Tips for Work and Life with Andrew LaCivita

One of the biggest mistakes job candidates make is preparing for the wrong thing. They spend hours trying to predict which interview questions they'll be asked. They search for lists of the most common questions. They memorize answers. They rehearse responses. And then they walk into the interview hoping they guessed correctly. There's just one problem, I mean, other than this giving me heartburn....

One of the biggest misconceptions job candidates have is that if they're qualified, they'll keep moving forward. Uh, not how it works. Every week, I hear from professionals who have the experience, skills, and background to do the job. They get the recruiter call. Then they never hear from the company again. They assume they weren't qualified. Or, they're totally confused because they believed the...

Most people spend a lot of time thinking about what they want. A better job. A bigger paycheck. More freedom. But very few people ever stop to calculate the cost of not getting it. Not next year. This year. And the year after that. And the year after that. That's what got me thinking. What if the biggest expense in your life isn't something you're paying for? What if it's something you're not doin...

If your job search feels harder than it should, it's probably not because you're underqualified, bad at interviewing, or missing the goods. It's more likely… 👉 You're asking each step of the job search to do too much . Choosing the perfect role before understanding the possibilities that exist or how to evaluate them. Eliminating companies before having conversations. Using a résumé to explain yo...

Sometimes an interview is an hour. Sometimes it's several rounds stretched across multiple days. And sometimes you finally get time with the hiring manager… and the calendar invite says 30 minutes. That's when many job seekers make the same mistake. They think I need to cram everything in. So they start walking through their résumé, overexplaining their background, stacking story after story, and...

One of the biggest mistakes job candidates make is thinking the interview is only about what they say. So they spend all their time preparing answers and trying to sound impressive. Meanwhile… The interviewers are reacting, signaling, judging, connecting, disengaging, leaning in, checking out, growing skeptical, getting interested, and making real-time decisions based on how they feel. Most job ca...

One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is assuming that because a company is hiring… the company must be healthy. Uh, sadly, no. Sometimes they're putting fresh paint on the walls and didn't bother to patch the concrete underneath. Today, I have a short, but powerful lesson on how to evaluate whether you're joining a company that's going up… Or is sinking, but just doesn't know it yet. Of...

I want to discuss one of the most important decisions you make in a job interview. It happens before you ever start speaking. It's not how you tell your story. It's which story you choose. Most candidates default to the example they like the most. The one they're most proud of. The one that feels the most impressive. But that's not what determines whether it lands. The story that sells you best is...

Most job seekers think they need to beat the ATS. Optimize the résumé. Match the keywords. Play the system. That's the wrong goal. You don't beat the ATS. 👉 You stay out of it. Because the applicant trashing system is not designed to hire you. It's designed to filter you out. And when you rely on it, you're putting yourself in a low-probability game. Most people aren't even reviewed. Not rejected...

Let's talk about something most candidates completely miss in interviews. 👉 The questions they ask. I'm not talking about whether you ask questions. Most people know they should. I'm talking about how you ask them. Because here's generally what happens… You wait until the end. You ask something safe. Something generic. "Can you tell me about the culture?" "What's the work-life balance like?" [Ins...

Let's talk about something that sets people back. Career mistakes. Not obvious ones. Ones that look like progress. Work hard. Stay loyal. Do a good job. The kind of unnoticeable acts that don't cost you a bad day. They cost you years. Years of time. Income. Momentum you never get back. And it happens because people are pointed in the wrong direction. Not because they aren't capable. That's what we...

Let's talk about the thing that's sitting in the back of a lot of people's minds right now… "Is AI going to take my job?" I get it. You're seeing layoffs. You're hearing nonstop noise about automation. But here's the problem… Most people are asking the wrong question. They're thinking about AI like it's coming to take a fixed number of jobs. That's not how this works. Every major wave of technolog...

There is no faster accelerator in your career than communication. And there is no bigger drag. Think about it. You have skills. Experience. Judgment. Ideas that could help your team, your company, and your customers. But between everything you know and the value you deliver sits one thing: Communication. It's the wrapper around everything you know. It either broadcasts your value or it traps it in...

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make in interviews is trying to sell their skills. They walk through their résumé. They explain what they know. They talk about tools and responsibilities. They assume the employer will connect the dots. But employers are not hiring skills. They are hiring value. Skills are just the ingredients. Value is the outcome. Two candidates can have the same skills....

Happy St. Patrick's Day. ☘ ️ If you're counting on luck in your job search, we need to talk. Let me say something that might sting a little. Your skills aren't the reason you're not getting offers. And they're definitely not the reason you'll get one. Most job seekers think interviews are about listing what they know. "I'm certified in…" "I've done Agile…" "I've led teams…" "I implemented…" That's...

There is at least one moment in a job interview you can count on.   Whether it happens literally or figuratively, it's this: "Tell me about your accomplishments." What do many people do when they hear this? They panic. Not because they don't have wins.   But because they don't know how to talk about them without feeling awkward, arrogant, or self-promotional. And that's where offers disappear. Whe...

If you've ever felt overlooked or misunderstood or plain ole underappreciated, this is my gift to you today. It doesn't matter if it's you job search or job. You're welcome. If you'd like to build a great career and lead a rewarding life, check out some of these other places where I share my teachings:   1. Check out the milewalk Academy , my coaching and training site, for freemiums and premiums....

Most professionals don't struggle because they lack experience.   They struggle because they can't remember the details that give their accomplishments life. When resumes need updating or interview stories come up, people realize how much context and impact they've lost over time. And memory is a terrible career strategy. That's why today's lesson shows you how to capture your career wins so you c...

I hate that I even have to write this. But fake recruiters and fake job postings are everywhere right now. And job seekers are being targeted hard. That's not because you're careless. It's because scammers go after people who are motivated, hopeful, and actively searching. That's you. What makes this worse is how convincing these scams have become. In fact, a couple months ago, one of my clients s...

Few interview questions create more damage with fewer words. Not because it's hard. But because people answer it at the worst possible time, with the least possible leverage. Most candidates think this question is about money. It isn't. It's about timing, power, and whether you understand how hiring decisions actually get made. Say a number too early and you either leave money on the table you'll...

Does it feel like you're not growing in your career? Perhaps not learning much? Or building new skills? Or not sure which skills to even build? Maybe you're noticing other people passing you by. You're thinking, Why does she get the promotion? I'm just as good. If any of those questions are tugging at you, you're in luck, because I've got a lesson today wrapped in a little story with a big punch t...

If you're rehearsing your stories five minutes before an interview, you're cooked. I'm not saying that to be dramatic. I'm saying it because it's true. Right before an interview is not the time to cram, memorize examples, or mentally sprint through your résumé. This will just get you tense, not to mention self-focused ( 🤔 , hmmm, what's he mean here? ). Interviewers can feel your tension. It beco...

January is one of the busiest and most misunderstood periods of the hiring year. Behind the scenes, companies are launching new initiatives, trying to staff teams faster than most job candidates realize, and, unfortunately for them, replacing unexpected employee departures.   Recruiters are active. Hiring managers are under pressure. Roles are opening that weren't planned just days earlier.   Toda...

Let me ask you something honest. Have you ever looked at your effort and thought, "There's no way I should still be here?" You show up. You work hard. You try to do the right things. Yet your career, your goals, or whatever you want still feel out of reach. I've coached thousands of people through this exact frustration. The problem is almost never effort. Most people work plenty hard. That isn't...

Everyone is trying to predict the job market right now. Most of them are staring at headlines and waiting for someone to tell them what's going to happen in 2026. That's the slowest way to build your career. There's a much better approach, and that's what I'm teaching in this off-schedule Sunday lesson. You'll learn why I never chase trends and how I make decisions that stand the test of time. The...