Articles
Climbing in the Right Direction
Career progression as a process has changed significantly in the past few decades. It used to be that employees would stay with the same company for decades, and possibly for their entire career. When this was the case, companies had a vested interested in developing an employee, helping them to climb their career ladder with promotions and career development. Today, however, with turnover being much higher, companies won’t usually actively invest in an employee’s career progression. What this means is an employee often has to embark on...
read moreLinkedIn Networking Tips and Tricks
One of the best resources available today to create a network in your industry is LinkedIn. There are more than 300 million LinkedIn users, and 25 million profiles get viewed every day. And it just keeps growing: on average, 3 people sign up for LinkedIn every second. It’s no wonder, then, that many employers now turn to LinkedIn to search for potential new hires. Having a well-connected LinkedIn profile can open doors for job seekers. However, LinkedIn is a tool and, just like any tool, you have to use it properly in order for it to work...
read more5 Networking Mistakes & How to Fix Them
Networking is an absolute must in today’s world of work. Your network is often the primary resource to find new opportunities, and being part of a network to someone else is an important aspect of the job search. But I often see people making networking mistakes, sometimes out of ignorance and sometimes out of forgetfulness. Your network is a super important part of your job search, so you want to treat it right. Here are five of the biggest networking mistakes I’ve seen, plus some quick ways to fix them. Neglecting face-to-face networking....
read moreHow to Handle a Presentation Interview
In the many interview situations I’ve been in, I think the most nerve-wracking is the presentation interview. Certainly, in my first presentation interview I was a bucket of anxiety. Not only was I trying to present myself well as an interviewee, but I was also trying to impress them as a presenter. Trying to do both of those things at once? Not exactly a walk in the park. However, it’s an interview style that everyone will probably experience, as presentation interviews are becoming more and more common. Employers will propose a topic and...
read moreHow to Approach a Group Interview
During my first job search post-college, I was invited to interview twice in a group interview setting. The first time this occurred, I had no idea what to expect. I’d never been invited to a group interview before. How big was the group going to be? Would I get enough time to talk? How was I supposed to interact with the other candidates? Most of my peers were also uncertain about this new “group interview” situation. They’d never heard of a group interview, and many of them had never experienced one before. What was I to do, then, in order...
read moreWhy Not to Wear your Pants from 2005!
You’ve sent out resumes, networked, improved your LinkedIn, and finally landed an interview! You’ve made it—piece of cake from here, right? In preparation for your interview, you search the internet for answers to interview questions. You get hundreds of thousands of hits and don’t know where to start. You find a YouTube video that looks interesting. It’s not. But there is a funny Carpool Karaoke video you start to watch. An hour later you remember to think about getting ready for the interview tomorrow but it’s time to go to bed. The next...
read moreFinding the Time: Time Management Skills
Job stress comes from a lot of different locations. Some of them are outside of your control, but a few are within it. One source of job stress for many people is poor time management. We are all guilty of it, and sometimes it makes our lives far more difficult than they need to be. However, today I challenge you to manage your time better. And to help you do that, here are five tips for managing your time in your job and reducing stress along the way. If it can be done in 5 minutes, do it now. I am a notorious avoider. I avoid sending emails...
read moreJob Stress: Sources and Suggestions
Job stress is a universal equalizer. Everyone has experienced it or will experience it at some point in their lives. And it seems like stress in the workplace has only increased in recent years. A study conducted by Harris Interactive in 2001 (see link below) reported that nearly 80% of respondents reported some stress on the job, and 25% felt like screaming because of the stress. Another study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported that 40% of respondents identified their job as very or...
read more7 Well Known Career Changers
In the world of work today, it can sometimes feel like everyone is on track except for you. However, this impression is simply not true. In fact, many people make a career transition at some point in their life, and some of these career changers are pretty prominent in popular culture. Here are seven well known career changers who started their professional lives in different fields than where they ended up: Walt Disney. The creator of the giant entertainment company started his career as a newspaper editor—apparently a really bad one. He was...
read moreResource Round-Up: 5 Job Seeker Sites
I am a research oriented person. I love delving deep into the minutiae of an issue, examining it from multiple angles. I believe that knowledge is power, doubly so when it can be applied to such an important process as the job search process. Here at Career Solutions Group, we have developed lots of different techniques for doing job research for our clients. One of these techniques includes sampling information from lots of different resources. Today, I’d like to share some of my favorite online job search resources with you. Here are five...
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