Cover Letters

Letters crawling with creeping arrogance inflict hiring managers with terminal cases of Don’t-Hire-This-Jerk-Itis. The job seeker couldn’t figure out how to find a C-level HR person’s name to follow up with. “I found out that… the secretary (sorry, assistant) forwarded my letter to the HR recruiter without showing it to his boss,” he wrote. Look … Read More

Don’t let these common errors brand you as unprofessional. Resume screeners can be very picky: they have that luxury. You want the job, and so do hundreds of other people. These busy professionals develop criteria to “disqualify” some of the many potential employees/business partners. It’s easy to knock out a candidate for lack of correctness … Read More

Improper dates in your job descriptions could keep recruiters from finding your resume. You’ve worked hard to establish a distinguished career. You worked hard to craft a resume to match. But all of the effort could be undone by something as seemingly insignificant as the dates on your resume. Little noticed on the paper document, … Read More

After two years of unemployment, Rob Smith was sad and scared to return to work. You may be too. Although it’s surprising to hear, psychologists and career experts say Smith is more the norm than the exception.   After nearly two years of unemployment, Rob Smith finally got a job offer. It was with a … Read More

Consider what you might do instead. How about memorizing a one-word response that will work in every negotiating scenario? … Read More

As you age, you will want to change the types of jobs you seek, the personal brand you introduce, even the way you present your resume. Whether you are 22 or 62, a job search may be in your future. But the 20-something’s job search strategy should look very different than the 60-something’s — and … Read More

A marathon runner determines training and running 26 miles to be easier than the job search, where she can’t control the finish line, if there is one. Marc Cenedella wrote a piece a few weeks ago comparing the search process with running a marathon (It’s a marathon, not a sprint, Nov. 8, 2010). As a … Read More

Go to the front of the line by finding the next industry or specialty about to grow and make it look like you were made to have that job. In the wake of the economic recession, pinpricks of prosperity are beginning to shine through. No single industry is necessarily bouncing back to pre-recession vigor, but … Read More

Using color, though not on your resume, to stand out in your next job search will catch a hiring manager’s eye and separate you from the other candidates. Make your resume into your personal brand. Read More