What’s the Deal with Informational Interviews?
Here at Happy Spectacular, we are really big fans of the informational interview. We believe that no one has a successful career alone, and the more people you connect with in your career, the better. As often as possible, we ...
Job Spotlight: Clinical Research Coordinator
Introducing, Sina Malekian! Job Title: Clinical Research Coordinator II Industry: Healthcare + Research Company Size: 1200 physicians and 4000 employees; in my division, we have 60 people Years of Experience: 2 City: Chicago
Job Spotlight: Associate Creative Director + Brand Strategist
Introducing, Josh Ferguson! Job Title: Associate Creative Director + Brand Strategist Industry: Marketing + Advertising Company Size: 10 – 25 Years of Experience: 8 years City: Chicago
Job Spotlight: Real Estate Broker
As I talk to more and more of our clients right before they start their career coaching journey, they tell me how hard it is to change jobs or industries because they don’t know what else is out there. They know ...
Why You Need a Personal Board of Directors
How to ruthlessly edit the people in your life.
Find Success with a Career Break
We often hear about the difficulties that women (and men) face after taking a break from the workforce, usually to take care of kids or family. Many women worry about falling out of touch and that companies won’t want to ...
Do You Know If It’s the Right Job Offer for You?
This is the job searcher’s dream, isn’t it? Multiple amazing job offers that are so good you don’t know which is the right one. Or maybe it’s not that they’re all amazing, but that they’re all different: one has great ...
How Do You Know When to Move on from Your Job?
This is one of the most common questions we get when we work with people at all stages of their career, but it can be particularly hard to decide early in your career. It’s rare that we find ourselves staying ...
Career vs. Job: Which Is Right for You?
There’s a stereotype when it comes to a successful career that you need to be continually moving up the ladder (whether your environment is corporate or not). The prototype for a well-worked “career” is that you continue to get promoted ...
An Interview with the Honorable Young Kim
Honorable Young B. Kim is a United States Magistrate Judge (which means that he is a “federal trial court judge”) who, among other things, graduated from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, worked as an Assistant Public Defender, clerked ...
How to Improve Your Communication Skills
Getting better at something you do every day.
How Do I Break in Socially at My New Company?
Ask A Coach
How Focus Helped Me Find Freedom
I remember deciding what I wanted to do, at sixteen or maybe seventeen, in the throes of High School Drama. As a teenager, and later a BFA student, life as an actor was about stamina. How many hours in a ...
The Problem of Having Too Many Interests
One of the concerns that we hear from a lot of young people coming out of college is that they don’t know what to do after graduating because they have so many interests. This can also worry the parent of ...
Event Recap: The Power of Positivity
Last Wednesday evening at 1871 in the Merchandise Mart a group of women gathered to begin their year with a masterclass in positivity. About 40 people were in attendance, and the panelists were Dr. Anne Brennan Malec, Dr. Gertrude Lyons, ...
Stay at Home Parents and the Anxiety of Returning to Work
Why does returning to work feel so hard for those parents who decided to stay at home with their kids?
Why CEO’s Are Afraid to Ask for Help
If you’re a CEO, you’re probably known for a lot of things– decisiveness, a compelling vision for the future, tenacity, great yacht-buying skills– yet you’ve likely never been noted for your vulnerability. Being vulnerable means you’ve done something wrong or ...
Do You Have a Personal Brand?
My first question when I started working was, how important is my personal brand? It felt over-hyped, and I thought, “I have a job already, so do I really need to develop one?” Yes. Even if you’re not actively searching ...
Four Steps to Becoming a Networking Pro
Networking is tedious. It can feel forced and false and maybe even a little gross. But I’m here to tell you that’s just one perspective. It’s time to shift your frame of mind because it’s all about who you know. ...
Why Do Leaders Hate Millennials?
Dad/Baby Boomer and daughter/Millennial (and coworkers), discuss the generation gap. Why can’t millennials and older coworkers/ bosses just get along? And are they really all that different?
