Careers & Employment Articles

As you know by now, if you have been a long time subscriber to our weekly E-zine, I'm a very big proponent of activity, labor and discipline. In fact I devoted one of the five major pieces to the life puzzle (in my book under the same name) to the su...

(excerpted from The Weekend Seminar - Skills for the 21st Century 1999 Version) I find it's important to not walk into the 21st Century without multiple skills. But what I also find is that if you are already in sales, network marketing or have an en...

In today's marketplace things are constantly changing and so are the needs of just about each and every organization. Whether your company is growing organically or inorganically, whether your company is growing domestically or internationally or for...

When all is not well with work, what do you do? Do you quickly get frustrated and feel discontent? Do you look at each situation as a tiresome challenge or as an opportunity to learn something new? Have you ever considered looking at work problems...

Peter Humleker had it made. As the general manager of a successful car dealership, he was earning an impressive income. The only problem? He hated what he was doing. "I was making a living off of manipulating and misleading people, taking advantage o...

Is there a company in your area that you'd love to work for? Do you assume that, because you don't see them advertising in the classifieds or posting jobs on their website, they have no openings? That may or may not be the case. That truth is, only a...

The euphoria of getting a new job can sometimes be overcome by apprehension about what comes next. After all, you're "the new kid on the block," and there's much to learn--about your new job duties and much more. But here are some things you can do t...

I'm always preaching about proper preparation prior to interviews. If you research the position and company carefully, you can anticipate likely questions and prepare excellent answers. But something I also tell job seekers is that you can never anti...

Job burnout happens when the stress or prolonged frustration of a job or career contributes to emotional and physical exhaustion. The ability to cope with general life stressors outside of work is strained. This combination results in a lack of motiv...

The world sure is changing, and if you look at job employment you will see what I mean. Let's just go back to our grandparent's generation, even though I'm sure if we went back further we would see very different structures of work in the tribal peri...

If your job search is dragging on and on, you might want to look in the mirror. Because the person looking back may be sabotaging your efforts. Do you make the following mistakes in your job search? If so, stop now. And start getting more calls for j...

If you want a drink of water, do you hire a focus group or pick up the Yellow Pages? No. You go to the kitchen, fill a glass and drink. You take the shortest route to fill your need. The path is obvious, right? Your job search is the same way. The fo...

You can learn a lot about how to do something right by first learning what NOT to do. Take resumes, for example. I review about 200-300 a month, and most have at least 2-3 mistakes. Yet, all those hundreds of mistakes can be grouped into just a handf...

Any job seeker looking for sample resumes usually doesn't have to look very far. A multitude of sites today are offering free sample resumes on the internet in addition to the avalanche of books that are released each year touting resume examples. Wi...

Perhaps you saw it coming. The fall in company stock prices. The news articles about company troubles. Maybe it was just rumors on the production floor, or a creeping suspicion that orders had slowed down and there was no longer the backlog of work w...

It hangs from the ceiling above your bed while you toss through the night hours. It waits inside the door of every employment office you enter. It dogs your footsteps as you pound the job search pavement. It lounges in an empty chair as you crawl thr...

When we lose our jobs, no matter the reason, we lose a big part of our identity. Think of the last several times you met new people. After names are exchanged and polite comments made on whatever event you are attending, the question quickly arises: ...

Looking for work is a roller-coaster ride: high with elation when you think you've found a great position, low with discouragement when you realize that someone else was offered a job you wanted. Most of the time, you fall somewhere in between, your ...

Looking for work is an energy-devouring ordeal, often leading to running in circles and not getting anywhere. A systematic approach can help you focus on your goal, avoid wasting the energy you need to conserve for interviews and employer contacts, a...

Looking for work can be difficult, frustrating, anxiety-provoking, and demeaning. There are few situations we encounter in life where we feel so powerless. Not only do we have a sense that we have little control over the outcome, but we also feel jud...

Unemployment is depressing: financial pressures stress you out, looking for work is humiliating, and your fragile self-confidence reels under the blows of indifference and rejection. It becomes harder to get up in the morning, to take care of yoursel...

You are about to compete for the best people again. The recovery is happening. Labor statistics indicate over 280,000 new jobs were created in the U.S. last May. Is your company's hiring process a competitive weapon-or a ball and chain? If you're not...

In my last column, I explored Jim Collins' "hedgehog" principle, and how powerfully this can be used to attract great employees. After many dozens of CEO interviews, I'm convinced that leaders with well-defined hedgehogs deploy the most successful ...

If you have ever experienced any of the following, you have had a career crisis: • Losing your job • Being fired • Burning out • Not wanting to do your job for one more day A career crisis can be caused either by someone else (being laid off)...

Most of us have to work for a living. Since we spend so many hours each week at our jobs, it's very important that there is a good fit. If you have been feeling less enthusiastic about your work situation recently, maybe you have even begun to wonder...

The message came from Human Resources. There's nothing to worry about with the newly announced organizational changes and pending merger, it reassured. The changes will be good for the company and good for the people who work here it coached. I've se...

When cyclists prepare for a big race, they always make sure they load up on the carbs. It is not uncommon to have a pasta feed the night before an important event so that the athletes can store up some of the carbohydrates they will be burning up the...

The dot com boom of 1990s brought with it a laissez-faire attitude to dress code. Business casual was not a word that was part of our daily vocabulary. Business casual may have been good for the dot comers, but the casual attire tried to find its wa...

1. Define Success for Yourself Clarify and write down what success means for you. What would it look like, feel like, what would you hear if you were successful. Use these answers as your barometer....not somebody else's. 2. Get a Handle on Your fina...

The subject is constantly in the news and may decide the next national elections - the infamous jobless recovery. More than 8 million Americans are out of work with another 4 million underemployed or no longer looking for work. Good manufacturing, te...