Career Resources and Advice for Experienced Workers

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

When two people fall in love, they only see sunshine and rainbows when they look into each other’s eyes. If you asked, “What’s the worst trait of your boyfriend or girlfriend?” they would answer, “Absolutely, positively nothing!”

Ask that same question a few years later when they’re living together and have seen each other at their respective worst. You’ll get a pretty good list:

“She cuts her toenails on the coffee table.”

“He speaks in a cutesy voice on behalf of the dog.”

“She kicks me in her sleep.”

Hopefully none of these nuisances finds its way into your work life, but other ones probably do. Everyone has some weaknesses in their work behavior that they need to work on, and they often extend beyond annoyances (such as eating a smelly lunch at your desk) and become problems for your career.

Here are 10 work habits that you should try to break:

1. Procrastination

A lot of people work best under pressure, or at least they say so. With everyone having a different personality, you can’t say a strict schedule works best for all employees. Putting tasks off until the last minute, however, invites plenty of problems, even if you think the final result will be glorious.

When you leave yourself no wiggle room to complete a task, you run the risk of encountering an unexpected obstacle that makes you miss the deadline. Even if the situation is out of your hands, everyone will be left wondering why you didn’t plan better and account for last-minute emergencies.

2. Being a sloppy e-mailer

E-mails are second nature to most people these days, and in informal communications they’ve become a digital Post-it note. We type out a message and send it without proofreading or double-checking the recipients. That’s a recipe for disaster.

If you haven’t learned your lesson by now, the day will soon come when you accidentally “Reply All” to an e-mail and a slew of unintended readers receive a silly note you intended only your co-worker to read.

3. Confusing informal with disrespectful

In many workplaces, the boss might be the decision maker, but he or she isn’t the stern, humorless caricature you saw on TV. Using your supervisor’s first name and going for some drinks after work are common in many industries. Still, you are the employee and the boss is the boss — the one who can fire you and tell you what to do. Don’t cross the line by talking to her as if you’re talking to one of your direct reports or even your best friend. You need to show some respect for her authority.

4. Taking advantage of leeway

Some companies are strict about the time you clock in and out. Others have guidelines but no hard rules, so you can arrive at 8:35 a.m. and no one cares. If over time you’re arriving at 9:10 a.m. and leaving at 4 p.m. (with plenty of breaks in between), your reputation will suffer.

This also goes for dress codes. Business casual is up to interpretation, but ripped jeans and concert tees probably don’t fall under your company’s accepted definition.

5. Refusing to mingle

Plenty of wisdom lies in the advice not to mix personal and professional lives. However, refusing to take part in any social activity — such as the office potluck or a happy hour — will not help your career. You don’t need to be the resident party animal, but being personable with your colleagues helps build camaraderie. You get to know other people better and they get to know you as more than the person they pass in the halls.

6. Always running late

This isn’t the same as abusing leeway; this is a matter of trust. If you’re late to work, to meetings and with projects, your boss and colleagues will associate that trait with you. When it’s time for a promotion or to deal with an important client, everyone will think twice before giving you the opportunity. Who wants to trust the person who can’t manage his or her time?

7. Being rigid

One of the unfair aspects of the working world is that sometimes it seems you can’t win. If you’re hired to do a job, most bosses don’t want you passing the day by reading your favorite book. The reason: You were hired to do a job, so do it. But if the boss comes to you with a new project that’s outside the parameters of your usual duties, it’s still yours to do. “You don’t pay me to do that” isn’t something you want to tell your supervisor.

8. Acting as the resident contrarian

We all love your spirited personality, but try not to be the person in the meeting who always has a better idea and can tell you why everyone else’s idea is dumb. Voices of opposition are often missing in many workplaces because too many eager employees want to be “yes” men and women. But too much negativity grates on nerves and makes people dread hearing your voice. Continue to be a critical thinker, but make sure you’re doing what’s best for the company and not just trying to be the loudest voice in the room.

9. Badmouthing the company

With blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a host of other sites, you have plenty of opportunity to vent your frustration with life. If you’re going to complain about how dumb your boss is and how much you hate your job, keep those rants private. The Internet is public domain and comments have a way of finding their way back to all the wrong people. If you wouldn’t stand outside your boss’s office and tell a co-worker how ready you are to quit, don’t express the same thoughts in an open forum.

10. Politicking

Office politics are often unavoidable, and sometimes having a grasp on what’s going on can benefit you, but you shouldn’t spend more time masterminding office warfare than you do working. Getting caught in the crosshairs of a workplace controversy can be out of your control, but if you’re the one instigating the drama, you’re earning a bad reputation. You’re the person who starts trouble and whom no one trusts. That’s the kind of notoriety that follows you from one workplace to another.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

Lying is wrong.

As a child you learned this from your parents and teachers. It’s even a commandment. Honesty is the best policy, most people seem to agree.

But that doesn’t mean you follow this advice all the time.

I’m not saying you’re a bad person, but if you’re anything like me, the occasional half-truth or little white lie makes an occasional appearance. And if you’re like many workers, these creative ways of describing the facts often pop up at work.

Here are workplace fibs we all tell:

“Everything is under control.”
Bosses like to see employees who are in charge of a situation. “Come to me with solutions, not problems” is cliché, but it’s true for most employers. So you’re understandably loath to admit you’ve lost control of a situation and your life is crumbling down. Yet, you don’t want to look incompetent (and overly dramatic), either. Just be honest with someone, whether it’s your boss, a co-worker or another resource who can help you. Explain that you’re working on a task that isn’t going as you had envisioned and you’d like to bounce some ideas around to find a resolution while you still have time to get back on track.

Think about the alternative: You act as if everything is running smoothly and then the deadline approaches and you’ve got nothing. How will you look then?

“It would be my pleasure.”
Work isn’t all fun. That’s a lesson we learn early in life, so we’re used to smiling while we take on tasks we don’t want. Still, you want to be certain you balance your enthusiasm and willingness to be unhappy with honesty. If your boss hands you a project that’s going to be torture, you probably can’t get out of it. But given the opportunity to discuss what you like and dislike about your job, tactfully stress which tasks make the best use of your skills and which ones don’t. That’s not to say you can get out of doing unpleasant tasks, but you don’t want to give the illusion that you love doing these projects — otherwise the boss will think you want them and make them your primary job. Then it’s too late to remedy the situation.

“I got stuck in traffic.”
If you’re late, just own up to it. You might think it’s professional suicide to admit you were too lazy not to hit the snooze button seven times, but it’s not. Unless you have a draconian boss, occasional tardiness isn’t going to hurt your chances of a promotion and your co-workers will understand. Everyone’s been in the situation.

If you have to lie because you’re always late, then no one’s buying your excuses anyway. Traffic, a faulty alarm clock, a pregnant woman went into labor on the train — you get only so many passes before everyone knows you’re lying. Here, the lies are secondary to your reputation as the incessant latecomer.

“I was thinking the exact same thing.”
Everyone hates a suck-up. Even the boss. So don’t try to win favors by agreeing with everything he or she says. You probably didn’t have the same idea because if you did, you’d have said it.

The same goes for colleagues. Agreeing with them and supporting their ideas are admirable actions, but pretending as if you both created a joint vision and you want partial credit is not acceptable. When you do put your own ideas out there, you don’t want someone else piggybacking on your hard work.

“Let’s get together soon.”
Ever since you graduated from high school and started running into former classmates, you’ve been using the “Let’s get lunch” lie on a regular basis. The truth is that you have no intention of getting together with these people (and they probably feel the same way).

In business, you’re bound to bump into people you’re not eager to break bread with, either at a meeting or a conference, or in a social setting. Now, telling someone, “I just don’t find you interesting enough to sit at the same table for an hour!” isn’t good business. So this lie might not be so bad.

But you should also consider actually delivering on this promise. You never know when someone has valuable ideas or contacts that could benefit you. At worst, you listen to boring stories while you poke at your salad. At best, you have a new relationship that can help your business and you might actually like the person.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

If you’ve watched the news lately, you’ve seen a reporter standing at a job fair and a line of job seekers winding out the door. Inevitably the reporter interviews an employer who says that for a few open positions, hundreds of applicants have submitted résumés.

You immediately wonder: How many of those applications actually get read?

In a perfect world, hiring managers would have plenty of time to thoroughly read every single résumé that comes across their desks and contact each person to explain why the company is choosing someone else. In reality, the job seekers outnumber available positions in today’s job market, and hiring managers are too busy to hold your hand through every step of the process.

In fact, you’re lucky if you hear back at all. Many companies contact you only if they want more information or to schedule an interview. You never know if you didn’t qualify for the job or if your résumé was ever even looked at.

Résumé neverland
“I’m pretty sure that résumé neverland exists — especially in a completely flooded job-hunting climate due to the poor economy,” says Kristen Fischer, the author of “Ramen Noodles, Rent and Résumés: An After-College Guide to Life.” “With so many people applying for jobs, it’s easy to discard a résumé based simply on a typo or unpleasant formatting.”

Of course, job seekers can (and should) avoid typos with proofreading. But the bigger fear is that powers out of their control could sabotage their job prospects.

“Résumés submitted online can also disappear into the cyber black hole,” Fischer says. She says these online abysses are often the result of generic e-mail addresses, which can mean all applications funnel into one account even if they’re for separate positions. Or worse, applications and general business questions go to the same destination.

Even if you can’t prevent the black hole from existing, you can do your best to get your application out of there.

Be proactive
Rather than take your chances with the proverbial résumé black hole, you should be proactive when you apply for work, says Justin Honaman, author of “Make It Happen! Live Out Your Personal Brand.”

“There is no doubt that hitting the ‘submit’ button and hoping [or] praying is probably not the only way to approach an opportunity,” he says. “When positions are posted on a company’s Web site, my experience has been that I receive a huge number of submissions, and at times, more than 80 percent of the applicants are not even qualified for the position. Most recruiters follow a multistep evaluation approach.”

According to Honaman, recruiters and hiring managers ask three questions when they receive applications from job seekers:

· Does candidate meet the minimum criteria for the position?
The minimum criteria might include a certain level of education, years of experience or certification.

· Is the candidate still in the running even after she has stated her requirements or wishes for the position?
If an applicant’s salary requirements or unwillingness to relocate conflicts with the needs of the job, then the employer might remove him or her from consideration.

· Does the candidate bring more to the table than the defined position requirements?
Employers are happy to have someone who fulfills the requirements of the position, but they’re even happier to hire someone who brings additional assets.

Why do you care about this? Because once you submit your application and it passes these hurdles, it doesn’t mean you’re out of résumé neverland. You’re still just one of many applicants who can get lost in the shuffle, even in the most efficient hiring department.

According to Honaman, a multiprong method of attack is the best way to guarantee you’re not overlooked:

1. Online résumé submission
“Most companies require this to ensure internal company recruiting processes are followed,” Honaman says. Plus, it’s the easiest way to get your name in the hands of someone at the company.

2. Make a personal connection
Honaman suggests networking with someone in the company to get an edge over other applicants. If you can speak with a knowledgeable source who can offer information about the hiring manager, the team or the position, you’ll have more insight on what the employer’s looking for.

3. Appropriate follow-up
Once you’ve submitted your application, Honaman recommends contacting the company again, as long as you’re respectful and professional. Don’t hound anyone about the job, just check in to see where the process stands.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

After the Job Offer: What Not To Do

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

There’s a viral video that probably everyone has been e-mailed: A cyclist nearing the end of a race raises his arms in excitement … then falls off the bike, struggles to get back on and watches someone else cross the finish line first.

The tumble is a real-life example of counting your chickens before they’re hatched and putting the cart before the horse. Basically, make sure you’ve done everything you’re supposed to before claiming a victory.

When you’re in the final stages of landing a job, keep those arms down and your brain thinking. As excited as you are to receive a job offer, you still have plenty of work to do before the first day of work.

Here are five mistakes you want to avoid once the employer has extended an offer:

1. Not negotiating salary
Chances are you avoided detailed salary talk until this moment. Now’s the time to discuss it. Remember that many employers extend low offers with the expectation that applicants will negotiate, so don’t feel pressured to accept immediately.

Compensation encompasses other perks, such as vacation days, telecommuting options and flexible schedules. If you’re told the salary can’t be increased, don’t forget to mention these other options. Also, ask the hiring manager if you can revisit salary negotiations after six months. You don’t want to sign on the dotted line, only to think you didn’t ask for all you could.

2. Showing your split personality
Every employer knows you’re on your best behavior when you interview. The impeccable attire, punctuality and excitement about the position — that all fades to some degree after you’ve been on the job long enough. If it shows up the day after you’ve been offered the job, you’ve just sent a parade of red flags to your new boss. This includes suddenly calling your future boss by a nickname, talking about how trashed you’re going to get tonight in celebration of the job or talking about the terrible breakup you’re experiencing.

Your boss can rescind an offer for a variety of reasons, so don’t act as if you’re a professor who’s made tenure just yet. Continue to be the driven professional who was at the interviews. Let your casual side show after you’ve settled into the position.

3. Badmouthing the company in a public forum
Hopefully you haven’t already grown bitter toward your new employer and don’t already harbor resentment of the company for some reason. (Why take the job if you do?) But don’t say “Yes!” to the job one day and run off to Twitter to express how dumb your boss is the next. Posting on Facebook that “Jessica Jones just conned her new boss into paying her way too much!” is just plain foolish.

4. Looking like a liar
For a past job, I was offered the position after a lengthy interview process. I thought it was weird that they never bothered to call my references even though I had gone through several rounds of tests and meeting with the team. The day I was offered the position, my references were called to verify my work history.

If you’re lying about anything, especially references or salary history, you can still get caught even after you’ve accepted the position. In fact, many offers are contingent on all of your information checking out. You should never lie during the hiring process, but if your application has false information (whether on purpose or accident), make sure you hand the employer the proper information before you look like a liar.

5. Playing games
Negotiating salary is one thing; dragging your employer along is another. You have every right to think over an offer and review the terms and conditions, but people have better things to do than wait while you twiddle your thumbs. Many job offers will come with a deadline that requires you to respond within days.

One reason you might be tempted to delay giving an answer is because you have another offer you’re waiting on. Choosing one over the other is hard when the situation is so uncertain, but you do need to pick one or you could end up losing both.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

If your grade-school education was anything like mine, lessons on parallelograms, subject-verb agreement and neutrons were met with a chorus of whiny students asking, “When will we ever need to know this?”

I admit, many years later I still haven’t tapped into my algebraic knowledge of a parabola, but other subjects have played important roles. Writing lessons, for example, have played a large role in my life, and not just because of my line of work.

Between e-mails, texts and Tweets, our society spends a lot of time communicating via the written word. We spend more time writing in our professional and personal lives than we probably imagined we would back in school. What you may not realize is that these written exchanges can boost your career or hinder it, depending on how you treat them.

Write your way to a job
Todd Henning recently began an internship with a public relations firm, and he’s quickly discovering that his writing abilities are helping his fledgling career. In the few months he’s been interning, he’s seen his list of responsibilities grow.

“Right after I was hired, they told me it was largely due to the writing samples that I had given them during the interview process, and they had stopped considering others because of their writing samples,” Henning says.

Of course, if you’re applying for a position where writing samples are part of the application process, you’re probably not surprised that composition skills pay off. But Rebecca West, interior designer for Rivalee Design, recently landed a position because of her writing skills. Not what you’d expect for someone whose job relies on a creative eye rather than a way with a pen.

West met with a potential client to discuss a bathroom remodel, and she didn’t think the meeting was a success. She didn’t think she connected to one homeowner and the other homeowner was unable to attend.

“I always send a follow-up thank you after my first consultation, but this time I took it a step further and composed a full letter describing to the client how I thought I could best help in their project, and offering to meet with them once more,” West says. “I didn’t really expect anything to come of it, but several days later they called and asked to set up another time to meet. During my second visit the second homeowner mentioned my letter, thanked me for it, and said it brought ‘tears to his eyes’ — and no, he wasn’t being facetious.”

After the second meeting, all three parties decided the homeowners didn’t need a designer to execute their remodeling plans, but that didn’t bother West.

“From them I had two business referrals, and I was able to refer them to a contractor of mine who in turn got the remodeling work,” West says.

Employers care
Lilia Fallgatter, an author and e-learning consultant, has enough experience as a hiring manager in higher education to know that writing skills affect every career.

“How you write speaks volumes about you,” Fallgatter stresses. “Incorrect grammar, spelling and usage make a bad impression and can affect your credibility on the job. With the advent of text messaging, instant messaging and social networking sites such as Twitter, more people are abandoning the rules of writing. The use of abbreviations, failing to use capitalization and punctuation is extremely informal and does not translate well to the professional setting.”

Fallgatter is quick to point out that, all things being equal, in a showdown between two job applicants, she’ll choose the better writer.

A reputation as a good writer has paid off for Mel White, vice president of marketing and business development at Classic Exhibits, a firm that specializes in providing equipment to trade show vendors and exhibitors. He says effective communication skills have enhanced his professional image in ways he didn’t expect.

“I’m no genius, no superstar — but strong writing skills have always made me a valuable asset,” he says. In business school, he frequently earned higher marks than his classmates because of his writing abilities, a trend that carried over to his business life. “Regardless of my position, I’ve become the default writer and editor everywhere I’ve worked. Writing skills matter. For some odd reason, people think you are smarter and more competent.”

This phenomenon has held true for other professionals, including Dustin Weeks, author of “Lessons From a Recovering Worker Bee.”

“While working abroad I was responsible for making sure that all written communications for our American English-speaking clients were grammatically correct,” Weeks explains. As a result, he became the resident expert on English and North American business strategies. “I was often asked strategic questions about how something should be presented to our North American clients because I had command of the English language and was from North America.”

How to make writing work for you
All this said, strong writing skills can lose you a job if you’re not careful. If your command of English makes you the go-to editor for the office, you still need to temper your criticisms a bit. If your eagerness to mark up a paper with red ink outweighs your desire to help you colleagues and boss, you’ll appear arrogant.

With that in mind, here are some tips to help make the most of your written communications at work:

· Proofread, proofread, proofread
Typos, slang and bad grammar send a negative signal whether you’re a job seeker, new employee or a supervisor. Look over your own writing and if it’s an important document, ask someone else to review it, too.

·Even e-mails deserve attention
All business communications should be treated with some level of professionalism. Although not every e-mail is a letter to the CEO, don’t forget that these messages can be forwarded to anyone. Plus, in a culture where e-mails are more prevalent than face-to-face conversations, your writing is the face of your professional image.

· Pick your battles
If you’re a great writer, don’t become the office grammarian who constantly corrects the usage of “who/whom.” Congratulations on your knowledge of “The Elements of Style,” but being known as a know-it-all can overshadow your knowledge.

· Context matters
Part of being a good writer is knowing how to communicate effectively to your audience. A white paper should be more formal than a personal message to a colleague you know well. If you treat every correspondence with too much formality, that will be more noticeable than the content. So sometimes “Hi” is a better way to open a message than “Salutations.”

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

If television sitcoms of the 1980s and 1990s are to be believed, every parent in America argued with a teenager who wanted to wear ripped jeans and ill-fitting shirts to school. These shows also implied that the youth of America ran around speaking like Valley Girls and using slang no one over 17 understood.

I thought these fashion battles were dramatized TV nonsense and never happened in real households.

I was wrong.

Judging by the amount of inappropriate attire job seekers wear to interviews and employees wear to work, many adults are taking advantage of the freedom to wear whatever they choose. And some of them seem to be wearing the exact clothes their parents disapproved of more than a decade (or two) ago.

Interview attire
The first opportunity you and your wardrobe have to impress an employer is during the interview stage. Unfortunately, this initial meeting is the one where you have the least amount of information with which to prepare. At this stage, you probably haven’t been to the company before and don’t know the specifics of the dress code and office culture.

How should you prepare? Better to overdress a little than underdress, says Marianne Hancock, account supervisor for public relations firm Golin Harris.

“Our office is pretty casual and is a creative setting, but an interviewee wouldn’t know that coming in,” Hancock says. “I expect business attire, preferably a suit. I want the interviewee to look like they mean business and are mature enough to handle a fast-paced workplace.”

Hancock’s skepticism comes from seeing her share of inappropriate fashions walk into interview rooms.

“If they don’t wear their best business attire to an interview, it makes me wonder if they really want the job,” she says. “It is hard to take someone seriously wearing flip-flops, a butterfly sweater set and a white puffy skirt.”

Workplace wardrobe
Tanya Roth, a wardrobe stylist for wardrobe styling agency Urban Darling, knows that many industries embrace business casual attire, yet she cautions against employees mistaking casual for careless.

“I think it would be ideal for work to appear to have made an effort, just as you would with your work product,” Roth advises. “Even if [women] wear jeans to work, I would suggest pairing them with a jacket, classic tee or top and a heel. I believe in people showing a little personality at work, so a great color in a shoe, bag or necklace with a classic suit or pants outfit would be not only appropriate but should be encouraged.”

For whatever reason, many new employees still arrive at the first day of work wondering what to wear. Research is your best friend, says Louise Lamorte, the director of career services at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

“[Candidates] should be observant of employees’ dress during on-site interviews,” Lamorte recommends. “It is also good practice and appropriate for new employees to ask the HR department or immediate supervisor about the company dress code before the first day of work, especially in these days of business professional, business casual and dress down styles.”

Dos and don’ts
So what are you supposed to wear? You’ve got some employers wanting you to dress a little better than the code for interviews, but if you overdress you appear ignorant of the culture.

While no strict universal rules exist for dress code, there are some guidelines you can think about when dressing for interviews and work:

· Know your audience
Whether you’re dressing for an interview or just a Tuesday on the job, you want to show that you fit in. Jeans and a T-shirt won’t work for a lot of industries, but a suit and tie might not work for others. Look at the industry and the workplace and take cues from other people.

· Don’t get lazy
Once you’ve been on a job long enough, you can be tempted to throw on whatever’s clean (or clean enough) and stumble to work. Employers don’t stop assessing your work ethic once you pass your first-year anniversary. Your appearance is a constant factor in how others perceive you and your professionalism.

· Use common sense
In most circumstances, you can be certain that the kind of clothes you’d wear to a club or the beach don’t translate to the workplace. Torn or extremely faded jeans, shirts that show a lot of skin, flip-flops, t-shirts with skulls on them, ragged tennis shoes and purple hair don’t belong in workplaces. Of course, if you work on the beach or in a club, you probably can wear some of these things.

· Read the dress code
If your company has an official dress code in its employee handbook, read it. Maybe everyone in the company bends the rules, and that’s fine, but you should be aware of what the official guidelines are in case you ever have to deal with a complaint.

· Dress for the position you want
Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Dressing for the position you want and not the one you have is a good way to make a strong impression on your boss and clients or customers. If you want to be the manager and notice that everyone at that level has a more sophisticated look than yours, emulate them.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

You know the friend who constantly dates the wrong kind of person? The one who’s endlessly frustrated that he or she is going to die alone because all the good ones are taken?

After enough venting sessions, you realize something your friend doesn’t: He or she is the common thread tying together all of these — let’s just say it together — losers. Someone needs to speak up and say, “You’re doing this to yourself.”

You’ll find this same pattern can be true in a job hunt. Granted, we’re in tough times and plenty of reasons out of your control can keep you from getting hired. But that’s just one more reason to do everything within your power to be the best job seeker you can.

With that in mind, look over these 25 ways you might be unknowingly sabotaging your job search:

1. Assuming you’ll never need to look for another job
You love your current job and that’s great. If you’re happy there and see a promising future, I hope you never have to leave. Nevertheless, you should always be prepared for the day you have to move on. Even if the boss loves you, things can change. Buyouts, economic disasters or changes in leadership can affect your employment. Continue to update your résumé while you’re employed so that you have an accurate record of your accomplishments.

2. Burning bridges
We love the scenes in movies where the disgruntled employee finally tells off the boss and storms out of the office, only to live a happy, fulfilling life. In real life, these idols are probably unemployed because they don’t have good references, and no employer wants to hire someone with a tarnished reputation.

3. Keeping mum on your job search
Most people aren’t keen on being unemployed, and if you were laid off it’s understandable that you don’t want to spend all your time talking about it. But you need to network; it’s one of the most effective ways to find a job. A friend of a friend of a friend often gets you the interview that lands you the job — but that won’t happen if no one knows you’re looking for new career opportunities.

4. Looking for “The One”
Although you want to conduct a focused job search, you need to keep an open mind. With any luck, you’ll land the perfect gig, but sometimes you have to take a job that possesses most of the qualities you want — not all of them. If the pay is right, the requirements are in line with your experience and the opportunities for promotion are good, then you might have to overlook the fact that you have to wake up 30 minutes earlier than you’d like.

5. Not searching at all
This mistake probably seems obvious, but as anyone who’s been on a lengthy job hunt can tell you, discouragement is easy to come by. A few weeks or months without a job and enough news segments on layoffs are enough to convince you that no one is hiring. Without question the market’s competitive, but if you’re not actively looking for work, don’t expect it to fall in your lap.

6. No cover letter
Including a cover letter is an easy way to play it safe during a job hunt. Although not every employer wants one, surveys continually find employers who automatically remove job seekers from consideration if they don’t include a cover letter. Why would you give any employer a reason not to hire you?

7. A generic cover letter
The only thing worse than no cover letter is one that could be sent to any anonymous employer. Starting with “To Whom It May Concern” and filling the page with phrases like “hard working” will signal the reader that you’re blindly sending out applications to every job opening you see. Hiring managers are looking for someone who fits their needs, and their needs are different than another employer’s. Don’t treat them the same.

8. Typos
If you received a wedding invitation full of misspelled words and poor punctuation, you’d probably wonder why these two people didn’t take the time to proofread the page. After all, it’s an important event and a lot of people will be reading it. Employers will wonder the same thing about a résumé or cover letter filled with errors.

9. All “I” and not enough “you”
Your cover letter and résumé are definitely about you, but they’re not for you. Employers are interested in you only in the context of what you can do for them. Whenever you reveal information about yourself, use it as proof that you offer something to the company that no one else can.

10. Giving bad contact information
When hiring managers like what they see on your résumé and cover letter, they’re going to look for your contact information. If they see that your e-mail address is BeerFreak80@email.com or that your current work number is the best way to contact you, they’re going to think twice before reaching out. The only thing worse is forgetting to include your contact information at all.

11. Running late
Every boss wants an employee who is dependable and a good representative of the company. Someone who’s tardy to an interview is neither.

12. Dressing for the wrong job
Appearances matter in an interview, and you should dress for what’s appropriate in your field. Find out what the dress code is before you show up so you fit in with the company culture. Wearing a suit when you’re told jeans are the norm can make you seem stuffy; wearing shorts and sandals when everyone else is wearing suits makes you look oblivious. You’re better off erring on the side of too professional than too casual.

13. Griping about past employers
Keep in mind that you’re not guaranteed to be with any company forever. When you talk trash about your last company, your interviewer’s thinking, “What are you going to say about me once you leave?”

14. Not asking questions
One quintessential interview question is, “Do you have any questions for me?” Sitting there silently suggests you’re not invested in the job. When you go to a restaurant, you probably have a few questions for the waiter. Shouldn’t you be just as curious about a new job?

15. Not doing your research
Research for a new job involves two important subjects: the position and the company. Find out as much about the position as you can so you can decide if you even want it and so you can position yourself as the best fit for the job.

Knowing all you can about the company will help you decide if you like its direction and share its ideals. Plus, when it comes to the all-important “Do you have any questions for us?” portion of the interview (see above), you have plenty of material to cover.

16. Thinking the interview starts and ends in a meeting room
The formal interview occurs when you shake hands with the interviewer and ends when you leave the room. The full process begins when you’re called or e-mailed to come in for an interview and it continues every time you converse with someone at the company. Were you rude to the recruiter or the receptionist? You never know what gets reported to the hiring manager.

17. Talking about money too soon
As eager as you are to land the job and cash your first paycheck, let the employer mention salary first. Broaching the subject first implies you’re more eager about money than about doing a good job.

18. Acting cocky
You never want to beg for a job, but you should act as if you care about it. If your confidence level spills over into arrogance, you’ll guarantee no employer will want to work with you.

19. Being so honest you’re rude
Not every job will turn into a lifelong career, and you might have no intention of staying at the company more than a year or two when you interview. Still, hiring managers don’t want to hear that you’re taking this job just to pass time until you find a real job that you care about. You don’t need to commit yourself to the company for a decade, but don’t make yourself sound like a flight risk, either.

20. Forgetting your manners
Common courtesy can get you far, and in a job hunt you’d like to get as far as possible. After an interview, send a thank-you note (via e-mail or regular mail) to show your gratitude to the interviewer for taking the time to meet with you. This will leave him or her with a good impression of you.

21. Stalking the hiring manager
If the interviewer gives you a deadline for hearing back from him or her, go ahead and call to see if a decision has been made. Do not call, e-mail and visit every day until you finally get a response — which will probably be, “You definitely did not get the job.”

22. Not keeping track of your applications
Because a job hunt can be lengthy, you should have a running list of where you’ve applied and whether or not you’ve heard back. Although you don’t think you’ll forget where you applied, after a dozen applications your memory can get fuzzy. Sending multiple applications to the same employer says, “I’m either disorganized or I’m just sending out bulk applications.”

23. Not learning from mistakes
You’re bound to make a mistake here and there during an interview. If a question trips you up, think about what went wrong and prepare for it the next time. Don’t forget mistakes from your past, either. Look back at jobs you hated and try to avoid landing one of those jobs again.

24. Assuming you got the job
Don’t ever assume you have the job until you actually hear the hiring manager say, “You got the job.” Several factors can complicate whether or not you get hired, so don’t halt your job search until you receive an offer. Keep searching for work because the deal might fall through at the last minute or you might find an even better job.

25. Forgetting the lessons you learned during a job search
When your hard work pays off and you do land a job, don’t forget all the trials and trouble you went through to get it. Just because you have a paycheck doesn’t mean you’ve looked for your last job. Remember how important it is to maintain a network, keep track of your achievements and have good references. If you do find yourself looking for work again, you’ll have a much easier time.

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer

Americans aren’t keen to discuss money. We like making it and we like spending it, but money doesn’t belong in polite conversation. It sits on the shelf of forbidden topics, alongside politics, religion and sex.

Yet, one of the requisites often found on a job posting is, “Include salary history.”

You haven’t even met anyone at the company yet and you’re expected to divulge information only you and your bank account know? How rude.

Like it or not, salary talks are part of job hunts, and often they arise in the early stages of the game. For a topic as sensitive and tricky as money, how should you proceed?

And what if you don’t?
When a job posting tells you to include salary history or requirements on your résumé, you have only two choices: do it or don’t. Sure, you can ignore it or dance around it by writing, “Salary to be commensurate with experience and responsibilities.” That doesn’t change the fact that you haven’t handed over any hard numbers. And that’s fine, as long as you realize you might remove yourself from the running, says Sue Fuller, director of talent management for EDL Consulting.

“When a job posting requests salary history, the purpose is to identify candidates who are in a viable compensation range,” Fuller says. “In these instances, it is important to show salary history. Otherwise, the risk is to be excluded from consideration.”

Job seekers aren’t hesitant to hand over financial information only due to manners; they are afraid to hurt their chances of getting a good salary or even the job. For example, if your current income is higher than what this job will pay, the employer might assume you won’t take a salary cut and remove you from the pool of applicants. Conversely, if your salary is well below this job’s rate, the employer can lowball an offer. Either way, you lose.

The interview
Even if you’re able to sidestep the issue during the application process, you might encounter it during a phone interview. Unless you like long, awkward silences, you’ll have to address the issue.

“The best answer is to tell the employer what you are currently earning [or most recently earned],” Fuller suggests. “At that point, compensation is not at a negotiation stage; it is at the information gathering stage. This is an important distinction to understand.”

If you’re asked what you expect to earn, not what you did earn, Fuller recommends you give a realistic range for the position. This gives the employer an idea of what you want and can lead to a discussion of whether that pay aligns with what he or she had in mind.

Regardless of when the topic arises, Fuller stresses that job seekers be honest about their salary history. Employers can verify your salary in a matter of minutes these days, so lying only serves to make you look bad. Just because you give a high number doesn’t mean the employer will match the amount, Fuller says.

The real purpose of salary talks in the beginning is to get a clear picture of what you’re worth and what the company can offer. This is why Fuller advises as much flexibility as possible on your part.

“When an offer is made, the candidate can negotiate several tangible and intangible factors that may include a six-month review, incentives, benefits, career development and/or flexibility,” Fuller says. “Candidates should realize that value proposition [is about more] than just dollars and that companies will reward employees who perform.”

The dos and don’ts
As with any portion of a job hunt, there are bad signals you can send to an employer and vice versa. For example, you don’t want to show up wearing beach attire to an interview. At the same time, you don’t want to work at an office where all the employees looked unhappy and terrified of the boss. Salary talks have similar red flags.

“During salary discussions, an employer does not want to hear about financial pressures candidates may have, such as debt, loans or, especially, maintaining a lifestyle,” Fuller cautions. “Showing an appreciation for the tangibles, intangibles and the big picture will go a long way. [Also], employers will screen out candidates who are all about the money and not about the contribution and advancement of the organization.”

But be wary of employers during these conversations. You need to trust what you’re being told; otherwise you probably don’t want to work at the company.

“Candidates who cannot establish trust with an employer about the role, the expectations, the compensation and the future outlook should not accept an offer with an employer,” Fuller says. If you have no faith in what you hear, can you imagine what it will be like to work for this employer every day?

Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

What to say when the boss catches you job searching at work

By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer

One day in 2002, Neil Moodley was bored at work. To allay his curiosity, he decided to check out a few Web sites to see what other jobs were out there. The next thing he knew, his boss’s voice was behind him asking if he was “off to sunnier climes.”

“I panicked — no doubt about it. First I swiveled my chair around to try and futilely hide my screen. Then I tried to cover up by claiming I was researching jobs for a friend,” Moodley recalls. “The exit interview a few months later when I did actually find a new job was somewhat awkward.”

Whether you’re bored, underpaid, overworked or all of the above, it’s not uncommon for workers like Moodley to want to search for greener pastures. The problem comes when you’re doing it at work.

It might be OK to conduct a job hunt at work if your employer is actively downsizing and you’ve been told your job is not secure, says Lori Mattison, of Mattison Resources. What is not OK is if your job is safe and you’re just looking for a better deal.

“During these economic times, those with secure jobs should be grateful and give 150 percent when they are at work. If employers get wind of a trusted employee looking for a better deal, you might put your job in jeopardy,” Mattison says. “Don’t forget the current pool of qualified applicants is huge at the moment; almost anyone is replaceable.”

What not to say
You know that job searching at work is a bad move — yet, you do it anyway. So the question is not whether it’s right or wrong, but what exactly should you do or say if you’re caught red-handed?

What you don’t do is laugh or launch into a list of grievances about your job. This is what happened when Dwayne Schweppes, a manager at a professional services company, caught an employee not job searching but interviewing at a nearby coffee shop.

“My issue was not that [the employee] was looking for another job — far from it. I advised everyone who worked for me that they should do whatever they felt was necessary to improve their careers as long as they did it on their own time and maintained some discretion,” he says. “The fact that [the employee] took neither precaution made it clear he was either aiming to throw his dissatisfaction in my face, or perhaps simply that he lacked any shred of common sense.”

When Schweppes confronted the worker, he laughed at having been busted.

“As the conversation wore on, it became clear that he couldn’t see the problem with what he had done or that his actions were an affront to the company and to his teammates. Far from being contrite, he launched into a litany of frustrations with his job,” Schweppes says. “That sealed it. Later that day, the company parted ways with [the employee] on the grounds that we would have never been able to trust him again with a client assignment.”

Is honesty the best policy?
If you’re caught job searching at work, the situation doesn’t have to end as badly as it did for Schweppes’ employee.

Several years after he had been caught job searching at work himself, Moodley was a senior project manager at a software company when he found a direct report researching job sites. He remembered his own story and played the situation differently.

“I saw this as an opportunity to perhaps discover a problem with the work, company or culture that needed fixing. I made it clear [to the job hunter] that I didn’t want to lose him … but I respected that he had career ambitions of his own that he wanted to fulfill,” Moodley says. “I asked him how I could help do that, even it meant arranging an interview with the company recruitment consultancy to find him the best possible job in another company.”

Understandably, the employee was shocked by Moodley’s reaction, but as he put it, “if [the employee] wanted to leave there was no point in trying to convince him to stay.” Ultimately, the employee left but when he did, it was as a friend and an employee, he says.

Similarly, Doug Johnson, president of G.R. Johnson and Son Consulting, says he understands that employees may get dissatisfied or want more opportunity in their careers. As such, he instituted an open job-search policy as a manager and business owner. Employees were free to look for other work under two conditions: that they used company time for company business unless they’d completed their work; and that those job searching needed to talk to him or another manager and tell them why.

“I would rather have them be honest with me about it than lie and hide what they’re doing,” Johnson says. “Let us know so we can see if there’s something we can do to change your situation with us to keep you.”

Such a policy created a positive work environment where workers felt confident that they could be open and that they were cared about and valued.

“We ended up with a win-win situation: happy employees, harder-working employees, loyal employees,” Johnson says.

What should you say?
The fact is, most employees expect their bosses to lash out or start a confrontation if they’re caught looking for work elsewhere; their first instinct is to be on the defensive. What many job seekers don’t realize is that many managers aren’t upset that you’re looking for other work but they do want to know why.

In fact, getting caught job hunting at work could work to your advantage if you play your cards right. If you’re unhappy with your pay, don’t like the work you’re doing, feel underappreciated or whatever the circumstances, it’s the perfect opportunity to talk openly with your boss.

Any lie you tell will come back to haunt you and ruin your existing work relationships. If you’re honest with your boss and end up continuing to work there, it’s more likely that your manager will be able to not only trust you, but want to help you reach your career goals.

So what should you say if your boss catches you job searching at work? Simple: The truth.

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer

When you think back to your childhood and your mom said, “We’ll see,” it was always better than a flat out, “No.” Much like “possibly” is sufficient when you ask your boss for time off and “I’ll think about it” gives you hope when you ask for a raise.

Though all of these responses are really just a more polite version of “no,” they’re easier to hear than the actual word itself. While hearing “no” is hard enough, it seems that saying no is even more difficult for some people — especially when it comes to their boss.

“Most employees avoid saying no to their boss because they fear it will ruin their relationship, cost them their job or appear disrespectful,” says Joseph Grenny, co-author of “Crucial Conversations.” “With the right set of skills, it is possible to be 100 percent candid and respectful when holding this important conversation.”

The reality is, we can’t say to yes to everything, so it’s essential to position yourself in the best way possible if and when you have to say no at work. The trick, experts say, is not really what you say, but how you say it.

“Many of us won’t say the word because we are afraid to, especially in this economy,” says Mary Byers, author of “How to Say No … And Live to Tell About It.” “It’s easier to say no at work if you don’t actually use the word. That way, your boss won’t feel like you’re being insubordinate.”

Elisabeth Manning, a human potential coach, recalls a time when she was an assistant to the president of a major company. The president wanted to make Manning her marketing manager at the same time — and the same salary.

Manning, who knew that she would have too much on her plate if she accepted working both jobs, told her boss that she wanted to maximize her capacity for potential at the company and accepting the offer would not be the best, most efficient use of her time.

“I was neutral, not emotional and held my ground,” Manning says. “I spoke as if it were already a done deal, without fear.”

Here are five situations where you might find yourself needing (and wanting) to say no at work and how you can do so tactfully — and without losing your job.

How to say no to …

Your boss assigning you too much work
It can be tough to tell your boss you have a problem with the amount of work he or she is assigning you, but it’s possible if you can make your boss feel safe, Grenny says. Start with facts instead of harsh judgments or vague conclusions and let your boss know you care about his interests and respect him, he says.

“Strip out any judgmental or provocative language and be specific,” Grenny says. “For example, ‘Last week, you gave me two large projects to finish in a very short amount of time and I had to complete these on top of my regular responsibilities. I am afraid my large workload might be affecting the quality of my work.’”

Outrageous demands
If your boss asks you to do something like run his errands or work all weekend and you can’t (or don’t feel like you should have to), focus on what you can do, says Susan Fletcher, a psychologist, author and speaker.

“The next time your boss asks you to go pick up his or her dry cleaning, instead of saying no, say, ‘What I can do is cover your phone calls for you while you are out of the office,’” Fletcher suggests. “Or if your boss asks you to start up a new company initiative, instead of saying no, say, ‘What I can do is brainstorm with you on the strategy for the initiative and help get the proper team members in place who can execute the strategy.”

Something you honestly can’t do
Of course, it’s always good to learn new skills, but if you truly believe you aren’t the best person for the job, you should say no. Byers suggests responding with something like, “Is there another department where this project might fit better, or someone we can collaborate with?”

“If you know you don’t have the necessary time, resources or knowledge for a given project, this is a good way to open dialogue about the best way to get an assignment done,” she says.

Unrealistic deadlines
If you frame your response in a way that helps your boss to rethink his request, you’ll be OK, says Beth Sears, president of Workplace Communication.

Be aware of your tone of voice and try something like, “I understand your need for this assignment to be completed, but I need some help prioritizing my other work. You requested me to complete ‘A’ by tomorrow, ‘B’ by Thursday and ‘C’ by Friday. This last assignment ‘D’ would make it impossible to accomplish all of these. How would you prioritize these tasks?” Sears suggests.

Anything illegal, unethical or that crosses personal boundaries
Say no to anything that will you get into trouble if you say yes. Meaning, if something will be detrimental to your career or goes against your integrity, you should always say no.

Jennifer Bergeron, an HR training specialist, recently said no to one of her bosses who asked her to lie to her direct manager.

“I said, ‘I’m not comfortable doing that, because the result will be [X, Y and Z]. Please don’t ask me to ever lie to someone,” Bergeron says. “He said, ‘OK, you’re right. I didn’t realize all that was going on.’”

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

Real workers share their layoff stories

By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer

You got laid off and now you’re unemployed — so are 14.5 million other people.

Several of Greg McGunagle’s family and friends were among these laid-off workers. He started hearing horror stories about how they were let go and began to notice a trend: Few companies are good at executing layoffs.

“So many companies are just awful at [the actual execution of] the layoff. Businesses are trying to survive, so there are also a lot of terrible stories surrounding severance and benefits,” McGunagle says. “I thought people likely [had] a very difficult story to tell. Wouldn’t it be great to create a forum for people to tell their layoff story?”

And so the idea of HowIGotLaidOff.com was born. The site joins the ranks of many other unemployment blogs as a place where people can go to cope with being jobless and share their woes with others in the same position.

“[It] gives people a place to vent and share their story about being laid off. It also lets people know that there are others out there going through the same thing [or] in some cases, much worse,” McGunagle says.

Here are six true stories from real laid-off workers, excerpted from HowIGotLaidOff.com.*

Go back to your desk — if you get an e-mail, you’re laid off
I worked for a large telecommunications company for about 10 years when my team, along with several hundred other employees, was called to an “important meeting.” We were told by conference call that we were being outsourced to a telecommunications software provider. The contract being signed indicated that, if anyone was laid off within the first year, we would get our old company’s severance payment. After that, we would get the new company’s [payment, which was less]. In early February, an e-mail invitation to another “important meeting” was sent out on a Sunday afternoon for a Monday morning meeting. At the meeting, a vice president read a three-page prepared statement, [which] indicated that, due to a drastic cutback in work from our client, layoffs would be necessary. We were to go back to our desks. If we received an e-mail, we were being laid off. The layoffs were effective one year and one day after the outsourcing agreement took effect, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance. - Greg

An administrative error
My husband was laid off while waiting to complete his chemotherapy treatments. He had been on unpaid medical leave from his employer since March 2008. They extended his leave, by certified letter, to Oct. 31, 2008. On Oct. 14, 2008, his employer cut five staff members from his department by commencing layoffs. On Dec. 1, 2008, he received a letter from his employer [that said] “Due to an administrative error, your employment is terminated effective Sept. 5, 2008. We are sorry we did not send you a letter.” - Anonymous

Wait for a phone call
I was working in the PR department of a company that produced trade shows. Times were tough for the company, losing shows and attendance, etc. Everyone knew what was eventually coming. The day finally came when the big boss man called the entire company into the main lobby and made his announcement. In short, he told everyone to go back to their cubes and wait for a phone call from their respective bosses. As I was sitting in my cube … the phone rang. I was called into my boss’s office with another person from my department and was given the “bad” news. We had a few minutes to pack up and leave. – Scott

While on vacation …
I was on vacation in Florida and called my boss one day because we had a big project launching and I wanted to make sure all was cool with it. He told me that he was happy I called because the company had been sold. He didn’t want me to have to come into an empty office when I got back as we had all been laid off. Nice mindset to be in when you’re on vacation, right?

It gets worse: The director wanted me to come home from my vacation early to transition my position to someone in India. I told him no, that I was taking the rest of my vacation time (an additional week) and when I came back I would help with the transition and that I would be billing them for my time as a contractor. – Ciaran

Welcome to New York — you’re fired
It was a rainy spring morning last May when I officially moved into my new, overpriced shoebox-size studio apartment in New York City. My former financial firm had transferred me to the new office there. I walked into work that morning to see my ex-boss, who worked out of the main office 5,000 miles away, sitting at my desk. I knew right then — no more paycheck. One hour later, I found myself walking home with my box of office belongings and added it to my unpacked boxes in my apartment. – Anonymous

Placing blame
II worked for a nonprofit … one of my main jobs was to help volunteers sign up and prepare for overseas trips to Third World countries. My boss planned a volunteer trip to Africa; more specifically, to a region he was from and had plans to vacation in after the official trip. This particular area had just made the news due to a recent increase of violent outbreaks. Regardless, he took a group of elderly men and women into this war zone, all because he wanted his vacation time. They never made it to their destination; the plane was rerouted to a neighboring country because it was too dangerous.

The family members of the volunteers called the office nonstop, wondering what happened and how could they get in touch with their families. My boss neglected to set up any kind of emergency system or emergency phone number to reach anyone. Families were desperately trying to get information and my boss disappeared off the face of the planet. He came home and blamed me for not having information for the families of the volunteers. - DDaryl

Jon Gordon, who lost his job during the dot-com crash, says that although it’s hard initially, your layoff can actually lead to a bright future with the right course of action. Now a best-selling author, Gordon shares these tips to help you change your career outlook:

1. Jettison your anger. Allow yourself to be angry, sad, bitter, upset for a few days and then let it all go. Forgive the company. Forgive your employers. Release the bitterness. Know that you can’t create your future by focusing on the past.

2. Start each day with questions. When you get up each morning, ask yourself this question: What are the three things I need to do today that will help me find the job and create the success that I desire? Then, act on those three things every day until you’ve achieved them. This is a great way to keep feeding your positive energy.

3. Take on a positive approach to the recession. Today’s employment-related statistics can be hard to get out of your head when you’re searching for a job. But unlike the pundits on TV who seem all too pleased to focus on the most negative numbers available, you can choose to focus on the flip side, Gordon says. Rather than fixating on 8 percent unemployment, focus on 92 percent employment.

4. Be humble and hungry. Know that you don’t have all the answers and can learn something from everyone, Gordon says. Know that there are always new ways to learn and improve. Be open to advice. Be open to learning a new skill and trying a job you haven’t thought of before. Also, be hungry: Seek out a mentor, take him to lunch and model his success. Think of his life as a blueprint you can follow. Continuously improve and seek out new ideas and new strategies.

*Stories have been edited for grammar, language and length. HowIGotLaidOff.com has the right to republish posts and owns all content submitted.

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

Whether you’re currently employed, facing a layoff or looking for a job, keeping your résumé up-to-date is always important. In today’s economy, however, it’s even more vital to have a current copy of your résumé on hand. After all, you never know when an amazing job opportunity — or pink slip — might fall into your hands.

“You have to be ready to submit your résumé on short notice,” says Dustin DeVries, senior director of Lead Dawg, a job search consulting firm. “Candidates who have taken time to update their résumé may be passed over for another candidate of similar caliber that is ready to go now. You just never know when that opportunity may land in your lap and you have to be ready to act.”

Updating one’s résumé today, however, may not be as easy as it once was. As job losses and layoffs continue to swell, people have to do more with less to enhance their résumés. Job seekers are unsure how to deal with lack of employment, gaps between work, title demotions, fewer duties and shortened job spans when updating their résumés.

Here are some ways to beef up your résumé if it is lacking in any of the following areas:

You have a gap between jobs
Depending on the length of the gap, Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers says you should fill in the gap with something you’ve been doing in your time off. This will show employers you’ve taken initiative during this period rather than waiting for something to fall into your lap.

“Consider getting actively involved in volunteer projects and/or consulting opportunities, even if you do the work for free,” Salpeter says. “This will allow you to use your skills in a way that is worth describing on your résumé.”

You’ve been laid off
No employer will be surprised see an applicant who’s been laid off. Be honest about your departure, DeVries says. “In this economy, it’s going to happen. Don’t misrepresent that you’re still employed by dating your last position as ‘to present’ if you’re not currently with that company. [It's a] red flag if a recruiter sees [you] as currently employed when in fact you’ve been laid off.”

You were hired recently but laid off right away due to the economy
Don’t leave any employment off your résumé, no matter how short a period you may have held a job. Just don’t explain the details on your résumé.

“In today’s economy, most people will give you the benefit of the doubt that your departure was not a result of your performance,” Salpeter says. “Be prepared to discuss it if it comes up in a conversation or interview.”

You were demoted or had a title change
Titles are just that — titles. They say nothing about your specific accomplishments and your track record of meeting or exceeding expectations for your organization, DeVries says.

“State your title, but focus [on] your achievements for the organization. Any good recruiter or potential employer is going to be most interested in your track record of meeting objectives no matter what your role,” DeVries says. “A ‘director’ of marketing for one company may require something completely different from a ‘director’ role at another company. Focus on your measurable accomplishments.”

You went from a senior-level position to a “filler” position at lower level
In this situation, it’s critical to include an objective that outlines what type of position you’re looking for at the company where you’re applying, DeVries says.

“If you have to take a ‘filler’ position between professional positions, you need to include the role but place your focus on the activities you have maintained during that time to remain current in your professional field,” he says. Volunteering, professional networking and taking classes are all things that will help keep you current.

You’re a recent college graduate with little experience
Most people have skills that they don’t realize are important résumé builders, Salpeter says. DeVries agrees, saying that experience occurs any time you’re gaining insight and perspective in your chosen field. Classes, volunteer experience, internships, leadership activities and professional networking groups are all examples of experience you can incorporate in your résumé.

Now that you know how to correct any potentially sketchy parts of your résumé, here are five tips for keeping it up-to-date.

1. Keep up with trends
“Keep up-to-date with current trends for résumés and online profiles. Be sure that you are highlighting how you stand out and emphasizing what makes you special,” Salpeter says.

2. Keep a brag book
DeVries suggests keeping a log of your performance reviews, coaching reports from managers, sales reports, goal assessments and the like to use as content for your résumé.

“You’re going to be measured against someone else in most any position you may hold,” he says. “Update this list each time you receive an e-mail from your manager or a report from your company. Include achievements applicable to the position to which you’re submitting your résumé.”

Additionally, Salpeter suggests keeping a file of any nice things that supervisors, clients and colleagues say about you, and asking for recommendations on social networking sites like LinkedIn.

3. List more than job duties
“Listing job duties on your résumé is OK, but include the metrics you were held accountable for and your performance to those goals,” DeVries says. “Many people just list the duty but don’t include the scale of their accountability and how they performed.”

4. Always ask for feedback
Never stop asking for feedback or critique from colleagues, friends and experts. “You never know what someone may see in your résumé that needs further enhancement or may just need to be eliminated,” DeVries says.

5. Keep lists
In order to keep your résumé up-to-date, you need to keep a running list of your accomplishments and things you’ve done in the workplace, and add to it regularly, Salpeter says. Keep track of your digital profile, too, and recognize that your digital footprint is an important part of your professional presentation and job search.

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

Real job seekers share what works

By Rachel Zupek

“Dress professionally.”

“Make eye contact.”

“Research the company.”

“Have a firm handshake.”

Any of these pointers sound familiar? They should, because you’ve heard them thousands of times. While the above suggestions are great (and valid), the truth is that this kind of advice can get a bit generic.

We decided to turn the tables and make you — the job seeker — the expert. After all, you’re the ones out there interviewing, so really, it’s not too much of a stretch. We asked you to share what you’ve found to be successful during your interviews.

Check out these interview tips from real job seekers around the country. Have you tried any of them yet?

Ask the important questions
“One thing I always ask at the end of the interview is, ‘Have I said anything that would lead you to believe I’m not the best person for this position?’ This gives me an opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings and it also gives me a chance to redeem myself or explain where I am coming from on something. It also shows that if there’s a problem, I am capable of fixing it.” – Brooke Kelley, magazine editor

“During an interview, you are always told to have a set of questions to ask. A question that is helpful, that they do not expect — ‘I know you are interviewing a lot of candidates for this position and I’d like to leave this interview feeling like I’ve done my absolute best. Where do I stand in comparison to the other candidates so far?’ – shows boldness and that you are aggressive in your job search.” – Jeannie Lee, PR manager

It’s not all about you
“The interview is not about the candidate, it’s about the job. No matter how great you are as a person or employee, the interviewer is trying to fill a position. Hence, talk about the job as much as possible. Ask what a perfect candidate would be like. Only occasionally talk about yourself and only to show how you suit their requirements.” – Dave Field

Research the company — and the interviewer
“Find out some information about your interviewer(s). See if you share anything in common and understand that they’re a person, too, with interests, background and hobbies. Whether or not you know who will interview you, you’d better make sure you know as much as possible about the company and don’t be afraid to let them know what you know.” - Josh Bob, regional manager

Can you take the heat?
“I’ve found that saying that I can take constructive criticism has a big impact on employers. They need to know that you are not going to fold under scrutiny. Especially with the younger generation, where we have been coddled quite a bit with excessive praise and self-esteem boasters, you need to show you are resilient.” - Liz Cauley, teacher

Make a list
List five things you’ve accomplished during your previous job and concentrate on those items during your interview. “Each time I prepared for an interview, I was reminded of five things that I had accomplished under my last employer. That gave me a boost of confidence when going to the interview. It helped me to decide how I wanted to frame the answers that I gave to the interviewer.” – Sue Chehrenegar

Make it personal
“One thing that I do that has gotten positive feedback is I send a handwritten thank-you note. I have had numerous people comment and thank me for doing this.” - Danny Kofke, teacher

Show your research
“Print out a couple pages of the Web site from the company you’re interviewing with and bring it with you to the interview. Keep it on top of your résumé … when you open up your notebook or binder to take notes or pull out your résumé, the interviewer will see the printed company materials and assume you’ve done your research. Of course, ideally you have actually researched the company … in which case you’re showcasing that fact.” - Katherine Opie, senior executive recruiter

Know the job description
“Reviewing the job description will help you customize your answers by addressing the specific needs of the organization and requirements of the position to your skill set. Many people have no idea what the job entails or how their skill set makes them better qualified.” - Cristina Castro, director of marketing and communications

Keep your answers to questions short and to the point
“Don’t volunteer extra information. In my case, I talked about my children. We discussed that I had been a stay-at-home mom. Even though I had impressive writing credentials, he told me that I wasn’t a ‘corporate person.’ (His exact words.) Of course, I never learned if this was why a job offer wasn’t forthcoming but I’m 99.9 percent sure I said too much.” - Marilyn Pincus, author and ghostwriter

Be gracious
“Be polite to absolutely everybody. If someone gets you a cup of coffee, thank them; hold the door for someone else — that kind of thing. Give the receptionist or the last person you see a cheery goodbye. You want to leave a good impression.” - Phyllis Harber-Murphy, virtual assistant

Speak as if you have the job
“Steal a page from the presidential candidates and talk if as if you already have the job. Say ‘I will,” not ‘I would.’ ‘I can,’ not ‘I could.’ This will remove doubt instead of inject it. Bosses like someone confident and proactive.” - Joel Schwartzberg, director of new media

Use social networks
“I get a lot of my job interviews through social networks. I get recommended through others and it is significantly better than applying and actually interviewing. They basically feel like they interviewed you already!” - Albert Ko, business owner

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer

Sherry Shealy Martschink, 57, is a former state legislator, state senator and workers’ compensation commissioner for South Carolina. She’s a recent law school graduate and has experience in journalism, marketing and education. For the past few years during her job search, she’s been told — in not so many words — that she’s overqualified.

“Sometimes the opposition is in the tone of voice rather than the actual wording of the questions and comments,” Martschink says. “An employer may say something like, ‘We are hoping to find someone who will make a career here’ or ‘Why would you want this job after doing such-and-such?’ Another type of question has to do with whether I could be a team player after being in such leadership positions.”

How does Martschink respond to such opposition? Plain and simple:

“If I weren’t willing to do the work, I wouldn’t be applying for the job,” she says.

Geoff Tucker, who has a college degree and six years of experience in his field, has faced opposition more than once during his job search. In one interview, the hiring manager started with, “We both know you’re overqualified,” but went on to say she wanted to do a “gut check ” to determine if Tucker would be OK with the tasks he’d be handling.

“In other words, she wanted to see if I was OK with being versatile to the point of helping clean around the office and refilling the toilet paper in the bathroom,” Tucker says. “I affirmed that I do not have an issue with doing tasks that maybe I haven’t had to do in awhile. I am not that egocentric and I don’t regard these tasks as ‘below me.’”

Many job seekers wonder how being qualified can be a bad thing, but it’s a Catch-22 that many job seekers face today. They can’t get hired for positions relevant to their experience so they apply for jobs at lower levels. The problem is that they can’t get hired for those positions, either, because they’re overqualified.

“Employers are in the catbird seat,” says Kathryn Sollmann, co-founder and managing partner of the Women@Work Network. “The high volume of job seekers makes it possible for employers to hold out for their ideal candidates. You’re not an ideal candidate if you have held a more senior position in the past; employers assume you will leave as soon as you find something at your normal level.”

What’s the deal?
Assuming you’ll jump ship when the economy turns around is only one of the many objections employers have to hiring overqualified candidates. For one thing, many job seekers assume that their high credentials automatically mean they are skilled for a more junior job. But, Sollmann says, just because a position is less senior than the one you previously held does not mean that you have the appropriate skills to succeed in that role.

“Take an administrative position, for example. Many mid- to senior-level job seekers haven’t done anything remotely administrative for years,” she says.

Right or wrong, other assumptions hiring managers might have about hiring overqualified candidates include:

· You’ll be bored and unmotivated

· The salary will be too low for you

· You’ll be unhappy

· You’ll leave the minute something better comes along

· You could possibly steal his/her job

· You won’t be able to step down from a leadership role

Hiring managers take overqualified candidates seriously only if they are convincing about a valid reason they want to take a more junior-level job, Sollmann says.

The best reason is saying you have decided that you don’t want to work crazy schedules and are interested in a better work/life balance, she says. If that’s the truth and you’re truly not looking over your shoulder for a senior-level job, employers will consider you for a more junior job.

Tucker says the doubt he gets from hiring managers regarding his experience is unfair.

“They should consider my above-par qualifications as a way to gain additional capabilities on their staff and team. I will bring just as much passion to this role as I would any other,” he says. “I would not apply for a job if it weren’t a fit for me. It’s about the work I’m doing and the contributions I’m making that matter.”

If you’re being told you’re overqualified during your job search, here are seven ways to convince your interviewer otherwise:

1. Admit that you’re worried, too
Tell the hiring manager that you are also concerned that it might not be a fit, suggests Duncan Mathison, co-author of “The Truth about the Hidden Job Market.” Promise that if at any point during the hiring process you think the job appears too low or not one where you will bring the full engagement needed to excel in the position, you will withdraw your candidacy. Your willingness to walk away tells them you are motivated if you stay in the game.

2. Take salary off the table
Make it clear that you’re flexible about salary and that your previous earnings are not relevant to your current job search.

“Tell the hiring manager that you work for both green dollars and personal satisfaction dollars,” Sollmann says. “Lately you’ve had a deficit in personal satisfaction dollars and you want a chance to try something new.”

3. Put the issue out there
Ask the interviewer if he or she sees any positives or negatives to your candidacy based on your higher qualifications. Get the issue on the table so it can be addressed, Mathison suggests.

4. Use your accomplishments
“Tell the hiring manager that you’re proud of your accomplishments and you have proven to yourself that you can perform at a more senior level,” Sollmann says. “Now you’re not interested in chasing titles and promotions. You want to make a contribution at a compelling company.”

5. Distance yourself from your higher qualifications
Be empathetic to those parts of the hiring manager’s job — indicate that you have a clearer understanding of what a manager needs from his people.

“For example, say you were a manager and are applying to an individual contributor job,” Mathison says. “Tell the hiring manager that you are looking for a job that would give you more hands-on technical work and give you a break from the people management and corporate politics.”

6. You want to learn
If you’ve held more senior positions at a different kind of company or in a different industry, tell the hiring manager that the best way to really learn about a new industry is from the bottom up, Sollmann says.

7. Make a commitment
“Tell the employer that you know that job hopping is a major don’t in the business world. Say that barring unforeseen circumstances, you are ready to make at least a two-year commitment to the company,” Sollmann suggests.

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

Sorry to put a damper your Monday morning, but I just found out some sad news in the working world: Waldo McBurney, who was named “America’s Oldest Worker” in 2006, passed away last Wednesday. He was 106.

Experience Works, which provides training and employment for senior citizens, gave McBurney the “oldest worker” designation. (more…)

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday last week. Hard to believe yet another weekend is just ahead, but I can’t complain.

My co-worker sent me an interesting article today called, “Baby Boomers Enter Workforce as Entrepreneurs.” The article cites a recent study which says that the largest groups of entrepreneurs are 55 years and older.

It makes sense. In this economy, if people can’t find someone to hire them, they figure, why not hire themselves? Although Bob McGowan, a professor at the University of Denver,  says only 20 to 30 percent of entrepreneurs succeed,  he says that if if you keep your ears open, even in this economy, it could be the right time to try something new.

“For those businesses that have a niche, something that’s unique, it’s actually a pretty decent opportunity,” says Professor McGowan.

(more…)

Getting closer to retirement leaves you with a lot of questions: What will I do with all that extra time? Do I still want to work? What would I want to do?

Jobs can be fun, rewarding and fulfilling, especially if you enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re considering working after retirement, try finding a fun job in one of your hobbies.

If you…love wine: Expand your knowledge of the wine industry while tasting your favorite flavors, socializing with your peers and educating yourself. Find jobs in the wine industry.

If you…love to golf: Free golf! (Or at least discounted prices.) Look for work on a golf course, hanging out with your peers while enjoying the perks of free golf on your day off. Find jobs in golf.

If you…love to fish: Try leading fishing tours. You can spend your days on the open sea, chatting with tourists and teaching them how to fish. Find jobs in fishing.

If you…love to gamble: Why not work as a gaming dealer at a casino or on a casino boat
Learn the tricks of the game so you can win big on your next trip to Vegas! Find jobs in gaming.

If you…love to travel: Travel vicariously through others while planning vacations for a living Spend time researching hot vacation spots, educating your customers and save time to enjoy one (or two) trips on your own. Find jobs in travel.

If you…love to eat: Spend time tasting delectable bites and review them for your peers. The opportunities are endless: You can work in the restaurant business or for a food publication. Find jobs in food.

If you…love charity work: Help make your community a better place working for a nonprofit organization or a community group. Find jobs in charity.

If you…love sports: Become a referee or coach for your favorite rec league team. Watch endless hours of basketball, football or soccer, while providing meaningful guidance to the youth in your area. Find jobs in sports.

By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB Writer

Any working parent will tell you that although raising children is rewarding, there’s a constant struggle for work/life balance. Whether they’re working overtime to help make ends meet or rushing after work to get the kids to soccer practice, the reality is that it’s difficult to be an active parent and productive worker. (Difficult, not impossible.)

Today’s economy doesn’t help, as parents are feeling added pressure to spend more time on work to provide for the family. Thirty percent of working moms whose companies have had layoffs in the past year are working longer hours, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.* Fourteen percent have taken on a second job in the last year, 43 percent work more than 40 hours per week and 16 percent said they bring work home at least two days a week.

“Nearly one-third [of mothers] say that despite it being one of the toughest economies in the nation’s history, they would consider taking a pay cut to spend more time with their kids,” said Mary Delaney, president of Personified — CareerBuilder’s talent management and recruitment outsourcing division — and mother of three. “If you’re struggling with work/life balance, talk to your manager. Working moms who communicate their need for flexible time, job sharing or something in between will find that most companies are receptive to these kinds of policies.”

Many working parents have already communicated that desire: 55 percent of working moms said they take advantage of flexible work arrangements at their organizations. The majority of these women say their new schedules haven’t hurt their career progress.

If your company doesn’t offer a flexible or alternative schedule to help you work around your family commitments, maybe it’s time to think about working in a family-friendly career. Here are five to consider:

1. Teacher
Not only have your parenting experiences helped prepare you for life in the classroom, you couldn’t ask for a better schedule that complies with your family’s needs. Most teachers are able to be at home in the evenings; plus, you can enjoy the same summer and winter vacations and no-school days as your kids. And depending on the age you teach, you may be able to work in the same institution as your little ones.
Education: Bachelor’s degree and state teaching license
Average annual salary: $44,137

2. Registered nurse
RNs have extremely flexible schedules: Most work three to four 12-hour shifts per week, plus a certain number of weekends and holidays per year. Evening and weekend shifts allow you to share at-home duties with your spouse.
Education: A four-year university program, a two-year associate degree program or a three-year diploma program, and state RN licensing
Average annual salary: $62,450

3. Bookkeeper
Bookkeepers are often able to work from home, either from a company-provided computer or if you work privately with traders or accountancy firms. Working from home is ideal if you have young children to look after.
Education: High school diploma, accounting course work and relevant work experience
Average annual salary: $32,510

4. Personal trainer
One huge perk of being a personal trainer is the flexible hours. Most trainers work part time, scheduling clients’ appointments around their own schedules. Many trainers work nights and weekends and can work in the gym or out of a client’s home.
Education: Certification
Average annual salary: $29,210

5. Family child-care provider
Most family child-care workers are self-employed and work out of their own homes. They have flexible hours and daily routines, watching children during the day and evenings while other parents are at work or away. While they may work long or unusual hours to fit parents’ work schedules, these workers are also able to care for their own children in a familiar setting.
Education: Each state has its own licensing requirements; state requirements are generally higher for workers at child-care centers than for family child-care providers.
Average annual salary: $18,970

*Survey conducted from Feb. 20 to March 11, 2009, among 496 women, employed full time, with children under 18.

** Education and salary information according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job blog, The Work Buzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.