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Interested in a career as a corporate trainer? According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, "training specialists plan, organize, and direct a wide range of training activities. Trainers conduct orientation sessions and arrange on-the-job training for new employees. They help rank-and-file workers maintain and improve their job skills, and possibly prepare for jobs requiring greater skill." Read more here.

Another good source is the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). According to its Website, "ASTD is the world's premier professional association and leading resource on workplace learning and performance issues." The ASTD site has a lot of great resources related to corporate training, including job and career resources and advice. The organization also offers a Human Performance Improvement Certificate Program, which may be an alternative to a graduate degree.

To get a leg up, start building a network in the training field. Conduct some informational interviews with professional trainers; contact your alma mater and talk with a management professor who specializes in training; join a ASTD or another professional association; attend a conference. Learn more about informational interviews by going to the Quintessential Careers Informational Interviewing Tutorial.

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The process of finding your work and career passion is a journey, and for most people, not a short or easy one. It takes some effort to match up your talents, skills, and interests with one or more potential careers. Be prepared to commit a fair amount of time to the process. A great place to start is our article, Choosing a College Major: How to Chart Your Ideal Path. This article takes you through the six steps necessary to make your journey to career self-discovery. It also includes some great resources, including other Web sites and some useful books.

Review some of the other articles we've published on Quintessential Careers, specifically in our Career Planning Articles section, which includes an article on completing a SWOT analysis (in which you will conduct an analysis of your strengths and weaknesses).

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What is corporate culture? At its most basic, it's described as the personality of an organization, or simply as "how things are done around here." It guides how employees think, act, and feel. Corporate culture is a broad term used to define the unique personality or character of a particular company or organization, and includes such elements as core values and beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior.

Why is understanding the employer's corporate culture important? Because the organization's culture will affect you in many, many ways, such as: hours worked per day/week, availability of options such as flextime and telecommuting, how people interact with each other in the workplace, how people dress for work, benefits offered employees, office space, training and professional development opportunities, perks -- just about everything related to your time at work.

How can you learn more about the climate and culture of companies? By observing all the employees while at the interview -- what they wear, how they relate to each other, what their office space looks like. You can also learn more about an organization's culture by going to the company's Web site, taking informational tours, speaking with people who work for the company, reading annual reports and company newsletters, researching the company in business and industry journals, and interviewing human resource personnel or recruiters. Get even more advice and resources about understanding corporate culture by reading our article, Uncovering a Company's Corporate Culture is a Critical Task for Job-Seekers.

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Teachers who are burned out, especially after working at under-funded public schools, have at least two sets of skills that can be use to their advantage when contemplating a career change. You have your subject-specific set of skills -- your writing and communications skills -- and your professional skills -- training and teaching skills. Between those two sets of skills, you have so many possible career options -- but you aren't limited by those skills because, if you have the interest, the time, and the expertise, you can switch careers in any direction.

Read our article, The 10-Step Plan to Career Change. Your choices are really limitless. You just need to spend the time contemplating the direction of your life -- and your next career move.

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If you want to be prepared for just about any kind of interview, check out our Job Interview Questions Database, which includes The Interview Question Database, 109 typical traditional and behavioral job interview questions, and The Practice Interviews, where you can test your responses to typical interview questions. The key to successfully answering interview questions is understanding the purpose behind each question. Your answers should always be focused on the prize -- getting to the next step, getting the job offer. Thus, your answers should always be framed in the context of how your mix of education, experience, and skills will add to the company -- and make the interviewer's job easier/better. Once you have a handle on what the position entails, you should have a good idea of how to frame your answers to skills-based questions, identifying and matching the key skills you can bring to the employer.

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Every job-seeker should have a one-minute sales pitch. While parts of the pitch can be general strengths and skills you can offer to any employer -- including your unique selling proposition (USP), you should, of course, tailor your answer to the employer and job at hand to provide the strongest possible sales pitch. And regardless of whether you end up using the sales pitch in the interview, you should most certainly write it in your thank-you letter following the interview.

To learn more about using marketing and sales techniques in job-hunting, read our article, Using Key Marketing Tools to Position Yourself on the Job Market.

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We get numerous emails from college students who are about to graduate with little or no actual experience. There is simply no excuse for any college student not to have some kind of work experience through summer jobs and/or internships. There are just so many advantages to gaining work experience, from learning first-hand about corporate culture and office politics to gaining a better understanding of your career path and learning valuable skills.

Many -- if not most -- employers recruiting college graduates, especially business school grads, want the students they interview to have some work experience. That work experience typically occurs through internships and summer jobs. If you didn't do an internship, you probably should have some sort of answer prepared in case you are asked why. Even if you have not "worked," you probably do have experience. Look at any volunteer experiences, through which you probably acquired numerous valuable skills that can easily transfer to the workplace. And you probably have been involved with numerous major projects in your classes in which you also learned and employed new skills.

Go to the Transferable Skills section of Quintessential Careers to learn more about emphasizing your set of key skills. Also go to the career services office at your college and work with those professionals to build a job-search strategy designed especially for you. You'll be able to find a job, but it will take developing a resume that focuses on your key skills and experiences, using your network of contacts, and implementing the advice from the career services office.

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While college is not for everyone, the value of a college education is monumental -- in many ways. Most studies show a deepening income gap between people with just a high school diploma and those with a college education -- and especially with women. But it's not just earning power; it is also how people will perceive you and judge you. Read more in a our article: What Good is a College Education Anyway?

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Are you cut out for a career in law? To find out, look at your personal network and see if you can meet with a corporate lawyer or two and conduct informational interviews with them. Solicit their advice about majors, minors, law school, and law careers. Seek a multidisciplinary education, focusing your studies in business, communications (oral and written), economics, math, and information technology.

Students who are planning to attend law school to become corporate lawyers often major in business administration or accounting. The reason you want a well-rounded education is that there is much more to being an attorney than the law. You should choose courses that will help you develop proficiencies in writing and speaking, reading, researching, analyzing, and logical thinking. Start researching law schools -- and once you develop such a list, go to each school's Web site (or catalog) and see the courses they recommend to best prepare you for law school -- and for a career in law.

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Older college enrollees often make much better students than traditional college-aged students. If you're considering taking the plunge, think carefully about the following as you work toward a decision about college. First, can you afford to go to college? Can you develop aplan -- a combination of financial aid, scholarships, and a part-time job -- that will give you enough financial freedom to pay your current bills as well as college tuition? Find some resources in the college planning resources section of Quintessential Careers.

Second, what do you want to study in college? Don't just jump into college without a plan. Spend some time matching up your other skills and interests with various careers by going to the career assessment tools section of Quintessential Careers.

Third, do you really need to go to college -- or do you want to go? While many companies do hire employees without a college degree, there is often a point at which you can't get any farther up the ladder with the degree. Keep in mind, too, that it is often the degree the matters more than what you study, so keep your focus on the prize.

Fourth, are you using college as an escape from the job market? In a tough economy with jobs hard to find, this situation should play only a very small role in your decision about attending college.

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Requests for a salary history put job-seekers at a distinct disadvantage because you are providing the employer with very valuable information and getting nothing in return (unless you feel being considered for the position is something of value). This information becomes critical if you become the applicant that the employer wants to hire because with your salary history, the employer can lowball your job offer, offering you a salary that is higher than your present salary (but not at the level you want). Your negotiation ability is severely limited. And for job-seekers making a major career change or jump, past salary becomes even less important.

What can you do when asked for a salary history? First decide whether you even want the job -- whether you want to work for a company that would base even a part of its hiring decision not on what you are worth to the company, but on what you have been paid in the past. Assuming you do still do want to work for the employer, you have a number of options.

Most importantly, though, do NOT list your salary information on your resume. Create a separate salary-history page (similar to a reference page) that matches the format and look of your resume.

And read our article, Responding to Requests for Salary Requirements or Salary Histories: Strategies and Suggestions. This article gives you a good overview and provides you with a couple of sample salary-history formats.

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A request for a job-seeker's salary requirement is used by employers in the same way as salary histories are used -- often as a screening device by employers. A typical employer who requests a salary requirement from applicants places job-seekers into three categories: job-seekers who requested a salary that was below the minimum for the position (and were perceived as not qualified), job-seekers who requested a salary in the range for the position (and were perceived as being the best candidates to interview, assuming they had the skills and experiences we desired), and job-seekers who requested a salary well above the range (and who were perceived as being over-qualified for the position or just people who thought too highly of themselves).

As a job-seeker, you MUST do your homework! Conduct some research before you submit your salary requirement. The ideal situation is when you have a contact within the organization who can provide you with the actual internal salary range for the position, but if that is not an option, look at your own company for the salary ranges for a similar position, use your network to get salary ranges for similar positions in other companies, and use one or more of the salary guides (such as Salary.com) to develop an estimated salary range. Keep in mind that the size of the company, the industry it operates in, and the geographic location of the job will all need to be factored into the equation.

Once you have an idea of the employer's salary range for the position, the next step is to see if your salary requirements will fit within the range. If your desired salary fits the range, then you are in great shape. If you are well below the range, but feel you are fully qualified for the position, then request a salary on the lower side of the range (which also allows you to grow into the positions in terms of raises). If you are well above the range, you may need to consider other options.

Read our article, Responding to Requests for Salary Requirements or Salary Histories: Strategies and Suggestions. This article gives you a good overview and provides you with various strategies for responding to a request for a desired salary.

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Job-seekers should go into relationships with headhunters knowing where these recruiters are coming from -- recruiters are paid by an employer when they place a candidate with that employer. Recruiters do not work for job-seekers.

With that said, an excellent article that provides much more insight into the job-seeker/recruiter dynamic is: The Care and Feeding of Headhunters and Recruiters, by Kathryn Lee Bazan.

Two of our favorite Web sites for finding recruiters are:

• FindARecruiter.com -- where job-seekers who are looking for a recruiting professional (headhunters, executive search, staffing firms) can search a database of more than 10,000 recruiters. Search by company name, specialty, or location.
• Oya's Recruiter Directory -- a free resource created to help job-seekers find recruiters who can assist you in reaching their career goals. Search for recruiters or browse by recruiter specialty or location. A great resource for job-seekers.