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Searching for a job can be extremely frustrating in the best of times and especially during seasonal slowdowns, when opportunities are scarce, or simply when the process itself is drawn out. The job search blues can invade you without warning at any time and can completely drain you of your self-confidence. Before you know it you may find that you have lost your energy, efficiency and effectiveness in the search process.

As you walk into the interview for your dream job, you're feeling a little nervous, but geared up to tackle whatever comes your way. Having carefully planned your answers to typical questions such as "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" you think that you're as ready as you'll ever be. The interview starts, and without warning, your interviewer asks a quite unusual and specific question "Tell me about a time when you failed to meet a deadline." You struggle to come up with a good response, and immediately you're hit with "What were the repercussions?" You may not know it, but you have just experienced your first behavioural interview question.

The Job Search process can be extremely time consuming when considering all of its components. They say “Finding a Job is a Full-Time Job” and when correctly conducting a job search this certainly has some truth.

The workforce is constantly evolving and employees need to keep up with it. Temporary workers are on the rise, and even preferred by some employees. According to Statistics Canada, part-time jobs have increased by 2.3 times more than full-time jobs from 2012 to 2014. 

Embarking on a job search can be a terrifying experience especially if you haven’t had to explore the job market in a while. With a little prep work before you start your job search, you will be more prepared to apply to job postings and manage your job search time efficiently.  

With significant growth the last few years in the social networking arena, now is a great time to use these tools to brand your company, particularly when trying to attract job seekers to apply to your open positions.

Regardless of whether your organization currently has significant brand recognition or you're just beginning to build your brand, using social networking tools lets job seekers know about your company which in turn should help attract the best candidates.

A cover letter is a critical component of your job search. It is all about attracting positive attention from the recruiter by making a great first impression.

As a professional résumé strategist, every once in a while, I’ll encounter someone who only wants a résumé and nothing more. Before agreeing to take on the assignment, I always take a moment to ascertain that individual’s ability to write powerful business correspondence. After all, if our organization is going to provide an impressive résumé, we sure don’t want our client to waste their investment by attaching a poor cover letter to it.

Writing a compelling LinkedIn profile is a must if you want to attract positive attention. Your profile is your face to the world of online networking, thus, it should be your primary means for introducing and promoting yourself.

The power of a brand to make the right connection with customers-lead to sales-is well documented. In fact, many successful job seekers have adopted brand principles when looking for the right job, then built on their brand to launch a successful career.

The recent downsizing of many companies has resulted in too few people doing too much work. Now in 2016, retention is a key concern to busy workplaces. If you want to keep your staff, and make them feel appreciated, you may want to follow some of these guidelines.