Career Development

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.

You're a what? Futurist: Job options for business/economic majors.

When I was training to be a professional counselor (1969-1971), the vast majority of my professors (and my colleagues) stressed that the "ideal" counselor would strive to view all clients with 'unconditional positive regard' and conduct their counseling sessions in a 'client centered' and 'client directed' approach taught by Carl Rogers, the most prominent and respected counselor educator of the era. While my natural personality is to be very extroverted, assertive, and directive, I learned and practiced the Rogerian techniques as I began to provide career counseling and train other counselors.

The role of narrative and constructivist thought in career development continues to be the subject of healthy debate and discussion. As career practitioners, what are the best tools to use? There is no right answer. Different tools can be effective for different clients. So, while traditional assessments continue to be useful, no career practice is complete without the use of narrative. Our challenge as practitioners is to integrate the power of narrative into our service delivery tool kit.

So, you're experienced? Before you advertise this in your resume, be sure you can prove it.

Americans aren't keen to discuss money. We like making it and we like spending it, but money doesn't belong in polite conversation. It sits on the shelf of forbidden topics, alongside politics, religion and sex.

Whether you know it or not, we Gen Yers have a competitive edge over older job seekers in the career search. We are less expensive to hire, we are more impressionable (not having already settled into one company culture or way of doing things), and we have grown up with ever-changing technology, having become fast learners as a result.

Generation Y, our generation, is a strong and ambitious one, and now that many of us have begun to launch our careers, we are constantly seeking advice, feedback and new ways to improve and advance ourselves.

Recently, I held a focus group with 12 college students - juniors and seniors. The discussion was around their experiences with college career centers…and it was fascinating. I'm not kidding.

MyPlan.com helps students and professionals plan more fulfilling lives by making well-informed decisions about their education and careers. Whether you're deciding on what college to go to, choosing a major, planning ahead for your first career, or thinking about making a career change, MyPlan.com can help you explore options and bring clarity and insight into figuring out what's right for you. 100% independent and unbiased, MyPlan.com gives you the truth about colleges, careers and majors. Our research and data is the most comprehensive you'll find anywhere on the subject. And, with dozens of easy-to-use tools, we've made getting to that information convenient, simple and fun.

MyPlan.com helps students and professionals plan more fulfilling lives by making well-informed decisions about their education and careers. Whether you're deciding on what college to go to, choosing a major, planning ahead for your first career, or thinking about making a career change, MyPlan.com can help you explore options and bring clarity and insight into figuring out what's right for you. 100% independent and unbiased, MyPlan.com gives you the truth about colleges, careers and majors. Our research and data is the most comprehensive you'll find anywhere on the subject. And, with dozens of easy-to-use tools, we've made getting to that information convenient, simple and fun.

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.

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.

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

Esquire created a riviting-if depression- look at the effects of the recession on the job market and wages

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.

I often write about things you should do on LinkedIn to maximize your effectiveness. Today we're going to look at the other side of the equation…the mistakes. The five mistakes listed here are related to your ability to eventually monetize LinkedIn.

Job seekers, beware the telephone. For years, the phone interview was a preliminary step that allowed an employer to give a candidate the once-over and schedule an in-person interview. But these days, many recruiters are using the phone interview to pose the kinds of in-depth questions previously reserved for finalists. What's more, job hunters say the bar for getting to the next level has been raised much higher, catching many of them off-guard.

You might think that being at home for an interview means a more relaxed environment. But experts say the key to success is being as diligent as you would be in person. Advice to help you ace the phone interview.

View numerous job search videos posted and created by the WSJ.