When I joined Twitter in 2008 I had no clue who to follow or even what to do. After learning a bit more about it, I gathered my little list of resume experts that quickly expanded to experts throughout the careers industry. Through the years I’ve added more people to that list. With vast and various experience, these folks offer daily and weekly expert advice.  Whether you are new to Twitter or have been using it for a while, count these experts among your favorite go-to’s for career advice. I’m sure I am missing some (and will remember as soon as I hit “publish”) but for now, here are my fave peeps!

RESUME WRITERS
@amyladler Specializes in career transition and strength finding. Spot-on job search tweets.
@debrawheatman Resume writer and career coach offering tips and insight into job search and resume writing.
@avidcareerist With a background in retained search and current role as executive resume writer, Donna offers sage advice on resumes and job search.
@greatresume  Jessica Hernandez packs nuggets of heart into her career tips, tweet, and posts.
@hireimaging Barb Pool is a career strategist, coach, and resume writer with over 30 years of experience.
@karensilins Career coach, resume writer, presenter, personal branding specialist, and HR consultant fills her Twitter feed with valuable career information.
@laurieberenson Straight-forward resume writing and job search advice for professionals.
@lisarangel A triple threat! With experience as a former recruiter, current resume writer, and humorous wit, Lisa’s tweets offer insight into the recruiting and resume writing worlds.
@pushcareers Brenda Cunningham offers outplacement experience, job search strategies, resume writing, and career management tips.
@resumeservice Rosa Vargas offers authentic resume branding advice and career coaching.
@susanwhitcomb Resume writing pioneer, trainer, and job coach. She is the founder and President of The Academies and combines her vast experience with practical career tips.
@valueintowords Jacqui Poindexter turns your career history into a value-infused story. Follow her for resume and career tips.

CAREER COACHES
@CareerTL  CEO of Career Thought Leader Consortium, Marie Zimenoff heaps on loads of expert career advice from resume writing to social media advice.
@careerhero President of Career Directors International, Laura DeCarlo’s offers consistently informative career tweets.
@kccareercoach  As a career coach and marketing strategist for executives, Meg Montford shares resources, tips and advice.
@krisplantrich 9X certified Career Coach specializing in job search, interview, career transition, salary, and LinkedIn coaching.
@phyllismufson Career Coach and catalyst for personal and career transformation. Helps with job search, career change, and small business.
@susanguarneri Career assessment expert, certified branding strategist and management coach, and resume writer.
@coachwolfgang Career coaches and counselors specializing in multiple coaching disciplines that help individuals take ownership of their careers.

CAREER ADVICE & JOB SEARCH
@careerbliss Online company reviews, salaries, job listings, hiring trends and interview tips. Your one-stop shop.
@careersingov  Looking for a career in the government? Check out the nation’s largest State and Local Government Job Board and Career Center.
@classycareer List as Forbes Top 35 Most Influential Career Site and E-Learning Platform, launching dream careers, and businesses. Passionate about helping women succeed in their careers.
@flexjobs Looking for tips on finding a flexible hours, remote work, freelance, or just more work life balance? Look no further. Flexjobs posts jobs and informative articles every day.
@healthcareitcentral Weekly job alerts, an employer directory, and articles for clients in healthcareIT.
@jacobshare Job search expert, blogger, and community builder. His career tweets are interesting and plenty.
@jobhuntorg A careers pioneer whose website and posts offer guidance and tips on everything career-related.
@markadyson Career consultant, blogger, and expert podcaster, Mark keeps his tweets light and jam-packed with everything career.
@social_hire Helps candidates find their next great job. Daily tips and job search advice.
@themuse Offers career advice and matches candidates with companies and jobs looking for them.
@williamarruda Personal branding expert and motivational speaker offers daily job search advice.
@workcoachcafe Tips to help people become more successful in their jobs and job search. Forbes Top 100 Career Site.
@youtern  Enables young talent to become highly employable by connecting them to high-impact internships, mentors, and thru contemporary career advice that works!

RECRUITERS & HR
@absolutely_abby  Abby Kohut offers job search and recruiting advice to professionals. Selected as one of ‘Forbes Top 100 Career Websites’ and Fast Company’s ‘The Monster 11 for 2011: Career Experts Who Can Help Your Job Search’.
@chrisrussell Online recruiting, job board secrets, and HR consultant. Find out what recruiters are looking for.
@hrbartender Sharlyn Lauby delivers corporate HR tweets daily. Spot-on advice for interested job seekers.
@nickcorcodilos The author of Fearless Job Hunting and Ask The Headhunter, Nick’s tweets answer the burning job search and recruiting questions job seekers are asking.
@recruitmentgv Recruitment and Talent Acquisition news provided by the leading magazine for Recruitment Consultants.
@talentculture HR, Recruiting, Leadership and more. Be sure to save this social community as one of your favorite tweeters.

How To Stop The Crazy Holiday Stress

Career & Workplace

 
Holiday Gift Giver-1
This time of year is legendary for having too much to do but not enough time, too much to buy but not enough money, and too much stress but you are supposed to be happy. It affects our workplace, our home life, and our future because stress affects the health of the body. So what does the busy executive focused on moving up the career path and having a life at the same time do about feeling so bad?

Rethink Your Expectations

Sometimes it helps to write down “the way the holidays are supposed to be” in every detail you can come up with. Then look at your fairy tale and notice how many of those expectations are not in your control or don’t matter as much as they once did.
Some families and individuals decide to pick the top priorities for their season and forget about doing the rest of it. What would your holiday look like if everybody picked one thing that was important to them? What is it about that thing that makes it important? It could be that the major cookie house competition was fun because it was goofy, not because you used home-baked cookies. Graham crackers and fruity cereals work just as well for goofy fun and are easier to do. A holiday without so much burden on people is enjoyable and refreshing, the way it’s supposed to be.

Accept Your Imperfections

This kind of goes along with expectations, but on a personal level. If you think that people come to your house to see how beautifully decorated and organized it is, you are mistaken. Most folks don’t care about the details: they want to feel like you like them more than you like your house. I tell myself that at least they will feel better about the mess they left at home when they see mine. People aren’t comfortable with perfection because people aren’t perfect.
At the office, the same thing happens when we mistakenly think we have to have our act totally together before we are accepted. But think about the people you work with — who is more approachable, the perfectionist pretender or the person who accepts their mistakes with a laugh and does what they can to learn from them?

Orient Your Focus

Whatever the holiday, there’s a reason for it. If you celebrate that holiday, then use the celebration to think about the reason it exists in your life. For most cultures, the holidays are times to reorient the focus to what is important in life. It’s a pause and a reminder, giving time to figure out what your non-holiday life should look like.
That means work, whatever your career is. Pick one thing in your career goals to do after the holidays are over (maybe consult a career coach) and let the things you bring out of a less-stressed holiday get you going in the weeks afterward.

Changing Seasons Means Revamped Strategies

Career & Workplace

changing seasons means revamped strategies
Well, it’s happened again. The relentless wheel of history has rolled into another season, and that’s actually a pretty positive thing because every new season is a great reason to look at what you are doing, decide what needs to change, and set some strategic goals that will get you where you want to be.

Look At What You Are Doing

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about your job search, your workplace, or the balance between your home and career. Everyone needs to look at what they are currently doing and see the good points along with the bad. Write it down and celebrate what is working for you, even if there are some scary situations you need to deal with soon.

Decide What Needs To Change

Even a small change can make a big difference in how your workday goes, and doing some updates in your LinkedIn profile or resume will be good investments that give profitable returns. Perhaps deciding that each child does one activity at a time will give everyone some margin in their lives. You don’t need to change everything (particularly if it’s working well) but changing something around is like a breath of fresh air.

Set Some Strategic Goals

Where do you want to be ten years from now? How about next year? Are there steps that can begin to get you there? Many times a career coach can help you figure out which steps will get you there, and what will be a sidetrack you regret. If you are not sure what you need to be doing now in order to reach your goals, get some advice from people who have made it to where you’d like to be. Even if you decide not to take their advice, it gives you a better idea of what is involved.
A change in the season is always fun because it’s an excuse to mix it up a little bit, but it also is an excellent reason to revamp your strategies for success.

Is Your Calendar Full? Did You Put In Margins?

Products & Services

is your calendar full? did you put in margins?
This is the time of year when people suddenly realize the sun is shining and they are sick — sick of being inside. That doesn’t happen as severely if you have a few plans for time off to just regenerate yourself by doing nothing in particular, but if your life is planned down to the hour seven days a week, it will implode when a new thing is added to your script.

Plan For Margins

Every wise plan has margins. You can plan out a business goal, plan your job search, plan your vacation, etc., but you can’t plan what will happen when it hits real life. Now is a good time to look at your plans for the summer, when the vacation schedules collide with the work load, and decide how to make it fit together without making your life an unending series of urgent commitments.
I like to think of margins as the white space around the words on the page. If every spot on this page were filled with words, I’d have more information crammed into the space, but it would not be effective because nobody would read and retain it.

How To Plan Your Work Margins

That’s the way our plans work. We need margins around our careers and workdays in order to make them effective. We need to schedule a few days off where nothing is planned on a regular basis, particularly if we have lots of people in our lives. Kids are really good at interrupting plans with sudden illnesses, for instance, but they are not the only ones who interrupt a schedule.

  • Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives a margin for sudden illness.
  • Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives margin for contemplation.
  • Planning days to slow down helps the rest of your plans go together because it gives margin for regrouping and getting back on track.

If you are having a hard time planning wisely, maybe you should consider talking to a mentor or career coach to get a bigger perspective on your life. Without a plan, you can have a full calendar and be exhausted with nothing to show for your effort. With a plan, you are going to see the full days on your calendar move you to your goals. With margins built into your plan, you will see things more clearly and be ready to meet the challenges with a smile.
 

What's Your Career Plan?

Products & Services

what's your career plan?
Have you ever really looked at blueprints? We had our own experience with them last year when we expanded our office. They can make most people’s eyes glaze over, but  those professional schematic drawings are the reason buildings don’t fall down, plumbing works efficiently, and electric outlets are located where you want to plug in your hair dryer. Professional plans mean that using the hairdryer in the bathroom doesn’t blow a circuit because the wiring is sufficient for the task.
Professionals use the training and experience they possess to create building plans that will safely accommodate the activity anticipated there. If there needs to be a remodel, professionals know how to do the adaptations successfully. That same level of expertise applies to a lot of other areas in life, don’t you think? How about your career plans?
Your career is certainly as important as the building you live in, and should be planned with as much expertise. There are many good suggestions for career plans to be discovered by reading blogs and doing the research, and that is a good place to start. Many people live quite happily in buildings designed for the general population and you do the equivalent with your career by following the general advice you read from professionals.
But a custom home involves blueprints drawn up by experts with input from the home owner to ensure that every aspect of that home is perfect for the people living there. This could mean shorter counters, a special sewing room, or bathrooms with enough outlets and load capabilities to run a couple of hair dryers at the same time while listening to music. The blueprints would show those specifics: lower counter heights, cabinets for sewing materials, and a bathroom that won’t go dark when the hair dryer comes on.
Your career plans can be customized by working with an expert, a career coach who is qualified to draw up a blueprint for your job goals and help you figure out what needs to be on the plan.
 
 

What If You Overqualify For The Job You Want?

Job Search

what if you overqualify for the job you want?
Sometimes, you find yourself in the unenviable category of “overqualified” candidates when applying for a job. If you are interested in a position that you overqualify for, take a proactive stance and answer some common interviewer’s questions before they are asked.

  • Answer “why are you applying for a job you overqualify for?” in your cover letter. Maybe you want to have a less demanding position because you have decided family time is more important than working 70 hours a week. Along with that, make sure you state that you highly appreciate being able to have a job that allows you to use your skills and work fewer hours. Another scenario is the person who has found they really enjoy the challenges of the lower level job and has decided they do not want to move up.
  • Answer “won’t you move on to another opening as soon as one shows up?” with a resume that has highlighted the skills and experience you bring to the job, how those skills meet the job requirements, and some questions of your own during the interview that show your interest will be ongoing.
  • Answer “how will you react to a younger supervisor and new technology?”  by relating instances in your career where you worked successfully with all ages, and the technology trends you have kept up with or are currently learning how to use.
  • Answer “what if we can’t pay you what you were making before?”  by being prepared to discuss salary and a firm grasp of what you will accept, even if it is less. You may very well be working for less than you made before, but if the job is one you enjoy, that is worth more than dollars.

The cover letter and resume for an “overqualified” job seeker need to be fine-tuned to answer some of the questions satisfactorily and get you the interview where you can discuss the rest. If you are not sure how to do this, perhaps our coaching services would be a good investment. A Certified Career Coach can work with you one-on-one to strategize your job search effectively, and transform being “overqualified” into an asset that gets you that interview.

A Coach Can Give Your Career A Tune Up

Products & Services

a coach can give your career a tune up
You know when your car needs a tune up. The engine stops running smoothly, there’s a few sputters and jerks when you take off, and the cloud of exhaust doesn’t look good. If you just keep moving, the problem doesn’t go away — it gradually gets worse and eventually you aren’t going anywhere. Your car needs that tune up or there will be permanent damage.
Your career can be the same way. You gradually become aware that something isn’t “right” but you aren’t sure what it is. You keep plugging away at your job and things start to sputter. Eventually you realize that you aren’t going anywhere. What should you do before there’s permanent damage to your future?
One logical thing to do is give your career a tune up; looking at the overall picture of your job history and current position, checking your skills to see if they are current, evaluating the things that need to change and figuring out how to change them. You could do this yourself with research and advice from experts. Of course, you’d be trying to figure out which experts to heed and what to research, but it can be done.
People who have expertise with engines can easily do their own tune ups because they know what to prioritize. Career tune ups can be challenging because most of us don’t know which one of the little issues is the most important in the long run. This is where investing in the right coaching services can make the difference between a career that goes nowhere and one that takes off. So, how do you pick the right coach?
It’s a lot like picking the right mechanic. You look for experience, certifications, and happy customers. You might try them out by having a small job done and see how you fit with their personality because that will matter to you over time. The credentials aren’t just pieces of paper; they represent completion of strict standards that can be verified. Career coaches work the same way.
We offer Coaching Services in three different packages and an a la carte selection that pretty much guarantees you will find help for your career. Just like the professional mechanics, we have listed the credentials so you can verify them and be confident you are getting help from the best. Your career will get the tune up it needs, attention to the places you need help in and the help will be there. Pretty soon your career will be humming smoothly and you will take off!