Career Help

I’m helping an acquaintance find a job. While he’s sharp and has been successful, he’s not sufficiently engaged in his job search, even after six months. Basically, he had been just going through the motions. He: Has a long elevator speech, Wrote a generic resume and incomplete LinkedIn profile, Contacted his twenty-five best business friends Continue Reading →

It’s without a doubt the most expensive cup of coffee ever ordered. Last year, someone paid more than $600,000 to share coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook. To the person who won the bidding war: I hope you sipped your latte slowly. Every gulp ran you about 50 grand. The coffee chat was sponsored by Charity Buzz, which raises money for great Continue Reading →

Ever been quoted in the newspaper? Pretty cool feeling, right? Well, the next time your name appears in an article, your LinkedIn contacts could receive an email about it. LinkedIn recently acquired Newsle, a start-up that scans articles and blogs for mentions of specific people. LinkedIn wants to use the technology to share your “name drop” across Continue Reading →

If you think getting your next job is tough, try selling a movie idea. Since studios are seeing many more ideas than your potential next employer sees candidates, the Hollywood Pitch has been honed to generate an immediate desire to purchase. If you are intrigued with this concept, here’s the first article worth reading: Meet Hollywood’s Mr. Continue Reading →

Imagine if this email popped up at work: “Recent College Grad Who Needs Your Advice” How would you feel? Honored? Important? Let’s go with both. Most of us relish the chance to help from a position of authority — even if we’re swamped with stuff to do. That’s why the smartest networking email subject lines contain “Needs Your Advice.” Yes, you typically Continue Reading →

One of my friends just wasted six months and lost $75,000 because he tried to launch a business before discovering he had insufficient funding. Do you have enough money? Answering these five key questions would have let him know that he didn’t really have enough funds and prepared him before he spent too much money Continue Reading →

Sometimes, life sucks so hard. One minute you waltz along, lah di dah and everything is perfect. The next, a 10,000-pound weight lands on your chest, knocks you flat and changes everything. That must be how Eric Cantor feels right now. A rising star in Congress, the politician lost June 10 in a shocking Republican primary to David Brat, a Continue Reading →

World of Warcraft — on a resume. I know it sounds dumb, but what if I told you the geeky info helped someone land two big jobs? CNNMoney reports Stephen Gillett, the chief operating officer at Symantec, an online security firm, has touted his WoW credentials to become an executive at Starbucks and Symantec. Gillett: “Some people look at it and say, Continue Reading →

Millennials. Generation Y. 20-somethings. Young adults today have several nicknames — and in early June, we unfortunately picked up one more. Bad Tippers. A survey conducted for Michelin Maps and Guides, a restaurant reviewer, found one in three Millennials tip less than 15 percent when dining out. (For a useful chart on proper tipping, go to the middle of this Continue Reading →

Hey, did you hear Mark Zuckerberg announced an update to Facebook’s privacy settings? “When?” In May. “Why?” Because people have complained for a long time the settings are too confusing. So the company made a change. “How?” Now, new users of the site will have privacy settings default to “Friends,” instead of “Public,” which had been the Continue Reading →