Excelle

When you're unemployed, unhappily employed or eager to change careers, jumping at the first offer you get - even if it isn't quite what you want - can be tempting. So should you? While an offer can give you a sense of security, that feeling can quickly vanish if the position just isn't right for you and you find yourself looking ...

When a woman we'll call Mary was offered a high-level student-services position at a prestigious college, she was thrilled to accept. But two years later, Mary was fired despite strong performance reviews and a reputation as a rising star at the college. The reason? She lied on her resume - and got caught. An HR initiative requiring employees to furnish college ...

So you've been hearing that voice again, the one that says you're not doing what you were born to do. That may be true, but how do you figure out what you should be doing? To begin answering this question, examine whether your current career path matches your core interests, beliefs, values, needs and skills. Professional career counselors usually undertake this ...

In HR, it's the intangible skills that count, says Donna Bernardi Paul, vice president and director of human resources services at Trammell Crow Co., a commercial real estate services firm in Washington, DC. "The technical skills can be learned," she says. "But skills like good judgment and attitude are crucial for being a good administrative assistant." h4. Essential “Soft”Skills Good judgment ...

It’s not just what you say that can be held against you when you’re looking for a job. It’s also what you post on MySpace, write in your blog and broadcast on YouTube. That’s because if a potential employer uncovers salacious or otherwise unflattering material about you online, that job offer you were expecting could vaporize. With 77 percent of employers ...

Your follow-up letter could be what sets you apart from other candidates. If you're neck and neck with another candidate, the way you follow up could put you over the top - or it could sink you. h4. To Send or Not to Send - Does It Make a Difference? Catherine was looking for a business analyst to fill a position ...

After three decades as a radio engineer, a 50-plus woman suddenly finds herself downsized. With the radio industry in a tailspin, what are her prospects for continuing the work she loves? Pretty good - if she repositions her skills and reinvents her experience as relevant to employers seeking engineers knowledgeable about podcasts and MP3 downloads. Is she alone in worrying about ...

When you're negotiating for a new job, there's much more to consider than the size of your paycheck, points out Mary Simon, author of Negotiate Your Job Offer: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Win-Win Situation. Simon suggests each offer has eight different components you need to consider. h2. Total Compensation This includes base salary, medical, dental, vision and retirement benefits. h2. ...

Landing a great job involves more than interviewing well, getting an offer and earning a paycheck. While it's the interviewer's responsibility to assess your skills and experience, it's up to you to determine whether a particular employer is aligned with your core values and beliefs. Working at a company with values inconsistent with yours is stressful, unrewarding, even depressing at times. ...

Brian (not a real person) was a successful accountant. He made a good living, had been promoted several times and worked for a respected firm. Yet Brian was unhappy and didn't know why. He had done everything he should have, at least according to the messages he'd received from his family. But by following those messages instead of listening to his ...

According to a study of college students at the Ernst & Young International Intern Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, 59 percent of these young leaders expect to be millionaires within their lifetime. What's more, 5 percent of them expect to hit the million-dollar mark while in their 20s. And the super-rich are a growing group. The top 0.1 percent of the ...

Glenn Street entered the sports mascot industry by happenstance, but he got hooked by passion. Street, now president of Calgary-based Street Characters, which supplies mascot costumes for hundreds of professional and college sports teams in the US, Canada and elsewhere, used to work in commercial real estate. He considers this career "a great 'paid' education," adding, "I learned a great deal ...

The prospect of changing careers is both exhilarating and daunting. If you know exactly what you want to pursue, don't become stymied by the enormous challenges the career-change process presents. Employ these powerful strategies to make that career change a reality. Determine Your Leverage Points Inventory the skills and experiences you can leverage in your career switch. Examples include: * Company ...

A significant challenge career changers face is preparing a winning resume. After all, it's arduous enough when you have ample related experience. Writing this crucial document becomes even more painstaking when you're looking to take a completely new career direction. Your saving grace: Transferable skills. h2. What Are Transferable Skills? Career expert Richard Nelson Bolles pioneered the idea of transferable skills ...

For many professionals, it’s doable, though certainly not easy, to coast through their careers for some years while devoting most of their energy to raising small children. These sensible souls take care not to drop the ball at work, but they do forgo immediate opportunities to push that ball up the slope and land that next substantial promotion. But the most ...

On one of the last episodes of “Seinfeld,” the main characters are stuck in traffic on a Sunday night. Galpal Elaine, who desperately wants to get home, wails, “All I know is that it's Sunday night, and I have got to unwind! Now, who's with me?” If perpetually single Elaine felt that way, you can imagine how the rest of us ...

If you're ready for a career change but haven't yet figured out how to get there, follow these tips from Harvard's Dr. Timothy Butler and life coach C.J. Liu. Before you know it, you'll be on your way to a new career. h2. 1. Look at the issues that make you crave change and outline your goals. What are you satisfied ...

Many people are facing the prospect of finding a new job. And some are even contemplating a complete career change. If it has been years since you've updated your resume, you may be wondering where to start. Follow these six steps to turn your dusty retro resume into a high-powered personal marketing tool for winning interviews in today's competitive job market. ...

In a competitive job market, it's hard enough for job seekers on a steady career path to get their resumes noticed. If you are pursuing a new direction, it's all that much more difficult to convince hiring managers to take a chance on you. A common mistake career changers make is to use the same resumes that worked in their previous ...

This week, we're featuring *Nataly Kogan*, a member of Excelle and also the co-founder and CEO of "Work It, Mom!":http://www.workitmom.com, one of our content partners. Nataly is, yes, a working mom, and also an entrepreneur. Here she shares with us her thoughts on her many roles as a woman and what strides she feels working mothers still need to make. *Company ...