Articles
What’s your career status? Part 1
What’s your career status? Thinking this through is a valuable starting step to help you work through identifying what you need to do to you achieve greater satisfaction in your career. In this discussion, I’ll be covering six categories of career status. I first want you to take a guess at where you stand, and then we’re going to go a little deeper into examining what those statuses look like. In a later blog, I’ll give you an energizing plan for each of those status areas. This is important because the better you’re awareness,...
read moreOur 20 best tips ever…and here are 16-20
Tip # 16: Update your successes. In Tip #8 (earlier blog) I suggested about documenting your successes and having a handful of those ready to go. Once you get that started, every time you have a little win, I want for you to jot it down somewhere. Keep a record. This will give you easy access to content that can help you sell yourself more successfully in performance reviews, as you might be updating your resume, and also great content for job interviews. Just get in the habit of noting what happens, how you made it happen, and what were the...
read moreOur 20 best tips ever…and here are 10-15
Tip #10: Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Typically, only about 20% of positions will get advertised or posted somewhere, yet 90% of job seekers are pretty much only applying to those job ads. The other 80% are getting filled through networks, and LinkedIn is by far the biggest one. If you think about you needing to buy a new pair of shoes, you can now log onto Amazon.com, type in your size, heel height, color, style, etc. It’ll pull up options, you can then read reviews, and you can decide, “Do I want to take a chance on trying...
read moreOur 20 best tips ever…and here are 6-9!
Tip #6: Prepare for interviews before you will even get a call for one, because interviews can pop up at any time, especially when you get your focus defined. Then you’re going to start having more awareness for what opportunities exist in the market, for people that you want to be connected to, etc. You’re just going to be attracting more of a possibility around really connecting into that focus. And because of that, interviews can pop up when you might not even expect them, sitting on the plane with someone, in a class or a...
read moreOur 20 best tips ever…and here are the 1st 5!
It’s our 20th anniversary in business! And over the last 20 years working with over 5,000 amazing clients, I’ve boiled down our best career progress tips to this list. This is super cool stuff, so get ready to take some notes and take some ACTION, because I predict that you will have some moments where you say, “Oh, that’s a good idea,” or, “That’s a great resource.” So, without further ado, we’ll dive in. Tip #1: Our first tip is around getting clear on what your values are. This is a great place...
read moreWhat Questions Do You Have For Me? Part 2
Last week we talked about why you should prepare a list of questions for your interview. As promised, this week we are sharing with you sample questions to help you prepare for your interview. We encourage you to use these as a stepping stone for crafting your own customized questions tailored to the individual opportunity you are seeking. As mentioned, asking thought provoking as well as questions that solicit detailed answers from the interviewer is important. You want to avoid phrasing questions in a way that allow for a simple yes or no...
read moreWhat Questions Do You Have For Me? Part 1.
You’ve just wrapped up what you feel has been a successful interview. You had great answers to the questions they asked, you were calm, poised and kept good eye contact with the interviewer. Even their body language and follow up questions indicate you might just get the job. And then they ask you what questions you have for them. Panic sets in. Not having questions prepared can take a positive interview and catapult you to the bottom of the list ruining any chances you had of getting the job. Asking questions at the end of your interview is...
read moreNegotiation Isn’t Personal
“During a negotiation it would be wise not to take anything personally. If you leave personalities out of it, you’ll be able to see opportunities more objectively.” – Brian Koslow How do you not take negotiation so personally? Here are some of my favorite tips: Pretend that you’re someone who would be a smooth and calm negotiator. My model for this is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Don’t go first: Rather than you saying, “I’m looking for a 10% increase,” (or whatever) let the other party go first...
read moreWarning, warning Will Robinson! Focus on your Worth, not your Need
In my last blog, I promised to share some crucial consideration about your worth versus your need when it comes to negotiating. This is such a crucial concept and I’m surprised at how many people haven’t thought about it strategically. Here’s what I mean: say you’ve determined what you need for living expenses, including a car payment that just went up $300 a month. Because of that purchase, you’re now having trouble balancing everything so you think, “I need to ask for a raise.” Warning, warning Will Robinson!...
read moreMarket Data that Can Skyrocket Your Negotiating Confidence
In my previous blog, I hinted at how important it is to have competitive market data, so let’s dig into that more. What you want to aim for are data that will provide concrete facts that increase your credibility and confidence. There are really fabulous resources out there, and to test them out, I did a little research using my own specialty as a career counselor. I consider myself a senior career counselor ’cause I’ve done it a long time. Here’s what I found out: LinkedIn Salary: First I got on LinkedIn and clicked the Work tab...
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