Plan Your Career by Julie Desmond

Julie Desmond is Talent Manager for Express Employment Professionals. Write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Create anchors to stay steady through a storm

Wednesday, 04 January 2012 13:55 Julie Desmond

The only constant is change. In the past year, Minneapolis saw tornadoes change our neighborhoods, America saw unemployment numbers change in the wrong direction and the world saw governments topple under protests. If you know anyone who has not seen significant change in the past twelve months, I’d like to meet them. The rest of us can anticipate more of the same in 2012: more change.

Ready for it or not, positive or negative, change can be stressful. Learning to tap your inner anchors will help you stay strong through the storm and come out for the better at the end of it.

This year, resolve to deliver

Friday, 30 December 2011 14:24 Julie Desmond

2012. It’s here. Malleable, uncluttered and amenable to our whims and wishes, 2012 was delivered to each of us at precisely that point in time when we expected it to arrive. What if every transaction was so flawless?

I challenge you, and myself, to make this the year we deliver. Whether the transformation is freaky fast or slow good, dedicating a year to improving your delivery can change your career and your outlook long after 2012 is taken away from us.

Not having money interferes with making money

Friday, 09 December 2011 15:32 Julie Desmond

Reader Joe G. asks, “Is it really legal to not hire someone because of bad credit? I just heard I am not getting jobs because of my credit history.”

The short answer, Joe, is yes, it is legal to decline to hire someone because of their credit situation. That said, employers who do make hiring decisions based on credit information are required by law to follow procedures so a candidate is aware of how the decision was made, and to ensure that the information obtained is not used for any purpose other than for hiring and promotion decisions.

SOS: Under a deadline, under pressure

Thursday, 01 December 2011 12:55 Julie Desmond

Writing under a deadline brings out the defiance in me. I do it all the time and despite my best efforts, I sometimes fall behind. The words that ring in my ears are: are you surprised to have arrived here? No, I knew it was coming. Yet, all the other deadlines came, too. There is a better way to work. What I am about to tell you works for me. I should use it more often.

Apply what you know: Job search strategies for salespeople

Wednesday, 23 November 2011 11:43 Julie Desmond

There’s an old saying, “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Fast forward to today, and that translates to Bill Gates’ family not owning a computer, or Peyton Manning not owning a football. Sometimes during a job search, people are so focused on their profession that they lose sight of their skills. Sales people seem consistently guilty of forgetting how to do what they do best.

Sales people learn early to identify leads, make contact with decision makers and then convince them that this product exceeds all others in meeting the buyer’s need. And yet, sales people change positions frequently and often have a terrible time finding new work when they need it. What more is a job search than a sales project?

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