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Archive: January 2012

Use verbal jujitsu to overcome interview objections

Superman had Kryptonite. Achilles had his heel. And Bill Gates somehow managed to get ahead and be marginally successful (ha ha) in business without having a college degree. My point? Everybody has weaknesses and vulnerabilities. And if you're seeking work...

January 31, 2012 | Posted by Matt Youngquist | 2 Comments

Career Inception: How to conduct a 'stealth search'

In Christopher Nolan's hyper-cerebral 2010 film "Inception," a gang of nefarious agents go to great lengths to plant subliminal ideas in the heads of powerful people to make them feel as if they created the ideas on their own. After...

January 30, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | Post a comment

Five simple ways to avoid the layoff axe

If the Great Recession has taught us anything, it is that no one is irreplaceable. A tailspinning economy and shrinking revenues can spark a panic among management, leaving even the most loyal and talented employees vulnerable to the chopping block....

January 26, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | Post a comment

Elephants, aliens and other interview tests of character

Recently, glassdoor.com released its Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions of 2011. It's a worthy read and a good self-test. Statistically, the chances are low that you would get one of these fringe questions -- but what if you did? In...

January 25, 2012 | Posted by Natalie Singer | 1 Comment

Networking gets you a shot, not the job

Growing up in Alaska, I distinctly remember a summer in high school when I was looking for the chance to earn some extra money. At that time, a friend of the family said to me, "I know of a construction...

January 24, 2012 | Posted by Matt Youngquist | Post a comment

Time to clean out unproductive networking contacts

Last November, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with many people when he announced his second annual National Unfriend Day, which encouraged people to delete certain "friends" from their Facebook pages who are not really their friends. You know...

January 23, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | Post a comment

Time running out on ESD's entrepreneurial training program?

For many of the long-time unemployed, the idea of starting and running their own business is a tantalizing dream of self-reliance. (Wouldn't you love to be your own boss this week and declare your own snow days?) Some of these...

January 19, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | 1 Comment

Five organizational tips from a self-confessed slob

I'm a slob. This is not conjecture or self-deprecation, it's a personality trait. Ask my mother. When I was a teenager she referred to my room as a pigsty. She'll tell anyone I'm a slob. I actually think she exaggerates,...

January 18, 2012 | Posted by Natalie Singer | 1 Comment

The dangers of stalking a single organization

If only I had a buck for every time I had a person tell me, "I'd kill to work for the Gates Foundation" or "I'd give my left arm to get hired at REI" or "My dream is to work...

January 17, 2012 | Posted by Matt Youngquist | 1 Comment

How to overcome the 'over the hill' bias

In October 1984, during a televised debate with Democratic presidential challenger Walter Mondale, President Ronald Reagan gave one of the more succinct defenses of older workers ever given by a politician. When asked about whether his advanced age (he was...

January 16, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | Post a comment

Employers, candidates playing hide-and-seek

Picture, if you will, a world in which every employer with a hiring need was instantly matched up with a job hunter able to offer the perfect solution. Sounds like a nice place, doesn't it? Unfortunately, in the real world,...

January 10, 2012 | Posted by Matt Youngquist | 6 Comments

Job seekers: No need to highlight that work gap

I know a lot of people who are in the midst of dispiriting and anxiety-ridden job searches. Whenever I talk to one of these job-hunting friends, I hear the same questions over and over: Am I at all appealing to...

January 9, 2012 | Posted by Natalie Singer | Post a comment

Sweetening the deal with 'creative compensation'

One of my favorite scenes in the excellent AMC television drama "Mad Men," about the pressure-cooker life of ad executives in the early 1960s, comes from an episode called "The Suitcase." While working late, young copywriter Peggy Olson, the first...

January 9, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | 1 Comment

Turning tables: Questions to ask hiring managers

At the end of nearly every job interview, there is a golden opportunity to make an impression that many job seekers miss entirely. The interviewer, after getting all the needed information from the candidate, will ask, "Do you have any...

January 5, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | 2 Comments

Review and reflect (be honest!) before setting career goals

Around this time, when the calendar rolls over and our 90-day streak of straight rain begins, we're always so quick to jump into the New Year mentality: What are my goals? How can I start fresh? I'd better list those...

January 4, 2012 | Posted by Natalie Singer | 2 Comments

Job hunters, resolve to impress yourself

If you were living around 4,000 years ago, in the vicinity of ancient Babylonia, your New Year's resolution would have been to return all of the farm equipment you'd borrowed over the course of the year. Apparently this was all...

January 3, 2012 | Posted by Matt Youngquist | 1 Comment

Four ways to invigorate your job search in 2012

According to the rash of December predictions of job trends in the Seattle area, this coming year is expected to be just as difficult for job seekers as the previous one. As a recent Manpower survey showed, the Seattle-Bellevue area...

January 2, 2012 | Posted by Randy Woods | Post a comment