1. It may not have been fair, just or your fault, but don’t “go off” on your employer.

2. Your experiencing a wide range of emotions – it’s a grieving process so give yourself time to do that. It may take a day, a week, a month.

3. Give yourself a block of time to decompress. Even if its just a day or two (though preferably longer) …

Want to put an end to your job-search worries?
You can.
Or, at the very least, you can channel worries into positive action that moves you closer to employment.
That’s a message I got from the book, “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself,” by Steve Chandler, who writes:
The next time you’re worried about something, ask yourself, “What small thing can I do right now?” Then do it. Remember not to ask, “What could I possibly do to make this whole thing go away?” That question does not get you into action at all.
This idea …

You must pass muster with the pre-screening process to get past the “black hole”. Uploading your application and resume to the company website is not enough. You have to re-invent the job search wheel.
As part of this process, you will be rebuffed and often (sorry!). One such instance occurred when a posting on LinkedIn provided the HR rep’s direct contact info (a fluke?). After submitting my online application and resume, I followed up with a call to the HR contact. Amazingly, I got through to …

The one thing job hunters have that the working population doesn’t have is time.  I remember how much of it I had when I was job hunting and how much I wasted waiting for emails that I only wished would come right away.  (You can learn about my job search in the Career Jockey About page.) 
Here’s a suggestion you might consider to resolve this. I’m an avid reader. I enjoy reading and wish I had more time for it.  In order to squeeze in more reading time, …

Making sure your resume is a powerful marketing document is a wise investment in your career. It can set you apart from your competition, maximize the amount of interviews you land and ultimately play into how much a company offers you.
After all, you are negotiating with potential employers from the moment you connect with them to the time the offer is made. So everything that happens in that window of time plays into your offer…including how well targeted, well designed and compelling your resume is.
Here are five elements you will …

What can Leonardo da Vinci and Will Rogers tell you about finding a job?
Plenty, it turns out.
Read on for some new twists on timeless advice that might help you get hired faster …
1. “Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

Does this mean sloth-like behavior can make you a productive job hunter?
Not quite.
In fact, much work is done by your subconscious mind while the rest of your brain and body are doing other things, like sleeping, eating an apple, or shampooing …

Last week we talked about the bane of our job seeking existence, the HR Gatekeepers. I felt compelled, in all fairness, to speak to the good that HR reps do. If there is nothing more important during this difficult process, it is to keep an equal balance, both in perspective and outlook.
We tend, as prospective job seekers, employees and even employers, to view HR reps as all knowing, and yet functionally invisible. Ironically, they are human too. As such, they bring with them a plethora of …

As we look for work, wait for that anticipated raise (in this economy…right!) or hope for the right opportunity to arrive, we are forced to be patient. We set some expectations for ourselves and sometimes even attach a timeline to it. If we opt NOT to be patient, we set ourselves up for failure. We tee ourselves up for the perfect dose of disappointment. And from there to anger and resentment is a very short hop.

I spent some time thinking about this and wondered, “What is it about waiting or …

In his 1973 article, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” sociologist Mark Granovetter, after interviewing dozens of people, determined that most jobs were landed through “weak” interpersonal ties — not friends telling friends, but acquaintances telling friends.
In other words, if you’re mostly asking friends to send you job leads, you won’t succeed as fast as asking acquaintances, who then ask their friends to help you.
Counterintuitive, yes, but aiming your networking efforts at people you don’t know well is a faster way of gaining access to new social groups, where new job …

Recently, a job hunter approached me at a networking event.  He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him.  My first thought was maybe I had introduced him to someone that got him a job, but that wasn’t it.  He was still looking.
He told me he had heard me speak on a panel a few months back.  I remembered that presentation well.  It was held at a South Beach Miami hotel.  The venue was nice and included two other panelists.  It was well moderated.  The problem (for me anyway) was …

(Warning: I am going to get on my soapbox, and talk about those to whom we have to sell our wares just so we can get in front of the hiring manager. They are the Human Resource representatives.)
HR are the individuals who have to balance the needs and goals of the firm, help the executives and leadership to achieve their goals from a people perspective, and who create an open-door-like policy with the general population.
I have worked in this area for a number of years. I have valued colleagues …

As baby boomers start to turn 60, they may be feeling nostalgic about the early days of their careers, when job security actually meant something and a person could retire comfortably at 65.
Unfortunately, today’s reality for many workers over the age of 50 is downsizing, difficult job searches and the very real prospect of working past 65. Fortunately, this generation is healthier and better trained than any prior generation. They have more opportunities for self-employment than ever before and are increasingly considering that option as they head into their golden …

Most job seekers you talk to are struggling right now. You can do what they’re doing. But you’ll probably struggle, too.
Or, for different results, you can try something different.
The two “guerrilla” job hunters in this article did. And they’re working now.
What can you learn from their stories?
Approach #1: Do Lots of Little Things Right
Remy Piazza, from Toronto, Ontario, accepted a job offer in November 2009. It was his fifth offer in five months of methodical searching.  If you’d like to average a job offer every 30 days and pick the …

Ok, I’m going to admit to something that a few have been sworn to secrecy upon the pain of possible death … I watch The Bachelor … ok, I hear the gasps, I see the eyes rolling and yet, I know you feel my pain. Allow me to explain.  The reason why I watch is scientific.  Really! How can you not relate to the women (and the men, during the seasons of The Bachelorette) as we face the job layoffs and job search? It IS like trying to get the …

I don’t like going to networking events. I enjoy them about as much as I like having a root canal. There, I said it. It’s out in the open. And now all three of my blog readers know about it. I just hope none of them are dentists.
The reason I don’t like networking events is because they’re a distraction in the middle of my day. But mostly it’s because I’m an introvert and don’t always feel ready to mix and mingle.
One of the ways I combat this is by making …

(Warning: Be prepared for some serious spiritual discussion.)

Those of you who follow Career Jockey may remember that in early December I published Five Steps for Beating the Christmas Bah Humbug Blues.  In step #1 of the article, I committed myself to 20 minutes of daily reflection. You may also remember I was hoping for an Amazon Kindle reading device for Christmas. (See Christmas Gift Ideas to Wow Your Job Seeker.)

Well both of these came together recently when my wife gave me a Kindle for Christmas and …

As 2009 draws to a close, most job seekers can only say, “Good riddance.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job search as of November 2009 took 28.5 weeks — more than 7 months. That’s the longest since record keeping began in 1948.
But there is good news: People are still finding jobs, often faster than average.
How are they doing it?
From what I can see, talking to and counseling hundreds of people in 2009, successful job seekers do three things that can get you hired faster in 2010…
1. …

A college friend recommended “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant” by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.  She’s in real estate and the book helped her promote her business differently.
With traditional marketing strategy, companies strive to build a better solution at a better price.  The idea is to outsmart and outdo the competition.  It’s an exercise in one-up-man-ship that frequently leads to each competitor releasing marginally better solutions over their competitors.  The authors describe that approach as a red ocean strategy.  Firms behave …

(This article continues where OERamz’s article “You’re Fired! Part 4 – I Dare Not Go It Alone” left off.)
I was now on my new journey, my next new job.  It brought back memories of that first day at a new school where no one knew you or you them.  Can we call in a “snow day”? (that’s the Northerner in me talking).
Given the state of the market and the number of job losses, the realization was that it no longer is what or who YOU know, but rather who THEY …

Please understand this up front–headhunters are not great sources for a new job. That’s because we get paid to find candidates for our clients, not jobs for candidates. While I frequently can’t be of direct assistance to a job seeker, I still want to help and I feel compelled to provide some advice based on 15 years experience and thousands of conversations with candidates.
Change how you look at networking. You don’t network to get a job. You network to increase your “findability” so that folks looking for someone like you …