As May (Mental Health Awareness Month) comes to a close, it's worth a reminder and acknowledgment that job searching is hard on your mental health. The rejection emails (or the silence that's somehow worse), the unanswered applications, the interviews that felt promising and then went nowhere... it accumulates and deflates us. If you've been feeling drained, discouraged, or like your worth is being quietly measured by your inbox, please know that response is human, not a pers

When laid off, many people say or think: "Now I've got to update my resume." Wrong 'r.' Your first thought should be about your relationships: Who could be your best networking contacts. Previous coworkers, external stakeholders, industry friends and colleagues. Spend a good amount of time (perhaps a day or two) on this. Then, on to your resume. Why? A resume is transactional, and exchange-based. Relationships are trust-based, with shared vision. Warm relationships produce be

Job seekers, your time is NOW: Q1 through Q2. You often see us posting about taking care of yourself throughout the grind of today's job search. We still will. But today, the message is to THROW DOWN THE HAMMER - as much as you can, and in as balanced way as possible - over the next few months. With the exception of certain seasonal industries, many employers operate on a calendar fiscal year. Budgets renew and allocate for hiring. (Not all, but enough to create a pattern

We'd like to clarify some resume and ATS misconceptions, and provide some actionable advice. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆/𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗧𝗦𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸/𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀. Especially the larger enterprise ones that F500s use. Whether the organization enables that function is up to them. (Some do; some don't). As former recruiters for Fortune 50-500 brands, we will say that large enterprise environments (tend to) enable the function. The ranking/score can be based on the pre-loaded

We witness many people who immediately or gradually start to assume the identity of a job seeker... to the point where that's literally how they view themselves. This is especially common after a layoff. Here's our message to you: please anchor back to yourself. Your layoff is just something that's happened to you - you're still you. (You're allowed to be).

Are you maximizing the impact of your networking meetings? Are you comfortable with articulating "your sell" in that meeting? Most people aren't. Here's how to next-level your networking meeting, and transform it from a favor you're asking to a foundation for actual job consideration. THE KEY: It's in "the sell" ... and it's much easier than you think! Watch this quick video for an actionable 3-step process to next-level your networking meetings. (There's a full-length, mo

The silence. This is often the 2nd thing people experience after a layoff, behind the initial feelings of shock. You are not alone in this. The silence is deafening after you spend 40+ hours/week alongside your team & collaborators, pouring your time and energy into your work, firing messages & emails back and forth, hopping from meeting to meeting... and within minutes or next-day you're sitting alone at your home computer; no Teams or Slack; no work email open; total silen

"But what about the LinkedIn bots!?" you ask, as you consider enabling your #OpenToWork banner with hesitancy? My opinion: use LinkedIn - its powers with supplementing your job search aren't worth sacrificing due to bot fear. Instead, just educate yourself on how to spot the recruiter bots. Here are some tips. Be weary of: - No headshot. - Has "allegedly" worked for big brand, reputable employers yet hardly anything in their "About" section, or sometimes that section left co

In this market, you MUST leverage LinkedIn for 2 job search use cases: (1) general proactive networking with organizations of interest; (2) following up to all 'cold' applications, after you apply. This may seem forward and a bit uncomfortable to some, but unfortunately it's the new reality. Here's how to do it (including what to write)... Locate your contact of interest, either the hiring manager of your role/the role to which you're applying; their skip-level; and for an ap