CHICAGO, IL -- 1) Objective: Obviously your objective is to get hired for the position you're applying for. A short personal summary of some of your top achievements and experiences will give the employer better insight into what you can offer them, rather than what you're after. 2) Personal information: Including personal information such as your age, race or number of children is irrelevant and inappropriate. Since this information doesn't directly affect your work performance or availability, there's no need to include it.

3) Salary: Listing your salary history or demand...

CHICAGO, IL -- Before you start your job search, get clear about what you really need to thrive instead of survive at work. Doing a better job defining exactly what you want doesn't mean your ideal job will magically appear, but it will help you focus your job search on opportunities that have greater potential for long term career growth. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Which values are most important to you right now? You may have chosen jobs based on money before, but maybe autonomy and growth are more important for you now.
2. What experience or opportunity is missing in...

BOSTON, MA -- To make sure you don't walk into your next big interview a sweaty and nervous mess, here are a few strategies to try out. Meditate and Breathe: Just a couple minutes of relaxation a day can make your mind sharper, your senses more alert, and your entire body more relaxed. Exercise: Get a little endorphin rush and exercise. Wake up early and hit the gym, take a yoga class, or do a run around the neighborhood to clear your head before the interview.

Visualize Success: Visualize yourself charming your interviewer, nailing all the questions, and being offered the job...

Make sure recruiters and employers can find you In today's job market, to be noticed your resume needs to be in all the right places at all the right times. Putting your resume on all the top job boards is like instantly networking with millions of hiring managers. And while posting your resume on several career websites may help you land one of these jobs, many people are afraid of who may see their resume along with other concerns of confidentiality.

If you want the exposure, but don't want your current employer to see your resume posting, consider using the confidentiality...

Your resume does not have to tell everything. It is an appetizer which makes the prospective employer say, "Wow, I have to talk to this person and see how he/she did that!”

Start your resume with a Summary Statement. The Summary Statement goes directly under your name and address and is the first thing the person will read. Most resumes only get 11 to 20 seconds of attention before they are selected or discarded. It is critical, therefore, to grab the reader’s attention with powerful statements or it is unlikely that your job history and accomplishments will even be read....

Job interviews are nerve-racking experiences even under the best of circumstances. Every now and again, an interviewer will throw out a question that just completely trips you up. It makes you feel, look, and sound uncomfortable--and that's a surefire way to land yourself on the rejection list. That's why it's essential to prepare.

Here are three of the most common questions interviewers ask that can lead to horrible answers for the unprepared. Take a minute to review them and...

People are quick to tell you what not to do in an interview, on the job, while dealing with clients, or during a conversation with management. Such advice can be discouraging. Wouldn't it be more helpful as well as motivating to be told what to do?

That's the point of this article to offer you six steps to take that can result in a smashing and successful job interview for you. After you've read them over, copy the list so you can review it as often as needed, relax, and then walk into the job interview with confidence.

1. Arrive early--not merely on time. The interviewer...

You've spotted a brilliant-looking job online. Great location, great salary, interesting role. All aflutter, you upload your resume, hit send, and sit back, dreaming of getting a call to interview. A week goes by. Two weeks. A month. You never hear back. Unfortunately, this is all too common for job seekers. Here are some reasons why you never heard back.

1. Ugly Resume: Your resume is a marketing document to sell yourself. A clear, concise and well formatted resume helps. If you struggle writing it, it's worth paying a...