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.
Are you one of these people? Please stop.
You know those people. Your colleagues, customer, or manager whose behaviors irritate you. You’re not one of those people. Or are you? Do any of these sound like you? I Love the Sound of My Own Voice. I might not have anything substantive to say—in fact, I usually don’t—but that doesn’t stop me from…
Personal branding & your career
A question I’m frequently asked is, “What is personal branding, and why should I care?” My advice is the same regardless of career level or aspiration. Your brand is the experience that people have when they interact with you, whether that’s in person, on social media, or via your content. The number one goal…
Use LinkedIn to your advantage and make it work for you
LinkedIn—its use and importance have exploded since the platform’s inception in 2002. What began as a place for job seekers to connect has transformed into the premier professional networking site. You can now access all sorts of data points relative to your profile, from how often you turn up in search results, to the…
Embrace different work styles
I’ve previously written about how managers who hire people who remind them of themselves (“mini-me” syndrome) do themselves and their organizations a disservice. Diversity, in all its forms, makes for innovative, creative thought, and improves productivity. A topic related to hiring a mini-me is the common management practice of assuming that there is only…
10 Characteristics of a Good Leader
A leader can make the difference between success and failure. A good leader has a futuristic vision and knows how to turn ideas into real-world success stories. Unfortunately, there are many managers out there who are poor leaders. This is largely because of the time-honored practice of promoting people into management solely on the…
7 Keys to LinkedIn Success
If you’re in the market for a new job, or if you are at all concerned about your professional brand (and you should be), you need to have a presence on LinkedIn. Maybe you set your LinkedIn profile up years ago and then promptly forgot about it. Or, perhaps you copied and pasted your…
Are you managing by the clock, or are you managing for results?
So, I recently fell into the black hole of Quora, the Q&A site. I was in the Chief Executive Officers sub-Quora (I’m not really sure what it’s called, but you get the idea), and there were a variety of riffs on this theme: “My Employees Only Work Normal Business Hours—What Do I Do About…
Improve your messaging to drive better results
We are all in the business of communication. Whether you’re communicating with external customers, internal clients, or prospective employers, you need to be sure that your message is clear, relevant, and compels the action you desire. Here are my top tips for improving your messaging so that you get the results you want. Know your…
Maximize your networking capabilities
I have counseled thousands of clients on how to best structure and execute a job search. Invariably, I hear tales of people spending hours staring at their computer screens filling out online applications, only to have those applications disappear into some resume black hole. Most people know that this is not a good use of…
Top Ten Career & Work Myths
The workplace is a place of social interaction, complete with power dynamics, cliques, popular kids, and of course, its own mythology. As with any myth, the reason workplace or career myths come to be is due in part to their believability and in part because of their pervasiveness. A concerted effort in critical thinking can…