For many years during my 18-year corporate career, I remained in a number of roles I disliked, and a few of them were a terrible fit. Now I see that there were some critical factors that influenced my strong resistance to make the changes I needed to, including worries about money, self-esteem issues, confusion as to what I really wanted, reluctance to start over in a new job, and just plain fear. Now, after two reinvent...

But if you want to do anything important in the world, you’ll inevitably get negative feedback or criticism. When I asked my client Jessica how her relationship with her manager was going since we last spoke, there was a long pause. “Jessica, what happened?” I asked. “She ripped apart a presentation I put together. She said I needed to start over from scratch because it totally missed the mark....

No matter the type of company, there are certain fundamental things you need to get right in the workplace to ensure success: 1) Show up. As writer Regina Brett once said, “Most of life is showing up.” You can argue with the how much of life is showing up, but you can’t argue with the saying’s corollary: “Failure to show up is 100 percent guaranteed to be bad for your career.” It&rsquo...

Since the onset of low unemployment rates, hiring newly released veterans has been the buzz in the recruiting world as pools of qualified candidates shrink. In the last five years, there has been a plethora of resources popping up, many of them veterans themselves, offering their services to both employers and veterans to bridge the gap of understanding between the two. From skills match, to resume writing, to interviewing,...

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The resume black hole. The abyss. The void. The applicant tracking system (ATS) creates all kinds of stress and irritation for job seekers. Candidates almost universally loathe the experience. The ATS requires them to copy and paste sections from their resume into tiny boxes and answer questions that could be easily discussed in a quick phone call, adding to what is already a user-unfriendly, often tedious experience. While...

You’re stressed beyond measure at work – toiling away on the umpteenth iteration of a new campaign; racing the clock to get a grant proposal in; or working overtime to iron out a distribution snafu – then a colleague sets aside their own project to pitch in on yours, or a friend, who’s been through something similar, picks up the phone to share advice…and everything changes for the better. A k...

Failing to commit has sometimes been recognized as a West Coast issue, but I haven’t seen hard statistics about it. I don’t really know if this trend is limited to one area or not, but from what I observe, the reluctance to commit to just about anything is an increasing phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a huge difference between evaluating and weighing out options to see what works best and j...

The essentials of the job hunt don’t really change according to your employment status, but employed searchers do have to consider a number of special issues that don’t affect their unemployed counterparts. 10 RULES OF THE ROAD Rule 1: Mum’s the Word The first rule of the searching-while-employed club is: You do not talk about searching while employed. The one exception applies when, and only w...

I’ve noticed something interesting lately in my conversations with corporate leaders. Naturally, there are a few common themes: increasing demands and endless meetings that suck up valuable work time. (I’m guessing you can relate to that.) But when I ask these leaders how they personally contribute while in meetings, I almost always get an answer that involves status updates. Giving them or getting them. Briefi...