By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Analyzing applicant tracking systems and stuffing your resume full of keywords are popular activities right now. In reality, the purported “science of resumes” and the idea you must perform a hairsplitting task of gaming your resume to meet algorithmic settings are both exaggerations, in my experience. While you certainly must sprinkle words […]
What NOT to Do When You’re New on the Job
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Many new hires are so anxious to make friends and a good impression that they often make mistakes that will leave them with neither. To ensure this isn’t you, check out the list below of 10 things you should be cautious of when you’re the new kid on the block: 1. Don’t tell your new manager […]
Are There Cracks in Your Career Communications Strategy?
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Shedding light on your target audience, becoming intimate with your own value and drumming up muscular career stories that transport your reader all are essential action steps to forge a rock-solid resume. This foundational aspect of today’s job search helps prevent job-search flops and missteps and keep your career messaging infrastructure solid. […]
Fear Is a Liar
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter | Hat tip to Marsha Christensen at stronglola.com for inspiring the title of this post. Fear Is at the Root of Being Stuck What are you afraid of? I think, whether you are in the midst of mundaneness or in the throes of manic anxiety, or somewhere in between, fear is at the root of being […]
5 Tips to Increase Your “Star Power”
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Have you ever watched a particular performance and then wondered how that person became so popular? After all, you may have thought, there is nothing exceptionally astonishing about the way they sing, dance, act, play a musical instrument or tell a joke. You know for a fact that there are likely thousands […]
How to Sustain Your Conviction to a Grueling Job Search
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Climbing the career change mountain is never easy. And, in today’s shaky economic and corporate climate, the hazards and pitfalls and the cold-hard realities of people, systems, processes and attitudes you will encounter along the way are intimidating, and sometimes, just plain frightening. Your fear of losing your grip and sliding […]
How to “Think on Your Feet” During Oddball Interviews
In the movie, Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith’s resilient character, Chris Gardner, was thrown into jail for unpaid parking tickets the night before a breakthrough job interview. The next morning, he sprinted to the interview donning the paint-stained T-shirt and slacks from the day before. Despite his duress, Gardner’s ability to successfully manage the interview, inspired. In […]
On Facebook? How to Protect Your Reputation
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Are you revealing more than you should on one of the most popular online social networking sites? Facebook has become so much a part of how we stay connected that some of us are forgetting that those connections often extend well beyond our anticipated audience. For example: 1. Employers research you through […]
Leaving Your Job Doesn’t Have to Be Stressful
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Knowing which side of the career stage to exit is important when you resign your employer. If you have found yourself in the throes of job transition, you may want to check out my latest post at US News on behalf of Glassdoor. It includes tips such as knowing your reasons for […]
Climbing That Career Mountain
By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter Goodbye sugary treats, hello fitness. This Friday, June 1, Rob and I begin phase 2 of our fitness initiative. We launched phase 1 on Jan. 2, after the Christmas and New Year’s festivities. I wrote about that here: “Weighing in: 3 Job Search Fitness Tips.” As five targeted months wrap up, and […]