"When James Marvin retired from the Navy Seals in September, he had two choices: seek a civilian government position in his current state of Virginia or pursue the unknown. He chose the latter. "We literally put the 'for sale' sign on our home, packed up the minivan, and drove cross-country," says Mr. Marvin, 44, who moved to Seattle with his wife and daughter to pursue a position with an alternative energy company."

With today's stale job market limiting employees' mobility, executives have a unique opportunity to boost the motivation and productivity of their top talent without spending lots of money. Unfortunately, many companies are missing the mark - especially when it comes to managing their emerging leaders, or "high potentials." Here are the five biggest mistakes companies are making with high-potential talent:

Webinars for Job Seekers

March 2010 Employment in New York

"The passage by NCDA of the Minimum Competencies for Multicultural Career Counseling and Development confirms the long known reality that the work of career counselors is impacted by the complexity of culture as much as psychotherapy and other forms of counseling. As career services professionals, the Competencies provide us with a useful framework for engaging our increasingly diverse client population. The Competencies challenge us to shift our counseling paradigms, improve our techniques, modify our theoretical approaches, and to be aware of our own cultural blind spots as we attempt to meet the unique needs of our clients and to better understand how culture impacts career development. While the Competencies provide basic guidance about the skills and knowledge needed to be a culturally competent career practitioner, it is still a challenge for career experts to understand how they can integrate multicultural competence into their everyday practice. This article seeks to examine some factors to consider when developing one's multicultural competence as it pertains to career counseling."

"Internships-the vast majority of which are unpaid-have become a staple of the college experience. In 1992, only 9% of graduating college students had participated in internships; by 2006 that figure increased nine-fold to 83% (Ortner 1997/1998; NACE 2008), representing at least 2.5 million student workers each year. Internships are often beneficial for both the student and the employer. Students can gain valuable insights into the nature of a certain occupation or industry, specific skill development, exposure to a network of contacts in a field of interest, and experience in the professional world. In turn, employers can engage in low-cost workforce training and vetting for future employment."

"Later this year, a marketing manager will sit down for his first day of work at HomeAway, a company that helps people rent their vacation homes online. In the firm's sleek Austin, Texas, headquarters, a glass-wrapped building decorated with travel souvenirs, the marketer will flip on his computer and do his job - a job no one has done before. This, you see, will be a brand-new job, one of the most coveted commodities of economic recovery. "

"A new educational credential could prove to be a time-efficient and cost-effective means to help launch a career change. The National Work Readiness Credential (NWRC) is based on an employer-defined standard of the critical skills needed by entry-level workers in a variety of fields."

"Few events arouse more teenage angst than the springtime arrival of college rejection letters. With next fall's college freshman class expected to approach a record 2.9 million students, hundreds of thousands of applicants will soon be receiving the dreaded letters. Teenagers who face rejection will be joining good company, including Nobel laureates, billionaire philanthropists, university presidents, constitutional scholars, best-selling authors and other leaders of business, media and the arts who once received college or graduate-school rejection "

One of the most old-fashioned occupations in finance is back in favor: the life-insurance agent. Some big insurers are adding thousands of agents and planning to sign up more. They're taking advantage of the weak job market to scoop up former real-estate agents, mortgage brokers, bankers and lawyers whose prospects have declined.

Netvibes Career Explorations: Get RSS feeds, videos, and podcasts on career development issues. Information is organized by topic, field, and feed types. Enjoy!

Top Ten Networking Tips for Alumni written by Leslie Camacho.

"One of my best friends from high school, Andrew, changed majors during his first semester at college. He and I had been fascinated by politics for years, sharing every news story we could find and participating in the Internet activism that was exploding into a new political force. Even though he was still passionate about politics, that was no longer enough. "I have to get practical," he messaged me one day, "think about getting a job after graduation. I mean, it's like my mom keeps asking me: What can you do with a degree in political science anyway?""

"MAYS LANDING, N.J.-Training and education are said to be the best route to a better job, but Cynthia Motte is still waiting to see if that's true. Ms. Motte and millions of other jobless workers across the country are discovering that new skills can take you only so far when jobs are scarce."

NYC Workforce Weekly March 10. 2010

Occupational Employment OOQ Winter 2009

WASHINGTON - The United States is doing a lousy job at helping people get training and then find a job, argued a group of scholars who gathered here Wednesday to unveil a set of suggested reforms.

"Last year, Jackie Siddall described in a blog post how a message she received on Twitter prompted her to buy a folding kayak for around $1,900."

"After three rounds of interviews for a sales position with Prudential Insurance Co. of America, Patricia Rosa received a letter in February saying her job application was denied based on information from a background check she authorized the company to conduct. The only blemish on her record, she says: Poor credit that built up since she lost her job two years ago."