do this as effectively as possible.   Then, when you want to submit to different job openings within your profession (which is OK), just change these three things:   Rewrite the objective Change the summary of qualifications to reflect the core competencies that you have for the position Re-sequence the bullet points [...]

By |2018-06-29T17:50:22+00:00June 29th, 2018|Career Coaching Advice, The Fearless Resume|

Don’t Let Desperation Define Your Future Career

Don’t Let Desperation Define Your Future Career   Have you been unemployed for so long that you feel like it’s become a stigma that employers can sense a mile away? Have you gotten to the point where you'd be willing to take any job you could get, if you could just get a job? The best thing to do when that feeling of desperation starts keeping you up at night might not be the most obvious: it’s time to slow down. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Listen to your heart beat. Everything will be ok.   As a job coach, I help clients focus on the long-term and not fall into the desperation trap. When you get that feeling, you inevitably start lowering your standards and allowing potential companies to treat you poorly. Do not let them! When you walk into an interview you should expect to receive the same professionalism that you carry into it. It isn’t just a way for the company to learn about you—it’s a way for you to learn about the company. Interviewers shouldn’t make you sit and wait or treat you disrespectfully in any way. If that happens, think about what [...]

By |2018-06-14T00:56:48+00:00June 14th, 2018|Career Coaching Advice, interviewing|

This Is What Recruiters Look For On Your LinkedIn Profile

ARTICLE BY GWEN MORAN 01.30.17 – Fast Company https://www.fastcompany.com/3067594/hit-the-ground-running/this-is-what-recruiters-look-for-on-your-linkedin-profile   When you’re looking for a job, your LinkedIn profile is a 24/7 information resource for the recruiters who are looking for talent. In fact, in the Jobvite 2016 Recruiter Nation Report, 87% of recruiters find LinkedIn most effective when vetting candidates during the hiring process. But what really catches a recruiter’s eye when they’re scrolling through your profile? Here, several weighed in about profiles that make them reach out—or recoil. INCOMPLETE PROFILES ARE A TURN-OFF When Cassandre Joseph, senior talent acquisition visionary and strategist at recruitment firm Korn Ferry, looks at a profile, she wants to see your work experience, education, and accomplishments. Incomplete profiles make it more difficult to determine whether you’re the best match for the job, because she can’t get the whole picture. It’s a bad first impression, she says. "I find somebody's profile and it says they've worked at, according to the profile, four different places simultaneously. They're adding the new places, but not putting end dates. That says they haven't updated their LinkedIn profile in X amount of years," she says. DON’T USE SELFIES Your profile photo makes the first impression, so put a [...]

7 Tips for Domestic Engineers (Stay-at-Home Moms and Dads Re-Entering the Workforce)

7 Tips for Domestic Engineers (Stay-at-Home Moms and Dads Re-Entering the Workforce) I know how hard it can be on families with a single income right now so I want to provide some tips to all the stay-at-home moms and dads who are re-entering the workforce after being gone for five or more years. I want you to know that YOU CAN GET A GREAT JOB AND MAKE MONEY, TOO! I have coached countless domestic engineers, and all of them have gotten hired and are making great salaries. Some of them get hired within a week of posting their resume, while others can take up to six months to find a job. Here are some tips to help you in your job search: 1. Value Yourself Whatever you need to do to make yourself feel more valuable, more current and more hireable, do it. Changing your hairstyle, buying new clothes, starting a new exercise routine—these are the kinds of things that will help you to build confidence and feel more up to date. Whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better, JUST DO IT! 2. Join LinkedIn It’s easier than you think! Create a LinkedIn profile and [...]

By |2016-09-14T04:06:58+00:00September 14th, 2016|Career Coaching Advice, Job Search, LinkedIn, networking|

Career and Life Strategies by Darius Foroux

These 20 Questions Will Improve Your Self-Awareness MAY 5, 2016 Self-awareness is currently one of the sexiest words in entrepreneurship, happiness, productivity, or anything that has to do with personal growth. Almost every entrepreneur or thought leader says that self-awareness is one of the keys to personal success. While that may be true — it’s by no means a new concept. Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived between 384–322 BC, once said: “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” We get it, self-awareness (or knowing yourself) is important. But I’ve learned that it’s also one of the most difficult things that you can master in life. Benjamin Franklin put it best: “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a universal answer to self-awareness. Everybody is different, and the only person that can teach you self-awareness is you. Becoming More Self-Aware We know that self-awareness is important, but how do you develop it? And, what’s the use? One school of thought goes like this: Just live long enough and do a lot of stuff—eventually you will know yourself. Alright, but what if that takes 60 years? I’m [...]

By |2016-05-12T14:59:11+00:00May 12th, 2016|Career Coaching Advice|

How Career Affirmations Can Change Your Life

How Career Affirmations Can Change Your Life I work with clients everyday who really need to keep positive thoughts forefront in their minds. Positive affirmations can change your life. How? Read this quote from Buddha: “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” When we think positive, we have a different outlook on life. We look for the good. Then the good grows in our lives. This is true of every aspect of our lives, including our careers. The more positive thoughts we have, the more positive actions, and then the more positive things happen. Please see the affirmations below. You might want to start using these as you continue to job search. Career Affirmations: The most fantastic job is on its way to me now. The well paying, rewarding, and fulfilling job supports the life, home, and geographic location where I want to live. I accept, I accept, I accept, thank you. Any employer would be lucky to hire me. They will show great wisdom and intelligence by doing so, because I am the best candidate for the job! I know my [...]

By |2016-03-02T23:01:09+00:00March 2nd, 2016|Career Affirmations, Career Coaching Advice|

What To Do When Your Grandmother, Father or Mother Try To Give You Career Advice

What to Do When Your Grandmother, Father or Mother Try to Give You Career Advice I often wonder why people think they can offer career advice when they’ve been out of the loop for awhile.  Well-meaning family and friends may offer their input on how to land a job, even though they haven't had a job in over 10 years, or have been retired for the last 5 years, and/or have been in the same job for the last 10-15 years. Sure, their advice might have worked for getting a job awhile ago. But you need advice for getting a job NOW, in today’s job market. Don't get me wrong, listening to your family is always a nice thing to do. Your family loves you more than anyone on earth; however, taking career advice from them might not always be the greatest idea. So simply say “thank you” but don’t follow their advice. I have worked with many people looking for work over the past 20 years, and it always worries me when clients listen to anyone who hasn't actively looked for a job or who has actively looked for a job and is still unemployed after a year [...]

By |2016-02-05T03:08:13+00:00February 5th, 2016|Career Coaching Advice, Job Search|

4 Powerful Ways To Figure Out What You Should Be Doing With Your Career In 2016

4 Powerful Ways To Figure Out What You Should Be Doing With Your Career In 2016 By Kathy Caprino, Forbes | December 17, 2015 157 Part of the series “Living and Working Better” As a career success coach, writer, and researcher, I’ve had the opportunity to observe key trends among thousands of professionals around the world, particularly about how they get stuck and stay stuck in careers they dislike, and how they effectively change directions to a new path that’s rewarding and successful. One challenge I hear literally every day goes something like this: “Kathy, I don’t like my career and I know that I want to change it, but I simply can’t figure out what to do next. What will make me happy, give me the money I need and want, and offer more meaning and purpose. And what do I need to change? If you’ve read anything of work or background, you know that I lived the pain of this experience – being stuck for years in a corporate identity that simply didn’t fit me and that was filled with toxicity. After a brutal layoff in the days following 9/11, I finally decided I had to reclaim [...]

By |2015-12-30T03:23:42+00:00December 30th, 2015|Career Coaching Advice, Changing Careers|

5 Ways to Fail at Networking

Posted By: Kim Thompson Five ways to fail at networking (and how to avoid them!) Networking is the most powerful tool you have to advance your career, and becoming aware of what makes good networking will serve you well. The ability to give and receive information cuts across levels in an organization, and developing your relationship-building skills is so important. Networking should be ongoing, not just something you do when you are looking for a job, but people often reserve networking for when they most need it instead of making it part of their daily interactions. Learning how to make the most of  networking will benefit your career and the careers of those around you. You probably have met people who are very good networkers and seem to understand relationship-building, and you’ve probably run across people who struggle with it, too. Knowing what not to do during a networking meeting is key, so here are five common networking blunders to avoid. 1. Have no purpose for your networking meeting. Don’t go to a networking meeting unprepared. Research the company and field your networking contact is involved in. Prepare a list of questions, and practice asking them. If you don’t prepare,  you’ll end up [...]

By |2015-12-30T03:26:28+00:00July 6th, 2015|Career Coaching Advice, networking|

How Action Statements Turned My Resume into a Winner

How Action Statements Turned My Resume into a Winner Posted on February 18, 2015 by Simply Hired   Two years ago – armed with a bachelors of science degree and unbridled youthful optimism and ready to take on the world – I started my job search. My subsequent job search surely but swiftly taught me a hard lesson. I began to realize a positive attitude is great, but you need a little more than that in your job hunt arsenal. Specifically, I learned that I needed a resume full of action statements that demonstrated performance – not potential. So, I took to rewriting my resume. I replaced the same overused phrases all my competitors were using and replaced them with action statements: Verb + Context + Impact = Action Here are some examples: 1) Did I Lead a Project? Poor: Led a group of four people. Better: Led a group of four people in customer acquisition initiatives. Great: Led a specialized task force of four people in planning & executing several customer acquisition initiatives, ultimately increasing user base by 12%. The “better” statement ends on an anti-climax. It gives minimal context, and it doesn’t elaborate on the results of [...]

By |2015-12-30T03:25:11+00:00February 20th, 2015|Career Coaching Advice, The Fearless Resume|
Go to Top