Liz Ryan: What Does "Out of the Box Thinking" Really Mean?
Once we climb outside the box, all sorts of possible solutions emerge. We could be tons more innovative than we are, if we'd just acknowledge the fact that traditional American business isn't based on the idea of solving complex problems in clever ways.
Liz Ryan: Your Story Is Your Brand
I nearly shouted. "Everyone says the same things -- savvy, strategic, seasoned, results-oriented, hard-charging, self-motivated, blah blah blah. Adjectives aren't going to do it. You're going to have to tell your story."
Liz Ryan: When Friends Lose Their Mojo
Your friend is suddenly scared of everything, and unsure of his or her value. It can happen after a job loss, or just after another tough quarter that leached away more juice than your friend had in his or her fuel tank.
Liz Ryan: Why Your Job Ads Aren’t Working
It's a new day in the talent marketplace. Employers who treat their job applicants like valued collaborators win in their competitive spaces, and employers who insist on talking down to talent and addressing them like livestock will get the more-docile-than-talented new hires they deserve.
Liz Ryan: The Worst Way to Pick a Job Candidate
Life is too short to waste time with amoeba companies who don't understand human beings, only spreadsheets and policies and hoary job-interview scripts. Those guys don't get you, and they don't deserve you.
Liz Ryan: Memo to Employers: Great People Won’t Grovel
When we can't honestly ask and answer the question "Why should a person with career options desire a job with our organization?" then we have no choice but to keep blaming our recruiters for our own blindness, or deluding ourselves in other ways.
Liz Ryan: How to Un-Blind a Blind Job Ad
You know those things -- they're the job ads that say "A growing organization in the northern suburbs seeks a yada yada something or other." The job ad tells you what the employer is looking for, but it doesn't tell you which employer it is.
Liz Ryan: Employers Demanding Facebook Passwords? Perfect!
How paranoid would an organization have to be, to doubt its own managers' instincts so severely that it doesn't trust them to hire smart people without resorting to KGB-type snooping tactics?
Liz Ryan: Answering the Question "What’s Your Greatest Weakness?"
Isn't all that the point of a job interview -- to get past the surface, far past what a resume would tell us? If so, why are we still wasting time with mindless, insulting interview questions?
Liz Ryan: The Sopping-Wet Supervisor (a Leadership Lesson)
Meeting Elise in the rain was a huge HR and leadership lesson for me. I realized in the wet car that night that people like Elise want to care about their jobs; they want to take responsibility for other people and make a difference.
Liz Ryan: When to Broach the Salary Question?
Gazillions of job-search advice articles have told job-seekers to clam up on the subject of compensation. "Wait for the offer," these books and articles say. "Whoever is first to name a number, loses," goes the old wives' tale.
Liz Ryan: How to Help a Hiring Manager Remember You After the Interview
In a job interview situation, we can't assume that a great interview will lead to a job offer. We have to stay top-of-mind for a hiring manager.
