How can you find a role that is a good fit for you and your personality? With the advice to “do what you love” and “follow your passion” abounding online, many strive to match their vocations with their personal interests in an effort to be happier at work. Conventional wisdom suggests that people who are good at and enjoy what they do – while they may be in the minority – are happier and more successful in their jobs.

How can you be one of those people? Philip Hardin is the CEO of YouScience, a scientific, online profile that measures aptitudes and interests and helps students set a direction for their educations and careers. He believes the key to taking control of your career path is finding a career at the intersection of what youâ€re good at (aptitudes), what you love to do (interests) and what the market needs you to do (opportunity). These are his tips to help identify your path:

1. Understand your aptitudes. Hardin defines aptitudes as the foundation for skill development. He asks: “Have you noticed how easy it is for you to acquire skills in certain areas, while in others – no matter how hard you try – you end up average?” Understanding your natural aptitudes allows you to play to your strengths and focus on those areas that will give you a true competitive advantage. “Everyone could use a competitive advantage in this tight job market, but every career requires a different blend of natural aptitudes.

Itâ€s easy to assess your basic skills. For example, are you a strong communicator, or are you good at math? Read job descriptions carefully and map your skills to what the employers want. Some skills are a little less obvious. Do you think in 3D? (What are your spatial relations skills?) How quickly can you diagnose and critique a problem? (Do you have inductive reasoning capabilities?) Knowing your unique portfolio of aptitudes provides you with a foundation to help target your education, skill development and career.

2. Identify your interests. Wouldnâ€t it be ideal if you could do what you love at work? Challenges to this proposition, which include not being very good at what you love and there being few prospects in the field you love, can make it tough to accomplish this goal. Hardin notes: “Doing what you love is one important piece of the career puzzle, but your interests are relative to your experience. Your interests evolve over time as you gain life experiences. They are important when considering a career, because they influence your choices and should direct how you apply your natural aptitudes.”

3. Find the opportunities. The marketplace is constantly changing on an international, national and local level. Whether you are 18 or 50, before you focus on a particular career, itâ€s a good idea to assess the landscape and opportunities. “Is the tide coming in or out for a particular industry or occupation? You have a set of natural aptitudes and interests; it is your job to find out how best to apply them,” Hardin says. “The job market is a moving target. If you are stagnant, it will hurt you.”

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Donâ€t worry, you donâ€t need to get out your crystal ball or hone clairvoyant abilities to succeed. However, you do need to recognize when the world is changing. When you plan to invest in a career, take a long-term view. What does the job growth look like for a career 10 years from now, and what skills are required to compete? Keep your eyes open to trends, and read news in your industry. Ask people in fields that interest you what they believe to be the trends that will affect the industry and work.

Hardin suggests: “When doing your research, be sure to think globally, and try to understand how changing demographics and technology might affect your industry.” Position yourself to take advantage of opportunities as a result of new technology.

Awareness is a big step in the right career direction. Focus on your skills and how they fit the market that interests you, and youâ€ll be on a quicker path to job search success.

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report

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The reality is, in many workplaces, “thank you” is not automatic, and cannot be expected. In the cut-throat environment where many people toil away every day, it takes a lot more than a job well done to attain the acknowledgement or reward you’d like to see.

Here are tips to get the recognition you deserve when you feel underappreciated at work. (Tweet this thought.)

Identify the stars at your organization and follow their leads. 

Once you figure out who’s doing a great job getting recognition at your workplace, you can leverage that knowledge for your own benefit. Did someone get a huge shout out at the last staff meeting?

Why?

Identify key factors that often lead to recognition. For example, what accomplishment led to the appreciation? Perhaps the organization has more of a tendency to appreciate extra effort; is going above and beyond the call of duty needed to attract appreciation? Is someone appreciated in your office because he or she is a really helpful person to have around in a crisis?

Different organizations value different characteristics at work. Once you see where the bar is set in your organization for recognition, you know what you need to strive to achieve.

Offer insights instead of complaining. 

No one likes a complainer. Like it or not, if you have a reputation for always being a downer at work, it’s going to be difficult to achieve much in the way of recognition. That’s not to say you necessarily have to be a “yes man or woman,” either. Be aware of your attitude and keep it in check if you have a tendency to spout off about every single thing that annoys you. That includes comments on social media, especially if you are connected in any way to anyone connected to your workplace.

Keep in mind: your privacy settings are only as good as your least loose-lipped friend.

Be a problem solver. 

What’s the biggest problem your organization or team faces right now? If you can help take major steps to help solve the problem, or come up with a way to solve it altogether, you will earn recognition. If you still don’t feel appreciated, you may be in the wrong job.

Network in and outside of the office. 

Sometimes, appreciation comes hand-in-hand with relationships. If you’ve been skipping team nights out or prefer to lunch alone, maybe it’s time to make a change and to try to get to know some of the people at work. If you’re not a social person, consider it research instead of socializing. Make it your business to determine what’s most important (in and outside of the office) to your colleagues – and your boss, if possible. You may be surprised to find that a few well-placed lunch appointments can yield interesting information that may help you attract the appreciation you deserve.

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Join professional or volunteer organizations. 

While it may not specifically land you appreciation AT work, when you volunteer for your professional association, it’s very likely you’ll have an opportunity to receive some kudos and the “thank you’s” you want at work. A side benefit, you’ll have the opportunity to network with people who can get to know you and your work ethic. Those contacts are key when it’s time to find a new job.

Ask for it. 

While it’s not ideal, perhaps you need to ask for recognition in your workplace. That includes requesting a promotion, a raise or other benefits when appropriate. (Such as after a huge win.) If you don’t get any feedback at all from your boss, request a review. Create a list of your accomplishments and ask for what you want.

It’s possible that you work in a place where the culture is to believe providing a paycheck is thank you enough. If that’s not a good fit for you, after you’ve taken these steps and still aren’t satisfied, it’s time to find a new job where you’ll feel more appreciated.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com. 

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As an employee, whether or not your company incorporates being thankful into its mission, do you feel appreciated? Do you believe you should expect more than a paycheck?

Bryan Miles, CEO and co-founder of eaHELP, a provider of virtual executive assistants, knew he wanted “gratitude” to be featured prominently in his companyâ€s values. Here are his suggestions for all leaders and employees to consider this week and all year long:

1. Donâ€t wait to be grateful. Regardless of your position in an organization, cultivate gratitude as a core part of your work. “Donâ€t wait until youâ€re leading a team, a division or a company to become a grateful leader,” Miles says. “If you do, when you start telling people youâ€re grateful for them once youâ€re in the position you want, people wonâ€t buy it.” He suggests you make sure those around you right now understand that youâ€re grateful for the many ways they help you each and every day.

2. Be humble. Miles believes that if youâ€re a leader, you know down in your gut that what youâ€re leading doesnâ€t have much to do with you. He suggests you acknowledge that youâ€ve achieved your role, in part, because your team works hard and takes advantage of market opportunities. “Your team looks to you for leadership and for guidance, but when it comes down to the day-to-day wins and losses that actually make up your business, you need to know that those donâ€t have much to do with you,” Miles says. “You need to be grateful for the team that powers the engine of your business.” Similarly, as a team member, recognize your role in ensuring your team continues to move forward. Be grateful for everyone around you, and donâ€t be shy about expressing appreciation.

3. Acknowledge that your success depends on others. Being a grateful employee will make you a smarter employee. Admitting that you donâ€t know everything and that everything youâ€ve ever learned thatâ€s made you successful has come from someone or something else helps improve your standing in a team. “Being grateful for those from whom youâ€ve learned is essential if you want to stay humble and teachable and will actually propel you forward in your career,” Miles says.

4. Be sincere. In many cases, being grateful can be disarming. As a leader or a team member, when you are thankful and express it – sincerely and frequently – it will often make people stop in their tracks. “Genuine gratitude is pretty rare in todayâ€s society, which is a shame, but expressing real gratitude sets people apart,” Miles says. If you lead a team, your employees will know when your gratitude is genuine, and they are more likely to put in extra effort. “Grateful leaders have stronger, more effective, more loyal teams,” he says. As an employee, demonstrating gratitude can help set you apart from others in your organization.

Consider how being appreciative at work and expressing those feelings to all team members can help make your organization more successful. When you do, you give the people who work with you even more reasons to be thankful.

Miles says this approach has helped contribute to the success of his organization. He believes his success could very well end, should he fail to incorporate gratitude for those around him. “Gratitude is the only lasting motivator of change,” he says. “Itâ€s the only thing that will propel you to change in the future, if youâ€re grateful for what you have now.”

This post originally appeared in U.S. News & World Reports.

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Are you ready to be appreciated? Perhaps you’re expecting lunch out with the boss or a mug full of candy? Or, maybe you’re pretty sure no one appreciates you at all. (Perhaps it’s time for a new job, no?) Have you stopped to think about what you’re doing at work that should be earning you some major kudos?

Whether you’re employed in a traditional position, serving as a temporary worker or even volunteering while seeking your next full-time gig, keep the following tips in mind to inspire people to to consider you appreciation worthy:

Demonstrate initiative. Itâ€s no surprise that this tops the list. We all prefer to work with people who raise their hands to offer to pitch in. Donâ€t spend key meetings looking around the room hoping someone else will take on the new project. When you step up to the plate and take on additional responsibilities, youâ€ll gain favor with bosses and colleagues and win a chance to enhance your credentials.

Admit when you make a mistake. Isnâ€t it refreshing when someone says, “I made a mistake; let me fix it?” Unfortunately, many people in the workplace prefer to pass blame along or lay low until everyone forgets about the problem. Those who try to pass the buck risk being the victim of workplace gossip that could prevent them from getting a new job down the road. Of course, ideally, you wonâ€t make a lot of mistakes that youâ€ll need to admit, but you can win points in many cases by taking responsibility and making a point to correct the situation.

Learn new things. If youâ€ve been at the job for many years, but havenâ€t made a point to continue your education and attend conferences and trainings, you probably are falling behind your less experienced colleagues. When you want a new job or itâ€s time to start a business, youâ€ll be missing mandatory skills. The best employees always seek opportunities to learn new things, even when theyâ€re otherwise occupied keeping up with the day-to-day tasks. Itâ€s a challenge, but it makes a difference between a good employee and a great one.

Do what you say you will do. Do you follow through and complete promised projects? We all have had colleagues who raise their hand at meetings, but spend the rest of the week avoiding the work they agreed to do. Donâ€t be that person.

Share credit. Rarely do we accomplish big projects at work without someone elseâ€s help. Colleagues who share credit when credit is due generally have better rapport than their more selfish colleagues. Nice guys really can finish first, so look for ways to share the glory.

Know what battles to pick. Itâ€s a rare person who always likes every decision that higher-ups make that affects his or her job. Usually, thereâ€s plenty to disagree about, and lots of big and small battles to wage at work. Successful employees make it a point to keep quiet and not complain until it really matters. If youâ€re the employee who is generally agreeable, it is much more likely that someone will take notice if you have a major concern or complaint. Like the boy who cried wolf, if youâ€re always railing against the rules, most people will stop listening.

Be ready for work. If you need to spend the first hour of your day checking social media and updating your status on Facebook, do that before you get into the office. You need to be ready for work when you get there. You harm your reputation when you donâ€t start your day along with everyone else.

Do the work. It sounds easy, right? Just get the work done. However, itâ€s not always so obvious to everyone that getting the work done is half the battle. Amazing employees find a way to get the work done, even when it means sometimes putting aside their own pet projects or favorite things in order to accomplish a big goal.

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Dan Campbell, 2014 chairman of the American Staffing Association and CEO of Hire Dynamics – a staffing company often recognized on Best Places to Work lists – suggests the following tips to help decide if an organization will appreciate you.

Does the company make it its priority to not only attract, but also retain its talent for the long haul?

Is it pretty clear that the organization is a revolving door, where employees seem to come and go frequently? How can you tell? If most people you meet when networking or interviewing donâ€t have much experience at the organization, it may be a tip-off. You can certainly make a point to ask about the tenure of the typical employee.

“When searching for the right career, no longer are immediate opportunities the top consideration as continued growth has become increasingly more important,” Campbell says. Make it your business to find out if the organizationâ€s culture supports promoting from within. Is there an internal job board? Do people move up the corporate ladder? Do managers support individual career goals? While you donâ€t want to engage with a supervisor by asking how long it will be until you can do something different, if you can get a sense of whether people tend to stay with the organization or not youâ€ll have at least part of your answer about if employees feel appreciated.

Identify if the organization is flexible.

Campbell points to a 2013 global generational study by PwC that discovered millennials believe “enhancing workplace flexibility and equity between work and home is one of the keys to improving job satisfaction.” Most people would likely agree that they feel more appreciated and valued when their organization provides at least some version of flexible work, whether itâ€s on a regular basis or during critical situations. Again, you shouldn’t go into an interview asking about how often you can work from home, but you can ascertain the company culture generally to determine if you would feel valued.

Facilitating a strong sense of teamwork is another way an organization can help its employees believe they’re valued. “A strong, cohesive, team-oriented workplace culture and opportunities for interesting work are important,” Campbell says.

Do benefits go beyond your salary?

“Companies like DreamWorks offer recreational learning opportunities to employees including painting, karate and sculpting,” Campbell explains. “Google, Zappos and Procter & Gamble have designated nap rooms where employees can take 30 minutes to reboot.” While these companies have pioneered the way, Campbell says, “more businesses across a broad range of industries are now warming up to these ideas.” If you like hands-on appreciation, youâ€ll want to find out the type of rewards the organization offers. In the application process you can usually tell if a company offers such rewards – like team contests for restaurant gift cards or a chance to win a half-day Friday – because the company will tell you. These perks give the impression that the organization appreciates its employees.

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Look online.

Online reviews on a website like Glassdoor.com will help you assess how good an organization is when it comes to showing appreciation for its employees. Seek lists of “best places to work,” as many of those companies likely do a good job recognizing its employees for jobs well done.

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report.

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However, youâ€re concerned that having the right skills isnâ€t enough. A buzzword keeps popping up when you look for advice online: cultural fit. It can mean a lot of different things depending on your industry, but thereâ€s no denying the role of personality and culture in making a “right fit” hire for an employer and ultimately the long-term satisfaction for the employee.

In some ways, landing a job is really no different from finding a perfect mate: He or she may look great on paper, but if thereâ€s no chemistry, the relationship falls flat.

What do you need to understand about cultural fit, and how can you use this information to land a best-fit career role? Tonya Lanthier is the founder and CEO of DentalPost.net, which provides dental-related career services. She suggests job seekers consider the following:

1. Skills can always be taught, but culture fit is an absolute must. Of course, your skills are crucial, but employers know they can always train someone to do a specific task. They cannot train a person to be a team player or to be willing to go the proverbial extra mile to get the job done. Lanthier notes: “The old adage ‘hire for skills, fire for culture†is increasingly true.”

You donâ€t want to be caught with the short end of the stick. What are some of the intangibles that dictate culture? Lanthier suggests job seekers, “look for information about the pace of an office, use of technology, flexibility and work-life balance and the little things that ultimately make your work environment a place you want to be.”

2. Culture is generally dictated from the top down, so be sure to ask the hard questions. In most cases, leadership members dictate culture issues for their organization. Of course, this trickles down to a very real culture for their employee that goes beyond the obvious perks.

“A strong culture fit ultimately means happier employees, increased retention and a healthier bottom line,” Lanthier says. “While companies size you up, donâ€t be afraid to ask your own questions and let the best part of your personality shine through. Ask direct questions such as, ‘Does your company have set corporate values?†to identify if their values align with their self-reported culture.”

Show your interest in how the company treats its employees and how you could be a fit, and you could improve your status as a candidate. Keep in mind that itâ€s your job to determine if thereâ€s a strong alignment between your needs and those of the hiring organization. Do your research, and be sure the organization is right for you.

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3. Donâ€t underestimate the power of assessment tests and profiles. Hiring managers may turn to assessments and profile tools to determine whether or not to hire you. In fact, in a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly three quarters of HR managers indicated personality tests and assessments can be useful, and 20 percent are implementing these tools.

Lanthier explains: “These tests canâ€t ever say with certainty, ‘Youâ€re a perfect fit,†but they often provide the needed reinforcement to help align your skills and personality with the organizationâ€s own culture.” Take the tests seriously, and understand the assessmentâ€s role in making a match. Even if the questions seem silly or unrelated to the role, if you want the job, be sure to follow through with the assessment as you would with any job-related material.

Perhaps if the tool is predictive, it will save you a lot of heartache in the long run by preventing you from taking a job where youâ€d be miserable. Alternatively, if youâ€re a great fit, perhaps youâ€ll quickly move to the top of the candidate pool.

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report.

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We are a dedicated team of creative design and illustration warriors and we would like to be your one-stop marketing resource…We take your projects on like they are our own, so you can focus on doing what you love.

It was great to work with a talented artistic and technical team of people who went above and beyond expectations to create the new look. My main goal with this new landing page and site design was to incorporate targeted visuals and to make it easy for first-time visitors to learn about my services and how I can help both job seekers and business owners succeed with their goals.

Another factor in this redesign was my goal to personalize the page. When you work with Keppie Careers, you get me! I wanted to infuse the site with non-generic images that reflect what I offer, which is different from every other social media consultant, job search or business coach and resume writer.

I’ve always wanted a little less “header” and a more prominent call-to-action to invite you to “subscribe” to my updates. (If you haven’t already, please consider it! (Click on the link at the top of the page! You even get a free ebook when you subscribe.)

I’m also excited to highlight my books. This is a reminder of why it’s good to have input into your book’s cover design — someday, it will probably feature prominently on your website.

Another reason for the redesign? If I’m going to advise other small business owners about how to showcase their online brand, or their VIV-id, as Hannah Morgan and I dubbed it, it’s important that I keep my own site updated and focused on what I offer. I decided against the trend to create a never-ending scrolling site, which you may have seen lately. This choice is a lesson, too: learn about the trends, but only use the ones that work for you.

Finally – I relied on several friends and colleagues to provide feedback along the way. Thank you to all of you — you know who you are — who offered advice and ideas and who served as a wonderful “advisory board” for me.

I thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective of my past sites! Do you remember these? If you do, be sure to comment…It’s always great to connect with regular and long-time readers. And, I’ll look forward to meeting you here going forward!

My very first blog design was on WordPress.com and linked to a really basic website. After a year with that setup, I knew it was time to upgrade. (Hard to believe I’ve been blogging for just over five years this month!)

I hired an expert to help move my blog and KeppieCareers.com to one platform. I remember thinking long and hard about the images to represent my services. I chose the checkered tablecloth for the “speaker’s menu,” which was fun, but not perfect, by any means.

 

I enjoyed that first logo (notice the University of Michigan colors?), but I thought it would be great to work with a new professional to create a brand new logo to go with another redesign. We chose the blue and green and the “ripple” design indicating movement. The K on Keppie reaches beyond the blue bar to symbolize reaching beyond where you are now to achieve the next thing! I loved the checkerboard links to my services – this design eliminated a need to find pictures or visuals for those services, which was always a challenge.

The most recent design I just replaced was another upgrade. My services got their own, colorful “buttons,” but I always wanted to personalize it a bit more and to use the landing page’s space more effectively.

Clearly, since I’m on design #5 now as I end my fifth year of blogging, I like to see my webpage design as a bit of a work in progress. I’m sure to add a few tweaks here and there to the newest site, but I hope to stay with this design for a long time! I hope you like it as much as I do!

Thank you for reading my blog. It means the world to me to know that you click over to visit my page. I love when you share or retweet my links — I appreciate it so much. Please keep in touch and keep commenting!

(And, be sure to click to visit the new homepage!)

*Cubicle Ninjas specialize in: Advertising Design, Animation, Brand Creation, Graphic Design, Flash Production, Logo Design, Presentation Design, Illustration, Web Design, Motion Video Production and Sales Enablement Design

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1. Apply for the right jobs. Study job descriptions and highlight the parts describing you.

2. Research companies seeking your skills. Use LinkedIn’s Skills section to help choose suitable organizations.

3. Create and cultivate a professional online presence. Jobvite’s 2011 Social Job Seeker Survey reports 89 percent of companies will use social networks as part of their hiring plans this year. Consider creating and maintaining your own professional website like a social resume.

4. Network in person. Join professional organizations (many will have student or new professional rates) and attend events where you can expect to meet prospective hiring managers and mentors.

5. Practice your pitch. Be able to tell people what you do, why it’s important to them, and about your accomplishments. Narrow down these talking points to a 30-second introduction.

6. Transform your resume into a marketing document. It is not about your past, it’s about the connection between what you can do and what the organization needs you to do.

7. Act like a professional. You never know where you could meet a potential hiring manager.

8. Be a good listener, ask questions to learn about networking contacts, and follow up. Don’t answer your phone or check your text messages or email when involved in conversations.

9. Don’t act like a desperate job seeker. No matter how difficult the job search, always focus on your skills and be positive.

10. Use your time well. Consider volunteering or creating a interim business.

Read all of the detailed tips on my U.S. News & World Report post.

photo by Srikanth Lakshmanan

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For years, people who study workplace trends have been predicting companies will outsource as much work as possible and hire fewer traditional employees. What does this mean for you? That you should maintain a “job search” mindset at all times.

Not surprisingly, one of the best ways to keep yourself in the game is to maintain a strong network, but not just any network; use your time while employed to create an employer community network. Teela Jackson, the director of talent delivery for the contract recruiting and executive search firm Talent Connections, has worked as an internal recruiting consultant for CIGNA HealthCare, Georgia-Pacific, and Turner Broadcasting. She explains an “employer community network” is the group of people who could potentially hire you in the future.

Teela suggests all careerists earn some “job-search insurance” by following these easy steps:

1. Keep in touch.

2. Show, don’t tell. Demonstrate your skills via social media.

3. Stay on top of industry trends.

4. Enhance your personal brand by serving as a resource.

5. Create a community of advocates.

Read the whole post at my U.S. News & World Report post.

photo by mi8

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(Note: I’m happy to have a content sharing partnership with IvyExec. I hope posts from their blog help provide additional resources and ideas for my normal readers, and I welcome IvyExec members to regularly read my blog. Follow the links to learn more about IvyExec.)

Contributed by Barak Epstein and IvyExec.

Perhaps youâ€ve heard of the phrase “Knowledge Economy,” popularized by Peter Drucker in The Age of Discontinuity. If so, youâ€re most likely familiar with the idea that more and more of us work in positions that depend upon the creation, use, and manipulation of knowledge, as opposed to of materials or rote processes.

You understand that the skills that we need to work are changing. Maybe you understand that the skills you need to find a job have changed. But what you may not understand is that your power to define your profession has grown enormously as well.

My key recommendation to you is to think about how your electronic footprint communicates who you want to be, professionally, and what you have to offer. Letâ€s take a look at three electronic leads that have helped to change my career.

A Bloggy Footprint
I was interested in moving from the education field to the technology field. As a result, I built up a series of blog posts on the topic. When I landed an interview with a prominent technology firm, I shared my URL with the interviewer. She later wrote me to say that an article I had written about electronic textbooks in Texas resonated with personal experiences her family had had. I believe that this view constituted a key moment in my job search. My blog didnâ€t have a large following, numbers-wise, but its impact on my life had still been huge.

Donâ€t Let them Forget You: Regular Updates
Twice a year, I send out an update to professional and personal contacts about my achievements, plans and interests. I make sure to make the note conversational and link-filled. The body of the e-mail is short, but the links are rich. I recently was contacted by the head of a think tank that had passed me over for a job two years earlier. He wrote “I have been following closely your incredible career” before offering me interesting contract work. What convinced this gentleman, in the aftermath of my unsuccessful interview with him, that my career was “incredible”? One thing only: My semi-annual updates.

Trust the Crowd: Donâ€t Focus Too Much on Your Targets
Many folks will tell you how to use Ivy Exec, LinkedIn, etc. for targeted searches of companies that interest you or to scope out individuals you would like to meet. Those activities are critical. But donâ€t underestimate the importance of having an electronic network that is large and diverse enough to surprise you. I use Facebook, for instance, to share my thoughts on professional topics and to provide updates on issues at work that engage me. As a result, an acquaintance I havenâ€t seen in 20 years offered me his rich rolodex of contacts at my new firm. I wouldnâ€t have thought to seek him out for this sort of help but I did think to spend time digging up old contacts from the electronic universe.

Summing it Up
You are not the only person bombarded with social media opportunities; the people you seek to influence are in a similar situation. The challenge, naturally, is to get through to them. The opportunity, however, is that you can, through a few well-placed communications, shape the perceptions of those who have increasingly little time to evaluate you. If your electronic footprint is thoughtful, regular, and not over-targeted, I believe that you, too, can make the career change you desire.

The original article can be found on the Ivy Exec Blog.

Barak Epstein is transitioning his career to technology management after working as a teacher and social science researcher. Barak is an IvyExec All Access member at IvyExec. Ivy Exec, a web-based recruiting company that combines next generation technology with human power to deliver customized hiring solutions targeting high caliber professionals to help place them in executive jobs. 

photo by dekade

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