Talent Alley

The British newspaper The Telegraph recently printed an article detailing the unintentionally hilarious results from a CareerBuilder survey soliciting employers for their worst resume experiences. The details were entertaining, including candidates who: listed “God” as a reference (though without any phone number) sent a 24 page resume to detail a five year career included a [...]

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The scariest part of the job hunt for many job seekers is the moment after they actually receive an offer. They’ve just focused months of effort refining their resume, expanding their professional network and honing their interview skills, and suddenly discover that their job seeking skills are no longer relevant. Now they need to excel at [...]

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It’s getting tougher and tougher to make your resume stand out on a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s desk. Most resumes adopt similar formats, and virtually all are created in Microsoft Word, using its default fonts, so making your resume stand apart requires some creativity. Since your job search is really just a personal marketing exercise, [...]

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I’ve received a number of questions and comments about my previous post in the Toughest Interview Questions series: Why Should I Hire You? that suggest that some more detail and explanation is in order. The reason the question is so difficult for job seekers, and so revealing for employers, is that it requires the candidate [...]

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Every hiring manager I’ve spoken with has a story about the perfect job candidate whose pending job offer disappeared after a quick perusal of the candidate’s Facebook profile. Off color comments in status updates. Photos of candidates drinking, smoking assorted substances or engaged in sexually explicit behaviors. Racist, sexist or vulgar references. You name, it [...]

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Looking for work in a miserable economy can be traumatic, ego-bruising and depressing. Even highly experienced and skilled individuals will likely face repeated rejection as they try to find a new job, leading to self-doubt, despondency and despair. I was reminded of the frustration that job seekers face when I received a phone call this [...]

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The Job Shopper was invited to join this year’s American Advertising Federation Career Day in Cleveland to share our perspectives on the impact and importance of social media for new job seekers. The audience of approximately 100 recent or pending college graduates gathered at The Plain Dealer’s headquarters in downtown Cleveland to listen to an assortment [...]

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There are times when job seekers are their own worst enemy. Doug Hardman the CEO of Sparkbase, a local technology company, shared a recent series of email communications he had with a prospective hire for an internal marketing position that illustrate how a job candidate can destroy their job prospects with reflexive and imprudent email [...]

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Telephone interviews are nerve-racking. Candidates receive no visual feedback – either positive or negative – from their interrogators, feel pressured to perform and all too often are unprepared to provide the answers that will elevate them to the next level of the job hunting process. When you don’t get an invitation to meet face to [...]

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I received an email this morning from the CEO of a local technology company who is in the process of hiring a controller for his company. He forwarded an email from a prospective candidate whose career halting initial message was: PLease see attached resume . My slasry requirements would be in the middle of your [...]

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