Author: Katie Weiser

How to Ask Family and Friends for Help With Your Job Search

  By
Help with Your Job Search

If daily life were more like the movies, getting a new job would take only about 10 minutes. You just wait for a family member to come along and make you a vice president in their company, or at least give you a chance to start out in the mailroom.

In reality, your loved ones may not be in a position to hire you. However, they can still be an excellent source of assistance and support.

It makes sense that anyone who cares about you would be eager to help. They may also have valuable suggestions because they know you so well.

Which Outdated Job Search Strategies Are Holding You Back?

  By
Help with job search strategies

You’ll shorten your job search and receive more employment offers if you get rid of outdated strategies that could be holding you back. While some advice, like showing up on time and proofreading your materials, never goes out of style, there are other tactics that are no longer effective.

If you’ve been out of the job market for a while or you just want to maximize your opportunities, consider these job search strategies. They’ll help you update your game plan.

3 Basic Job Search Strategies You May Be Overlooking

  By
Basic Job Search Strategies

When you’re looking for a job these days, installing the newest recruitment app or learning the most popular programming language may be the first thing that comes to mind. While these tactics are valuable, it also pays to remember simple steps that can be overshadowed by the latest trends.

Increase your chances of landing your dream job. Apply these 3 basic strategies to your employment hunt.

1.      Enhance Your Communications:

The internet has made it easier to apply for jobs and gather relevant information. However, you still need to communicate effectively both online and off.

  • Be professional. Understand the degree of formality expected in your industry. When in doubt, address others by their last names and avoid using slang.
  • Proofread and edit. Be meticulous about your cover letters, resumes, and other materials. Read documents forwards and backwards to catch typos. Ask a friend to look over your work so you can benefit from a fresh pair of eyes.
  • Respect the rules. Follow any instructions a potential employer provides. You may have a winning phone personality, but save it for later if they request no calls.
  • Prepare small talk. Interviewers often test your social skills as well as your technical abilities. Have some interesting stories and observations handy.
  • Rehearse your answers. Spend time practicing how you’ll introduce yourself and respond to common interview questions. Train with a friend or coach, or work in front of a mirror.
  • Connect offline. Seize any opportunity for face-to-face communications. A conversation over coffee is more memorable than an email. Attend networking events and schedule information interviews.

Dealing With Rejection During Your Job Search

  By

These days, you may encounter many rejections during your job search.

Dealing With Rejection In Job Search

Often, jobs go to insiders. You probably won’t know why you were not selected unless you are working with a recruiter who can find out and share that information with you.

At times like this, it is important to take care of your personal well-being and keep your hunt on track by following these tips.

Steps to Take for Your Personal Well-Being

  1. Face your feelings. Getting turned down may trigger difficult emotions such as anger or anxiety. Figure out what troubles you most. It might be mainly economic pressures or doubts about your abilities. This will guide you to the individual solutions you need.
  2. Seek support. Talk to other job seekers. You may wind up exchanging valuable leads while you help each other feel better. Let family and friends know exactly how they can help you. Find strength in your spiritual practices.
  3. Exercise regularly. A good workout fights stress and pain. If a gym membership is too expensive, take a walk or use free exercise apps.
  4. Manage stress. There are many constructive ways to deal with the pressures of unemployment. Breathe deeply, listen to instrumental music, or focus on helping others.
  5. View the interview positively.  All interviews are practice runs.  Take the time to debrief yourself – what you did well and what you think needs improvement.  Every interview prepares you for the next one.  In addition, interviews are for you to decide if you like the company and the job.  You may be the one who is rejecting them.  

How To Dress for A Video Interview

  By
How To Dress for A Video Interview

In an age of remote and hybrid work, it’s becoming increasingly common for interviews to happen virtually. Most of today’s business leaders, hiring managers, and recruitment companies find they can save a lot of time and effort by conducting interviews via video.

Nutmeg Education reports that in 2025 over 60% of companies are conducting video interviews on a regular basis. That’s good news for a lot of job candidates. It means you don’t have to make the trip to some distant location to find an office or risk getting lost.

Plus, video interviews can sometimes feel less daunting than in-person interactions because you can do them from the comfort of your home.

Unfortunately, working from home and interacting over video has also led to more people failing to dress to impress for their interviews.

At a Professional Crossroads? How to Choose the Path That’s Right for You

  By
Professional Crossroads

Making a career choice and sticking to it is not as easy as it sounds, especially in today’s economic climate. It can be nerve-wracking to go through the process of choosing a path, especially when you’re not sure if it’ll take you to a long-lived career.

So how do you know which path to take?

How can you be sure that going in a certain direction is the absolute best thing to do? 

Consider these thought processes to help you make the career choice that’s right for you:

1. Believe in the worth of your efforts. 

Only you know how much work and effort you’ve put into making yourself ready for the ideal career. And, as the saying goes, “You get out what you put in.” If you are genuinely satisfied that you’ve made the most thorough preparations, then pat yourself on the back and go for it!

How to Handle Job Interview Anxiety

  By ,
How to Handle Job Interview Anxiety

It’s natural to feel job interview anxiety. If you aren’t nervous, it means you don’t care.  So, those butterflies in your stomach indicate several things are at stake for you: your career progression, how your contributions will make a difference, the achievement of financial goals, and your overall well-being.  They are all at risk. 

Jitters are common in such a situation because many things are being evaluated.  Every interview question you answer will be scrutinized.  Your clothes make an impression; your posture, your long silences, or scratchy throat reveal nervousness.  The feel of your handshake can make or break you.  And, let’s not forget today’s environment – how you come across on a Zoom video call.   Job interview anxiety can also be troublesome as well. You may be too distracted to think clearly about what you need to say, and you may give your interviewer the impression that you lack confidence.

Are You a Resume Procrastinator?

  By , ,
Are you a resume procrastinator?

Why do we procrastinate around keeping our resumes up to date?  Six reasons that will resonate with you are:

  1. It is a struggle.   Drafts and rewrites of updated experience and skills take too much time, and you have more pressing work to get done. 
  2. Resume style standards keep changing.  How do you know what is the latest and greatest?  Are objectives at the top of a resume, old school?  Are resumes submitted on-line in a different format from a printed version?
  3. Skill sets are a moving target.  What is hot today may not be tomorrow.  So, I might as well wait till I need a resume to emphasize my latest expertise.
  4. You are in a good place.  You feel good about your job and see a future with the company.   
  5. It is pricey.   It can be costly to hire a professional writer.
  6. Out of sight, out of mind. It is easy to stash your resume away in your bottom drawer and forget about it. 

Career Joy Is A Choice

  By ,
Career Joy is a Choice

Career joy is a choice.   But, how does one opt for career joy?  It takes self-awareness, self-appreciation, gratitude, a focus on others, and a determination to control one’s life and career.  Here are a few pointers to get you going:

Self-Awareness of your strengths is the foundation of career joy. The Gallup organization which has created an easy assessment to identify your strengths,  Strengthsfinder 2.0, has defined them as a combination of talent, knowledge, and skills.  When all three are present, the result is a strength.  So, think about whether you are leveraging your talents, applying your knowledge and using your skills on a daily basis.  If you are using your strengths, then you are bound for career success and fulfillment.

If you are not, you probably are unhappy at work, dread Monday mornings, and feel stuck.  If so, determination to take action on a career move is in order.  It’s difficult to make a change because the comfort zone is an easier option.  But, the outcome of lack of career joy is poor performance.  All of a sudden your attitude goes from motivation to apathy.  Two red flags can tell you something is amiss:   an “I don’t care” attitude begins to show in your productivity, attention to detail is waning, and relationship issues begin to crop up.  Also, depression can creep into daily work and can lead to physical symptoms that make you ill.  These signs are an indicator you are very close to the precipice of losing your job.   Instead, be proactive in opting for career joy by making the hard choice to get back into the job market for something better suited to using your strengths.

Self-Appreciation is about understanding that you are unique. Your strengths, personality, and energy force are different from others.  Often we take our strengths for granted because they come easily to us.  How you use your strengths combined with your personality, the experiences you have had, and the way you navigate through challenges will be unlike anyone  Just as every snowflake is different, there is no one like you.  We tend to be tough on ourselves in the pursuit of perfection.  We beat ourselves up for what we did wrong.  We focus on the negatives more than the positives.  It’s important to appreciate what we have done right.  It’s all about progress – not perfection.   A little determination to do more self-appreciation will bring more career joy.

Gratitude takes time; and with busy lives, time is a rare commodity. Be grateful for problems disguised as an opportunity.  Be grateful for co-workers who challenge you, be grateful for families who support you.  Be grateful for the crummy boss who makes you decide to leave, be grateful for the small kindnesses extended your way every day.  Many have found success in keeping a gratitude journal.  Writing down the things that you are grateful for each evening is a great send off to sleep.  Journaling does not come easy for some, but if you have the self-determination, give it a try-on for size.  Then, if you want to go the extra mile, tell those who have helped you in your career how much you appreciate them, whether in person, a call or in a note.  It will bring you both career joy and make the relationship much richer.

Be of service to others in all you do. Careers are made up of relationships.  Building one relationship at a time yields wonderful friendships, often for a lifetime. You can reach out up or down the ladder or laterally.  Make a concerted effort to reach out to three people a week to catch up on what they are doing.  It’s about how you can be of service to them.  Not vice-versa.  Although not to say at some point, they may return the favor.  It is much more rewarding giving than receiving.   It is a dying art of keeping track of people and their lives earnestly.  Facebook and other social media are so much easier to use with a simple “like.”  But, the genuine concern, deep listening, curiosity and being there when needed is best-shown one-on-one.  Sincere relationships and doing for others will build your network into a powerhouse.  Let’s not forget mentoring others as a way of giving back your strength, knowledge, and skills.  Mentoring can change a career life forever.  The determination to keep the momentum of reaching out to three people a week will bring you career joy as you make others feel you truly care.

The inner joy of knowing and using your strengths every day, appreciating your own self, being grateful, and being of service to others will bring career success and fulfillment.  It just takes determination to make the choices that foster career joy.

To Your Career Success,

Katie Weiser

© Katie Weiser. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katie Weiser with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Discover Your Ideal Career

  By , ,
Discover Your Ideal Career

When dissatisfaction with your career begins to gnaw away at you every day, it’s a red flag telling you that you are not in your ideal job or career.  Staying passive and just keeping your head down at work will only frustrate you more. Be proactive and dive into the discovery process.  It requires an investigative mindset to conduct much-needed self-reflection, research on careers and jobs, dialogue with others, and persistence.  It won’t happen overnight with a major AHA moment.  You want to conduct your due diligence to ensure that you are making the right move into a new job or career.  Here are 10 tips to help you with the process of discovering your ideal career:

  1. Shed the inner voice that says you aren’t good enough, who do you think you are, or you’re too old. All negative fear-based thinking.  Talk back to the voice to squash it!  Remember, you are unique and have wonderful gifts to give to the world.
  2. Take time to reflect on what you love to do.  Reach back to your childhood and early years – is there something that you have submerged that can be reignited?
  3. Ask yourself – what do people compliment you on?  Often our talents are so innate that we take them for granted.  Others, however, appreciate your skills.  A great way to identify your skills is to use a quick assessment like Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.  It will give you your Top 5 strengths.  That’s important to know so you will look for jobs that require those strengths.
  4. Ask your friends and family – if money was not in the picture, what would they see you doing next in your career?
  5. Review your past jobs.  What did you love about them and what did you dislike?   What are the common themes?  In your next job you want to do what you like most and shed the dislikes.
  6. Carve out time to network. Get to know what other people do. You may find a career path you never thought of before. Volunteering is a great way to network.
  7. Use O*Net Online to research careers and the requirements for them.
  8. Once you have narrowed your career choices down to 3-4, interview people in those professions to determine how they got into the field, what they enjoy about the job, and any advice they may give you.  If you don’t know anyone in that profession, use LinkedIn to see if any of your friends know someone in that industry to talk to.  Most people will be happy to do an informational interview with you – remember this is not asking them for a job.
  9. If you have found a career that requires more education, talk with the chairperson of the department at a local college.  They are a wealth of knowledge on careers and the requirements for entering a degree or certificate program.
  10. Create a support team (family, mentor, coach) who you can share your innermost feelings, brainstorm and hold you accountable.

Honest introspection, following the actions above, and accountability will help you discover your ideal career.  Finding it is never a straight line, it zigs and zags.  Every person you talk with helps you to connect the dots.  So, take the time and stay focused.  Manage it just like any other project with deadlines and the outcome will bring you a new career or job that offers you challenge and fulfillment.

To Your Career Success,

Katie Weiser

© Katie Weiser. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katie Weiser with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.