Last week I wrote about career resilience and the need for us to develop four patterns in our work lives: Clarifying Connecting Creating Coping One thing that I've observed about resilient people is that they persist. Even when things are at their worst or it seems like they are going nowhere, resilient people are persistent people. As Steve Pavlina puts it, "they press on, even when they feel like quitting."... Read more →

I wrote a couple of long posts in February on the two major factors most job seekers are dealing with in this economy. The first was on the reality that there aren't enough jobs for everyone who wants one. The second was on the poor quality of many of the jobs that do exist. After writing these, though, I was left wondering what it is we can do to operate... Read more →

Last week I wrote about an elephant in the room of careers and employment that we aren't really acknowledging or discussing--the fact that there are 3.3 job seekers for every available job opening. Today I want to acknowledge another elephant in the room that is the reality for both those who are unemployed and those who are currently working. It is this (and pardon my bluntness here): From a job... Read more →

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on the "disposable worker" and the damage I think we're doing to ourselves and our economy with this approach. Yesterday in a comment on that post, Catherine Lombardozzi pointed me in the direction of an interview with NextJump CEO, Charlie Kim, whose company has adopted a "no fire" policy. Here's how that policy emerged: I always thought we were a company with... Read more →

As a lot of my work recently has been with people who are unemployed, I have a ton of articles coming through my feeds on job search, unemployment, etc. Most of them are about "personal branding" and "building your network," how to manage your social media presence, write a great LinkedIn profile and navigate ever-more confusing and time-consuming online applicant tracking systems. This morning, I ran across one that lists... Read more →

For the past several months, I've been doing more work than usual with people who have been laid off from their jobs. I've listened to their stories of how the lay-offs occurred--usually in a brutally swift and cruel fashion--and been witness to their pain at having done all the right things, only to be told their services are no longer needed. It's heart-breaking, really, to see how they try to... Read more →

Just about a year ago, I wrote a post about the dark side of creation--that time when we draw into ourselves to let things ferment. Harriet Wakelam, whose own experiences inspired my post, talks about it this way: I have recently been through one of those 'life reinventions'. Unlike the current 'sexy' portrayal of creativity the process was absorbing, consuming and sometimes dark and scary. During the process I switched... Read more →

I first "met" Soha El Borno online when she was working at Wild Apricot as a Web Copywriter and blogger. She always posted great content and was an excellent resource for social media and nonprofit work. When I put out a call for your career transition stories, she responded to me quickly by email, telling me she wanted to share hers. As you'll see, she's like a lot of women... Read more →

A few weeks ago I read Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project, which chronicles Gretchen's year of personal experiments to increase her happiness--her version of the 30-Day trial! . One section on goals vs. resolutions really struck a chord with me. This is what she writes on her blog about it: You hit a goal, you achieve a goal. You keep a resolution. I think that some objectives are better characterized as... Read more →

Thanks to Robyn Jay, I was pointed this morning to John Hagel's Labor Day Manifesto for the Passionate, Creative Worker. What a gem! Eleven simple truths to live our lives by. Here are a few that stood out for me: Blaze new trails. John says, "There is no established path to greatness." So true. In Crossing the Unknown Sea, David Whyte writes: "A life’s work is not a series of... Read more →