It's gorgeous out today--75 degrees, sunny, with a slight breeze that keeps the temperature comfortable enough to sit out in the sun. On days like this, it takes a while for me to get motivated. I find it much easier to daydream about the summer, thinking about places I'd like to go, people I'd like to see, things I'd like to do. It 's hard for me to focus on work as I'd rather be outside, enjoying the weather. In truth, I haven't been very motivated about my work recently. I shared these feelings with a close friend, and our conversation was enormously helpful, as he shook me out of my doldrums and reminded me of ways to stay engaged with my work.

When I think about the mentors I've had over the course of my professional life, I feel very fortunate. Each has been unique, injecting his or her thoughts, experiences, and personal style into our mentoring relationship. As I reflect on time spent talking with, listening to, or emailing with each of my mentors, it seems like the role of mentor came quite naturally to them, an effortless act that engendered feelings of respect and gratitude on my part. So what's the secret? How can we take full advantage of the mentoring relationships we are currently in, either as mentor or trainee?

Years ago, as I was training a career development staff, I created this list of questions I frequently heard from trainees. If you have a question about resume writing that you don't see represented here, send it along and I'll post an answer here! Q: An employer requested a CV in a job ad I found, but it is not a faculty opening. Should I send a resume or a CV? A:  Resume. The term “CV” is sometimes generically used to refer to any kind of personal qualifications document, but what employers are actually seeking is a resume.

Guest writer: Anne Kirchgessner, LCPC, NCC, Career Counselor Feeling stuck in your current job? Not sure what your next career step is? Here are some tips to help you make your own good luck and take advantage of both planned and unplanned career opportunities. John Krumboltz, a noted career development theorist, considers ways to take advantage of both chance and planned events. He calls this concept Happenstance Learning Theory. His work takes into account that the careers of most people have been impacted by chance happenings as well as planned events. In a recent article in the Journal of Career Assessment (Vol. 17, No.

Recent news reports suggest that the economy is slowly recovering, and that unemployment figures are falling. While this news is hopeful, it may be difficult to hear for those of us currently on the job market. If you have been searching for a while, or are planning to start searching for a job, there are several methods you can use to increase your chance of being successful.

Last week, I was privileged to share some time with trainees at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' Biomedical Career Fair in Durham, North Carolina. The goal of this conference was to:

"provide young scientists an opportunity to explore a myriad of fields and create a contact network as they plan for future careers in the biomedical sciences,"

Through my many forays into the job market, I have anxiously awaited responses from employers, either to application materials I had sent out in response to a job ad, or as a follow-up after I had interviewed with them. Through these experiences, I have come to identify several different employer communication styles: The “As-If-You-Didn’t-Know-Already” late response guy, also known as the “In-Case-You-Were-Thinking-of-Calling-a-Moving-Truck” guy This person is one of the most frustrating of the bunch.

The Great American Cleanup , an initiative of the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful (KAB) , began last month on March 1st and run