Many years ago when I hated what I was doing for a living I was encouraged by my career coach to write down several short stories about times and events in my life where I influenced the outcome. I was stumped at first, but after a few days, I came up with over 15 pages of stories of times in my life where I influenced the outcome and either grew myself and/or bettered the existence of either others or myself.So what does...

Here's the scenario:You're about to have a phone screen or even a face-to-face interview.Problem… (Pick one)* You've been out of work a long time, (a gap in your work history). * You were terminated (fired) from your last job ( or any job).* You had a worker's comp claim filed.* Your skill level at (some skill) may be a little weak. * You have a criminal record, a misdemeanor or even a felony conviction. * You have some o...

When you go into an interview, you need to leave your nerves at the door. The best way to prepare is to develop beforehand, your own story (or stories). This is especially great for the "behavioral" or "competency"-based interview being used more today. A behavioral interviewer will spend about half the interview on your job skills, and about half on your behavioral competencies. He or she will be looking for evidence of h...

You just reached the end of your phone screen or interview and the news is not what you wanted to hear. So this individual, be they a hiring manager, recruiter, or human resources person, will not be hiring you nor will they be bringing you in for a future interview. End of the road, right? Well, not so fast. Nobody likes rejection, but here is one time when you can make simple human emotion work in your favor. You can u...

Too many books on résumé writing are out-of-date. Although well intentioned and filled with other good information, most have not been updated for the job search realities of today. Many eyes, including electronic, will see your résumé. The computer will "score" it by the number of keywords (also known as "buzzwords") the employer will find most relevant. If you don't account for this, your résumé will stay locked in some...

You've worked hard to get the interview. Don't spoil all your work to this point and let yourself fall into one of these interview-killers. Here are 10 of the biggest interview-killers candidates often commit and how you can easily avoid each one of them: Not interviewing the company. Tattoo this on your forehead: You're not here to ask for a job, you're here to interview them. Your objective at the interview is to find o...