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The Outplacement Checklist: Help in Selecting an Outplacement Firm
Want to figure out which elements are important in outplacement services? We’re making it easy. Here’s a handy Outplacement Checklist to help you identify the services that truly help job hunters. We’ve indicated which services we provide job… Read more
Taking Your Cues From Others
I have become encouraged these past few weeks by the increasing number of informational meetings and job interviews many of our Five O’Clock Club members have been able to generate. While there is some evidence that when the stock market starts… Read more
A Focus on Direct Contact and Networking: The Most Effective Job-Search Techniques
Most job hunters who are not Five O’Clock Clubbers search by contacting search firms or answering ads. But these stories from successful job hunters clearly bear out what our research shows: direct contact and networking are the two most effective… Read more
A Targeted Job Search Could Make 2012 a Very Good Year
Once again we’re into a New Year. Most of us have reflected on things that need to change and we’ve made our resolutions. Now may be the time to make a change that will bring more balance and happiness to your life. The truth is, the happier you… Read more
Job Searching the Old Fashioned Way
With the upcoming theme presentation at the 5OCC on “Shortcut Your Search: Internet and Other Research” I thought it would be helpful to remind our readers of the absolute joy and benefit of spending time at the library or other research… Read more
Cut Down on Stress and You’ll Find a New Job
If you’ve been out of work a while, you’re really feeing it. Money woes. A sense of rejection. Questions and pressure from family and friends. If you’ve lost your job, you know this dismal laundry list all too well. It’s all too easy to… Read more
It’s a GIFT! Make the Most of Holiday Job-Searching
A common misconception holds that the November-December holiday season is an unproductive time for job-hunting. Smart job seekers take advantage of the unusual opportunities that the season brings — to position themselves for a holiday employment… Read more
The Perfect Job Search: Want to Shorten Your Search? Go for a Perfect 10!
When you land your new job, be sure to come back to report. For years we have been saying this every week at Five O’Clock Club meetings, and the “job hunter report” has become an established tradition. People look forward to the night… Read more
The Five O’Clock Club Brings You: The Inside Scoop About Search Firms
If you’ve been learning the Five O’Clock Club approach, you know by now that there are four ways to get meetings in your target market. You can get meetings through search firms, through ads, through networking and by contacting companies… Read more
John Urdaneta: Finding a Job and Following a Dream
John Urdaneta had a proven track record of working closely with executives and partners as a consultant with a global professional services firm. A year ago, when he became aware of a new company policy to begin cutting back on the use of… Read more
A Job Hunter’s Dilemma
While having lunch recently in Bryant Park, mid-town Manhattan, I overheard two women discussing their career objectives. In the course of their conversation one of them was lamenting over not hearing back from Human Resources regarding a job for… Read more
A Successful International Assignment Begins with The Five O’Clock Club’s Fifteen- Year Vision and Seven Stories Exercises
As an executive coach working in Tokyo helping expatriates manage their careers overseas, I was looking for a methodology that I could use to get them thinking about what life after an international assignment might look like. It was at this time,… Read more
The Shortest Route To A New Job
Instead of wasting your time on job listings, go directly to the source. In his editor’s introduction to this year’s Forbes 400 issue of Forbes magazine, chief product officer Lewis D’Vorkin recounts how he first came to work here. “I grabbed… Read more
Six Job Search Myths that Can Hurt Your Search
Myth #1: The Internet will do the trick Hitting the send button, clicking your resume into cyberspace, is not job search. It’s playing the lottery: the odds against success are huge. Instead use the Internet to do the research that will… Read more
Manage Your Search as You Would Your Job
Managing your job search can be a challenge. Five characteristics that can help you manage a successful job search are the same ones you used to successfully manage your jobs. 1. Perseverance: Your own resolution to succeed is… Read more
Back to the Basics: How to Interview Think and Act Like a Consultant
from The Five O’Clock Club book, “Mastering the Job Interview and Winning the Money Game” If you don’t go, you’ll never know. You have to not look at it like a rejection. There are so many reasons you’re not picked that you can’t… Read more
Unemployed for a Long Period of Time?
Realistic Solutions to a Frustrating Problem In the tough job market that exists today, it is not unlikely for people to search for jobs for months at a time. As job searches drag on, most people feel their morale and energies slip away. At The… Read more
The Six Missing Pieces
by David Madison, Ph.D., Director, The Five O’Clock Club National Guild of Career Coaches In the fall of 2009, a member of the Club told me that he would like to change coaches. He said that he had been attending his small group for eight months,… Read more
Keeping Yourself Going During a Job Hunt
“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.” “I don’t see,” said the Caterpillar. Lewis Carroll They’re all doing terrific! You’re not. You’re barely hanging on. You used to be a winner, but now you’re… Read more
How to Have a Systematic Job Hunt
by Kate Wendleton You ain’t goin’ nowhere . . . son. You ought to go back to driving a truck. Jim Denny, Grand Ole Opry manager, firing Elvis Presley after one performance. An interview on October 2, 1954. Man is not born to solve the problems… Read more
Having A Career Instead of a Job
by Kate Wendleton Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. Stephen R…. Read more
How to Target the Job You Want
I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific. Lily Tomlin Now we will work on firming up your job targets. You will do some preliminary research on each target through the Internet or library and by talking to people to see… Read more
Building a Great Resume The Five O’Clock Club Way: What a Difference a Story Makes
by Kate Wendleton Concentrate your strength against your competitor’s relative weakness. Bruce Henderson, Henderson on Corporate Strategy The following is an excerpt from our Resume book by Kate Wendleton. It includes scores of sample resumes… Read more
Answering the Question: “So Tell Me About Yourself . . . ” with your Two-Minute Pitch
by Kate Wendleton Your Two-Minute Pitch is the back-bone of your search–you’ll use it in job and networking interviews, and in cover letters. You’ll be ready when someone says, “So tell me about yourself.” Your resume summary statement serves… Read more
How to Contact Companies Directly
by Kate Wendleton Without effort we cannot attain any of our goals in life, no matter what the advertisements may claim to the contrary. Anyone who fears effort, anyone who backs off from frustration and possibly even pain will never get… Read more
The Truth About Internet Job Searching:
“I Searched the Web and Became a Company President in Under Two Hours!” by Kate Wendleton That’s the kind of story the press likes to report. Even respected journalists call The Five O’Clock Club hunting for odd spectacular stories. If only job… Read more
The Four-Step Salary Negotiation Method
by Kate Wendleton I’ve got all the money I’ll ever need if I die by four o’clock. Henny Youngman Salary negotiation strategy begins with the first interview. “Position” yourself to make your negotiation smoother. The Four-Steps:… Read more
Are You Conducting a Good Campaign?
by Kate Wendleton The thing is to never deal yourself out . . . Opt for the best possible hand. Play with verve and sometimes with abandon, but at all times with calculation. L. Douglas Wilder The Quality of Your Campaign Getting a job… Read more
Starting Out on the Right Foot in Your New Job
by Kate Wendleton Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. William Jennings Bryan . . . be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love… Read more
What To Do When Your Networking is Not Working
by Kate Wendleton In the old days, networking was a great technique. We job hunters were appreciative of the help we got, and treated those we met with respect and courtesy. We used networking to meet and form life-long relationships with people in… Read more
Following-Up After a Job Interview: The Only Job Hunting Technique
by Kate Wendleton Bullock shrugged. He’d been thinking about Bill that afternoon, trying to decide how to fit him into Deadwood Brickworks, Inc. It wasn’t a question he could be useful. Anybody could be useful when you decided where they… Read more
The Biased Media: Ignore Them – and use the Five O’Clock Club methodology
Question from a member: Did you read the article “Longer Unemployment for Those 45 and Older” by Michael Luo in the New York Times? What did you think?” Answer: I hope you weren’t tricked by the article. We all know that negative news… Read more
Some Tips for Getting Jobs in Hard Times
Five O’Clock Clubbers know that they should first do the assessment to determine what they want to do now and what they want to do 15 years from now. Because of this powerful assessment, 58% of those who attend the Club end up changing… Read more
7 Secrets for Surviving Job Loss in a Bad Economy
by Richard Bayer, Ph.D., Author, The Good Person Guidebook Was your job another causality of the current economic crisis? Not sure what your next step should be? Here’s how to survive your job loss until you find a new (and better!) career…. Read more
The Art and Science of Networking
by David Madison, Ph.D., Director, The Five O’Clock Club National Guild of Career Coaches What kind of a career can be built on having both a law degree and an MBA? While there might be many possibilities, Alan Rothman has followed a unique path…. Read more
Don’t Miss the Small Group Strategy Session
This is not like any other group you may have attended. It’s not a support group, but you do get support. It’s not a networking group, but you may get networking contacts. In a Five O’Clock Club small group, you get one-on-one coaching in a… Read more
The Holiday Job Search: Full Steam Ahead!
by David Madison, Ph.D., Director of the National Guild of Career Coaches of The Five O’Clock Club Nobody likes to job search. Thus, it is so tempting to put off doing the things you need to do to land your next position. Even people who have… Read more
Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Job Search -Lots of Activity is Not Enough— You Need to Measure Quality Too
What do our competitors say? They measure the effectiveness of your job search based on your activity level alone: How many ads are you answering per week? How many meetings are you having? Yet, we meet many job hunters who have been searching for… Read more
The First 90 Days -on Your New Job and beyond
by Suzanne Harwood Five O’Clock Club Career Coach Starting a new job can be a bumpy ride, so who doesn’t like the idea of being entitled to a shake-down cruise? There’s comfort in assuming that we have a grace period for getting up to speed…. Read more
Technology Etiquette for Job Hunters
by Kate Wendleton Our coaches recently exchanged their thoughts about the use of technology in a job search, largely in response to inquiries about how to use all of the gadgets and formats appropriately. After all, the abuse of technology can… Read more
Before You Say Yes To A Job Offer
By Bill Belknap Senior Five O’Clock Club Career Coach Over the last two years in my private practice as a Five O’Clock Club coach, I have had the pleasure of working with more than two hundred talented managers and executives who are looking… Read more
The Art of Negotiating Compensation
The Art of Negotiating Compensation by Terry Pile, Five O’Clock Club Coach Negotiating your salary for a new job can be an emotional issue. When it comes to attaching a dollar amount to your worth, it is difficult to separate ego from the… Read more
How To Stay On The Cutting Edge
The job market has changed considerably in the last five years. As the economy improves more jobs are becoming available, more businesses are hiring and workers can prepare to trade up or change careers for the first time since the millennium. A… Read more
Is Age Discrimination the Problem?
by David Madison, Ph.D., Director, The National Guild of Five O’Clock Club Career Coaches In 1993, a Five O’Clock Clubber was featured on the cover of Modern Maturity magazine. The title was “Job Hunting After 50.” This seven-page article… Read more
What are these people talking about?
What Are These People Talking About? FIVE O’CLOCK CLUBBERS SPEAK IN SHORTHAND “It fell away through no fault of my own.” Five O’Clock Clubbers know the research: Out of six to ten job possibilities, five will fall away through no fault of… Read more
Your Two-Minute Pitch: The Keystone of Your Search
by Kate Wendleton The “Two-Minute Pitch” is the answer to the question, “So, tell me about yourself.” With a great pitch, people are more likely to see you as appropriate for the kind of job you’re going after. However, as we say at the… Read more
Club Members Outperform Competitors & Land New Jobs
by David Madison, Ph.D., Director of the National Guild of Career Coaches of the Five O’Clock A Trade Show Reunion Many people who lose their jobs receive Five O’Clock Club job-search help because they ask for it as part of their separation… Read more
Employable Till Proven Otherwise
by Kate Wendleton and Dale Dauten “Kate & Dale Talk Jobs” is a nationally syndicated newspaper column appearing in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Washington Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle and approximately… Read more
What Every Employer Wants
by Kate Wendleton and Dale Dauten “Kate & Dale Talk Jobs” is a nationally syndicated newspaper column appearing in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Washington Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle and approximately… Read more
10 Tips for Surviving a Long Search
By: Kate Wendleton T his is a tough market and many people are having long searches. People who conscientiously work the Five O’Clock Club methodology—and who truly do put in 35 hours a week on job-search—still arrive at the stage of… Read more
Using the Internet for Job-Search and Career Management
By: David Madison, PhD, Guild Director T his article is based on an interview with Wendy Alfus Rothman, author of the Five O’Clock Club Job-Search Bibliography, president of the Wenroth Group, and Internet research guru; and on a presentation by… Read more
Our Best Advice (from 2002, but relevant anytime)
By: Kate Wendleton and Dale Dauten “Kate & Dale Talk Jobs” is a nationally syndicated newspaper column appearing in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Washington Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle and… Read more
The Job-Search Buddy System
Do you wish you had someone to talk to—fairly often and informally—about the little things? “Here’s what I’m planning to do today in my search? What are you planning to do? Let’s talk tomorrow to make sure we’ve done it.” You and… Read more
The Etiquette of Networking with Fellow Clubbers
As always, Five O’Clock Clubbers have been generous with their time and insight. We appreciate the help members give each other. Without this help, many Five O’Clock Clubbers would have to start from scratch to research the industries and fields… Read more
Ending the Myths. Get More Meetings Through Direct Contact
Search Firms. Ads. Networking. Ask most people how to get interviews, and that’s what they’ll mention. But The Five O’Clock Club, the nationwide career-coaching network, wanted to find out what really works. Its survey of professionals,… Read more
Job-Hunt Success Stories; Working The Method Pays Off
by David Madison We have always said, Don’t skip any part of the system! But we know that different elements of the Five O’Clock Club methodology have come to the rescue for different people as they have applied the methodology to their… Read more
Job-Search Advice from a Senior Marketing Executive
by Jim Siegel Five O’Clock Club member Jim recently became a Senior Director for Sutton Partnership, a marketing communications firm. He and his colleagues each have 25 years of experience at prestigious New York firms such as Young &… Read more
Don’t Pay Heavy Up-Front Fees; The Five O’Clock Club Is On Your Side
by Kate Wendleton, President It’s the same old story. This time it appeared in the January 4th issue of the New York Times, “Career Management Firm Fights Complaints.” The article reports that “hundreds of dissatisfied customers are… Read more
Job-Search 101
by David Madison, Ph.D. Getting It Right with The Two-Minute Pitch “When Phyllis first gave her Two-Minute Pitch to the group, everyone said ‘What?’ Nobody got it.” So remembers the Five O’Clock Club counselor who coached Phyllis’… Read more
Unemployed Job Searchers Can Edge Out Employed
Strategy and Time Management are Keys by Richard Bayer, Ph.D. Too many job hunters fall into the trap of believing it’s only the currently employed who get the best job offers quickly and command the highest salaries. Unemployed searchers may… Read more
Myth: Being Unemployed Equals Pay Cut
Majority of Jobless are Finding Equal or Higher Salary by Richard Bayer, Ph.D. Many unemployed job hunters may presume they’ll be forced to take a pay cut when they do land their next position. That is absolutely untrue. Most unemployed job… Read more
10 Tips for Career Changers
In this tight job market, more people are able to do it by Kate Wendleton In today’s panicky labor market, employed workers are coming to the Five O’Clock Club in record numbers – and they are successfully changing careers. In fact, the average… Read more
Job-Search Advice from a Senior Executive
Mark Merriman recently accepted a position as General Manager of the Consumer Division at Cline Davis & Mann, part of the Omnicom network of communication agencies. He began his job search in April 2000, and landed his new position six weeks… Read more
What You Do AFTER The Interview May Matter The Most!
by Ruth Robbins Do you ever have the feeling that it’s easier to get through the eye of a needleŸthan to come out the winner in the interviewing contest? Who hasn’t experienced the following: you’ve had a two rounds of interviews with a leading… Read more
Targeting: The Truth is OUT THERE
by Richard Bayer, Ph.D. We find ourselves not independently of other people and institutions but through them. We never get to the bottom of our selves on our own. We discover who we are face to face and side by side with others in work, love,… Read more
Why Are You Looking? and other difficult interview questions.
-by Kate Wendleton Sometimes you’ll be surprised by the questions you are asked in an interview. But many questions are entirely predictable. Make sure you have these down pat. Do not go into long discussions. Briefly and politely handle those… Read more
They said, “We like you but we want to interview more people.” What should I do?
They said, “We like you but we want to interview more people.” What should I do? Q: Dear Career Coach: I interviewed with a company six weeks ago; I sent thank you letters to everyone; they asked for my references and I gave them to the hiring… Read more
A Proactive Approach to Using Search Firms
by Chip Conlin The Five O’Clock Club methodology includes four basic means of getting interviews: networking, direct contact, advertisements and search firms. Most successful job hunters may use a combination of these means to get interviews in… Read more
How to Handle the Telephone: A Life Skill
During the course of a normal business day, you probably talk by phone to most of the people you talk to at all. And you are probably not conscious of the number of times you have called people you are trying to contact. If they’re not in, you try… Read more
Follow the Basics, then . . . Develop Your Own Search Style
by Mary Harmon Listening to the reports our successful job hunters give is not only inspiring (and fun), but it is also instructional, which speaks to another strength of the Five O’Clock Club approach: its flexibility. Most of our searchers do end… Read more
Do You Make These Job-Hunting Mistakes?
The Five O’Clock Club’s Book Series has enabled thousands of people to correct their job-search mistakes. Most who attend regularly and read our books–even those unemployed up to two years–have a new job within only ten weekly sessions. Most job… Read more
The Four-Step Salary Negotiation Strategy Works! People at all Organizational Levels Use It With Success
by Robert E. Simmons, Five O’Clock Club Career Counselor As a career consultant working with laid-off defense workers during the past year, I have used the Five O’Clock Club’s Four-Step Salary Negotiation Strategy with outstanding results for… Read more
The Forty-Year Plan® . . . It’s (Almost) Never Too Late: How to Create Your Future Five Years at a Time
By David Madison, Ph.D. When my daughter was a month old, I started writing a daily diary to preserve memories of her growing up. She’s now 28 and I haven’t missed a day since. Now well past the l0,000 page mark–and with my daughter living in… Read more
Do You Make These Job-Hunting Mistakes?
The Five O’Clock Club’s remarkable system has enabled thousands of people to correct their job-search mistakes. Most who attend regularly–even those unemployed up to two years–have a new job within only ten weekly sessions. Most job hunters do… Read more
The Internet as a Job-Search Tool
by Patricia L. Raufer When you consider that the Internet is a global network of networks linking individuals, companies, governments, organizations, and academic institutions, it is not surprising that it is a valuable job-search tool. Although… Read more
Oscar Night: You Too Can Be a Winner!
by Stacy Feldman, a senior consultant with The Five O’Clock Club and with Lee-Hecht Harrison, a major outplacement firm. Stacy presented the following at the Club. It’s Oscar night. And you know what that means . . . it’s also time for the… Read more
Researching the Jobs of the Future
by Wendy Alfus Rothman Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind. -Marston Bates, American Zoologist There are two kinds of research: primary and secondary. Primary research basically means talking to people, while… Read more
Trends in Resumes
Resume Length In the old days, just a few years ago, resumes were one page long. Most people had worked at the same company–and often the same job–for most of their careers. They were expected to stay put. Their entire history could usually fit… Read more
A Networker’s Guide to Feeling Better About the Approachby
by Ellis Chase Networking. Networking. Networking. And more networking. The word has been so overused that it can now have a negative, exploitative feel to it. It is also one of the most misunderstood terms in contemporary job-search technique,… Read more