Blog
Debra Wheatman, President of Careers Done Write, provides expert insight to the job search process that puts your career in gear with tips for interviewing, networking, job search strategies and how to create a winning resume and cover letter.
Top Hiring Trends of 2025
The end of the year is here, and it’s time for my annual retrospective. External factors such as technological acceleration, shifting worker expectations, and economic uncertainty shaped the job market in 2025. In sharp contrast to 2021 and 2022, hiring became much more selective. Some would say that the process became absurd, with protracted interviews, projects, presentations, and assessments. Candidates waited, sometimes for months, to hear whether they had secured the job. Employers still wanted to attract and retain talent in this challenging market, and those that embraced more flexible talent strategies were better positioned to compete for that top talent….
Build Your Job Search Toolkit
Searching for a job is often regarded as a reactive activity. It’s something we scramble to do when circumstances change or opportunities arise. The most effective job seekers don’t rely on last-minute effort or improvisation. They approach the process strategically, with a job search toolkit that enables them to act with clarity, confidence, and cohesion. In today’s highly competitive job market, having a carefully curated job search toolkit isn’t an option. It is a requirement….
‘Tis the Season to Stay Professional During Festive Times
The holiday season brings unique energy to the workplace; year-end deadlines collide with celebrations, schedules shift, and teams try to balance festive cheer with professional expectations. It’s a time filled with opportunities for connection, but also with potential for missteps. Whether you work in person, in a hybrid model, or fully remote, practicing strong holiday-season work etiquette helps maintain professionalism, reinforce team spirit, and ensure everyone feels respected during a time that can be both joyful and stressful….
How to Avoid the Heuristic Trap
In a recent blog post, I discussed heuristic traps and how to identify them. We know that heuristic traps occur when your brain says, “This is the obvious choice,” but in reality, the situation is more complex. But how do you avoid falling into a heuristic trap? This requires awareness, structured decision-making, and heightened critical thinking. Knowing what to watch for helps to reduce falling into the common heuristic traps, such as confirmation bias, the sunk cost fallacy, or the halo effect. Here are some practical tips that can help you….
Why Didn’t I Get the Job?
The myth that the most qualified candidate is the one who gets the job fuels the idea that if you’re not selected, you must have done something wrong or be deficient in a critical area. Despite best hiring practices being widely accessible, the truth is that MOST hiring decisions come down to a gut-level feeling. Considering that most interviewers receive no formal training in conducting interviews, this is unsurprising….
Navigating the Job Search as a Neurodivergent Candidate
Navigating job interviews can be stressful for anyone—but for neurodivergent individuals, the experience may feel especially challenging. From decoding unspoken social cues to managing sensory overload or masking behaviors, neurodivergent individuals face real challenges in the interview process. Traditional interviews often favor neurotypical thinking and behavior, such as rapid responses, ease with social interactions, and comfort with sensory stimuli. Timed coding tests? Great if you want to measure how fast someone can panic. Whiteboard puzzles? Perfect for proving that you remember algorithms and proofs you haven’t needed since college. Rapid-fire questions? Awesome for people whose brains process language more slowly. This creates barriers to hiring for neurodivergent candidates and enables both unconscious and conscious biases in the hiring process….
When Failure Becomes Opportunity
In your career, turning failure into success is less about avoiding mistakes and more about how you respond. Treat failure as feedback, not a dead end. Act quickly to correct the course. Heed lessons, document mistakes, and avoid mishaps in the future. Leverage your failure for innovation. Take calculated risks and celebrate learning….
Don’t Fall into a Heuristic Trap
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that our brains use to make decisions quickly. Rather than carefully analyzing a situation, we rely upon past experiences, core beliefs, and patterns to come to a quick conclusion. These solutions may not be optimal, but given the limited time and information available, they are incredibly useful. People use this sort of intelligent guesswork, trial and error, process of elimination, and experience to solve problems or chart a course of action. In a world that is increasingly complex and overloaded with big data, heuristic methods simplify and accelerate decision-making through shortcuts and good-enough calculations. Without leveraging heuristics, our brains would suffer cognitive overload….
The Language of Limitation
Language is one of the most powerful tools a leader possesses. The words chosen shape culture, signal priorities, and influence how people perceive change, risk, and possibility. Effective leaders understand that language is not just a medium for communication—it’s a mechanism for motivation, trust, and alignment. Using words that inspire curiosity creates an environment where people feel empowered to contribute ideas and take ownership of outcomes. Language doesn’t just describe an organization’s culture. It builds it….
Create a Culture of Data Literacy
“Data is the new oil” is an overused metaphor that describes the potential value of data in the modern economy. Like oil or any other commodity, data doesn’t become truly valuable until it is refined and processed. Data on its own is neither good nor bad, but it is undoubtedly useless. It must be collected, cleaned, analyzed, and interpreted before it can be applied to a business problem. In the current oil boom that is the data-driven economy, companies that wish to be disruptive and innovative must intentionally foster and instill a culture of data literacy throughout their organizational DNA….