I’m watching 60 Minutes and they have on a really moving piece about a small town in Ohio, and they interview this guy who’s probably in his late 40s/early 50s and he’s explaining how he used to have a great job managing a hundred people, but then his company shut down and he can’t find work. There’s a video of him as a senior executive a year ago, and then they show him now, and he’s not clean shaven and he looks older and...

Earlier this year, Susan Boyle became famous for being able to sing well even though she was neither young nor pretty (apparently we find this surprising!). Simon Cowell rolled his eyes when she first walked on stage to sing on his TV talent show The X-Factor, although he soon warmed to her when she began to sing.A few months later, he was in the US filming the US version of his talent show, American Idol. As the season adv...

Do you prefer the word ‘reduced’ to the word ‘cut’?Given the choice, would you use “generated savings of...” or “saved”?I ask because recently I edited some website copy for someone who preferred big words to short ones and long, complex sentences to concise ones.I’m the opposite. I think simplicity is the key to good communication and I practice it all the time in my writing. I don’t like using three words when one will do...

Interesting experience this week with a client who signed up for a new resume. We’ll call him Eric. Eric is a high-level financial services executive who’s currently employed, but looking to make a move. A week after receiving our proprietary questionnaire, Eric called to say he didn’t have the time to complete it and would have to cancel the contract and request a refund.Now I’m a big advocate of our questionnaire - I thin...

In a recent post, Career Rocketeer discussed the importance of building a positive online footprint.Your online footprint is the digital imprint of your life. It’s the things you created deliberately, with readers in mind, like your LinkedIn profile or VisualCV. But it’s also the comments you made two years ago on a political blog. It’s the nasty review you once wrote on Amazon because you were feeling cranky. It’s the lett...

Social media is amazing. We can think something, type it, and just like that, broadcast it to the world. Amazing! But this ability to communicate with everyone has a downside. All too often, people feel that because they can say something, they should. I can’t count the number of smart and interesting people I’ve stopped following on Twitter because they kept sending out political missives that I neither agreed with nor wan...

If I told you that one word can change your resume and dramatically improve your job search results, would you think I was nuts?Let me explain why I’m not.One of the keys to a successful resume is to ensure that it clearly communicates your unique value proposition - what makes you different from all the other job seekers out there? This value proposition should be the focus of every word of your resume, so that employers c...

Most people who have made the decision to change their careers face the same problem: How can I get hired when I don’t have relevant experience? It is true that not many companies will hire you as a graphic artist if you simply send a resume outlining your ten-year career in tax accounting! Even the best resume cannot hide the fact that your previous work experience has not qualified you for the position you seek. The g...

You are not alone if you dislike job interviews. Many senior-level executives, accustomed to being in control, are uncomfortable with the uncertainty of the interview situation. The good news is that you can take charge of every interview, by using a common interview technique to your advantage.I’m referring to the technique of behavioral interviewing, which simply means that interviewers ask very specific questions about...

You know the feeling. You spend hours, or even days, creating a resume. You pore over every word of your cover letter and agonize over what to say in your email. Then you hit ‘send’ and wait. And wait. And wait. No one calls. No one writes. You don’t know if anyone even saw your resume. When this happens, it’s easy to get dejected and worry that employers are not interested in you. Don’t! Remember, they haven’t m...