Now that you’ve developed a list of some of your skills, let’s put that to work for you. Looking over your worksheet from Thursday, list at least five skills that you consider your best or favorites to use. Write at least one example of a time you used each skill in a work or volunteer…
Even though I’m not a fan of making career decisions based only on skills, it is still important to be able to name your skills, especially when you are changing jobs or careers. Here’s a starter list of skills to rank from 1-5, with 5 being most important. Then add a + if you enjoy…
You would think this goes without saying, but, alas, I have been hit on twice online, and both times were on LI. (I ignore or delete these messages, but frankly it feels quite creepy.) LinkedIn is very much a place of work, and if these 2 dudes were my clients, I would have firmly (but…
One of the best things you can do for yourself is familiarize yourself with the most common questions and have a general idea of how to approach them. If any of the questions seem hard or you’re not sure how to approach them, let me know! Here are the 50 that Glassdoor ranks most common:…
Sometimes, what we really need is to find a workplace that really celebrates diversity, rather than one that just gives lip service. How can you know in advance? Well, of course, there’s no real guarantee, but there are some good resources online. The Social Talent website has a list of companies that rank high…
Liking your coworkers is so important to liking your job. In my last job, I really struggled because there were a lot of challenging people there. Briefly, there was a fellow who called himself “Mr. Diversity” and complimented a Vietnamese American student on “good Asian work ethic.” There was the person who cleared his throat…
Finding what you love can be a double-edged sword. How can you be sure that doing it for pay won’t kill off your passion and enthusiasm? I enjoy food a lot, and for a while I’d thought that maybe I wanted to be a restaurant critic. I mean, get paid to eat? That sounded…
What are you doing with your holiday? If you get one, that is, and if it’s different from your current state of employment. I ask because often what we do in our leisure time can give us a sense of what we really enjoy doing. Things are different these days, of course, so maybe…
How can you say no when your boss wants you to do something more? I’ve been talking about saying no this week, and I know this particular issue is a big challenge for a lot of us. It’s certainly something I’ve struggled with in previous jobs. In terms of approaching this issue,…
The first real job offer I turned down was terrifying. I was fresh back from Japan, and had realized through my time there that I didn’t want to teach—the thing I’ d clung to as a possible career all through college and my 3 years on the Japan Exchange & Teaching Program. So in…