“Make sure your message is clear, yet that you are faithful to its complexity.” — Michael Dirda Simplicity is overrated. While it is imperative to craft a concise synopsis of who you are and what you do, it is equally crucial to elaborate the specifics. Career stories that are faithful to their complexity activate emotion: struggle, fear, boldness, excitement and the overall thrill of victory....

Email communications between a single sender and recipient can vary widely in quality, content and thoughtfulness. It’s often exhausting, time-consuming and even frustrating to write right and well, only to have the receiver quip back with a one-word reply, or worse, to not respond at all. Sometimes, when you take the time and energy, it doesn’t really seem to ‘matter.’ But what about those...

Most likely, if you are doing it right, job search will be a struggle. As many of us know, in order to grow and change, toil is involved. Depending upon where you are in your career, and how long it has been since you’ve embarked on a job search, you’ll likely exert dormant job-search muscles. I was inspired to write this post after reading my friend and fitness guru, Heather Frey’s article over at t...

My 3 words for 2017 determinedly appeared a few days before Christmas (Dec. 22, to be exact): Pace, Pray, Pow! (Wow!) Before expanding on my words, a brief review of the 3 Words initiative is in order. Colleague Hannah Morgan, nationally recognized author and speaker on all things job search, challenged me to participate in my first 3 words exercise in 2013. Chris Brogan, CEO of Owner Media Group’s originated the e...

In its most basic sense, a unique value proposition is defined as, “a clear statement that describes the benefit of your offer and what distinguishes you from the competition.” It’s a positioning statement that explains what benefit you provide for who and how you do it uniquely well. In some circles, “unique value proposition” is so overused, it is incapable of rousing a meaningful response...

The topic of authenticity in the workplace is nothing new. However, the reality is that each workplace is unique, and cultures run the gamut from open to rigid (and everything in between). I wrote a post over at Glassdoor for Employers recently for employers interested in exploring ways to imbue their environment with a more authentic workforce, and how this may benefit both them and their employees. An outline of my mes...

My sister shared a story about how in playing ping-pong with her grandson recently she was able to win matches. Her grandson was in the process of learning a new technique of spinning the ball, and while ultimately this new technique should give him the upper competitive hand, in the interim, the learning curve has been slowing him down.I could sense her admiration for her grandson, as he focused in on a goal and was willin...

Feelings of angst and urgency often define job search, even for employed careerists.Whatever the reason for your desire to change positions–a bad boss, a recent acquisition or you simply hate your job–when driven by these feelings, you may lose sight of best practices for career management. In doing so, you rush ahead hoping the finish line will reveal itself if only you press hard and fast.However, you quickly will find sp...

Careerists seeking to invest career capital into the next opportunity and / or breakthrough role have a primary goal – communicate fit between their value proposition and the hiring decision maker’s needs.Fulfilling the requirements of the audience, however, often delves deeper than meets the eye. In fact, Chris Westfall’s recent article, “Your Pitch Isn’t Working, and You Know It,” provides excellent insights.While the foc...

Working from home is more common than ever, with technology continually disrupting the landscape of how and where we can do our jobs. While many benefits exist for the company who provides work-from-home set-ups, such as savings in overhead and 24/7 accessibility to key players, equally as many benefits abound for employees who choose the work-from-home option.Following are 10 reasons why working from home is good for your...