November 30, 2005

Another cool job search gizmo
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 8:35 AM

Following on Jason's blog, below, linking to the Jobster search gizmo, check out this one from aggregator Indeed.com, a map of the US depicting job openings. The bigger the dot representing an area, the more the openings. You can click on the dot - say for Boston, currently ranked #4 nationally in overall postings - to access the listings.

(Blogger's Note: BostonWorks' and the Globe's parent company, the New York Times, owns a minority stake in Indeed.)

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November 29, 2005

Job search visualization gizmo
Posted by Jason Butler at 2:52 PM

Jobster Live is a neat little gizmo from Jobster that overlays all the current job searches onto a map of the United States. It's not going to change the world, but it's fun to watch. Go check it out.

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Merck to slash workforce, but Boston spared the axe
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:41 PM

Not so great news from the world's third largest pharmaceutical company, Merck, as it faces lawsuits over Vioxx and other problems:

The layoff of about 7,000 workers accounts for 11 percent of Merck's 63,000 employees. About half the jobs lost will be in the United States. The company also said it would close or sell five of 31 manufacturing plants by the end of 2008.

If there is any good news, it is that the Boston research facility will not be affected:

Last year, Merck opened the Edward M. Scolnick Research Center in the Longwood Medical Area with great fanfare. The research high-rise, built on land leased from Emmanuel College, employs 210. Scala said the facility isn't likely to be threatened by the cutbacks because it is new and has advanced equipment.

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Finding pleasure in a side gig
Posted by Jason Butler at 6:46 AM

A life of web geekery brings many joys, not the least of which is the ability to quickly transform an interesting random thought into a real-world tool. The New York Times Company is kind enough to pay me to do that sort of thing here at the office, but when I go home, I use the same skills to work on side projects, amusing myself through my craft, experiencing the sheer joy of creating.

But what about people less wedded to BBEdit, people who have a hard time translating their work skills to outside projects? How do they express themselves outside of the day job? CareerJournal writes about finding pleasure in a second job.

But for high-achieving managers, lawyers and the like, a different dynamic is in play. We can pay the bills just fine. We've settled into the middle of our careers, performing our jobs well but not all that differently from the way we did them last year. As much as we appreciate the dependability of a proven career track, we yearn to prove our worth afresh in some new area. We crave the joy of doing something we're passionate about. Side jobs give us those things.

I can't imagine a time when I won't have three or four side projects going. Of course, my new baby daughter may have something to say about how I much time I may devote to them.

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November 23, 2005

My life is an omelet
Posted by at 2:42 PM

So says Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. Read this abcnews.com article to find out why.

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Gender gap heading in right direction (for women!)
Posted by Diane Danielson at 10:06 AM

Good news before the holiday shopping season. The Boston Globe business section reports that there's been movement in the right direction on the gender gap. Now women only make $.20 less/$1.00 than men doing the same work at the same level for the same hours. (FYI - women who drop out or work part-time were never part of the calculation.)

Women narrowed the pay gap with men in Massachusetts and the nation last year, but they still earn only about 80 percent of male workers, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

In Massachusetts, median weekly earnings of women were 79.3 percent of men's, up from 78 percent in 2003. Nationally, women earned 80.3 percent of what men did last year, up from 79.5 percent.

In New England, Vermont had the narrowest pay gap last year, with women earning 85 percent of what men did, while New Hampshire had the widest, as women earned just 72.3 percent of men. Nationally, the gap was narrowest in California, where women earned 87.1 percent of men's pay, and widest in Wyoming, where the figure was just 65.9 percent.

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November 22, 2005

GM to shed 30,000 workers, 12 plants
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 5:25 PM

This is hardly breaking news at this point, but General Motors Corp. announced it will cut 30,000 hourly jobs and close 12 facilities. This is just the latest in a series of huge layoffs this year to affect massive US institutions. Hewlett-Packard announced plans to chop 15,000 off its payroll in July, while IBM made similar plans in April, albeit mostly for its foreign workforce. GM ranks fifth on the Fortune 500 list this year, while HP and IBM appear at 10 and 11, respectively.

But wait, there's more: Bank of America Corp., which has climbed in recent years to 18th on the Fortune 500 list, said in March it would shave 1,400 jobs off its Massachusetts workforce as part of the 12,500 it said it needed to make at the end of 2004.

Four of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies, and approximately 72,500 jobs gone. Big numbers all around.

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Blending networking into your life
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:23 PM

Networking is repeatedly cited as the #1 method for landing that next position. But how to do it if you're currently employed and all your time is taken up on the job?

If you're doing it right, networking isn't something that takes lots of extra time in your life.

It easily blends into your life, and your approach to life.
- - - - -
"People think of networking as going to a function," says Karen Susman, a Denver-based coach and speaker on networking. "You need to realize you are building your network everywhere all the time."

Read the rest of this helpful piece from Career Journal.

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How not to lose $2 million
Posted by Diane Danielson at 7:53 AM

Did you know that if you are a woman graduating high school this year, you will earn $700,000 less over your lifetime than the boy graduating next to you? If you are graduating college, the men will earn $1.2 million more; and grad school? A whopping $2 million more. These are just some of the facts and information on the gender gap presented on the website, www.wageproject.org.

Cool things to check out on the site: wage gap calculator; actual discrimination stories; how to start a wage club; and a database of sex discrimination cases.

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November 21, 2005

Work-life balance not just a women's issue
Posted by Diane Danielson at 7:46 AM

After questioning Fortune Magazine earlier this month about why they only focus on the women who drop out of corporate America, it was great to see that this week they focused on the men who are asking for a little humanity from companies. Check out this well-written article that treats the work-life issue more holistically.

There's a scene in the classic 1956 film, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, when Fredric March's driven CEO is informed that his estranged daughter has eloped. The CEO's wife, far from seeking her husband's comfort at this distressing moment, instead announces that their chilly marriage is over. In a wave of bitterness and self-pity, the boss tells junior executive Gregory Peck that "big successful businesses aren't built by men like you—9 to 5 and home and family." They're built by workaholics like me, he explains. The personal toll is obvious. "My mistake," he adds sadly, addressing his glass of Scotch, "was in being one of those men."

We're still stuck between the extremes depicted in the movie. Either you're a maniacal workaholic who runs the world—or you're a Dilbert, punching a clock with little power and authority. Too many businesspeople think that's just the way of the world. "You can't have it all," they say. But let's be very clear on what "all" is. People want to work at the level they're capable of and still have time for things outside work that nourish them. They don't expect to be as rich or accomplished as Bill Gates or Jeff Immelt while also being the perfect parent. They're saying that most of us lucky enough to have the talent and ambition to tackle top jobs while being blessed with people or things that give us sustenance should be able to combine both.

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November 17, 2005

Women entrepreneurs seek funding at Springboard
Posted by Diane Danielson at 8:05 AM

Interested in being an entrepreneur? Find out a little about it tomorrow, Nov. 18th when the Center for Women & Enterprise hosts the Springboard: New England 2005 Venture Capital Forum

Event Description:
Date: Friday, November 18th
Time: 8:30AM-4:30PM
Location: Harvard Business School
Spangler Auditorium

Springboard Enterprise's venture capital forums are designed to increase investment opportunities for women-led firms and to help women entrepreneurs navigate the equity markets. The forums provide women entrepreneurs with a platform for greater visibility and strategic connections to investment and business development experts in the community.

For more information about Springboard, visit www.springboardenterprises.com

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November 15, 2005

What's your boss's approval rating?
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 8:38 AM

If you've been reading the news lately, you know that President George Bush is experiencing the lowest approval ratings of his five years in office. However, you probably didn't realize that Forbes.com allows you to pass the same judgment on CEOs in many different fields -- possibly even your own boss. Visit the website to vote and view the approval ratings of America's top corporate leaders.

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The impact of personality
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 8:38 AM

Everyone talks about how important effective networking is to get a job, but it seems like the skills behind networking -- namely, having a good personality and getting along well with others -- are just as important once you have that job. In this week's BostonWorks, the feature story discusses how "emotional intelligence," which is basically the ability to deal with difficult or clueless people, has become a popular theme among academics and managers alike. Similarly, our "Climb" article notes that having a great personality can open many doors for you. And, just a few weeks ago "A penchant for teamwork" identified Generation Y's defining work characteristic as a willingness, and almost a preference, for working in groups.

The following quote from the latest "Climb" article makes you realize just how important these skills are:

"It's hard to underestimate the impact of good social skills on your career. In fact, across the board, in a wide variety of businesses, people would rather work with someone who is likable and incompetent than with someone who is skilled and obnoxious."

It's something to think about next time you consider skipping the company outing to get some extra work done.

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November 14, 2005

Like turning a giant ship in the ocean
Posted by at 6:39 AM

According to a recent article from csmonitor.com, Deloitte saved $41.5 million in employee turnover costs in 2003, based on the number of professionals who said they would have left if they didn't have flexible work hours; absenteeism and turnover declined at PNC Financial Services Group; and AstraZeneca found that "commitment scores" were 28 percent higher for employees who said they had flexibility. Despite the compelling stats, "changing a whole corporate culture is like turning a giant ship in the ocean," says Carol Evans, CEO of Working Mother Media.

Fewer than half of all companies in the United States offer flextime plans, and two-thirds of working mothers say there's a stigma attached to using flexible work options, according to Working Mother magazine. "There is still a lot of internal debate," Ms. Evans says. "Companies are conflicted, and working mothers are very rightly reading those conflicted messages."

Read the entire piece.

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November 13, 2005

Bait and switch
Posted by Diane Danielson at 1:38 PM

What happens when the job you land is nothing like it was described? This week's NYTimes Career Couch looks at your alternatives. But the best advice may be a little advance planning:

Ms. Dalton, the behavioral consultant from Maryland, said that before accepting a new job, an employee should ask for a written description of the position, spelling out the specific responsibilities.

"It's important to do your homework," she said. "Answering many of these questions up front will save you aggravation down the road."

And a little inside information gained through networking, wouldn't hurt either.

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November 10, 2005

Home, work, what's the difference?
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 12:44 PM

This week, BostonWorks notes the trend of American workers starting businesses and running them out of their own homes.

"Rudy Lewis, the president of Maryland-based National Association of Home Based Businesses Inc., on the other hand, said that anecdotal evidence suggests there are about 23 million home-based ventures, versus 1 to 3 million in the mid-1980s."

In addition, read about the new, flexible workplace emerging and the importance of taking a vacation.

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November 8, 2005

B-schoolers name their price
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:45 AM

We know a Harvard education can be a ticket to success, hence the fierce competition to get in and strut those credentials as one of the best and the brightest.

But the recently reported starting salaries of the graduates of Harvard Business School and other top b-schools are pretty staggering - and they are on the rise:

The average compensation of June graduates of Harvard Business School's master of business administration program increased 11 percent to $174,580, spokesman Jim Aisner said. For MBAs from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in California, the average totaled $149,913, up 9.5 percent. Graduates of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business received $150,000, a jump of more than 15 percent.

Let's see now, he may be a few years out, but we have the first-ever Harvard B-school grad in the White House, and he makes. . .how much as leader of the free world?

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November 7, 2005

Fortune's most powerful women
Posted by Diane Danielson at 8:08 AM

It's that time of year - Fortune lists their 50 most powerful women. No real surprises at the top. Meg Whitman rules again. But there are some new names.

However, what article about powerful women would be complete without the publication also printing an article about the women who "choose to chuck it." Also in the same Fortune issue:

Research by Catalyst, an organization that studies women in the workplace, shows that attrition rates at the highest corporate levels are comparable for men and women (roughly 10%). But because so few women make it to the top—only 15.7% of corporate officers at FORTUNE 500 companies are women, according to Catalyst—any departure naturally attracts notice. We were curious about why ambitious women would step off the corporate ladder. So we looked up some women whose path had led them onto FORTUNE's power list, then off it—and asked them to tell us their stories.

My question to Fortune: If the ratios don't differ from the men - as you state - why do you have to focus on it? Personally, if the ratio is the same, that means there are many more men "chucking it." Now, that would be a much more interesting story.

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Careers with class
Posted by at 7:17 AM

Check out the winners from a recent Harris interactive poll on the most prestigious careers in the US.

Wonder which jobs are considered most prestigious? Of over 1,000 U.S. adults posed that very question. Of the 22 occupations studied, doctors and scientists share the top spot, with firemen and teachers coming in a close second.

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November 5, 2005

Welcome to the neighborhood
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 5:16 PM

It looks like Bank of America Corp. is making good on its pledge to keep jobs in the Boston area after purchasing Fleet Boston Financial Corp. The Globe announced today that the bank plans to add 230 jobs by creating a call center in Dorchester, one of Boston's least economically developed areas (and home of The Boston Globe building).

"The center represents a $20 million investment in construction, equipment, and employees, executives said.

About 200 of the employees will work for the bank's national helpline, where they will field calls from branch staffers who have questions about operations. The company also will have workers for its national compliance operations unit..."

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November 3, 2005

There's no crying in hedge funds
Posted by Diane Danielson at 2:58 PM

Fortune reports on the lack of women in hedge funds.

Go to a conference of hedge fund managers, or a benefit, or just an old-fashioned booze-up, and it is obvious that something is missing: women. The financial services industry isn't known for being particularly female-friendly; not many women are mutual fund managers either. But hedge funds represent the extreme edge of the spectrum. "It's Wall Street divided by 100," says Jacki Zehner, a former Goldman Sachs partner, referring to the percentage of women in the hedge fund industry. There are no hard numbers, but ask people to name women who run major hedge funds, and you often meet with an awkward silence. ...

Most women in the business say that in the end talent really will trump all. But it is still a boys' club. Anna Nikolayevsky, who runs New York hedge fund Axel Capital, was in the middle of interviewing a young man to work for her when he interrupted to ask, "So who are the guys who started this fund?" Another woman manager recalls questioning in a large public meeting the CEO of a company whose stock she had sold short. The CEO repeatedly referred to her as "Miss," as in, "Well, Miss, if you understood our financials, Miss ..." Some investors simply are more reluctant to entrust money to a woman. "I have never hired a woman hedge fund manager, and I am leery of them," says someone who hires hedge fund managers for a living—and happens to be a woman herself. Another woman has heard over and over from men that they don't like to work with women because they can't stand tears. (A friend of hers has a great retort: "I can't deal with watching you guys adjust yourselves all day!")

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Now hiring: The sea
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 7:15 AM

The Globe reported a proposed plan to create a massive seafood market in South Boston today. The facility would cover everything from processing to selling, and would freshen up the job market in the area.

"A group of local business people is planning a large seafood market and processing complex on the South Boston Waterfront that would put idle harbor edges to maritime uses and potentially create hundreds of jobs."

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November 1, 2005

Front page news: "Man leaves job"
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:45 AM

Well, OK, not just any man and not just any job. But Theo Epstein's departure as General Manager of the Red Sox has sent shockwaves through Red Sox nation, New England, and the baseball world. And what about the world of employment?

For a look at what folks are saying and to chip in your own two cents, head on over to the (heated) discussion on Boston.com. For full coverage of the man and his work and his time with his employers, including the controversial Dan Shaughnessy Sunday column, start here.

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