I've found way too many good links to start off a post with some rambling incoherence. So, in the interest of maximizing the amount of information, I'm just going to ladle out some hot, steamy links to get your week started off right.

Let's just get on with it ...

Personal MBA Lists the 12 Core Human Skills Every Successful Person Should Posses: OK, essentially there are two paths to success: Become the best in the world (the top 1%) at 1 specific thing, or become very good (top 25%) at a large variety of different things. This post focuses on the latter (of which I subscribe - but fail). This post lists the core human skills that you can utilize for success. A highly recommended read. (via Lone Gunman)

The Washington Post Reports On a New Generation of Workers - The Digital Nomad: "They work -- clad in shorts, T-shirts and sandals -- wherever they find a wireless Web connection to reach their colleagues via instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and occasionally by voice on their iPhones or Skype. As digital nomads, experts say, they represent a natural evolution in teleworking. The Internet let millions of wired people work from home; now, with widespread WiFi, many have cut the wires and left home (or the dreary office) to work where they please - and especially around other people, even total strangers." It may not be as pleasant as it sounds, however. Check out the piece for more info.

The Lone Gunman Explores The Ideal Workplace: In this case it's all about maximizing creativity. Decorate in blue to inspire relaxation and a peaceful state of mind; increase psychological distance to encourage abstract thinking; live abroad to inspire input for the creative process and the psychological readiness of new ideas. Now, I guess you combine all of this with the digital nomad-ism from the Post piece and you have the perfect work place to maximize creativity and productivity.

BlueSky Resumes Addresses the Issue of Authenticity in Marketing Yourself: "When I first started resume writing, I did it like everyone else. I wrote resumes the way I saw everyone else do it. My resumes were good, but could have come from 10 other resume writing services. But now that’s not the case. Because instead of trying to squeeze my clients’ histories into a template, I am focusing on their individuality." This is a valid point. Explaining what makes you unique or different from other job candidates can go a long way towards getting you the job you want.

Monica O'Brien Gives the Lowdown on Mentors: How to get one and how to keep one. Learning from someone you admire in a field you strive to occupy can be extraordinarily helpful. More than just a contact, mentor's can provide useful, real-world advice and guidance on your career. Monica has some very good advice for approaching a potential mentor and how to cultivate the relationship.

The New York Times Reports on Some Picky Recent Grads: So, apparently, this year's crop of grads don't seem to worried about the foul market. In this article, one recent grad turns down a job for location, and one for the inconvenient hours. While the career counselors think these grads should be worried, many that appear in the article seem unconcerned, and assume the right opportunity will eventually come along. I'm not sure how representative of the rest of recent grads this is, but it would certainly mark an interesting development.

Mashable Explores Free Online Education: At some point (in the near future) I'd love to delve into this more. There are plenty of resources to supplement and further your education online that can really give you a leg up on competition in the job hunt. I, for example, am currently utilizing MIT's open courseware, which we've linked to before, to develop some computer skills I am sorely lacking. The Mashable article lists a few more resources.

"Chain Links Fence" courtesy *clarity* via Flickr Creative Commons

OK gang, it's time for a little segment we like to call "Good News Bad News." There have been some developments on the college and intern hiring front and it's a bit of a mixed bad. I'm the type who likes to get the bad news out of the way first, only to feast on the good news later, like a cherry that sunk to the bottom of the delicious sundae that is your career, bathed in the sweet juices of all that has gone before it.

Umm. Moving On.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Is there anything worse than waiting to hear back from a prospective employer? I'll tell you, Tom Petty was right. You type up a great resume, polish off your cover letter, apply for that job and then ... wait. And wait. Aaaaaaaand wait. Sometimes you hear back, sometimes you don't.

The worst are automated responses. "We received a lot of great applications (including yours.) ..." Well, thanks for the parenthetical mention there, Johnny 5. When I was first out of school I applied for a job and did not receive a response. After a few months (long after I had forgotten I even applied) I received an email that said "Thank you for your application. Upon review we have decided not to fill this position." Great. Nothing boosts the old morale quite like "we would literally rather have NO ONE do this job than have you screw it up."

I saw an article in today's Wall Street Journal discussing resume screening and response rates. Did you know that "recruiters say the percentage of online applications viewed by an actual human being ranges from 5% to 25%." That number is staggering. Apparently just as staggering is the number of applications employers receive. The article states that the average large retailer receives over one millions apps per year. To combat this large number, employers have turned to using more and more computer assisted systems of sorting resumes.

Until recently, it was easy for job hunters to game the system: The computer ranks you higher in the turnip pile if you tweak your résumé to include the same phrases found in the employer's job description. But lately, spoilsport employers are ruining the fun, with sophisticated software that uses artificial intelligence. This newer technology can analyze the résumé of a top performer -- say, Dennis in accounting who saved the company millions by eliminating doughnut Fridays -- and find applicants whose résumés fit his "ideal candidate" profile.

This certainly isn't encouraging news. And the article doesn't mention any particularly helpful suggestions for beating this system. So know this: You are competing with a large number of applicants and face a low percentage of even having your resume looked at. My advice, apply to as many jobs as you feel comfortable with and make sure you use all the proper formats and tools to create the best resume and cover letter you can?

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.