Blog Feed: Career Advice - Ask a Wharton MBA

I went to the dentist (Dr Sood) today and it was a great experience. You may ask “what does this has to do with interpersonal communication skills or my career?” Well, you will see after I tell this story. As you may remember, I wrote about interpersonal skills examples last July after my last visit [...] > read more

Giving Notice at Work – 5 Tips

Published on 2012-03-05 11:41:06

At first glance, you may say “what’s the big deal? Isn’t giving notice at work as simple as telling your boss you quit?” Well, while it does accomplish the task, I recommend a lot more finesse when you give notice at work. It is in your interest to quit your job gracefully and not burn [...] > read more

How to Sell Your Skills Into a New Industry or Role

Published on 2012-02-27 12:57:46

In any job search, it is your job to sell your skills and convince prospective employers that you are the best fit for a job opening. Being able to sell you skills in any job search situation is important. It is even more critical to master this skills if you are trying to do [...] > read more

Multimedia Resumes – 4 Options that Work

Published on 2012-02-20 10:50:04

If you are a qualified candidate and are regularly overlooked, it may be for the simplest reason. You didn’t plug the right combo of buzzwords into you resume as many companies use software to screen resume before even a recruiter reads them. While companies and the recruiting industry are realizing the pitfall of this process, you [...] > read more

How to Get Promoted – 6 Tips

Published on 2012-02-13 15:17:13

Job promotion is one key way to demonstrate continuing career success. How to get promoted therefore should be a question you ask at every new company you join. Why? Because the key steps needed to getting promoted may not be the same at each company depending on the culture, leadership team, and how they evaluate [...] > read more

How to Maximize Your Job Search Chances After College

Published on 2012-01-25 13:33:21

As the job market remains tough, college graduates continue to face an uphill battle in finding a good job. This podcast is a 15 minute coaching call between a recent college graduate and I. The topic is how to maximize your chances in finding a good job after college. To read more tips, also refer [...] > read more

Toughest Job in the World

Published on 2012-01-11 12:31:05

What do you think is the toughest job in the world? I am sure there are many including the one in this picture. All joking aside, for me, I can think of the toughest job that is often overlooked. Here are some clues as to what this job is. Can you guess? You don’t discover [...] > read more

Time to Relax and Celebrate

Published on 2011-12-21 11:03:40

It’s the season to be thankful. Whatever kind of year you may have had, it’s time to take a breather. I hope you are finding time to relax and celebrate the year with family and friends. Job seekers: Xmas is usually the slowest season for recruiting as many hiring managers are taking vacations and budget [...] > read more

How to Say No at Work

Published on 2011-12-15 11:51:51

It may be hard to think about saying no at work, but sometimes it’s necessary to do so to protect your reputation as well as manage your stress level. This 20 minutes podcast is a live coaching discussion with me regarding why, when, and how to say no at work. There are definitely legitimate reasons and [...] > read more

How to Find Your Passion – Answer 3 Questions

Published on 2011-12-07 13:19:41

How to find your passion is a great question to ask throughout your career. If you are anything like me and about 90% of the work force, then finding your passion is not an easy journey. When I was a senior in college, I asked myself this question and couldn’t come up with an answer. [...] > read more

Can Facebook Help Your Job Search?

Published on 2011-11-30 15:50:05

Can Facebook and other social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter help your job search? Absolutely! See the Infographic below on how Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are helping people’s job search efforts today. Key statistics from the infographics include 1 in 6 workers use social media to get hired 9 in 10 job seekers has [...] > read more

Resilience Definition – 3 Tips

Published on 2011-11-23 14:30:44

Resilience is a critical soft skill essential to career success and work happiness. Professor Rao defines resilience as the “ability to recover fast from adversity.” I agree. We may not talk about resilience often in the context of career success as we typically expect work /life to treat us fairly. My recent experience reminded [...] > read more

Happiness at Work – 10 Tips from Professor Rao

Published on 2011-11-14 13:34:55

A friend shared a great book with me by Professor Rao – Happiness at Work. I completely agree with the 10 tips Prof. Rao proposes in his book on how to achieve happiness at work. Let’s face it – there is no perfect job out there. So the key to happiness at work is NOT [...] > read more

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

Published on 2011-06-30 15:20:13

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – What’s the difference and is one more important than the other to your career success? In my recent articles – What are Soft Skills and List of 28 Soft Skills, I offered detailed definitions of soft s > read more

When and How to Use a Headhunter

Published on 2011-06-24 14:06:36

This is a common question and a good one to ask early in your career. Before we can talk about when and how to use a headhunter, it is important to understand what are headhunters and the different types that exist What are headhunters? Headhunters > read more

How to Deal with HR – Friend or Foe?

Published on 2011-06-16 14:10:18

HR is an interesting function of a company. To most employees, HR is just a support function – not friend or foe. How to deal with HR in most cases is simple – submit a request and get their help. We may even have very good feelin > read more

Five Qualities of A Good Mentor

Published on 2011-06-09 15:01:30

We all need mentors to help guide us in career and life. Not all mentors are created equal. A good mentor for you should have five qualities: someone you respect in the area you want mentorship on – this requires you to know in what area yo > read more

List of 28 Soft Skills – business professionals

Published on 2011-06-02 13:54:35

I saw a list of 60 soft skills that was ranked #1 organically by Google (search = list of soft skills.) The article was pretty good, but the actual list of 60 soft skills is quite confusing. Here is what I mean. The list included: Ridiculous > read more

List of 28 Soft Skills – business professionals

Published on 2011-06-02 13:54:35

Managing Interns: Tips and Advice

Published on 2011-05-26 16:06:07

I saw a set of questions on Focus.com about how to manage and mentor marketing interns. As I used to manage and mentor lots of consultants including interns when I worked for Deloitte, I wanted to share my 2 cents. The questions didn’t spe > read more

Managing Interns: Tips and Advice

Published on 2011-05-26 16:06:07

How to Improve Your Soft Skills?

Published on 2011-05-19 15:26:22

“What are some ways to improve soft skills?” I found this question on Quora. I decided to answer it given my recent post – What are Soft Skills – Building Blocks for Career Success and share it with you. This is a tough q > read more

How to Improve Your Soft Skills?

Published on 2011-05-19 15:26:22

What are Soft Skills?

Published on 2011-05-12 16:59:53

Wikipedia defines soft skills as “a sociological term relating to a person’s “EQ” (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and > read more

What are Soft Skills?

Published on 2011-05-12 16:59:53

What are Soft Skills?

Published on 2011-05-12 16:59:53

Career Success Tips: Forgive and Forget

Published on 2011-05-05 14:37:54

I had a real scare yesterday. My 3 year old daughter, Isabel, lost her balance and fell from 8-feet-high rope ladder head first. I was a few steps away, screamed, but couldn’t reach her in time. She hit the dirt on the side of her head an > read more

Career Success Tips: Forgive and Forget

Published on 2011-05-05 14:37:54

Should I leverage office politics to further my career?

Published on 2011-04-28 13:24:36

I saw this question on Focus.com and couldn’t help but answer. Early in my career, I have been burnt by office politics but not in the way you think. I didn’t feel burnt because someone else sabotaged my job. On the contrary, I c > read more

Should I leverage office politics to further my career?

Published on 2011-04-28 13:24:36

How to ask someone to be your mentor?

Published on 2011-04-21 12:43:43

All of us need mentors to help us grow and learn. How to ask someone to be your mentor can be daunting. Half of the battle is actually making sure you don’t chicken out and decide not to do it because of xyz. People are usually flattered if the > read more

How do you ask someone to be your mentor?

Published on 2011-04-21 12:43:43

This is a great question that I found on Quora.com that I want to share here. All of us need mentors to help us grow and learn. How to ask someone to be your mentor can be daunting. Half of the battle is actually making sure you don’t chic > read more

Mentoring Model – Mutual Mentorship or Paying it Forward?

Published on 2011-04-21 11:47:49

Yesterday, one of my friend sent me this article written by Steve Blank about Mentors, Teachers, and Coaches. I wanted to shared it with you to get your perspective. Steve makes great distinctions about the difference between mentors vs. teac > read more

Mentoring Model – Mutual Mentorship or Paying it Forward?

Published on 2011-04-21 11:47:49

Should Anyone Work for Free?

Published on 2011-04-14 09:30:29

I joined Quora recently in order to see if I can help more people with Career Advice question. I came across this question – Should anyone work for free for good exposure and at what stage do you stop doing free, but awesome work? 1. Should > read more

Who do you model yourself after?

Published on 2011-04-07 17:50:10

I just answered this question on Linkedin and thought I share. I model myself after many people. This is because even the best role models will disappoint in one area or another and in fact I think it’s expecting too much when you model on > read more

Who do you model yourself after?

Published on 2011-04-07 17:50:10

Who do you model yourself after?

Published on 2011-04-07 17:50:10

How to Answer – What is Your Salary Requirement?

Published on 2011-03-31 19:13:40

I saw this question on Linkedin and thought I answer it there and share it here as well. This is always an awkward question to answer. I recommend the following strategy in answering this question. Try your best to not provide any numbers ̵ > read more

Self Promotion Ideas – How to Do it Well?

Published on 2011-03-24 19:48:12

In a previous post I wrote "Hard Work Does Not Guarantee Success." I still believe it but it begs the question - Then what else do you need to do to guarantee success? One answer that many people would agree with is - self promotion - make sure impo > read more

Career Change – Five Aspects to Consider Before Deciding

Published on 2011-03-24 16:43:56

A career change is a major step and often can involve a step-back in pay, willingness to take a lower position, investment in more schooling, and re-position your skills sets. There are five aspects to consider in deciding to make a career change Why > read more

Best Questions for a Job Seeker to Ask in an Interview

Published on 2011-03-17 18:12:25

An job interview is a two-way street. You are there to demonstrate your qualifications, but you are also there to get more information. So always be prepared to ask some questions in an interview, if time permits. Most interviews are structured > read more

Best Questions for a Job Seeker to Ask in an Interview

Published on 2011-03-17 18:12:25

How to Discuss Career Plans with My Manager?

Published on 2011-03-17 12:43:12

Recently, I was asked to be a career expert on Focus.com. I was quite honored and started browsing their site for questions that I can help answer. Here is one I found that I wanted to share. Question: “How can I discuss my career p > read more

How to Discuss Career Plans with My Manager?

Published on 2011-03-17 12:43:12

Four Key Elements of Life

Published on 2011-03-11 15:21:24

I came across a cool definition of life accidentally while doing some research on the MarketingSherpa for my business. It defines the four key element of life. Before I read what it was, I thought perhaps it’s family, work, friends, and commu > read more

Working from Home Sucks

Published on 2011-03-02 16:27:59

Lots of people love the idea of working from home. With the daily 9-5 routine at a corporate cubicle, the luxury of working from home on your own business definitely represents “greener grass.” Well, before you decide to do it, you m > read more

Eventually you will always find a parking spot

Published on 2011-01-27 13:45:23

I volunteer at a healing center once a week. Since it is located in the shopping part of the city, parking is always hard to find. Sometimes, I am lucky and find one right across from the office right away. Other times, it will be take me 20-30 minut > read more

Career Lessons from Gen Y

Published on 2011-01-10 00:49:33

Gen Y is definitely a generation to be reckoned with. We are told their generation will fundamental change the way the work world operates. I believe it. I came across this article in the New York Times in Dec 2010 called “No Jobs – Y > read more

Inspiration for the New Year

Published on 2011-01-02 23:39:58

Welcome to 2011! I wanted to share with you a piece of paper I have had on my fridge for the last 5 years. It’s an interview by Oprah of Maya Angelou on her 70+ birthday. This interview happened a decade ago but Maya Angelou’s wor > read more

Play to your strength

Published on 2010-12-30 16:34:57

It’s the season to be thankful. As we wrap up 2010, it is important to look back and take stock of all that happened this year. There may have been both ups and downs but what is really important is what I have learned from them. I learned > read more

What Not to Do with Resumes

Published on 2010-12-20 10:18:53

A friend sent me two articles last week that I wanted to share. After reading them, I want to share some advice for what NOT to do with resumes. First article is called “Linkedin – Top 10 resume words to avoid”. According to Linke > read more

The First Step to Achieving Your Dreams

Published on 2010-12-14 18:48:59

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” This is one of my favorite quote from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I believe it 100%. Doesn’t it sound wonderful? > read more

What do you want to be when you “grow up”?

Published on 2010-12-07 21:50:50

If you ask a kid, you will hear enthusiastic answers such as nurse, teacher, fireman, astronaut, doctor etc… What about now, do you still ask yourself this question? If not, why not? We may be “grown ups,” but most of us > read more

Don’t Make this Fatal Mistake in Interviews

Published on 2010-11-23 15:55:40

I had lunch with a Deloitte alumni friend recently. He is now a VP of Retail Sales at a major financial institution. Since he knew I had a passion for career coaching, he told me the following recruiting story. In the last few weeks, he has int > read more

Don’t struggle alone at work

Published on 2010-11-15 18:20:06

If you want to succeed, you need to be able to accomplish everything on your own. Is this true? I don’t think so, but this is a common misconception, especially among recent college graduates. School was all about doing your own work. If > read more

How to Tell Your Boss Bad News?

Published on 2010-11-05 17:51:26

I don't have to tell you that not everything at work is always smooth sailing. Sometime things are delayed, mistakes are made, wrong numbers are published. It may be your fault, it may be a bad circumstance, or a combination of both. What do you > read more

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