One of my teammates, George, forwarded me this blog post, “Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters” where the author says he does not do interviews with Google’s (or Amazon’s, or other big tech companies’) recruiters who contact him via email or social media. Why? He is a programmer and his perspective is that he has come to learn that HR recruiters don’t know much about how to...

As an executive resume writer I could tell you that a well-written, compelling resume is the golden ticket to make all of your career dreams come true. But then I wouldn’t be a very honest resume writer. Frankly, I’m surprised how many job seekers are under the false assumption that if they just had the perfect resume they’d be able to have the luxury of choosing between job offers, employers would be bang...

After discussing the salary negotiation process with more than a thousand clients, I’ve found that many of them made mistakes in the past that we corrected during our coaching sessions so they could have better outcomes. Some negotiate too aggressively, damaging the relationship with the hiring manager; others negotiate for too many things or for too many rounds, giving the perception that their expectations are un...

Do you make great first impressions at job interviews or business meetings? Do you present yourself professionally when making phone, fax, e-mail or videoconference contacts? First impressions are critical. Research suggests that people evaluate others within the first minute. Decisions are usually based on appearance, posture, speech and demeanor. First impressions last. Many business transactions are won or lost in th...

Seeking a change in your C-suite role, or rising to an executive position for the first time in 2017? Your job search has changed – substantially. If you haven’t kept abreast of the latest trends in executive job search, prepare to be surprised. For example, most CEOs, CFOs, and COOs eschewed the use of LinkedIn for many years. However, social media use has finally taken hold among executives, with the ave...

I see job seekers overwhelm the interviewers all the time. What do I mean? What I mean is when you are interviewing, and you feel like you are not convincing the interviewer that you are qualified for the job – so you start telling the interviewer, in an unsolicited manner, even more details about how awesome and qualified you are, in hopes that you will trigger something in them so they think, “Eureka! Th...

Resume and hiring trends can confuse even executives, especially when they are getting advice from multiple sources, and some information may contradict what others are saying. So what data, specific to hiring and resume trends, can you depend upon? Career Directors International (CDI) created a Global Hiring Trends report after surveying professionals worldwide for their insights and preferences and brought context a...

Got a call yesterday for interview prep advice. Great candidate, looking to take the next step with another company. My friend was in the best position he could be in related to the interview - he has direct experience working with the technology required and he was a external referral of the PERSON BEING PROMOTED OUT OF THE ROLE. There's just this one little problem. He was anticipating a behavioral interview....

I had an HR consultant reach out to me and ask how we prepare candidates for culture fit interview questions. Essentially, she wanted to know about the list of questions we use to prepare our clients for when companies want to determine if someone is a good culture fit for their organization. This is the part of the interview process when the company has already determined that your qualifications are suitable. Now th...

You interviewed, and you didn't get the job. Should you forget about that employer? I found a surprising fact in a CareerBuilder study from last year: Fifty-four percent of employers re-engage with past candidates who were not offered the job! Meaning, they contact them later about another opening – or even the same one. I've seen this happen. One job seeker I coached, let's call him Steve, was disa...