Chameleon Resumes

7 Steps to Take Now When Your Boss Might Be Fired

  Your boss might be fired. That’s the rumor in the grapevine. Or there’s the confidential information credible source shared with you. Your department is now holding its breath. Your boss might wind up terminated.

What’s at stake?

How that actually plays out is irrelevant, right now. What counts is that in the period of uncertainty, there are 7 things you should be doing. Your objective has to…

Navigating the Reputation Economy: Lies Do Count

  Whether achievements are listed on your resume or you are communicating accomplishments for a performance review on the job, truth-in-advertising is paramount.

A Walmart executive claimed to have an arts degree, but he did not. A dean at MIT with multiple university degrees turned out to have none. More recently, a story told about a wild helicopter ride taken by a Nightly Newsanchor in 2003…

How To Properly Care For Yourself When Looking for Work

  If you have lost your job or you are just entering the workforce, you could be in for a long journey of job-hunting as you search for that perfect job. During this process, it is important that you take the necessary steps to manage your life and take care of yourself so you always look and feel your best when you do land an interview. (more…)

Exploratory Interviews: How to Land Them and Make Them Work for You

  Question: When is a job interview not a job interview? Answer: When it is an exploratory (or informational) interview.

Exploratory interviews are a high-value way to network, obtain information and leave a good impression in a workplace that might interest you. Whether you seek a position, or desire a transition, an IEJI can bridge the distance between where you are in your career and where you…

6 Strategies on How to Use Conflict as a Powerful Career Tool

  Conflict is one of the most underutilized career tools. When conflict presents itself, you want to run, but I suggest that you don’t.

Many professionals go to great lengths to duck conflict. That’s because, as Peter T. Colemen and Robert Ferguson explain in the book “Making Conflict Work,” it “elicits anxiety.” Yet, managing conflict is absolutely necessary for achieving your own professional…

Unemployed? 3 Suggestions for a Powerful Executive LinkedIn Profile

  How to handle your employment status on your LinkedIn profile when you are unemployed is a question many executives ask when they are in between positions.

One major issue you may run into is that your status may drop when you do not have a “to present” position listed on your profile. For example, if you have an end date for your last position on your LinkedIn profile and you do not have a…

How Exercise Can Enhance Your Job Performance

  Exercise has many more benefits than enhancing what you see in the mirror. Yes, it can help you get in shape so you look your best, but there are many more benefits to exercise and studies have even shown that it can help you perform better while you are at work.

There are many benefits to exercising regularly. Once you get into a good workout routine, you will soon begin to feel better and you…

7 Ways to Self-Promote at Work with Grace

  You don’t have to be an aggressive attention-seeker to get ahead at work. In fact, the less obnoxious you are, the better.

Instead, build positive relationships with everyone you can, both inside and outside your organization. Get ahead by helping others succeed, improving their perceptions of you, and doing the marketing legwork required to stay visible.

This way, when opportunities come along…

Many Interviews, Zero Offers – 5 Ways to Audit Your Interview Performance

  You might have had a few interviews. But, no offers. That could mean the competition was significantly more qualified than you were. Or that you could improve how you interview.

Doing an Executive Interview Audit

However, if you’ve had many interviews and zero offers, then it makes common sense to do an audit of what has transpired during past interviews to see what can be modified to improve…

3 Ways to Master the “Why Should We Hire You?” Interview Question

  Interviewing can be stressful – especially if it’s been awhile since you last did it. You prepare ahead of timeby researching the company, the position, the contacts with whom you will interview and the challenges the company may be experiencing. You rehearse answers to expected interview questions outlining your accomplishments and the stories behind them. You are ready to knock them dead for…

When Online Job Ads Request Salary Numbers – 4 Options to Consider

  The January jobs report, with its 257,000 new jobs, confirmed that the recovery has traction.

However, you realize there is still stiff competition for executive level positions. In many fields there remains a talent glut. Of course, you want to do everything right in applying for jobs.

Now, online ads ask for salary numbers

That’s why you become uneasy as more and more online help-wanted ads…

Why Ageism Isn’t Your Real Problem

Ageism as a challenge gets thrown around a lot in the executive recruiting world. There is this false assumption that because you’re a certain age that you won’t get the job. The reality is there are plenty of companies who will hire you for your expertise regardless of your age if you can properly convey your value.

Yet many executives looking for work still cite ageism as their main challenge…

5 Ways You Can Successfully Move From Being a Business Owner to an Executive

  Business owners typically have the skills they need to be an executive for another company. They have most likely been involved in every area of their business, know about their particular expertise and can lead a group of people.

However, moving from a business owner to an executive for another company is not the easiest transition to make. Whereas many executives have been climbing up the…

How Introverts Can Show Passion During a Job Interview

  The challenges of introverts in the work force have been well documented in research studies, articles and surveys. After all, it would seem that in order to succeed in your career you would need to be an extravert.

One such challenge many introverts face is that of showing passion during a job interview. In particular, it can be difficult for an introvert to talk about themselves or think on…

7 Logical Reasons Why You Have Zero Results From Your Job Hunt

  It’s the most frustrating scenario an executive can experience. You’ve spruced up your resume, sent it off to open jobs and after a few weeks you are still hearing crickets. Nothing seems to work and trying to get a hold of HR has been useless.

You scratch your head wondering what could possibly be wrong. After all, you’ve got great experience! Could you be overqualified? Did you format your…

4 Ways to Make Your Resume Mobile Friendly

  One of the job hunting trends we’re seeing in 2015 is the rise of mobile recruiting. While moving in the direction of mobile has been going on for some time, a 2014 LinkedIn report suggests that because candidates have become so keen on looking for jobs on their phones that companies are starting to put forth more effort in their mobile recruiting efforts.

What does this mean for you? The bad…

3 Ways to Use the “Alumni Connection” On LinkedIn

  It is often said that in order to advance in your career it’s not really what you know but rather who you know. One such case in which this adage is true is when you leverage your alma mater’s alumni network to find a job.

Let’s face it, people do have a tendency to help out fellow alumni if they can. It’s a point of pride for many and a great way for them to give back to their alma mater. If…