Do you have an itch to switch to the private sector — either because government does not suit you or because you want to keep working during your federal retirement? If so, check out the federal contracting world. If you would like to work for a federal contractor, click here. This new website, the brainchild of a former Pentagon personnel official, is designed to help connect job hunters who have federal experience with contractors who want to hire it. Although businesses must pay to post openings on the site, job hunters use the site for free. Perhaps you would like…

Hiring managers generally are more likely to hire you if they see tangible evidence of your skills rather than if they just read about them in your résumé or hear them described. Consider accommodating this “seeing is believing” principle into your networking strategy. A case in point: I know a computer mapping specialist who cold-called an Environmental Protection Agency manager to discuss a computer mapping issue that was relevant to both of them. Then, after the specialist kicked off a job search several months later, he again called the EPA manager to tell him how his innovative computer mapping strategy…