In a tough economy, I often hear job-seekers worry about “the competition” – with so many people looking for jobs, it’s harder to be the chosen one. I believe that your biggest competition is yourself—the fear that goes on inside your head, the lack of confidence that stops you from doing your best work — promoting yourself for the qualities you bring to the table.

I loved the recent blog post by a tech CEO who says he won’t hire people who have bad grammar. As they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression, and those impressions are what count when you’re hunting for a job.

So you’re a hiring manager faced with the task of motivating millenials while enhancing the work experience of other generations—all while improving the profitability of the company.  Not an easy task, but not impossible either.

Career paths are long and confidence is an ephemeral thing. And in my experience, women need their confidence replenished more than men.

I have a number of presentations and workshops coming up this fall, and I’ve been thinking about how to structure my talks for maximum value and interest. In my research, I found a Tim Sanders blog post with a phrase that particularly bears repeating: “Do your research about the audience, where they need to be moved to, and how that intersects with your expertise or experiences.”

This is a guest post by HR consultant Judy Lindenberger on one of my favorite topics: standing out on LinkedIn.

I love LinkedIn. It’s one of the best networking tools out there to help you expand your reach. It’s “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” for the business world. But it can be a big, foreign maze. To stand out in the LinkedIn crowd, here are ten quick tips: