Career Development

"Kent Niederhofer can't find enough mechanical engineers to work for him - in southeastern Michigan. You know, where Detroit is, with its 13.3% unemployment rate. Niederhofer is president of the American branch of Ricardo, an engineering consultancy that designs the power trains of some of the coolest stuff around: Bugatti sports cars, huge wind turbines and unmanned aerial vehicles. "We are doing rocket science every day," says Niederhofer. "It's just not on rockets." So Ricardo got a little desperate, renting a billboard to place a help-wanted ad that featured a picture of a sexy-looking sports car, the tagline "Why you became an engineer" and a Web address for job seekers. He calls it engineer porn."

Though a career fair is an excellent opportunity to explore different employment prospects, the sheer number of recruiters and competing job seekers attending the event can make it hard for you to get noticed. Also note that you should set reasonable expectations for yourself when attending a career fair; no employer is going to make you an offer on the spot, so your goal is simply to forge an initial connection with a wide variety of companies.

Job tracking website. Better than a spreadsheet.

"It's something job seekers often wonder: Do you really need to submit a cover letter with your résumé?"

No one has been writing best-selling career-advice books longer than Richard Bolles, author of the "What Color Is Your Parachute" series. (1975 was the only skipped year since the series was launched in 1970.)

It's never too early to make a bad impression. A cover letter or introductory email is often the first thing a potential employer sees when reviewing a job applicant. It's the first opportunity to impress recruiters and hiring managers and, therefore, the first opportunity to disappoint them. Everything from copy mistakes to inappropriate jokes in a cover letter could derail an application. Here are the top ten worst things to put on a cover letter:

"I was terminated from my last job. Do I have to put that on my applications for future employment? "

"10 Things Recruiters Won't Tell You "

"After serving on four faculty-hiring committees at community colleges in three different states, I've come to the conclusion that many universities do a poor job of preparing graduate students to negotiate all aspects of the academic job market. Certainly, departments offer sound advice on how to land professorships at four-year institutions, but they fail miserably when it comes to helping master's and doctoral students understand how to apply for jobs at two-year colleges and technical schools."

October 2011 Newsletter

"Since the shocks of corporate re-engineering and leveraged buyouts in the late 1980s, the watchword to employees has been take ownership of your own future. Instead of efforts to build bench strength, which had characterized talent development efforts since the 1950s, most organizations shortened talent planning time horizons and reduced learning and development investment, resorting instead to hiring talent on a just-in-time basis. "

My article in The Journal Report on Leadership-"Why Companies Aren't Getting the Employees They Need"-generated an avalanche of reader response. In that piece I argued that companies too often put the blame on our education system for their inability to find the skilled workers they need. Instead, I wrote, companies "need to drop the idea of finding perfect candidates and look for people who could do the job with a bit of training and practice."

Most people assume being good-looking gives you a career boost. But just how much does it help? A lot. Good-looking people charm interviewers, get hired faster, are more likely to make more sales and get more raises.

Traditionally, in a mentoring relationship, a senior-level person provides guidance, support, and information for a younger person just beginning in a career. However, with rapid changes in the workplace, people living and working longer, and several career/job movements and shifts being the norm, an up-dated perspective of mentoring and learning is needed.

"Social Media isn't just for staying in touch with former school classmates. There are ways to use social media to stand out from the competition. It does take some strategic thought, but it can really take you to the next level. Here are 3 simple ways to get started using social media to advance your brand."

Employment in New York State June 2010.pdf

Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don't exist anymore.

How the Great Recession Reshaped the U.S. Job Market