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To take notes, or not to take notes: that is the question.  Many job seekers might have been wondering about what to do about note-taking during job interviews.  On the one hand, you want to write down important items that come up during the conversation.  On the other hand, you don’t want to seem inattentive and distracted, or miss out on other important things your interviewer said while you’re busy writing down her last sentence.

The pros of taking notes during interviews include:

• Show that you’re paying attention.
• You won’t forget important details about this job.  It doesn’t make a good impression if you have to ask the potential employer the same questions repeatedly.
• Your follow-up will be more powerful when you refer to discussion from your interview.

But note taking can be overdone.  When that happens, here are the cons:

• Fail to make personal connection. If you’re abso

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You might have heard of the concept of a “career plan” – something that you put in place to help figure out what steps you’ll take to achieve your long term career goals.

I don’t know about you, but it sure sounds scary to me.  I’m supposed to figure out where my career will be 40 years from now?  Give me a break!

By the way, I did coach a gentleman who had a 25 year career plan.  Really.  It shocked me, too.  But his frustration was that reality wasn’t lining up according to his plan.

So here is how you do some useful career planning without driving yourself nuts:

First: Capture what you’d like to achieve through your work.  Is it primarily to amass a large amount of money you’ll need for your family and retirement?  Is it about accomplishments and things you’ll do?  Is there some larger mission you’re fulfilling in your life?  How do you define “success” for yourself?

It’s important to write down the answers, because it helps you to look at it more objectively.  It also forces you to pick some words to describe these fuzzy concepts, rather than just have them float around in a cloud in your mind.

Second: Look at the assets that you have to work with.  You’ve amassed a certain set of skills, you know a bunch of people, you have a certain position and reputation.  Hopefully, you have some savings which might help if you want to invest in changing direction.  All of these can be viewed as a launching pad from which you’ll create your future success.

Third: Examine options which might help bridge the gap between those larger, longer term goals and where you are today.  You’ll need new skills and relationships with key types of people.  You’ll need to build up a position and reputation over the course of years.  Certain options might involve moving, going back to school, or building a base of experience that you’re lacking.

Fourth: So far I haven’t talked about the order and steps you’ll take to build your way toward the goal.  If you were really able to do that, you’d have a plan.  But that plan would actually be quite fragile:  When reality doesn’t line up the way you’d like, you have to go back and develop a new plan.

When you fly from New York to LA, the pilot doesn’t just pick an incredibly accurate direction and start flying.  That would be like trying to pick up a pea with a pole ten miles long.

In a practical sense, then, what you do is to:

1. Maintain a clear goal
2. Take steps in the general direction of that goal
3. Learn and adjust as you go along

When you’re constantly making progress, generally in the right direction, you’re much more likely to get there – or at least close enough that you can feel satisfied with what you’re doing.

To be realistic, realize that your GOAL will probably change over the course of your life.  The nice thing about this process is that you can change as you go along, navigating around obstacles and even changing your general direction.

It’s YOUR life, after all.  You get to do that.

The point is to pick a direction and move toward it.  If you don’t move, you’ll spend your life being pushed around in whatever random directions people have for you.  It’s not likely you’ll get to where YOU want to be.

It’s the night before your dream interview and you are getting ready. You’ve researched the job and the company, you have directions to the interview, and now it is time to pick your outfit. First general rule of thumb: always dress one step above of what people wear to work at that company.

The culture of that particular industry is a major factor when you make interview wardrobe decision. For example, you would dress more formally and conservatively for jobs in the law and finance industries than for software and creative jobs. Here are some additional rules for dressing for an interview:

Men: You seemingly have it easy. A good starting point is a collared shirt, dress pants in black, blue or tan, and a pair of nice shoes. Then

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You have just gotten the interview and the hiring manager said it’s a lunch interview tomorrow at 1:00. You have never had a lunch interview before or have not had one for quite some time. What do you do?

Lunch interviews are generally more laid back, and talking about your personal life is more common and expected. However, it is still an interview.  So selling yourself and finding out if the job is a right fit for you should be your priorities.  Here is how you can prepare for a mealtime interview:

Do your research: If you know the restaurant where the meal will be, look it up before hand and see what kind of place it is. You could even go a step further and call the restaurant to see how people dress. This

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In her article for Forbes.com, Want the Job? Get a Sponser, Colette Martin explains what a sponsor is and how they can impact your job search.

Below is an excerpt of Martin’s article.

For the past two decades we’ve heard a lot about mentoring. Having a mentor – someone to guide you in your career and provide critical advice – is one of the keys to career success.

And we’ve heard a lot about networking. We have been taught that most jobs are found through networking. While est

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