Cinderella 2010. The Internet isn’t the Solution

April 15, 2010 View Comments

Cinderella 2010: Taking a break from hearth cleaning at home, Cinderella scours searchforaprincess.com when she spies the perfect role advertised at Prince Charming Inc. Seems the CEO, Prince Charming, is looking for a Princess to co-manage his kingdom. The successful candidate need have no actual experience in kingdom management, but must possess a demure smile, the [...]

Of Plans and Pylons: What is your job search strategy?

April 8, 2010 View Comments

Has there been a freeway, bridge or major construction where someone wakes one morning and thinks: “That would be a good idea, I’ll build a bridge! Fred? Hand me a steel pylon!” No major decisions should ever be contemplated without a plan. Many jobseekers make the mistake of failing to plan. They ride on a [...]

If It’s Not You and It’s Not True, You’re Fooling Yourself

April 2, 2010 View Comments

#careercollective “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” Oscar Wilde “Thanks so much!” said Jim as he prepared to leave my office with his new resume. “Oh there’s just one thing”, he whispered conspiratorially. “I guess I had better get a wife and three kids before my interview! Ha!” Stunned, I stood there processing the [...]

Of Mums, Dads and Kids, Oldies and Sickies. Explaining Absences in Your Resume

March 25, 2010 View Comments

You know in your heart it absolutely looks awful. I’m taking about that gap in your resume where you just can’t easily explain your absence. Did I say “gap”? The more you look at it you see a great yawning chasm with nothing to link the dates before “the event” and after. “The Event” of [...]

Resumes: Two Phrases to Turn Robotic to Robust

March 18, 2010 View Comments

Cutting and pasting your current job description into the experience section of your resume speaks volumes about your slap dash, throw-it-all-together-in-a-minute approach and attitude. Is that really the impression you want to give? The key problem with job descriptions (apart from the fact they are mind-numbingly boring to read and full of fluffy, nonsensical business-speak) [...]

Interview Paralysis

March 11, 2010 View Comments

The other day I was sent the Word of the Day by a friend. It was Anatidaephobia. Before you race to Google it, I’ll save you the time. Anatidaephobia is defined as a pervasive, irrational fear that one is being watched by a duck. (I vowed to get that into a sentence or a conversation [...]

Resumes: The Top 5 “Must Haves”

March 5, 2010 View Comments

It’s a rare day that goes by where someone doesn’t ask me to critique his or her resume. To be brutally honest, most resumes are not up to par. From the spelling errors to the lousy formatting, from the boring, never-ending laundry lists of duties, to the straight copy-and-paste job descriptions full of fluffy business-speak, [...]

Job Search: When it all Turns Sour

February 26, 2010 View Comments

A #careercollective article. Every day, probably every second, someone will have the decision to leave a job made for them. One of those people could be you. It may be that administrators shut down your company with no warning, or you are forced to take a redundancy, or you fall on your sword for a [...]

Facing Facts

February 20, 2010 View Comments

Some people have a knack for walking into roles for which they are, on paper at least, entirely unqualified. Passion and wanting it so much it hurts, as any failed Australian or American Idol contestant can tell you, doesn’t make it happen for the rest of us. I’ve seen hundreds of people over the last [...]

How are those New Year’s Resolutions Panning Out?

January 27, 2010 View Comments

Don’t tell me, because I’m about to guess. Your New Year’s Resolution to lose a few pounds? It’s been broken already hasn’t it? Sure it has! You’re only human after all! And that other resolution; the one where you said that this is the year you’re not going to destroy your health by running yourself [...]