While there are reportedly now more than 60 million people signed up as LinkedIn members, I still maintain my belief that the vast majority of these individuals are casual users who have barely even scratched the surface of the site’s potential and functionality. For example, when people tell me that they’re already pretty familiar with […]
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Archive | March, 2010
Follow-Up Faux Pas: Avoid Them!
March 27, 2010 
2 Comments
Help me out here. At what point did the simple notion of “appropriate follow-up” in a job search or sales situation suddenly get so gosh darn complicated? Things used to be pretty straightforward. You’d go through an interview with a company, send them a thank-you card, and then they’d follow up with you in a […]
Continue readingInterview “Stumper” Question: Part 1
March 27, 2010 13 Comments
It’s been an awfully long time, I’m afraid, since I’ve heard of a company that was using a truly inspired or innovative approach to the interviewing process. It seems that the majority of companies today continue to fall back on the litany of shopworn interviewing questions that one can find in any “What Color is […]
Continue readingTaking Things for Granted
March 24, 2010 3 Comments
Just how in the world did we ever get things done before e-mail? Having experienced some “turbulence” with my e-mail system over the last few days, with many of my messages getting inadvertently flagged as spam by certain sites, like Hotmail, I’ve had to come to grips with how much we all tend to take […]
Continue readingCareer Book: Networking Like a Pro (Ivan Misner, David Alexander, Brian Hilliard)
March 23, 2010 1 Comment
Out of all the experts out there in the field of personal contact networking, not a one of them (at least among those whose works I’ve read) has attempted to break the concept of networking down into as much of a science as Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of the global business networking organization BNI and […]
Continue readingThe Budding Green Jobs Market
March 20, 2010 3 Comments
Green jobs. Everybody’s always talking about green jobs. And while there’s little doubt that the world is going to be moving steadily forward in the direction of energy innovation and sustainability, the big question (at least in my mind) is whether there really are that many green jobs available now, in the current labor market. […]
Continue readingCareer Q&A: “Involve my spouse in search?”
March 19, 2010 2 Comments
“Matt: I hate to admit it, but I’m really having a problem on the home front. I’ve been looking for a job for a number of months now and my spouse just won’t get off my back. She constantly tells me I’m not searching hard enough or that I’m being too picky about the types […]
Continue readingWhich Careers Have the Brightest Future?
March 16, 2010 1 Comment
Somewhere within the country’s trillion-dollar annual budget, or whatever the exact figure might be, a tiny fraction is siphoned off by the U.S. Department of Labor to publish O*Net Online, a website devoted to helping people research new job possibilities and career avenues. If you haven’t discovered this site yet, you’ll find it here, and […]
Continue readingThe Jargon/Credibility Correlation
March 16, 2010 3 Comments
I’m not sure when exactly it happened, but somewhere along the line, the word “jargon” seemed to acquire a negative connotation — and became something that many career counselors warned against using on resumes, in interviews, and in other aspects of the job hunting process. Personally, I’d argue the exact opposite. In my experience, most […]
Continue readingFree Software, Photo & Art Classes!
March 12, 2010 1 Comment
Happy Friday, everyone, and before the weekend arrives I thought I’d pass along a tip from a member of my network, Gretchen Garrett, who recently raved to me about some free computer classes she’s been taking from a company called CreativeTechs. This organization offers live training classes, as well as free webinars, on a wide […]
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Career Horizons: The Blog! 