October 15, 2026

This article could be 10,000 words long. Consultants charge fees, actual MONEY you might not want to part with if you are unemployed, to give you training sessions. This article, on the other hand, will be shorter. And free. None of it will be brain surgery. How to find jobs. Use the Internet; it’s your friend. For the most part. There’s LinkedIn, and potential employers put their jobs up on it. So, if you want a job in a Manhattan hotel, google “Manhattan hotel”; 764 come up. Google “Manhattan hotel jobs” and frighten yourself with the number that come up.

At the risk of taking oomph away from the help that staffing agencies can give to job seekers, there’s a nice synergy sometimes between us and LinkedIn. Basically I’m saying, don’t put all your eggs in one basket (oh dear, and avoid clichés like the plague). If you have decent LinkedIn details, agencies are much more likely to try to get in touch with you for suitable job assignments they have. Of course, annoyingly, so can the hiring companies who can get to you direct, and cut out us, the middle man with our middle-man fees – sigh. But one

And it’s the real deal because it comes from ME, Margaret. I’ve seen enough of ‘em in my time, and so I know whereof I speak. (ok, sometimes other views are valid too, but let’s focus, and not get sidetracked with trivia). Here are some of the comments that other people have given Merit’s adorable candidates: To executive/administrative assistants: “Leave your Master’s/MBA off”. What? You spent a fortune doing a graduate degree, it took blood, sweat and tears to study for it, you’re a better person for it and yet you shouldn’t put it, one of your proudest achievements, on

I work for a staffing service so I tend to think in terms of candidates, clients, and of course staffing services. What are the continuing issues? Staffing services. Naturally, Merit never does anything wrong, ever, but as for the others? Oh dearie me… in 2017, it’s going to be a) Return candidates’ phone calls promptly. b) Remember to give candidates some feedback. I’m thinking specifically when clients don’t return OUR calls; we have to remember to let the candidates know. “No message to relate” often becomes “forget to tell the world it’s no message”. c) Give good advice about resume

If I see that phrase “time out of your busy schedule” one more time in a thank you letter to potential employers, I shall SPIT. It is such a cliché, there is no excuse for using it ever under any circumstances. Whatsoever. Remember, this blog on the Merit website is called “Margaret says” and this is one of those times when Margaret says and isn’t going to listen to any “Yes, but what if”s”…Please don’t ever use it. Actually, if I had ten dollars for every time I’ve read it in a thank you letter/email, I’d be sunning myself on

“How did I blow it? Let me count the ways”. It’s all about THEM, not about you. Shocking, I know, and possibly even unfair, but there ya go. The company has a position it wants to fill. “What made you apply?” “What do you have over other candidates?” It’s either HR that’s asking, in which case they’re thinking bigger picture of whether you’ll fit into the company culture, as well as their wanting to make the line manager happy that they found someone for the department. Or it’s the department interviewing in which case all they care about is filling

Why is it that these articles, about making yourself a fortune, improving your love life, sticking to the diet, landing a new job, keeping your existing job, things to say in interview, things not to wear during interview, ALWAYS have numbers in the title? Not that it matters, really, but my theory is that the writers of course want you to read their articles, and somehow they have to make it look as though it’s easy for you to remember what they say. If there are actual numbers of things to do, say, not do, not say, then it’ll be

I have some swamp land in Georgia to sell you for residential housing development Don’t believe everything anyone tells you. Well, I mean, have SOME trust in people or you’ll end up a miserable, friendless old cynic. What I’m referring to are reviews on the Internet, possibly biased friends, potential future colleagues, company websites ….expounding on jobs, companies, salaries… Company websites: I may be stating the obvious here (never stopped me before) but companies want to portray themselves in the best light, for future business, public relations, attracting the best staff. Even if it’s on the whole pretty good, and

I totally made that number up. As my regular readers (of course, I think that may just be colleagues) will know, these articles with numbers in their title annoy me, so I came up with a silly number.  “I’m not supposed to remember 124 things to do/not do in interview, am I?” Nope, you’re safe. But there are some useful tips on non-verbal communication in general, and body language in particular, that could improve your interview chances. Hand up to cover mouth/ brushing imaginary lint from trouser leg or skirt/ crossing your arms in front of yourselfas you answer a

If you think this is going to be a helpful article to help you get over the rejection from your actual/potential boyfriend, you’re reading the wrong blog. Sorry. I made passing reference in a previous article about not getting the job. Let’s pick at the scab – I speak metaphorically. You have been rejected. “What does it all mean? What can I do about it?” You’re allowed a moment – whole evening, in fact – of wallowing in self-pity. That’s it, though. Life is what happens while you’re waiting for life to happen, so you have to get over it