Time to retire the term “elevator speech” from the job seekers lexiconDoes it really work for job seekers? Isn’t a “speech” about 30 or 40 minutes? Most elevators are very short rides here in California.So what is the standard definition?From Wikipedia“An elevator speech, or elevator statement is a short summary used to quickly and simply defines a person, profession, product, service, organization or event and its value p...

What really makes a great resume for today’s job market? The use of a branding statement, a tag line or two, relevant keywords/key phrases, and a situation/action/results writing style can actually increase the return of your resume. Let’s review why each are increasingly important for job seekers competing in today’s highly competitive job market. Including these can take your resume from good to great, and ultimately help...

We are a social people and the continual and complex exchange of managers dipping into the talent pool to pluck candidates and candidates offering up their talent and services is, at its heart, a social transaction. It makes sense, therefore, that the hiring manager will act socially and be more likely to choose someone he or she knows, or even someone he or she has briefly met, over some name on a sheet of paper. Similar...

Before we even discuss how to find and work with a headhunter, an understanding needs to be reached about who exactly this person is and what role he or she plays in the greater landscape of the employment world. Some distinguishment also needs to be made between a headhunter and a recruiter, two roles that are oftentimes mistaken as the same. So, what is a headhunter and what do they do? Well, the common definition is t...

Job seekers are spending long, grueling hours, hitting the job front from multiple angles, but the stress is becoming unbearable. So, I decided to build a list of de-stressing tips for your job search, which hopefully provide you with some relief. 1. Take Stock In What You Have When did our personal worth become indicative upon a j-o-b? No doubt, the loss of income will force us to make some difficult decisions, but...

Think Twitter is a joke? Some say yes. There are great reasons for taking Twitter seriously, however, especially when one considers it a new job-search tool that hasn’t been fully tapped. Currently other job-search methods [posting your resume with job boards and emailing your resume to recruiters], what we might call traditional job-search techniques, are continuously eroding in effectiveness. In order to fully understand...

#1 Twitter is free; and with the cost of business sometimes being a hefty burden, even recruitment firms can’t resist the charms of a no-cost, useful online tool. For recruiters seeing a decline in assignments, free services such as Twitter can offer needed relief to a weighed-down operating budget. For jobseekers: Twitter is free, even to Jane and Joe Jobseeker. If recruiters are using Twitter to attract ideal job candidat...

A professionally written resume is an important component to any job search. The overall effectiveness of the document however depends on certain variables; such as how/how often the resume is used, the types of marketing/submission strategies, and the continued relevance of the resume’s content. Concentrating on these important aspects (and others) ensures the resume will produce the all-important interviews that we strive...

Getting beyond the gatekeepers can be one of the most challenging for jobseekers. Gatekeepers can be those most obvious, such as administrative or personal assistants to the company’s hiring managers, department heads, and executives. But, gatekeepers can be those in less obvious roles as well, such as assistant managers, supervisors, engineers, and so on. Your first thought might be that only those within some sort of supp...

Have you ever had trouble keeping your cool during an important interview? Actually, overcoming this common problem, although difficult at times, is one of the major factors which contribute to the assurance of a successful interview. Perhaps you arrive at an interview for that new job you really want after a long, sleepless night due to your childÂ’s bout with the flu, or the constant, nervous barking of your brand new pup...