While being on the job search is a daunting task for most, it’s important to enjoy the process. After all, having a positive attitude can make a world of difference! But how can you maintain a positive attitude during a long, frustrating job search? Good networking!

Instead of spending all your time and energy on mainstream job boards, get off your bottom and meet new people! While I don’t recommend giving up on job boards altogether, I definitely feel networking is the best way to use your time wisely during your job search.

For example, one great analogy I love to use is the person who goes to the gym for an hour but doesn’t even break a sweat. This isn’t working out. Sure, you drove to the gym and stayed there for an hour, but did you truly leverage your abilities? Similarly, when on the job hunt, it’s important “sweat” a little – work hard and use your time strategically to obtain your dream job.

The key to networking is to create mutually beneficial...

Your LinkedIn summary is 2,000 characters of prime real estate to genuinely differentiate yourself among the three million member online community.

Before you even get to the details of the work, show yourself to be a human being interested in a genuine human connection. The interviewer is not a criminal investigator, and you are not sitting under the hot police lights. It’s not an adversarial relationship, but a collaborative one. The interviewer is looking to support and advance his organization’s goals, and so are you – that’s what you have in common.

Find additional areas of mutual interest by researching the person interviewing you. Nearly everyone has an online presence in social media. Perhaps you’ll come across a personal blog and discover you share a hobby or pastime. Another possibility is uncovering the interviewer’s whitepapers and articles about the future direction of the company or the industry at large.

Sometimes you may find yourself bored at work – but is it really boredom or has your career come to a standstill? Either way, it is no way to progress in your career. Take action to change the situation!

There are several reasons why you may be feeling bored or stuck in your career. Some of the common reasons include:

In many careers, there is a particular path that is followed to move up. If you’ve progressed and reached the top, there may be no room to move further. Perhaps you started by facing certain challenges, but after they are overcome, you are finding yourself just doing the same old thing and it doesn’t excite you.

Or if you haven’t seen a promotion or a raise in two years, it’s a clear sign your career has stalled. In these situations or if you are just unhappy, it is time to move on to other opportunities. Employers want to see career progression, so the longer you wait, the...

The debate over a “skills gap” is not particularly new – but, in recent weeks, it’s escalated because of some very interesting and different perspectives of the issue. For job seekers, it’s a very important issue because human resource professionals and hiring managers are going to be assessing a candidate’s qualifications within the context of the “skills gap.”

The consensus among managers and human resource professionals is that there are significant skills gaps – that organizations struggle to identify and hire individuals with the specific skills needed. On the flip side of this position, a New York Times editorial called the idea “mostly a corporate fiction” saying “don’t blame the workforce.” The editorial blamed companies for its failures to properly train workers, charging that companies want schools and government to bear the responsibility. What’s interesting about this position is that in denying a skills gap the editorial inherently states it does exist.

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