Career
College Degree: No Certainty for Employment
College graduates and advanced degree holders, once they are unemployed, are as vulnerable as high school dropouts to long-term joblessness, a new study has found.
Happy at Work — Huh — Really
Happiness and unhappiness (in work and in life) result entirely from the rules in your head that you use to evaluate events. Those rules determine what’s worth focusing on, and how you react to what you focus on. Many people have rules that make it very difficult for them to happy and very easy for them to be miserable.
Please: No More Resumes
A résumé doesn’t provide much depth about a candidate. We are most interested in what people are like, what they are like to work with, how they think. Companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles and online quizzes to gauge candidates’ suitability for a job.
What “Really” Happens to Your Resume When Hit Send
Job boards and networking sites help broadcast to a wide audience, but the flood of applications tends to include a lot of duds. Recruiters report that at least 50% of job hunters don’t possess the basic qualifications for the jobs they are pursuing.
To Lower Workplace Stress: Just “Chill”
Age, occupation and family circumstances, among other factors, can all play a part in how workers respond to different stressors. But experts say there are steps that can help you take control of your happiness at work this year. Let’s look at a few few of them.
Interviewing: Prepare, Prepare and Prepare
If you have ever left an interview and thought of a better answer to one of the questions on the way home in your car, you were not appropriately prepared when you walked in.
Fired for “Working Through Lunch”
The company’s human resources director became involved, explaining that hourly non-exempt employees were required to take a 30-minute lunch break, a policy that had been in the handbook for 10 years.
You Smoking; You’re Not Working Here
No smoking — at work or anytime. Each year, smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke causes 443,000 premature deaths and costs the nation $193 billion in health bills and lost productivity.
Corporate Diversity Gets an Upgrade
Having a diverse work force no doubt helps a company’s image, and some say it can also impact the bottom line by reducing employee turnover, boosting innovation and attracting new business.
Personal Branding “Secret Sauce”
People no longer have an interest in buying things, but do have an interest in joining things. Are you building a community that offers real value to people? If not, get a clue or do something else. Spend less time selling and more time creating memories in the minds of your followers.
Don’t Forget the “Soft Skills”
In 2012, creativity and adaptability will be key to landing and keeping a job for many workers, as staff levels remain lean and employees are expected to respond to a wide variety of demands, experts say.
Is This Your Job or The Only Job Available
When you’re in the energizing vortex with a potential employer, it’s easy to miss red flags. If you’re interviewing for a job that wouldn’t please you, or one with an employer who won’t appreciate you, you’d be smart to bail. Once in the vortex, though, it’s easy to get pulled right through.
“Overqualified:” Not So Fast
What employers mean to say is that the match isn’t there for some reason. You don’t need a power drill to put in a thumb tack, and you don’t need a very skilled and experienced person for a simple job. Here are 3 possible reasons, most closely related to the overqualified excuse.
When Hiring: Think of This
The entrepreneurial mindset is naturally attracted to capitalism and loves solving challenges, the tougher the better. The entrepreneurial mindset leads to creation. It reveals opportunities where others see problems.
Apoplectic: Black Unemployment Off The Charts
“The reliance on these jobs has provided African-Americans a path upward,” said Robert H. Zieger, emeritus professor of history at the University of Florida, and the author of a book on race and labor. “But it is also a vulnerability.”
Our Legacy
I could not help but reflect on the many experience we shared together as kids. I actually found myself smiling as I thought of all the mischief we got into together. They say life works in mysterious ways and I would certainly agree, as I often find uncommon insight from uncommon places.
Unemployment: Two-Year Low, Great Right — Kinda
Somehow the American economy appears to be getting better, even as the rest of the world is looking worse. Even so, part of the reason the jobless rate fell was that 315,000 unemployed workers simply stopped applying for jobs.
Veterans: Providing National Service, Getting Very Little Service in Return
Veterans have skills that managers consider essential to the workplace: self-discipline, problem-solving, decision-making in stressful situations and teamwork.
Young Professionals on Wall Street: First Exhilirated, Now Disillusioned
“A lot of the positions that are being cut right now aren’t coming back,” said Leslie K. Hild, a vice president with the recruiting firm Right Management. “It’s an emotional roller coaster for almost everyone.”
“Do or Die” Personal Branding
I announced to the room that 50% of them would be out of business or barely in business if they continued to ignore personal branding. At this point, an eerie silence took over the room and I noticed that I now had everyone’s attention.
