Category: Careers

Looking for Work During the Holidays

by candacemoody

Although the common wisdom is that the holidays are a bad time to do a job search, you can make the time very productive for yourself. While it’s true that fewer people leave positions during the holiday season (hanging on for year end bonuses and office parties) they do tend to begin the new year by making career moves. January is the start of the new calendar year and often the fiscal year, so many departments start filling positions that have been sitting vacant.

How to Turn your Seasonal Retail Job into a Career

by candacemoody

Retailers are gearing up for seasonal holiday hiring, and people are asking how to convert their temporary job into a long term opportunity. If you’re considering retail as a career, (and many people are after long and brutal searches in other fields) here are the rules for success.

I Could Do Anything

by candacemoody

Barbara Sher’s book, I Could Do Anything, If I Only Knew What it Was, is a great read. Sher takes the time to she reveals how to “recapture long lost goals, overcome the blocks that inhibit your success, decide what you want to be, and live your dreams.” Sher has a formula for deciding what you really want to do (which may or may not be related to what you’re doing now.) Then she helps you plan steps to get there.

Do What You Are: Keys to Career Satisfaction

by candacemoody

Paul Tieger’s Do What You Are is one of the best career advice books I’ve used. The book is organized into chapters on each of the 16 personality types of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI.) Each chapter offers a list of what makes work worthwhile for that personality type. The lists work so well because they aren’t specific to any occupation. They focus on what makes your personality type tick and where you’ll find satisfying work and people who understand you. When I coach people on career transition, I suggest that they focus on these concepts rather than salary and duties. After all, you probably know what the job involves already. What you don’t know s what the team is like – and how well you’ll fit in.

“Good” Communication Skills

by candacemoody

When we talk about “good” communication skills, we often mean a single competency: persuasion. The art of persuasion, if you have it, means that you can articulate your thoughts clearly and win over opponents. You can write better copy or make a better sales pitch. You can become the top candidate for a job.

Social Media and Your Job Search: An Interview with Tamara Joiner

by candacemoody

The key to a successful job search is to make sure you use all available channels to connect with opportunities. “If you focus on just one, like the newspaper, you’re really missing out. Only about four percent of available jobs show up there.” Joiner says that older candidates (we mean you, baby boomers) are having trouble adjusting to social media as serious career tools; many still consider them time wasters and frivolous activities.