Career Planning

Reality Check: Given the choice of two candidates of equal ability, hiring managers will always prefer to interview the one with the most well constructed and attractive resume. This is one of the reasons that candidates with superb qualifications are often overlooked. And companies end up hiring from a more shallow pool of talent; a pool made up of those candidates whose experience is represented by powerfully written, visually appealing resumes.

Of course, many of the best candidates also have the best resumes; and sometimes, highly qualified candidates manage to surface through word-of-mouth referral. In fact, the referral method is one of our greatest channels for presenting talented people to our client companies. Read more »

Have you ever heard “Don’t burn that bridge!” or even worse “I shouldn’t have burned that bridge!”? Resigning from a job and an employer is one of those situations in your professional life that can be smooth or tumultuous and you play a large part in which way it goes. Making it a negative experience is akin to “burning a bridge” in which you can never cross again or one that the crossing will be extremely difficult in time to come.

Once you have accepted a new job, you need to consider the timing of your resignation. Since two weeks’ notice is considered the norm, make sure your resignation properly coincides with your start date at your new company. Read more »

Before you attempt to negotiate salary, it is critical that you have reached a personal decision about whether you truly want the job. Proceeding to negotiate an offer when you are not convinced that the new employer or the opportunity is truly right for you only wastes your time and in fact could be creating bad will between you, the recruiter and the hiring managers within the organization extending the offer. Be honest about your intentions before going down this past. You never know at what point in your future you will be crossing paths with parties to this process again… Read more »

Many professionals stay within their current employer organizations due to some false sense of security or loyalty. Many of these same professionals may have very justifiable reasons to do so, however many others will never know simply due to their careers being managed by such emotions as fear of change, personal loyalties or an inherent need for security.

The laws of business dictate that your employer run the organization efficiently and profitably. An employer must make decisions that concern the overall health and welfare of the organization, not individual interests. You as a professional should also view your career as an entity or organization that needs to be run efficiently and profitably. You have to view yourself as an enterprise within a vast market of employers that need your services. Read more »

Compensation will be a key factor in your decision whether to accept a new position. However, few people take the time to really understand their economic choices, mostly because there are so many hidden factors, such as cost of living, benefits, and so forth. To help you put your choices into perspective, use the following guide to evaluate your prospective compensation package with what you’re currently earning. Read more »