Career News

Recently I have fallen back into my evil habit of writing a to do list and then ignoring it because I don’t think I can get it done. I know from past experience that the best way out of this rut is to read research about productivity. Even if I don’t act on the research, taking the time to think about productivity inspires me to be more true to my to do list. Here are four ways to get out of a rut and start making progress again: 1. Pay attention on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday is our most productive day at work, according to a study from Robert Half International. Apparently, Monday…

I have never let anyone guest post anonymously on this blog before, but today is an exception, and you’ll see why if you keep reading. Every time I write about stay-at-home dads, tons of them write to me. They always want me to tell their story. The only emails I get that say “contact me if you want to interview me about my life” are from stay-at-home dads. Not much ever comes of this, but there’s one exception: a guy I’ve been corresponding with for the last year about what life’s like as a stay-at-home dad. Today’s guest post is actually a bunch of…

One of the most important indicators of whether or not you should switch jobs is if you are in line for a promotion. It’s not so much that you should be climbing a ladder, but more that if you are not being recognized for great work then you’re probably not doing great work. And if you are not doing great work, this is not the job for you. We should all be doing great stuff. So take this quiz to find out if you will get promoted. 1. Are you friends with your boss? The hardest workers don’t get promoted. The most likable people get promoted. Here is the big test for you: Did…

I love that each twitter has to be 140 characters. I love the game of that. Word choice is so important. I am not prolific, but I am infatuated. I think that most of the blog readers here don’t use twitter, so I wanted to let you know that my recent twitters are listed on the sidebar of my blog, and you should read them because I love writing them so much. I am enticing you with two: Friday I leave chocolates for the guy in the next office. Maybe I like him. Today they are still there, and I have PMS, so I eat them. My second book is very late. Barack and I have the same book editor.

A lot of times we think we know what we’re doing in the job hunt, and then someone surprises us with information we didn’t think of. My latest bunch of surprises came from the book, What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get a Job Around Here? by Cynthia Shapiro, who I have interviewed before, and she is always super smart. So here’s some advice, based on the surprises I found in the book: 1. There’s one trick to all trick questions. “All trick questions, even the really scary psychological questions, are crafted so that you will give a negative answer.” The truth is that positive…

After a successful – and accidental – career as a Wall Street trader, Sarah Lurie decided to pursue an advanced economics degree. But along the way her direction changed again and now she is a fitness guru and gym owner.

McDonald's seeks to make a "McJob" something that members of its work force do with pride. The company hopes initiatives such as health insurance and 401(k) plans can combat employee turnover.

Like many kids who grow up in Washington, D.C., Mark Zafra figured he, too, would join the ranks of lawyers and lobbyists in town. But a stint with the Peace Corps and an advanced degree in international management led Mr. Zafra to a start-up, a spin-off and, ultimately, a career in supply chain management.

Psychologists, journalists and celebrity CEOs crowd the top of a ranking of influential business thinkers compiled for The Wall Street Journal. The results ranked author and consultant Gary Hamel No. 1. (Methodology)

Managers everywhere these days worry about innovating, motivating workers and global competition. So it's no surprise that writers and consultants who tackle these subjects place near the top of our ranking of influential business thinkers. Here are snapshots of three who ranked in the top five.

Earlier this week I begged for your help. My boss insists that my tie knot be knotted high and tight, resulting in the suffocation of your humble blogger.Straight out of the 'things could always be worse' chapter, check out how China's paramilitary paramilitary police are forced to roll.Nothing like a pins in your collar to perfect posture.Read more about uniform torture here.

For the 130 million households receiving an economic stimulus check, it's a very exciting time.  You are probably daydreaming of new furniture, a new bathing suit for the summer or perhaps that 'can't miss' diet plan.  Whatever your refund dreams, set aside part of it to put back into your career.  Just as Prince told us to party like its 1999, invest your money into your career like we’re in a recession.  How, you say?  Here are a few ideas...

Starting today, domain names with a dot me extension will be sold for the first time to the general public.   Originally reserved for the tiny nation of Montenegro (extra points if you can spot it on a map), the country has decided to ride the social networking wave by removing previous restrictions on .me domain name ownership.  Smart move.  After suffering financial losses of over $6 billion in the late 90s, the dot me revolution could help the territory dig out of debt...and help you land a job.

Way back when I remember an interview with a rock star. I don't remember who it was, but I vividly remember his answer to a question. Q: What sets famous people apart from 'regular' people. A: Tailored clothing Think about it.  Even when the stars wear absurd looking clothing, it always seems to fit right. This rocker's secret was having his measurements taken in the U.S. and then having his clothes custom made overseas.  In his words, it actually worked out to be cheaper than buying from your local chain store. Now you can do the same... 

When asked to list the most dangerous jobs, my mind immediately thinks of those that require physical labor:  deep-sea fisherman, loggers, miners, and even pilots.  Just as the workplace is changing to a more virtual environment, the dangers are changing from physical to mental.  The New York Times recently had an article that named blogging as a dangerous profession after three well-known bloggers suffered heart attacks.  Well of course this scared me a bit, being a blogger myself, so I decided to do some research.

A couple weeks ago Trip Adler, co-founder at Scribd (and also a client of ours) came to us and suggested that we use their new technology, iPaper, to allow our customers to view resumes & applications directly in the browser. We took a look at the technology and their API and agreed with Trip — iPaper makes a lot of sense for Standout Jobs. So today, we’re announcing a partnership with Scribd to integrate iPaper into the applicant tracking system part of our Reception product. What is iPaper? Here’s how Scribd describes it: “iPaper is a document format built for…

According to a recent survey by eQuest, most job seekers are hunting for a job on Tuesday and Wednesday, and fewer people look for work on the weekend. The overall data makes it clear that people are looking for work while at work, and not on their time off. You might think this is a bit strange, but we’ve seen the same trend at Standout Jobs. Our traffic and the applications our customers receive definitely drop over the weekends. eQuest thinks the data is useful because it will help them consult with customers on when to post jobs. And they recommend posting jobs on…

More and more companies are launching career websites with us, and we couldn’t be happier! And it’s nice to highlight some of those new customers from time to time and draw people’s attention to them. After all, that’s what we’re all about — helping companies market themselves and their jobs as best as possible. AideRSS: An extremely popular startup in Waterloo, Ontario Canada, AideRSS is hiring for a whole bunch of positions including UX / UI Designer, Community Manager / Social Media Relations and Senior Software Engineer. ElevatorUp: These guys are based…

William Tincup of Starr Tincup gets it. He recently wrote a review of Standout Jobs that hits on many of the value points we believe strongly in: employment branding, passive candidate attraction and most importantly, strong and active communication with prospective candidates and existing applicants. A couple highlights from his review: In a nutshell, they make your “careers” section better. Now, I know that sounds simple but trust me when I say that most corporate websites suck when it comes to this extremely important section of their website. They believe in web 2.0 - all aspects -…

Over the weekend, we released a number of major upgrades to our applicant tracking functionality in Reception. Status Tracking. You can now track the status of a candidate through the hiring process. We’ve implemented basic workflow to handle this. When a candidate applies (or is sourced) they’re flagged as “New” and you can then move them to “Active” or any other status you’d like. (click image for full screen view) Conversation Tracking. We’ve embedded the conversations you have with candidates through our messaging system into their profile…

How many times have you talked to a new acquaintance and heard him or her say "Just let me know if there is anything I can do for you!"  What was your response? For most people, it is a polite smile and "thanks." Boy, are you missing an opportunity! The more time I spend in business, the more I realize that people generally are brimming with desire to help others. My recent experiences on Twitter reinforce this fact: When my computer blew up, I lamented about it on Twitter and asked for suggestions for backup services.  I not only got great advice from about 20…

Some of you may remember that I got all excited about Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art and covered it in my podcast.  After I finished the recording, I emailed Steven to ask if he would be willing to do an interview with me about the concepts in the book, namely how entrepreneurs can overcome creative blocks. After an initial yes, he had to decline, since his schedule got packed promoting a new book. I was a bit disappointed since after reading the book I was a major groupie, but certainly understood his decision. Fast forward a year or so and my good friend Matthew Scott casually…

For this week's podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Schoeniger, founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative.  Gary has a really interesting story -- from dead broke desperate handyman to successful entrepreneur. Over the last 15 years, he has interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs to discover which skills are critical for starting and running a business.  Many are not what you think. My favorite advice from the interview:  "Find a problem.  Figure out how to solve the problem.  Find more people with the same problem and you have a…

I have the coolest readers. Just got an email from the very positive Indonesian entrepreneur/athlete/musician  Herdian Mohammad about the soft launch of his website.  http://herdioflo.com/  I love the flavor and spirit of his brand.  And having corresponded with him for a few years, I know he is a really nice person, committed to his country, family and entrepreneurship with equal fervor. Congrats Herdi! We can all learn from your passion and commitment.

I am always a bit perplexed when people ask me how to come up with new material for a blog.  I say, let it come to you! Like this conversation I described on my new post for Martha Beck's blog.  I was halfway through writing on another topic when I got this call on my cellphone.  I couldn't get it out of my head, so I wrote this post as a way to provide support to the caller, "Beatrice."  Real life is better than fiction! My cellphone rang yesterday. "I can't believe I'm calling you," a woman I will call "Beatrice" said. "I don't know…

I enjoyed your column about how to handle a termination. However, it only scratches the surface of my “soap opera” termination story. I was fired in retaliation to my being a witness in a sexual harassment investigation. Of course, I was given another reason for my termination. The situation ended up in federal court, where my employer gave up. Now, here’s my problem: Some interviewers want to know the reason given by my employer for my termination. To me, it’s a moot point, since it was a lie. — Don J.T.: I know that the reason for termination feels like a moot…

I am a nurse working at a nursing home. The new administrator has developed a new policy where the nurses (who have every other weekend off) will be required to sign up for a 24-hour shift to be “on call.” No mention of reimbursement of any kind has been offered. — Megan J.T.: I did some checking and learned that some places offer minimal stand-by pay for being on call (such as $2/hour), then pay time and a half if you get called in. I suggest gently inquiring of the new administrator if there is any compensation coming. However, if it wasn’t mentioned when rolling out the…

DALE:One of the great opportunities for getting a job offer is after getting turned down. JT: And let’s start that conversation by passing along a story from Steve Chandler, a terrific writer of motivational and management books.(He’s most popular book is 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself.)The story he offers us is from earlier in his career, and while me mostly pass along recent experiences, we had to include this one because the point it makes is timeless: “When I graduated from college with a degree in English I was not overwhelmed with companies trying to hire me. Most people…

Dear J.T. & Dale: Lately, I’ve heard people talking about blogging as a way to advance their careers. They can’t be serious, can they? —Andrew Dale: I know how you feel, Andrew. When blogs were new, I eagerly began visiting them, but soon decided they were written by people with too much time on their hands for readers with not enough to do. But then, one of my favorite business/motivation writers, Steve Chandler, started one that was a joy (it’s at stevechandler.com), and that led me to reconsider, and to eventually conclude that, like the Internet itself, blogs have…

Dear J.T. & Dale: Almost all interviewers will ask during an interview, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Is there a good answer to such a bad question? — Trish J.T.: Who can honestly say where they want to be in five years? Dale: Wait — you can’t start getting judgmental about the interviewer’s questions, or the negativity will seep into your response. You have to treat every question as a great question. J.T.: Doing that, I’d say something like … “Experience tells me how quickly things change these days, and I’m sure that will…

When David Zinger put out the invitation for an alphabet soup of employee engagement tips, it was too good to pass up. Others felt the same way. So David ended up producing the results as the 300 Free Employee Engagement Keys eBook which you can also dowload here. David's dedication to professional development generated an entire network devoted to the EE topic. You can look and join here for free. The idea was to use each letter of the alphabet to offer up thoughts on engagement, so I give you: Steve's EE, A to Z Amour: Am I doing what I love to do? Bingo!: We have work experiences that make…

We've been talking about talent, learning, and generations for the past couple of days, so I thought you might like the little I Am Looking For My Mouse from professional friend Jo Jordan in the U.K. Jo tipped us off to the Clay Shirky video in the same article. Off to NYC. Thanks, Jo.

Yesterday's Talent: Does Generational Difference Really Matter? drew a series of insightful comments. Most zeroed in on the fact that, regardless of the scenario, we humans want others to be more like us--and respond the way we want them to respond--regardless of what the perceived difference might be. So, What Is Different Across Certain Generations? 1. Longevity When it comes to a view of long-term employment, about 70 percent of the boomers born in the late 40s/early 50s say they see themselves sticking with an employer for more than three years. That figure drops to a little less than 40%…

Humans are fascinating creatures. We call for unity, oneness, and world peace. But what we really love is the "discovery" of perceived gaps in our expressed ideal. That allows us to highlight what's wrong and then, our differences, followed by a pronouncement that if "you" would just understand "me" or "them," we wouldn't have the huge problem that we now have. This is what "reality" TV is all about. As a public service before getting to the unifying heart of today's tome, please repeat the following out loud in order to cleanse your soul and start the week off in a more sanctified state: "I…

When a brief post generates wonderful discussion, it's fascinating and satisfying. Many of the readers here are coaches, consultants, and training/HR pros; so, the  conversation can lead to even more learning as well as helpful information like this from Dan McCarthy. A Smart Heart or a Well-Bred Head? We are enamored of intellect and expertise. Yet when we look at who are asked to leave organizations, it's often the people who are "brilliant." The problem? That "light of brilliance" shines down upon an area of content as well as the individual. It doesn't spread its…

Bad writing. Really bad writing.It makes my skin crawl, but somehow, it makes me happy.When I was reading the Da Vinci Code on holidays a few years ago, I was positively glowing with delight at the sublime awfulness of Brown's dialogue and the clumsiness of his exposition. [I loved Michael York's Basil Exposition character in the Austin Powers movies] I recently heard a radio review of the film PS I Love You in which the reviewer, who had obviously hated the book, gleefully informed her audience that the movie's woeful dialogue and pitiful characterisation demonstrated just how baaad a writer…

Not that anyone seems to bother sending out rejection letters these days ...But if you do get one, you could consider trying Mr Moran's approach to handling it.RSS Readers may need to click through to the post

I posted some thoughts on using Flipcharts on this blog back in November 2006 - partially as an excuse to share with you some superb material from a young man called Demetri Martin. I linked, as we all so often do, to a piece on YouTube, but got a helpful comment a few months later from Mohit telling me that the vid I had been using was gone. So I did what any Little Red Hen would do and posted the material up on YouTube myself. I didn't include any keywords on it, nor even Mr Martin's name; as I was only posting it to illustrate how cleverly and strongly the much-maligned Flipchart could be…

The Prime Minister of Ireland conducted a swansong visit to the United States this week and was granted the honour of addressing a joint session of Congress. I was asked to come on Ireland's national broadcaster to talk about public speaking in advance of Mr Ahern's address.Fortunately, this wasn't a political show - rather we ended up talking about what a bugbear public speaking is for many people and some preliminary thoughts on why, and what to do about it.RSS readers may need to click through to the post

"And get me the manuscript of the as-yet unpublished Harry Potter book for the twins"We've seen it on Ugly Betty. We've seen it in The Devil Wears Prada. More venerable readers may remember seeing it in 9 to 5 in the days when Dolly Parton still looked [vaguely] human. I am, of course, referring to secretary abuse.Picking up the dry cleaning and buying the Christmas presents? That's nothing! Try selecting an anniversary gift for the Boss' notoriously picky wife. Peeling an apple (!) because the boss doesn't like the taste of apple skins. Organising a Sweet Sixteen birthday party? Hmmmm:On the…

If Wikipedia is the only wiki you've ever used, maybe it's time for a wiki primer.

What can be learned from looking at the personality types of presidential contenders and sitting presidents?

After a family crisis, returning to work can happen in stages -- the body may show up, but the mind may take a while to follow.

A look at some lessons about the importance of leisure from a surprising source -- the lives of those in prison or recently released.

A bevy of bloggers weigh in on the age-old career quandary -- is choosing work you love a recipe for financial success?

You are the most educated generation to enter the workforce, but you are also viewed as the least prepared. Don't be blind-sided by your generation's professional reality. The other generations in the workforce don't have much compassion for your situation. You are being incorrectly perceived as lazy, entitled and arrogant. Don't validate these beliefs by ignoring their concerns, instead, work to overcome them. DON'T road trip, backpack or 'take a year off' without thinking about your career first. Those who delay to play, often pay! More degrees don't mean more money! If you aren't sure what…

CollegeRecruiter.com went live in 1996 and has had a handful of major software updates since that time. We're scheduled to re-launch with our newest update the weekend of Saturday, May 17th and we're very excited. To celebrate our impending re-launch, we'll automatically add to all employer accounts as many free job posting ad credits as they have active postings on the date that we re-launch. So if an employer has five active job postings on our re-launch date, we'll add five additional postings to their account at no charge! To buy your two-for-one postings, go to our registration page if…

I graduated from college way, way back in 1988. Yup, I'm 42 years old. That makes me ancient to virtually every student on a college campus. Back in my day, we walked 12 miles to school, through eight feet of snow, with no shoes, it was uphill in both directions, and we loved it. Oops. That was in the days of my grandparents. But I digress. Very few Gen X'ers like me had internships. Those of us who graduated with any work experience tended to have jobs that had little to nothing to do with our career aspirations. Those going into accounting waited tables or stocked shelves, for example. Gen…

Most job boards seem to operate under a typical 80-20 rule for revenue generation: about 80 percent of their revenues are generated from the sale to their employer clients of job posting ads and resume searching. The other 20 percent are miscellaneous items such as banner advertising, sponsorships, lead generation, and targeted emails. CollegeRecruiter.com also operates under an 80-20 rule for revenue generation but for us about 80 percent of our revenues are generated from the sale to our employer clients of targeted email campaigns, cell phone text messaging, and other such non-traditional…

Monster founder Jeff Taylor just announced that he's spinning off the obituary classifieds section of Eons, his social networking site for Baby Boomers. The obituary site, Tribute, is intended to aggregate obituary listings placed by funeral homes much like Monster was one of the first job boards to aggregate job listings placed by employers. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Jeff at a recent International Association of Employment Web Sites conference. He sat on a panel and was a vocal participant in a number of issues where his experience and advice was invaluable to many members in the…

Hiring managers always ask me what the advantages are to working with one search firm. Most people believe their chances of filling a position goes up if you work with more than one firm. From a 30,000 foot view that seems to make sense: more firms=more effort and exposure to candidates but the exact opposite is true. Here is why: No one firm is accountable to fill the search. If it becomes difficult, takes too long, or the firm needs to dedicate its resources towards a project that is more likely to be filled, they stop working on your search. They will cherry-pick their database to see if…

Get this … the median age of employees here at PlattForm Advertising is 28.5 … which is actually UP from a year ago when it was only 26.25? This is a company that’s filled with fresh-faced (and freshly-scrubbed) employees. I mean – who better to promote the college industry than recent college graduates, yes? At the ripe age of 36 … I’m considered the wise old sage in my department. And I find myself peppering my conversation with such euphemisms as “bling”, “that’s hot” and “wicked sweet” to keep up with my younger, hipper cohorts. What’s next, I ask you?

We are always creating our own stories- - mostly it’s about things that aren’t working out. So since we are good at creating the yuck stuff, why not create a really great story. Like – this year I exceeded my enrollment goals by 30% by just putting a really great referral program in place. It cost nothing. Or this year I got my staff to work as a cohesive creative unit and all I had to do was have regular and impactful staff training sessions on the basics – listening and dealing with conflict. Ah – a perfect world.

Ever put goals in place and then create really complicated plans to reach them? Think about enrollment goals or expense reduction goals you have put in place. How to achieve these goals? There is a theory that if you want oil, drill near the oil. Put another way – look for low hanging fruit. It may be quite easy to increase student enrollment. Maybe all it takes is contacting employers or grads and asking them to send qualified leads your way? Hardly costs anything at all. Look for the opportunities that are in front of your eyes that you are missing because you think reaching your goals…

Take a 10 minute look at how to balance the demands of the high schools and your school’s objective to get leads for future Starts. Many schools have become increasingly suspicious of “hard sell” presentations and are demanding value for the students and value to the school for the time they offer you. These 10 Tips will engage the school in a partnership for success with you. [audio:http://plattform.tv/videos/interactive/10%20tips%20for%2010%20minutes%20for%20high%20school.mp3]

Check out this gallery of eco-friendly motorcycles.Uses hydrogen and emits water vapor?You know you want one...especially when you check out their mileage.

Moises Naim, the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, has written a short and thought-provoking article, "Can the World Afford a Middle Class?" An excerpt:These protesters are the most vociferous manifestations of a global trend: We are all paying more for bread, milk, and chocolate, to name just a few items. The new consumers of the emerging global middle class are driving up food prices everywhere. The food-price index compiled by The Economist since 1845 is now at an all-time high; it increased 30 percent in 2007 alone. Milk prices were up more than 29 percent last year, while wheat…

Don't try to be hip. You may have graduated a mere three years ago but to most of the students, you are no longer one of them.Unless you are a professional comedian, don't tell a lot of jokes.Keep it short. Your audience is already eyeing the exits.Keep it nonpolitical. This should be an occasion for unity, not cheap political shots at any party or politician.Try to say one thing that might be of practical use to the graduates 20 years from now.Let your unspoken message be your example. Scrap any tasteless, cruel or ignorant remarks. Translate all foreign phrases and keep jargon to a minimum.

Standards are always out of date. That is what makes them standards.- Alan Bennett

Michael at 2Blowhards brings us "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker and the All Stars as well as a whole lot more.Good stuff.

As the good weather takes hold in the northern hemisphere, more and more of us think of hauling the laptop computer out to the park or the back yard to do some billable work in a natural setting. What could be better than tanning while you work? Well, one thing: being able to actually see what you’re doing. We took a look at this subject last summer, and our advice there is still a good start: work under an awning or umbrella, wear a cap with a brim to keep your eyes in shadow, and take a lot of breaks. But I’ve also collected a few more suggestions in the intervening year.Some…

A while back we looked at a whole bunch of ways to generate short URLs, starting with the classic TinyURL. There’s a new alternative for this same task, with more features packed into it than most of the competition: the ponderously-named Short URL Service, which is easier to remember as linkslash.com. In addition to the base functionality of handing you back short links, it also adds built-in visitor and hit tracking, tags, expiration dates for links, password-protected links, and bulk submission. It’s all free to use, and you don’t need to register unless you want the…

A recent podcast from CNet featured Michael Breus, a psychologist and sleep specialist.   Dr. Breus discussed some common misnomers regarding sleep and its effect on those around us. Getting adequate sleep is foundational to being successful in today’s world.  Consider the following important factors regarding sleep: Staying healthy - to remain in good health and avoid illness, your immune system requires you to get enough sleep each night.  In fact, trying to “catch up” on sleep by sleeping extra can actually cause additional harm to your body. Being a effective employee…

Don’t worry: no one is going to send you an invoice for the time you spend using dozens of random web sites to do your work. But a blog post from Ryan Spoon got me wondering: what’s out there that you would pay for if you had to? Ryan says he’d be willing to pony up money for GMail, Mint, Craigslist, and various podcasts, among other things. I know I’d be ready to pull out my credit card for Twitter Prime, with traffic prioritization and advanced filtering and grouping features. So far, of course, Web 2.0 is largely running on business theories ranging from…

Online workspace and collaboration site Sosius (who we looked at a few weeks ago), has officially launched. Though they’re open for business now, you can still get a free account under the same terms as during the beta: 200MB storage for your file repository, calendars, tasks, chat, discussion boards, and other “social” features. To make money, Sosius has also introduced a variety of paid plans, starting at $15 per month. These plans give you increased storage and bandwidth, SSL, a version with no ads, branding, and priority support. Oddly, the only way I’ve found to…

But Dartmouth is 'in a holding pattern' with its wait list.

Hundreds of UC-Berkeley students rallied to spare the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures from cuts.

Obama needs only 169 more delegates for the nomination.

Political bloggers on Clinton and other issues.

This is a sad and dangerous time for Hillary Clinton.

You know the words.  The ad copy for a HR or staffing firm meant to provide the sizzle, framing the fact that the firm in question IS Human Capital or Talent: From Michael Habermann at HR Observations, who got this pitch in the mail:"Superior talent matches for a customer's temporary, temporary-to-permanent and permanent job opportunities through a unique, team-based solution." Ugh....I could accurately sketch the predictable clip art that invariably accompanies the words.  It looks like the picture on the right.  The picture is too perfect, and about 1,000 companies…

If you're a HR blogger, you probably got the news early today from a PR type -the HR haters are out again, via a whitepaper called The Role of HR in the Age of Talent (based on research by Vurv and Human Capital Institute).  More news that says HR isn't cutting it in the business world.  What else is new?  For a summary of what it says, I roll with Ann Bares of Compensation Force:"This is a report that every one of us in the profession should read.  The news is not necessarily good.  It tells us that while talent management has become a top level concern for…

It's a digital world and, as a result, many candidates have forgotten all of their analog/1.0 skills.  Case in point - we are searching for an HR Coordinator to handle a good bit of the transactional load for our department, and I'd estimate that less than 15% of the 150-200 candidates who applied took the time to provide a cover letter when they submitted their resume. This for a position with "HR" in the title?  What's the percentage for engineering positions?  5%?  1%? Here's a better stat.  We interviewed six finalists from the pack of 200 applicants,…

Cheap observation from the workplace this week - Headphones are generally for individual contributors, and maybe even for those who want to remain individual contributors for the foreseeable future. First up - I'm not anti-headphones or a member of the headphone Nazi party.  I get it - people can get into a groove with certain types of jobs (creative, transactional, etc.) with the vibe that music provides.  That's cool and I'm all for it.  I also get that headphones are often an attractive option for dealing with the noise intrusion that comes with living in a cube environment.

If you've hired enough, you've felt the pain of what I call "missing".  You did everything you should have done in the hiring process, got feedback from others so you didn't make a hiring call in a bubble, ran the behavioral interview and probed. Nice job.  So why did that new hire turn out to be a dud? It's nothing personal.  Anyone who says they never miss has either only hired 1-4 people or is lying. Everyone misses. So what can you do to reduce the number of times you miss?  You can make sure your interview attempts to measure what's important in the job,…

The U.S. is set for a shortage of physicians. Why should aspirant medical students continue to choose the profession?

Sharing personal stories helps employees bond and create relationships for success at work. But today over-sharing is a common issue.

What experiences do aspiring leaders really need to best climb the corporate ladder?

It's never easy to ask for more money. Now we're in the midst of a recession, er, downturn, it might be even harder. But here's how to try.

Sure, the pictures are nice. But in-depth sustainability reports are more than good PR. They provide better information to stakeholders and rich data to guide wiser management decisions.

The tenth episode of my new podcast series, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, is now live and available for download.The series is dedicated to exploring the themes found in my new book by the same name. Each chapter will be accompanied by an executive summary ebook covering the same material. I encourage you to forward these to friends and associates who may be interested in the topics covered. If you are already a subscriber to my podcast feed, this pdf will be available in your itunes.This tenth episode, Why Most Training is Useless, deals with the reliance many companies and firms place on…

Linas Simonis has just published an e-book called "The New Rules of Business Blogs." You can find it on www.positioningstrategy.com

A reader from Russia wrote in with this:After reading Strategy and the Fat Smoker, I made a research in our company to find out the types of people who work with me. It was very positive because I found out that we have: 75% of employees with long term and team motivation15% - wolf pack5% - individualist5% - spider It was funny that after this research two managers-individualists left the service at once and other employees were very happy about it. I have one question to you: how can we determine the type of person if he can’t clearly answer the questions about his motivation, for…

Raintoday.com has just released a new study Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008. 645 respondents in the consulting industry completed the survey. Among the findings: Firms that are well-known in their target markets receive higher fees, see their revenue grow, and earn higher profits than their lesser-known counterparts. Brand leaders were more likely to price their services at a higher level than their competitors in the market (42% of brand leaders were premium-price vs. 28% of lesser-known firms). And, they were more likely to actually get higher fees by up to 35%.

GL HOFFMAN, Chairman, JobDig, and Linkup has created a free eboook about the 100 "learnings" he has experienced after 25 years in starting companies. 

I started work in January 08 as an HR Manager for a very small company of 35 employees. I was told this week that they can no longer afford to keep this position as they are "hurting" for money. I am in a protected class and wondered if I should be asking for a severance package? Thank you.I will make no comment on the fact that they hired you 4 months ago and now realize that they can't afford the position. No comment whatsoever.There are several different possible scenarios here.1. The management at the company you work for is just darn stupid. They said, "hey we need an HR manager." (True,…

I have a co-worker (who also happens to be a house-mate). We had been working together at the same company for two weeks when this individual was fired this week due to inappropriate use of company property (extremely inappropriate web-site browsing) coupled with over-anxiety for a skill-test. I work at a security monitoring center where we are required to be level-headed at all times. When the date of the skill-test drew near, my former co-worker began to panic and spent the last two days before the test stating that they would be better off resigning, at times openly panicking during…

Okay, first of all, I have a no bad language (Including crude, rude and socially unacceptable language) rule on my blog. You know that. (Or you should. No bad language, please!) And I think a similar rule should be enforced in the workplace. Why? Because it's not polite. And more than politeness, it can get very expensive. From Overlawyered:The Eleventh Circuit on Monday "held that Ingrid Reeves could proceed to trial with her hostile environment harassment claim -- which is to say, that if the jury agrees with her on the facts, it's entitled to award potentially hundreds of thousands of…

Many of the problems we deal with in Human Resources stem from managers being unable to solve problems in their departments. Now, I know full well that those non-management types aren't perfect little angels either. They cause the problems in the first place. (Or rather, it's a joint effort between everyone--it's one of the few things you can count on for a united team.)I don't know why we HR types are surprised. After all, do we give clear expectations on what managing people, or working in a particular environment should be like?The Voice of San Diego reports on a school that has had great…

I just spoke with our Finance Director, who indicates that, due to our company's subpar performance (of note: we conducted a 10% company-wide RIF in July '07), our typical 4-5% annual increases will either be (a) zilch; (b) 1.5 - 2.5%; or (c) option "b" plus the possibility of 1-2% more based on company performance when September '08 rolls around. To complicate matters, our pay increase formula typically includes comparison with market data (some are at market, some are below) and scores from performance appraisals. Any of the options presented by the FD throw our formula out the window,…

Mother’s Day, 2008 Hey Mom, how are you? It’s been while since we talked. Been busy, sure. You are here and there, you know. So no need to formal-ize it, right? Right. Anyway, your name comes up Weird moments, times. But here and there. Nothing big, no point to make. More often than you’d think.” ~In memory of Frances Elizabeth Hoffman, 1921-1976

From the brilliant xkcd–JEALOUSY—-http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/jealousy.png What is YOUR favorite best man toast story?  Tags: favorite best man toast story

Scott Jagodzinski is a friend and board member who couldn’t be a nicer guy. Really. He hardly ever rants. Which is why when he told me about his experience today with DirecTV, I just had to share it. It’s been cleaned up so it is now suitable for children. It did remind me of the rant Maddox laid on Orbitz at bestsiteintheuniverse.com, an internet classic…which is most definitely not for children. By Scott Jagodzinski Remember the episode of Seinfeld where George started doing the opposite of his gut and achieved amazing results? This works if you want to improve your…

From Ads of the World, an award winner. Advertising Agency: Serviceplan Hamburg / München, Germany Creative Directors: Axel Thomsen, Alexander Schill Art Director: Jonathan Schupp Copywriter: Francisca Maass It’s the hat.  We all should learn this lesson, that often one needs to step back, reduce the business idea to it simplest form, and find a metaphor or, in the above case, a visual that cleverly and completely communicates with your customers.  Did you notice it was a German ad agency that created this ad? Tags: Ads of the World, Serviceplan Hamburg / München, Germany, Axel…

The first of a sporadic series of visits to JobDig’s markets with introductions to some local bloggers. Pre-cinema, vaudeville was the entertainment venue of choice. It is where entertainers like George Burns, W.C. Fields and Bob Hope got their start—think dinner theater without bad chicken catchatorie. The vaudeville mecca was New York City’s Palace Theater; from there, shows would travel all across the U.S, but only after successfully answering the question: “Will it play in Peoria?” The question obviously highlights Peoria’s mainstream midwestern culture…

….and Working Girl has been thinking about her mom (hope you are thinking about yours).  Workwise, Anita Bruzzese was way ahead of everyone–in her post on April 2nd she blogged about the enduring influence our mothers have on our lives and how it plays out in our work (WG has been mulling this over ever since). Which all started with the book ”The Mother Factor:  How Your Mother’s Emotional Legacy Impacts Your Life” by Stephan B. Poulter.  For instance, if your mother was a perfectionist you may now have difficulty handling feedback at work. Hmmm. …

What’s a slash? It’s when you are a lawyer/actor.  An engineer/pastry chef.  A biologist/photographer.  An executive/master gardener.  A teacher/dancer.  A technical writer/blues singer/community activist. That’s right, kids.  You don’t have to have just one career anymore!  You can have two.  Or three.  If you do, you get to exercise all the facets of your brain and personality.  You never get bored.  And you may be ensuring yourself a lot more job and financial security. If this intrigues you, run out right now and get Marci Alboher’s great book,…

New research reports that the older you get the happier you are, according to this AP article from a couple weeks back. In fact, your odds of being happy go up 5% percent for every 10 years of age.  Aging expert Linda George concludes it’s partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations.  Which makes Working Girl kind of sad.  So she has thought of some other reasons for why older is happier: It’s not that older people are so happy, it’s that young people are so unhappy.  It’s hard to be an adult!  And takes some getting used to. Older…

Okay, here are some more ideas on job hunting for SFgirl (see yesterday’s post).  These are things not to do: 1.  Don’t quit your job.  You want to be job hunting from a position of strength.  Yes, this is a cliché but the reason it’s a cliché is because it’s true!  Being desperate for work because you need the money automatically makes you a less attractive candidate.  People can smell desperation.  It’s a turn-off. 2.  Don’t wait for a clear path.  If you catch yourself saying, ”Well, I can’t call so-and-so until I get a…

SFgirl writes: Hi Working Girl, As you know I’ve commented before and love your site.  I feel the need to cry every single day I’m at work–literally I’m dying and melting inside.  This job hunt has been insanely frustrating–I have highs/lows–I had two offers in Feb but the timing was bad being in the middle of preparing for exams.  I’m not learning anything and I come home feeling defeated.  I can’t sit still and read a book without thinking each day I’m wasting my life at a job that doesn’t value my commitment and ambition for…

“The offsite” is s self-proclaimed fable of the Leadership Challenge (By Kouzes and Posner), an engrossing “fable” offering an insight into the thoughts and actions of a few industry individuals struggling with the mindful implementation of the leadership principles and how they perceive the leadership values in today's corporate world.The stage is set at a company offsite meeting in Arizona with seminars and presentations lined up by executive coaches discussing and interacting with those present on the five practices that form the heart of The Leadership Challenge:-Model the…

According to a report in careerbuilder.com, hiring managers checked out job candidates online and discovered these cyber skeletons:31% lied about qualifications24% were linked to criminal behavior19% bad-mouthed their former company19%boasted about drinking and doing drugs15% shared confidential information from former employers11% posted provocative photographs8% used an unprofessional screen nameIf you Google yourself and find these cyber-skeletons, it is time to find out how you can erase your past mistakes and for sure learn from your slip ups. Also it is a wake-up note to all those on…

Green Jobs and Careers are to the rescue of our fragile environment. But what are the green jobs and careers and how can you be part of these to contribute to the health of our planet?All those jobs that support energy innovation, green technology and clean energy solutions come under green jobs and green careers. The term can be used in a very broad sense covering Alternative energy, Energy Saving Modules, Brushless Wound-Rotor Doubly-Fed Electric Machine, Green building, Green syndicalism, Hybrid vehicle, Solar power, Solar cells, Solar heating and technologies that retain sustainable…

Job Cuts Maximum in last 2 Years in the US - recession fears are evident on the present US economy and global repercussions are not far behind, though already visible in some countries.According to a recent report in the San Jose Mercury News: In March, construction companies cut 51,000 jobs, factories eliminated 48,000 positions, retailers cut payrolls by more than 12,000. Professional and businesses services lost 35,000 jobs and temporary help firms cut nearly 22,000 jobs. Financial firms chopped 5,000 jobs.When government hiring was removed, the numbers looked even worse. Private employers…

1. Conquer Negative Thoughts Post LayoffIdentify the mental blocks that are holding you back and fight them. To be a winner, think like a winner. To be successful, imagine your success. Fight your fears and apprehensions and defeat them. Develop a winner’s attitude. Know that you can do it. As you think, so shall you be.Work towards defeating self-doubt and negative emotions.Get rid of procrastination. It is not the time to brood or feel depressed on the layoff, it is time to act. Do not hide under the shadows of embarrassment or anger and delay the process of reinventing yourself. Every…

It's Friday! Before you head out for the weekend, why not check out a few of our employees talking about the impact they make during the week here at Microsoft?   Video: Impact at Microsoft

Please welcome guest blogger, Lisa Olson! She is a staffing consultant for Live Search and you just might be hearing more from her in the future. :) This won’t be the case for everyone, but you could experience working with multiple recruiters during the interview process. So why is that? A couple of reasons actually... If you’re interviewing with more than one group, then you’ll probably be working with more than one recruiter. Our industry Staffing Consultants are broken down by business groups. They specialize in that one group and really get to know the group’s product, hiring…

When you're looking for a job, what do you do to make yourself stand out or to "brand" yourself? A well-written resume is a great start, of course, but what do you do beyond that? Do you include links to a personal blog, a networking space, or a personal/professional website? We'd love to hear from you and maybe even see some examples!

For our tech readers who might have missed it, Patrick Dussud's Behind The Code on implementing garbage collection in various programming languages and systems is really worth checking out. It's longer than our usual Friday videos (nearly an hour!) but who knows, maybe it'll give you something to think about while you're taking out your own garbage this weekend. :)

Dear JobsBlog: I went through a full time interview loop two months ago and during two of my interviews, I had very similar questions. Do the interviewers not talk to each other?-Feeling Repetitive   Dear Feeling Repetitive: Our interviewers definitely talk to each other before the next person goes and meets a candidate. Part of that is to prevent them from asking the same questions, but the other reason is to make sure you get an opportunity to demonstrate a range of technical prowess – from coding, problem solving, creativity, design and more. I’m not sure…

Have a sweet break from work. Drawing by Elizabeth Perry: http://www.elizabethperry.com/woolgathering/2008/05/watermelon.html

I am delighted to offer readers 300 Free Eclectic Employee Engagement Keys. This book compiles employee engagement alphabets by 12 members of the Employee Engagement Network. It began as a personal blog post and grew into a 39 page free e-book to enrich your employee engagement knowledge and efforts. Click here to download a free PDF copy of the 39 page E-book:           (more…)

The raw material of employee engagement is energy. Are you an energy gain or energy drain for your organization? Leaders are the stewards of organizational energy - in companies, organizations and even in families. They inspire or demoralize others first by how effectively they manage their own energy and next by how well they mobilize, focus, invest and renew the collective energy of those they lead. The skillful management of energy, individually and organizationally, makes possible something that we call full engagement. ~ Loehr & Schwartz, The Power Of Full Engagement. Photo…

Do you see the light? The Hawthorne effect is something most first-year university psychology and business students learn about. The Hawthorne effect describes a temporary change to behavior or performance in response to a change in the environmental conditions, with the response being typically an improvement. Some of the early studies involved changing the lighting conditions within a factory. According to Wikipedia: Although illumination research of workplace lighting formed the basis of the Hawthorne effect, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of…

A recent large scale employee engagement survey categorized some workers as hamsters: “those working hard but at the wrong things.” Initially I thought it was a cute image to understand engagement. Later I began to wonder about the appropriateness of using the term hamster to refer to employees. What do you think? Should we refer to a group of employees as hamsters? You make the call. Take 3 seconds to click the button below and vote yes or no. There is additional space to write a comment. I will write about your responses to this survey next week.

When I’m not reading the internal revenue code or skimming slides for class, I sometimes squeeze in a real book. Right now the flavor is Jack Welch’s Winning. Sometimes I just can’t wait till the end of the book to post about a topic. Towards the beginning Jack dives into his vision of a leader and the 8 roles they need to fulfill to be a success. Let’s review them: 1. Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence. 2. Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe…

Newly Corporate was recently invited to join the US News and World Report Career Blog Network “Outside Voices“. This article is the first post written for the network blog. Each of the authors here at Newly Corporate will post on the blog in a rotating schedule, one post total each week. We all have been through it at work. Some process or change you are driving requires sign off from what seems like every manager in your company. Even when your work is done, you have to chase people down (most often managers), process their feedback, and get them to click a button or sign on the…

As young professionals living the dream, making money and becoming successful is only half of the equation.  What good is success if you don’t have someone special to share it with? Let’s say you move to a new city to take up your dream job… where do you meet people?  This often has a direct effect on your happiness.  Besides love, where do you meet friends and people of similar interests?  Internet dating works for some, but after hearing some horror stories (and a few tales of love) I’m a little wary of digital lovin’ Fortunately for me, I joined a company…

Last week I asked you: What would you do as a business owner when the stimulus checks arrive in your customers pockets? Well the checks have started and here is a great site to see where they are going: howispentmystimulus.com As for mine, I put a post up, here it is. What did you do or plan to do? Related posts Slick Investments Geared Towards You!! (5) Personal Finance Broken Down and in Your Pocket (4) Budget Budget Budget! Easy Saving (0) 3 Fast and Easy Budgeting Methods (9) Your 2008 Income Tax. (1)

I am a frequent business traveler. I fly at least once a week and often times I’ll have three or four flights in a week. That adds up to eight times per week that I get hassled by a flight attendant to turn off my iPod. Sometimes I leave it on, and lo-and-behold the plane somehow manages to land. I always had my doubts about the technical merits of this request, so I decided to ask an embedded systems engineer about it. This is a guy who has to build the guts of electronic devices, so I consider him an expert on the topic. According to him, the request has no technical merit whatsoever.

Recently I spoke with Kelly Spors of The Wall Street Journal about what potential business partners should consider before forming a partnership.   As you might expect, my comments focused on issues where connection is most often as risk.  Here is a link to her article entitled, “OK, Partner, We Better Sign a Prenup.” Earlier this month I spoke with Erin White of The Wall Street Journal about how Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences influenced my work at E Pluribus Partners.  Here is a link to the article entitled, “Quest for Innovation, Motivation…

Over at David Zinger’s blog you’ll find a fun and thoughtful list of ideas related to employee engagement from some top thinkers and consultants in the business. Although I don’t know all of the participants I have great respect for the participants I know including David Zinger, Robert Morris, Terrence Seamon, Steve Roesler and Tim Wright.  I’m certain the others are top rate too.  The free e-book is available at this link.

 In honor of Mother’s Day tomorrow, I am taking a break from writing about connection at work to focus on connection in families.Each of us experience times in life when we feel disconnected from family members.The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful.It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.  Lost & Found is the poignant…

Recently, I was interviewed by Dustin Wax of the popular Lifehack Live podcast on Blogtalkradio.com about Fired Up or Burned Out and how Connection Cultures increase employee engagement.  To hear the interview click here.  Lifehack.org is the premier personal development site on the web, with daily content on productivity, organization, communication, technology, and more. Lifehack live features interviews with leading personal development experts, roundtable chats on topics related to productivity, and an assortment of tips, tricks and hacks to help you make the most out of your life.  

Tonight, the judges for Oprah’s new hit show “The Big Give” selected Stephen Paletta as the biggest giver.   My family and I just returned home from watching the Big Give with Steve’s family and friends at a local restaurant.   Everyone attending the gathering was thrilled that Steve won because he is a big giver, in more ways than you might expect.   Like the other contestants, Steve is competent, he works smart and hard to get the job done. Over the course of the season, he raised a lot of money to help people in need. More rare, however, is Steve’s desire…

As companies try to keep wages down in this economy, it’s harder for managers to argue against telecommuting as they see their employees and themselves hammered by escalating fuel prices.

All that superpoking wastes a lot of time at the office — and could be costing companies billions in lost productivity. Why a growing number of employers are banning Facebook.

There’s a growing desire in state and federal governments to get former criminal offenders jobs as a way to keep them out of jail. Unfortunately, it’s a daunting mission.

During tough economic times, moving to a new city is sometimes your only option. But workers who relocate today for brighter employment horizons face major obstacles.

The vast majority of job opportunities offering you fast cash right from the comfort of your living room are bogus, bunk, bamboozles.

Here's some more information on Pangea Day (see my original post), which just landed in my inbox: Who's Involved Pangea Day films will be coupled with talks from CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Queen Noor of Jordan, child soldier Ishmael Beah, and many more. The program will be hosted by Lisa Ling, Current TV's Max and Jason, and June Arunga. Pangea Day will also include live music, including performances by the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, Gilberto Gil, Rokia Traore, Mohamed Mounir and Iranian rock band Hypernova. Where to Watch Watch on the Internet: Watch the live webcast on MSN International.

This may seem off-topic for a career-related site, but we are taking a global, big-picture view of the world and our lives here. There are choices each of us makes in our lives, and this event, taking place this Saturday, May 10, is a result of one woman's choice and a desire to make a difference. In 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, best known for her documentary Control Room about Al Jazeera, won the TED Prize, a prestigious annual award granted at the TED Conference. (Previous winners have included Bono and Bill Clinton.) She was granted $100,000, but, more important, she was granted a wish…

I'm traveling today and don't have time for a lengthy post, but wanted to pass this on.  Thanks to Marci Alboher, I've discovered a great discussion of whether or not money follows passion.  The Art of Nonconformity blog, which has hosted the discussion, looks like a great one to follow, as well as those of the folks who weighted in on the post.  I'll be checking those blogs out in the coming days and will report anything interesting I discover there.  The one blog that I already know I will definitely be exploring is Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.  Seems…

Since this week has been about how our state of mind affects our lives, here's a little fable to round out the previous post:A man goes to the village to visit the wise man, and he says to the wise man, "I feel like there are two dogs inside me.  One dog is this positive, loving, kind, and gentle dog, and then I have this angry, mean-spirited, and negative dog, and they fight all the time.  I don't know which is going to win."  The wise man thinks for a moment and he says, "I know which is going to win.  The one you feed the most, so feed the positive dog.