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    “You are somewhere in the middle of a half-century work life where market forces place jobs and careers in a permanent state of volatility. It’s a world where your survival demands that you understand more about job change, career management and professional growth, not to mention those other challenges that pepper your work life like migraines. It’s a world where you need to be connected and have strategies in place: plans of attack, plans for defense and plans for growth. These are the very topics I deal with everyday.” - Martin Yate

Martin on The Career Clinic (August 24)

Listen as Martin explains the importance of being a problem solver for your potential employer.

Notice-- This material is Copyright 2007, North Shore Productions. You may use the audio on your web site if the entire program, including commercial, is available for playback--and you mention The Career Clinic(R) by name. Otherwise the material is not for broadcast, online or other uses without written permission of North Shore Productions.

Martin on The Career Clinic (August 6)

Listen as Martin explains the importance of dressing well for an interview.

Notice-- This material is Copyright 2007, North Shore Productions. You may use the audio on your web site if the entire program, including commercial, is available for playback--and you mention The Career Clinic(R) by name. Otherwise the material is not for broadcast, online or other uses without written permission of North Shore Productions.

What Makes a Winning Resume?

Listen and learn as Martin talks to you about your resume's battleground, why some resumes fail and how to make yours a winner. (Length: 18 minutes)



When you are done listening, learn more about Martin's upcoming Resume Workshop!

Brand Yourself!

I've noticed that the one thing that links the most successful professionals at all levels is that they take a proactive approach to managing their careers. The people who are ahead of the game don't wait for a career emergency to activate their network or update their resume.

I had the pleasure of doing an online interview with William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson yesterday about their new book, Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand (Wiley). This book is fresh and modern approach to career success in the information age, and I highly recommend it. It is one of the few books for which I have ever agreed to write a foreword.

We talked about their four principles of career distinction, their personal branding process, and their 12 ways to maintain career distinction over time. And just so you know, these twelve commandments are worth the price of the book.

As William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson explain, you have to make career management a habit. Their innovative, step-by-step approach focuses on personal branding—a new concept for most of us that is largely misrepresented in the media. In the book, they dispel the myths and demonstrate that if you get personal branding right, you will attract your ideal opportunities rather than having to seek them out. Like them, you can increase your success and enjoyment of your work by making the most of who you really are.

You can tune in to this teleseminar here: careerdistinction.typepad.com

Martin on The Career Clinic

Listen as Martin explains why attending professional association meetings is a great networking tool.

Notice-- This material is Copyright 2007, North Shore Productions. You may use the audio on your web site if the entire program, including commercial, is available for playback--and you mention The Career Clinic(R) by name. Otherwise the material is not for broadcast, online or other uses without written permission of North Shore Productions.

Crafting a Resume that Gets Results

A well constructed resume is the cornerstone of every job search. When done well, it can truly communicate your value to employers and land you on the radar of search firms. When done poorly however, it can often mean being overlooked and being placed at the bottom of the pile.

If your New Year's resolution to is to land that next great job, you cannot afford to miss this session with NY Times bestselling author, globally acknowledged career wizard and executive career strategist: Martin Yate.

Join Martin and BlueSteps.com for Crafting a Resume that Gets Results on Monday, January 29, 2007 (12:00 PM EST). Space is limited so register now!

New Year Career Resolutions: Martin Yate on careerbuilder.com

New Year Career Resolutions: Earn more $, get that promotion, craft a better resume land a new job!

Join Martin Yate and Careerbuilder.com on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 (12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST) for a one hour call-in talk show to learn how to bring your New Year career resolutions to life. Space is very limited so register now and learn how to Knock 'em Dead in the New Year!

Wow Your Interviewer with Your Brand

Teleseminar: Wow Your Interviewer with Your Brand

Date: October 18, 2006

9:00 AM PDT Los Angeles
12:00 PM EDT New York
5:00 PM BST London
6:00 PM CEST Paris

To stand out from others who are vying for the same job, it's vital to communicate your unique value in the interview. Before your first interview, you will have already invested a lot of time and effort defining your personal brand, writing a compelling resume and cover letter and researching the company. Often, your career marketing materials have done a good job selling your qualifications and all you have to do is deliver the same promise of value in your in-person meetings. But, if the interview goes awry, then the opportunity may be lost.

In this teleseminar William Arruda, founding partner of the Reach Branding Club, will interview, Martin Yate, one of the world's leading employment interview experts and author of the best-selling Knock 'em Dead series of career books. Martin is also the author of Hiring the Best, so he knows what hiring authorities are looking for. With the opportunity to ask Martin your questions and gain access to his proven advice for stellar interviews, you'll learn:

- How to deconstruct the target job
- What to do when faced with questions that throw you off track
- How to prepare so you can have a productive conversation
- Martin Yate's five secrets of the hire

Register Now - Space is limited to 100 participants, so reserve your spot immediately.

Getting Noticed

One of twenty at a breakfast meeting with COO of Fortune 1000 company wants to know if there's one question she could ask to make a lasting impression. There is no single question that will get you plucked from obscurity, and almost impossible to hit a home run when you've got 19 others all trying to hit one out of the park. But there are some actions you can take to max your visibility.

• Prior to the meeting, Google the company, Google the COO. Let the other people ask their questions first; add something to conversation from your research.

• Ask questions that will give you ammunition for future action. For example confirm the skills management feels are critical in professional ranks for success, and where the biggest weaknesses are seen. We all like to talk about ourselves, so ask how managers progressed to their present positions and you might get a track on proven pathways to professional growth.

You'll always make the strongest impression by first joining the inner circle of your department and then becoming your boss's right hand. You'll be more visible, more credible and experience faster growth when you ally yourself with others who are already upwardly mobile.

Interviews: Good Questions/Bad Questions

A visitor to this site wrote,


I just went through my second interview. Thanks for Knock Em Dead I got asked for the third interview!!

My question is, is it tacky to e-mail the HR manager or VP of sales, with whom I will be interviewing with on the 3rd interview, and ask them about growth potential and advancement? When I was asked on both interviews, "Do you have any other questions?" This question of growth and advancement totally left me. Should I wait until the third interview or go ahead and e-mail?


My opinion? No absolutely not, your question is a "nice to know" not a "must know" in so much as it is irrelevant until they start talking about offering you a job. Also it smacks of "what can you do for me?" at a time you should concentrating on finding out what you can do for them. There are lots of good relevant questions to ask that you can find on the website and on this blog and there is a whole chapter of them in KED Ultimate Job Seekers Guide 2006. Find out the challenges they face in the department, how this position is expected to make a contribution, how you will be spending your time in first few months, first projects you will be involved with; armed with this info you can make powerful pitches for your competency and for your candidacy.

So don't email and don't ask this question until the talk gets really serious concentrate on asking questions that will help bring you to that point. Hope this helps and good luck with the interview.

Honor in all work, and fairness for all our countrymen surely?

From Working Families a review of the current inequity for those on the lowest rung of our economic ladder:

In the past nine years, workers making the minimum wage haven't gotten a single raise. Not one. And while the wage of $5.15 an hour has stayed the same, its value has dropped precipitously, putting workers further and further behind.
 
It's long past time for Congress to help the millions of workers earning the minimum wage or close to it. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act, and you can help by signing on as a citizen co-sponsor of the bill.

Since 1997, Congress has voted eight pay raises for itself but not one dime for workers making the minimum wage. The annual salary for members of Congress has gone up by $31,600 in that time, while a minimum wage employee working full-time earns just $10,700 a year.

Just this year, Congress gave itself a $3,100 raise. It's time for Congress to stop working for itself and start working for America's families. Sign on today to be a co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three steps:


  • $5.85 60 days after enactment.

  • $6.55 one year later.

  • $7.25 one year after that.


Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would mean an additional $4,370 a year for a full-time worker, enough to pay an average of nine months of rent, pay 18 months of heat and electricity or a full year's tuition for a community college degree.

The increase would have an immediate, direct impact on more than 7 million workers and an indirect impact on millions more.

Right now, there are 37 million Americans—including 13 million children—living in poverty in America, and raising the minimum wage is the easiest thing we can do to stop the rising tide of poverty.

Please take action today and sign on to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act.

That which does not kill us only serves to make us stronger and enrich our lives

Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.

-Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

What to do with your hands at an interview

A visitor asks if it is "appropriate to bring notes to the interview to remind me of questions I want to ask, points I want to remember to bring out, sample scenarios, etc.? Also, should I bring recent reviews and letters of praise from superiors and clients?"

My advice is to take a decent looking folder, inside of which is pen, pad of paper, bunch of resumes to hand out as appropriate (don't force them on people) and of course for your own reference during the interview, and your notes and questions. The interviewer has notes and refers to them you can too and feel quite comfortable about it, it makes you look organized and thoughtful; of course you will print them out. As to letters of praise and recent reviews, it's a judgment call: some hiring managers appreciate them others don't put much store by them. My take is that if you have written praise you should take it along, if for no other reason than it can't do any harm. With reviews be sure that names and contact information is deleted.

When to speak up

As far as women have come in the workplace, they still face gender stereotypes, sexist attitudes and inappropriate behavior on the job. Many women find themselves using various strategies for combating boorish behavior: deciding which taunts are better left ignored, which warrant a quick response and which need to be taken to a higher level. Such gray areas present a dilemma for female employees: how much should they put up with before taking action? Or should they speak up at the first incident of an offensive comment or behavior? Women's rights advocates say employees don't have to tolerate any behavior they find offensive, regardless of whether it meets the legal definition of sexual harassment. But dynamics such as office politics, peer pressure and fear of being labeled a troublemaker play a role in the choices women make, experts say.

When to speak up By Hanah Cho, The Baltimore Sun
Read the article

Another email issue that can bite you

Never use your work e-mail address. It increases the odds of your boss learning that you are looking at broader horizons, e-mails leave a trail that employers can and do follow. Nowadays, it is common for an IT worker to be assigned to monitor appropriate use of company computers, and that always includes tracking Internet and e-mail usage. Using company e-mail outside regular working hours won't work either—the trail is still there for prying eyes to see. Please stay away from company telephone and email usage for your job search. It can be and often is regarded as theft of company time and services; it's not only cause for dismissal it also sends the wrong message to potential employers.

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