We all know this past year has been challenging to say the least. When interviewing, consider asking a COVID question such as: “I know the pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption for many companies. How are you, as a manager, doing?”

As we approach a year since many workers started to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic more an more people are finding it hard to separate their work life from their home life. Its easy to do one more email or one more call and before you know if another hour has passed.

When trying to get your resume noticed, do not use bright colors, lines or shapes. This can detract from the message you are trying to send. It’s best to keep it simple with black text, consistent font and clean lines.

When looking to make a career change, make sure you can talk as to why you are leaving your current industry and how your skills will translate into a new job.

If you knew that an effortless gesture could not only change a person’s day but also create a deeper connection between people, wouldn’t you do it? Well, that is what a simple smile can do.

In today’s world, we are all dealing with more demanding work issues and some work from home situations that are less than ideal. Try every couple of weeks to have a complaint-free day. Think about all of your blessings and good things going on around you.

With our days filled with e-mails, calendars, post-it-notes and to-do lists it is easy for our brains to become scattered thus taking away from our insightful and creative thinking.

A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has found "increasing the diversity of leadership teams leads to more and better innovation and improved financial performance." After studying 1700 companies in 8 different countries, they found that the diverse management lead to 19% higher revenue due to innovation. So not only is diversity a metric to be strived for, but it is also important to generating revenue of a successful business.

It’s okay to worry or feel uncertain, but do not allow it to take over your life. The only “right” path is the path that feels right to you. You might accept the new job offer and realize that it wasn’t a good culture fit or that there were far more responsibilities than you were prepared to take on.

Remember job interviews are not a one-way street. You, as the job seeker, are interviewing the company as well. While we all know to have a shortlist of questions to ask of your interviewer, one question that many candidates fail to ask is, “Why is this job open?”

When asked “Why do you want to work here?” during an interview, the hiring manager is trying to figure out how knowledgeable you are about the company and that you are genuinely interested in working there. One of the best ways to show that is to give a story that connects you personally to the company.

We all know interviews can be stressful. During your next interview, consider asking some light, get-to-know-you questions to help put the interviewee at ease, build rapport and determine if they'll fit within the company culture.

Here is an interesting article highlighting 4 things you can do to enhance your next video interview.. Click here to read the article.

According to John Bowe, a contributing writer for The New York Times, being a great public speaker has nothing to do with your personality, with overcoming shyness or learning to act confident. It’s a technical skill that nearly anyone can acquire.

Your brain needs time to relax and restore itself. Instead of booking back-to-back meetings, leave yourself a few minutes to recharge before starting your next commitment. This can mean taking a short walk, closing your eyes and meditating for a few moments, or even just socializing with colleagues about topics unrelated to work.

1. Upload a photo

2. Spice up your introductory ‘Headline’

3. Use the ‘About’ summary to sell yourself

4. Beef up your ‘Experience’ section

While working remotely has its benefits, it can render some employees invisible. If you want to maintain your career progression, you have to be intentional about making yourself visible to the people who can influence your future. Problem-solve, communicate and initiate touch points with your manager. Make sure they know you are there and doing good work.

Your answers to these questions should demonstrate your personal qualities and illustrate those "soft skills" often relentlessly claimed on resumes.

Behavioral interview questions typically focus on common problems faced at work. Employers are looking for examples that you have demonstrated key soft skills like these:

In 2014, the United Nation's General assembly designated July 15th World Youth Skills Day to promote youth skills development and abilities. Here are five skills you can hone using free online courses during the coronavirus lockdown:

Now more than every it is important that you do not have anything that could discourage a hiring manager, like tasteless content or complaints about a former job or boss. In a recent CareerBuilder study, they found 70% of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates, and of those that do, 57% have found content that caused them not to hire candidates.