Career Development

About Common Craft - Who We Are (And What We Do) We Make Videos Our videos may surprise you. They're short and simple. They use paper cut-outs. They cover subjects "in Plain English." But lurking under the simple surface are lessons that have been crafted with great care. Despite our fun and lighthearted style, we take explanation seriously. "We" Who? Common Craft is a small company owned by Lee and Sachi LeFever in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company was founded by Lee in 2003 as an online community consulting company. We started making videos in 2007 with our first video: RSS in Plain English. Since then, we've published two kinds of videos: 1.Educational Videos - Videos we create to sell on this website (our current focus) 2.Custom Videos - Videos we were hired to create by companies like Google, Ford and LinkedIn. Combined, we've created over 30 videos that have been viewed over 10 million times online. Our current focus is building a library of educational videos that help educators save time. If you're in need of a custom video, please contact us or visit our Explainer Network to find talented producers.

Some 558,000 people joined the ranks of the jobless in October, sending the rate to 10.2% and the tally of officially unemployed Americans to 15.7 million, the Labor Department said. The 10% figure could overshadow last week's news that the economy began growing again this summer after a long contraction.

: While the résumé as you know it from 10 years ago is still alive and kicking, there have been a number of modifications to it. No longer do job candidates simply present a Word document of their qualifications. Today, they need to craft a package both online and off to present to a prospective employer. This needs to include both a résumé and an online profile as well as an easy way for a prospective employer or recruiter to move back and forth between the two.

Our careers and our lives are constantly changing. With so many twists and turns it is almost guaranteed that our career plans will not be stagnant. There are many different types of individuals who are moving in/out of a traditional career. Recently the term "comeback parent" has been coined for the parent who has left a paid position outside the home to raise a family, and is now returning to paid external employment. Another example is the graduate student who alternates full time employment with full or part time education. Some leave to take care of an aging relative, start a private practice or a business, attend to personal health issues, or even work part-time from home. While juggling various roles in life, it is important to manage our careers even if it is not currently the highest priority. Networking is an important way to effectively and efficiently tend to your career at all times.

Sheila is a claims processor at a major automotive company. Due to recent declines in the economy, she has recently been given notice that her position will terminate in two weeks. A despondent Sheila makes an appointment with the career consultant employed to assist with terminated workers. Upon hearing Sheila's story it might not surprise you to hear that the counselor plans to consult various websites during her work with Sheila. As professional career counselors, we are practiced at using career-based websites to assist clients with finding resources for taking interest inventories, engaging in job searches, finding occupational information, and creating resumes. However, Sheila's counselor is not looking at these types of websites. There are other beneficial websites that may not be as apparent or as frequently used. There are many websites that have information on career development theories that may be useful to counselors who are working to resolve the dilemmas of their clients. Below are several websites on the theories of cognitive, sociological, trait-factor, and on diversity issues that Sheila's counselor, and many of you, may find useful.

In October 2007, Susan Guldenschuh lost her job as a human-resources supervisor for Circuit City Stores Inc., which shut all its stores earlier this year. She landed a professional human-relations position elsewhere five months later. But when the downturn deepened, she got laid off again last December. The Louisville, Ky., resident pursued more than 100 openings, including a receptionist's spot. Mrs. Guldenschuh was finally hired again a few weeks ago. She is now an hourly worker, taking online orders for Guess Inc.

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.

Protecting your company's reputation is now a 24-hour vigil. Negative reviews - whether they're merited or not - can turn away potential customers and vendors, and reflect badly on your company's brand.

The bad economy and the deteriorating commercial real-estate market have motivated some small-business owners to fight their tax assessments. Ann Jones of Columbia, S.C., thought there might be a mistake when she received a property valuation from Richland County in January. The co-owner of the Dog Eared Corner LLC, a pet-grooming company, saw her commercial property's value assessed at $287,000, after she had just bought the three-story building three months earlier for only $210,000.

The U.S. has shed 7.2 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. How long will it take for the economy to replace them? And where will the jobs come from? The questions haunt people from the unemployed in San Francisco to officials in Washington. Glenn Atias lost his job as a $100,000-a-year statistician at a market-research firm in the Bay Area last summer when the work was outsourced to India. At 46 years old, he pores over job ads and online postings daily. "I'm stuck watching hundreds of thousands of people in my position grow in ranks each and every month," said Mr. Atias, who lives in Salton City, Calif., in a house worth less than the mortgage. When unemployment benefits run out, he said, "I literally don't know how I'll pay my mortgage, how I'll pay my health care."

Facebook is, according to its own Terms of Use, an online directory that connects people through networks of academic and geographic centers, which is becoming increasingly popular among high school and college students. They use it as a means of staying in contact with their old and new friends across the globe. It seems innocent, but do they know that employers, parents and even the Secret Service have access to their Facebook? This article will address what Facebook is, how students use it, how others can use it, and most importantly, how Career Centers can educate students to use Facebook as a positive means of networking.

Twitter's recently-launched Lists feature is an outstanding new tool that not only improves the overall Twitter experience by allowing you to organize and group the people you follow on Twitter, but that can also help you optimize your job search and personal branding efforts.

15 Career Mistakes I've written other newsletter articles about careers (see the links throughout this article as well as at the end of the article), but until now I've never specifically written an article about career mistakes. I think the subject has been too personal - I've made a lot of these career mistakes myself, and it's hard for me to admit my failures. But in the interest of helping others avoid some of the mistakes I've made, I've decided to go ahead and create a list of the major career mistakes that I've made or that I've seen other people in IT make. Let me know if you think of other mistakes that should also be on the list.

There is a common misconception that networking is about "who you know". In the old school world of the privileged classes that was true. However, as the professional world has become more accessible to a broader array of people, this has changed. Networking is no longer about "who you know". Today, it is about "who knows you".

Ah yes, Networking. Today, it has become a common exercise in the workplace and a vital part of the advancement of most careers. Networking can be accomplished anywhere these days, whether it be outside on a sidewalk, or at an obvious networking cocktail event. If it is done successfully, it can help you meet a future mentor, move you effectively toward an initial interview, or even allow you to make a lasting first impression with your first boss. However, successful networking can often times be harder than it sounds. Sometimes, it is hard to know all the right things to say or do and how to turn a 15-minute conversation into a potential life-lasting connection. With that in mind, I have developed a basic 5-step guide that gives the basics on how to untangle this mystery and turn any previously nerve wracking networking event into an exciting time of opportunity.

I think it`s pretty undeniable that nepotism pays, but don`t worry if your daddy`s not a big executive. You`re in luck because you can create your own nepotism. You don`t need a blood relationship for someone in power to take an interest in you and put you on the fast-track. Here are ideas that can give you the same advantages as those born with great connections.

If you're gay or lesbian and you're closeted at your office, you're not alone. Despite major strides in acceptance over the last 15 years, many still struggle with the decision to come out at work. A recent Harris poll conducted with Out & Equal and Witeck-Combs Communications indicated that 44% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) participants feel unable to talk freely to co-workers about their partners, and up to 78% don't feel comfortable bringing their partners to corporate social functions.