It is popularly believed that men are not as willing to seek help in dealing with challenges in their professional lives as women. How true this is in general, I don’t know. I can only say that my own clients are pretty well equally divided between men and women. My experience has convinced me that [...]
In a recent column, I conjured up the vision of an unemployed techie named John. I had him charging up the hill under fire armed with nothing more than a resume and having something less than a fifty-fifty chance of closing with that well-entrenched employer on top. When a person loses his job, or feels [...]
Several years ago, my husband and I visited Gettysburg National Military Park. As we were making our way around the battlefield on bicycle, we came across a marker indicating the place where three divisions of General James Longstreet’s corps set off on what has come to be known as Pickett’s Charge. There we noticed that [...]
Like any other professional, as a career counselor, it’s important for me to keep up with what’s happening in my field. I do this by reading and studying and talking with thought leaders I respect. I also periodically take a look at what the general public is reading by perusing the career shelves of bookstores. [...]
Being in transition lies at the core of every career process, whether it’s looking for work (by choice or necessity), starting a business, or adjusting the demands of work to fit changes in lifestyle. Few people, however, understand what the process of being in transition is really about. Most confuse change, an external event such [...]
All of us—young, old, middle-aged—whether we like it or not, practice ageism, at least to some degree. It’s far less obvious than most other prejudices, but it is nevertheless there in how we think about others and, most importantly, how we think about ourselves. The idea that we’re too old (or even too young) to [...]
Almost everyone knows about a book that has become a classic in the field of career-related literature: What Color is your Parachute? by Richard Bolles. Far fewer people are aware of another of his books, The Three Boxes of Life and How to Get Out of Them. The message of Parachute was timely, but in [...]
When I was considering whether to pursue a Master’s in Counseling, I went to talk to a highly respected career professional about it. When I lamented that it would take me until I was 45 to complete the program, he said to me, ”You need to think in terms of a 200-year plan.“ At the [...]
We’ve become accustomed to hearing the story of a professional life told almost exclusively in terms of outstanding accomplishments. Ask an athlete to reflect on his career and he’ll tell you about the time he pitched a no-hitter. Ask an actress and she’ll talk about landing the lead in a Tony-winning Broadway play. Ask a [...]
There’s a lot we can learn from the stories of our professional life—if we tell them in a way that enables us to hear what they really have to say to us. Too often we are satisfied with forcing our career stories to fit the mold of a resume, which is a formal exercise with [...]
We may not be to breadlines yet, but unless you’ve been in a coma or you’re independently wealthy you probably can’t help noticing that these are hard times. Job “insecurity” is affecting all but the highest rungs on the employment ladder. The economic repercussions of 9/11, the ongoing replacement of people with technologies, the outsourcing [...]
