How to Reject an Offer and Save the Relationship

Can you mend relations with a company who offered you a job, but you then rejected? This question was recently asked to The Wall Street Journal by the wife of an individual who received two job offers, accepted one, but now believes he should have taken the other one.
The rejected company told her husband he [...]

Ask Not What Your Network Can Do For You

Ask not what your network can do for you. Ask what you can do for your network.
Your network will return the favor when you need it, but only if you’ve developed a wellspring of goodwill and generosity among your peers, Clark Christensen, a senior-level executive in Coca-Cola Financial Management, in a feature article for TheLadders, [...]

How to Use Your Professional Network Over and Over Again

Make sure you have something to offer every contact every time you reach out to them, said John Crant, a career expert and founder of SelfRecruiter.com.

Tapping your professional network to find a job means tapping many of the same contacts over and over again. To ensure you don’t outlast your welcome, maintain a two-way relationship, [...]

Can We Meet for Coffee or Lunch?

An informational interview is usually a waste of an executive recruiter’s time, said the anonymous manager and author of the “Ask a Manager” blog.
Most people who ask for an informational interview are usually trying to sneak an actual job interview, or they’re randomly trying to meet with anyone and everyone who might have a job [...]

Payroll Report from ADP Shows Diminshing Job Loss, But Still Loss

The private sector shed another 254,000 jobs in September, less than analysts expected and one of the lowest declines in 14 months, according to payroll firm ADP. But researchers remain cautions about the health of the job market, MarketWatch reports.
“Employment losses have diminished significantly over the last two quarters,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic [...]

How to Network and Find Unlisted Job Openings Before Anyone Else

If you are currently searching for a job, networking has never been so important. It’s not enough to have a large network of industry and former work contacts. You must be able to provide value to your network by not only hitting contacts up, but offering to help others use your contacts to benefit their [...]

Pay it Forward: Broadcast Available Jobs

What can you do to stimulate the economy? Tell people when you hear about a job. Tell your brother-in-law, tell your current and former colleagues, tell your network, tell everyone, said G.L. Hoffman , CEO of Job Dig, a career-advice Web site.
He advocates job seekers (and non-job seekers) use Twitter, Facebook and any means possible [...]

Lost in the Job Search Without a Rudder

Does the job search feel like you’re lost at sea without a rudder?
If the letters and e-mails we receive from readers are any indication, the analogy fits.
To spill a little company Kool-Aid, TheLadders operates a Community Service team that goes well beyond a typical call center. The bulk of the phone calls, e-mail and chat [...]

How to Make Unemployment a Career Stepping Stone? Volunteer

Donating your time and expertise to a non-profit during a layoff isn’t just a good way to stay busy, lift your spirits and earn points with the universe. It can be a career stepping stone.
A story in the March 17 Wall Street Journal – The Laid-Off Can Do Well Doing Good – cites three unemployed [...]

Job-Search Lessons From the Obama Campaign

“Barack, Inc. Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign,” a new book by business writers Rich Faulk and Barry Libert, draw lessons from Barrack Obama’s management strategy in his successful campaign for president.
Faulk and Libert are writing primarily for business leaders seeking management tips, but the core principles of Barrack’s management identified by the authors [...]