Stand Out in a Crowd Hiring managers see thousands upon thousands of resumes every year. That's why job seekers have to stand out in a crowd if they harboring any hope they'll be hired.When you're writing a resume, what you don't know can hurt you. John Kalusa is a nationally recognized writer who speaks about corporate sales, recruiting, and personal career management. With over 25 years of experience as a strategic recruiting, human resources, and sales and marketing management leader in start-ups and Fortune 250 companies, he's well qualified to comment on what the hiring manager w... view article details

With the start of the New Year, employers will be finalizing their salary budgets for 2009. Many survey vendors collected, compiled and analyzed data regarding merit increases for 2009 and reported that merit budgets for 2009 were on track to remain consistent with previous years' averaging at around the 3.5% mark. As more economic turmoil surfaced toward year end, some organizations took a new look at merit budget plans for 2009 as we discussed in the article Pay Increases in 2009 May Disappoint Workers in our December 30th newsletter. Most employers are being cautious, pre... view article details

Switching fields may seem taboo, but it's quite doable, especially now when labor markets are tight. Almost half of the 164 employers who responded to our MONEY/Salary.com survey say they regularly target mid-career changers when recruiting. One reason: Switchers are dedicated to their move, with 32 percent saying they'll spend 'as long as it takes' to get the necessary certification and schooling.What are they looking for? Pay and advancement, sure, but also fulfillment and a sense that they can control their career paths.Steve Mullins, 44, already has a good job: He's a telecommunications en... view article details

How to Counter A Job Offer To Get A Higher Pay In the world of salary negotiation, there’s an important word that comes up quite often: Leverage. By definition, it means using a situation or advantage to obtain a desired result, in our case, negotiating a higher salary. When you’re looking to gain leverage, it often comes as a result of having other options. Someone who already has a steady income in a job has more options than someone who has been out of work for 6 months with bills piling up If you have in-demand skills, such as a mobile software development, you’re going to have mor... view article details

Movie Critic Salaries | Movie Critic Jobs | More Dream Jobs Everyone's a Critic "I wouldn't be able to afford my habit," said film critic Dan Kimmel. He sees more than 300 films a year. The flicks are free, and come with all-you-can-eat popcorn and occasional interviews with top-end celebrities. Plus, he gets paid for writing about what he's seen. "Why should someone pay for my opinion? Because I can write in an eloquent manner; it's a coherent essay," Kimmel said. "I couldn't believe anyone would actually pay me to go to the movies," The Metro's resident "Movie Guy" John Black said. He al... view article details

Finding a great job can be a challenge. But once you land that dream job, you need to realize the real challenge is still looming in the distance. You Only Get One Chance to Make a Good First Impression Finding a great job can be a challenge. But once you land that dream job, you need to realize the real challenge is still looming in the distance. Sure, take a moment to pat yourself on the back and celebrate getting hired. Good for you! But if you want to lay the groundwork for short- and long-term job success, you can’t relax and become complacent. It’s possible to get your future co-workers ... view article details

More than 70 percent of America’s workers are still living paycheck to paycheck according to a recent American Payroll Association poll. And current tough economic times have everyone wondering what they can do to stretch their paycheck a bit further. We’ve compiled a list of what we feel are ten of the best ideas to help stretch your paycheck. With a little extra effort, you can yield some big savings.1. Stop buying bottled water Americans spend a staggering amount on bottled water - $15 billion last year. Name brands in small bottles can cost more than $10 per gallon while tap wate... view article details

You Can Be Introverted & Excel at Public Speaking Recently, after I gave a presentation, a few audience members came up to me and insisted that I couldn’t possibly be an introvert (could, too!). Why? They said I was “on fire”—fully engaged with my audience. I was giving a workshop on public speaking, and had a ball helping make such a universally feared activity accessible, and even fun.Like many introverts, even though I need my quiet time to get fueled before and after a presentation, I enjoy being in front of the room, engaging with audiences. How can you do that? The trick is to t... view article details

Office Holiday Parties Can be Minefields With its booze, year-long pent-up emotions towards co-workers, the specter of organizational politics, various inter-office rivalries and the 'secret' cubicle farm romance everyone knows about, the annual company holiday party has all the explosive potential of an open fire in a dynamite factory.That hasn’t slowed the party train yet. New data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement consulting organization, indicates more companies are holding holiday celebrations this year. Despite economic uncertainty, 72.4% are planning to p... view article details

Don't Fall Into the Trap Sometimes we get very specific about problems and pitfalls on this site. Resume mistakes, potential errors on cover letters, individual ways you can network more effectively.But sometimes it’s good to step back and look at the bigger picture.Many people say they’re unhappy at work, but fewer really take a deep and introspective look to figure out why. Look past your annoying boss and other issues on the surface, and figure out what you’re doing that might be negatively impacting you. That’s what we did, and we came up with a list of traps most people are falli... view article details