Lauren McGoodwin, Author at General Assembly Blog

About Lauren McGoodwin

Lauren McGoodwin is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief for Career Contessa, a collection of informational interviews with women across a variety of occupations that provide career inspiration, direction and information.

How to Create Perfect Elevator Pitch for a Career Change

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career change

As the founder of a career mentorship platform for women, I spend my days speaking with people who want to change careers but aren’t interested in starting over. They’re terrified that taking risks might mean losing everything they’ve achieved. They agonize about explaining “gaps” on their resume during an interview or at networking events.

Lucky for them (and you), I have good news: changing careers doesn’t mean sacrificing your past. It means building from the experience you have and leveraging that in a strategic way.

What’s more? There’s a simple (seriously, it’s four steps) way to incorporate both your career change and past experience into your elevator pitch. It’s the perfect solution to that dreaded question: “So, what do you do?” for those of us who, frankly, have done a whole lot.

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How To Make Your LinkedIn Profile More Recruiter-Friendly

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Getting-The-Most-Out-Of-LinkedIN

By this point, you probably have a LinkedIn profile and are familiar with how to use the site. You’ve filled out the profile requirements and made sure your LinkedIn presence is professional and polished (and if you’re super on top of it, you might have added a cover photo!), but can you say your profile is recruiter-friendly?

It’s a great idea to invest some time in optimizing your LinkedIn profile specifically for recruiters, because many companies use a tool called LinkedIn Recruiter to search for candidates via keywords, location, industry and a number of other parameters. I know this because I was a recruiter  for a number of years, and LinkedIn Recruiter and I were BFFs. Plus, with 250+ million users, you can see why recruiters use this tool A LOT.

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5 Ways to Follow Up After a Job Interview

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Landed an interview at a company? Congrats! Dedicated time to research the role and prepare questions to ask your interviewer? Smart! Assuming they will let you know what happens next? Nope.

Following up after your meeting matters almost as much as the interview itself, and yet many people opt to do nothing for fear of making the wrong move.

But doing nothing is the wrong move because it increases your chances of being forgotten. With the right tactics, you will stay top of mind, and impress the hiring manager.

These five tips will help you follow up tactfully and effectively after your next interview:

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6 Steps to Advance in the Job You Already Have

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6 Steps to Advance in the Job You Already Have

There is an overwhelming amount of advice out there for job seekers, but what about advice for those looking to advance in their current jobs? Back when the economy tanked and so many people were suddenly looking for work, the focus on career advancement took a backseat to finding a job. Now that the economy is stabilizing, it makes sense to also focus on how to succeed once you land the job.

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