Career Development
Wherever you are in your career, we can discuss next steps with building/tailoring resumes, improving interview skills, or enhancing workplace communications. I've successfully worked with both government and private sector clients.
Finding a Job
Whether you need help in one, some or all of these spheres, we can help.
Resumes (Private Sector and Federal)
Having a strong, carefully edited and appropriate resume is vital for job applications. And what to include and exclude? How can you fold life experiences into your resume?
Job Applications
Job postings seem straightforward enough (sometimes) but are they?
Where should you look for jobs?
Navigating USAjobs
The behemoth of the government repository of many federal jobs is comprehensive at best and confusing at worst. If government positions interest you, don’t try to tackle usajobs.com alone.
Cover Letters
Cover letters are losing relevance in some spheres; it’s true. It doesn’t stop some jobs from requiring them, though, and at the end of the day, a strong cover letter - even if not required - can make your application stand out. The trick is to know how to write them.
Interviewing
Whether you’ve gone through zero or 100 interviews, you can always improve by understanding what the interviewers are trying to assess.
Networking
One of the key elements in finding a job, in many spheres, is networking with both people in and outside of your field. There are strategies for doing this, whether you are an extrovert or introvert, and we can talk about the means to get this underway.
Activities in these spheres might include breaking down job descriptions, editing and building different resumes, interview question guidance, mock interviews, and discussions of professional aspirations.
"Tanja is amazing! I start my new job in a week and she was there for me through every step of the way! From getting my resume written from scratch and tailored to my field, to tackling the interview head on, negotiating my salary, making sure I made the best impression in my emails, and most of all calming down the numerous anxieties, concerns, and questions I had along the way. She made navigating this yearlong process so much easier and I’m so grateful to her! I couldn’t recommend her more!" - Katie
"Working with Tanja has been the greatest personal and professional investment in my career! Tanja assisted me with interview preparations for many incredible roles. Tanja provides honest and open constructive professional feedback and helped me to polish my interview skills. As a result of my work with Tanja I was able to secure several high visibility roles which allowed me to propel my career forward tremendously. She also supported and assisted me during very difficult interview preparation tasks. For instance, she helped me to polish my executive presentation that I successfully conducted to senior corporate leaders. Not only working with Tanja equipped me with an array of incredible interview skills, but it also allowed me to realize the level of my professional competencies and gave me confidence to step into the interview process with the sense of accomplishment and high level of preparation. I work on interview preparation with Tanja continuously, especially when I go through the interview process for a highly desirable role. Tanja is an absolute wealth of knowledge and professional experience! She is an absolute treasure and she builds a tremendous amount of value while supporting me in my interview preparation process. I cannot thank Tanja enough for her incredible efforts allowing me to realize and maximize my professional skills and talents! "
Kristina K.
"Before I took Tanja's guidance towards the end of 2023, I had already been job hunting for 5 months without success. Though I had solid qualifications and several years of experience in the tech sector, I was finding it difficult to get responses from companies even for job descriptions that I thought I was a great fit. Tanja helped me understand the nuances and the importance of tailoring resumes to individual job descriptions and walked me through some of these job applications. Most importantly, she also showed me how to use these approaches in a broader sense so that I was able to do it on my own for several job applications. Within a week, I was getting back three times the number of responses from potential employers. In another couple of months, I was contacted by the hiring manager of a very large tech company in the Bay area which soon led to a job offer. Tanja helped me understand and discuss the non-technical aspects of the job offer with the manager, and I was able to reach a compensation package that is far above what I was willing to settle for during my initial months of job hunt. Tanja is straightforward and honest. This was especially important to me since I was skeptical at first after having gotten poor advice and recommendations from people who tried to be helpful beyond their expertise. Tanja will let you know when something is outside her area of expertise and this earned my confidence in her and her advice, which ended up serving me very well in my job. I highly recommend Tanja and am grateful for her help all along the way in securing my current job!" - Joseph