If you’re currently working and aren’t a direct employee of a company, you would probably be part of the freelance workforce. That’s either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on several factors. Regardless, it points to a trend that has been growing over the years and could have relevance for you in the future.Is Freelancing the “New Normal” Employment?According to a study quoted by Recruiting Trends, freelancing is the...

Sometimes it feels as if I’m playing a broken record on this, but experience shows that too many job seekers still don’t get the difference between a resume that showcases their unique value to employers and one that looks basically like a job description. The latter is what I’ve decided to call a ho-hum resume.In other words, the response to it is likely to be something along the lines of “who cares?” or “So…?” or even “OK...

You might know–or think you know–what’s important in conducting a successful job search. BUT…are you overlooking or unaware of job search trends that could sharply reduce your odds of success?A recent article by personal branding guru William Arruda, titled “6 Unspoken Requirements for Every Job Seeker” makes some telling points about this subject. I highly recommend reading the entire article, but I’m going to share the 6...

A while ago I mentioned the idea of “canned” video interviews that some companies were instituting in their hiring process (make that screening process). Now I have a first-hand client story that points out some of the perils these interviews pose for job seekers. One of my clients was required to undergo a video-webcam interview that he expected would contain five questions. After just one question, he found he was...

One definition of commodity is: “A basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type.” In the world of job search and career management, you do not want to be a commodity! Interchangeability is not your friend. Avoid the “Me Too” Syndrome If your resume and other career marketing/job search tools paint you as just another candidate like the scores whose resumes preceded yo...

The term “behavioral interview” isn’t new. It’s been around since at least the 1990s, I believe. However, you might still not have heard it or you might have encountered a behavioral interview without knowing that’s what it was going to be.You can prepare just as well for a behavioral interview as for a “normal” interview (whatever that is!). However, you do need to understand what they involve in order to do the most effec...

You might have heard the term “talent wars” or something similar, which generally refers to companies competing for top talent even when a lot of job seekers are unemployed (and some have been for an extended period).If you’ve been looking for a new job or trying to move out/up from your current job for a while, this whole concept of a talent shortage might seem almost laughable–except that no job seeker I know is laughing...

If someone told you that you should turn down the opportunity for a job interview–especially if you’ve been out of work for a while–would you think they were crazy?After all, the whole point is to get interviews so you can land a new job sooner rather than later, right?Bad Job Interview ProspectsThere are times, though, when a potential job interview stands to do more harm than good for your overall job search success. Thes...

If you think you aren’t a creative employee, you might want to think again. And if you aren’t being creative in some way, can you change that?The tendency is to think of creative employees in terms of fields such as graphic arts, marketing communications, and such–in other words, either visual or written creativity that’s an essential aspect of the individual’s job. Those of you who don’t work in such fields might be convin...

The subject of lying or exaggerating on resumes just keeps coming up! It amazes me how many people–at least some of whom seem otherwise intelligent–make the lousy decision to falsify information in their resumes (falsify is a euphemism for lying, but sounding weaker doesn’t make it better). With all the publicity there is from time to time about perpetrators getting caught, I would think people would hesitate to take the ri...