How tough can a job search really be?

I had a conversation with someone who’s in the job search today.  Recruiters are giving her all kinds of bad advice – telling her that her past 15 years’ experience owning her own successful business is not useful to companies.  She’s trying to dumb down her skill set to match the job postings that are [...]

How many versions of your resume do you have?

Let’s see, there’s Jane Francis MBA.doc and JaneFrancis2008.doc, JFrancisResume1a.doc, jf2vers3 .doc, myresumenew.doc and probably a whole host of others.  How many should you have?  That’s a great question.  And the answer is pretty clear. But before I tell you the answer, let me remind you of what it’s like to hire someone.  You remember, right?  [...]

The one thing that might be standing between you and your next job.

John called me yesterday.  He was really excited.  Last week, in the Executives Network meeting, I referred him to Brad.  John wrote down the info, called Brad that afternoon and scheduled lunch for Tuesday.  Midway through the lunch, Brad called his HR department and told them to call off the candidate search they were doing [...]

Job search rules were made to be broken.

The other day, I was talking to Mark about a potential opportunity. A company had posted a position and then pulled it a couple days later. I found out (serendipitously from some guy sitting next to me on the plane) that the position was still viable, but they had some procedural things to deal with [...]

Another overused job search phrase: "I'm willing to relocate"

Maybe you’re one of them.  One of those people who say “I’m in the job search and I’m willing to relocate.”  And maybe you’re one of those same people who continue to network in the city you’re already in.  No offense, but your strategy sucks!  The job you’re looking for in Philadelphia is not here [...]

Networking Pitfall: Lack of preparedness

Nothing’s worse than heading into a networking meeting without doing some sort of prep work. I once had a meeting with a guy named David.  I walked into his office and saw a rather sizable aquarium (that looked like it was directed by Tim Burton – and could’ve used a little cleaning, by the way).  [...]