Your path to a
successful career

Determining when and if it’s time for a job change isn’t easy. Various factors influence timing of a job search, including your level of experience, industry, competitive landscape, market climate and seasonality.

When interviewing for a new job, you’ll likely encounter at least one round over the phone. The key to acing a phone interview is to treat it as if it were an in-person conversation and prepare for it the same way. Since a phone interview can determine whether or not you move forward as a candidate, it’s worth your extra time and attention.

We’re on our phones a lot. We text, email, use apps, take pictures and sometimes even use our phones to call and speak with people. As integral as this device has become to our lives, there’s a time and place to be on it, especially when in professional settings. As our world becomes increasingly digital, opportunities for face-to-face engagement are becoming even more important. If you find yourself choosing a screen over participating in a conversation, you may miss out on potential business, job and professional opportunities.

When conducting a job search, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible. To put your best foot forward, consider the following advice from the perspective of hiring managers. These tips can help you make a positive impression and ultimately land the job.

You may not realize their importance, but your employees’ LinkedIn profiles reflect your company’s brand.

As a company leader or business owner, you think about at least 20 important things at any given time, but chances are that one of them is not how optimized employee LinkedIn profiles can increase the visibility of your brand. Nor is it that employee LinkedIn profiles can impact how your company appears in search results both on and off LinkedIn.

When faced with competing priorities in today’s busy world, responding to everyone who reaches out to you is a challenge, but responding noticeably late (or not at all) is detrimental to job and business opportunities. More broadly, a poor response time reflects negatively on you as a professional, and in turn, on your personal brand. By not acknowledging communications, you impress upon senders a lack of respect for them or their business, indicate that you’re not on top of your workload or that you don’t pay attention to detail –- undesirable conclusions all around.

So, you’ve pushed back your keyboard and attended events to make new connections. Great start, since networking is the #1 way to find a new job and build professional relationships! But, what’s the most effective networking strategy for following up with those who can help you land your next role or grow your business?

Your potential employer has determined that you’re a finalist for the position, and has requested that you submit professional references. Choose wisely; your professional references provide one of the final pieces of information an employer needs to make a hiring decision.

Hiring managers and recruiters increasingly use the video interview format with candidates for entry-level through C-suite positions. Opting for a video interview expedites scheduling, reduces travel costs and helps hiring managers and recruiters fill positions more quickly.

Whether you’re five months into your career or 15 years deep, everyone struggles with how to put their best foot forward on a resume. Resume writing best practices aren’t always black and white, so it can be difficult to identify what will work best for you.