Talent Tips: Career Advice

Talent Tip #139: Hiring Horror Stories (Just in Time for Halloween!)

October 19, 2021

Katelynn Barbosa, Stephanie Keaveney, 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 changed to protect the innocent (and the ghoulishly guilty!).

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The Candidate Who Ghosted Us

A couple of years ago I was working with a nonprofit who wanted to hire for a senior level opening. We identified an impressive candidate who had worked for one of the…

Talent Tip #138: What HGTV Can Teach Us About the Market for Talent

September 21, 2021

Katelynn Barbosa

A couple of years ago, I was home sick with a bad sinus infection and chose to spend that time in the most productive way possible – reading seminal novels I had never gotten around to. Just kidding. I binged watching HGTV. If you haven’t watched HGTV before, the basic format of every HGTV show involves the following:

Act 1: Couple wants to buy house and meets with realtor to tell them what they are…

Talent Tip #137: How Networking Can Make (or Break) Your Job Search

September 15, 2021

Many moons ago I was at a networking function in Washington, DC when a gentleman strolled up to me with the Worst Networking Line Ever™.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a graduate student at….”

Before I could finish the sentence he turned around and walked away. I kid you not. His exceptional deductive reasoning skills led him to believe I would be no help in his quest to take over the world, so he left me…

Talent Tip #135: From Student to Professional: How I Feel Pretty Can Help You Transition To the Real World

June 22, 2021

By Katelynn Barbosa

Do you remember coming out of college thinking you were going to light the professional world on fire?

I sure do. And I remember feeling confident that everyone was going to be so impressed by my political science and history double major and my 3.7 GPA. I made sure to pack my resume full of that and my impressive college activities:

·       Vice President of the Student Alumni Association? Check!

Talent Tip #134: 10 Tips for Pivoting into a Career That Advances Liberty

May 18, 2021

Nothing makes me happier than hearing from someone who wants to move into a career that advances the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, and limited government.

I made that transition myself many moons ago and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made (along with rescuing a dog and not going to law school…no offense to cat lovers and lawyers).

But making the transition wasn’t easy for me because of a few misconceptions that…

Talent Tip #132: Seven Things Our Data Tell Us About Hiring in the Liberty Movement

February 17, 2021

This will shock no one to hear, but I’m a bit of a dork – A data dork, if you want to get specific. Give me a glass of red wine and a database and I could be happy for hours. Yes, I am the most fun at parties.

I love digging into the numbers, creating reports, and discovering new things. Specifically, I dork out on understanding what the numbers in Talent Market’s database are telling us and how we…

Talent Tip #131: Six Things the Pandemic Taught Free-Market Nonprofits

December 20, 2020

I don’t know about you, but I won’t be sad to say goodbye to this year when it ends. Much like your in-laws after a week-long visit, 2020 has overstayed its welcome.

It’s a been a grueling year on multiple fronts, and I think we’re all ready for a fresh start.

But despite its glaring flaws, 2020 did teach free-market nonprofits a few valuable lessons:

Talent Tip #130: 7 Keys To Finding a Mentor

November 17, 2020

By Katy Gambella

How do I find a mentor? How do I ask that person to be my mentor? How do I get the most out of a mentoring relationship?

I hear these questions from young professionals all the time. And I can relate because I struggled with all of these things myself.

Striking up a relationship with a potential mentor might seem really awkward, but it doesn’t need to be!  Here are 7 keys to finding…

Talent Tip #129: On Mai Tais, King Beds, and Resumes

October 20, 2020

By Katelynn Barbosa

Imagine you are planning a vacation to Maui (unthinkable in these times, I know) and browsing hotels online to decide where to stay. As you browse you have three predetermined requirements: You absolutely must have a king bed. (Your husband is a broad shouldered guy who splays out during his sleep like someone at the end of an unsuccessful parachute jump.) You also need to be located close to where many of your activities are…

Talent Tip #128: Talent Market Answers Your 10 Biggest Questions About LinkedIn

September 20, 2020

Even the most prolific posters on the ‘book, the most abundant tweeters in the Twittersphere, and the most inexhaustible Insta users (we haven’t gotten any queries from TikTok folks just yet) still come to us with burning questions about one social media outlet: LinkedIn.

After all, it’s the only social media site that should look more like your resume than a complete photo journal of you doing goat yoga or the arugula and beet salad you made for Thursday night’s…