I encourage my job seeking clients to ask questions during interviews. It makes it more conversational and less interrogational for a start. But more than that, it helps to demonstrate their curiosity, their ability to join the dots, to have insights and generate ideas. 𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. We want that. Badly. But early on in my coaches train

I’ve been laid off 6 times. I can’t think of another time in my life when my emotions would whiplash from low to high to low again so quickly and so often. It’s tough because you have to find a way to stay positive and upbeat to get hired. If the energy and engagement isn’t there, then you're destined for more time on the bench. During my job searches I’ve found positive written affirmations really helped me stay focused and relentlessly positive. They’ve helped me set and m

the hiring team can't instantly figure out what you're good at? Spend too much time on here and you’ll be thinking that everybody but you has a straight-line career trajectory. Onwards and upwards!!! But you’d be wrong. Many career paths are messy. They zig, they zag, they go off the rails a little. And that’s OK. But it’s not going to help you tell your story. And if you can’t tell your story, you’re going to struggle to get hired. What to do… First, if you’re not sure what

Then stop. Don’t do it. Find another way. 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. Reconnect with people you lost touch with. Connect with new people, it doesn’t matter how you do it, find the way that works for you. Tell people 2-3 specific job titles you are looking for, ask for their help, ask who else in their network they will intro you to. Remember, it’s a network, not just first-degree connections. Commit to expand, deepen, and leverage your network every day. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗹-𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹, remem

“Oh, don’t wait until the end. I mean, we can definitely work on that, but better if you don’t wait ‘til the end. The best interviews I’ve ever had are conversations. We can think through some questions for you to ask at the end by all means, but ideally let’s get you prepped to ask questions throughout.” “Sure… so how would that work exactly?” “Well, you do have to be comfortable thinking on your feet, so if tha….” “I’m not sure, I get pretty anxious before interviews” “Unde

It’s tempting to treat your resume like that drawer everyone has in their kitchen. You know the one. The one with the odds and ends. The junk drawer. You stuff every role, every task, every project you’ve ever done onto your resume hoping a recruiter will find something they like. This is especially true for the older job seeker. Our junk drawers are fuller because we’ve had more years to fill them. Same is true for our resumes. As every wise marketer knows, if you position y

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 "𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺" 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺? Introverts can get lost in traditional networking events. We don’t like putting ourselves “out there”. We find the background noise and continual context switching draining. Can’t lie, I hate them with a passion… 𝗕𝘂𝘁, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀? • Empathy • Compassion • Building deep

Resumes are often written as though the “reader” will read every word. They won’t. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱. 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝟱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗼 “𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴” - in other words, to dig a little deeper. What’s the one thing that’s going to make them want to dig? 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁. So you need to put that where it will be found in that first 5 second

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹-𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀. Once you get into your 40’s, many job seekers are “over-qualified”. Some people have stellar careers where they climb the corporate ladder rapidly. But, we work in pyramid-shaped organizations. There is only so much room at the top. So what about the other 90% of people with 20+ years of experience that don’t make it to the top? They end up applying for jobs that they are “over-qualified” for. Even though they have 20 years of exper

Two years into my career coaching role and some clear patterns emerge. This is one of them. If you’re laid off, typically the first thing people do is update their resume. That needs to happen, but I’d argue it shouldn’t be the top priority for most people. Why? Because it’s a relatively quick and easy fix. Don’t get me wrong, it takes skill and experience to get it right. And there are some wonderful professional resume writers out there if you need help. But it is relativel

Some people keep a careful record, step by step, of the impact they’ve had throughout their career. I’m one of them. Every congrats email, every sales deal I helped win, the revenue from every piece of market research…the occasional furtive peek inside the CRM to see how I’d helped move the needle on leads. If you don’t do that, two words of advice: Start now. But, that doesn’t help you get hired, right here, right now. 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 �

How do interviews start? Generally with some chit-chat - Hi, thanks for taking the time, something about the weather (it’s not just the Brits apparently…), where are you located, I like your shirt/eyeglasses/Zoom background etc. But once we’ve got that awkwardness over with, more often than not, we get to… “𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱, 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.” What people say next is either very good or very bad in my experience, there’s not many shades of grey in

But few people leverage their network well. Here’s how to fix that. Your network has always been key, and now it’s more important than ever. That’s not going to change. With the dynamics of the current job market, cold applications get lost in a sea of similar resumes. 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁? 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂. Many people b

𝗠𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆’𝘀 𝗼𝗻 “𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲”. Because a career story that is told in a dry, abstract way, without rich and meaty details, isn’t engaging and compelling. Dare I say it sounds a bit like you invented an answer because a career coach said you should have one ready… Let’s compare. Imagine an interviewer asks “𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀”. 😩 𝗗𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁: "I’m known for being a proble

We all use jargon and abbreviations in our work. It makes life easier when talking with our peers. But unfortunately, we sometimes forget and we let that insider-speak spill over into the world of our customers. As a career coach I’ve been guilty of that. I’ve talked about SOAR and STAR frameworks to coaching clients. I’m sure some of them had no idea what I was talking about, or why they should care. Sorry about that. So here it is. SOAR and STAR are coaching-speak for “𝗪�

And how would you know…? Well, the surest sign is you’re not getting any interviews. True, there are many reasons why you might not get called for an interview. But an underwhelming resume is definitely one of them. I see plenty of resumes that list what someone did. But those resumes don’t get you interviews. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀. Right off the top of my head, backed up by no data whatsoever, here are 12 words that you might have on your resume t

Making a career pivot is a challenge I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. There seems to be a growing number of people who see their chosen career path as less than peachy. Or non-existent. I’ve talked before about the groundwork—nailing down your values, identifying transferable skills, and picking your new destination. But when you’re actually ready to make the jump, the rubber hits the road in two places: Your resume and the interview. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂

What’s the one thing people dread most in an interview? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 "𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲?" When you’ve moved on to a bigger, better role, the "Why are you leaving?" question is a breeze. But if you’ve been laid off, it’s a different story. I’ve seen it many times—otherwise confident professionals start overthinking, stumbling, and feeling like they’re being interrogated. The reality is, most interviewers just don't have the context they need to make a

I sometimes meet job seekers who are frustrated by conflicting resume advice from different career coaches. Should they stick with two pages or go longer? Exactly what should go in that executive summary? To use keywords or not, that is the question… So I’ll just say it. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁. I say that with confidence because there are tens of thousands of talent acquisition specialists and hiring managers. And they are a

I know it’s brutal out there, but 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲. Step away for an hour, bake, and enjoy. And maybe share. Some ideas: 💡 Live alone? Bake a cake and share it with your neighbors. You can reconnect, maybe make a new friend who can support you, and grow your network. I’ve done this. 💡 Work in an office? Bake and take it to work. Leave your goodies in the break room with a note, and grow your network. I’ve done this. 💡 Volunt