My client, Megan, is in her late 40s and wants to change careers. The jobs Megan is considering to target are not easily found online. She's unsure of what are the most common job titles that are most relevant for her to pursue and how to tap into job openings (or whether there even are job openings). I've said this before: changing careers is not for the faint of heart or the person who's in a big rush! Megan, however, is...

Informational interviews aren't just for college students and recent grads - they're still a fantastic way to research a field or a company. As long as you are just meeting to get information and aren't asking for a job, people are usually willing to say yes to a request if their schedule permits. Here are my tips for setting up an informational interview: Send an email or call them In many industries, voice mail is rather...

Happiness at WorkFor many people out there participating in the daily grind, work is not something that makes them happy. As a matter of fact, getting out of work is probably the highlight of their day. While this may be the case for a larger than normal segment of the population, there is a way to find happiness at work—if you are willing to look for it. If not, maybe it’s time you started looking for something you might...

In my former life, I was an HR director. HR folks can be a cautious, cynical bunch. Reason #1 - they are the legal front line when things go south with employees. Reason #2 - they've seen a lot of bizarre and bad behavior at work (and they're called in to help deal with it).I inadvertently had my HR hat on when I read What to Do If Your Boss Is the Problem on the Wall Street Journal online.It's a good article with some ver...

Many of the people who hire me as their coach aren't struggling with a lack of career options. Rather they are stuck because they have too many ideas and don't know where to start to narrow them down.This reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me who moved from the U.S. to New Zealand for a year. She lived in a town in New Zealand where the local store had four kinds of cereal, two kinds of soap, one kind of lettuce -...

Most of us crave meaningful feedback at work. It's natural to want validation and acknowledgment for our accomplishments, and many of us wish we could hear constructive criticism more often to help us learn and grow. Yet the tool that organizations give managers, the dreaded performance review, is pretty universally loathed. Most managers aren't well-trained on how to give effective feedback. They forget the importance of d...

Do you have "success amnesia"? Is it much easier for you to recall your mistakes and what's gone wrong than it is for you to remember your successes? If so, most of us can relate. We humans are supremely adept at remembering, noticing and imagining everything negative. The good stuff? It flashes brightly for a moment and then is gone. Our positive experiences leave a weaker imprint on our minds than negative. We're also wir...

Are you tired of the "same old same old" at work? Do you have a thousand complaints about who you work with and how things are done? Are you constantly stressed about the security of your job? Work negativity can take many forms, and they all feel pretty terrible. When you're feeling blah, angry or afraid much of the time, your job performance suffers and so does the overall quality of your life. You may be tempted to jump...

By the time managers and small-business owners call me, they’re pretty frustrated and discouraged. They’re a good fit for their job. They’re well-respected. And they’re struggling. Typically the struggles look something like these:• Underperformers on the team• A demanding boss who’s never pleased• Too many projects and not enough resources• Exhaustion While each struggle is unique, there are three skills that every new and...

If you're researching your next possible job or engaged in an all-out job search, you've no doubt become familiar with your favorite procrastination techniques. I get it. Even though the idea of working somewhere else doing something else is really exciting, the process of getting there is, well, not so fun. Setting up informational interviews? Reconnecting with old co-workers? Searching online for salary data? I know you'd...