Timely Career Advice from a Leading Career Advisor

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Johanna Wise, who is the Founder and CEO of Connect•Work•Thrive, a firm which primarily helps professionals in career transition. Her work isn't just about finding people jobs in companies and other organizations, she has found that about half of the people who attend her conferences end up starting something on their own.

Below are the highlights of her job searching and career planning advice, with some extra emphasis to help younger adults:

• Best bet is networking - job boards are problematic - lots of competition, sometimes jobs already filled that are on there.
• Alumni networks are especially good. Younger adults/college students can also consider high school alumni or other affinity groups. Friends of friends. Can find these groups through LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn profile more important than your resume - must be top notch. Where recruiters would look first. Should be a personal statement of who you are and what you bring. Many west coast recruiters don't even look at resumes - trend is spreading east.
• Young adults should remember that companies hire people for aptitude and attitude...every day people learn new things at work. Focus on articulating what you bring to the table.
• Assessments can help you: check out Myers-Briggs, 16 Personalities. (Monster.com has an interesting list as well.)
• Get recommendations on LinkedIn. Ask for recommendations. Could sketch out a few bullet points for them. Ideally want 10 to get your profile to rise up in the rankings. "LinkedIn is very, very powerful."
• Put down all of your skills, including language skills.
• Developing your values and vision assessment is very important. You don't want to live someone else's life.
• The more specific you are, the more people can help you. Hone in on what you're looking for. We all generally know what we don't like but it's more challenging to articulate what we want.