Do you want to drive a recruiter or resume writer crazy? Then be sure and give long rambling monologues as answers to simple questions. Just like in the movie, "Dragnet", resume writers and recruiters are looking for. "Just the facts, ma'am".If you hire a resume writer you should be prepared for an interview (some use questionnaires instead of personal interviews) in which you will be asked questions like "what kind of budg...

Once you embark upon a job search your resume, perhaps previously gathering dust in a file drawer, will become the most important document you own. Job seekers have a tendency to show everyone they know a copy of their resume; many of them seem to weigh each opinion equally and continuously edit the resume based on the most recent "great advice" they have been given.It seems like everyone has an opinion about what you need...

When I was about 4 years old we moved from Houston, Texas to a little town called Cushing, Oklahoma which is where I spent the next 13 years of my life. When we arrived in Cushing my parents, of course, needed to find childcare and that is how Mae Troxell came into our lives. Mae was born in 1902 on a cotton farm in Nacogdoches, Texas so when we moved to Oklahoma in 1972 she was 70 years old. Mae was a tough old broad who w...

The challenges faced by businesses and their employees these days has got me thinking about the tough decisions that are being made in companies all around the world. It is hard to be in a non-leadership role in the volatile economic environment in which we find ourselves because non-leaders are often limited in the information they can access. In other words, employees in some companies are just playing a waiting game to s...

I graduated college nearly 20 years ago and since then I have witnessed many ups and downs in our economy. It has been my observation that when times are good some people are more willing to extend themselves to others than they are when the economy is not so strong. I have noticed this particularly when it comes to networking because I make it a practice to try to connect my clients and friends with any of my contacts who...

A client of mine called yesterday to say that he is on the verge of getting an offer from a large bank. Before they will extend him an offer the recruiter has requested that he submit a business plan outlining his plans to achieve his goals. The job is a wealth management role which would require that my client bring about $10 million in investment dollars to the job within the first year. If you are not familiar with this...

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who spent two weeks shopping for the perfect interview suit. She was scheduled to interview at a very white shoe investment bank for a senior position so she wound up purchasing a Chanel suit for the big day. And of course she had to find the perfect new shoes (Prada) and bag (Prada) to round out the look. She spent thousands of dollars on her outfit over the course of two weeks...

The other night I met some friends for drinks after work. One of the friends-of-friends who showed up announced that she had been laid off from her job and was in the midst of a job search. We were all very supportive, of course, and my first impression of her was, “Wow, she is sharp and is sure to land a great job soon”. However, the more she talked the less impressed with her I became. She is certainly a bright young lady...

I was recently honored to give a presentation on interview tips to students at Ellis College via webcast. About 40 people participated and we had a very lively discussion of interview tips and tactics for handling specific interview questions. Several participants asked me how I would recommend that they respond to some specific interview questions. The questions we discussed all revolved around issues that could elicit a n...

Are you someone who includes subjective descriptions of your skills, personal attributes or competencies on your resume? If so this post is for you.How many people do you think would describe themselves as any one of the following?Great team playerStrong communicatorGreat leaderHigh integrity The answer is pretty much everyone. The funny thing is that I have met very few actual team players in my professional life so when s...