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January 6, 2011
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Interviews
We’ll tackle both of these groups in this article in a moment, but first, let’s think about your career history. Have you ever bombed an interview? Or, have you had an experience where the people on the other side of the table made you want to run away from the job, based on their behavior / dynamics? What about this gem: Ever walked into an interview only to see the interviewers obviously scrambling at the last minute trying to skim your résumé… giving the impression they haven’t even looked at it until you sat down? Chances are, you have. Let… Read »
December 27, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Job Search, Social Media
Ah, New Year’s Eve. A time of noble resolution-making, yet so many get broken while they are still brand-spanking new. So for 2011, I have a radical idea. Job seekers should decide to make some New Year’s un-resolutions. I mean, we can all make very positive career resolutions that are extremely productive, but shouldn’t we also not resolve to do some of the bad stuff, too? Un-resolutions are actually the things we wouldn’t consciously do because they just don’t make sense, but a lot of us do them anyway for a lot of reasons, including force of habit, being shy,… Read »
December 16, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen In The Workplace
Talk to any career or human resource professional, and you’ll likely get a wide range of definitions. However, one thing holds absolutely true no matter what: Company culture can define a business. Companies that have a positive work brand presence attract people who want to work for them. You’ve seen those examples on the news: Google has playrooms and goof-off space. Nike has a large campus and gym with a giant track surrounding it. Ooooo. Sweeeeeeeet! Wouldn’t it be great to work at those companies? But let’s take a little closer look at what company culture really means. Companies who… Read »
December 7, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Job Search, Social Media
The past weekend, I attended a gathering of career thought leaders in Seattle, WA, and found this to be an incredibly insightful experience. Usually, résumé writers and career coaches are so busy with clients that we don’t often have the opportunity to sit down and discuss observations, as well as up-and-coming trends on the horizon. We talked long and hard about how social media is slowly creeping into the candidate selection process, and spent quite a bit of time on video résumés. Full disclosure: I’ve been relatively un-swayed in my opinion that resorting to videos is the wrong route to… Read »
November 30, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Networking
It’s an utter misconception that things slow down during the holidays. Sure, there’s the turkey-induced food coma, and that spiked eggnog that left you a little groggy, but to assume that things are slowing down and people aren’t as focused on business is absolutely a myth. Ask any retailer as they dash between lines of shoppers during the final sales sprint of 2010! The holidays are kind of weird, in a way. It’s like everyone takes a collective breath and treads water while getting the necessary work done. But do you know what’s really going on? People are thinking. They… Read »
November 24, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Job Search, Networking, Resume
For a wide array of reasons, people go through transitions in and out of their main career field… whether it meant dabbling in another industry, or taking time out to raise a child, or even caring for an ailing relative. Did you know that stepping outside of a specific occupational pathway is actually a more common occurrence than you think? For majority of workers, the biggest reason for having any kind of an employment gap is involves raising children, which complicates an otherwise steady career track by one of the parents usually taking time out of their career to stay… Read »
November 10, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Job Search
With an unexpected layoff, many people have suddenly felt like the rug was just ripped out from underneath them. A career suddenly vanishes in a blink of an eye, and the end result is something akin to being left at sea in deep water… just trying to keep your head afloat. While this situation is grave indeed, many people are taking a moment to actually re-evaluate everything in their lives. Maybe they got that career start that led them down a certain road… and there never really was an exit ramp to get off. How many times have we heard… Read »
November 3, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Education, Job Search, Networking, Resume
Well-known fact: Job searching and being unemployed can be one of the most discouraging and ego-smashing things a person could ever experience. Rejection is common, and there is a tendency to end up in a very unhappy place. Then, there’s the chaos. If you’ve previously been working for most of your career in a full-time position, you’re used to have the structure and routine to each day. Being out of work, you find yourself in a drifting miasma of what do I do today? And with summer around the corner, it’s very tempting to blow off the job search and… Read »
November 2, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Interviews, Job Search
Would you laugh if someone told you to put down how much you’ve earned under each job listed on your résumé? Obviously, yes. Why on earth would you do that? But what if an employer directly asks you to tell them how much money you made in your previous positions? Um… excuse me? Chances are you’ve had this happen before. This request is an all-too-often ploy used by many employers to try to force job seekers’ hands into showing their salary ‘cards’ and effectively sweeping any negotiation power out of the candidate’s hand. Many unemployed people are so desperate that… Read »
October 27, 2010
Written by Dawn Rasmussen Job Search
An all-too familiar scenario: After months of applying for jobs and endlessly sending in résumé after résumé for open positions without hearing anything, you are worn down, discouraged, and just plain tired of being unemployed. This sucks, you think to yourself. “Why bother? Why bang my head against the wall?” If your job search has slowed down to a snail’s pace, all the advice in the world about how to revamp your job search won’t matter. You need to recharge. There’s an old adage that “Looking for a job is a full-time job” is entirely accurate. It IS a full-time job,… Read »