The story of how Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and GE Capital CEO Jeff Immelt recently created 1,000 new jobs in Chicago has already been reported. What’s new here is a story of the 1,001^st new job.

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The shado… Read full post »

Doesn’t matter if your parents are 40 or 80. When they looked for work, none of these points were even true. But they are true now.

Experience Hurts: Especially if you are over 50.

The “Bad” Jobs are Taken: Jobs you thought about… Read full post »

The new Mayor Elect of Chicago was sitting by himself, wearing a baseball cap, a huge stack of folders next to him on the table in the late afternoon of the first warm day of spring. The place was Glens. A neighborhood joint. Great food. It was empty. Right before the… Read full post »

 You are standing in a really long line. Shuffling slowly towards the JOB at the front. The line stretches around 3 city blocks, winds its way out to the edge of town, travels past empty houses, deserted farms and barren fields, stretches on out to the… Read full post »

Have you thought about school? They have. Pretty much every day. But federal investigations of for-profit schools centering on misleading advertising and unethical recruiting tactics put a damper on that. Recent studies disputing the age old wisdom that “more education = better job”… Read full post »

You've sent a resume or filled out an application. Then NOTHING!

Why? 

 They don’t know you. If you’ve got 10 calls to make and you don’t know 5 people. who would you call first? Solution? Find someone they do know as a way to connect to them. This is where “Linked… Read full post »

1. It’s Easy: Nope. It’s a 24-hour job. You’re never off work.
2. You can always get SOME kind of job. Minimum wage jobs are now the first filled. And if you have no history with minimum wage jobs, your chances of getting one now are slim.
… Read full post »

Terri had worked Customer Service jobs ever since she came back to Gulfport to help her Mom after Katrina hit. She had made sure her Mom was back on her feet. Then the recession. And they got through that because the casinos were still strong. But then came the… Read full post »

 Your Lasting Contribution.  Barry and Jake Get Married.

Somewhere. Somehow. You made something that lasts. And you did it in the face of adversity.

The trick is to remember it, put the story into words, and then use it to help you find work.… Read full post »

1. The Resume’s Purpose: It’s not to get you a job. It’s to get you a conversation. So prompt interest. Just prompt interest.
2. The Absurdity Factor: Accept the fact that the resume, as a tool to determine fit for a job,
… Read full post »

 What Is The Diamond? 

It's a DIAMOND you already have. The challenge is to find the words to describe it. Your DIAMOND is what connects you to the job.

Your DIAMOND is the short phrase that sings: this is what makes me different from the… Read full post »

In the desolate 2:00 am blackened bedroom all the stories you tell yourself to bring sleep, shattered like a broken mirror in a million razor blade shards of all the things that could go wrong.  Eyes wide corpse like stiff. You don’t even toss and turn. You can only hear the/… Read full post »

When you tell somebody else your work history; do you leave out what's most important? 

Not just in a job interview.  Anywhere. Even in the in even the briefest of conversations. By omitting the really important parts of the your story, could you be –in effect—leaving m… Read full post »

Dr. Work went undercover to grab the story straight from Brandi Wine. Brandi is a 23-year-old Bradley College graduate who proudly works as an HR Recruiter for The LaPalle Network, a contingency based search firm that happens to be located in Chicago, but might as well be in your town too.… Read full post »

1.   1. We HIRE people. No, you screen people. You figure out who NOT to hire.

2.    2. We’re all about people. Really? Then why don’t you answer phone calls?

3.    3. We look for talent.  Sorry. You look for ex/… Read full post »

In the mornings in Albuquerque just as the sun begins to rise, there is an orange glow that bathes the proud adobe heart of the small homes where Ramon has spent his whole life working hard.

That orange morning light was like a daily prayer of faith to Ramon.… Read full post »

All of these questions are real.

 And then there’s what you’d LIKE to answer. . . .

  If you have committed a felony, please explain.  There was a horse, a gas station, and a man named Clem . . . .

2.    Number of years and months you’ve… Read full post »

When you answer the question, "Why should you hire me?"

Do you tell or do you show?

When you stop any given stranger on the street, stand on the corner in the hot sun waiting for the day labor truck to come pick you up, fill out… Read full post »