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Big U.S. employers, worried about replacing retiring baby boomers, are wading deeper into education and growing bolder about telling educators how to run their business.

In this economy, you need to take advantage of every available resource to propel your career. Finding a mentor-and preferably a network of mentors-is an easy and smart way to get started. And, it won't set you back financially the way hiring a career coach would. Here's how.

I spent most of my early career trying to do things perfectly. And as you can imagine, this didn't work out very well. Screw-ups happen, and how you cope with them is a strong measure of your overall effectiveness in a work environment.

I have been living and working outside of the United States for almost three years. I have a small spa in the Caribbean and due to the slowing economy, have decided to return to the States to utilize my bachelor's degree in communications. Could you give me a bit of advice on how to present my entrepreneurial past to prospective employers as I return to the corporate work force?

With unemployment at a 23-year high, job seekers need to expand the ways in which they search, say career and workplace experts. These days setting up and maintaining an online presence is often critical to finding work. But for an accomplished professional, it might seem daunting to build up a social-networking presence from scratch. Here's how to do it:

According to Stephen M.R. Covey, author of "The Speed of Trust," trust is the confidence one instills in others based on character and competence. Mr. Covey says that a lack of it has a major impact on performance. "Everything slows down in a company with low trust. You see an increase in bureaucracy and redundancy, and excess policies and procedures. Organizations are becoming painfully aware of how expensive this is, and they are taking steps to become trusted players from the inside out," he says.

So many working people out there feel frustrated and stuck in their careers . They feel trapped in jobs that don't fit, unable to make a change. Eventually, a negative perspective starts to permeate everything.

I'm frequently asked how to make the transition from working in an organization to striking out on one's own. But here's a question that's rarely discussed: What if you're an entrepreneur or solo practitioner and must decide whether to return to the business world? Can you -- and should you -- go from your living room back to the boardroom?

If you are in the market for a job, especially if you have at least several years of work experience, you should be taking advantage of the significant benefits LinkedIn can bring to your job search, including warm leads into companies or to people you are targeting, the possibility of creating new job leads through recruiters who frequently use the site or people who are impressed with comments you post on the site, and access to posted and unposted job openings. So how do you take advantage of LinkedIn if you're a job seeker?

Starting any new job is hard, and coming back to work after a long layoff can be even harder. Here's how to make a successful re-entry.

How do you decide what jobs to apply for? Referral from a friend? New alert from Monster.com? There will always be temptations due to the nature of being in transition. Most of us while looking want to stop looking and find a job (I say most as some really love being out and free!). And anything that looks kind of close gets our heart palpitating.

Introverts bring many unique strengths to organizations, including a focus on depth, an ability to listen, and a calm, reflective nature. If career counselors and coaches can deepen their understanding of how introverts are "wired," they can help create more wins for introverted clients and their organizations.

Earlier this month, Virginia Chu, laid off and looking for job leads, found herself in downtown Manhattan, along with a few hundred other professionals. Like Ms. Chu, 37 years old, most of the attendees at New York's first LaidOffCamp were unemployed and came to listen to advice on topics like starting a business and the basics of networking. But the gathering was not a standard-issue job fair. Instead of hired speakers lecturing on how to find a new job or start a business, the attendees themselves were leading the discussions. And though a few employers were on hand, the focus of the day wasn't on being recruited, but on finding resources and new contacts.

Dear J.T. & Dale: My husband and I both have worked in high tech for more than 20 years. With all the stress from outsourcing and reorgs and overly aggressive management, we feel like Lucy and Ethel in that famous "I Love Lucy" episode where the assembly line keeps gets cranked up faster and faster. We've been investigating alternative careers, but none of the resources we've used addresses how the work environment fits into the picture. We fear making a career change that ends up trapping us in a new toxic environment. - Kathy

Nowadays, new laptops usually come with built-in Webcams, including the ultra-small, inexpensive models known as netbooks. But many people don't know what to do with these Webcams or how to use them for videoconferencing with other people. Some don't even realize their computers have these tiny videocameras.

Community colleges are thrilled that President Obama is planning a major infusion of federal support for their job training programs, and they are talking about how this might best be done.

Because so many people in their teens and early 20s are in this constant whir of socializing-accessible to each other every minute of the day via cellphone, instant messaging and social-networking Web sites-there are a host of new questions that need to be addressed in schools, in the workplace and at home. Chief among them: How much work can "hyper-socializing" students or employees really accomplish if they are holding multiple conversations with friends via text-messaging, or are obsessively checking Facebook?

The truth is that many employers generally like older hires because they tend to be more reliable, conscientious and loyal. However, candidates over 50 have to overcome hiring managers' fears that they have one foot out the door. Your friends should de-emphasize their age by removing dates from their resumes and making subtle changes to their appearance to look younger. Most importantly, though, they should showcase their enthusiasm for the job and how motivated they are to achieve, which will make employers more likely to believe they're in it for the long-term.

"How far would you move for a job? Moving is complex and expensive, but sometimes job survival means workers don't have much of a choice, especially if you're unlucky enough to live in an area plagued by unemployment."

"I was privileged to hear His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speak as he accepted the International Freedom Conductor Award in Cincinnati, Ohio in October 2010. As a career coach, I reflected on his words to see how these might apply to life and work, especially for those in a life or career transition. These ideas are applicable to both career coaches and clients alike."