An unlikely combo Emily in Paris and Career Coaching Maybe not. Read on. For anyone who lives in a box, sans Wi-Fi, “Emily in Paris” is one of Netflix latest, hottest streamed series. It tells the story of Emily Cooper a PR junior sent from her H.Q. in Chicago to the offices of a French…

I work mainly with people who are on LinkedIn but who don’t / won’t engage. The two main reasons given are the unrelenting self-promotion of some members, and the inappropriate behaviour towards women. Increasingly I am hearing a third answer. LinkedIn polls. Plague of LinkedIn polls My own observation is that they are on the…

I regularly observe career coaches and recruiters encouraging candidates to send handwritten thank you letters to their interviewers. I have even seen hiring managers say that receipt of a thank you note is part of their decision making process and they judge candidates negatively for failing to comply. In some cases they even cut candidates…

LinkedIn’s new feature with “Homemaker”, “Stay-at-home Mom,” ” Stay-at-home Dad,” or “Stay-at-home Parent,” are now approved as recognized job descriptions on LinkedIn to avoid employment gaps on your profile. This is supposedly to support anyone who was a COVID casualty and made redundant during the pandemic. The option is especially designed to allow women who are badly…

How much attention do you pay to voice when you think of a leader or when you hear a speaker?  I cut my teeth on old school telephone interviewing so can confirm that voice  definitely plays a role in the assessment of someone. Voices are an integral part of our identity and we can all…

We are now for some people in a second or even third period of layoffs. Many complain they didn’t maximise their time in the first series and want to do better this time around. So how can you make the most of furloughs in the next round to manage your career in times of uncertainty?  …

Is it time to dump those interview question clichés which constantly crop up and add little value? I would say so! And for once I am not a lone voice! I was recently involved in an interview process and the hiring manager asked the candidate: “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Poker face…

Social distancing is going to change the way our organisations are structured and by default the career and job search landscape. In 2016, I identified an emerging trend which I call a “cluster career.”  This is a series of diversified revenue generating professional activities, operating sequentially or simultaneously. This not be confused with a career…

Anyone who knows me and reads my blog, is familiar with the lengths I would go to not to view a video CV. The words pins and eyes have been used.  Once called a “visumé” the ones I have viewed have been so toe-curlingly embarrassing, that I cringe at the mere memory of them. The…

“Live long and prosper” as the saying goes, but how are we going to handle lives that could potentially span 100 years? Life expectancy has been increasing steadily since 1840 by three months per year. Gratton and Scott in their book The 100 Year Life references research from 2009 which suggests that if the trend continues,…