In today’s world we are constantly being put into echo chambers with those who agree with us. Social media algorithms will feed you content you agree with, while at the same time vilifying those you don’t. This is a daily problem not just in our politics, but in our parenting strategies, philosophies on work and life, and even how we feel about truth and science.
It’s no secret that it’s getting harder and harder to face the job market. Competition is fierce, AI is taking market share and the industries in need are constantly changing. All this to say that a “good enough” application package 20 years ago won’t get you a sniff today. Good has to become great and in some cases great as to become exceptional. So what does exceptional look like?
Music has been an integral part of my life as long as I can remember and one of the things I gravitate towards most to ground me in the present. Music can really set the mood to whatever suits the moment in really profound ways.
Trust me, I’m really not that narcissisistic. But I am curious.
Times have definitely changed quickly within the online space. Search Engine Optimization or SEO was once gold for online creators. Put in the proper keywords and learn the algorithm and you could be first on search engines like Google or Yahoo.
While SEO isn’t completely dead, it has been replaced at the top of the search engine output by an Artificial Intelligence or AI summary of the search term. Essentially, what you search for is what is now known as an AI prompt. The output isn’t always fantastic but it usually is fairly accurate with links on the side to show where the sources of the output came from.
Why is it that we are constantly putting off the things we want to do most? I can’t work out today because I have to take the kids to practice. I can’t read this book because the dishes have to be done. It’s true, life might be busy and many of us seemingly don’t have the free time, but the necessary stuff seems to get done. We keep kicking the can down the road, however on the things truly make us feel alive.
Interviews can be an incredibly stressful time! It can feel like your whole world is riding on this one hour but we have to stop and take a minute to acknowledge that this is one part of a large puzzle that will determine if you get the job.
Depending upon where you look there are different definitions of the various generations from the most current, Gen Alpha, going all the way back to what we definite as the “Greatest Generation” who were born generally in the first 25 years of last century. One constant throughout the last 125 years seems to be that the generations change with technology. Since technological changes have seemed to grow exponentially, it’s no surprise that current generations are defined by a shorter time span (~12 -14 years) versus older generations which tend to be about 20 – 25 years long.
For many years I was the quintessential travel snob. You know the type.
“I’m not a tourist, I’m a traveller!” That’s right, with two “L”s! “Oh you went to Florida on vacation? That’s cute, I LIVED in Florida and I TRAVELLED to Australia,” I would quip. “I don’t go on tour groups. When you really learn to travel you won’t have to.”
I still don’t go on tour groups.
We love to keep things locked up in our minds where only we can see it. You have this great idea, and you let it sit there and marinate. You think about it quite frequently and you know in your heart of hearts that it is a good idea. Except that it never leaves your head.
While most in the private sector are used to a one to two page resume, those in the federal workforce have been accustomed to a much longer format than most human resource officials would recommend. Very recently that has changed and resumes will now be limited to two pages. This week we’ll dive into how to be a distiller of information in order to maximize the impact of your resume.