Talent Tips: Career Advice

Talent Tip #168: What My Favorite Christmas Vacation Scenes Teach Us About Career Moves 

December 19, 2024

My Christmas season isn’t complete without at least one viewing of Christmas Vacation. Clark taking a chainsaw to the newel post is a perfect metaphor for most of my holiday misadventures.

And it turns out that my favorite scenes provide some good lessons for job seekers. Just trust me on this.

Talent Tip #166: Hiring Horror Stories (Just in Time for Halloween!)

October 22, 2024

The Talent Market Team

In the spirit of Halloween, our team wanted to share our most hair-raising hiring horror stories with you. Names and identities have been changed to protect the innocent (and the ghoulishly guilty!).

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The Candidate from the Crypt 

I once received an application that was riddled with typos and grammatical errors. The candidate’s cover letter read like a spellbook of strange demands. Her first decree? She refused to do any phone or…

Talent Tip #165: A Bartender’s Guide to Professional Branding

September 24, 2024

Stephanie Keaveney

One of the most delightful parts of working at Talent Market is discovering that nearly every career topic can be explored with either a dating or cocktail-related analogy. And living with a former bartender means much of my time outside of work is spent as a taste tester for new concoctions. So it’s no big surprise that a recent discussion on building your professional brand got me thinking about the overlap with crafting a great cocktail.

Talent Tip #154: Advice for Graduates: The Talent Market Team Shares Our Biggest Lessons

May 23, 2023

In the midst of graduation season, the Talent Market team wanted to share some of the most important lessons we learned at the start of our careers. Embrace networking – Stephanie
When I was a fresh-faced graduate, I thought my network was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. To me, networking was just a bunch of people handing out business cards and pretending to be interested in each other’s lives. But luckily, I had a…

Talent Tip #152: You’re Not the Snoop to My Dogg: 4 Common Reasons for Rejection

February 21, 2023

Claire Dixon

“I just want to know why it didn’t work out between us.”

That’s how he started the phone call. No greeting. No small talk. Just straight for the jugular.

I knew I shouldn’t have picked up. After all, rule #1 of dating is never take a call from an ex unless you want to attempt to jump-start that ol’ jalopy. Because the moment you pick up, you’ll find yourself right in the middle of your very own rom-com…

Talent Tip #150: Lessons from Peter Gibbons: Things to Consider Before You Leave Your Job 

November 22, 2022

Claire Kittle Dixon

“I don’t like my job and I don’t think I’m gonna go anymore.”

“So, are you going to quit?”

“Nuh-uh. Not really. I’m just gonna stop going.”

That’s the Peter Gibbons way to quit your job. (If you haven’t seen Office Space, you should cancel this evening’s plan and watch it. It’s a classic…like The Godfather, except funny…and the only thing that meets an untimely death is…

Talent Tip #149: Hiring Horror Stories: (Just in Time for Halloween!)

October 25, 2022

Katelynn Barbosa, Stephanie Keaveney, Lydia Ocampo, Katy Gambella, Claire Kittle Dixon

In the spirit of Halloween, our team wanted to share our best hiring horror stories with you. Names and identities have been altered to protect the innocent (and the ghoulishly guilty!).

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When a Stranger Calls
Years ago I arranged a phone interview with a candidate for a search I was managing. I called at the time our interview was scheduled, but my call went directly to voicemail. I…

Talent Tip #147: Why is the Liberty Movement Liberty’s Best Kept Secret?

July 19, 2022

Claire Kittle Dixon

How in the $@&# does the government deserve this much of my income?

I still remember the seething anger I felt when my accountant told me how much I owed the government in quarterly taxes.

At 24, I had started my own little company and was a 1099 contract employee. Going from a W-2 employee to being self-employed meant no more income tax withholding. And that meant I acutely felt the pain of how much Uncle…

Talent Tip #145: 10 Tips for Recent College Grads on the Job Hunt

May 24, 2022

“My first bit of advice is to stop wearing purple lipstick.”

That’s what the slightly uptight, middle-aged woman across the table told me. I was a naive 22 year-old eager to find a job and this no-nonsense, tweed-wearing consultant said she could help.

Until that very moment, I had no idea that my choice of lip color was going to be an impediment to landing employment. Good to know!

I took her advice to heart, not only as it…

Talent Tip #144: The F Word

April 19, 2022

I love the F word.

I use it frequently, in fact. I say it in front of my clients and candidates…in front of mature audiences and young professionals….even kids. Heck, I say it in front of my mother-in-law. I’m shameless about it.

No matter when or where I use it, it never fails to raise eyebrows.

I don’t think people are offended by it; they just don’t think about it that often.  But they should.  Because it’s absolutely…