Five Interview Responses to Avoid

By Michelle Joseph

Interviews are a great way to showcase your personality to a potential employer. Drive and ambition are good qualities, but they need to be communicated in the right way. Over-coached or uneasy responses can make or break an interview.

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U.S. Close to Recovering Jobs Lost in Financial Crisis

According to CNNMoney, the U.S. Department of Labor’s May jobs report is expected to show the addition of 200,000 jobs — well above the 113,000 jobs needed to hit the break-even point.

It’s taken more than four years to return to the pre-recession peak, but many of the jobs that have returned are not in the same regions or industries in which they were lost. Read More

Five Tips to Spring-Clean
Your Resume

By Suzana Simic

For the last three years, I have worked closely with current students, graduates, and alumni to insure career placement assistance through workshops and individual coaching sessions. Follow these five tips below to refine your resume and target in-demand jobs.

1. Research in-demand jobs and add the skills those “hot” jobs are looking for to your resume.
Note your areas of expertise and calculate your areas of growth. Once you’ve established the skills you already have that align with those “hot” jobs, you should add those skills to your resume. If you spot a trend in the job postings, use that as your jumping off point to brush up on work-related courses and/or enroll in new programs. Read More

Do Moms Make Better Business Leaders?

By Neela Seenandan

‘Mom’ Skills You Can Apply in the Professional World
Patience, Flexibility, Authority: They All Translate Into Executive Roles

As parents, there are all kinds of good, solid skills and characteristics we gradually acquire over the years to effectively raise our children. But can these same parenting traits make us better executives in the professional world? Most definitely.

In fact, through experiences at home and in the workplace, moms can learn how to successfully bridge the two worlds with both compassion and confidence.

The reality of life today is that we are a busy society. Mom skills aren’t only useful for taking care of the household and the family, they are actually quite transferable to a wide range of career situations. Read More

Could Your Career Use Some Spring Cleaning? Six Ways to Do It

by Vicky Oliver

Spring is the time of year when we think about renewal and fresh possibilities. It’s also the perfect moment to pause and consider your career. How’s it going? What changes would you like to see? How can you make your work life and your future prospects more appealing?

Your career, like your closets and drawers, could probably use some spring cleaning. Here are six ways to do it.

1. Update your look and brand.

Changing up your personal brand is an easy way to jump start more profound change. Did you ever notice how a new outfit or hair style can energize you? Creating a new image can do the same thing. Start by looking in the mirror and asking, “What kind of message do I want to project?” Maybe you need to dress up your trademark grays and blacks with a surprising splash of color, or your casual look with a tucked-in shirt and jacket. Perhaps you need some high-style glasses, instead of those old horn-rimmed specs you’ve been sporting since college. How you look tells people a lot about your confidence, style, and attitude. But don’t make any heavy duty alterations or you may confuse folks. Add only one or two new items at a time. Don’t revamp your whole look or you may shock those who know and love you best. Read More

Ctrl + Alt + Del: Restart Your Career

by Linda Mercurio

As a professional development coach, I’m privileged to work with attorneys who are re-entering the paid professional world after an absence and those that are looking to transition or re-invent their careers. For many of us, the re-entering and re-inventing process can be overwhelming. We feel isolated and stuck and oftentimes have an inability to connect back to our professional selves. But we need not go through this alone, resources and support are available.

I have been honored to witness individuals undergo monumental professional transformations. I remember one woman in particular. She said to me emphatically “I can’t do this.” She had tears in her eyes as she explained to me, “I didn’t go to a good law school. I’m not going to be able to do this.” From this statement alone, you can see where her mindset was at the time – self-defeating. It was going to take a lot of work for her to build her self-esteem again. She needed to re-envision her career and gain practical skills in order to turn things around. And she did it! She is now working at a mid-size firm, and she has even taken on a bar leadership role. She is doing amazingly well. Just think – she’s a talent that the legal profession would have lost had she not participated in a program that gave her resources and support.

The Online Lawyer Re-entry Program at American University Washington College of Law is a unique online program that puts structure into the re-entry process. It allows individuals an opportunity to create momentum for themselves, in addition to providing training and guidance. One of the many special things about the program is that it creates a space for individuals to get to know themselves again with confidence – as professionals and attorneys. Read More