February 28, 2005

Over 100 new baggage screeners to be hired at Logan
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:19 PM

Here's a new and immediate job opportunity in Boston. The Boston Globe reports today that with the imminent opening of the new Terminal A, Delta's new home in Boston, over 125 new baggage screeners will be hired and trained for Logan Airport:

Logan International Airport opens a rebuilt Terminal A in two weeks, offering millions of passengers a glittering gateway to the world from the former home of Eastern Airlines.
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. . .George N. Naccara, head of TSA operations in Boston and the Northeast. . .is seeking 125 new workers for Terminal A, the new home of Delta Air Lines, and the first applicants are starting to filter through offices located in the shadow of the Tobin Bridge.

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February 24, 2005

Recipe for Mass. job growth?
Posted by at 1:45 PM

With this year's Fleet Boston/Bank of America merger and the recent Gillette-Proctor & Gamble deal fresh off the presses, Govenor Romney has proposed a $600m plan for job growth in Massachusetts. The question now becomes, is it enough to keep other local companies here? Also, is the 20,000 jobs over a span of five years goal enough to jump start the Mass. economy and will it pass muster with the Mass. Legislature?

Governor Mitt Romney yesterday proposed a $600 million plan to boost job growth by streamlining development rules, cutting unemployment insurance taxes, increasing the state's marketing efforts, and targeting incentives at companies that expand or relocate in Massachusetts.

Under fire for an anemic economic recovery and corporate takeovers costing the state thousands of jobs, Romney outlined one of the most comprehensive and ambitious economic initiatives of his administration at a breakfast meeting of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He estimated his plan would create at least 20,000 jobs over five years.

Implementing it, however, may be a challenge. Many of the proposed initiatives require approval from the Democrat-dominated Legislature, a body with which the Republican governor has not had much success.

Read more in: "Romney unveils $600m job-growth plan" and "Employment gains eluding Romney."
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February 22, 2005

The yay-me file
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:43 AM

You should keep a file of items that reflect your accomplishments.

[Y]ou just keep a file of good stuff you do.  When you figure out some trick new process that saves hours per week, you make a note about (don't forget to datestamp it) and drop it in the yay-me file.  When you finish a project on time and under budget, you make a note that points to supplementary project files and you drop it in the yay-me file.  Since it's only your eyes on the yay-me file, you can feel free to drop in even the most trivial bits good cheer.  Did you cover Eleanor's phone while she went to lunch?  Goes right in the yay-me file.

The reason for the yay-me file is two-fold.  First, when you feel like you need to  patch your personal suck you can crack open the yay-me file for a blast of good vibes from the past.  The yay-me file reminds you that you aren't always lame and that you make good decisions and you do good work.  And gosh darnit, people like you!

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February 18, 2005

Breaking through the glass ceiling ain't all it's cracked up to be
Posted by Diane Danielson at 2:44 PM

In the wake of Carly Fiorina's firing, today's Boston Globe looks at the difficult life of a female CEO. To sum it up, there are fewer of them (14 out of the top 1,000 companies = .01%); they get fired quicker (average tenure for a female CEO = 4.8 years; male CEO = 8.2 years); and they only get opportunities in companies in great turmoil (hence, exacerbating the failure rate).
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Cure your Sunday Blues: Look to the Budda
Posted by at 1:08 PM

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, there's a reason for our propensity to feel blue on Sunday as we contemplate the work week ahead.

Part of the reason stems from the routine and regimen of our grade school days. The other seems to derive from our go-go American lifestyles which keep us looking ahead to something else, and perhaps ignoring the obvious that exists right before our very eyes.

For Sunday sufferers, it can be hard to seize the day when they have already snatched it from themselves. "We're always living about 18 hours ahead of ourselves," says William Bridges, an author and consultant on business transition.

Leave it to the Buddhists to figure out that time shifting is a root cause of unhappiness. "We live in our expectations, not our experience," Mr. Bridges notes. "Buddhism emphasizes learning mindfulness of the moment. That's the answer as much as anything."

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Unemployment claims lowest in four years
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:07 AM

Yesterday the Labor Department reported the lowest number of newly filed unemployment claims since 2000:

The number of laid-off workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for a third straight week, dropping to the lowest level in more than four years, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

A total of 302,000 Americans filed applications for jobless benefits last week, down 2,000 from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. The level was the lowest since Oct. 28, 2000, in the closing months of the country's record 10-year economic expansion.

Read the full article from USA TODAY.
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The weblog question
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:36 AM

Information Week takes a crack at the weblog question, addressing Google's firing of Mark Jen, among other issues.

Make sure to check out Information Week's lessons learned.

Lesson #1: Know your company's corporate culture before you blog about it.

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February 17, 2005

Take two (or three)
Posted by Jason Butler at 12:20 PM

I'm currently on my 4th career; not bad for 11 years in the workforce. I told my wife when we got engaged that I have literally no idea what I'd be doing in five years. And, that's not a bad thing.

NPR is running a series of audio segments highlighting some people who took the plunge and changed their lives.

In today's ever-changing economy, Americans are moving from job to job -- and career to career -- as never before. And it's not just about money: Many are choosing new jobs that might give them a better life. In a series of reports for Morning Edition, NPR's Ketzel Levine talks with those taking the leap.

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February 16, 2005

Email Productivity: a myth?
Posted by Jason Butler at 5:22 PM

Our email inbox rules us all; however, you can fight back. Merlin Mann gives five fast email productivity tips.

Shut off auto-check - Either turn off automatic checking completely, or set it to something reasonable, like every 20 minutes or so. If you’re doing anything with new email more than every few minutes, you might want to rethink your approach.

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February 14, 2005

Know thyself 101
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:49 PM

Two articles from yesterday's Boston Sunday Globe take a look at the growing vogue in personality tests. The first, by The Cult of Personality author Annie Murphy Paul, is not so flattering:

Personality tests are increasingly popular as management tools, yet many of them are no better than astrology at describing character or predicting behavior. Though we may regard personality tests as harmless fun, or an annoying nuisance, in fact important decisions may hang on their results -- making their widespread use deeply troubling.

The second, by Harvard JFK School Senior Fellow Shalom Saar, while still somewhat skeptical, is a little more forgiving:

. . .There are some instruments that, when properly administered and carefully facilitated, can enhance an individual's self-awareness. Furthermore, knowing oneself can serve as a solid base for exploring ways to become a better leader when dealing with conflicts, interacting with difficult people, and motivating others.

Read on and draw your own conclusions. Whatever you think of the tests, one thing is for sure: a true and unblinking foundation of self-knowledge immeasurably increases your chances for successful and happy engagement in the workplace.
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February 13, 2005

Mentoring in perfect harmony
Posted by Colin Moor at 7:25 PM

Finding a mentor for most professionals is usually a serendipitous accident. However, Pepi Sappal, in her column in the CareerJournal, writes about a Cherokee Indian from the Bronx and a venture capitalist from the South who formed a mentoring relationship that produced a substantial ROI.

"I saw my mentor as my guiding light in business and finance," says Mountainbear, a Cherokee from the New York Bronx. Specifically, he was looking for someone who could show him the ropes in the venture-capital business.

Bill Lyman, general partner at Alliance Technology Ventures, an Atlanta venture-capital firm, fit the bill perfectly.

Lyman, 40, had once had a mentor himself, arranged through a Kauffman Fellowship from the Center for Venture Education in 1999. His mentor had helped him break into the venture-capital field, and so he had an appreciation of the value of mentors.

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February 11, 2005

Jobless rate falls to 5.2 %
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 5:08 PM

The latest unemployment stats, reported last week from the Labor Department:

The Labor Department reported. . .that employers added just 146,000 jobs last month, slightly fewer than the 150,000 or so economists say is needed just to keep up with the natural growth of the labor market. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three years, but the slide to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent in December appeared driven by frustrated workers giving up job searches so they are no longer counted as unemployed.

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February 9, 2005

Yet another blogger fired
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:32 AM

Google has reportedly fired Mark Jen, a new employee who blogged his experiences at the company. His blog has mysteriously disappeared, but here is the cached version of the offending blog.

Yahoo employee (and prolific blogger) Jeremy Zawodny spoke with Jen and shares Yahoo's experiences.

I expect better from Google. They own Blogger, for goodness sake; you'd think they'd "get it."
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Tough times ahead for Gillette workers
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:10 AM

The Wall Street Journal discusses what lies ahead for Gillette workers in a Procter and Gamble universe.

[P&G] has a tendency to teach rather than learn. P&G has such a strong corporate culture that employees develop a lingo that only other P&Gers understand. The employees, nicknamed "Proctoids," write memos in a certain format, and use a certain brand of paper clip. Board members need a glossary to understand all the acronyms the company uses. Many P&G employees joined the company right out of business school, have never known another corporate culture and are eager to help new employees learn the ropes.

Yet Gillette employees may be difficult students. The company has its own staid culture, rooted in Gillette's flagship razor and blade business. The business model of giving away the razor and selling the blade may be the world's most-recognized mercantile concept.

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February 4, 2005

When opting out might no longer be odd
Posted by Diane Danielson at 10:12 AM

Instead of re-engineering women to fit into the traditional male-defined work structure, Lisa Belkin, the NY Times columnist and original author of "The Opt Out Revolution," questions why not redefine the work structure?

To help workers reach different destinations, we must revamp outdated roads - ones that do not work for more than half the working population. It means building a tenure track that does not create a black hole during the prime child-bearing years; it means assuming that child-care leave can last years, not weeks, and that systems will exist to keep workers up to speed while they are away; it means a partnership track not only for the young and tireless but also for the older and wiser; it means scientific research grants that allow for pauses - like maternity leave and child-rearing time.

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February 3, 2005

Opting out - the real deal
Posted by Diane Danielson at 8:12 PM

The Simmons School of Management's Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) just released a new briefing note that takes on the "Opt-Out Revolution."
Their findings:

• The issue of mothers "opting out" of the
  workplace has been overplayed in the media.


• Women are not shunning leadership and power;
  they are redefining leadership and power.


• Women pursuing leadership and power benefit everyone
  inside and outside their organizations.

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February 2, 2005

Another visit to the rabbi?
Posted by at 1:56 PM

Many years ago a stalwart dress-down colleague of mine was engaged in an active job search and started showing up at work with a freshly pressed suit slung over his shoulder. When people asked about it, he'd nonchalantly say he was "going to visit the rabbi" after work which seemed appropriate due to his pending nuptuals. Needless to say, a few suits later, he was off and running to a new job.

The Wall Street Journal has some tips to make your trips to the rabbi less obvious whilst on the company clock.
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A new twist on job security
Posted by at 1:47 PM

Woe is the Japanese manufacturing market. Following in the foot steps of last year's financial flailings by the country's oldest household brand name, Mitsubishi, Sanyo is now asking its employees to spend a portion of their earnings on their products to help avoid cuts and keep Japan's third-largest consumer electronics maker solvent.
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Ego makes entrepreneurs
Posted by Jason Butler at 7:53 AM

This is pretty funny, especially for those of us who have started our own business, or are considering it.

Do entrepreneurs start businesses because they have a better tolerance for risk? No, they just think they're better than they actually are.

Q: That being the case, what then accounts for their willingness to bear risk?

A: It's their overconfidence in their ability. Their confidence is greater than their risk avoidance. It compensates for their aversion to risk.

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