Career Advice & Insights

Ten tasks to complete between a job offer and your first day on the job. Close the loop with your former boss and co-workers. Provide as much notice as possible, write a thoughtful resignation letter and do as much as you can to ease the transition for the people you will be leaving behind. Don’t … Read More

How to make the best use of the time between a job offer and your first day on the job. You’ve cleaned up your resume, worked your network, aced interviews and landed a job. Now it’s time to relax and recharge before you start the grind anew in a fresh job. Right? Not when you’ve … Read More

Where do you draw the line between networking to share best practices and fishing for a better offer from a competitor? When is it networking, and when is it cheating? If you’re employed and not looking for a job, the most likely way to get a job offer from a competitor is by networking with … Read More

The old “might-as-well-apply-because-you-never-know” approach doesn’t work. A successful job search follows a strategy – not blind optimism. On more than a few occasions over the years, I’ve heard people who masquerade as career coaches and employment experts telling people that job hunting is a numbers game. It isn’t. In a way, it’s a lot like … Read More

Colorado salesman Jonathan Stanley leveraged his military experience to land a sales position in a new industry. There’s nothing like a layoff to get a person re-energized about his work. That’s the philosophy of Jonathan Stanley, who claims his layoff six months ago was the best thing that could have happened to him. Stanley was … Read More

If you’ve ever committed one (or more) of these eight networking offenses, resolve to correct them. Lately, I’ve been the victim of some pretty pathetic networking. Networking is about sharing information and building trust and rapport, yet lately I feel like some people who want to network with me are doing just the opposite. Here … Read More

Paul Witschey was ready for a change of scenery and fresh career challenges. The OpsLadder member found both with a new position in Perth. Paul Witschey’s job search brought him the best of two worlds – his desire to see more of the globe and his need to settle down in one place. A citizen … Read More

Beat the special challenges of looking for a full-time job. As you consider whether you want to trade your independent-contractor status for full-time employee, career counselors and human resources professionals offer this advice for determining if this is the right decision for you, as well as strategies for finding the right fit. Build relationships If … Read More

I hate to be the one to tell you this … but it’s not them; it’s you. None of us want to hear it, but if you’re ready for a healthy dose of honesty, read on. The one-year anniversary of unemployment is rarely a cause for celebration. Every day I hear from executives — top … Read More