Career Center Blog | The 'subversive' job search: Higher risk, higher reward

Performing a job search has often been compared with doing a high-wire act. You have to put yourself out there and dazzle an audience, but also maintain your composure to look professional. One misstep -- or a perceived falsehood

Career Center Blog | Likes, follows, endorsements: Are they worth it?

The word "like" may be one of the most abused words in the English language. Not only does Webster's categorize the word in seven distinct classes of language — verb, noun, adjective, preposition, adverb, conjunction and verbal auxiliary — the

Career Center Blog | How much networking is too much on LinkedIn?

The ultimate goal of networking, as every job seeker knows, is to increase your odds of connecting with someone who can help move your career forward. For some, that means acting like a marketer and getting your brand in front

Career Center Blog | Are you giving enough to others in your network?

This past holiday weekend, amid the carnage of the crowded dinner table, most of us celebrated the good things we have in our lives and gave thanks to the important people who make it all worthwhile. In the spirit of

Career Center Blog | Unfocused networking: the hidden job-search killer

It's one of the most ironic twists of the networking scene these days: While so many people (employed and unemployed alike) seem perfectly willing to lend advice, assistance and support to their fellow human beings, few job seekers go about

Career Center Blog | Spring forward: Add some momentum to your networking

The future got a little brighter over the last couple of weeks -- and I'm not just talking about the added hour of twilight we just received yesterday from Daylight Saving Time. In spite of all the negative rhetoric surrounding

Career Center Blog | Getting the right name can get your foot in the door

We've all seen various versions of the same statements in most job listings: "Send cover letter and resume to the following e-mail" or "Upload your resume to our jobs page." It all seems like a well-oiled machine, and it is

Career Center Blog | Career Inception: How to conduct a 'stealth search'

In Christopher Nolan's hyper-cerebral 2010 film "Inception," a gang of nefarious agents go to great lengths to plant subliminal ideas in the heads of powerful people to make them feel as if they created the ideas on their own. After

Career Center Blog | Time to clean out unproductive networking contacts

Last November, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel struck a nerve with many people when he announced his second annual National Unfriend Day, which encouraged people to delete certain "friends" from their Facebook pages who are not really their friends. You know

Career Center Blog | Four ways to invigorate your job search in 2012

According to the rash of December predictions of job trends in the Seattle area, this coming year is expected to be just as difficult for job seekers as the previous one. As a recent Manpower survey showed, the Seattle-Bellevue area

Career Center Blog | Two job-seeking certainties: Networking and taxes

Well, after much ado about egos and posturing, it looks like the federal government will continue to function unabated following Friday night's 11th hour "compromise" in Congress. Aren't you happy now that you can pay your income taxes to fund

Career Center Blog | Unemployed: Beware of April spammers

Before I get to the coming networking and job-search workshops for next month, I wanted to pass along a notice from the Employment Security Department about unscrupulous spammers (yes, that's redundant, I know) who are sending out misleading e-mails to

Career Center Blog | Strengthening the bonds of community, in good times and bad

As I researched this week for the latest networking events and seminars for job seekers, I couldn't help but get pulled into the heartrending tragedy that has continued to unfold for the people of Japan since Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake. Over

Career Center Blog | If we have something in common, I might hire you

Last week, three of my clients found full-time employment. The key for them was reaching out to people (via LinkedIn) with whom they had something in common -- they had either gone to the same school or worked for the

Career Center Blog | Three great tips for communicating powerfully

I recently spoke with Carmine Gallo, author of "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience," who attributes career advancement to the way you communicate (including body language), your brand presence and

Career Center Blog | Job etiquette: Don't be afraid to speed up the process

Recently, a Hire Ground reader wrote in with a "job etiquette" question. Here's an excerpt: 

"I applied over a month ago for a position that closed at the beginning of January. ... While researching the position further I ran across the

Career Center Blog | Can you find what's wrong with this job-seeker's e-mail?

When I do one-on-one coaching with my clients, I try to think of connections in my network who can help them in their quest to find new employment. When making connections, I have my clients write me an e-mail that