The Career Collective, a group of career coaches, resume writers and other job search professionals, are posting today about how you can prepare now for job interviews. Follow us on Twitter at #careercollective.In my former career as an HR professional, I interviewed hundreds of people for all kinds of jobs, from electronic technician to paramedic to director of sales.The job interview is an artificial and generally unsatis...

In my former life, I was an HR director. HR folks can be a cautious, cynical bunch. Reason #1 - they are the legal front line when things go south with employees. Reason #2 - they've seen a lot of bizarre and bad behavior at work (and they're called in to help deal with it).I inadvertently had my HR hat on when I read What to Do If Your Boss Is the Problem on the Wall Street Journal online.It's a good article with some ver...

If you’re interviewing for jobs or are just starting to think about other organizations you might want to work for, you’ll need to do some research. Research sounds about as much fun as preparing your taxes, but the good news is that you can do a lot of it from home using your Internet connection and your library card number. Many larger U.S. library systems provide access to its card holders to Internet databases for re...

Do you want to change your career but are overwhelmed by all that’s involved? Do you have a number of possible ideas, but no focus? In my work as a life coach I talk every day with people who dream of loving what they do. One obstacle they face is that they’re not sure how to narrow down their interests. They need a process for exploring their career options.Career exploration is partly following your intuition and partly h...

You’re sitting in another long meeting and glancing at your watch. I can’t believe what a waste of time this is, you say to yourself. I’ve got five phone calls to return and probably twenty-five new emails in my inbox. Guess I’m staying late again. I just wish I cared more about what I’m doing here anyway.Nearly all professionals, whether they work in the corporate, academic or non-profit sectors, have similar thoughts abou...

Are you a “short-timer”? You are if you have decided to leave your job in the near future, whether next week or next year. Maintaining high performance at work when you know you won’t be there long term isn’t easy. Staying focused on a dream job when your current job is mentally, physically or emotionally demanding can be downright challenging. What can you do to stay motivated as a short-timer and pursue your dream job at...