One area that most resumes could use some work on is the traditional objective statement at the top of the first page.

The most common problems are:

• The objective isn’t specific and targeted enough to be appealing.

• The objective is too soft and generic. Stating that you want a “challenging and rewarding job that will utilize your skills” will do nothing for your candidacy.

• The objective is written as a statement of what you want vs. what you offer. Generally, employers aren’t as interested in what y…

Just off the phone with a Toronto client. She is in the running for a big internal promotion and in my opinion, makes an excellent candidate.

However, while she can talk with passion about the organization and her teams, she has a heck of time summoning that energy to talk about and sell herself. This is so common. Often, the most successful people are the worst at communicating what they do, what they’ve done, and how they do it.

If this is you, don’t feel bad. You aren’t alone.

Now, get over i…

The various uses and benefits of blogging

Let’s get this out of the way first. Blogs are online journals, incredibly easy to publish, with powerful abilities to link between posts (individual entries), and between other blogs. Bloggers write and post short messages and ideas and comments. They write articles. They link to relevant posts from other sites on the web, and they can publish audio and photos on to their blog. Blogs make it really easy as a reader to follow your favourite sites by subsc…

Update: This article has been updated to Four Factors in Getting Promoted to an Executive Role

Are you ready to take on an executive role? You need to examine the “Nuances” of breaking through into the executive ranks. Readiness to take on an executive role depends to a large extent on the facts of your career history, the messaging, your in-person presentation, and the opportunity fit.

The Facts

Your career history might result in a dynamic career trajectory, or the exact opposite, one that …

How to edit your resume for the next level

When you are aiming for a promotion in your current field, the ideal resume is one that shows achievement in your current and past roles, a track record of successfully taking on increasing responsibilities, evidence of leadership at a level appropriate for the more senior role, involvement in areas that are directly related to the more senior role you are applying for, and through all of this, evidence of the appropriate skills.

Your resume needs to achi…

There are times in life where family and personal requirements outweigh career considerations. In your case, you made a decision to resign for the sake of your spouse’s career. For others it might be moving closer to aging parents or, stepping-off the high-pressure ladder for a while so that more time can be given to children, or a sick family member. Taking care of your own health issue is another high priority item.

When you want to step back on the career track, the question is how to deal wi…