Dear Deb: I was laid off about a year ago, and have been involved in a full time, active job search since then. I’ve been researching companies and responding to job postings. While I’ve had a number of first, and even a few second interviews, I still have not secured a job offer. Today I was contacted by a recruiter who had a unique proposal: I would pay her a fee and she would represent me in my job search, and act as my...

The days of aspiring to the corner office are on their way out. Cubicles have been a common office fixture for the last 30 years, and are not going away anytime soon. More and more companies are getting rid of the traditional offices, and are going for more open workspaces, with the assumption that this will engender more collaboration and teamwork.Walk into any office in America, and what do you see? Rows of cubicles, with...

You know that one of my favorite topics is personal branding, and how it is imperative that you have a strong one. Building a personal brand takes time, effort, and consistency. It is an ongoing process that requires nurturing. But all of your work can be destroyed relatively quickly and easily by making these mistakes.Offensive presence on social media. It should go without saying that you should not post anything that is...

Trust is the foundation of all human connections, and it governs all interactions we have with one another. The capacity for trust is not equal; some people trust more easily than others, some people are more trustworthy than others, and some are better at gauging trustworthiness than others. For as much as we may like to pretend that the business world is somehow disconnected from humanity, it obviously is not, and human...

Many people conflate “image” with “personal brand,” when, in reality, they are two separate things. Your personal brand is the experience that people have with you, and the story you tell about who you are and what you do. Your image is your visual representation, and it is a crucial component of your brand. Before social media, you wouldn’t know what your client, doctor, or prospect looked like until you arrived at your f...

Experts often talk about a candidate being a brand and marketing oneself to the employers. On the other hand, too much information could result in discriminatory acts - intentional or subconsciously - that could cost you a new position. Debra Wheatman, a Certified Professional Resume Writer and Career Coach, discusses the strategy of concealing parts of your identity when applying for jobs. She explains to Tim Muma how cert...

I’ve noticed that many people use the terms “network” and “contacts” interchangeably. This is incorrect, as they are two related, but distinct groups. Your contacts are people you may have met in real life or online. You may have common interests or goals. However, you are not invested in your contacts’ lives, their successes, or their failures. Your network is comprised of people with whom you have either met in person or...

Marie is a client who is presently seeking a new opportunity in her field. When I asked her why she was looking to leave her current role and company, this is what she told me:There have been a number of disagreements, or misalignments in perspective, with my current boss over the last year and a half. However, the final straw came at this year’s annual performance review. My boss gave me a rating of “Needs Improvement” in...

My first name, Debra, is spelled in a nontraditional way. I spell it out for people, and it still comes back “Deborah.” You would think that I would have become accustomed to this by now, but to be truthful, each time it happens, it’s slightly more annoying than the previous infraction. My name is part of my identity, and when someone can’t be bothered to spell it correctly, I feel a bit marginalized.I work with clients fro...

Dear Deb:I have been unemployed for three months. I recently applied for a grant for additional training via my state’s department of labor. In addition to requiring me to track all of my job applications, they are also requiring me to inform my counselor every time I have an interview, so that the counselor can follow up with the person with whom I interviewed in order to verify that I actually had an interview! They are m...