Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride is where guests ride passively in a half-sunken barge through a darkened canal to an endless choir of animatronic dolls singing the same verses over and over and over again. I wonder in awe at the ability of that darn song to get trapped in the subconscious. Can you hear it [...]

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I am all for college degrees. In fact I have a couple myself. But for many people, getting the college degree didn’t happen either by plan or by circumstances. Despite this they have built a good career holding the types of professional jobs even though their peers in similar positions had degrees.
How does this happen?
Simple actually. These degree-less people [...]

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I had a client who just hated networking. This was not new of course, but he was really serious about it. He did not like to ask for favors. He did not like the fuzziness of it and it seem to him like a bit of a crap-shoot to meet with people in hopes that [...]

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When looking for a job we like and a successful career we usually think about skills, knowledge and motivation. I guess this makes sense. After all, jobs are about what we do. Work is the application of skills and knowledge.
The reasoning therefore, is to find organizations, that need your knowledge and skills and you will be [...]

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I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday week.  As for me, I’m spending much of it doing my all-time favorite thing. No, not eating – which does happen to come in at a close second. I’ve been reading.  And I spent much of Christmas Day reading Kay Redfield Jamison’s book, Nothing Was the Same. And [...]

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Team interviews have been around for a long time now.  Think of the Inquisition.  
The darkest group interview I ever had was a time when the group included other applicants seated in a circle with one another along with members of the team. Applicants were asked a number of “self disclosure” questions to see how [...]

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I find news stories during the holidays filled who sadness and heartwarming hope. Sad stories of hardship coupled by heartwarming stories of generosity and courage.  Holidays always evoke emotion as we reflect on our priorities (hopefully not being disgusted in the process) and take stock of the past and future.
In addition to a few media pieces, [...]

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Once again I came across someone who tried to not-so-patiently to explain why networking in job search would not work for their personality type. They were a technical person who suggested those in technical trades are more comfortable facing a keyboard and screen than facing another person in a networking conversation. Further, they suggested that [...]

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(This post is based on some of the principles included in the new book, Unlock the Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough which I wrote with Duncan Mathison. For a free sample chapter, click here )
If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know that I’ve been writing [...]

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I was poking around a few of my favorite job sites this morning, and discovered that a particular company was announcing that it was hiring.  Great! So what’s the problem?  One of my dear friends had just been laid off from that very company not one month ago. Oh.  Ouch. Chances are excellent that candidates [...]

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