http://weddles.com WEDDLE's RSS en-us http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2012/epilogue.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2012/epilogue.html The new scourge of job seekers is serial unemployment. You fight through the frustration and anxiety of one job search, land a new position and six months or a year later, you’re handed another pink slip and find yourself right back where you started from. It’s an increasingly prevalent plight for white collar and blue collar workers alike. There is a way to protect yourself, however, if you change the epilogue to your job search. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2012/dragon.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2012/dragon.html By now, you’ve probably heard of Stieg Larsson's best seller, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. For those who haven’t yet read the book, it’s (sort of) a murder mystery intertwined with the self-identity quest of a young woman with distinctive body art. While all of the plot’s secrets are revealed by the end of the tale, one question is never addressed: what’s the meaning of the dragon tattoo? The answer is especially important to job seekers. Wed, 4 Jan 2012 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/applyforjob.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/applyforjob.html There are now over three million job openings posted on job boards and social media sites on the Web. And, the conventional wisdom is that applying for those opportunities is simply a matter of clicking on the Submit button. Unfortunately, however, there’s a bit more to it, at least you want to get interviewed and possibly hired. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/standoutskill.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/standoutskill.html Do you want an advantage in the job market? There is one skill that CEOs today believe is both in critically short supply and critically important to their organization’s success. If you have this skill, it is virtually certain that you will get the attention you deserve from employers, regardless of your profession, craft or trade. What is this standout skill? Leadership. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Entrepreneurism.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Entrepreneurism.html Personal branding is all the rage these days in job search books and seminars. According to these sources, you can’t be successful without a strong brand. It’s good advice, but also only partially true. While a strong brand is necessary for success, it cannot produce that outcome by itself. What’s needed is a more comprehensive approach that I call job search entrepreneurism. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/luck.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/luck.html According to Jim Collins, the author of Great By Choice, the difference between companies that are merely good and those that are considered great is often how they use luck. Good and bad luck happens to every company, he believes, but only those that optimize their return on luck – their ROL – are able to excel. I think that’s true for job seekers as well. Wed, 2 Nov 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/silence.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/silence.html A chart topping single way back in 1966, the Sound of Silence is a haunting song about a dark time in this country. For many job seekers, it aptly describes the experience of applying for jobs in today’s troubled economy. They send off their resume, and all they get back from employers is a thundering nothing. Fortunately, however, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are steps you can take that will produce a response. Wed, 20 Oct 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/oneword.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/oneword.html In today’s highly competitive job market, the worst word you can use is “can.” I realize that’s a stunning turn of events for a people who have historically seen themselves as the “can do” nation. Nevertheless, what employers now want from candidates is a verb they believe has far greater potential. The word they want to hear is “will.” Until recently, employers competed in a global marketplace on the basis of productivity. The more efficient a company’s workers, the more profitable it would be. That strategy unfolded in three distinct phases. Wed, 6 Oct 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/smartresume.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/smartresume.html Faced with increasingly more able competitors around the world, employers are now seeking workers who can make a difference on the job. They describe these individuals as “A” level performers or with the more general term “talent,” but what they really want is nothing more (or less) than smart workers. How can you prove you deserve that description? First, of course, you have to be at the state-of-the-art in your occupational field. Then, you have to promote that fact using a smart resume. Wed, 21 Sep 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/investmentcaring.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/investmentcaring.html There’s a view these days that successful networking is based on a very simple mathematical formula. A lot of contacts equals a lot of employment opportunities. If that were so, however, all of those who are now feverishly connecting, friending and following would be happily ensconced in a new job instead. Networking is important in a job search, but what many people are doing today is “notworking” and, as a consequence, wasting their time. Networking is one of those rare words that says exactly what it means. It’s netWORK. To be effective: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/willdo.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/willdo.html Americans are a "can do" people. We pride ourselves on getting the job done. It’s a trait that's stood us in good stead for centuries. We've relied on it to create the nation in the Revolutionary War and to save it in World War II, to build the world’s most modern economy and to put the first human on the moon. If we depend on it to find a job, however, we'll likely see our hopes dashed and our dreams cancelled. Wed, 10 Aug 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/bringmore.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/bring.html If you believe the educational system and reality television, only a select few of us have talent. They are the exceptional kids placed in the Gifted and Talented programs at school and the singers, acrobats and dancers on America’s Got Talent. The rest of us are out of luck. At least, that’s what the conventional wisdom would have us think. But, don’t. It’s wrong. Wed, 20 Jul 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/newcarrule.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/newcarrule.html It's a longstanding rule of thumb. A new car loses ten percent of its value the minute you drive it off the dealer’s lot. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve bought a Mercedes or a Chevrolet, your vehicle’s worth starts declining as soon as you start to use it. The same is true with training and education in our careers. Its employment value begins to degrade the nanosecond we complete the coursework. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/newmad.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/newmad.html Most Americans over the age of twenty-five remember the life-or-death struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Our security during those dangerous times depended on a strategic balance called “mutual assured destruction” or MAD. Today, we have another form of MAD, one that is most accurately defined as “mutual assured distraction.” Instead of ensuring our wellbeing, however, it portends to undermine our job security and ultimately our career success. Fri, 24 Jun 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/worldchange.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/worldchange.html This column is the third in a three-part series focusing on what recruiters want from job seekers. The first column explored how recruiters work and why, while the second discussed how to stand out with recruiters (for all the right reasons). If you missed either of them, they’re both available at www.weddles.com. This column will address a topic that’s every bit as important as the first two. It will reveal how the world of work has changed in the last five years so you understand what’s causing recruiters to act differently in today’s job market and why you have to adjust, as well. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/standout.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/standout.html This column is the second in a three-part series focusing on what recruiters want from job seekers. The first column explored how recruiters work and why. If you missed it, you can read the column by visiting the Newsletter Archive at www.weddles.com. This column will address an equally important topic: How to be a standout candidate with recruiters. Fri, 27 May 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/howrecruiterswork.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/howrecruiterswork.html A recent survey of 200 large employers in the U.S. identified the top two ways they recruited new employees. Number one was referrals; number two was job boards. Between them, those two sources accounted for over half of the people the organizations hired in 2010. While these findings are helpful, however, they also raise two important questions: First, how do you find out which job boards employers are using and second, how do you make referrals work for you? Mon, 09 May 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/2bestways.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/2bestways.html A recent survey of 200 large employers in the U.S. identified the top two ways they recruited new employees. Number one was referrals; number two was job boards. Between them, those two sources accounted for over half of the people the organizations hired in 2010. While these findings are helpful, however, they also raise two important questions: First, how do you find out which job boards employers are using and second, how do you make referrals work for you? Mon, 25 Apr 2011 8:00:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Dilemma.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Dilemma.html The movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is just now hitting theatres, but already it’s earning kudos for its observations of middle school and the lessons it teaches adolescents about life there and thereafter. Its wisdom, however, is not confined to pre-high school hallways. The movie has something to offer to those of us who are trying to survive another hostile and seemingly incomprehensible setting – the job market. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 8:09:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/2halves.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/2halves.html In a job search today, half of the game is mental. So is the other half. You can’t will yourself into a new or better job. Employers have a say in the outcome. But, you can will yourself into a position where employers will make the right decision for you. What does that mean? Competing successfully for a job today begins with a change in our mindset. Now, no one likes change, but we have no choice. The job market has undergone a fundamental reset, and we have to adapt or throw in the towel and give up. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 8:09:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Metatarsal.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/Metatarsal.html Scientists were thrilled to announce the other day that they had found a metatarsal bone in a skeleton that was millions of years old, proving that our earliest ancestors had been able to walk erect. While this bone in our foot was important to our early evolution, however, we need a very different kind of support to stand tall in the 21st Century workplace. We have to have just as much strength at the other end of our bodies - in our minds. Mon, 7 Mar 2011 8:09:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/iphone.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/2011/iphone.html Apple’s iPhone has captured the popular imagination. Even among those who own a competitor, it has come to symbolize sleek styling, innovative features and ever more useful capabilities. That perception and the reality it celebrates are a perfect model for those of us who are in transition and looking for a new job or employed but searching for a better opportunity. Fri, 19 Feb 2011 8:09:00 EST