The whole task of looking for a job feels overwhelming. You don’t know what you don’t know, and sometimes you don’t even know what questions to ask. How do you begin?

Here are 4 tips to help move potential obstacles aside on the journey. You can do this! 

You have a job. Maybe a decent-paying job.

You like your team, but the company culture? Not so much.

Your boss is a good person. Or maybe a miserable, insecure, control freak-y person.

You felt challenged when you started. Now, you can practically phone it in.

You tell yourself, Time to start looking.

If you’re working and thinking about changing jobs, you’re certainly not alone. Even during times of job growth and increased opportunity, there’s restlessness out there in the workplace.

And why shouldn’t there be? We spend a huge portion of our lives at work. The more hours we burn, the harder we work, the more life throws inevitable curve balls at us (both in the office and beyond), the more we start to evaluate our time, compensation, professional goals, values, priorities, and whether we should consider a change.

We are so glad you asked that question. Here’s the answer, even though it’s another question: How do you want to be seen? Does it matter what you do, what you wear, what you say, or whether there’s a little piece of spinach between your teeth?

If you want to be seen and noticed for all the right reasons – i.e., your talents, skills, and abilities that will add immediate value to a team – then the content of your resume becomes important. So does its presentation, carefully crafted by someone with the ability and professional training to weave your experience into a tight, focused, strategic narrative that highlights your strengths. Think of your resume as an essential marketing tool.

Today, April 10, 2018, is a day we all should contemplate, especially as women. That’s because today is Equal Pay Day, established by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) to expand public awareness on the wage gap between men and women.

Why April 10? NCPE says It’s a symbol of how far into the year we have to work in order to earn what men earned last year. Depending on what state you live in, women get paid 70 to 80 cents for ever dollar a man gets paid.

The wage gap is even greater for women of color. And let’s remember, it impacts families, not just women. As NCPE cleverly illustrates, if there wasn’t a wage gap, we wouldn’t need this coupon.

What sets you apart and makes you valuable to an employer? Branding merely identifies this and expresses this in a way that’s powerful, concise, and memorable.

It’s time. You’ve made the decision to move forward with your career. You blow the dust off your resume and begin updating it for the next job search. But is it as professional and current (by today’s resume-writing best practices) as it needs to be? Before submitting your resume, inspect it well. Once you hit “send”, there’s no turning back.

As a writer, cover letters intrigue me. I’m constantly amazed at the number of people I’ve met who hate writing them, don’t think employers read them, or don’t bother writing them at all. So if your head is nodding right now, let me ask this: