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2013 – Year in Blogs. The Review Post!


 This year has come and gone. Time flies when you are blogging. As you set to close out your year and take stock of the year past, let me give you the recap of some of the most popular posts based on page views.

§  Résumé Review Like a Pro- reminds you that no matter how great the résumé is, the marker of a truly great one is how many interviews you get based on the information on it. Even if it is not pretty, it doesn’t matter if it works! (March 2013)

§  Employment Plan: Tools for Success or Road Map to Failure? In this post, I called for an elimination of Employment Plans (EP) or Individual Employment Plans (IEP) as we use them, as one of the dinosaurs of workforce development, because they do not give the job seeker the tools to use once they get the job. Instead, I call for redefining the term and moving to the next century. Develop plans that help people not only obtain employment, but move to the next step.  (April 2013)

§  Are you the Captain of your Ship or the Iceberg in Your Ocean? The Art of Self-Sabotage- Sometimes you meet a person that happens to be doing all the right things, steps in a plan, making great decisions, and then something happens and he is suddenly off track. Everyone knows someone, professionally or personally, that seems to sabotage himself. If this is you or someone you know, then maybe it’s time for an Accountability Partner.(June 2013)

§  Who Put the Burn in Your Burnout?  If I eliminate one phrase from the English language it’s going to be, “We can do more with less.” Looking for a reason for burnout in workforce development professionals, look to the folks that make us do more with less. This includes politicians, government, and funding bodies that want the same or greater level of service, but with fewer resources.  (June 2013)

§  Whose Job is it? Everybody’s and Nobody’s Job – There are countless little things that are necessary to keep everything running smoothly in a business. It could be filing, putting supplies away, or making an emergency run to purchase something if necessary. Just because it is not in your job description, does not mean it’s not your job. This is customer service, quality of life service, and a reminder that nobody’s job is everybody’s job. (July 2013)

§  Getting Out of the Ethical Garbage Dump – Everyday people, including workforce development professionals, are called to make ethical decisions, but yet the guidelines are not clear. In order to enforce ethics, organizations must train on ethics. (August 2013)

§  The Success Equation! What Job Seekers, Workforce Development Professionals, and Vacationers All have in Common- The math of success!
       VISION + STRATEGIC PLANNING 5 (ACTION) + COMMUNICATION 10 (ACTION) =    SUCCESS
       Stay tuned for more on this in 2014 (September 2013)

§  Dysfunctional Measures of Success and Achievement- This was the most read post of 2013 that reminds us to look beyond our performance numbers and to start to measure success in job seekers and professionals based on the person- not the formula! (October 2013)

§  Climbing Mountains, Breaking Bad Habits, and Other Miracles We Expect – Do we expect job seekers to break bad habits and change their lives because we said so? As workforce development professionals do we expect the light bulb to go on after only one conversation? Change takes time. (November 2013)

§  I Know What You Did Last Summer (and It’s the reason you are still unemployed) –So when was the last time you searched for yourself on social media or the internet? Do you like what you see or are you seeing things that may prevent you from getting a job? Job seekers need to be looking at themselves and their public image to ensure that their best face is to the world. (December 2013)

I am extremely excited to go into 2014 with some fresh ideas and inspiration. Sometimes people ask me how I come up with the topics. These were all things on my mind due to my everyday work life, experiences I have had, and my opinions on how things can improve. This is my forum to take the stuff in my mind and put it to the world for all to see. I welcome any thoughts, ideas, comments, or suggestions you may have. If  there is something that you would like to see, please let me know. I don’t claim to be an expert on anything or everything, but what I am an expert on is my opinion.


I am wishing all my readers a safe and happy holiday season. I can be reached by leaving a comment or sending me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com~ Karen Cirincione

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