Category: Career Tips

Career Development, Career Planning, Career Tips, jobs, networking, unemployment

The Cold Reality of Pivoting Careers While Unemployed

Angela Malagon

Pivoting careers is never easy. It’s a process that requires re-branding yourself, learning new skills, and often convincing hiring managers that your experience is transferable. Doing all of that while unemployed? That’s a whole different challenge—and one that many professionals, myself included, are facing right now.

The Stigma of Extended Unemployment

No matter how much we talk about breaking the stigma of gaps on a résumé, the reality is that being out of work for an extended period does raise questions in the eyes of employers. Algorithms in applicant tracking systems often filter out resumes with career breaks, and even when you do get in front of a recruiter, there’s sometimes an unspoken bias: “Why hasn’t anyone else hired you yet?”

This can make it even harder to pivot into a new career direction, where you’re not only battling the unemployment bias but also trying to prove you belong in a new function or industry.

The Hard Truth: Sometimes You Have to Step Back to Move Forward

One of the cold realities of job searching after a long unemployment stretch is that you may need to accept a step back—whether in title, pay, or both—to land your next opportunity.

That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. In fact, it can be a strategic choice. Sometimes a lateral or downward move is exactly what you need to:

  • Rebuild momentum in your career.
  • Gain exposure to a new industry or skill set.
  • Prove your adaptability and resilience.

Think of it less as a setback and more as a reset button—an intentional move to get yourself back in the game.

Why Networking Beats Applying in Today’s Market

The job market is more oversaturated than ever. Hundreds of qualified candidates apply for a single opening, and most never hear back. Submitting applications into the void isn’t a strategy—it’s a drain on your energy and confidence.

Networking, on the other hand, changes the game. Conversations open doors that applications can’t. Whether it’s a coffee chat, an informational interview, or a simple message on LinkedIn, relationships are where opportunities live. As the saying goes: people hire people, not résumés.

Some of the most effective networking tactics I’ve seen include:

  • Reconnecting with former colleagues who know your value.
  • Reaching out to people in your target industry to learn (not just to ask for a job).
  • Participating in professional groups, associations, or virtual meetups.
  • Contributing publicly—sharing insights, writing posts, or commenting thoughtfully—so your expertise stays visible.

Shifting the Mindset

The hardest part about this process isn’t the applications, the rejections, or even the interviews. It’s the mindset shift. Accepting that your next step may not be a perfect upward trajectory can sting. But when you reframe it as a strategic career pivot rather than a failure, the path forward becomes clearer.

Resilience, humility, and adaptability are not just buzzwords—they’re survival skills in today’s market. And they’re also the very qualities that make you an asset to future employers.

A Call to Those in the Same Boat

If you’re navigating unemployment while trying to pivot careers, know this: you’re not alone. Many talented professionals are walking this road right now. The oversaturated market doesn’t diminish your skills, your experience, or your worth.

What it does mean is that strategy matters more than ever. Be open to redefining success, willing to take a step back if it sets you up for future growth, and bold enough to lean on your network instead of going it alone.

Because sometimes the most important part of a pivot isn’t the direction of the move—it’s the fact that you keep moving.

Career Tips, interview

The Ultimate Interview Guide: 30 Prep Tips for Job Interview Success

Angela Malagon

Original Posting: by The Muse Editor

Shutterstock

Preparing for an interview takes a lot more than Googling a list of common interview questions. You have to make a great first impression appearance-wise (no wrinkly suits here!), have a great knowledge of your target company and its product, and, of course, know exactly how to convey that you’re the perfect fit for the job.

So to help you get prepared, we compiled a list of our all-time best pre-interview tips. From strategizing about how to tackle the toughest questions to packing your briefcase, we’ve got you covered—with 30 ways to make sure you bring your A-game.

Spend a few hours learning everything you can about the company—from as many sources as you can. Talk to friends and contacts, read current news releases, and, yes, spend some time on Google. Often, candidates just look at the information a company is pushing out via the website and social media but fail to look more in depth at what others are saying. By doing so, you’ll get the larger picture about the company (along with any negative press).

Numbers 1-7
Know Your Audience

  1. Get a sense of “who” the company is and how to embody a similar personality during your interview. Start by reading the company’s blog and Facebook page—the tone of the company’s content on these sites will speak volumes. Or try reading individual employees’ blogs to figure out what type of people work (and excel) there.
  2. Twitter can also be an excellent resource because you can see what the company and its employees are talking about. Are they sarcastically bantering with each other? Feel free to throw a few jokes in as you’re meeting with people. Are they tweeting up a storm about an event or product launch? Use it as a conversation starter.
  3. No matter what role you’re interviewing for—engineering, sales, marketing—you should always use the product before your first interview (and ideally, a few times). If hired, your goal will be to create value for the people who use that product and being a user yourself is the first step.
  4. Make sure you reach out through your network to find current and previous employees you can talk to, too—they’re often your best source of intel on what it’s really like to work at a company.
  5. Before your interview, get a list of the people you’re meeting with from the company. Then learn more about them—including what type of behavior might intrigue them or turn them off. Finally, prep some questions that are specific to each interviewer: Ask for details about her focus at the firm, discuss current events on his specialty, or bring up a common interest you know he or she has outside the office.
  6. Different companies use different types of interviews, so ask what you’ll be faced with. For example, some companies will ask case questions or brain teasers while others will give a standard set of typical interview and leadership questions. Asking the recruiter or HR contact about the interview format ahead of time is totally fair game. And once you know, investing time to become familiar with this style can make a huge difference.

Numbers 8-16
Anticipate the Interview Questions

  1. Even if you’re a well-oiled interviewing machine, it’s essential to spend time thinking carefully about what skills, accomplishments, and interview answers will resonate with your interviewers most. Your management abilities? Your creativity? The examples you share will probably be slightly different everywhere you interview.
  2. Have an answer to “Tell me about yourself” ready to go. Interviewers always ask it, and you want to be sure to nail this first part of the interview.
  3. Don’t be thrown off by the classic “What’s your biggest weakness?” One foolproof method: Think of something that you struggle with but that you’re working to improve. For example, maybe you’ve never been strong at public speaking, but over the past few years, you’ve taken on leadership roles and volunteered to run meetings to help you be more comfortable when addressing a crowd.
  4. You can easily find lists of common interview questions—but don’t prepare by writing out your entire answer; instead, jot down a few notes or bullet points and keep them on hand for the interview itself. You’ll ensure you cover the bases—without reading from a script.
  5. Don’t forget about the numbers! Finding some numbers, percentages, increases, or quotas you can use when talking about your responsibilities and accomplishments really sweetens the deal and helps you tell a hiring manager why you’re so awesome. (Here’s how to include them, even if you don’t work with numbers.)
  6. It’s likely you’ll get asked why you’re interested in this particular role and company. (And if you can’t answer this question, you shouldn’t be in the interview!) So to make sure you can, consider why you’re interested in the function and identify a couple of key factors that make it a great fit for you and how it aligns with what motivates you (e.g., “I love customer support because I love the constant human interaction and the satisfaction that comes from helping someone solve a problem”).
  7. Don’t just think about how you’ll answer certain questions; practice looking in the mirror and answering them out loud. This prep work will help you clarify your thoughts and make you much more comfortable during the interview.
  8. Do as many mock interviews as you possibly can with a friend. You’ll be much better at answering, “What would you bring to the position?” the 100th time you do it than the first, right?
  9. Prepare a few smart questions for when it’s your turn to ask. Make sure they’re thoughtful ones that show you’ve been paying attention and have done your homework when it comes to researching the company and the specific job you’re after. Try these!

Numbers 17-24
Pack (and Dress) Accordingly

  1. Plan the perfect interview outfit. For companies that have a business or business-casual dress code keep your look basic and conservative for the first interview. Not sure what to wear? If you have a contact or friend who works at the company you’re interviewing with, see if he or she can give you a heads up as to what people wear. If you don’t have that luxury, scope out photos on their social media (or their Muse profile!), or hang out at a coffee shop across the street a day or two before and try to get a glimpse at what people are wearing.
  2. Make sure you get your outfit cleaned, pressed, and tailored (a modern fit is best). People often have their “interviewing suit” that’s been sitting in their closet for the past couple of years, and they dust it off for the occasion—you don’t want to be that person.
  3. Don’t forget about the little things: Shine your shoes, check for loose hems, and make sure your fingernails look manicured. This is the stuff that you don’t always think people notice, but they do!
  4. Do a little pampering, because looking your best helps you feel your best. If that means you need a facial, haircut, razor shave, or even a new interview outfit, then by all means do it! Feeling good about yourself will boost your confidence—and we probably don’t have to tell you that confidence is key to landing your dream job.
  5. Print out five copies of your resume. You never know who you’ll be meeting with, and you want to have your resume ready to go in case you’re asked for it.
  6. Prepare a reference list, whether you think you’ll be asked for it or not. For each reference, include a name, title, organization, division or department, telephone number, and email address, as well as a sentence briefly explaining the relationship (e.g., “Carlton was my team leader for two years, during which we collaborated on four major product launches”).
  7. Prep your your purse, backpack, or briefcase. Whatever bag you carry should be large enough to hold your everyday essentials, plus your interview musts, such as extra resumes and a notepad, as well as a special emergency kit stocked with what you might need in an unexpected situation (think: Band-Aids, a stain stick, an umbrella, and breath mints). Here’s a general checklist of what to bring to an interview so you’re super prepared.
  8. Clean out that bag! If you have to dig past candy wrappers, phone chargers, and old receipts to get that resume, you’re going to look a little unorganized. Everything you need should be neatly organized and readily accessible. The less you have to rifle through your bag, the better.

Numbers 25-30
Get Your Head in the Right Place

  1. Spend the most time before the interview not rehearsing questions but reflecting on your career chronology to date. When you know your story inside and out, it’s much easier to apply examples to just about any interview question.
  2. Getting ready for a technical interview? Start preparing as early as possible. Working through a prep book or sample questions will not only give you good practice, but it’ll also put you in the right problem-solving mindset.
  3. Come up with a go-to phrase that’ll help you avoid dead air if you need time to stall and gather your thoughts. Two strategies that work well are repeating the question thoughtfully before answering or saying (slowly), “Now, that is a great question. I think I would have to say…”
  4. Brush up on what certain body language conveys. Be aware of what you’re communicating through your posture and stance—and make sure it’s good. (For example, sitting with your arms and legs crossed sends a message that you are closed-off or feel defensive.) Think your movements through ahead of time so you are not distracted (or distracting) during the interview.
  5. Use an interview cheat sheet to compile all the details you need to remember, jot down notes about what you want to say and ask, and check off all the essentials of what to bring to the interview. Print one out for every interview, read it over the morning of, and you’ll be good to go! (We made one for you right here!)
  6. Oh, and get some sleep. This sounds like something your mom would tell you, but there are few things that will throw you off your game like sleep deprivation.
Career Tips, interview, networking, resume, Skills

How To Get Your Dream Job

Angela Malagon
BY ALISON DOYLE | Updated on November 08, 2021

Are you looking for a new job, or starting to think about job hunting? Sometimes a job search can feel overwhelming, especially if you need a job right away. It often feels like there is too much to do in a very limited time.

One way to manage this stress and enhance your job search is to break the process down into small, manageable steps. Doing so can help you feel like you have accomplished a little piece of your search every day and you’ll make slow and steady progress towards your goal of finding work you want to do, instead of work you have to do.

How To Use This Series

The series offers simple, practical steps for job seekers to follow in order to prepare themselves for the job market and land a job. If you read and apply one tip per day, you can accelerate your job search and find a job quickly.

The tips are organized in such a way as to move you from the very first stages of the job search (writing a resume, reaching out to contacts in your industry) to the final stages (preparing for an interview, sending a thank you note, accepting or rejecting a job).

Each tip suggests one thing you can do per day to help your job search. Doing something every day to find work helps keep you from becoming frustrated and focuses your job hunt on work you are qualified for.

Here’s how the series is organized and how to use it to find your dream job.

How the Tips Are Organized

The “Dream Job” series contains steps to help you find the job you want the most. The tips are organized in a specific order, beginning with advice on how to start a job search, and ending with tips on how to decide whether to accept or reject a job offer.

There are a number of stages to any job search journey. The tips in this series are organized into six sections to cover six unique stages in the job search process.

Get Started

This is an important stage in which you prepare yourself—and your resume—for the job search ahead. The tips offer advice for getting your job search started, including refreshing your resume and developing necessary skills.

Prepare to Network

Networking is a critical part of the job search—by reaching out to contacts, you can get advice on your search, and even hear about job openings that might be a good fit for you. These tips offer a variety of strategies for good networking, including using LinkedIn, creating business cards, and getting active on Twitter.

Start Your Job Hunt

This is where your job search begins in earnest. After consulting with a career counselor or exploring options on your own, you narrow your job search by creating an employer target list and finding contacts at those companies.

Use Your Network

Get advice on how to use your network, from contacting friends and family to set up informational interviews.

Find Job Listings

Gain advice on how to find jobs, both online and through other means (such as job fairs). It also provides advice on how to keep your job search organized.

When feeling the stress of needing work, it is easy to begin applying for everything you see. Try to be patient and work to control the anxiety that comes with needing a job, so that you can focus on adjusting your profiles and resume for the specific jobs you are applying for.

Interview and Follow up

Learn all you need to know about preparing for the interview and following up afterward.

Skip Steps if They Don’t Apply

The tips are organized to be most helpful when followed in order. But you can skip ahead if certain tips do not apply to you, or jump ahead to the specific tip that you would like help with. There is no wrong way to use this information.

Career Tips, Skills

Top Skills and Attributes Employers Look For

Angela Malagon

The Best Skills to Have for Your Job Search

BY ALISON DOYLE | Updated on July 16, 2021

Getting a new job is about more than just your past experience. Most employers are looking for people with the right types of skills to make them a fit for the job.

Learn more about the types of skills employers are looking for.

Soft Skills and Hard Skills

When applying for a new job, there are some skills and qualities employers seek in all their employees, regardless of the position.

These are called “soft skills,” and they include the interpersonal skills and attributes you need to succeed in the workplace. They are also commonly referred to as professional skills, those that maintain a healthy workplace environment. Examples of soft skills include flexibility, determination, and critical thinking.1

In addition to soft skills, there are other, more tangible skills that most projects require. These are called hard skills or technical skills. They are the specific knowledge and abilities required to do the job. Examples of hard skills include computer coding, equipment operation, and painting.

You’ll need both soft and hard skills for any job. It’s important to show employers that you have the combination of hybrid skills they need when you’re applying and interviewing for jobs.

Top Skills Employers Look For

In order to get your application noticed, be sure to incorporate in your resume and cover letter the skills you have that are required for the position. Highlight your most relevant skills during job interviews by being able to provide real-life examples.

If you’re switching jobs or industries, you’ll need to focus on the skills that are transferable from your old position to the new one.

While this list is not exhaustive, these are some of the top skills employers say are most important when recruiting and hiring employees.

Analytical Skills

Employees need to be able to confront a problem, think it through, and decisively apply solutions. These are known as “analytical skills.” The level of analytical skills required will vary, depending on the job and the industry. Closely aligned with analytical skills, employees are expected to organize, plan, and prioritize effectively.

Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively—both verbally and in writing—is both essential and rare. Those with strong communication skills are in high demand, regardless of the job or industry. You need to be able to communicate successfully with employees, managers, and customers in-person, online, in writing, and/or over the phone.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills, also known as “people skills,” are the skills you use to interact and engage with others. Many are hired quickly based purely on their ability to connect with people. Interpersonal skills can sometimes trump the other skills employers are seeking, so be sure yours are up to par.

Your interpersonal skills will be evaluated during job interviews, so be sure you prepare for the interview. You can develop the emotional intelligence and self-awareness you need to connect with a hiring team.

Leadership Skills

When companies hire for leadership roles, they seek employees that can successfully interact with employees, colleagues, and customers. Even if you’re not applying for management jobs, leadership is a valuable skill to bring to the employer. Many companies prefer to promote from within, so they’re often looking for strong leadership qualities, even when hiring for entry-level positions.

Positive Attitude

Attitude may not be everything, but it’s extremely valuable. Employers want employees who are positive even in stressful and challenging circumstances. Positivity shows your level of resilience. Employers want to hire applicants with a “can-do” attitude who are flexible, dedicated, and willing to contribute extra effort to get the job done in the face of challenges.

Teamwork

Regardless of the job, employers want to hire people who are team players—people who are cooperative and work well with others. They don’t want employees who are difficult to work with. When you are interviewing, be sure to share examples of how you worked well on a team. Your level of teamwork indicates your ability to collaborate effectively with a wide variety of people.

Technical Skills

The technical skills you need will vary, of course, depending on the job. However, most positions require at least some technical skills, including experience using industry software, completing higher-level education (such as college degrees or vocational certifications), or being experienced at highly specific tasks.

Other Important Job Skills Today

Scan any of the job postings online, and you’ll probably notice a trend: Technological skills are vitally important.

These days, technology shapes the world we live in. That’s why many employers want the people they hire to come already equipped with certain technological skills.

If you lack technological skills within your industry, it’s a good time to brush up on the following:

Social Media Skills

If you’re working in a specific field that involves communication, you’ll likely need to sharpen your social media skills. That doesn’t just mean learning how to use the platforms, though. You should also know how to use social media sites effectively, and employers may ask you to demonstrate that you are a “power user” of a particular social media channel. Learning how to get your message across on social media can help make you an attractive candidate.

Computer Skills

Having at least some computer skills is a given in almost any job out there. Most jobs now require some computer literacy, whether using Word, Excel, or even more advanced software. If there’s specific software that a company is using, you’ll probably get trained on it, such as content management systems (CMSs) or specific data entry tools. If you are not experienced in all the software programs highlighted in the job posting, it would be helpful to demonstrate to the employer your ability to learn new software quickly.

Skill-sharing has become increasingly popular, allowing people to connect online or in their communities, and to exchange useful tips, valuable information, and invaluable skills. Find out how skill-sharing can help you upgrade your skills.

Problem-Solving Skills

These may seem a little like analytical or interpersonal skills, but problem-solving is often considered a separate skill. You may have to deal with problems that require a quick response and resolution. Being able to think on your feet and solve problems at a moment’s notice is an important quality many employers are looking for.

Showcase Your Skills

To be sure you are showing your top skills during your job search, make a list of the skills and qualities that best reflect your background. Incorporate them into your resume and cover letters.

Think of real-life examples where you applied these skills to achieve success on the job, in the classroom, or in volunteer work. Share these examples with your interviewer so they know exactly how much of an asset you will be when you’re hired.

Identifying your best skills, finding jobs that need people with these skills, and highlighting your experience in those areas can help match you to the right career.

ARTICLE SOURCES

  1. Career One Stop. “Skills Assessment.” Accessed July 16, 2021.