Once upon a time I worked for a start-up company in Austin, Texas. I no longer work there but the company made news recently by being acquired by a very large well-known financial services firm. With the company making big news everyone associated with the start-up is doing whatever they can to get media coverage and recognition for themselves. Hey, who can blame them? The firms' two founders who are no longer employed by t...

Many clients ask me about writing cover letters. Should they send one to a potential employer along with a resume? Should they have a generic cover letter to send to any employer at any time? What information should be included in a cover letter? First of all, as a job seeker you have to think of every contact with a potential employer as an opportunity to sell yourself. If you send a generic cover letter that says some...

Sometimes we all work too hard or get too caught up in what is going on at the office. It's natural because I think that for most professionals, our jobs are important to us and we want to excel at in our career of choice. There is nothing wrong with working hard but it's important to keep your job in perspective. This is especially true for entrepreneurs who usually have to work long hours to make their businesses successf...

I had the most amazing and unexpected experience today. Good service is becoming increasingly rare in almost any business and great service is all but extinct. So imagine my surprise when I received great service from an unlikely place: the automotive service industry. The "oil is low" light came on in my car the other day so today I drove over to Jiffy Lube to get it topped off. The Jiffy Lube near my home is really gr...

Many people seem to think of networking as something that they need to do only when they need something such as a new job, membership in a club or organization, or when they are trying to raise money for a pet charity. At the point that you need to ask for favors or help from others it is too late to start networking. You should start networking before you ever need anything from anyone. Similarly, financial planners advise...

You may have heard that Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel is stepping down from his post at the helm of the publicly traded search engine/email provider. Yahoo! has made it clear that his decision is voluntary and that he won't be given a severance package because he is sticking around in a non-executive role as Chairman of the Board of the company. What is interesting to me is the classy way that which both Yahoo and Semel are handli...

The job sounds like a dream. You can't believe how lucky you are. So, you give notice at your current job to accept this wonderful dream job at which you know you will excel. Then you start the new job. And nothing is what you thought it would be. Have you ever been in this situation? If you haven't, consider yourself lucky because I have and it is awful. When I was in this situation I was miserable every day. I was on a...

As you know, it is important to keep your resume updated even if you aren’t actively job searching just in case a great opportunity comes along. One thing that I recommend to all of my clients is to keep a diary or journal about what is going on at work. Did your boss tell you what a great job you are doing? Write it down. Were you just named Employee of the Month? Write it down. Is a co-worker behaving inappropriately towa...

You have probably noticed that gas prices are up, in some areas of the country housing prices are declining, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.5% in April. 4.5% unemployment isn't bad but when the jobless rate trends up, its a good idea to get your resume ready, make sure you have some money in your savings account, and pay down your debts. I don’t write about financial education so I won't address the last two of the...

Memorial Day weekend just passed, which is a sign that summer is literally around the corner. Summer, historically, isn't the best time to land a new job but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't start getting ready for a job search in the fall. If you have been thinking of entering the job market spend the summer enjoying the weather and having fun with your family but also dedicate a little bit of time to preparing to star...