The long lazy days of summer always tempt me to slow down, work less and savor the fruits and outdoor concerts.  Now that I run an Italian ice cart in downtown Ann Arbor, my summer’s are far busier and brimming with projects and work.
So when I wrote about summer job search for the Washington Post and ways to network at summer picnics for Glassdoor.com, I felt the heat rising on summer as a work-able season. Businesses move full speed ahead in the summer months (and some are in overdrive). Many people land jobs in July and August, and many more get interviews that lead to jobs in September.
Yet sometimes the summer slowdown still beckons. So lately, I’ve been using summer to swing my motivation into super-speed, and you could too. Consider these :
* August is a great time for temping. It’s also a great time to sign on for contracts for projects that must be finished in the fall. August ranks as one of the biggest months for vacations, and yet projects and products still need to launch in the coming months. So polish up your resume and approach three temporary agencies this month. (For more on picking a temping agency see my AARP Bulletin article . )
* Reward yourself with a picnic or watermelon. Set a couple of goals for the week — whether it’s writing, promotion, outreach or developing relationships or LinkedIn profile. Make sure it’s a goal you can achieve – like contacting five human resources or hiring managers or finishing two chapters in a book  you are writing. Then when you achieve them, help yourself to a luscious serving of summer.
* Use summer’s beauty to inspire you. Take a small note pad along for your morning walk to capture ideas. When you’re on a garden tour, introduce yourself to the organizers – or better yet volunteer to be a docent. Saunter through a farmer’s market and make note of those that are thriving – they may need a part-time social media manager or marketer. As you kayak or hike, use the tranquility to restore your balance and build your confidence.
* Plan for summer bliss. Even if you’re jobless, you have friends who are going on vacation. Maybe you could stay at their house for a week as a “get away time.” Or plan a couple of pool parties at your neighbor’s pool and offer to bring along lemonade and plenty of fresh vegetables and dip as a summer snack. Take a long weekend to see friends – and don’t plan any networking or job search during mini vacation. If it happens anyway, that’s organic growth.

And as my articles pointed out, people are sometimes more open to conversation and networking at summer social events. Here’s some of the Washington Post tips from Kate Wendelton of the Five O’Clock Club and Tom Dezell, author of “Networking for the Novice, Nervous or Naive Job Seeker,”
Just don’t spend too much time in conversation about your career strategies at the picnic or garden tour. Save that for indoors on a work day when success — not sunshine and summer games – is the focal point.

Article links:

Washington Post summer search heats up:  http://bit.ly/cJXwAi  and sidebar / tips: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/10/AR2010071001115.html?waporef=obinsite

Glassdoor blog post: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/working-summer-picnic/

AARP Bulletin temping can be tempting but requires research http://bit.ly/9ONrsF

You feel bombarded with information, in every medium available. Facebook, LinkedIn, Brazen Careerist, email, Twitter and text messages all deliver insights, information and materials worth reading.
I feel that way too, which is one reason I wrote “Why You Need a Career Curator” for Fortune magazine.Most people need help with the oceans of blogs, websites, newsletters and books coming at them.
The article in the July 5 issue of Fortune has some great suggestions on managing all that, mostly by making better choices and using technology – Google Reader, bookmarks and more.  (The article is not yet available online but it is on newsstands.)
“You can’t digest that much informtion – the human brain can take in only so much information,” said Mary Ellen Slayter, a former Washington Post writer who now edits SmartBrief e-letters including Your Careers and Leadership.
Here’s five other suggestions for keeping the flow of information focused and usable:
1. Seek blogs and information specific to your industry, your profession. Even in career advice, you may find blogs focused on finance careers or writing careers or many other niches, Slayter said. Look too at the growing targeted social media communities – some focus on a profession, others on a city. Before you sign up for another RSS feed, blog or e-letter, ask yourself: “What value will this bring me?” and “Why do I need this now?”

2.  Look for ideas and insights backed up by research. Seek accuracy and currency and some research-based writing, says Cuyahoga County Public Librarian Bonnie Easton. Ask yourself: “Where is their authority? Where are they getting information from?”

3. Use lists and tags to track different topics. These work on Twitter, on Google Reader and even in your email in box. Once you have different tags and lists set up you need to decide how often to review them. Some may require 10 minutes a day; others may be once a week quick run-through.

4. Just say no. Go through your e-mail inbox and look for e-letters and other regular materials that you seldom or never open. Those are the first to go. Then consider which ones feel like a chore and don’t deliver any “aha!” or “good idea” boosts. Unsubscribe from one or more of those. And then look at what else comes in regularly that could come out without much loss.

5.  Develop places and processes for saving. The valuable articles and insights could be parked someplace for later reading – perhaps  Google Documents, a Word file or a section of your blogs. Or create a system within your organization for stashing and sharing the best stuff. “That gave me a place to go back and find them,” said Erin Young, a user experience consultant in Austin, Texas. Then she left the company – and now she uses GoogleDocs.
“Occasionally you find a gem, and it’s easy to lose that gem,” she said.
Remember that you too could be part of the overload and career information clutter if you’re not careful. So use Twitter thoughtfully. Post responses when you have something valuable to add to the discussion, not just so your name shows up. Blog posts need to “create a unique contribution,” Young said.

And above all, Young and I both believe it’s important to use social media sites such as LinkedIn to nurture your in-person relationships, not to drown them.

As a business development tool, gratitude and thank you notes sound soft and unlikely — but may make a difference.
As a way to set yourself apart from the other job candidates, they certainly work.
As a way to encourage lasting relationships with clients or colleagues, they can be remarkably effective.
And as a way to cultivate a more positive attitude and gratitude, say thank you to the thank you notes you send.
My pile of thank you notes and appreciations brings me joy for years after I received them. They came from former interns, people I’ve profiled and staffers whose jobs I have saved or created.
So when I interviewed Heidi Kallett for the Washington Post Capital Business, her message of thank you notes as a tool to build your business immediately resonated with me. The article which is out this week explains much of her thinking and approach to them.
So I decided to look further at thank you notes, and what others say about them. On LinkedIn, I found many endorsements.
“The thank you note has more purposes than to simply show courtesy and professionalism, it extends the interview. I always tell my workshop attendees that the interview is not complete until you have sent the thank you note.,” Bob McIntosh wrote in a LinkedIn Answer recently. McIntosh is a career trainer for Career Center of Lowell, Mass., and points out thank yous allow you to  correct any miscomunications that might have crept in.
“Taking the time to send a Thank You shows a lot of class and consideration,” Jason Shinn wrote on LinkedIn. He’s a business and employment lawyer in metro Detroit and has invested in them. “There are plenty of opportunities where a little appreciation for someone’s time/assistance is warranted.”
Next I did an online search and found more fans at university career centers and career coaches. Many give many sample thank you notes, which are good for starters but shouldn’t become your de facto approach to sending appreciations.
Then I returned to Heidi Kallett, a past President of the Junior League of Northern Virginia
who writes more than 100 thank yous a year to her clients, vendors and others connected to the Dandelion Patch shops. She learned to write thank you notes from her mother and has been developing her skill for years. I asked her to share her best advice in developing a thank you note habit. She suggests:
1. Choose a pen that you enjoy writing with-- ballpoint or roller ball? Blue or black? Fine or Medium point? Everyone has a preference, so find yours -have it at the ready.
2. Come up with several collections of stationery. The glittered high-heels don’t work for interview follow-up, but would be greatly appreciated by your BFF when thanking her for your birthday gift. Typically professional correspondence is either soft white or white in color with a tasteful and simple design – or only your monogram.
3.Avoid the text tokens. When writing a professional thank you note, stay away from any smiley or frowning faces, the emoticons that pop up in text messages.
4. As a habit, try to find 5-10 minutes a week to write notes of gratitude. Keep a post-it note or journal with your list of friends, associates that you’d like to personally thank. Writ notes all at one sitting– trust me, it is easier to do them all at once than to write one a day.
5. Always keep a roll of stamps ready. You don’t want any excuses as to why these notes can’t make it into the mailbox.

Very helpful advice for getting motivated to send thank yous.

Finally, I came up with a few techniques of my own for making your thank you note memorable and enjoyable:

• Make it timely. Send a note within 48 hours of the event or the favor. Don’t wait longer than a week. That will make it easier to write and it will have more impact if it arrives promptly.
• Make it personal. Don’t try the “one size fits all” thank yous. Tailor it to the person you’re thanking or the occasion you’re noting. Include specifics from shared jokes to insights you picked up.
• Make it true to you. Your personality needs to shine through in the notecards and even the stamps. Some people will never send thank you notes with angels or flowers to their corporate clients. Yet I have – and will again. Some prefer the crisp pinstripes and sincerely signature that match their dress code and approach. Others will sign off with fondly or peace.  Make yours match your professional persona.
• Make it joyful. Consider how good it feels to receive something upbeat in the mail. Think about the good things that will grow from your connections. Think about your thank you note bringing smiles and good feelings for years to come, pinned up on a bulletin board or stashed away with memorable letters and card.

Feel the gratitude and joy of the thank you note as you write them. And then feel hopeful that they will be seeds well planted that will bear fruit for you or your business.

Exceed expectations.
It’s the easiest recipe for success around, yet it’s not as simple in practice as in theory. Instead, you could get so caught up in workplace drama, social media connections or personal dreams that you forget the advice of  Dale Carnegie, the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and the creator of a huge training company. Said Carnegie: “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”
The persistence especially paired with critical thinking and creativity really can raise you up. My latest article in the Washington Post offers pointers to recent graduates and others who are stuck in a barista job when they know they should be the coffee shop’s marketing director. Turning a basic job into something better starts with your ability to excel.
So how do you do that, especially if you’re 23 and worried about your college loans and career path?  Here’s five approaches to help you “underpromise and over deliver” no matter what job you landed:
UNDERSTAND WHAT’S EXPECTED. Know the basic requirements of the job – and the measures of success that will be applied to you and your boss. Sometimes these are not what they seem:  Pizza sales may be the mainstay of the business, but if your shop owner has decided to diversify into salads and sandwiches, those may be the measures that really count.
Ask for a written job description. Ask coworkers for the real story. Ask questions about expectations – “What are the best ways to spend any extra time when things are slow?”  “What’s a benchmark of sales you’d like me to hit?” and “What else is expected of me?”  Then after you’ve been working for a few weeks, ask them again – and different ones again.
A CAN-DO, CREATIVE ATTITUDE.  Your attitude determines your altitude, as the saying goes. So choose one that will help you fly. Among the best: enthusiasm and energy, confidence, creativity, a willingness to take on new work, a willingness to do the dirty work, persistence, good humor and helpfulness.
Now you may not have these as natural parts of your personality. Then fake it. Put them on like you put on your comfortable sneakers or your apron.
INTENSE FOCUS.  Some young people think because they have an easy job – scooping Italian ice and selling lemonade for example – they can just take it easy, chat with friends and go with the flow or just hang out and daydream. They forget instructions; don’t watch the weather or disappoint customers. They forget to focus. It’s a big mistake.
To impress your boss, concentrate on all the big and little details of the job. Focus on making things run smoothly and making your mark.  By paying careful attention, you may come up with some great ideas to improve sales, or engage customers or organize the shop. By focusing on your job like a professional soccer player focuses on the game (World Cup or regional league), you will improve your game – and eventually be a star.
EXTRA HOURS.  You may have a 7 hour 15 hour a week job. Yet you know that if you could work 20 hours, you’d really shine.  So do it – even if you aren’t paid for most of the extra time.
That’s how my former Newsday intern Julie managed herself – and managed to write more cover stories and feature articles than anyone else on an academic internship ever had. She chased stories on the weekends and stayed late to come up with better examples and quotes. She was amazing and impressed us with her efforts and her results. At the end of the internship, she had an excellent portfolio, some great experience – and excellent references.  (Julie now works for a National Public Radio station and from what I can tell still is a star.)
AMAZE THE BOSS. And if you can, impress the boss’ boss while you’re at it.
This is the most difficult to do, especially if you work for a boss who’s been around a while, or who has a cynical perspective or who has very high expectations, as I do. Small things – like bringing her coffee with the right amount of cream or a chocolate truffle – won’t work. Big things – like landing a new six-figure client or solving a situation that has dogged her for a month – will.
As a boss of Mity Nice, the Italian ice cart business I co-own, I’d be amazed if one of my teen employees hit $50 an hour in sales for two or three shifts in a row. And I’d be amazed if someone spent a couple of hours recruiting friends and others to our Facebook page – and doubled or tripled our count. And I’d be thrilled if someone discovered shortcuts for opening more quickly and efficiently, and taught everyone how to manage this feat.
In summary, you need to be a star in your starter job while reaching up for the step-up job and demonstrating your stellar talents for it. You need to exceed expectations.

It could be title inflation or education’s advantage. Or executive privilege. Or more responsibilities.

Whatever the reasons, an executive assistant makes a lot more than a secretary – about 60 percent more last year, according to Compensation Data annual pay survey

As they celebrate Administrative Professionals Week, the secretary has little to celebrate on the wage front. She averages just $31,300 a year  – or about $602 a week – according to Compensation Data’s 2009 survey of 5,300 employers.

Administrative assistants fares a bit better, earning $35,700 on average, or $687 a week.

Better still to work as an executive assistant , who makes an average of $49,600, or $954 a week.

Of course, the executive assistant job generally requires a bachelor’s degree and at least three years experience as an admin, while many secretaries can get hired with a high school diploma and a good recommendation.

The pay gap between the three sisters of admin jobs has existed for years, since at least 2004, Compensation Data’s surveys show.

The federal government’s Occupational Outlook Handbook also acknowledges the wide variety of salaries, reflecting varied skill levels and responsibilities. It shows a $11,000 median pay difference between secretary and executive secretary and administrative assistant  (who are joined in one group in the Labor Department reports). That gap grew by $1,000 or more in recent years.

Secretaries and administrative assistants are still one of the largest occupations in the United States, with 4.3 million workers in 2008. Of that, 1.59 million serve in higher paying executive and administrative assistants jobs, an increase of more than 10 percent over three or so years.

The fastest growing administrative job through 2018 will be medical secretaries, which will add 125,000 jobs for a 27 percent gain. Some of the openings, the government report notes, will result from admins leaving their profession, or getting promoted to higher and better paying jobs.

The best paying admin jobs are found at music / recording companies, securities exchange or brokerage houses or the executive branch of the federal government. Their annual paycheck tops others by a $11,000 a year or more, or more than 30 percent, the government reported.

So if you’re taking your secretary or admin to lunch this week, use the time to discuss her career goals and ways to build her skills. Or give her a professional membership or some educational reimbursement instead of flowers, OfficeTeam suggests. (It has a downloadable report called 25 Ways to Recognize Your Staff .)

Just don’t call her a secretary in handing out an assignment, a gift – or a raise.

This posting was adapted and updated from a Washington Post Working from three years ago. I hold the copyright on this article and all my blog posts.

Turn it on today.  It’s Tuesday -  and it’s the most productive day of the week.

That’s the view from the executive suite, and a 2008 Accountemps survey of 150 top managers at major companies. Some 57 percent picked the third day of the week  – yes, that’s Tuesday — as the day staffers really work at peak performance.

Mondays don’t make it because of all the catch-up and meetings, though they used to rate higher on productivity measures.

Forget about Fridays – those are the days when weekends beckon and some staffers are already missing.

And the other weekdays garnered barely one in 10 productivity picks.

Tuesday also was named the most productive day in Accountemps surveys in 2002, 1998 and 1987. The reason officials give: Tuesday’s efforts establish momentum for the rest of the week.

At Ruby Tuesday’s on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, Tuesdays are one of the busiest days. “Tuesday is a day when they come out for lunch. Lunch is like the Wilson Bridge at the height of rush hour,” said assistant manager Mike Burke. “Everybody is trying to get into one space at one time.”

So staff move fast -  and customers mostly eat fast so they can get back to work and rev up their output.

If you’re looking to use your Tuesday wisely, consider the advice from Alicia Hicks, a B2B sales expert who writes SellingWoman. She suggests filling the day with “client meetings you are excited about, the kind where you have the best likelihood of leaving with a signed contract.”

Or consider the advice from Accountemps, when they proclaimed Tuesday’s importance:

• Sharpen your focus. Cluster tasks that require similar efforts or resources into one timeframe.
• Plan your day. Map out your desired accomplishments each morning.
• Don’t delay. Procrastination doesn’t work, so start chipping away at the chores.

My favorite productivity tool is a to do list – right there on a yellow pad I see everything I hope to accomplish for a day or two. And I’m also partial to a couple of productivity blogs, though too much time on them can eat into my productive Tuesdays or Thursdays. One I like is Stepcase’s LifeHack. Or check out a couple more Accountemps’  Tuesday  productivity tips here.

This posting was adapted and rewritten from a Working item I created for the Washington Post. I hold the copyright to these. In the interest of being more productive and thoughtful about reusing my writing, I am offering some of them on WorkingKind.

V

If you want lots of vacation time for kayaking or hiking in India or Indiana, try to win a job at Great Harvest Bread, Clif Bar or New Belgium Brewery. After a year, their lucky workers earn 24 days or more of paid time off, according to Outside magazine.

Better yet, land at Livestrong, which encourages those with cancer to live well. and you’ll have unlimited paid vacation as long as you don’t abuse the privilege.

These companies make Outside magazine’s third annual best places to work list – 50 employers that understand work-life balance provides time for mountain climbing, extreme sports or travel to see untouched beaches or bayous.

The No. 1 company this year is Natural Habitat Adventures in Boulder, Colo., which grants 15 vacation days and profit sharing among other perks.  The company hires field staff and adventure travel guides who the company boasts, bring guests “face-to-face with a giant polar bear, reach out and pet a friendly gray whale, and sit amongst a family of mountain gorillas.”

Natural Habitat offers staffers free “site inspection travel,” Outside reports, and discounts of up to 80 percent for family members who want to see “wild and ancient China” or the shrines and elephants of Nepal. Neither staff nor customers are expected to rough it; they stay at hotels and lodges the company says are “specially chosen to bring you closer to nature and offer you an intimate look at the area without sacrificing comfort.”

Travel is a perk and a reward at several top companies. Staffers went whale watching days (at MindBody) or on a team-building white water rafting trip (Dominion Digital) while Realeflow took its crew on an all-expense paid cruise to the Bahamas last year.

If you’re thinking a vacation is just what you need, remember that one-quarter of American workers do not get paid vacations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vacation time for a worker with one year’s tenure varies from nothing to 19 days, with four in ten receiving 10 to 14 paid leisure days, the BLS reported.

Unlike most other best places to work lists, almost two-thirds of the Outside employers are small – fewer than 100 total workers. Many have 20 or fewer total staffers – enough to field a really good soccer team with a few colleagues to cheer from the sidelines. Only a handful qualify as big businesses with thousands of crew members- they are W.L. Gore and Associates, Eddie Bauer, Cheaseapeake Energy and Aspen Skiing Co.

Many of the best employers are clustered in Colorado, California or Oregon, and only a smattering are found in my home region of the Midwest. (Minneapolis has two – advertising/PR firm Carmichael Lynch and Quality Bicycle Products.)

Nearly two-thirds of the employers are in the outdoors industry, and many sound like fabulous places with great practices and values. Yet I could really see myself working at Paradigm Group, a Nashville, Tenn., employee benefits consultancy, or The Dream Program, a nonprofit youth mentoring organization, and at Natural Habitat, when they’re ready to have a full-time writer / blogger aboard.

The article and list are not posted yet, but eventually you’ll be able to see all 50 workplaces on Outside’s website.

For now, I’ll share this list of the top 10 best employers from Outside:

1. Natural Habitat Adventures Boulder, CO, travel  tour operator

2. NewBelgium Brewing Fort Collins, CO, brewery

3. Clif Bar & Company Berkeley, CA, organic food manufacturer

4. Smith Optics Ketchum, ID, sunglass manufacturer and goggles

5. Amer Sports Winter & Outdoor Co. Ogden, UT, outdoor gear and apparel

6. Rally Software Boulder, CO, project-management-software developer

7. Tabar, Inc. Bethel, CT, glove manufacturer

8.  LeBoot Camp Dover, DE, online diet and weight-loss program

9.  Seventh Generation Burlington, VT, earth-friendly household products

10. Paradigm Group Nashville, TN, employee-benefits consulting

Outside’s third annual list of best places is chosen using confidential employee-satisfaction surveys and other materials chosen and analyzed by Best Companies Group of Harrisburg, Pa. The companies were ranked based on their ability to balance worker productivity with an active, eco-friendly lifestyle.

And if you don’t see a company on the list that suits you or is in your geographic boundaries,  you still can find a potential employer with high quality of worker life. A while ago, I wrote a piece about ways to scope out workplaces for the Washington Post.

And I wrote about an array of employers who make Fortune magazine’s best places to work list year after year in a blog post in January. I’m reposting it here (after a web hacker took out all my earlier posts).

After Hurricane Katrina hit, an “enormous wave of good will and generosity flooded” VolunteerMatch with people and projects.  So the nonprofit that matches people with non profit organizations and assignments itself posted some volunteer positions, for people with tech skills.

Chad, an Intel veteran, showed up, and volunteered full-time for about two months. He loved  VolunteerMatch and so when a job opening came up, he said, “I want it.”

“He got the job from the volunteering bench. We all knew how smart and committed he was,” recalled Greg Baldwin, president of San Francisco-based VolunteerMatch.  Baldwin acknowledges that Chad’s story is “one in a hundred.” A more likely scenario, he said, is someone who is actively volunteering for one nonprofit ends up referred to another with an opening, perhaps even before the job is posted.

I wrote about this job-hunters benefit of volunteering for CareerFocus in a piece titled  ” Volunteer your way to new work.”  It provides some useful advice and suggestions to those who want to make their generosity pay off.  (You can see the article by opening this rather large PDF and looking in about three pages, or searching for the term “volunteer.” CareerFocus is produced by Washtenaw Community College in Michigan.)

Baldwin, of course, believes volunteering belongs on your resume – whether you’re working or not. And so do many employers and hiring managers, especially those who are active volunteers themselves.

Truth be told people who work part-time are much more likely to help out at a non-profit, school or religious organization than are unemployed individuals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Maybe that’s because they haven’t realized the value of volunteering to their career as well as their community.

Volunteer assignments can be used right on your resume to show how you developed new skills or kept your current ones sharp. Integrate it into the paid work area if you’ve had a significant assignment or volunteered for more than one day a week at an organization. Label the assignment pro bono but you don’t have to make that a prominent piece.  Or create a separate category and call it Community Work or Pro Bono Projects.

A third approach, for those who are less actively volunteering:  Place it in the Interests section at the bottom of the resume. Definitely show volunteering ahead of hiking or baseball or mushroom gathering.

“It definitely matters. We don’t distinguish between paid work and unpaid work generally,” said Tracie Spinale, the Smithsonian Institution’s academic program manager who helps hire 1,300 interns a year. She likes to see previous internships, and also volunteer work at local museums or science centers.

Other employers like to see community service and volunteering as a a way to develop leadership skills, add to your connections or make you a well-rounded individual.

“The people who get jobs are the people who are busy,” said Baldwin, who with his staff volunteers once a month at places such as Habitat for Humanity. “People seek those associations where people stretch beyond themselves – to see some acknowledgment that you’re concerned about neighborhood or community.”

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MORE RESOURCES:

Career coach Laura Labovich offers six ways to implement a generous job search on Careerrealism.com

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has advice on moving from volunteer to paid status, and ways to combine pro bono and paying gigs.

I wrote about the value of pro-bono and between-job assignments for the Washington Post in July. See my piece http://bit.ly/aXDMDr

If you’re not sure what kind of volunteer assignment to seek, my CareerFocus article has hints, or check out this list, which I produced for the Washington Post:

• Join a cause that is timely and relevant to the industry where you want to work. Read execs’ bios or check corporate websites to see what charities they support.
• Skip a controversial cause or charity – or at least don’t put it on your resume. Among the pass on them are abortion rights, gun advocacy, some religious groups.
• Community groups, food cooperatives, neighborhood associations can be valuable, as can chambers of commerce and business groups. They may introduce you to your next employer.
• Kids and pets are  safe popular areas, as is a professional organization or association.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you’ve fallen off your career track and feel the weight of your misstep on your reputation and your resume.

Yet so many famous and successful people have been fired, screwed up their careers and otherwise needed to stage a comeback.  Harvey Mackay featured dozens of amazing people – from Michael Bloomberg to Larry King to tennis great Billie Jean King in his book “We Got Fired!…. And It’s the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Us!”  It came out a few years ago and I still refer to it as a powerful reminder that sudden departures can open doors.

My recent Washington Post article gave some advice oncareer comebacks.

One of the experts for the piece is John A. Sarkett, who compiled two books “Extraordinary Comebacks” and “Extraordinary Comebacks 2.”  He’s an marketing and public relations firm owner in the Chicago area who blogs about comebacks.

He believes the one essential trait of the 450 people in his two books is simple: “They never gave up.”

“Some forge ahead with great family support, others don’t have that, in fact they have instead the derision of their family (restaurateur and Food Network star Paula Deen).  Some of our comeback stories are genius visionaries, some are very ordinary people.  But they all have desire,” Sarkett told me.

As part of our email interviews, Sarkett provided these seven smart actions for making your way back:

1. PERSIST. Don’t quit.  It took Sir Edmund Hillary two attempts to climb Everest, Perry eight times to reach the North Pole, and various authors scores and sometimes hundreds of tries to get their works published. “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”  Sir Winston Churchill.
2. WORK HARD. Great “comebackers” use every hour in the day: Food Network star Paula Deen barbecued late at night; boxer George Foreman out-trained younger fighters to win the championship.  You may find your comeback  in the effort you make.
3. UNDERSTAND TRANSIENCE. Don’t extrapolate temporary setbacks into permanent defeat.  It won’t last. Lance Armstrong was given a tiny chance to survive cancer, yet he won seven Tour de Frances.   Churchill again:  “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
4. CHANGE DIRECTION. Sylvester Stallone was stymied as an actor, so he wrote Rocky after seeing the Wepner-Ali fight.  Quincy Jones was a talented trumpeter, but after a stroke, he had to quit. He transformed into a renowned music producer.
5. DEVELOP SUPPORT. Stay away from  nay-sayers, even if they’re famous or going to be. Hang out with friends who won’t let you quit.
6. STAY HUMBLE. Attitude  is everything.  When tennis master Andre Agassi fell from No. 1 to No. 141 as he abused drugs including crystal meth , he started over, back to the minor leagues, upped his training.  It set the stage for greater things.  Attitude – not image – is everything.
7. DREAM BIG. Your effort and ideas are worth many times what you may imagine.  Fred Smith wrote a college paper that got a “C,” as the story goes, then turned it into $40 billion FedEx.  J.K. Rowling wrote her ideas about a fictional boy.  Harry Potter sold 100 million copies, and $4 billion movie box office, and counting.  You too can more than you imagine.  Dream big.

These “to dos” were edited down from Sarkett’s original list and they are valuable even if all you can muster is following three of them.

Sarkett also thinks Tiger Wood’s fall from grace after an accident and disclosure of his string of affairs carries an important message for anyone who’s making it today. Woods showed up in Sarkett’s first book after rebuilding his golf swing. Now he has a bigger comeback to stage. The lesson: “No matter where you’re at, you’re not more than one day’s drive from a comedown and that life is nothing but a series of comebacks strung together.”

If you’re looking for some new places to look for work, look no further.

The U.S. Department of Labor has brought together 60 online career sites in one place. And the sites weren’t chosen by bureaucrats, but by individuals, employers and career experts and others who voted for their favorite tools in January.

The new suite is founded on the CareerOneStop page and includes everything from the obscure to the Monster. I wrote about this recently for the Washington Post, and am already using some of the resources myself.  Others are on my “to explore” list.

Besides jobs boards, you’ll find resources for planning your next career and information on scholarships, skills assessments and more.

Here’s one category — the Labor Department’s recommended Social Media Job Search sites:

Door64.com – (http://door64.com)

GreenJOBS.pro – (http://greenjobs.pro)

JibberJobber.com – (http://www.jibberjobber.com)

JobHunt.org Twitter – (http://twitter.com/jobhuntorg)

Jobs-Assistant – (http://www.jobs-assistant.net)

LinkedIn – (http://www.linkedin.com/)

Linkedin Jobs Group – (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1976445)

Susan Ireland’s YouTube Playlists – (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=326ccae042d03e86)

Susan P. Joyce’s Linkedin Group – (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1713867)

TweetMyJOBS.com – (http://www.tweetmyjobs.com)

My hope is that everyone – employed and unemployed alike – find at least one new resource here, and better yet three or 30. We all need a full toolbox to keep our careers running smoothly.