Category Archives: Blog

What’s in a name…..that which we put on a CV?

Okay so Shakespeare may not be too proud of the play on words for the headline, but I’m sure he’ll approve of my premise – does the name at the top of your CV make a difference to your employment prospects? Recently I was contacted by a jobseeker whose personal dilemma inspired this post. BobContinue Reading

Why we’re still talking about youth unemployment…

The last time I wrote specifically about youth unemployment was September last year, after I attended Channel 4′s ‘Class of 2012′ debate. In between then I’ve been to at least three other events specifically relating to youth unemployment (including taking part in Youth Enterprise Live 2012), and today I’ve just returned from the mother ofContinue Reading

Soar like Joseph: 5 characteristics of an irresistible employee

If you’ve never read the story of Joseph in the Bible, I recommend after reading this that you go and grab the Holy Book and turn to Genesis 37-50 to get all the details. No, this isn’t going to be a “religious” post or a Bible lesson, instead I want to share with you ancientContinue Reading

Nice girls don’t get the corner office [extended book review]

At the beginning of March, I was invited to be a panellist for a Southbank Centre discussion on women and careers, part of Southbank’s annual ‘WOW’ festival celebrating women’s achievements across the world. In preparation for the discussion – titled, ‘Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office‘ – I was sent Lois P. Frankel’s bookContinue Reading

How to handle those tough interview questions

So you’ve done the hard work of polishing your CV, crafting that cover letter and filling out application forms that seem to go on forever. Now you’ve been called in for an interview and what you say in the 30, 40 or maybe 60 minutes in front of your potential employer could win or loseContinue Reading

A visual history of the CV

Who knew the CV originated from Italy? Or that they’ve been a formal part of our job search process for over six decades…? Well, thanks to the National Careers Service, you can now sound all clever and knowledgeable by quoting from this great infographic outlining the history of the CV. But with all your quoting,Continue Reading

Working from home? I agree with Mayer…

The issue of working from home is a hot topic at the moment and it all kicked off with the leaked memo from Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, ordering all home-working employees back to base for easier “communication and collaboration”. Since then opinions have been firmly wedged on one side of the fence or another and surprisingly,Continue Reading

5 tips to get your CV past HR

HR teams generally have a bad rep in the world of job-seeking – they’re often perceived as the “mean” people who prevent your CV from reaching management and generally obstruct your job progress for the smallest of reasons. But apparently there’s a whole lot more to the HR role than that! In this week’s guest post,Continue Reading

An ode to great bosses (the three characteristics)

Having a job isn’t just about paying the bills (though that helps of course); the right job is also supposed to contribute to your personal development, whether that’s by building your skills, confidence or knowledge in your chosen field. One crucial key to this is having the right boss – a good boss can make yourContinue Reading

Best of 2012 – 10 career blog posts to read or revisit before the year’s out

2012 was the year I made a real commitment to taking my blogging seriously and that meant writing and posting a job-related article once a week, right here on mildredtalabi.com. To see you into the New Year ahead, here are some of the best posts you might have missed or may want to revisit again:Continue Reading