Joseph Liu covers personal branding, career change, and freelancing One of the lessons I learned early on in my career was that working hard and completing projects was only half the battle when it came to advancing professionally. One of my first managers told me that I needed to speak up more in meetings. A colleague once told me he wished I would join more of the company’s social events outside of the office. A mentor of mine said I needed to take more initiative to publicize my...

If you’re someone who’s on the hunt for a new role this year, your ability to effectively find and approach recruiters on LinkedIn can have a direct impact on your job prospects. With LinkedIn recently crossing 1 billion users globally in 200 countries, it firmly remains the world’s most popular and powerful online professional network. According to data from LinkedIn, 65 million job seekers visit LinkedIn Jobs every week. Members submit 140 job applications every second, and six people are...

When attempting a career pivot, you might find yourself disproportionately focusing your efforts on the practical aspects of changing careers like reworking your resume, networking with people in your target industry, or brushing up on your interview skills. All these efforts are important. Equally important is dealing with the emotional aspects of walking away from one career path to pursue another. Your ability to manage and overcome seven challenging emotional dynamics will have a direct...

As a solopreneur myself who stepped away from my more traditional corporate career many years ago, self-critique continues to be a source of stress and anxiety for me. I still catch myself setting somewhat unrealistic expectations for myself or taking critique a bit too personally. Whether your self-employed or full-time employed, your success is highly dependent on your own ability to achieve results, and your mindset can and will have a disproportionately large impact on your career...

One question I often get from candidates with non-traditional, unconventional career paths is how to position yourself as a viable candidate for a role in which you’ve had no direct prior experience. On the surface, someone who’s changed career paths would seem to stand no chance against a sea of well-qualified candidates who have all the necessary experience and skills outlined in a job description. The good news is that your past experiences, even those that fall outside the skills...