Unemployment recently hit a new 5-year high of 6.1% with 605,000 jobs leaving the market. This will only get worse as the turmoil from the financial markets causes more layoffs. Here are 5 critical things you should do TODAY to protect yourself.

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The internet has a wealth of tools that can help you in your search. Below are a choice few:

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People have often asked me whether they should send a Follow-Up letter. This is different from a Thank You letter used right after the interview in that they want to use this after days/weeks have gone by and they are waiting for a decision. In their mind, they would ask how the process is going and when they could expect a decision. The answer is simple – NEVER SEND A FOLLOW-UP LETTER! Here’s why.

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In today’s electronic age, there is often some confusion as to whether you should send a thank you note after an interview. Some people believe it is not necessary and others think it is a nice touch. I will go beyond that and say it is a must!

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Imagine that an employer has over 800 resumes to weed through, each with a cover letter. They pick up the next letter and it says “I am writing in response to your advertisement #50541 regarding your Project Manager position”. Pretty boring… and you just missed your chance to grab their attention. Here are some tips on how to make your cover letter really stand out.

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A basic tool used in strategic planning is SWOT analysis. This is where you take a hard look at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and plan accordingly. I am a firm believer that you should perform this analysis on your career at least once a year.

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I am often asked by my clients how to handle requests for salary requirements. Many employment ads request salary requirements and some ads even insist on them.

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The new year is here – budgets are fresh, positions are open and every statistic points to aggressive hiring. Here are 5 sure-fire steps that will get you a competitive edge and land you that job.

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So you’ve sent your resume to a job you’re very excited about and a week has gone by without a word. Or perhaps you’ve had an interview and are waiting to hear how it went. What should you do?

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Most people know that one of the measurements of a sales person’s effectiveness is whether they beat quota. I thought it would be useful to share the other key metrics employers look at when they are evaluating sales professionals.

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I often come upon a situation that is a real wake-up call for people. When I am preparing a resume, especially for managers and executives, we need to impress potential employers by highlighting the achievements that were produced. That boils down to showing percentage increases in sales, profits, productivity, market share and so on. Yet many people haven’t bothered to save their numbers, particularly when they are trying to remember past year’s accomplishments.

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Every week I get a number of calls from recent college graduates who are interested in our resume writing service. But when I tell them the cost is about $200 for a complete package, they say they can’t afford it. Does this make sense?

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