Below is the presentation Ed mentioned that you can follow along with his lecture. Just use the scroll bar to the right of the image to move to the next slide.

This is the post on Ed’s blog about transitions that he mentions in the recording.

You may read the book review I did of Dr. Colozzi’s book previously on this blog.

Dr. Colozzi’s website is CreatingCareersWithConfidence.com and you can find him on Twitter as @EdwardColozzi.

The Get Hired Bootcamp team is providing a free webinar on “Keys To A Successful Job Search” (affiliate link) this week and I’m helping to spread the word. This bootcamp will be helpful for people who are currently job hunting and want to speed up their search to get an offer quicker.

Looking for work is a skill. There are things you can learn to increase your chances.

• Skills to make it easier to target a good job.
• Skills to handle the interview.
• Skills to network to find the hidden jobs.
• Skills to position yourself as the top candidate.
• Skills to negotiate your salary.

I just listened in on one of the free webinars myself and there are several things I like about this bootcamp format.

1. The Get Hired Bootcamp sessions are all presented via webinar with each session recorded and transcripts provided too.
2. They have developed a nice curriculum plan to hit the essentials within 3 weeks time with access to the VIP area for 3 months after registering.
3. Many of the experts that will be presenting are human resource professionals and recruiters so they can share how they work when filling an open position.
4. There will be Q&A time after each call so you can have the experts address your specific situation.
5. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee which you will see near the bottom of the page and hear more about during the free webinar.

The art of conversation is first and foremost about listening and enjoying conversation with no other objective in mind but for its own sake.

Much success in conversation comes from properly sensing who is open to conversation at the same time you are then discovering what they like talking about and going that way until they ask about you. If you notice others listening in or standing politely on the fringes wanting to be included then pull them in too, just like a master networker!

Picking up on cues that focus is leaning elsewhere is important in order to gracefully end the conversation to be free to move on and talk to others as well.

Job search is a vulnerable time. Fears and worries can fill the mind and bring energy and confidence levels down big-time. It is a critical time to control your focus! Here are a few things to remember to keep it all in perspective.

• Know that you are worthy of acceptance and belonging just as you are.
• Embrace the vulnerability. Job search is a part of life for most people. Face it with the courage to be yourself.
• Develop empathy which is essential in order to be liked by others…and being liked is essential to being hired.
• Catch yourself if you begin catastrophizing then proceed with a knowing that all will work out.

What is a workaround, you say? It’s a temporary fix that gets you moving again when things get stuck or broken.

In this book, Russell Bishop outlines strategies for “How to Conquer Anything That Stand in Your Way at Work.” These types of strategies are especially applicable when work situations make you feel frustrated and ineffective. In today’s work environment that is a common feeling with few solutions offered and it’s a big contributor to work stress. That is why I wanted to review “Workarounds That Work” for some fresh ideas.

Russell begins by pointing out that workarounds have varying levels of risk that are important to consider before choosing a strategy. Then, the first question to yourself should be, “What can I do to make a difference that requires no one’s permission other than my own?” Even before that you must free your mind from the blame game to get mentally prepared to focus on and create a viable solution. Russell writes,

Assume the positive. Just about all workarounds start with you and your internal attitude, intention, and determination. If you bump into something in your organization that seems like a roadblock, it may be useful to consider that what now appears to be a hindrance might have originated as something helpful (page 10).

In the beginning of the book, Russell is quick to emphasize that all workarounds begin with you and he goes on to describe three circles of your environment: control, influence, and respond. Next, he outlines the three basic elements of creating workarounds: intention, accountability, and response-ability.

In the chapter about communication, a neat distinction is made about listening vs waiting to speak vs malicious listening. The workarounds that Russell suggests are questions you can ask to move a stagnated discussion on to something useful.

Russell shares excellent strategies for workarounds in decision making, moving beyond consensus leadership, making the most of meetings (including dealing with disengaged attendees), and e-mail management that are spot on!

The last two chapters of the book were the highlight for me. In “Overcoming Criticism, Complaints, and Resistance,” Russell introduces the “minus 6″ mentality and how to turn that around. He reframed complaining by explaining three types of complainers and how to get at useful information they may provide. There were some very clever descriptions in this chapter too such as describing complainers as skilled at “one-downmanship” and that playing with gravity is what happens at the Olympics. Love it!

In the final chapter “Multitasking Our Way to Oblivion,” Russell contrasted multi-taskers with serial taskers and explained that many of us are distracted taskers and half-taskers. He pointed out that a more viable way to go is to “become a uni-tasker and supreme multi-goaler!”

I enjoyed this book and found it to be a very good professional development read with outstanding, outside-the-box, practical strategies to consider.

The book is available at Amazon.com. You can learn more at the website for the book where you can also download a free chapter — WorkaroundsThatWork.com.

Also, check out Russell’s Top Three Tips audio on e-CareerCoach.com.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of “Work Arounds That Work” by Russell Bishop. I received no other compensation for this review.

Lori Bumgarner of paNASHstyle.com possesses a combined fifteen years experience in career coaching and image consulting/media coaching. She specializes in the areas of image consulting and interview/media coaching to assist a variety of clients including emerging and established recording artists, music industry professionals, job seekers, and anyone looking to improve their image!

Lori Bumgarner of paNASHstyle.com possesses a combined fifteen years experience in career coaching and image consulting/media coaching. She specializes in the areas of image consulting and interview/media coaching to assist a variety of clients including emerging and established recording artists, music industry professionals, job seekers, and anyone looking to improve their image!

Check out her ebook Advance Your Image. I reviewed it on CareerTipsBlog.com if you want to take a look at that.

In this interview, Lori answers these questions.

• What difference can you make be being purposeful about your image?
• How best to get started with creating or managing your image?
• What is most important to remember managing your image?

Cool movie by Dr. Jim Bright at The Factory Podcast on chaos and careers.

I received a complimentary copy of “Advance Your Image” by Lori Bumgarner for review and wanted to share it with you because it is a good find and a timely topic. I received no other compensation for this review.

It is clear in this ebook that Lori is divinely inspired and on a mission to propel people forward with poise and self-confidence and to bring the beauty within each person out in the best possible light.

As a career adviser to college students turned image consultant to musicians, Lori has an excellent take on the big picture for how personal image plays into career development planning. She points out the nuances of why and how to strategically manage your image for the desired result of connecting with the audience be it a potential employer or your network of supporters. She champions work you can do to improve your image as a fast-track to improved self-confidence which then leads to making better first impressions and being received better by others…a win-win!

Lori also weaves together your in-person appearance with your job search marketing materials and online presence in a practical and easy to understand way. She also outlined a helpful rule that I had never heard of before called the Rule of 12 within her powerful strategies for making a good first impression.

Learn more about Lori on her website, paNASHstyle.com and find the ebook here or for your Kindle on Amazon.com.

Volunteering provides many benefits to the volunteer in addition to the organization and individuals receiving the help. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Just an hour a week or a Saturday every three months can do wonders for example. Here are some benefits to the volunteer.

• You improve your problem solving skills.
• You can increase your personal network.
• You help strengthen your community and set an example.
• You can use volunteer time to increase your skill level.
• Volunteering can help you heal and/or stay healthy.
• You get really good at noticing the bright side of things.
• You gain a sense of achievement that increases your own self-confidence.

Nothing puts your self-esteem on the line faster than a job search. You face rejection and self-doubt daily. It takes a good deal of internal motivation to keep moving at all, much less to keep the correct frame of mind needed to win interviews.

A single day of beggar mentality (“Please, somebody give me a job.”) is a whole day wasted. One interview done with self-doubt could mean losing the opportunity of a lifetime. Hiring-decision-makers hire positive, cheerful, high-self-esteem people who are confident (but not arrogant) about their value.

Your motivation must be jealously guarded, protected, renewed, and nourished when you are job hunting. Take some steps to eliminate self-doubt:

• Take special care to ensure your proper motivation.

• Periodically ground yourself with your value by reading your resume and remembering your successes.

• Schedule a weekly contact with culture—a play, an inspirational movie, a work of art—as a reminder that whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

• Avoid negative newspaper stories, TV news, sitcoms, and negative people. People tend to come away with a general depiction of life as boring, tragic, and inane. This is something you cannot afford while job hunting. Do keep up-to-date on important news, particularly developments in business that may alert you to opportunities and help you present yourself as an informed candidate while networking.

• Use motivational tapes and books as well as nurturing times with spouse and friends.

• Attend networking groups, but only the ones that create a positive mental attitude. If you feel burdened, flat, etc. after a network meeting then you’ve just attended a “Pity Party.”