When building your career, your hard skills are your foundations. But soft skills are very often the cement. Find out why you need to synthesize your career into a coherent story for delivery both verbally and in writing.

Story telling in job search is a talent. There are some natural raconteurs who have the gift of the gab. Most of us with less ability have to work on developing those skills. Many will wonder why that matters at all – but the reality is that it does. Story telling in job search is critical to…

Or why the devil is in the job seeker details! I don’t have a great eye for detail so it’s something I have had to be mindful of throughout my career. But, I have found, there are two types of attention to detail in job search. This detail can make a difference between you and the cyber black hole or the…

Navigating the job search maze Create your own Job Search Advisory Board If you  Google “job search tips” there are 460 million entries. Now I haven’t looked further  than the first 3 pages, but I can imagine they contain some widely differing nuggets of advice.  Add to this,  the well intended input from friends, family, colleagues and bosses,…

Many of us sit on aeroplanes, especially frequent flier business trips and watch the cabin crew go through the emergency procedures with tuned-out indifference. We know the drill because we’ve seen it possibly hundreds of times in our lifetimes. Despite the commentary that all should pay attention, we dutifully turn off our electronic devices as…

Job snob  –  Cait Reilly a year down the line I  have followed with interest the story of Cait Reilly, the Geology graduate who instigated a judicial review for contravention of her human rights. She was made to work unpaid at Poundland, a discount store,  stacking shelves and cleaning floors,  or otherwise be obliged to forfeit her government benefits of £53…

Although not an open networker, I am a strategic one and I have over time become an advocate of the theory that there is strength in a weak network. I don’t connct with just anyone and everyone, but I don’t mind if I don’t know the individual personally. That particular connection may not be directly helpful, but perhaps will be connected to someone who might be. Being naturally curious I am always open to meeting new people.

What to do when you HATE your job with a passion! I spent time last week coaching a young professional who hated his job in a small, family run organisation. In fact he hated it so badly that the things he claimed he would rather be doing instead, covered all manner of unspeakable things, too…

Old methodologies can work! Today the pace of technological change is phenomenal and the process of searching for a new job has moved away from the more traditional methods towards online, electronic strategies. We now talk about social recruiting and there are whole professions built around the concept. Tried and tested techniques such as snail…

According to research carried out by international organisations such as Manpower and Deloitte, there are many indications that after a period of cautiousness brought about by stringent economic times, a high percentage of employees will now be open to new job opportunities. The numbers range from 66% – 84%, but whichever one you take, they…