SONGWRITING AND RESUME WRITING
Garrison Leykam
May 31, 2022
You’ve no doubt read many of my posts extolling the need for your resume to tell your career story and to include your relevant achievements. Jimmy Webb’s songwriting achievements include the most memorable tunes of all time: “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Worst That Could Happen,” “Galveston,” and “All I Know.” I mention Jimmy Webb’s songwriting achievements because there are lessons to be learned that apply to writing an effective resume.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
RESUME GAPS IN THE NEW CAREER MARKETPLACE
LinkedIn
May 23, 2022
Concerned about gaps in your resume? When was the last time you fret over the time between your favorite recording artist’s gap between albums? You were probably more excited about what had changed and listening to the new songs. Many musicians have had long spans of time between the release dates of consecutive studio albums. Here are just a few:
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
MARC EMMER ON THE GREAT RESIGNATION
Garrison Leykam
May 05, 2022
Marc Emmer talks with Garrison about The Great Resignation on Java, Jobs, and YOU. Marc is an author, speaker, and consultant recognized as a thought leader throughout North America for his expertise in strategy and strategic planning. He has written two books, including Momentum, How Companies Decide What to Do Next. He has personally facilitated strategy sessions for more than 150 companies and delivered over 350 keynotes on strategy and value creation.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
KRISTI DEPAUL ON COMPENSATION NEGOTIATION
Garrison Leykam
April 28, 2022
Kristi DePaul is a recognized authority on career navigation and personal branding. Her work has appeared internationally and has been cited by prominent think tanks and universities. She is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and was recently named one of the world’s top 50 Remote Innovators. Kristi is founder and principal at Nuanced, a thought leadership firm for executives, and serves as CEO of Founders, a fully remote content agency focused on the future of learning and the future of work. She earned her master’s degree from the H. John Heinz III College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
TRACEY GENDRON: AGEISM UNMASKED
Garrison Leykam
April 11, 2022
Dr. Tracey Gendron serves as Chair for the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Gerontology and as Director for the Virginia Center on Aging. Tracey has a Master’s degree in Gerontology, a Master’s degree in Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. With over 25 years of experience as a grant-funded researcher and as a nationally recognized speaker, Tracey is dedicated to raising awareness and ending ageism through education.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
JULIA MILNER ON SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYEE COACHING
Garrison Leykam
April 04, 2022
Julia Milner is a Professor in Leadership and the Academic Director of the Global MBA program at EDHEC Business School in France and Honorary Professorial Fellow with the Sydney Business School in Australia. She has recently been selected as one of the World’s Top 40 under 40 Business Professors by Poets & Quants. Julia’s research focuses on leadership, high performance cultures, and technology usage.
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Tags: Leadership, Culture, HR
APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS WITH PHIL STRAZZULLA
Garrison Leykam
March 24, 2022
Phil Strazzulla is founder of SelectSoftware Reviews, a website dedicated to helping HR and Recruiting teams to find and buy the right software through in-depth, expert advice. He started his career working in venture capital before getting his MBA from Harvard Business School. Phil is an expert on Applicant Tracking Systems, one of the Top 9 HR tech influencers to follow in 2022, and recently published The Top 13 Best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – 2022.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
THE FUTURE OF HR
Garrison Leykam
March 08, 2022
Kevyn Rustici is Area Vice President and Strategic Human Capital Consultant for Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage, risk management, and consulting firm. He is a critical partner with business leaders and HR departments to understand how programs directly impact the bottom line so they can work to together to unlock the full potential of their people, while designing great places to work so their team members deliver a greater return on their investment. Kevyn has successfully demonstrated that HR departments no longer must be cost centers to the business but can become profit centers yielding a greater return on their people investments.
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Tags: Leadership, HR, Future of Work
INGRID CAROZZI: FROM JOB HOPPER TO RENOWNED FLORAL DESIGNER
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
March 08, 2022
Ingrid Carozzi is one of the premier floral artists in New York City. But, her very successful career path was anything but direct, having held jobs as a flight attendant, English teacher, croupier, waitress, and public relations associate. She tried five different college programs, none of which provided the academic spark to light an ideal career destination. With growing feelings of self-doubt and an inability to find her place in the world, a chance encounter would set her on a late bloomer trajectory to career success and personal fulfillment.
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Tags: Leadership, HR, Future of Work
SUSAN ROGERS: FROM SECRETARY TO “PURPLE RAIN” ENGINEER TO BERKLEE PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR
Garrison Leykam
March 05, 2022
After attending a Led Zeppelin concert at the LA Forum, 20-year old Susan Rogers vowed to return one day and mix sound for an amazing band. She kept her promise to herself and engineered Prince’s “Purple Rain” which notched the artist’s first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 where it resided for 122 weeks and was certified Platinum with 25 million copies sold worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It earned multiple Grammys and the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film “Purple Rain.” At the top of her craft, Susan reinvented herself, earned her PhD, became a Professor at Berklee College of Music, and is author of the forthcoming book, This Is What It Sounds Like. Her career track is music to the ears of anyone looking to achieve a life of passion, purpose, and achievement in any field.
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Tags: Leadership, HR, Future of Work
JENNIE MCCORMICK: SCHOOL DROP-OUT TO NOTED ASTRONOMER
Garrison Leykam
March 01, 2022
In 2005 Jennie McCormick helped co-discover an unknown planet in a solar system 15,000 light years away. She was the first woman amateur astronomer to discover a new planet since William Hershel in 1781. A few years later she discovered a new asteroid. Jennie’s been a co-author of over 20 scientific papers, including the prestigious publication Science. She became an internationally respected astronomer by shattering the traditional walls of entry into the scientific community. All the way from the Farm Cove Observatory in Auckland, New Zealand Jennie shares her incredible career path on Java, Jobs, and YOU. Her story will resonate with anyone looking to achieve a life of passion, purpose, and achievement in any field.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
JOB SEARCH AND CAREER LINGO
Garrison Leykam
February 04, 2022
When I produced and hosted DINERS for Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) and wrote Classic Diners of Connecticut for The History Press, I immersed myself in diner lingo, the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek and even sometimes risqué phrases could be heard in wide use in busy diners during the 1920’s continuing on well into the 1970’s. Diner lingo was a spontaneously developed mnemonic means of making orders easier to hear and remember above the conversational din of the busy diner.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Future of Work
CAREER REINVENTORS ARE A NEW BREED OF CROSSOVER ARTISTS
Garrison Leykam
February 02, 2022
Musical crossover artists appeal to multiple audiences based upon their music “crossing over” into two or more record charts for different musical styles or genres. As far back as 1954 rhythm and blues (R&B) began transitioning to what would become doo wop. “Sixty Minute Man” recorded in 1951 by the Dominoes (#1 R&B, #17 Pop charts) was the first significant R&B record to crossover to the Pop chart. “Crying in the Chapel” recorded in 1953 by the Orioles (#11 country chart) almost made it to the fabled top ten and showed that there was a white audience for R&B records. But it wasn’t just R&B that was changing the music scene.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture
IF YOU THINK THE CAREER GRASS IS GREENER SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU BETTER HAVE PLANTED YOUR OWN SEEDS
Garrison Leykam
January 30, 2022
A clear benefit of riding out the blizzard of 2022 is having the uninterrupted time to read John Kaag’s Hiking with Nietzsche. Working as a career coach and frequently assisting clients to see beyond the magnetizing allure of switching companies or even careers to find nirvana, I couldn’t put down Kaag’s masterpiece and its relevance to my own career. The tendency to switch careers to find happiness can easily become a habitual avoidance of identifying what you truly want to do and be in life and the impact and legacy you want to make.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
NEW PODCAST SLATED FOR FEBRUARY 2022
Garrison Leykam
January 21, 2022
I’m excited and must share with you why: I was beyond thrilled to have my daughter-in-law, Hannah, ask me over the holidays if I want to co-host a business podcast together. “YES, OF COURSE,” was my nano second reply. There’s nothing more exciting than her idea of co-hosting across the pond between England and Connecticut and across generations on a global podcast with a popular business theme.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
JANUARY & FEBRUARY: BEST JOB SEARCH MONTHS
Garrison Leykam
January 04, 2022
January and February are the best months to seek out a new job and make a career change. Hiring budgets for the year have been approved and employers are motivated to jumpstart the year by filling open positions. Hiring activity that was delayed in November and December can now move forward and the backlog of unfilled 2021 jobs are out there. Many companies pay annual bonuses in December, so a lot of people wait until January to change jobs. Companies expect this so they look to make lots of new hires in January.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, COVID19
DISC PROFILES FOR LEADERS, TEAMS, SALESPERSONS, AND JOB SEEKERS
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
December 11, 2021
Garrison Leykam is a Certified DISC Profile Analyst (CDPA). DISC is a personal assessment tool used to help improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace by providing a common language people can use to better understand themselves and those they interact with—and then use this knowledge to reduce conflict and improve working relationships.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
THE GREAT QUIT WILL CONTINUE INTO 2022
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
December 08, 2021
Organizational psychologist Anthony Klotz coined the term “Great Resignation” in 2019 when he predicted a voluntary mass exodus from the workforce in the near future. In April 2021, Klotz’s premonition began to come true…And will continue into2022.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
HOLIDAY CAREER GIFTS
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
December 03, 2021
There is no better time than December, right before the hottest job search months of January and February, to give that special person a gift that will go a long way in their life ...
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
GET READY FOR THE HOTTEST JOB SEARCH MONTHS
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
December 03, 2021
January and February are the best months of the year to look for long-term, full-time jobs since these are the months most companies receive updated budgets and sales forecasts. Are you ready?
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
PREPARE FOR YOUR JOB INTERVIEW LIKE A ROCK STAR
Garrison Leykam
November 27, 2021
Successful musical artists build audience profiles to understand their fanbase and cater their music towards them. Knowing their fan demographic enables them to make better decisions about which social platforms to spend the most time on, how to best communicate with them, where to play more shows, and choose what songs go into an album. When fans feel connected to an artist, they are more likely to market an artist’s music to others, buy their merchandise, and drive concert ticket sales.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture
COACH STRENGTHS NOT WEAKNESSES: LESSONS LEARNED IN THE RECORDING STUDIO
Garrison Leykam
August 20, 2021
A frequent request I receive from HR professionals requesting executive coaching for managers is, “How can we develop better team leaders so that they can improve performance?” Ironically, while most organizations prioritize learning and development only about 1 out of 10 are prepared to address it and most don’t realize the degree to which an existing L&D platform can be contrary to moving the overall organization forward. Ideally, a robust learning and development strategy should be the foundation of performance and empower employees to drive better business results, elevate employee satisfaction, future-proof the business, enhance employee experience, and increase retention. However, it’s hard to realize those notable goals by starting out with a negative: Talent Gap Analysis.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
THE HIDDEN SECRET TO GROWING INSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Garrison Leykam
August 15, 2021
The single most powerful predictor of performance is the sense that a person has the opportunity to use his or her strengths every day at work. Research from the Gallup Organization has demonstrated that negative feedback is 40X more effective as a team leadership approach than zero feedback. But, positive attention is 30X more powerful than negative attention and 1,200X more impactful than ignoring people. So, if paying attention to what people can’t do is a leader’s typical default strategy and attention is directed at giving negative feedback, there’s a lot of human potential being left on the table.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
TAKE A CAREER LESSON FROM INDIE ARTISTS
Garrison Leykam
August 13, 2021
Only you can manage your career. It used to be when the world was younger that the company you worked for would train you, promote you from within, and basically take care of you all the way to retirement. That dream has ended. It is up to you and you alone to know what you want your next job to be, in what industry, what skills you need, what certifications are required, and how much education is essential.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture
YOUR JOB TITLE CAN MAKE YOUR RESUME A HIT
Garrison Leykam
August 11, 2021
Among the platinum-selling songs that Jimmy Webb has written are “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “Worst That Could Happen”, “All I Know”, and “MacArthur Park”. Inherent to his songwriting genius is that he always starts with the song title before writing a single lyric. For Webb, lyrics are constructed to tell a clear story based upon the title. So, too, résumés.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
NEGOTIATE THE REMOTE JOB YOU WANT
Garrison Leykam
August 09, 2021
Working remotely has emerged as one of the benefits workers value most in employment, especially in achieving work-life balance. A Morning Consult survey revealed that 87% of respondents want some form of remote work and almost 50% will consider leaving a role without access to at least partial virtual work. The new work-life integration is having a significant impact on the future of the workplace. But one mistake I see job seekers make is limiting their search criteria specifically to “remote” opportunities. Don’t narrow your search. Apply for the position that resonates with you, get to the interview, secure the offer, then negotiate remote work as a win-win situation for you and your employer. Here are a few guidelines:
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Future of Work
HOW TO ASK ABOUT COMPANY CULTURE IN A JOB INTERVIEW
Garrison Leykam
August 06, 2021
Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall in their engaging book Nine Lies About Work have demonstrated through extensive international research with major companies that the idea of a company culture is “useful fiction” in that it can’t explain one’s experience of work. “So strong is our identification with our ‘tribe’ (team) that it’s hard for us to imagine that other people inside our company are having a completely different experience of ‘tribe’ than ours. Yet they are-and these local team experiences have far more bearing on whether we stay in the tribe (company) or leave it than do our tribal (cultural) stories.”
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Culture
THE RING OF YOUR RESUME
Garrison Leykam
August 05, 2021
The purpose of a résumé is to generate interest in scheduling the interview and, as such, is like the trailer to a movie: give the prospective employer enough to readily see your candidacy “fit” and motivate them to schedule you for an interview to learn more. That is where and when you can drill-down. A good trailer excites potential filmgoers just enough to make them want to go see the movie without giving away all the details. The same goes for a résumé. The running time of the movie trilogy The Ring was 11.2 hours. The trailer ran a mere 1:49. The film grossed $2.9 billion.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
THINKERS360’S TOP 50 GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERS & INFLUENCERS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Garrison Leykam
August 02, 2021
I am honored to be recognized in Thinkers360’s Top 50 Global Thought Leaders & Influencers on Entrepreneurship and to be among such notable colleagues.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship
SHORELINE DINER PARTNERS WITH CAREER COACH TO HELP JOB SEEKERS
Garrison Leykam
July 03, 2021
GUILFORD — Diners have left a huge impression on Garrison Leykam’s life. As an Army brat growing up, Leykam remembers the first time he stepped into a diner in New Rochelle, New York, where his family had decided to set down roots after his father left the military. He has always seen them as centers of the community. “I immediately fell in love with diners,” he said, because these cozy restaurants always helped him feel at home during his years working as a salesperson and being on the road.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, COVID19
THE NEW NORMAL STAFFING AGENCY
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
May 16, 2021
The official number of unemployed Americans is 10.1 million, according to the Labor Department. But there’s another government data source that indicates a much higher number of unemployed at 18.3 million people. As more Americans get vaccinated and we begin to see Covid-19 start to appear in the rearview mirror, we should anticipate almost 20 million people starting to return to the workforce, many leaning heavily on staffing agencies to reenter the career marketplace. How these agencies reposition and rebrand themselves will determine their productivity, profitability, efficiency, growth, and even survival.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, COVID19
THE POST COVID 19 LEADER
Garrison Leykam
May 03, 2021
Even the most recent articles on management compare this century to the one prior in demonstrating how the principles, processes, and practices of business leadership have evolved. However, Covid-19 has so pervaded the organizational zeitgeist that any student of management must look at the pandemic as a pervasive leadership game changer warranting separate yet equally impactful considerations.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, COVID19
LINKEDIN HELPS YOU ACCOUNT FOR EMPLOYMENT GAPS
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
April 22, 2021
According to LinkedIn, “79% of hiring managers today would hire a candidate with a career gap on their resume.” However, do not interpret that to mean a prospective employer is not going to want to know why. To give you an edge, LinkedIn has added a new feature that allows its members to address career gaps right on their LinkedIn profile. Here is how:
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Tags: Management, Future of Work, COVID19
10 STRATEGIES FOR GETTING YOUR RESUME THROUGH APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS (ATS)
Garrison Leykam
April 14, 2021
With rare exceptions, almost every Fortune 500 company and a rapidly growing number of small and mid-sized businesses filter résumés through an applicant tracking system (ATS) before or if a hiring manager ever looks at them. Jobscan research found that 98% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS while a Kelly OCG survey estimated 66% of large companies and 35% of small organizations rely on recruitment software. Fact: 70% of résumés are never seen by employers. Big companies get thousands of résumés each week (50,000 per week for Microsoft and 75,000 per week for Google). There is no time for a human to go through each one. ATS cuts approximately 70% that do not match the required criteria.
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Tags: Leadership, HR, Business Strategy
MICRO-CREDENTIALS CAN HAVE MACRO IMPACT ON GETTING A JOB FASTER
Garrison Leykam
April 09, 2021
Unlike a traditional college course or workshop in which learning is linear and time-based, the micro-credential learning process is a unique online experience. Participants can self-pace their learning in an authentic, meaningful way. Micro-credentials are mini-qualifications that demonstrate skills, knowledge, and/or experience in a given subject area or capability. Also known as nanodegrees, micro-credentials tend to be narrower in range than traditional qualifications like diplomas or degrees. For job seekers, especially older workers, earning micro-credentials can make your résumé stand out from other candidates and demonstrate how you’ve augmented your skills over time.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Strategy
“STAY-AT-HOME MOM” IS NEW LINKEDIN JOB TITLE
Garrison Leykam
April 07, 2021
A shout out to moms! LinkedIn is recognizing your hard work by making its social network more inclusive for stay-at-home parents. It’s official: “stay-at-home mom” and “stay-at-home dad” are new LinkedIn job titles!
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Tags: Management, HR, Future of Work
LINKEDIN PROFILE ADVICE FROM 1944: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Garrison Leykam
April 06, 2021
Harold Samuel coined the phrase “Location, location, location” in 1944 when he founded Land Securities, one of the United Kingdom’s largest property companies. In 2021, his quote is as valid today when it comes to being found and searchable on your LinkedIn Profile.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
PUT OFF RETIREMENT AND FIND ANOTHER GIG YOU LIKE
Garrison Leykam
April 05, 2021
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects the trend of older people working to continue, estimating that 13 million Americans age 65 and older will be in the labor force by 2024. While earlier generations viewed retirement as a time for rest and relaxation, in the last 10 to 15 years, the retirement age has crept up to 68. As of February 2019, more than 20% of Americans aged 65 or older were working or looking for work, a 57-year high, according to federal data.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD UPDATE YOUR RESUME NOW
Garrison Leykam
March 30, 2021
If the most recent version of your resume is on a floppy disc in that lower drawer of your desk that you only venture into when it’s the place of last resort for finding something you’ve lost, it’s definitely time to update it (as well as save it on the Cloud!).
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Tags: Cloud, Management, Leadership
COVID-19 HAS REDEFINED THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
March 20, 2021
American multinational software company Citrix Systems, Inc. partnered with OnePoll to survey 7,250 employees in 12 countries to determine how their attitudes and expectations on work have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Three findings strikingly illustrate how the workplace we formerly took for granted will be unrecognizable in the future of work.
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Tags: HR, Future of Work, COVID19
AGEISM STRATEGIES FOR YOUR 50+ JOB SEARCH
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
March 05, 2021
In states that require helmet use for all riders (operators and passengers), 99% of motorcyclists wear helmets. Nowhere near the same compliance when it comes to age discrimination in the workplace.
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Tags: Leadership, HR, Future of Work
NETWORKING ON LINKEDIN ~ TAKE THE POLAR BEAR PLUNGE
Garrison Leykam
February 07, 2021
The polar bear plunge is held during the winter when participants enter a body of water despite the extremely low temperature. For LinkedIn members who have used the premier business networking site as just another online place to download their résumé, putting their toes into the networking waters often freezes them into inactivity.
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Tags: Social, HR, Business Strategy
IF JOB DESCRIPTIONS COULD TALK
Garrison Leykam
February 05, 2021
Joel Schwartzberg, in his insightful article, What Job Description Jargon is Actually Saying, makes this important point: A job description (JD) is more than just a summary of a role. A JD may hold more clues than first meets the eye, including hints about corporate culture, the true prioritization of their needs, and what might be secretly negotiable. Knowing how to find these clues may give you a distinct advantage over other applicants. Knowing how to find these clues may give you a distinct advantage over other applicants.
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Tags: Leadership, Culture, Future of Work
IF ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW YOU LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN YOU ARE GOING TO BE LEFT BACK IN YOUR CAREER
Garrison Leykam
January 31, 2021
By 2022, 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change. The solution: develop a continuous learning mindset throughout your career because lifelong learning is more important than ever before.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Business Continuity
THE KEY TO RESUME KEYWORDS
Garrison Leykam
January 24, 2021
Keyword Density: “On-page SEO” is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. When used correctly, it can help attract search engines and boost a page’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). When ignored, it can keep a page from ranking or even result in a search penalty, removing it from SERPs altogether. Keyword density is an element of keyword optimization that refers to the number of times a target keyword is used on a webpage. If you’re an aspiring marketer, learning how to calculate keyword density is fairly easy. You simply take the number of times the target keyword appears on a page and divide it by the total number of words on the page:
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
11 RESUME TIPS FOR 2021
Garrison Leykam
January 07, 2021
To get the interview for your next career move, your résumé has to communicate that you are the ideal candidate. Here are 11 résumé tips for selling yourself in 2021
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
LINKEDIN CAREER EXPLORER: THE SECRET SAUCE FOR CAREER TRANSITIONS
Garrison Leykam
January 03, 2021
The path to a new job isn’t always clear. But, one way to get a handle on figuring out your next move is LinkedIn’s Career Explorer which helps you uncover potential career path transitions and see how your skills match to real job titles.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, HR
TOP TEN 2020 LINKEDIN CHANGES FOR YOUR 2021 CAREER BRANDING
Garrison Leykam
January 02, 2021
TOP TEN 2020 LINKEDIN CHANGES FOR YOUR 2021 CAREER BRANDING
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Tags: Social, Management, Leadership
NARRATIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND YOUR LINKEDIN CAREER STORY
Garrison Leykam
December 06, 2020
Narrative psychology, a term was introduced by Theodore R. Sarbin in Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct , investigates the value of stories and storytelling in giving meaning to individuals’ experiences. It’s an especially relevant topic for job seekers, especially late blooming career changers, when it comes to writing your summary for your LinkedIn About section. According to legendary film professor Howard Suber, “You seek your destiny; you succumb to your fate. Destiny originates within the self; fate comes from outside. Fate is the force that lies beyond individual will and control; it pushes you from behind. Destiny is the attracting force in front of you that acts like a magnet and that you choose to acquire.” Controlling your career destiny should shape the story you tell in your LinkedIn Profile About section.
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Tags: Leadership, Culture
USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO FUEL YOUR CAREER SEARCH
Garrison Leykam
December 05, 2020
LinkedIn is unquestionably the social network for job-seeking professionals – even if you’re not looking right now. 92%of recruiters use social media in their work today and LinkedIn is the social network they use most. But, don’t eliminate other social media sites in your online job search toolkit. Here’s how they stack up in terms of recruiters’ use in their candidate hunting:
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Tags: Social, Leadership
ARE YOU A T-SHAPE OR I-SHAPE JOB CANDIDATE?
Garrison Leykam
November 30, 2020
T-shaped skills are referred to in job recruitment to describe the abilities of candidates. The vertical bar of the T refers to expert knowledge and experience in one particular area. The horizontal top of the T refers to an ability to collaborate with experts in other disciplines. Immensely empathetic T-shaped individuals can see through others’ eyes, walk in their shoes, listen actively, and create solutions that build on their ideas. They shine in diverse, collaborative teams and standout among recruiters and hiring managers compared to I-shaped job applicants.
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Tags: Innovation, Leadership
SENIOR JOB SEEKERS: ARE YOU FUELING YOUR CANDIDACY WITH GF, GC OR A MIX?
Garrison Leykam
November 24, 2020
With the exception of diesel fuel, the choice of train engineers, truck drivers and automobile owners who are indifferent to this highly corrosive fuel causing serious damage to a car’s paint job if left unwashed, most drivers select from three octane levels: regular (87), mid-grade (89) and premium (93). Today’s vehicles are technologically advanced enough to tell the difference between lower octane gas and higher octane gas. The electronic fuel management systems detect the switch and adjust the ignition timing and fuel injection to cope. Similarly, Applicant Tracking Software aka ATS can match a resume against a posting and determine whether a candidate match is regular, mid-grade or premium.
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Tags: Leadership, Autonomous Vehicles, Business Strategy
IS YOUR CAREER A SELF-DRIVING CAR OR AN OPEN ROAD MOTORCYCLE
Garrison Leykam
November 23, 2020
I love motorcycling. Riding has been a passion of mine since I was a teenager. The joy of traversing the terra firma on two wheels has continued well into my adulthood and motivated me to ride over twenty thousand miles of highways and main streets crisscrossing the state of Connecticut to research Classic Diners of Connecticut for The History Press.
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Tags: Management, Leadership
CHALLENGE TO UP & OUT EMPLOYERS
Garrison Leykam
November 21, 2020
Robotics and AI are rapidly changing the way goods are manufactured today but the typical career is still stuck in 20th century assembly line thinking. Employees take an entry level job, move up the ranks, get promoted, make more money and then are forcibly put out to pasture as part of the up & out employer attitude as to how business works. Up & out is based on the principle that older workers become a liability in their 50s and 60s and that younger employees have more to offer. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
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Tags: AI, Innovation, Leadership
NOW IS THE TIME FOR LATE BLOOMING
Garrison Leykam
November 09, 2020
Let’s pretend for a moment you and I are taking a road trip. The luggage is secured, snacks are within reach, the GPS is plugged in and the gas tank is filled. You lean over to me and ask, “Are you ready?” I respond, “No” and proceed to get out of the car, select the screwdriver from my Swiss army knife and remove the side mirrors. I reenter the cabin and you yell, “Are you crazy?” to which I unaffectedly respond with, “Oops, forgot this one” and remove the inside rearview mirror as well. You have now deemed me certifiably crazy as well as a significant safety hazard. I account for my actions with, “We’re not here to look back and see where we’ve been but rather to experience where we’re going” and I toss the GPS out the window.
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Tags: Leadership
HEADS UP ON RESUME HEADERS
Garrison Leykam
November 08, 2020
You may not be familiar with names like iCIMS, Bullhorn and Ascendify, but these software gatekeepers decide whether your resume or online application is passed through to a hiring manager or discarded. Commonly referred to by their acronym, ATS, Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) compares submitted resumes and online applications to job postings to determine whether there is a strong candidate match to what the employer is looking for. Resumes and online applications are stored in a database and recruiters can search submissions using keywords and phrases to identify who to advance through the hiring process based upon applicant rankings. Avoid this one critical mistake so many job seekers make on their resume!
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Tags: Leadership, HR
THE NEW INTERVIEW QUESTION: BE PREPARED TO ANSWER IT
Garrison Leykam
November 07, 2020
There is a new interview question that is rapidly becoming standard during Covid-19: “What did you learn during the pandemic of 2020?”
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Tags: Innovation, Leadership
THE ART OF BLOOMING LATE
Garrison Leykam
November 02, 2020
My idol for as long as I can remember is George Plimpton, American journalist, writer, literary editor, actor and occasional amateur sportsman. Plimpton is renowned for “participatory journalism” which included competing in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. His influence on me spanned my career and inspired me to be a career coach; producer, engineer and talent scout for London Records; host my own radio show on WSTC/WNLK; produce and host for public television; write several books; perform at iconic venues like CBGBs and Nashville’s Bluebird Café; head-up my own record label; serve as a senior leader for companies including MCI, Cablevision and Cablevision; and even take a motorcycle trip across Egypt featured in New York Rider. I am a staunch believer that you can achieve fulfillment and do meaningful work at any age.
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Tags: Management, Leadership
TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
October 17, 2020
The hiring manager is impressed with your resume and you did well enough on the Zoom prescreen interview that the company wants to bring you in for an in-person meeting. You depart early and arrive on time. You remembered to bring extra copies of your resume and are prepared to take notes
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Tags: Leadership, HR
SKILLS MAKE YOU RETRIEVABLE AND RECOMMENDATIONS MAKE YOU BELIEVABLE
Garrison Leykam
September 25, 2020
When you want to be found by recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn remember that Skills = Keywords and play a significant role in matching you to what a prospective employer is looking for. So, make sure you are taking advantage of all 50 Skills slots on your LinkedIn Profile and that your Skills are targeted to the positions you want to be found for
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Tags: Management, Leadership
ERROLL GARNER’S MESSAGE ABOUT MEANINGFUL WORK
Garrison Leykam
September 19, 2020
I had the honor and pleasure of handling production for legendary jazz pianist Erroll Garner for London Records. Known for his signature playing style that involved his right hand playing behind the beat while his left strummed a steady rhythm and punctuation, his words were music to my ears and continue to inspire me: “Playing is like life. Either you feel it or you don’t. Nobody can hear you read music.” So, too, others can’t see our dreams but if we live our calling and serve others our work has purpose.
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Tags: Management, Leadership
DON’T LEAVE DIVERSITY OFF YOUR RESUME
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
September 19, 2020
Don’t leave off diversity in your resume. Diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnicity, generations, religion, sexual orientation, life and work experiences, language, and anything else that gives you an expanded perspective. Employers look for key abilities and attributes that demonstrate a candidate’s diversity experience
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Tags: Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion
WHAT DOES YOUR LINKEDIN ACTIVITY CONVEY TO EMPLOYERS
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
September 10, 2020
Your LinkedIn Profile Activity section will only appear IF you create and post content. Think of your Activity section as a highway billboard. The average driver will only have about 5 to 10 seconds to view a billboard, read any text and comprehend the message. What do you want the recruiter (driver) to see in your Activity (billboard) that strengthens your job candidate potential? Your goal should be to increase your visibility, not only in your field and with your peers but with recruiters and hiring managers. You’d be well-served career-wise to post content on LinkedIn that continuously promotes you as an expert in your target next career step.
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
CREATE THE RÉSUMÉ TRAILER TO THE MOVIE OF YOUR CAREER
LinkedIn
May 20, 2020
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Tags: Social, Future of Work, COVID19
HOW-TO NOT SELF-SABOTAGE YOUR REMOTE JOB INTERVIEW
Garrison Leykam Career Blog
May 07, 2020
Remote interviewing has taken center stage with employers who are looking to screen job applicants. It’s a trend that has been increasing in recent years but has escalated dramatically with COVID-19’s impact on being unable to travel for in-person interviews. Social distancing has quickly made virtual interviewing a recruiting staple so it’s to your benefit to master it.
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Tags: Future of Work, COVID19
Tips for Adding a Visumé to your Job Search Branding Package
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April 16, 2020
Video resumes were first introduced in the 1980s for use and distribution on VHS tape, but the laborious technology dampened the idea and it never took off. However, with the modern capabilities of transmitting streaming video via the internet, video resumes aka visumés are taking on new populari
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Tags: Business Strategy
Keep Your Career Search in Perpetual Forward Motion During COVID-19
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April 14, 2020
The Beverly clock is the closest anyone will ever see to a “perpetual motion machine.” Invented in 1864 by Arthur Beverly and located in the foyer of the Department of Physics at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand this clock has yet to be wound and dependably keeps running on atmosp
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Tags: Leadership, Future of Work, Business Strategy, COVID19
Working from Home without Losing Your Mind
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April 13, 2020
COVID-19 has made working from home an inescapable reality, especially challenging for straphangers, rail riders, and road warriors who’ve made commuting to and working from an office part and parcel of their daily work life. The new distractions and absence of familiar job routines can be especia
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy, COVID19
You Have to Thrive, Not Simply Survive, During COVID-19
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April 06, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainty in every facet of our personal and professional lives. It’s quite easy right now to live in survival mode. And, while it is necessary to take care of ourselves and our significant others, when it comes to managing your career you have to not just survi
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy, COVID19
Your LinkedIn Profile is a “Behavior,” not a “Place”
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April 02, 2020
Having a successful LinkedIn profile means being findable and searchable by recruiters and hiring managers. That means having and maintaining the mindset that your profile is a “behavior,” not a “place.” Once you’ve created powerful, keywords-filled Headline, About and
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy
Cracking the Code for Hidden Job Market Opportunities
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April 01, 2020
The “hidden job market” is where recruiters are actively searching for candidates to fill job openings that are not publicly advertised. While most of these opportunities are filled internally through employee referrals, a significant number of them are not. And, that means you have a shot at th
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Tags: Leadership, Future of Work, Business Strategy
5 Questions to Ask Yourself about Remote Work
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March 30, 2020
1. What are the differences between remote work, distributed workforce, work from home, virtual job, work from anywhere, telecommute, and agile workforce? Your answer is crucial to targeting your job search and using the right keywords. 2. Does my concept of remote work allow for business trips and
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Tags: Leadership, Future of Work, Business Strategy
Prepare for Your Video Job Interview
linkedin
March 21, 2020
Video interviews have become an increasingly common part of the hiring process. With the transformational influence of COVID-19 on the job market and economy, video interviewing is already an all-pervasive social distancing and interview engagement tool. Here are 10 tips to quickly help you master the medium:
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Tags: Leadership, Business Strategy, COVID19
Job Searching During the COVID-19 Pandemic
linkedin
March 20, 2020
While the world comes to terms with the COVID-19 pandemic, the job search landscape is being redefined and redrafted in real time. There's no YouTube "how-to" manual for dealing with this all-pervasive new challenge as it impacts your career search. However, I can offer you some constructive feedback from my most recent conversations with hiring managers and recruiters:
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Tags: Future of Work, Business Strategy, COVID19
Eric Clapton, the Pentatonic Scale, and your Transferable Career Skills
linkedin
December 21, 2019
Eric Clapton is one of the greatest rock 'n' roll guitarists of all time and an icon of musical career reinvention. In 1963, he joined the Yardbirds in which his blues-influenced style and commanding technique began to attract attention. Clapton left the Yardbirds in 1965 and joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers where his guitar playing soon became the group’s principal drawing card on the London club scene. Continuously reinventing his musical career, Clapton formed a new band in 1966 with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker called Cream, a sophisticated, high-volume fusion of rock and blues featuring improvisational solos. Clapton’s high energy and the emotional intensity of his playing on such songs as “Crossroads” and “White Room” set the standard for the rock guitar solo.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Business Continuity
Five Ways To Tame Your Fear Of Public Speaking
Forbes
September 13, 2019
igh school, I was so afraid of being called on to speak that I would sit in the back of the classroom. In college, I so dreaded taking the mandatory public speaking course that I put it off every semester for three years, upon which I transferred to another school where it was no longer required. In my early business career, I never wanted to respond to questions in staff meetings and was terrified of having to make presentations (and I was in sales!). As a certified professional career coach, public speaking has become key in establishing myself as a thought leader, building my client base and helping others develop strong public speaking skills to add value to their own careers. So, how did I go from cowering in the back of a classroom to most recently presenting in a theater that seats more than 2,500 people? I did it by taking several roads less traveled and picking up a few tips along the way.
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Tags: Leadership
Five LinkedIn Profile Tips From A Successful Career Chameleon
Forbes
August 15, 2019
My personal LinkedIn profile is in the top 25 MA, Ph.D. profiles in the United States, is in the top 1% LinkedIn industry social selling index (SSI) and has the highest rating (All-Star), and I’m in the 4% of LinkedIn members statistically deemed Super Connectors. It didn’t get that way by accident or complacency. The biggest surprise to me, however, when I recently took stock of my profile, is just how much of its strength reflects the chameleon-like diversity of my colorful career path. Here's how you can enhance your own profile.
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Tags: Social, Leadership
10 Lessons From The Music Industry On How To Rise Up In The Gig Economy
Forbes
July 30, 2019
Midway through my decade as a producer, songwriter, engineer, performer, and artists and repertoire executive for London Records during the height of the British wave, I was an analog guy struggling to escape the undertow of receding vinyl LPs, 24-track tape machines, cassettes and 8-tracks as CDs and digital recording were quickly revolutionizing the recording business. But, as I reflect back on the 70s a half-century later, and the fact that according to Intuit, 43% of Americans are projected to be working in the gig economy by next year, the success lessons I learned from music while “gigging” are timelessly relevant to the emerging future of independent gig work.
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Tags: Social, Marketing, Business Strategy
Defining Success And Failure Precedes Career Reinvention
Forbes
July 05, 2019
When Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, co-writers of the Oscar-winning screenplay Annie Hall, were interviewed in 1977 by journalist Susan Braudy for the New York Times, Woody would be credited with telling the world that, “80% of life is just showing up.” Woody’s often quoted comment actually reflected the post-World War II stage in the evolution of the American worker when paternalistic employers were still offering their workers job security and retirement in exchange for loyalty. But, today, “just showing up” no longer generates job security nor is it the path to finding the elusive meaning in work that so many yearn for.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy
Audacious at Any Age
Postcards from the Highway of Life
Classic Diners of Connecticut
Audacious at Any Age: Second Act Strategies from a Career Chameleon
DESIGN YOU
Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC)
Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW)
Certified Remote Work Professional
Certified Life Coach - Expert Rating
Certified Remote Work Professional
Certified Employment Interview Professional (CEIP)
2nd Act: Garrison Leykam
GARRISON TALKS ABOUT 2ND ACTS WITH RADIO ICON BRAD DAVIS
Garrison’s amazing life journey from music producer to corporate podium
Connecticut's Best Diners: 22 Great Greasy Spoons
Special Guests on Those Diner and Motorcycle Guys
Author Writes Book On Classic Connecticut Diners
New book about Connecticut diners
Kristi DePaul on Compensation Negotiation
TRACEY GENDRON: AGEISM UNMASKED
Kevyn Rustici on The Future of HR
Food, Frogs, And Fondue At Hall Memorial Library
‘Classic Diners of Connecticut’ author talks in Guilford, West Haven
The Resume Leg of Your Career Branding Stool
Certified Business Coach (Expert Level)
Live Your Passion
An Expert's Top 5 Diners
How To Be A Standup Comedian
Touring Connecticut Panel
GARRISON LEYKAM: CLASSIC DINERS OF CONNECTICUT