  Pickle coaching So this afternoon I went to an hour and a half career consulting session. I met with Marshall Brown who runs a small consulting outfit called urlLink Marshall Brown & associates .
I'm very glad that I went ahead and met with him. It's been something that I've been intending to do for almost a year. I came out of the session with a list of things to work on in order to move towards getting a better job. He put me to work on several things to do in the next week: 1. re-write my resume adding a "summary of qualifications" and short list of strengths to the top. Also use active verbs in the work experience section and describe things in a way that shows results and quantifies your accomplishments at work.
2. buy and read the book urlLink Taming your gremlin -this is because he sensed that I was too negative and was short-changing myself. 3. set up some volunteer work. I'm thinking about being a docent at urlLink a museum , if they'll take me. 4. make a "mind map" that tracks all of my interests, options, skills, experience, etc. -this is basically a series of bubbles that contain lists that are connected by lines - i think.
5. sit down and sort through a stack of special cards that will help me asses my skills and abilities, likes and dislikes etc (more on that later cause I don't have those yet) 6. Lastly, we talked about networking and setting up informational interviews instead of simply asking friends if they can help you get a job. The difference is talking to people about how they got their jobs and what kind of skills they have.
Then, I will see how I might learn from them to develop my own skills. This is also a better approach to then talking with others about what sorts of skills you may have. So, if you have any insight about how you landed your job or developed your job skills then urlLink please send them in . I have to set up 2 informational interviews by next week. I hope to update regularly on the blog about my job search. 
