My knowledge comes from 25 years as a hiring insider.

As a staffing agency recruiter, internal hiring manager and executive search consultant, I have interviewed, advised and coached more than 10,000 job seekers.

I’ve placed CEOs, administrative staff, mega-earning sales superstars, marketing consultants, software brainiacs, financial officers and scientists. I’ve worked with hundreds of companies from mom and pop businesses to Fortune 50 conglomerates and every corporate culture in between.

I’m an active executive recruiter, so I know what’s going on right this minute.

I spend about half of my time finding rockstar senior executives for early-stage startups, which keeps me in the thick of things. I know what your competition is doing when it comes to resumes, cover letters, social networking, interviews, salary negotiations and every part of the job search quest.

I write blogs and books to share career information and inspiration.

In addition to the articles here on my site, you’ll find me over at NBC Universal’s website WorkGoesStrong.com, where I’m the resident career expert talking about job searches, business culture and career tips. I’ve been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and Wired. I’ve written several books about jobs and careers; my newest book is called Be Real: The Simple Secret to Knowing the Perfect Job for You.

I love to speak to groups about how to get a job.

I share my message about how to get the perfect job for you at high schools, universities, trade associations, community centers, and conferences, and I present seminars on resumes, interviewing and what you need to know to get a job in today’s market. You may also find me at technology events talking about how to hire great people for your startup company.

I’ve been on the “this job sucks” side of the desk, too, so I feel your pain.

Believe it or not, at current count, I’ve had 55 jobs in my life, including some great career adventures and some agonizingly bad situations.

At 18, I was California’s youngest insurance agent and at 48, I managed an international pop band on an island in Thailand. I ran operations for a top-tier staffing company and spent quality years with a naming and branding company and an up-and-coming ad agency. I was a spokesperson for the future of nightlife (which got me quoted in Rolling Stone and the Village Voice, on BBC, CBS, featured on a national talk show and speaking on stages in front of thousands), and I’ve written brochures for Starbucks, guidebooks for executive education programs and blogs for one of the biggest media companies on the planet.

I’ve had jobs I’ve loved and jobs I couldn’t wait to quit... and you know what?

The jobs I loved the most fit my personal checklist of the perfect job for me, and the jobs I hated didn’t.
Happiness in a job is easily predictable, if you know what to look for.

That’s why I’m a guide for your inner job search.

It’s not just about getting the job… it’s about getting the RIGHT job, and the sooner, the better. Few things are sadder than meeting someone who has invested years into a career they never really liked, when they could have been in a job that brought them happiness. Please don’t be that person.

Necessity is the mother of job search coaching.

It was after the dotcom bust of 2001, when a lot my client companies went out of business and a lot of my candidates lost their careers overnight, that I started putting my get-a-job know-how into a system.

I began giving seminars, speeches and doing one-on-one coaching and sessions to help people discover their own personal checklist and to create a vision and a plan for what comes next… down to even the small things that, when it comes down to it, actually make a huge difference.

Knowing the little things you need is a key to long-term job happiness.

People often say to me, “You are so lucky to do what you do!” I tell them it’s not luck… it’s because I put some real thought into seeing what I wanted in my life, creating my own personal formula for success, down to the details.

For instance, my own personal perfect-job checklist includes no morning phone calls, working virtually on my own schedule and a workspace with natural sunlight. Small things, maybe, but these are things that shape my life.

Your list might include being physically active, working for a mentor-style boss, generous tuition reimbursement, doing something that helps children or being able to wear whatever the heck you want to work.

The formula for each of us is different, and when we get it right, we set ourselves up for an amazing life, filled with the experiences we love, around the kinds of people we want to be around, doing that thing we love so much we lose track of time when we’re doing it.

That’s the kind of job I want you to have – a job that gives you the life you want to have and brings you true happiness -- and that’s why I do what I do, and why they call me The Job Search Guru.

I’m here as a source of information and inspiration.

So you see that I’m both a subject matter expert and a real person, grounded and with a big heart and a whole lot of experience in the most effective way to get the perfect job for you.

My advice is solid, because I know my stuff and I walk the walk.

I’ve created a life that works for me on just about every level. Naturally, your life will look entirely different, because you are YOU, but the secrets to getting there really are universal… know yourself first, learn what the ingredients are that you need to be happy, and then take actions to get that rolling.

My mission is to change the world by inspiring you to be yourself, and by teaching you how to know the perfect job for you, and then showing you how to make that happen.
Are you ready? Let’s do it!