Job Searching Tips To Ignore in 2021

With the abundance of career advice outlets and career resources, it can be challenging to know what guidance is most applicable to you and your status. Regardless of your situation, there is sure to be outdated or irrelevant information that crosses your screen. Our friends at Monster recently revealed five common career tips you’d be better off disregarding. We breakdown a few examples below:

Keep Your Resume Brief

Have you ever been instructed to limit your resume‘s content to one page? Throughout my collegiate experience, I had professors offer that same advice. However, I had other professors that insisted job-seekers fill two complete pages and professors who did not oppose any length. So, what’s the correct direction to take? If one of your primary concerns is a hiring manager’s thoughts on your resume’s length, it will serve you best to reevaluate your priorities. 

If you possess extensive experience that applies to a job description at-hand, it would be foolish to forego mentioning acquired skills due to a fear of losing your reader’s attention. Don’t cross over to a second page for the wrong reasons, i.e., detailing responsibilities rather than accomplishments. While you never want to stretch words or embellish on your achievements within a role, you should always reflect on any experience you believe positions you as most qualified for the opportunity. 

A Great Resume Will Get You Hired

A thorough, compatible resume may land you a job interview, but it will not serve as a golden ticket to getting you hired. Careful research, strong presentation, and maintaining a positive attitude are the keys to landing the job. It is your responsibility to live up to the initial impression you placed in your interviewer’s head. No matter how qualified you may feel you are, you must come prepared to answer some tough questions. Just as you will come with questions prepared and ‘holes’ needing filled when it comes to the job description, your interviewer will do the same with your work history.  

Send a Post-Interview Thank-You Note

No, I am not insinuating that you shouldn’t send a note of appreciation following your job interview, but as Bettina Seidman helps reveal, it shouldn’t stop at just that. Your follow-up letter should reiterate your interest in the job, express your appreciation for their time, emphasize why you are the most qualified candidate, and highlight an experience that prepared you for the role. If your letter does not address the question, “Why should we hire you?”, then you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice in how the employer will remember you.

Follow Your Passion

‘Follow Your Passion’ – Often the most misguided principle extended to the common job-seeker. Passions in and outside of the business world often adjust in their hierarchy or change entirely, “and sometimes these passions do not serve as a viable source of income.” Catherine Conlan with Monster offers up an example of former NASDAQ-listed CEO Heidi Nazarudin choosing to pursue her passion for photography as a hobby rather than a primary source of income. This allows the best opportunity to live comfortably and still indulge in your passions. From there, who knows, maybe you can seize the opportunity to grow your network and turn your passion into something more prominent.

Wrap Up

The challenge to ‘adapt with the times’ is magnified now more than ever as we progress through 2021. As it goes with any well-intentioned guidance, you must approach any traditional tips and tricks with caution. Not every piece of advice will be inapplicable to your situation. More often than not, you will find it is time to push back on the old-age foundations.

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Recapping Our Top Five Articles From 2020

Despite the rollercoaster ride of 2020, we wanted to take the time and thank our readers, the candidates, and the clients we work with daily.

As we get ready to build new momentum in 2021, we reflect on this past year and the articles that resonated most with our readers. Join us as we review five of our most popular articles from 2020:

Six Resume Mistakes To Avoid in 2021


Whether you are looking to get started on your first job search out of college or looking to change careers, having an up-to-date resume is imperative. Recently, our friends at Nexxt revealed six of the most commonly overlooked mistakes made by job-seekers on their resumes. From overemphasizing soft skills to failing to provide clear timelines, falling victim to these mistakes will prove costly to your shot at the job.

Setting Up An Effective Remote Workspace


According to SHRM’s COVID-19 Business Index, 64% of U.S. employees are currently working remotely. With the massive shift to the virtual working world, it’s not easy to maintain productivity and passion for your work. Are you one of the many individuals drastically impacted by COVID-19 and all its complications?

Although being forced to work from home was beyond your control, there are still elements you CAN control for a productive workday. Take these FIVE steps today!

Mistakes to Avoid For A Strong First Impression

Getting judged based on your appearance, mannerisms, or body language occurs in a matter of seconds. Providing a strong first impression is critical in job interviews as it often sets the tone for the conversation and the direction it will take. With no ‘second chance,’ we want to look beyond the traditional tips of arriving on time and dressing appropriately. Read below as we review five of the most commonly made mistakes made in first impressions, as told by various millionaires across the country.
*Key examples and necessary adjustments included*

Identifying Your Ideal Career Fit


According to a recent Toll-Free Forwarding study, only 10% of Americans will land their conceived ‘dream job’ that they identified at a young age. Of that 10%, just 64% of those journeys play out to meeting their surmised expectations. Furthermore, 61% of those remaining do not regret the divergent direction their career path took. So, what conclusions can be made? Do not fear the ‘no’ or the prospect of change when it comes to finding your ideal career fit.

If you require a little guidance when it comes to your career indecision, here are three thoughts you must consider when pursuing a complementary role for your next career:

Avoid These Four Mistakes in Your Next Video Interview


Emanating from the onset of COVID-19, thousands of companies continue to operate under the work-from-home order. Unemployment remains high, and many organizations rely heavily on phone and on-screen meetings for their hiring efforts.

Are you missing the mark when it comes to effectively grabbing the hiring manager’s attention? While your content preparation remains unchanged in terms of having examples, answers, and questions readily available, your interview’s virtual aspect brings new challenges you may not expect.

Courtesy of CNBC Contributor John Bowe, we review four of the most annoying mistakes made in video interviews, as revealed by Zoom’s Head of Global Talent Acquisition, Phil Haynes.

Wrap Up

Thanks so much for sticking with us in 2020! If you’ve missed out on any of these career tips, we hope you take the time to review them today!

Let us know what kind of articles were your favorite and what you would like to see from our content team in the new year!

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Finding A Mentor & Making It Count

When you have strong intentions of growing your career, you must understand you cannot do it on your own. Developing mentoring relationships allows for increased confidence and offers the ability to “talk with people and ask for their feedback.” Regardless of where you are in your career, choosing to rely on a career mentor can aid your career transitions, increase your chance at a promotion, and improve your leadership skills and job satisfaction.

Our friends at The Muse recently revealed 10 essential tips to correctly identify your career mentor and how to construct a meaningful relationship. We break down four of our favorite tips below:

Discover What A Mentor Is & What It Isn’t

Your mentor is there to help you navigate challenges, answer questions, and provide encouragement, but remember the relationship is a two-way street. Your conversations should not become a therapeutic outlet for your struggles. Both the mentor and mentee have valuable information to share. 

There tends to be a belief that career mentors should be older than the mentee, but that is not always the case. Age does bring wisdom, but so do knowledge and experience. For example, if you graduate college and choose to venture into sales, but a classmate chooses the entrepreneurial route, you have both garnered expertise in your selected industries. After a 20-year sales career, you may find yourself wanting to experiment in entrepreneurship. There is sure to be an abundance of wisdom you can gather from tried-and-true entrepreneurs such as your classmate dating two decades back. Older mentors may be more likely to have experience surmounted your current obstacles, but the broader the age gap, the more trouble they will have relating.

Typically, your mentor will be someone in your current (or desired) industry or possessing your preferred role, but this does always have to be the case. Lisa Rabasca Roepe details the many different forms of mentoring, including peer mentoring (someone at the same level as you), group mentoring, and bite-sized mentoring. There is not a required schedule to have a mentor. It is whatever works for both parties and helps achieve what you’re working toward, even if that means meeting once a year. 

Seek Out Different Perspectives

You are well within your right to have multiple career mentors. In fact, it is recommended as it will allow you to tap into the expertise of more topics (and share your knowledge with more individuals as well). There are lessons to be learned from every industry. Seeking out mentors outside of your line of work allows you the chance to learn new skills and gain a new perspective. 

“If you are really going to push yourself and grow, you need a mentor who is different from you, who can give you a different point of view.” -Kathie Patterson, CHRO at Ally Financial.

It is important to remember that having reliable mentors is not an excuse to slow your efforts in other resources. While you are expected to rely on their wisdom, mentoring is not a cure-all for your career. 

Be Specific

Make it easy for your mentor to understand why you are turning to them before anyone else. Clearly define the problem you are facing and the immediate steps you are hoping to achieve. “Being clear with what you’re looking for and why you think this person is the right one will help them to say yes,” says Patterson. Additionally, it is your responsibility to organize the meeting, seeing that you are the one coveting their advice. Whether you both are comfortable with an in-person meeting or merely sending a link through Zoom, it’s best to take the initiative and arrive early. Nothing has to be formal, but being explicit shows that you know and value where their expertise lies and shows that you are mindful of their time.

Know That Mentors Will Likely Change With Your Career

Depending on where you are in your career path, your needs will adjust accordingly. As you progress in your career, the guidance you require will adapt as well. It is not uncommon to lose touch with a career mentor from your entry-level stage. Don’t be afraid of this change. When you step into a managerial role, you may seek advice is learning how to delegate responsibilities and how to stay involved in your team’s culture.

If you lost your job due to an unexpected change or sudden loss of business, you could find consultation from those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding a new mentor with experience relevant to your current situation is paramount. 

Wrap Up

No matter how great your mentors are, it still comes down to you to put in the work and see real progress. Take heed to their advice and quickly layout new goals and activities to achieve them. Beware of falling victim to these three major myths surrounding mentorship.

Show gratitude through a letter of appreciation, a simple text message, or interacting with their posts on LinkedIn. If you want to make the most of your mentoring relationship, show that you care as much as you expect them to care about you.

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Eradicate These Flaws in Your Leadership

The best leaders are working to build strong units and empower their employees. This can be achieved in many different forms. However, there are countless mistakes that even the most highly touted leaders would confess. The difference between them and today’s lowly leaders? They were intentional in recognizing their mistakes, eradicating them, and researching ways to develop new habits. 

With the help of career coach Lolly Daskal and her blog ‘Lead From Within’, we’ve identified three critical flaws you MUST abolish. If made, these mistakes will lead to a poorly structured work environment and toxic culture. 

Selfish Tendencies

No one likes a manager with narcissistic tendencies. Your success is the benefit of a quality team of individuals. It is your responsibility to let that be known and share the spotlight.

Despite being in charge, you must never let go of your willingness and openness to learning. You may be the expert on a few particular subject manners, but being a great leader consists of knowing when you are not and entrusting those who are. Relying on your team members will keep morale high and build a positive workflow. 

Be powerful yet humble. Research would argue that leaders are more powerful when they are humble. Why? True humility is “when someone has an accurate assessment of both his/her strengths and weakness and sees all this in the context of the larger whole.” 

Causing Conflict & Avoiding It

When you know that you are a vital part of your company and its success, it is easy to gradually become arrogant and compassionless without even realizing it. You begin to disvalue your team’s opinions and close yourself off from the culture, all while demanding respect in the process. Your style of leadership may be the cause of conflict within your organization. 

When conflict arises, a poor leader’s response is to shut the door and deflect responsibility. Linking back to the topic of humility, studies show that those low in humility tend to overreact during conflict, refuse to apologize, and often plot revenge. Be efficient in your decision-making, but don’t lose sight of the big picture in determining what is best for everyone.

“Both arrogance and humility are contagious. Both can be taught and caught.” -Unknown.

Lack of Accountability

When things are not working out to expectation, weak leaders will look to pass blame and create excuses. Take consistent responsibility for your choices and encourage others to do the same. Without accountability, your company’s aspirations to carry out a specific strategy becomes wasted time. Productivity is destined to ‘take a hit’ as your rogue mentality will set the standard for employee performance. Sure, this mentality may not overtake every employee, but by that fact, it will only lead to ‘Me vs. You’ implication. Taking ownership of your actions or the mistakes made by your delegates will go along way in garnering respect and getting your employees to work harder. 

In a recent article from Partners In Leadership, they revealed six warning signs of a lack of accountability in the workplace:

  1. Low Morale
  2. Unclear Priorities
  3. Declining Engagement
  4. Ineffective Execution
  5. Low Levels of Trust
  6. High Turnover

Wrap Up

Anyone who lacks sound character is often incapable of quality leadership. As a result, your company may experience high turnover and displeased employees. Best-selling author and keynote speaker Bernard Marr knows the character traits that set true leaders apart from followers. In his recent article, he reveals eight signs that a person might not be ready for a position of leadership.
Examples: Lack of empathy; Fear of change; Wishy-washy; Too bossy. 

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Identifying Your Ideal Career Fit

According to a 2019 study by Toll-Free Forwarding, only 10% of Americans will land their conceived ‘dream job’ that they identified at a young age. Of that 10%, just 64% of those journeys play out to meeting their surmised expectations. Furthermore, 61% of those remaining do not regret the divergent direction their career path took. So what conclusions can be made? Do not fear the ‘no’ or the prospect of change when it comes to finding your ideal career fit.

If you require a little guidance when it comes to your career indecision, here are three thoughts you must consider when pursuing a complementary role for your next career:

Understand Yourself

Talk It Out – If you need a helping hand identifying your greatest strengths and the job features you desire most in a new career, ask those closest to you (family, friends, mentors, etc.). Not only will this provide some clarity on your career path, but it will provide encouragement and confidence when you need it most. Some of the answers you receive may surprise you.

When employees find themselves dissatisfied in their current role, it is often because they did not take the time to align their strengths, interests, passions with their job search. Their objective was merely to find a new job, rather than solidifying a long-term career. If you aspire to get more out of your career and find natural motivation, take career assessments to identify your greatest strengths, weaknesses, and career preferences. What interests or personality traits tie into your career preferences? Your blueprint for success is likely varying from that of your role models, friends, or co-workers. 

60% of employed Millennials are open to exploring a different job opportunity [Gallup 2020]

Company Values/Environment

Write It Out – Base your LinkedIn profile and resume around your ideal job and ideal employer. Courtesy of The Balance Careers, here are four key questions they recommend you ask yourself when determining your work style and ideal ‘fit’:

  • Which activities are most satisfying about your current job?
  • What might you like to avoid in your next job?
  • What does work-life balance mean to you?
  • What is your ideal company culture?

The more information you can collect about what you want, the easier it will be to make a decision.

When interviewing for a new position, aim to get a feel for the company by doing your research, asking the right questions, and walking around the office before your interview. Is the atmosphere collaborative or competitive? Are employees being micromanaged? Is there an option to work remotely? Is their model of business more structured or flexible? It is paramount that you take note of these considerations, especially when you are getting pulled in different directions in your job hunt.

What Do You Hope To Get Out Of Your Job?

Think It Out – Now that you’ve identified your strengths, weaknesses, and passions, it’s time to pinpoint your job search and make the most of your opportunity:

What is most important to you in a new job? Are the company’s values a top priority for your workplace happiness? Other top examples of job priorities include work culture, skill development, room for growth, salary/bonus potential, healthy work-life balance, job security, location, and trust. Which features are your ‘non-negotiables’? Don’t settle when your happiness and mental state are at stake. Finding your new career should never compromise what you stand for or your most coveted features. 

Wrap Up

Once you have a firm understanding of your desired job title and industry, it is time to get connected. Networking is your greatest tool when it comes to landing your desired job, so it is best to get started before the connection is needed. Why? Your desired connection will know you are not seeking immediate benefits out of the relationship, but rather to learn more about their journey and potentially provide support, even if through a ‘liked’ post.

Sure, sending a hiring manager a LinkedIn invitation with a personalized message is unique and highly recommended in the job search, but imagine the difference if you already share a connection within the organization you are hoping to join. Effective networking does not involve asking your network to find you a job opening. It consists of building functional working relationships you can tap into when you discover a shared connection (and vice versa).

With some self-reflecting and dedication, you will begin to discover your dream job is closer than you first believed. 

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