When I started my career, I worked as a Sales Representative for an international Consumer Packaged Goods company. Shortly after I began, I was placed on a recruiting team, with training soon to follow. For the remainder of my career, recruiting, training and speaking played major to exclusive roles in my work. My career weaved from consumer packaged goods to claims management to public relations and ended in healthcare....

Like all of you, I have interacted with thousands of people over the years. Having spent 25 years in recruiting and most of that time in Human Resources, my numbers are probably higher than most. I can’t tell you how many of them were bored, burned out, frustrated and wanted more from their career. They talked about it all the time. There was just one problem – all they did was talk about it. There was very little (or...

As a former recruiting leader, I have encountered numerous times when one of my team members or I would extend a job offer to a candidate only to have their current employer counter it with an offer of their own. Some candidates accepted the counter offer while others said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” I was always surprised (and disappointed) by those who accepted the counter offer for the same reasons I share with you that y...

Whether I’m speaking before audiences or working with clients, I always use analogies. I find they really help to make my points relatable. I’ve shared one with audiences that really seems to resonate about the importance of displaying confidence when searching for a job that I want to share with you. Now men, I’ve learned that I can’t always use you as the target in my analogy because I’ve gotten responses like, “Yeahhh...

Several years ago, I interviewed someone for an Executive Administrative Assistant position. Because the previous Assistant left the company after 20 years due to harassment from a peer, I knew the next person coming through the door would have to be strong enough to stand up to the “Bully” to get her to back down. After qualifying her credentials by reviewing her resume and in the phone interview, I invited her to meet w...

Having worked for six different companies before branching out into my own business full-time, it seems crazy for me to tell others not to quit their job, but I’m doing it anyway. Why? Because most people quit too soon. No matter where you work, you will always encounter people, processes, systems, etc. that you will want to change. The problem is too many people allow this frustration to grow from a “mole hill to a mounta...

Years ago, I had a boss who played a dual role for me. Fred was my boss and gave me all of the direction, support, challenge, opportunity and even correction required. But, he also served as a mentor in the sense that he would give me career advice that transcended my time working for him. “Hey, I hear the overtime pay around here sucks!” he would say when I would come in way before him and leave way after him. But, ther...

Earlier in my career, I took a job because it allowed me to start shifting my career in another direction. I wasn’t in love with it but knew it was a good move for me. About 1.5 years into the role, I took a chance and expressed an interest in doing something else within my company. While the results didn’t come immediately, one day my boss approached me about taking on a different type of assignment. I had minimal amou...

A few days ago, I was talking with a friend about a variety of topics. One of the topics was careers. As the conversation evolved, I told her the thing I don’t see many people do that is the most effective thing a person can do for their career – play to their strengths. Instead, people spend time, money, and energy trying to transform the areas in which they are weakest (not challenged….weak!) to only end up moving the...

My, how the world has changed! Employees don’t make money like they used to. In the early years of my career, a basic raise was 6% – a basic every nine months! Roll the clock forward to today. A decent raise is 3% if you’re lucky. Many employees only see 1-3% raises, while some see no raise at all. In many instances, the raises are across the board no matter what the employee performances were. You work twice as hard...