Every office has a party planner; the worker who takes it upon his or herself to collect $5 from everyone to buy a birthday cake. These are usually the same people who make a production and clean out the fridge when it's bursting at the seams. The same folks who leave messages on the water cooler about the top of your bottle touching the lip of the spout.No has appointed them Office Planner, but they have assumed the unofficial role.Maybe I should be grateful that these people take on the tasks that I have no interest and no time to do. But I don't. In fact, I find them quite annoying.Perhaps they are just nice people looking to do nice things. But there are other potential motives:- They don't have enough "real" work to do so they attach themselves to time-wasting projects.- They want control. As the lonely peon at the bottom of the ladder, they are desperate to drive any project.- They want to show that they are 'go-getters.' Will … [Read more...] about 5 Secret Motives of the Office Party Planner
The Most Social Companies as of May 2010
The NetProspex Social 50 is a ranking that shows the average number of friends or connections an organization has across the major social networks. It also looks at tweet volume, the number of followers a company has and the number of followers each company employee has.If you're looking for a social media job, or want to break in with a major company, this list will tip you off on whose attention to try to get via the Web.Notable results include Microsoft trouncing Apple, Coca-Cola sitting flat at the bottom of the list, and GAP stitching their way up the list to hang with the tech big boys.Not surprisingly, social network membership among employees of the largest companies in the U.S. is highest on LinkedIn (43%). Facebook comes in with 11% and the other social networks fall off precipitously after that.Get the full results. … [Read more...] about The Most Social Companies as of May 2010
Top 5 Worst College Degrees if You Want a Job (and to make money)
We all want to believe that once we graduate from college, we’ll be inundated with job offers and automatically make a great living doing exactly what we want. Okay, it’s a bit far-fetched, but even if you’re fairly grounded in reality, you still want a job that suits your talents and sensibilities. But how do you know if your chosen field is going to pay off or put you in the poorhouse? Well, you really can’t go wrong with a degree in business, medicine, or law, and even a market flooded with tech-savvy computer specialists can be lucrative for someone who’s willing to hustle for freelance work. However, if your area of study lies outside the norm, you may find yourself swimming upstream. So read on to find the tip five college degrees that will not only slow you down, but may stop you in your tracks.1. Botany – this is the science of plants. While a degree in this field could lead to certain high-paying jobs … [Read more...] about Top 5 Worst College Degrees if You Want a Job (and to make money)
Social Media and Reputation Management for Today’s Careers
Today’s technology has changed the landscape of so many things.It has revolutionized the way we do business, the way we communicate, the way we receive our news, and even our social lives.Social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Linkedin have allowed us to “meet and greet” people from different countries, date from the comfort of our keyboards, chat people up in chat rooms, seek work, and establish important connections. But, with this privilege comes new rules and new responsibilities. Particularly for today’s professional. Some employers are monitoring employees’ “after-hour” activities and online personalities to learn more about the people that play a role on their teams.Do they have that right? That’s debatable.Nonetheless it’s a reality for today’s worker that shouldn’t be ignored. One area that seems to be susceptible to scrutiny (other than personal Emails) is blogging. Bloggers beware.Some time … [Read more...] about Social Media and Reputation Management for Today’s Careers
Workplace Incompetence
How DO These Folks Stay Employed?Is there a co-worker in the cube next to you who repeatedly messes up, yet somehow is able to keep their job? Of course there is. A couple recent customer-service experiences reminded me that in the workplace, it’s often the lowest-common-denominator characters that flourish. Don’t get me wrong; I firmly believe that most customer-service reps do a great job under ridiculously stressful conditions. I only use the following examples to illustrate.The first occurred when the “Large Benevolent Bank That Holds My Mortgage” sent two letters (dated 2 weeks prior) telling me that there had been a gap in my homeowner coverage. Out of the kindness of their hearts, they covered that (non-existent, by the way) gap and for that I owed them $210.00. Fortunately, my insurance agent was able to solve that one for me.The second incident happened to a friend who was moving. She reserved a 14-foot YouHawl truck. A follow-up call led her to … [Read more...] about Workplace Incompetence
10 Job Hunting Tips for Graduates
Graduation season is here, and thousands of new job seekers are joining millions in the job market. What does the new kid on the block need to do to be successful? Here are 10 tips for graduates from Janice Bryant Howroyd, an employment expert whose AppleOne staffing company puts thousands of people to work each month: 1. Do Your Homework. You may have graduated with honors, but the real research begins now. Invest your skills and time into studying opportunities in your field of interest and learn what’s going on in that market. Look beyond Monster.com, Hot Jobs and LinkedIn. Search company websites, and set Google alerts to learn what they aren’t saying about themselves. Tailor your resume to each company; it is time consuming but can pay back big! 2. Ask Somebody. Everyone you know knows someone who knows someone who works in a company you want to be employed by. Work every contact you have, … [Read more...] about 10 Job Hunting Tips for Graduates
Time Management Tips for Today’s Worker Bees
How to get more life out of less time.It’s ironic.It seems the more “time saving devices” we embrace as a progressive society, the less time we actually seem to have.Think about it.There’s microwave cooking, speed dating, emails, online shopping, online job searching, electronic books, online classes, and still many folks struggle to find more “me time” and a better quality of life. Still, one should never underestimate its importance.Time is a commodity. It’s an investment.The way you “spend it” is just as valuable as your money decisions.Not having a handle on how time is used can lead to increased stress, poor work performance, and a feeling of being overwhelmed and undervalued. And who wants that? To help save your sanity, here are a few tips and strategies to help you to have more time, and work smarter, not harder! 1. Become Better Organized---This may seem a bit simplistic, yet it has a great R.O.I. (return on … [Read more...] about Time Management Tips for Today’s Worker Bees
Tired at Work? The Wake-Up Squad Wants to Drug You
I never pay attention to advertisments, EVER. But when I recently heard a radio ad that asked if I suffered from "Shift Work Disorder," it grabbed my attention.The voice asked: "Sleepy during work?" "Trouble sleeping when you should?"It had to be a joke, right?So I made the leap. I got home and punched the URL into my browser, expecting it to be a viral campaign for one of those SimplyHotMonsterBuilder job boards or some caffeinated energy drink. Who else would set up a group called The Wake-Up Squad?Lo and behold, SWD is a real disorder, at least according to Cephalon, a drug company hawking its FDA-approved prescription medicine NUVIGIL. Designed to "improve your wakefulness throughout the day," the meds come along with the usual myriad of scary warnings; possible hallucinations, psychosis, mania, thoughts of suicide, aggression, and even trouble sleeping! Apparently when you work odd hours, and change the times you sleep, you throw off your circadian rhythm, … [Read more...] about Tired at Work? The Wake-Up Squad Wants to Drug You
How to Leave a Great Impression on Your Next Job Interview
Being invited to a job interview is an exciting thing. It means you are one of the top prospects for the position.To save time, employers do not interview every job candidate who submits a resume. Instead, they carefully select a few candidates to talk to. So, congrats! You made it to next stage in the job search process.But this new stage can be a stressful. There is a lot hanging on the interview. You will meet face-to-face with a hiring manager or a supervisor for a relatively short time period. You don't have much time to prove yourself. If you impress the interviewer, you have a great chance of landing the job. However, if you blow it, you'll probably have to look for another job.There are many things you can do to leave a good impression in a job interview. For example, you can dress for the part, research your employer, speak clearly, and exude confidence. But based on my experience and from the material I've read, the best thing you can do is tell relevant stories about … [Read more...] about How to Leave a Great Impression on Your Next Job Interview
A Terrorist’s Resume Examined. Would You Have Hired Faisal?
The Resume Hunter has come out of retirement to critique the resume of terror suspect Faisal Shahzad. Never meant to be taken personally, the advice doled out by our resident resume guru is designed so that the masses can learn from the mistakes of an individual. 1) Longer Than the Qur'an. No 30-year-old on the planet, or anyone for that matter, should have a three-page resume. In fact no one should probably go beyond two pages. 2) Career Highlights. This section rambles on like a missive from the Unabomber. I think anyone looking at this resume would agree that Faisal is claiming experience in far too many areas. "Good team player" and "results oriented" are a waste of text, not true “highlights,” and in this case, blatant lies.3) Attention to Detail. It’s the little things that kept that Pathfinder from blowing up and wreaking havoc in NYC, so thankfully for us, Mr. Shahzad was not bit on dotting his I’s … [Read more...] about A Terrorist’s Resume Examined. Would You Have Hired Faisal?