December 2011 Blog Posts (4)

As a career counselor in Boston, I often give clients or groups advice on how to target their resume, tailor their cover letter or customize their elevator speech.  The question that almost inevitably comes up in each situation is, “But what if you’re applying for any job you can get?  How do you present yourself if you can’t be targeted?”

Since this seems to be a fairly common issue, let me lend some perspective.  My…

The key to answering this question, either in an interview or a cover letter, is to give a concrete, non-generic answer that shows you know something about the company you say you’d like to work for!  The goal is to show that you’re not just applying for any job you might get.  After doing a little research on the company website, or talking to friends who work there, here are a few of the better reasons from a career…

The answer to this resume question, plain and simple, is: to get you an interview.  Hiring managers may go back to your resume after having interviewed you to double check your qualifications, but for the most part, the goal of a resume is to get enough attention and interest to be invited for an interview.

So how do you do that?  As a career counselor, here are the five things that help your resume achieve its goal:…

Have you ever gotten one of those oddball interview questions that seems to come out of nowhere?  One of those questions you didn’t prepare for and are not sure how to deal with?  You might be asked: If you had a super power, what super power would you have?  What kind of animal would you be and why?  Or maybe: Why are pothole covers round?

Most of these questions, even including the last one, don’t have a clear answer and seem to be pretty far out in left field.  And WHAT do they…