In the Business of You

If a company tells you that they brew the best beer in the world, but have minimal sales and no awards to show for their efforts, how believable is their claim of having an outstanding product? We can all say whatever we wish about our abilities and achievements, but, as the saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding”. And thus is the challenge for today’s job seekers…making believers out of skeptical hiring managers. This is actually not that difficult to accomplish, but it does take a significant investment of a candidate’s time, which is something that the vast majority of job seekers are still NOT willing to do. This means that those candidates who do elect to put in the time and effort necessary to develop a truly “killer” resume and memorable interview discussions, can very quickly distance themselves from a large percentage of those competing for the same job opening. Here are some tips that should help your actions (accomplishments) speak for themselves: • Telling me wh...

Sometime over the next couple of weeks, I will be a first-time grandfather. Can’t wait, as I hear from other “new” grandparents how wonderful is the experience and how different it is than when we were new parents (way back when). I remember when we brought our first child home from the hospital. My bride put him into a bassinet in the family room of our small house and we looked at each other and said, “Well, what do we do now?” The two of us realized that we must have left the “What to do With Your First Baby” manual at the hospital. As my parents have often reminded me about my first born, “he survived, despite you two”. Pretty funny, Mom & Dad..! But, I readily admit that I’m a believer in the “it takes a village to raise a child” concept. Looking at the job search process, there are a lot of similarities. When I was laid off in early 2001, after 25 years with the same company, I felt some of that same, “what do I do now” nervousness and sense of being a bit lost. ...