People who are out of work need ways to connect with others that will be personally enriching, use their skills and boost their confidence and ability to get a job. The best way to do this is to volunteer.

It’s called niche marketing, my friends, and it works. Who would you rather hire, the guy who says he is “open to anything” or the one who has deep experience in the specific area for which you’re hiring?

I posted this to my Examiner.com blog today and I wanted to share it with you. You don’t need me to tell you the job market is bad. All of my clients, and the clients of other career advisors I know, are having a very tough time. One of the by-products of having a job search drag on and on is a sense of isolation…

I had a bit of an epiphany the other day about why I enjoy being a career advisor. It links to one of the pastimes I enjoy most: playing Scrabble.

I was quoted in this past Sunday’s Career Couch column about how fraught networking with those who are employed can be since there are so many people out of work these days.

I have been an MIA blogger lately, I admit it. Here’s why: I’ve been preoccupied with an injury. Now of course it could have been worse. During my ski vacation in March, I took a fall and tore a major ligament in my knee. Through plenty of physical therapy and (aggressive) exercise, it healed well. But as my friends and family will attest, I agonized over whether to have surgery to restore full capability for all the things I love to do.

I’m on vacation at the moment, in one of those charming ski towns where people work to live, not live to work. And talking with the locals, many of whom have been here for 20 years and are now in their 40’s, it occurs to me that doing pretty much anything to stay in a particular place is a mixed blessing. As these tales will tell you.