To rally those who have lost their jobs or are facing possible job loss in the current devastated economic climate, Quintessential Careers has created Job Action Day. Job Action Day, which is today, aims to empower workers and job-seekers to take proactive steps to shore up their job and career outlook.  As a blogger in this space, ...

I just got my official copy of my friend Michelle Goodman’s My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional.  I say official because I had the opportunity to provide a back cover blurb a few months ago.  I was happy to do so, because for those of us who long to have the flexible lifestyle and income ...

I’ll be honest.  I always thought that going to a temp agency was a waste of time.  This perception comes from the fact that when I was in college in the late 90s, I visited a few firms, filled out reams of paperwork, took a few computer tests, did several interviews, and never got a single job out of the ...

Two new career-expert friends have terrific books out that are great companions to my latest effort, How’d You Score That Gig?  Starting out, my fellow Ballantine author Pamela Skillings has written Escape from Corporate America, an extremely detailed and thorough roadmap to assessing if leaving traditional business is the right move for you, ...

It’s finally here.  My new book, How’d You Score That Gig?: A Guide to the Coolest Careers and How to Get Them, has just been released!  The book starts with a quiz that tells you your job personality – be it an adventurer, creator, data-head, entrepreneur, investigator, networker, or nurturer – and then suggests several unusual and ...

Ben Casnocha brought back to life a very cool commencement speech given by David Mahoney at Rutgers University in 1996. Mahoney, then chairman of the Dana Foundation, a brain research organization, provided some compelling tips about why young people should adopt a ''Centenarian Strategy'' for life. The central premise is that if you're a young ...

My good friend from college, Phil Saken, recently switched careers.  How he pulled this off actually makes a pretty remarkable story, which I’ll be sharing in more detail in the next week or so.  But anyway, he had decided that his job as an evening news producer for a top network in Columbus, OH, wasn’t floating his boat anymore. ...

Resolute (adj):  firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion. Tomorrow begins a New Year, and as such, it is the time of New Years Resolutions.  It’s a common joke that we Americans are very fond of making a list of items we want to achieve in the new year – from losing weight and getting in shape to taking a ...

I really like Marci Alboher’s Shifting Careers blog over at the New York Times, and this week, she shares a great self-assessment exercise from career coach Michael Melcher.  Since people are always asking me where to start when considering a career switch, I think Melcher’s “Zagat Approach” is worth mulling over.    Melcher ...

It’s your lucky day.  You just got a sweet job offer at a company you’ve been dying to work for.  Congratulations!  Now, though, you want to make sure you leave with your great reputation intact.  In business, you should never burn any bridges, because you never know when you might be working with these people again, or when ...