Stepping Up Your Job Search

You may have heard of the elevator pitch. It's a brief statement - 30 to 45 seconds long, give or take - of your job skills and qualifications and how you could utilize them for your next employer. It acts as an oral professional summary. The reason it's called an elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is that, in theory, you're supposed to imagine you're articulating the entire statement to a busy executive or hiring manager in the time it takes to complete an elevator ride.  More »

Thirty-seven percent of job seekers find their next positions through professional networking, so the value of networking cannot be overstated when seeking a new job. All online social networking sites are built on the principle of connecting people. Yet, job seekers are being fooled if they believe their efforts on these sites can help in their searches.  More »

Not too long ago, a post on the Career Hub blog turned me on to the hilarious web site Not Hired, which gives positive proof that sometimes it's your own damn fault you're not getting hired. All kidding aside, if you're getting interviews but not job offers, maybe it's time to examine your speech patterns. Plenty of words and phrases that we use every day without thinking (and without malice) can be hurtful, hateful, or just plain offensive to others. And dropping an insensitive remark in an interview can cost you the job.  More »

College seniors will wrap up their studies, don their gowns and mortarboards, and pick up their hard-earned degrees this month before many of them, eagerly or not, transition into the workforce. But the rest may face a summer of serious FUD - that's fear, uncertainty, and doubt - to use a rhetorical term. Read these four tips to help push the FUD out of the way and get on with life after college.  More »

Hiring managers list educational qualifications for a job opening and almost always require a bachelor's degree. And employers often eliminate a potential top performer because he or she doesn't have one. But these companies harm qualified applicants and themselves by disqualifying applicants based on educational criteria that are unrelated to job performance.  More »

You've checked and rechecked the online job postings, perused the papers, and queried your friends, neighbors, and relatives. You've sent out resumes, had an interview or two, but nothing's panned out. Feel like you've exhausted every avenue of job leads? Go see your hairdresser, or other people who might know someone who knows someone who -- you get the picture.  More »

You've heard the warning before: If you want something to be private, don't post it online. In the age of social networking, ignoring that warning could prove disastrous. It's no secret anymore that recruiters and hiring managers use the Internet to filter candidates before they even make initial contact. If you're on the hunt for a new job, follow these five tips to cover your own web tracks.  More »

Good news for last-minute tax filers: The money you've invested in your job search may be deductible on your federal income taxes - and that includes your Pongo membership costs. Of course, nothing is simple when it comes to the tax code. With the April 15 tax deadline mere days away, here's what you need to know about the tax deductibility of job search expenses.  More »

As a recent college grad, I had all these preconceived notions about what it takes to transition into the working world, and they couldn't have been more misleading. When it comes time to look for that first post-grad job, experience matters - a lot. So here's what I learned about experience, from experience, to help ease your own transition.  More »

St. Patrick's Day got me thinking of all the old Irish sayings I've heard over the years. For some reason, this one has always resonated with me: Don't break your shin on a stool that is not in your way. It makes me think of all the ways we can sabotage our own job search efforts, putting up imaginary barriers and allowing a lack of confidence to hold us back.  More »