To Whom it May Concern

Imagine you’re a senior person at a company and you’re looking for the right person to work for you. You’ve been looking at resumes all day long, and you’re tired and looking for some inspiration. You open yet another email, hoping for “the one”, and it’s addressed to: To Whom it May Concern.

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Telling Your Skill Story

If you haven’t had work experience, can you still have job-related skills?

It’s a question that occurred to me yesterday when I was delivering a skills workshop to a group of Gen Y’s. Now this particular group represents mostly uneducated, unemployed New Yorkers who are seeking entry-level jobs, and I train them as part of my volunteer commitment to this particular organization.

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Changing Course, Moving Up, Telling Your Story Allison Cheston Changing Course, Moving Up, Telling Your Story Allison Cheston

SWM (Mature and Corporate) Seeks Free-Wheeling Start-Up for Fun and Profit

I counsel a lot of people who are interested in leaving fairly staid corporate jobs for greener pastures—namely start-ups or small agencies. They fantasize that these new environments will provide all kinds of fresh thinking and ways of doing business and that they themselves will be respected and appreciated as elder statesmen with the gravitas and savoir-faire that are just the thing that was missing.

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Starting Out Allison Cheston Starting Out Allison Cheston

In Praise of “Good Enough” Schools

I’ve been interviewing college grads in their 20’s for my upcoming book and career curriculum In the Driver’s Seat: Work-Life Navigation Skills for Young Adults. And one of the things I’m finding is that not everyone who’s “successful” at 28 attended a top college. This is not surprising but definitely merits conversation.

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A Millenial and A Boomer: Oh, What a Pair!

I am a tail-end Baby Boomer, but think more like a Gen X’er. But I’m still a far cry from Gen Y, a generation I’ve grown to enjoy and admire immensely. Gen Y has a suppleness of thinking combined with an inherent need to share—everything is documented and discussed. Which means we can all benefit from Gen Y wisdom, if we so choose, by simply going on Facebook, Brazen, or Twitter.

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