Author: candacemoody

Candace’s background includes Human Resources, recruiting, training and assessment. She spent several years with a national staffing company, serving employers on both coasts. Her writing on business, career and employment issues has appeared in the Florida Times Union, the Jacksonville Business Journal, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and 904 Magazine, as well as several national publications and websites. Candace is often quoted in the media on local labor market and employment issues.

Making the Most of Networking Meetings

by candacemoody

Arrive with an agenda. Laskoff says that he’s sat through several uncomfortable meetings where the requestor had obviously used all his energy in getting the meeting and had not had any energy left to plan what to say once he got there. Laskoff says he tries to help out when the requestor is at a loss for words, but suspect other busy people will simply toss the jobseeker out on his ear. For the record, my experience has been that most people are too polite to toss anyone out. But I, too, have experienced an uncomfortable silence after opening the meeting with, “How can I help you today?”

Land on the Right Side

by candacemoody

Most job search advice books are serious, well-meaning and bland. I read so many that when I find one that’s funny and profane, in equal parts, I can’t help but share the advice with you. Michael Laskoff is the author of a “survival guide for the recently unemployed” called Landing on the Right Side of Your A**. (Title redacted; this is a family friendly blog, after all.)

Ways to Stay Positive

by candacemoody

Remember that writing is not just for writers. Writing is a way of capturing positive thoughts in a tangible format that makes them more real. Write a positive vision of your future and go back to it when you’re feeling discouraged. It’s the same technique as visualization, except that you come out with an actual document that serves as a blueprint for success.

You Are Not Your Brain

by candacemoody

When something is not right in our lives, we tend to focus only on it. You may take comfort in knowing that our human brains are hard-wired to see negative things more clearly and focus on them more. It’s a throwback to when we were cave dwellers. Failing to notice a saber-toothed tiger lurking in the shadows was a possibly fatal error; failing to notice a rose blooming in the meadow was not. We see things that are wrong in our lives and we obsess about them. But as rational beings, we can also use tools to help us focus on other issues.

Deliberate Practice Part Two

by candacemoody

Deliberate practice means that you take one skill you don’t have and work on it over and over and over and over. And then work on it some more. You work until you’re exhausted. And then some more.

You may not have the time or patience to do this kind of practice, but you may be able to get better results by applying yourself in a more deliberate way. Here are some tips for setting up a more deliberate practice, whatever you do.

Deliberate Practice Part One

by candacemoody

What’s the difference between Jerry Rice (NFL Hall of Fame receiver) and wide receiver Mike Williams, a 2005 first round pick by the Detroit Lions, whom you’ve almost certainly never heard of before this moment? Besides an unequalled 20-year career in a position that requires strength, grace and speed, 13 pro bowl appearances, 197 touchdowns, almost 23,000 receiving yards, and a lifetime average of 14.5 yards per catch, not all that much. That’s according to journalist and author Geoff Colvin, Fortune Magazine’s Senior Editor at Large and author of the book Talent is Overrated.

Thinking about majoring in Psychology? Think again.

by candacemoody

CBS Moneywatch recently released a list of the college majors with the highest unemployment rates. Five of the list of 25 majors are related to psychology. “Ironically,” the accompanying article goes on to say, “Psychology is the fifth most popular college degree.” Those numbers are probably related, of course; I try to convince jobseekers that they should consider professions where competition is less fierce. In college, that usually means where the classes are much more demanding. There are always a few seats left empty in advanced Physics classes.