I guess it started with the three magi and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh or the miracle of the oil and Chanukah Gelt, or maybe the introduction of St. Nick or Santa Claus or perhaps gifts to celebrate Epiphany or the New Year! Whatever the messages from your past or from the media that stimulate you to think about giving – here are three different ways for you to think about gifts during this season:

The first is to consider your own gifts and to give them freely!  Often we undervalue our own …

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For almost everything we do, we can approach “It” with a mindset that makes it a big stakes game of win or lose OR we can approach it as “an experiment.” When you make it an experiment, it isn’t just about doing it the right way or the wrong way, it is about learning from the actions you took, the technique you applied, and the learning that resulted from the experiment.

If you see everything you do as having a huge meaning for you, if you focus on the horrible consequences if you don’t do it perfectly, or when something …

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And a related question we will answer here about the interview PROCESS: who is interviewing whom?

You are there to find out what they need. And when you find out what they need you can share with them what you have that will help them address that need and get the results they are looking for.

The key to finding out what they need is to ask questions.

In order to ask good questions you need to get a little insight into the context of the job, get a general understanding of some of the needs they may have and results they …

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After a happy and satisfying stint with an organization for which you thought you were a great match – until you got downsized and out-placed – what can you do to move on?

Celebrate what you accomplished!

No doubt you left behind a long list of accomplishments. If you can’t make a list of 10 – 20 things you accomplished there, ask some of your former colleagues or look at your past performance reviews and make a list of all of your successes, both big and small.

Close the door on what you didn’t accomplish!

You also probably left behind a few unfinished …

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Last week I did a webinar for ASAE Career Services about the Qualifications Summary in the resume. The title was Taking your Resume from Good to Great: Putting YOU in the Qualifications Summary!

“The concept of being able to be ‘me’ in a resume was almost stunning. Didn’t think that was ‘allowed’. Wow!”

The response to the webinar was eye opening. Over 325 people registered in advance so the title obviously struck a note even before the webinar began.

The most telling responses on the post-event survey were all along the lines of the quote above. Over and over people implied …

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Be curious. Ask great questions!

Going for an interview or exploring some potential employers?

Ask open ended questions of people you meet who work there –What do you like best about working there? What is the prevailing management style? What is the average age (or most prevalent) age of employees? How long have people on staff been on the job?

How often does the leadership meet face to face with the employees? What is important to the organization? What kinds of goals do people have? Are there incentives offered for performance? Is information shared in all directions? …

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Just what does it mean – we’re looking for someone that is the “right fit”?

The chances are good they are not talking about a skills fit, an experience fit, or an accomplishment fit! Those are a given by the time you pass the screening for the interview – or they are close enough that the organization knows that what it needs to check for now is “fit”.

The questions that interviewers are trying to answer about “Fit” include:

Do you have enough in common with and compatible with the people with whom you will be spending a lot of time?
Do …

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