Career Advice

Guest post by The Résumé Girl (a.k.a. Lauren Randa Hasson)Everyone loves dating. Well, most people do, anyway. It’s exciting and fun, and a time when most people are discovering what it is they want out of life. You get to learn interesting things about other people and they get to learn about you. If it works out, that’s great. If it doesn’t, it just means that there’s something else out there that’s a better fit for you. The Power of Casual Career DatingFunnily enough, your career search can work much the same way. Adopting the mindset that you’re ‘dating’ your career can bring some excitement into the process and relieve some of the pressure. Sure, you won’t see flowers and candy along the way, even though those office parties can definitely be a challenge for your waistline! Dating your career can ensure that you stay in the game. The Perfect First Date: InternshipsIf you’re a junior in college, your career … [Read more...] about How to Use Internships to Date Your Career

Should you try to get a job at a company going through a bankruptcy? Is following up on a job interview a bad thing? Should you accept a lower salary just because the economy is a little rough? Some of these recession myths are widely believed to be true, while others are a little more tricky to answer at first glance. An article by James Challenger from the California Job Journal site combats some of these ideas.   Abandon Ship   First on the list is the myth that companies that are cutting jobs or entering bankruptcy are not good places to work. This is an excellent opportunity for job seekers. Mr. Challenger says, "Contrary to what most jobseekers may believe, the company that is having difficulties, even announcing sizable layoffs, has a more urgent need for qualified people than companies which are more economically fit."   I agree with his assessment. A local company has been going through some rough times in recent years. They were laying off a lot of older, … [Read more...] about Mythbusting: Recession Style

The title of this blog post comes from the 1960s self-help book written by Transactional Analysis (TA) pioneer Eric Berne. For many of us, office small talk is the bane of our existence. Not only is empty conversation annoying, it contributes to the hamster-on-the-wheel monotony our offices seem so good at delivering. Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to these conversations, I'm curious to know what YOU say after "hello." Many hallway conversations go like this: Person A: "Hey, how's it going?" Person B: "I'm good. And you?" Person A: "Good, thanks." If we have that exchange every day for a year, and then on day no. 366 we extend the conversation with an additional "stroke," we're likely to raise the suspicion of the person we're talking to. Of course, if the conversation is regularly extended, people can move relationships beyond those of mere coworkers, and friendships can develop. Read more of my post at US News & World Report. … [Read more...] about What Do You Say After You Say Hello?

You stumble out of bed, bleary eyed and only one resonating thought: coffee. You space out on the way to work, seemingly forgetting the drive in your haze. Enter the tortuous place (commonly known as work) that is responsible for this fog. If you are like the overwhelming majority of the population, you fit into this category rather than the chipper, happy to be alive, seize the day, almost alien-like other category: morning people. What is with these people? Where does their energy come from? Where does their will to live reside and how are they so happy at 8:00am? The truth is that I’m envious. I want to know their secret, so I decided to get some answers. Is it my fault that I hate the world early in the morning? Or are there factors outside of my control when I unleash on innocent and unsuspecting bystanders with my anger in the morning? What I found out is that it is a mixture of both. The morning person vs. night owl fits in quite well to the nature vs. nurture … [Read more...] about Not a Morning Person? Here is who to blame.

Almost everywhere we turn, trust is on the decline. Trust in our culture at large, in our institutions, and in our companies is significantly lower than a generation ago. Research shows that only 49% of employees trust senior management, and only 28% believe CEOs are a credible source of information. Consider the loss of trust and confidence in the financial markets today. Indeed, "trust makes the world go ‘round," and right now we're experiencing a crisis of trust. This crisis compels us to ask three questions. First, is there a measurable cost to low trust? Second, is there a tangible benefit to high trust? Third, how can the best leaders build trust in and within their organizations to reap the benefits of high trust?Most people don't know how to think about the organizational and societal consequences of low trust because they don't know how to quantify or measure the costs of such a so-called "soft" factor as trust. For many, trust is intangible, ethereal, unquantifiable. If … [Read more...] about How the Best Leaders Build Trust

You're scrambling in a sweaty frenzy. You just got the pink slip at work, and you don't know where you can go or to whom you can turn. Your work buddies have already tapped your shared professional network, so that route is spent. What do you do? Jobacle readers would know to check out the Master List of Unemployment and Layoff Sites. However, Michael Butler went to church.   In June 2008, Butler lost his job as a consultant. His first response was to join a free career workshop at a nearby church. The group met weekly and discussed job search topics like interviews, resumes, and networking. After getting this refresher course on the aspects of the modern-day job search, he connected to some old contacts and eventually landed another job.   Gerry Crispin, a career consulting firm owner, encourages workers to keep up network contacts even after landing a job. He says, "Are you ever 100% out of the market? Yeah when you're dead."   I think this is a fantastic story of … [Read more...] about Need a Job? Have a Little Faith

Two job offers in one week, and I'm not even looking. I'm not bragging or gloating. My purpose in sharing this information is to illustrate two critical truths.1) The will of the universe is unpredictable, always delivering the unexpected at random times.2) You should not, under any circumstances, get caught up in Recessionitis.I sit here in awe when I think about the dozens (hundreds) of unanswered resumes I experienced when the economy was thriving. Now, amidst dire economic turmoil, and the fact that I am pleased at my current gig, cosmic forces want to have some fun with me. I can't help but laugh at the sheer irony.So what was the secret to getting two job offers in one week? Nothing! There is no secret! Unless you can read the stars or have a highly-effective Zoltar machine, there's no rhyme or reason to this stuff. Much of it is out of our control, regardless what career 'experts' like to tell us. Your job is to take care of the things you CAN control.Good athletes often talk … [Read more...] about 1 Week. 2 Job Offers. What Recession?

I’m not one of those bosses that has to have all the answers. I like to empower my employees, make them feel intelligent and help them find fulfillment and purpose in their position.Instead, I’m talking about how to handle when your employee has the answers because they are TRAINING you. There are many situations in which this could arise, and it can be a tough pill to swallow.In my case, I am a brand new manager being trained by my employee that has been with the company for...28 years. Not a particularly ideal position to be in for a new manager. At first I simply went with it- I treated her as if she were just an objective trainer.But she is not objective. She is critiquing how quickly I catch on, how I react to her instructions, and how I manage her answers. And the toughest part of the process is somehow maintaining authority throughout the training, because technically, she is presently the expert on the subject matter.I can hear you already, Jobacle readers. … [Read more...] about When Employees Train Managers…

In a recent news story, an astounding 59% of employees that were laid off or fired last year admitted to stealing data from employers. Among the data taken were employee records (35%), financial information (16%), and customer information (39%). And get this: 79% of them admitted that their former employers didn’t allow that sort of information to be taken off-site.   I don’t know about the rest of you, but that sounds pretty crazy. If your employer finds out that you took proprietary information for your own personal gain, then you could have some legal troubles on your hands. In my company, we have fairly tight restrictions on data storage and transfer. While I could probably go in and burn a CD with data on it today, I could not use a flash drive, because the USB ports were all locked down sometime last year.   Whose data is it? This is an interesting question. Basically, anything done on a company computer is property of that company. However, with things like … [Read more...] about Are You a Thief? Nearly 60% of Exiting Employees Are

It seems no occupation is truly safe these days. With major corporations from almost every financial sector reducing their workforce to survive the recession, it’s best to keep your ear to the ground to avoid getting caught off guard. Official budget cuts, business mergers and sharp drops in stocks are all obvious precursors of corporate downsizing, but there are more subtle indications that your job may be in danger. The following clues can send a variety of signals, but in the current economic climate they constitute warning signs that you’re about to be laid off.There are rumors of impending layoffsManagers typically try to hide the decision to cull their workforce for as long as possible so as not to affect employee morale and risk having their better staff members jump ship prematurely. However, secrets can be hard to keep in an office. That’s why it’s important to heed any talk of company downsizing and consider the rumor one of the signs you’re … [Read more...] about 5 Signs That You're About to Get a Pink Slip