Talent Tips: All Levels

Talent Tip #121: Considering a Career in the Free-Market World? Here are Five Things To Consider.

January 21, 2020

Are you or someone you know leading the life of Peter Gibbons, toiling away in an unfulfilling job, longing for something better?

If so, don’t fill out another TPS report! Instead, start plotting your career change into the liberty movement immediately if not sooner.

But remember that making the transition (whether from the private sector, government, academia, politics, or the broader nonprofit space) won’t necessarily be easy. It may take some time and a few attempts,…

Résumé Tips

January 1, 2020

Your résumé is your first chance to make a good impression. And it pains me to say this, but so many résumés I get are hard on the eyes. They are confusing, poorly designed, and do not clearly illustrate candidates’ backgrounds and skills.

But there is hope! By following a few simple tips, you can have a stellar résumé. Please keep in mind every hiring manager has opinions on what works best in a résumé, and the suggestions below are merely mine.

Talent Market’s 10th Anniversary!

August 20, 2019

Can you believe it’s been a decade?

Yep.  Ten years ago this month Talent Market launched. 

In those 10 years, we’ve had a lot to celebrate. Here are some highlights:

Talent Tip #117: 6 Things to Consider When Asked for References

July 16, 2019

Have you ever gotten out of a bad relationship and wondered, “Why didn’t someone warn me about this clown?”

Yeah, me too. This begs the question: why do we check references during the hiring process but not during the dating process? (Arguably, the stakes for the latter — marriage, divorce — are slightly higher.)

My hunch is because no one wants to hand over a list of exes. Can you imagine? (Insert horrified emoji face here.)

Luckily, it’s not that way in…

Talent Tip #116: 5 Surefire Ways NOT to Land an Interview

June 18, 2019

A friend recently suggested that I write a Talent Tip on how to land a job interview.  Brilliant idea! Especially since candidates are frequently asking the same thing.

But, given what we see and hear every day from job applicants and clients, I thought it might be more useful (and a wee bit more entertaining) to start with advice on the inverse.

So, sit back and enjoy the following five surefire ways to NOT land a…

Talent Tip #115: Maps and Mobility: Revisiting the Yellow State/Blue State Phenomenon

May 21, 2019

People often ask me, “How did you land in Charleston?”

The answer mystifies some and intrigues others: I picked it on a map.

I’m not kidding. I sat down with a map and asked myself where I wanted to live. When I factored in lifestyle, cost of living, proximity to family (and the ocean), and weather, I ended up with Charleston. I didn’t know a soul here, but I figured, how bad can it be? 

My story  is not uncommon. People are…

Talent Tip #114: A Lesson from Three’s Company: Eliminating Confusion About How Talent Market Can Help Your Nonprofit Find Talent

April 24, 2019

Did you ever watch the old sit-com Three’s Company?

At the risk of dating myself, I’ll confess that it was one of my favorite shows as a kid. (I watched it in syndication, of course.) By today’s standards, it would be considered insanely politically incorrect, but the shenanigans cracked me up.

If you ever tuned in, you know that the plot always revolved around some sort of misunderstanding. I distinctly remember being exasperated — and amused — as…

Talent Tip #113: Workplace Change: Too Much of a Good Thing Isn’t a Good Thing

March 19, 2019

Change is a good thing, right? We’re constantly told how important it is to be able to adapt as individuals and as organizations. As Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

But what very few talk about is how taxing change can be. Just ask the child of divorced parents, an Army brat who has lived in six…

Talent Tip #112: Four Things to Do Before You Apply For Your Next Job  

February 20, 2019

As you can imagine, we get dozens of job applications each week. While the majority of them are well thought-out, it’s clear that some of the applicants barely read beyond the job title.

And I’m not just referring to novice job seekers. Some of the most head-scratching applications come from experienced professionals.

As such, we thought it might be helpful to outline four things to do before you apply for your next job.

Talent Tip #111: Take Your Resume to 11

January 23, 2019

As you can imagine, we get a lot of questions about resumes. For the most part, people just want to know how to make their resume stand out from the crowd. 

Or, in the words of Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, they want to take their resumes to 11. 

Before you reach for the volume knob, you first need to make sure your resume covers the basics. You can find several articles about this…