December 31, 2004

It's 2005: Isn't it time you quit your job?
Posted by at 11:39 AM

For several years we've been reading how the employed are increasingly not overjoyed, sticking around the water cooler nevertheless because 1)They enjoy desperate illusions of job security 2)They need to have a job, any job, to make sure the mortgage, the kids & wife and life goes on 3)They simply can't get there, from here.

The answer of course is all of the above. Upheaving your life is tricky business. But life by design is messy business, and realizing that "you can do this yourself" can be an immensely freeing decision. It's true that your job sucks up 80% of your life, ties to your identity, and more practically, enables your livelihood. But it's your life, it's way too short to spend it coasting or in misery, so why not run with it?

To those ends U.S. News and World Report brings us this special series: 50 Ways to Fix Your Life, Set Your Priorities, Move to Bismarck, and last but not least, Quit Your Job. (Via Kottke)

Happy New Year and good job hunting. Despite what you hear things are improving out there. And afterall, The Big Help is just around the corner...
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Women gain ground on wages
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:02 AM

A good trend for the new year: the gap between men's and women's wages is closing.

That pattern of improving employment prospects and rising wages for women - while many men stood still or got hurt - has done as much if not more than class-action lawsuits, quotas and equal opportunity laws to narrow the gap between men's and women's pay.

Working women now earn just over 80 percent of what men do, up from 62 percent 25 years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It turns out that almost half of that gap closed during two comparatively short periods of relatively hard times, totaling about six years. Those periods correspond with the recessions and cutbacks in the work force that marked the opening years of the last decade and the current one.

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December 30, 2004

Four resolutions
Posted by at 10:51 AM

From our friends at Monster, take a look at Four Resolutions that Work. I particularly liked the improve your handshake suggestion in the New Year's resolutions deserve a good shake. Resolve to end the wimpy handshakes!
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December 28, 2004

Don't just talk about a problem, do something about it too
Posted by at 6:01 PM

This week, BusinessWeek's Liz Ryan advises managers to not just tell someone about a problem but, to offer solutions on how to fix it as well in "Don't Just Say It -- Fix It!"

...Information alone isn't power. Information deployed with heart and vigor for good effect is power. The rest is just really, really boring gossip that will become outdated in the time it takes to gas up your car.

Good advice for not only managerial types but also for those seeking to climb or manage up the ladder as well.
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A day in the life of a casting director
Posted by at 5:54 PM

Ever want to know how your favorite or not-so-favorite actor/actress was picked for a role in the latest blockbuster? There's a person behind that choice... the casting director. In the December issue of Fast Company, Danielle Sacks finds out what it's like to be a casting director from Mark Bennett in "Acting Up."

What role do you play in hiring creative talent?
I help directors pick actors for film roles. It's the casting director's job to be able to anticipate exactly what directors are looking for. The ideal is to find someone who brings something completely fresh to the role.

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December 23, 2004

What's on state contractors' holiday wish lists? Benefits.
Posted by at 11:31 AM

In order to keep costs and head count down, among other reasons, many employers rely on contractors. While Governor Romney wants private companies to start extending healthcare benefits to all employees, the state itself doesn't cover all of its workers.

Governor Mitt Romney wants businesses that refuse to provide health insurance to their workers to pay a higher minimum wage or post decals in their windows telling customers they do not offer coverage. But in suggesting ways to pressure employers into being good public citizens, the governor has neglected to mention one prominent offender: his own administration.

The executive agencies under Romney's purview do not provide healthcare coverage to roughly 2,300 contract workers, treating all of them as if they were private consultants, even though some work full time in jobs that are identical to those of full-fledged state employees. They include computer programmers, secretaries, and doctors.

Read more in: "State faulted on lack of insurance for some workers."
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December 22, 2004

Headhunter aptitude test
Posted by at 10:31 AM

If you're looking for a job, you may want to use a recruiter, also known as a headhunter. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of not-so-helpful recruiters out there. Check out the Headhunger Aptitude Test to see if you're working with a good one.
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December 21, 2004

And you thought you had a stressful job?
Posted by at 1:07 PM

Today, the FAA announced that it is looking to "add 1,500 [air traffic] controllers in 2006 and continue hiring each year for a total of 12,500 controllers over 10 years." Read more in: "FAA to hire thousands of air traffic controllers."

Want to become an air traffic controller? Visit: www.faa.gov for more information.
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Giving new meaning to working your way through college
Posted by at 11:29 AM

Never mind those unpaid college internships or those co-ops that pay minimum wage, how about starting and running your own small business while attending college? In Business Week's "A Dorm for Dreamers and Doers," they profile a new concept in college theme housing at Babson... a dorm for entrepreneurs.

Now [Mark Prondzinski]'s one of 21 entrepreneurs living in Babson's E-Tower dorm -- an idea factory of sorts for students determined to launch the next big thing. The alternative housing option for undergrads is currently home to 12 businesses, from a maker of organic apple chips to a clothing line and a mobile DJ outfit. Located on Babson's Wellesley (Mass.) campus, E-Tower is equipped with a central office with a server, printer, copier, fax machine, and a conference room. Residents meet there for Sunday night brainstorming sessions -- and no one leaves until 100 ideas are up on the massive whiteboard.

There are similar programs at other business schools, like the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, but E-Tower is the first of its kind started for students, by students. In 2001, a group of undergrads pitched the idea of a living space where they could live and breathe entrepreneurship 24/7, and the higher-ups gave it the green light.

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December 20, 2004

Ladies, sometimes it needs to be all about you for a change
Posted by Diane Danielson at 10:54 AM

At least that's what the experts say after a recent study revealed that women are great at thinking about the company, but at the expense of their own career development. The Seattle Times reports on a study that shows that "Women Flunk the Self-Promotion Test."

Many executive-level women place a premium on the "communal" aspects of the workplace. They value working relationships, customer quality and communication above all else.

Many men in those positions, by contrast, are driven more by what's at stake for them personally. They tend to rate career development, compensation and a balanced workload as the things that will keep them committed to an organization.

"For women, it's all about what's good for the company," said Kim Morris, project director with ISR. "For men, it's more about strategies for advancement."

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December 17, 2004

What might have happened if Anne Boleyn was never beheaded?
Posted by Diane Danielson at 1:37 PM

Would her legacy been to have turned the world into a matriarchical society? A reader writes into ABCNews with some interesting thoughts that bring a historical perspective to gender differences in the workplace.

"I can admit that as women, we have our own brand of management that is not perfect; we can be ruthless and calculating. In our hands, character assassination is a deadly art form and it happens in seconds. We're notorious for not sharing information simply because of the power in the knowledge that we've worked so hard to gain. This is not to say that men have not worked hard, it's just that they are the historical managers, it has been their birthright. I wonder how different work would be today if our roles had been reversed and women had managed first."

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For the office drone who has it all
Posted by at 10:28 AM

It happens every Christmas to just about everyone: What do you buy as a gift for the one person in your office life who wants for not? Well now here's something: Get that busy, aspiring business boy or gal in your life a set of The Cubes, play-action figures and cubicle diorama set where as they say "in this office, you're the boss!"

Even if you don't end up with a set, get a taste of the corporate adventure and generate a job title for "Bob" a GigantaMegaCorp faithful, who has been waiting patiently (10 years) for a lateral promotion.
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Jobless claims plunge by 43,000
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:04 AM

Yesterday the Boston Globe reported encouraging news on the unemployment front:

New claims for unemployment insurance last week plummeted by 43,000 to a five-month low of 317,000, the Labor Department said in an encouraging report for the labor market recovery. It was the sharpest decline in three years. The four-week moving average, which is less volatile, dipped to nearly 338,000 claims.

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December 15, 2004

Wingwomaaaaaaan...
Posted by at 11:46 AM

Building off the Coors Light Wingman Ad campaign where two guys go out and meet two girls and one ends up the proverbial "wingman" left to entertain the "less-cute" girl with idle banter while his friend hooks up with the other, some Chicago, New York and Boston-area entrepreneurs are contracting themselves out as Wingmen and Wingwomen to the tune of $50 an hour.

At Arriviste Press, a small Boston-based publishing house, writers have launched a Virtual Wingman service on the company's Web site. All clients have to do is plug in a few details about themselves and what the sort of date they're looking for and, using that information, the virtual wingmen will craft a personal ad, free of charge. Meanwhile, in cities such as Chicago and New York, a person can rent out a real, live wingperson on an hourly basis. Wendy Ralph, a self-described "wingchick," is founder of the Chicago company Mr. Right Now Inc., which began by providing dates for a night -- then quickly expanded when an increasing number of clients started asking for a wingperson. "I've always been that girl, the one whose friends ask 'Will you go talk to that person for me?"' Ralph says. So, she figured: Why not make a buck doing it?

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Six tips for women to close the gender gap
Posted by Diane Danielson at 9:31 AM

Fast Company provides six tips for closing the gender gap. But be forewarned, they aren't for the "family-friendly" worker.

"The wage gap is not about corporate discrimination but about the division of labor that happens when men and women have children," says Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap -- and What Women Can Do About It (AMACOM, January 2005). "The biggest misconception is that there's a wage gap for the same work."

Check out the rest of the article for the tips which include work hard, take risks, relocate, and never mentally check out from the office. (Note that Mr. Farrell, mentioned above, does hope that corporations would find a way to make the burden of work less crushing. Perhaps that's an idea for his next book?) --------

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Want a job? Check out a woman-led business
Posted by Diane Danielson at 9:23 AM

In the BostonWorks' Out in the Field section this past Sunday, Diane E. Lewis reports on a new study which showed that 47 percent of women-led firms in Massachusetts grew by more than 5 percent in 2003.

"Women-led businesses provided employment to more than 25,000 individuals in 2003, with 84 percent of those workers employed full time," said the report. Of the workers employed by the firms polled, 57 percent were women.

According to the study, the average female chief executive had 27 years of work experience. On average, they had spent 13 years in their current positions as chief executives or presidents of their firms.

"In addition, most bring an advanced education to their work," the report said. "Ninety-two percent completed college and 45 percent completed graduate work beyond college."

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December 14, 2004

Trendy JasmineSola plans major expansion
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:08 AM

Fashion alert! Today's Globe reports on a major expansion plan for a local, longstanding fashion boutique:

What do women want?

Luciano Manganella, the owner of the trendy Boston women's boutique JasmineSola, has a pretty good idea. And now after 34 years in business, he's plotting a major expansion.

The eight-unit chain has plans to open 12 stores in the next 18 months in New England. Manganella also is in talks with former Saks Fifth Avenue chairman and chief executive Philip Miller at Tri-Artisan Partners, a New York merchant bank, to explore a venture capital deal to allow JasmineSola to open another 50 stores nationwide in five years.
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Over the next six to 12 months, that uniqueness will become more accessible, with stores slated to open in Hingham, Lexington, Natick, and Connecticut. The chain's stores at the Prudential and Newton malls are expanding, and its Harvard Square location is adding a store that will focus on casual wear with a preppy appeal, featuring brands such as Lacoste and Le Tigre.

The company is also testing out a new format. Over the weekend, it opened a discount facility, JasmineSola Warehouse Store, on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

If you're interested in the fashion biz or retail work, you might want to check it out.
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Many Mass. workers misclassified as contractors
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:41 AM

Diane Lewis reports in yesterday's Globe on a new joint UMass-Harvard study that shows that many area workers are misclassified by employers to save money:

Thousands of Massachusetts workers are wrongly classified as self-employed or independent contractors by employers seeking to lower costs, according to a report released jointly today by the University of Massachusetts' and Harvard University's schools of Law and Public Health. Misclassifications enable employers to avoid payroll taxes and such mandated employee benefits as unemployment and workers' compensation insurance.
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"In an environment of recession there is greater pressure on workers to accept this kind of employment arrangement," said Carre. "But it makes them vulnerable because they do not have any of the protections of an employee."

While contract work can be an attractive option for many reasons, if you are interested in full-time employment with the attendant benefits most firms offer, be sure you are clear about this in discussions with prospective employers.
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December 12, 2004

It's time for career New Year's resolutions
Posted by Colin Moor at 3:21 PM

The New Year is just around the corner. Besides deciding to swear off Krispy Kreme donuts (good luck keeping that one!), don't forget to consider a career check-up and include where it is going as part of your holiday reflections. 2005 is coming and Career Coach, Robin Ryan, has a good checklist in her CareerBuilder column.

Worried about your job security? Unhappy with your current position? Hoping to get a raise or promotion? Time to review your career management strategies to be sure you are in top form to move up or on.

In today’s changing workplace, the average worker will hold more than 11 jobs during their working lifetime. Since career management is now your responsibility, learn where you stand with this brief check-up.

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December 11, 2004

Surviving the interview disaster
Posted by Diane Danielson at 10:13 AM

Cheryl Dahle of the New York Times, writes about how to survive the dreaded interview disaster.

Q. On the day of an important job interview, fate is unkind. A traffic accident eats up the extra time you allotted for travel, and then you spill your triple-shot, no-foam latte on your suit. Is there a way to recover from the inauspicious first impression you will undoubtedly make?

A. Accidents like that may actually offer an opportunity to show off your finer qualities in the interview, said Robbie Miller Kaplan, author of "How to Say It in Your Job Search" (Prentice Hall 2001).

"It's the perfect chance to demonstrate how you think on your feet and how you handle stress," Ms. Miller Kaplan said. "Think of it as a gift."

And yes, if you continue to read the rest of the article, that is "yours truly" who arrived at an interview late, wet and bleeding. (I sliced my hand on a rusty hubcap while trying to fix the flat tire on my rental car in a rainstorm.) Unfortunately, Cheryl couldn't fit the whole story in. Because that, in fact, was my second attempt at the same interview. The first one was thwarted by my car being stolen.

When I finally arrived at the law firm where I was interviewing to be a law clerk, they were apparently also hiring a legal secretary. Because they had never had a female law clerk, the office manager assumed I was a candidate for the secretarial position. Hence, I was confused as to why she wanted me to take a typing test, and she was annoyed that I couldn't due to my bleeding hand. Fortunately, the hiring partner was called and he straightened everything out.

Not sure how I managed to not burst into tears, but desperation will do wonders. I was a broke law student whose car was just stolen, and interviewing for one of the few jobs available during the last recession. Somehow, I just plowed through.

The happy ending? When asked when I could start - I replied, "Considering my car was just stolen, right now would be good." The hiring partner then handed me a case file, but requested that I go do something about my hand so that I didn't bleed all over everything.

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December 10, 2004

Curriculum Vitae
Posted by at 10:49 AM

You want a new job but haven't the foggiest how to begin? While BostonWorks' Job Hunt may help you may need even more basic instruction if you've been out of the market for some time and perhaps eHow's: Job Search section may help. I haven't been here in quite a while but stumbled across it again recently while looking for some more domestic information and most of the advice on a given topic is pretty relevant.
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Dating down at the office
Posted by Diane Danielson at 10:35 AM

The 1994 Demi Moore/Michael Douglas flick, Disclosure, aimed to show what could happen when women became the boss - i.e., they might prey on innocent male employees. Not sure whether that movie has any validity, but it seems that men aren't that interested in "dating up" the corporate ladder. At least that's the case according to a new study from the University of Michigan, which found that men are attracted to subordinate females at work rather than colleagues or bosses.

A study carried out at the University of Michigan and published in the current issue of 'Evolution and Human Behaviour' has revealed that men are more likely to want to marry women who are their assistants at work rather than their colleagues or bosses.

"These findings provide empirical support for the widespread belief that powerful women are at a disadvantage in the marriage market because men may prefer to marry less accomplished women," said Stephanie Brown, lead author of the study and a social psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

Unfortunately there wasn't any data in the overview as to whether there are simply more women down the corporate ladder than up - which would make "dating up" for men a bit more challenging.

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Fleet out, Bank of America in
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:25 AM

Here's a video blog, a segment from NECN on the changes now underway in New England as Fleet branches change their name to Bank of America:

Bank of America's takeover of FleetBoston is finally taking effect in New England. The bank replaced Fleet signs with its own logo Monday -- and customers in the greater Boston area can now access a new line of the bank's products and services. NECN business reporter Mont Fennel takes a closer look at whether former Fleet workers will benefit from the changes.

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December 7, 2004

Corporate America can't build a sentence
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:11 AM

Here is an extremely interesting article from this morning's New York Times detailing how today's corporate denizens have trouble writing coherent emails.

Here is one from a systems analyst to her supervisor at a high-tech corporation based in Palo Alto, Calif.: "I updated the Status report for the four discrepancies Lennie forward us via e-mail (they in Barry file).. to make sure my logic was correct It seems we provide Murray with incorrect information ... However after verifying controls on JBL - JBL has the indicator as B ???? - I wanted to make sure with the recent changes - I processed today - before Murray make the changes again on the mainframe to 'C'."

The incoherence of that message persuaded the analyst's employers that she needed remedial training.

The article also touched on one of my biggest pet peeves: emails conveying bad news. Back when I had a staff, one of the only rules I enforced was "all bad news must be delivered in person." Emails are so easy to misinterpret; the fallout from a poorly written email is often worse than the actual bad news.
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December 3, 2004

Decision by NLRB on work rules hit
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 5:00 PM

The Globe reported Wednesday on a controversial National Labor Relations Board ruling:

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employers may post regulations in the workplace that critics contend will discourage workers from organizing bargaining units or engaging in other union activities.

In a 3 to 2 vote issued the day after Thanksgiving, chairman Robert J. Battista, Peter C. Schaumber, and Ronald E. Meisburg, all appointed by President Bush, said workplace rules that broadly prohibit profane language or harassment are lawful because they are intended to maintain order, and do not interfere with protected union activity.
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In interviews...union supporters disagreed with the board's stance. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney called it a "veiled attack on workers." Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said the finding could "chill union activity in the workplace because broad language in a ruling can be used in a way that inhibits speech, intimidating employees from exercising their rights."

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Where the boys aren't
Posted by Diane Danielson at 4:24 PM

According to an article in The Seattle Times, one place the boys aren't is in college. The Times reports on a college admissions secret: more lenient standards for men.

Today, many colleges, particularly selective residential schools, face a dilemma unthinkable a generation ago. To place well in influential college rankings, those schools must enroll as many top high-school students as they can — and most of those students are female.

Administrators are watching closely for the "tipping point" at which schools become unappealing to both men and women. They fear that lopsided male-female ratios will hurt the social life and diverse classrooms they use as selling points.

Despite employing the same tactics used for years to lure ethnic minority students, few colleges say they give admissions preferences to boys. But high-school counselors and admissions experts say they believe it is happening.

"At some schools, it's definitely a strategic advantage" to be male, said Chuck Hughes, a former Harvard admissions officer who is now a private admissions counselor and author of "What it Really Takes to Get into the Ivy League and Other Highly Selective Colleges."

Personally, I wouldn't mind doing something to encourage more young men to get into college - it would certainly help the dating scene. But, rather than relax standards, why not have less than proficient males gain access by contributing to an "erase the Gender Gap" fund? The Gender Gap (the difference between male and female wages) has increased for the first time in years, despite the decrease in the number of male graduates from colleges and grad schools.
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December 2, 2004

Wake up, U.S. tech workers
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:03 AM

Have tech workers realized that they aren't in charge anymore? Here is an interesting essay outlining the new realities facing U.S. tech workers.

Rather than being occupied about defending their territory – whether against internal encroachments or outsourcing – the American tech worker needs to stay focused on the customer. If the customer is happy, the territory will take care of itself.

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December 1, 2004

How about a new job for the holidays?
Posted by Colin Moor at 6:56 PM

Slowing down on your job search during December because nothing gets done until after the New Year? Think again. As one HR executive commented to me the other day, "Every company I ever worked for hired when they needed to hire and that could mean an offer on Christmas Eve if we had found the right person."

Sinara O'Donnell, a former recruiter who is a contributing writer to the CareerJournal, has some additional perspective on this holiday employment myth.

Positions close in December for lots of reasons, including:

Executive recruiters' commissions go up as the year progresses. They receive more from their companies on deals that close at the end of the year because they're paid on rising commission payout plans (their payout rises as their gross revenues rise).

Internal recruiters may feel pressure for budgetary reasons. "Hire him/her now. I may not have the funds in January."

Many sales organizations have kick-off meetings in January and want to include new hires.

Psychologically, recruiters want to tie up loose ends, such as unfulfilled job orders.

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