Our Top 5 Summer Career Reads

Our Top 5 Summer Career Reads

career coaching, job search, LinkedIn, networking, strategy
By Erin Ewart Summer's here and we know you're probably ready to kick back with a page turner or an easy beach read. But along with those purely-for-fun books, we encourage you to spend a little time this summer reflecting on your career or building your skills with some of our favorite new career reads. 1. If you're ready to boost your management skills with an equity lens: Management in a Changing World: How to Manage for Equity, Sustainability, and Results by Jakada Imani, Monna Wong, and Bex Ahuja. This book from the team at The Management Center gathers some of their best tools and techniques specifically geared toward managers and leaders working toward social change. 2. If you're ready to stop chasing someone else's career dream and start chasing your…
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Staying Focused on Your Career During Down Times is Critical – Here’s Why

Staying Focused on Your Career During Down Times is Critical – Here’s Why

career coaching, job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart With more layoffs in the news recently, it might feel like the outlook for hiring right now is bleak. If you're currently job searching, this may be creating anxiety and making you wonder how long it may take to land something new, or how much you'll need to compromise. And if you're unhappy in your current role, you might think it makes sense to hunker down and stay put until the economy improves instead of looking for something new. These are valid concerns during challenging economic times. And the reality is that despite all the predictions out there, no one knows for sure what this year will bring. When times are tough, it can seem logical to put off thinking about your career and just focus on…
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Wondering What’s Next In Your Impact Career? Start Here

Wondering What’s Next In Your Impact Career? Start Here

career coaching, job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart Record levels of turnover are happening this year as the economy recovers and more people feel comfortable leaving their jobs.  After a challenging year that has helped all of us get more clarity on what's important, many of these job seekers are looking for work that's more aligned with their values, priorities, and purpose.  If finding mission-driven work is your goal, we have a roadmap for you. Our Careers for Social Impact Career Transition Framework breaks down the process of moving toward your next impact career step into three distinct phases: Build Your Foundation, Define Your Direction, and Find Your Fit.  To successfully use this process as you search for what's next, you’ll need to focus on three key things:  Getting as clear as possible on what’s…
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Job Searching? Take These 3 Steps Now to Start the New Year Strong

Job Searching? Take These 3 Steps Now to Start the New Year Strong

job search, networking, strategy
By Erin Ewart The end of the year is so close we can taste it. This is a great time to take a break, especially if you’re job searching or in career transition. While it may feel tough to step away from your search, it's an important way to keep your energy and motivation up during this process so you won't burn out.  So if you’re planning to take a little break from your search over the holidays - great! Make sure to decompress and truly unplug for a few days if you can.  But before you step away, there are three important things you can do to wrap up the year on a great note and make sure you’re prepared to hit the ground running again in January. 1.…
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How to Plan When Planning Feels Impossible

How to Plan When Planning Feels Impossible

job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart If you’re anything like me, these last few months have passed in a weird time warp, seeming to both take forever and fly by at the same time. And it’s no wonder we’re feeling this way: we’re experiencing something called “temporal disintegration”, which means we lose track of time when the future is in question.  And the future is definitely a great big question mark right now - but we still have to think about what's next. It’s such a paradox: how can we plan our lives, careers, or anything else, when things are changing all the time and we have no idea what will happen next month, or even next week? It’s a question I’m really grappling with right now, both personally and professionally. We have…
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How to Network Right Now

How to Network Right Now

job search, networking
By Erin Ewart What a month it’s been. Like all of you, I’m feeling overwhelmed as I process everything that’s happened in just a few short weeks. I’m also feeling overwhelmed by the volume of content that’s being shared right now, and I know you may be as well - so if you’d like a quick summary of the tips below in video format, click here!  In the coming weeks, we'll aim to address some of the common questions we’re hearing from our clients, and the first one I wanted to tackle is how to network right now.  Networking is always important for your career, and that’s going to be true more than ever as the hiring landscape gets more and more competitive in the coming months.  But it’s also…
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Job Searching During Uncertain Times

Job Searching During Uncertain Times

job search, strategy
By Erin Ewart As I write this, we are experiencing a unique and in some ways unprecedented series of events.  The news is constantly shifting and has us on high alert: a global pandemic. Markets falling, schools closing, and events and travel plans canceled.  We are all being impacted by this, and it’s infusing a level of uncertainty and anxiety into our lives in a way we rarely experience. If you’re looking for a new job, you may be feeling especially worried right now. What does this mean for your search? Is there anything you can or should be doing differently in response to what’s happening in the world? It’s a tough question to answer, because there is still so much we don’t know about how this will all play out.…
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What’s Your Story?

What’s Your Story?

career story, job search
By Erin Ewart How do you feel about telling your career story? When we ask our clients this question, we often get responses like “anxious”, “confused”, and “frustrated.” This a topic everyone wants to focus on, and that nearly everyone finds challenging.  Of course there are people out there who feel confident about telling their stories, but they have one thing in common: they practice A LOT. To illustrate this point, I was in a training with other business owners recently, and everyone went around the room and gave their 15-30 second pitch on the spot without a hitch. You know why? Because business owners do this all the time. But for most of us, talking about ourselves is hard. We don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on what…
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How to Job Search During the Holidays

How to Job Search During the Holidays

career coaching, job search, networking, strategy
BY ERIN EWART The holiday season is here, and every year around this time we get questions from our clients who are in career transition about what this means for them. One of the biggest questions we get is whether any hiring happens this time of year, and the answer to that is a definite yes! But while hiring happens year round, it does tend to slow down around the holidays, and it can be discouraging to see fewer new jobs being posted and to get so many out of office replies to your networking outreach. But that doesn't mean you should take a time out from your job search during the holidays; that's a mistake that will come back to bite you in January. Instead, think about how you can…
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Why Feeling Stuck Sucks – And What To Do About It

Why Feeling Stuck Sucks – And What To Do About It

career coaching, job search, strategy
BY ERIN EWART Yesterday I got stuck. Not physically stuck, but mentally and emotionally stuck. I felt like I had so many things competing for my attention that I couldn’t decide what to focus on. I am wrestling with a few big decisions right now, and I was feeling completely stressed about what to do next and where I should be spending my time and energy.  As I sat at my desk, toggling between my to do list and my email inbox and the many, many open tabs in my browser (yes, I am one of those people), I felt the tightness of panic rise in my chest. I was paralyzed. Overwhelmed. Completely stuck. And I knew I had to do something. So I left. I went for a walk,…
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