All Blog Posts (93)

While a thoughtfully written thank you note is not enough to get you the job without solid qualifications, it helps to leave a positive impression in the mind of your interviewers.  And in a competitive job market, every little bit helps!  To make the most of your thank you notes after a job interview, here is my advice as a career counselor in Boston.

1. Traditional Paper versus Email Thank You…

We’ve all been there, during a job search, when writing a paper, or just generally trying to get work done at home or in the office.  You know you have to get things done, but you just don’t feel like it.  From the outside, this may sound like a trivial problem.  Many people would say, “Too bad. Deal with it!” and this isn’t entirely wrong advice, but it’s not always easy to make ourselves act just because we know it’s good for us and necessary.  So, especially if you find yourself in an…

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…

The most important thing about networking for job search is to get out there, attend events and meet new people.  Once you’ve done that, however, you can take your networking to an all new level by being willing and actively seeking to be the one who takes the first step.  Taking the initiative gives you more control over the outcome and is the best way to make things happen.

If you meet someone new and both agree that, “We should get together sometime and chat,” but no one says, “How…

I can’t tell you how many times as a career counselor I’ve had new clients contact me and admit apologetically that they’re considering changing careers.  Why apologetically?  Because they’re embarrassed to admit that they want something else when what they have is NOT horrible.  Often these same clients have high paying stable careers that they don’t hate.  They’re basically stuck in a gilded cage.  It’s not really where…

Want to get the compensation you deserve?  Nervous about asking for more money in the first place?  As with many job search related activities, the key to salary negotiation (or to asking for a raise at your current job) is preparation.  The more you do your research, know your plan and feel confident that you do in fact deserve more money, the higher your chances of success.  More specifically, here are the basic five things to do for effective salary negotiation.

1. Don’t be…

Check out #5: Karma is Legit

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As I mentioned in my last blog post on being an effective networker, following up with new contacts after meeting them is key.  If you’ve met someone for an informational interview, the first follow up contact should definitely be a thank you email or note, but how do you stay in touch after that?  Or, if you met someone at a networking event, how do you find the time to stay in touch?  Here are five easy ways to stay in touch…

Whichever kind of job you’re targeting, there are a few universal things you can do to strengthen your resume and stand out above the rest.  While it’s understandably difficult to edit your own resume, try to look at it objectively and consider the following things.  With a few tweaks, you can turn your resume from boring to “I really hope she accepts my job offer!”  As a Boston career counselor, I…

As you job search, you may have heard people advise you to make a list of target companies where you’d like to work.  As a Boston career counselor, this is something I wholeheartedly endorse.  What you may not have heard is exactly why this is helpful and how to do it!  Having a list of target companies tucked away is unlikely to be very helpful to your job search if you don’t do anything with it!  So here’s a brief…

Much has been written on the topic of interview etiquette and much more, I’m sure, will continue to be written about this topic.  Because it’s important.  While looking presentable at an interview won’t get you the job without some strong example-laden interview answers, looking unpresentable will certainly prevent you from getting the job.  And we don’t want that!  So here’s a quick review of interview…

Before an interview, it’s important to prepare yourself to make the best impression.  This includes practical preparation from ironing your clothes to making sure you know how to get to the interview location on time.  It also includes knowing your own strengths and how to present yourself well in the form of an interview conversation.  The third element of preparation which shouldn’t be neglected is spending some time online researching the company and the job.  It’s this third element…

As the cycle of surfing the job boards, applying for jobs and waiting frustratingly for any kind of response continues, job seekers can become demotivated, feeling like nothing they do matters.  While there’s no foolproof way to stay motivated, there are things you can do today to get out of the same old routine and make some progress in your job search.  And here are five!

1. Reconnect with an old…