Confident Career Search

01/27/2026

Stuck in a loop?
This could help you view the situation differently, and make some progress!

The surprising insights of future-thinking, for your job search (and more)

12/03/2024

It is easy to forget why you are good at what you do. The YouMap assessment is a great way to remind yourself - and can help you connect the dots between your value and an employer's needs.

12/03/2024

Your "why" can help you establish a new direction.

03/25/2024

I work with job seekers in many different fields. You all are an impressive bunch! You have helped your companies make massive shifts by solving complex problems, unclogging sluggish systems, and making new and fruitful business relationships. I find working with you delightful and fascinating. You....

01/05/2024

Feel like things are not working out in your job? Your discomfort is telling you something valuable.

how failure is a gift in your career planning

12/22/2023

Want to feel better quickly? Here's a prescription!

And it's right there, in your phone contacts

03/01/2023

What a great lunch with some of my peers from the Rochester Women's Network! Great to be with Nancy Woolver, Susan Jefferson (RWN president), Samantha Tassone, Alecia Peterson, Jill Cole, Colleen Parsons, Kristy Gonzalez, Benjamin Lee, Marcy Laber, Christina Breen-Hale, and Cheryl Yawman!

Thanks to RWNer Kimberly Tanner at the downtown Courtyard Marriot in Rochester, NY, for hosting!

I shared some thought on how to use LinkedIn more effectively. Here are some takeaways:

☛Know what you're all about. How do you want to be seen and remembered? (Super important before you even start!)

☛Make sure your profile communicates what you bring to the community. What do you do for your clients? How do they feel after working with you? What do you do for companies to help them meet goals?

☛Get active! Comment on posts of interest. Interact with other commenters.

☛Post! Need a jumpstart? Think of 3-5 things you could write about. Maybe: 💡client success story 💡inspirational story 💡useful tip to help your clients or industry peers...

02/22/2023

https://ruthsternberg.substack.com/.../not-making...
Here's my latest post on Substack. If you like what you read, please subscribe! A button is provided. And let me know what you think of what I'm writing! Would love to know your thoughts and further ideas.

02/15/2023

Yesterday was my birthday.

I chose to bring lunch to a group of amazing women who run an organization here in Rochester that helps families who have lost, or who are at risk of losing, their housing.

They assist these families to achieve sustainable independence by providing person-centered, holistic services in collaboration with the greater community.

What a group! They are passionate, creative, energetic, resourceful, and knowledgeable. We are lucky to have them serving our community.

12/21/2022

This is the current Louise Hay Power Thought that I drew from the deck.

It’s a tough one for me.

I’ve been in knots since March of 2020, when our worlds turned upside down.

Unlike many people, I did not see pandemic-related isolation as a blessing of space in which to reflect. I saw it as a forced separation from my family, friends, and treasured activities. I felt ripped out of my life.

I thrive on connection. We all need it, no matter what self-professed introverts insist to the contrary. (And there’s science behind this, BTW. But I digress…)

Just the feeling of being out of control: It throws me for a hard loop. Not that I think I have much control anyway, and yet I metaphorically (okay, sometimes literally) kick and scream to get my way.

Yes, I’m blessed in many ways: My parents are aging but doing pretty well; I have a great spouse; I have made new friendships in a new city; and no one in my family or close-friend group died of COVID.

So, what could be bad?

But still, I struggle. Still, I feel the pain of the world’s crises and I occasionally freeze with panic after reading about a violent act close to home.

A wise friend counseled me to slow down and return to my breath.

It’s her daily practice and she relies on the calm insight that emerges.

It’s funny: I want to say that exact thing to some of my clients who are caught in the maelstrom of career misery and life transitions. I want to tell them that ultimately, your wisdom will prevail if you take time to pay attention. Things will turn out. Sometimes, the Universe is merely redirecting you.

The flip side of the Power Thought card reads:

“All that I need to know at any given moment is revealed to me.
I trust myself and I trust life. All is well.”

What’s your strategy for coping with your life journey?

12/13/2022

Impatience seems to be a common theme to just about everything in current American culture.

Is it the digital age? Is it advertising? Is it our economy of quick production and consumption?

Luckily, we see a lot of people writing about slowing down.

Meditation is enjoying a resurgence of popularity as an online topic, as well as topics like slow cooking and slow eating.

This is the card I picked this week from the Louise Hay Power Thought deck. It’s a reminder to me that I can’t rush everything.

There are stages of life that I can’t skip. There are processes that cannot be speeded.

It’s true in the development of a career. In youth, we struggle to decide on a role and pursue it. But we simply cannot know what’s ahead. Industries change. New jobs emerge.

But more importantly, WE change. Our priorities shift. We develop new interests.

I used to feel like my life was speeding along and leaving me behind; that if I didn’t make decisions immediately, I would be lost forever in a sea of indecision and failure.

I know better now.

It’s a journey.

I’m still on it.

It’s okay.

What are you discovering as you move along?