Most colleges offer career counseling, and as a post-graduation adult, you can also find private coaches who will help you in the jobs department. I remember going into the student career counseling office in college, though – and it was a complete bust. I walked in and we just kind of stared at one another for an hour! The coach asked me some questions and gave me some suggestions, but because I wasn’t really focused at that point, it wasn’t very beneficial.

If you actually want a career coach to help you find a job, you need to be prepared. This is especially true if you’re paying to see a counselor; make sure you make the most of your money! Here are a few tips to help you:

• Go to the meeting with some clear goals in mind.

What matters most to you right now? Are you focused on finding a new job? Are you interested in learning about career education options? Do you want to learn to like your current job more? Are you confused about the field you should be pursuing in the first place? When you have clear goals for your time with the career counselor, you can help guide the meeting a little so you answer some of the burning questions you’ve been having. If you already know that you want to become a truck driver, for example, it isn’t going to help if you take a bunch of “What’s the best career for me?” tests!

• Bring a copy of your resume.

No matter how weak it may be, bring a copy of your resume along to the meeting with your career coach. He or she can review it to find out some of your strengths and weaknesses, and it also helps a new coach learn a little more about your past work history. This is also a great time to get some resume tips so you can strengthen this document. Most career coaches give great resume advice.

• Research career counseling options well.

Student centers are one thing, but if you’re not a student any longer and are actually going to pay for career counseling, make sure you research a bunch of counselor options. Every coach has his/her own specialties, and working with someone who is strong in certain areas can help you reach your specific goals. Remember, virtual options are also a choice (and often less expensive), so you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to get great career advice specific to your situation.

Are you the go-to-work-and-get-your-job-done type? If you’re inclined to keep your head down until lunch, then eat at your desk and return to your duties, I’m advising a reform in your habits. These days you simply cannot afford to "stick to your knitting" as they used to say, lest someone decides that knitting is no longer needed.

One common piece of advice urges you to become indispensable by doing a lot of things. Other advice tells you to become an expert in a key area. To both approaches I say "bah, humbug." Only in our dreams do the hardest workers get rewarded by getting to keep their jobs. In real life it’s much more arbitrary than that, and bosses make decisions using an abacus none of the rest of us ever see.

Even so, I don’t think the advice is bad; just naïve. I’d like to suggest that the reason for learning to do a lot of things, or for becoming a subject matter expert is to boost your own career, whether that be in this company or elsewhere. In other words, do it for yourself, not for your job. Because you don’t have control over what happens in a specific workplace, while you do have control over the skills and knowledge you build.

Which brings us back to your daily work habits. Anyone who spends their workday burrowing into their task list is likely missing an opportunity to:

1. Strengthen relationships (important for later networking)

2. Develop their own expertise (important for raising one’s professional profile) or

3. Broaden skills across disciplines (essential for career-changers after a layoff).

In other words, by trying to get all of your work done each day, at the expense of larger career management, you are opening yourself to more difficulties should you get laid off. And let’s face it: Have you ever finished everything on the to-do list by day’s end? No? Then allow yourself to delay one more item while setting aside 15 or 20 minutes each day for these other issues. So, for example, if you’re in a marketing job now, deepen your expertise by learning social media, but also broaden your knowledge by sitting with the accounting team to learn how the funds are tracked for your department. Eventually your broader and deeper knowledge will be helpful to your employer, but the main thing is that it will help you.

Whether it’s because of the economy or just because you are looking for new challenges, reentering the work force after several months or years at home with your children can present a lot of challenges.

How do you appeal to employers who want candidates with up-to-date skills and fresh experience? Can you compete with other candidates who just graduated from college and have all the latest research at their fingertips?

Believe it or not, the answer is Yes! Even after 10 years out of the workforce, you can jump back in as long as you know how to package yourself and your experiences. Here are some things to consider:

1. Networking is key. How often do we talk about networking on this blog? Constantly, right?! And we’re always saying how important it is and that something like 60 percent or more of the jobs out there aren’t even advertised. Well, as important as word of mouth is to the average job seeker, it’s even more important to stay-at-home parents looking to reenter the work force. These job networking connections may well make the difference for you between a first response of “too old, out of the loop” and a reaction of “you know what? let’s take a second look”. Dust off your rolodex and start calling people. Contact old employers and colleagues, but also take a look at the carpool pickup lane – who do you know now that might be of assistance to you as you build your future?

2. Volunteer Your Time

Another great way to expand your work-free resume and develop more networking contacts (see #1) is to volunteer your time at a local or national non-profit organization. When you work for a nonprofit, you will be able to strengthen your leadership, organization, administrative, fundraising, management and other types of work-related skills within a professional environment.

3. Make a Functional Resume

Consider seven things you have accomplished in your adult life. Write a short paragraph about what you did in each scenario. Then translate each of these paragraph into a list of action verbs. From among those lists, you will sense a number of themes – leadership, organization, personnel management, interpersonal communication, etc. A functional resume uses those themes as the organizing principles. After your name and contact information, make a list of each of those qualities, with one line of description about how you define that quality. Under each quality, make a bulleted list of experiences through which you developed those skills.

For more information on how to develop your functional resume, read the quintessential career guide, What Color Is Your Parachute.

4. Consider Working From Home

Whether as a way to build up your resume for your “real job” or as the real job itself, working from home as a freelancer is a great way to transition back into the work force. If you have writing skills, you can work as a freelance writer or blogger. If you are crafty, you can sell your works on etsy. If you are a bargain shopper, you can leverage your good deals by reselling on eBay. If you have great typing skills, you can work in transcriptions or medical records. Find out more about work from home jobs here.

Have you made the transition from being a stay-at-home parent to working a full time job? What tips and advice do you have to share? Post in the comments section!

If you are getting ready for the start of your senior year of college, this is an exciting and empowering time.

You have just one year left of college, and while the “real world” is right around the corner, you can still enjoy the cushy protection of your academic home for two more semesters. In the meantime, however, there is no small amount of work to be done to prepare yourself for graduation — and I’m not even talking about your senior thesis. I’m referring to making final decisions about graduate school or career choices.

We all hope that by next May the economy will be in a full recovery, but today those odds are looking rather long. If you wan to be sure you’re ready for life after graduation, check out these three back to school tips for college seniors:

It’s never to early to network.

Whether you are going for your dream job in engineering, or you haven’t gotten the faintest idea what you want to be when you grow up, networking is a great way to figure it out! Start by making a list of everyone you know who might be able to be helpful in your career exploration — from professors and past colleagues to job supervisors and even friends of the family! Draft an email to send to each one of these people, asking for face-to-face meeting or ‘virual’ help in figuring out your next steps. Before you know it, you may have networked your way into a job!

Review your resume.

Writing a resume can be a daunting task — especially since the job is never really done. A good resume is formatted well, written in active voice, focused on measurable success stories, and free of errors. A great resume is all those things, plus constantly tweaked each time it’s submitted speak so that it speaks to the specific needs of the job. If the thought of writing your resume freaks you out, come check out our advice on the JobMonkey, and seek out the competent, professional advice of your on-campus Career Planning Center. You might even find workshops or individual counseling sessions to help you perfect your resume.

Jump in with both feet.

I know that your senior year is a busy — and fun — time of your life, but here’s one more thing to put on your to do list: Finding an internship or volunteer placement that rounds out your academic know-how. If you really want to get a leg up on your competition, interning is a great way to build skills, make connections and discover what truly makes you tick.

How are you planning to make the most of your senior year?

If you are looking for a job, you may be looking forward to the week between Christmas and New Year. Perhaps you think this national “downtime” will mean a week-off from the depressing grind of looking for a job. Sorry to burst your bubble, but a good job hunter knows that there is no such thing as a vacation from your job search.

No, not even during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Here are five reasons you should keep looking:

1. Companies have already determined their hiring plan for the first quarter of 2010 — and they have allocated the funds for their new employee’s salary. That means they are interviewing and making job offers now. Don’t miss that boat!
2. Your competition is taking the week off, which means it’s easier for your cream to rise to the top of the resume pile. (Ack, mixed metaphor, sorry!) If you apply to a company that is looking to hire quickly, you will get noticed faster.
3. You might have better luck reaching company execs during the week. While many administrative assistants take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s, execs often stay a the office to finish up year-end reports.
4. January is typically the busiest recruiting month of the year. If you want to get a leg-up on your competition, get your resumes into the career head hunters before the New Year.
5. Pounding the pavement — even during the holiday season — proves to potential employers that you aren’t afraid to take initiative. By sending out resumes, making follow-up calls and engaging in networking meetings, you are showing that you are supremely dedicated. That’s a quality that every boss appreciates!

If you need some tips on how to maximize your job search this time of year, check out these 5 Tips for Job Hunting During the Holiday Season.

Happy Holidays!

Life-long learning is the key to a satisfying career (and probably to a satisfying life, but that might extend beyond the realm of my expertise!) Technology, business practices and even cultural norms are constantly changing and adapting.

In order to stay current — or, better yet, ahead of the curve — you need to be able to understand and respond to those changes.

Even if you have a PhD, your knowledge of current practices quickly becomes outdated unless you engage in career development and enrichment. Some careers even require you to undergo a certain number of hours of continuing education each year. Educators, nurses and other medical professionals, for example, are required to stay abreast of new techniques and research findings. But even if your employer does not mandate career training, staying up-to-date on industry trends and developments is the best way to make yourself marketable — regardless of the economy.

Many career development classes are now being offered online, which is an increasingly popular option for busy professionals. With distance learning, you have the flexibility to fit your class work into your schedule — rather than the other way around. To learn more about online career development, be sure to visit JobMonkey’s newest section on career training.

Is your career stagnating? If you have a job crisis, some online career training may be just what the doctor ordered.

Online classes let you get the training your career demands at a pace you can handle. JobMonkey’s newest section on Career Training is the perfect place to start your quest. It offers dozens of different ideas for courses that you can take to advance your career.

From professional development courses to classes in foreign languages, writing, computers skills to instruction on how to start your own small business, the JobMonkey covers where, what and how to find online classes that will help you to advance yourself personally and professionally. Check it out and let us know what you think.

You might also enjoy this recent piece from the American Machinist, which profiles how blue-collar workers at a manufacturing plant are using online learning to advance their careers.