Like a Sore Thumb
There are many ways a person might stand out from the crowd. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Depending on the way you choose to stand out, though, sometimes it’s not. When you’re a candidate competing for a job, your experience and qualifications are the things that should differentiate you from your competition. Not gimmicks.
Far too often, I’ve read well-intentioned pieces of advice about creative and unique ways to stand out from the crowd when applying for jobs, and today I’d like to tell you why you shouldn’t follow any of them. Read More
New job regrets? Throughout my professional career, I’ve seen a great many people struggle with a recent job change, wanting to make an immediate U-turn. Candidates I’ve recruited and placed have called me in near-panic a few weeks afterwards, warning me that they were probably going to leave their new job. Several former employees have called me after leaving the organization I managed, asking whether their job was still open and whether they could come back. I’ve experienced it myself – feeling like a deer caught in headlights, asking myself, “Oh, no … what have I done?”
To a certain extent, a job search is a numbers game. Statistically speaking, the more applications you send out, the more likely that one of them will materialize into a job. This assumes, of course, that the applications are 
During a job search 
If you’re on the job market – whether you’re employed or not – responding to job postings is usually the starting point. And rightly so; to borrow sales terminology, these are the ‘hot leads’ of the job-seekers world. But if you’re stopping there, you’re missing out on a lot of potential opportunities. The way to tap into that opportunity is through networking. If you’re wondering why or how, read on.
We all know people who just never seem to doubt themselves, who can walk into any room or any conversation with sure-footed ease. The truth is that nobody is really always sure of themselves. Even the people who exude confidence outwardly are often just putting a brave face on, when they feel differently inside.
I’ve done the math, and I figure I’ve read and reviewed well over 50,000 resumes throughout my career. Some were excellent, many were very good, and some were … well, they were awful. Most, though, were just okay. Mediocre. Lukewarm. And when I think about the resumes that I’ve seen that were just ‘meh’ in that way, there’s a common thread: the most common mistake that people make when writing their resume. I’d like to share it with you here, so that you can make sure you’re not making it as well.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the so-called ‘Great Resignation of 2021’. The premise is that a large number of employees, since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, have been hanging onto jobs that didn’t make them happy, and their collective pent-up frustration will lead to mass resignations and 
Almost everyone, at some point in their career, will experience a period of unemployment. For some, it’s an intentional thing – a break to upgrade education, parental leave, or some time out of work to care for a loved one. For others, it’s the last thing they ever would have wanted. Perhaps their company downsized or shut down and their job was affected. Or worse, they were fired.
“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”