As a professional speaker, I have honed my craft and grown my business with the tremendous resources of the National Speakers Association. NSA's current President is Ruby Newell-Legner, CSP. In a recent NSA Speaker Magazine, Ruby outlined suggestions to put goals into actionable steps.Creating goals is essential but unless you also develop a plan of action and accountability - your goals may never become reality. Check out...
Today I'm focusing on three resume mistakes that are easily avoided - and all too common.Resume Mistake 1: Too much capitalizationI often see this problem on technical resumes, where every noun from Customer to Technology is capitalized. Save capitals for proper names, official names and titles, like ABC Company versus "the company" or Southwest Regional Manager versus "the manager."Professional resume writers know that, if...
Every job-seeker struggles with a different aspect of job search. In your case, the career course, preparation and live networking came quite easily. Where you are currently struggling is increasing warm leads and referrals from your personal contacts. This is of major importance in conducting an effective MBA job search at your career and salary level.Consider the following: Since I wasn?t there to hear your conversations/...
Lately at speaking events I've been hearing some complaints from Millennials about their Gen X bosses. Because Gen Xers are only a few years older than Millennials, the younger group is often surprised that members of the older cohort my contemporaries aren't always as supportive and attentive as millennials might want or expect. While this post only represents the views of one Gen X manager, you might find them valuable in...
Whether you a seasoned executive or newly elevated to the executive level, you need to be aware of how these five elements impact the effectiveness of your resume.Profile section. The top one-third of your resume is the most valuable real estate in the resume. This area is where recruiters and hiring managers grab the essence of who you are and what you can do for their company in six seconds. Yes, I said six seconds! This...
Do people still give notice to their employer?Do employers have an obligation to give notice prior to layoffs?If you give notice, is the employer required to pay you for the 2 weeks?Can they show you the door that day?As a career coach, I often hear stories from both employees and employers about what really happens in the workplace.Giving notice is topic which figures into many of these conversations. There is a big diffe...
Do professional associations and networking events sound as old school as a VCR? Believe it or not, some are thriving – and there’s a reason. It’s not that millennials aren’t joiners – one survey found that 58 percent of professionals under 40 are part of a professional organization or community, and 77 percent of those who hadn’t yet joined intended to. And it will come as no surprise that 67 percent said they would “prefe...
As a career development and executive coach, I often work with people that brand products or services for an organization but have no real awareness of their unique professional brand and why it matters. It’s time to take stock of your own brand and use it to achieve your career goals and tell your authentic professional story.Your Story Matters – when was the last time you checked in with colleagues, or your boss to ask ho...
As workplaces adjust to (and increasingly embrace) millennials’ needs and priorities, many forward thinkers are already wondering what’s next. At speaking engagements, I’m frequently asked about Gen Z: How are they different than Gen Y? What do managers and business leaders need to know about this new generation?Here is my take:BACK UP. WHAT IS GENERATION Z?Given that there is no exact science to how we define generations,...
In this this two-part post, we’ll highlight three of the most common goal-setting methodologies present in organizations today and will discuss the pros and cons of each.Management by Objectives (MBO)If you’ve worked in an American organization in the last several decades, you probably have experience with the MBO approach to goal setting.While the American corporation was in its formative stages, journalist Peter Drucker w...