January 31, 2006

Jobs of the future: the view from Davos
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:05 PM

At the 2006 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this past week, US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao spoke in a session on "Jobs of the Future":

"The greatest challenge is investment in human capital," said Elaine L. Chao, US Secretary of Labor. "Eighty percent of new jobs require some understanding of computers." Her concerns included the way benefit plans can reduce job mobility. "You have to stay with a company for 30 years to gain the full benefits, but the average US worker has had nine jobs through their own choice. The portability of benefits is a very important tool."

Another panel member, David Arkless of giant temp worker firm Manpower, USA, had a different concern:

"We need electricians, plumbers, infrastructure workers and higher-level production workers. We have to persuade children that in the future getting a vocational degree will be as important as getting an academic qualification. We have to make these sorts of jobs, which make cities work, look valuable and feel valuable."

To read more of the conference proceedings and learn about the ultra-high-powered participant group - from Bill Clinton to Bill Gates, Tony Blair, and on down the list - visit the Forum's website.

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Hiring strategies from Guy Kawasaki
Posted by Jason Butler at 12:29 PM

Venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki gives some useful advice on recruiting in the high tech world, including my personal favorite advice about only hiring "A" players.

Hire better than yourself. In the Macintosh Division, we had a saying, “A player hire A players; B players hire C players”--meaning that great people hire great people. On the other hand, mediocre people hire candidates who are not as good as they are, so they can feel superior to them. (If you start down this slippery slope, you'll soon end up with Z players; this is called The Bozo Explosion. It is followed by The Layoff.) I have come to believe that we were wrong--A players hire A+ players, not merely A players.  It takes self-confidence and self-awarness, but it's the only way to build a great team.

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January 30, 2006

Never work alone
Posted by at 2:57 PM

I was catching up on my Fast Company reading over the weekend and found a reference to Never Work Alone, a blog and Google group that poses a weekly question, such as what to do to keep remote employees connected. This week's question about gift giving at work generated some interesting responses.

The manager must make her position regarding the "strings attached" to such gifts absolutely clear. It must be crystal clear that giving and accepting a gift has null and nothing to do with any kind of benefits etc. A gift must be a purely personal thing. No strings attached, and no obligations.

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Mass. hospitals continue hiring at healthy clip
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:29 AM

If you're in the healthcare field in Massachusetts you're in the right place at the right time:

Roughly 161,400 people worked in the state's hospitals at the end of 2005. That's a 1.9 percent jump from the 158,400 people who worked in the sector at the end 2004, a year in which hospital employment grew 2.4 percent and the sector added nearly 4,000 jobs. Overall hospital employment has grown by more than 10 percent since the beginning of 2002.

Read the entire piece from the Boston Business Journal.

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January 26, 2006

Anything I don't have to personally do is easy
Posted by Jason Butler at 1:38 PM

The New York Times food critic spends a week waiting tables at Cambridge's East Coast Grill. Wackiness ensues.

[The customers' behavior] supported an observation that Dave made about restaurants being an unflattering prism for human behavior.

"People are hungry, and then they're drinking," he noted. "Two of the worst states that people can be in."

I recall a young woman at a six-top who bounced in her seat as she said, in a loud singsong voice: "Where's our sangria? Where's our sangria?" Her sangria was on the way, although she didn't seem to need it, and the bouncing wasn't going to make it come any faster.

Ah, Cambridge. I miss you so.

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January 25, 2006

IT folks, is this you?
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:16 PM

A survey from IT industry trade group CompTIA reports the following:

Information technology (IT) workers are getting little guidance or support from their employers when it comes to career training and education, according to the findings of a survey released today by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

The vast majority of respondents to the CompTIA survey – 85 percent – said they decide what IT training and education they need based on their own career plans. Just 8 percent make these choices based on their employer’s requirements or recommendations.

The survey of 462 IT professionals also found that 60 percent of the workers are currently looking for new jobs. Of those looking for new jobs, 81 percent described their job search as active.

Read the entire piece.

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January 24, 2006

Managing your boss
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 4:58 PM

Do you secretly feel that you're in the driver's seat at work, instead of your boss? This week's "Climb" article on BostonWorks discusses "managing up," or the ability to manage what your boss thinks of you and which projects you get assigned to. It can be a vital activity in moving forward with your career.

"You need to make sure your boss understands that you have shorter-term goals and that you care most about issues such as being challenged, learning new skills, and preserving your personal life. Make your priorities clear to your boss so you don't get sidetracked in areas irrelevant to you."

Also this week, the trend of renting office space for meetings and interviews, and what happens when your boss demands a wedding invitation.

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I'm 1,390 percent richer
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 4:41 PM

The January edition of Self magazine reported some interesting work calculations by University of British Columbia economist John Helliwell. Not that I read Self magazine or anything :-). Anyways, according to the magazine, Helliwell's rigorous number crunching has determined that:

• Having a great boss is equal to a 1,000 percent pay raise


• Having a variety of work projects is equal to a 300 percent pay raise


• Sane deadlines are equal to a 90 percent pay raise

You should take those figures with a grain of salt, of course, but they do further the notion that a big paycheck isn't the most important thing in life.

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Techies gone bad
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 3:00 PM

Question: How can IT folks go bad? Answer: When they turn boss:

. . .[A] classic example of a specific type of bad boss: the overgrown technologist who gets rewarded for brilliant technical work by being promoted to a position for which he's not qualified. Nearly anyone who has worked in IT is familiar with this all-too-common scenario of a technologically brilliant boss with no management skills. Unfortunately, this is just one of many bad manager scenarios in IT.

Read the entire piece from Computerworld.com, including survival strategies from those who made it through to tell about it.

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January 23, 2006

New job sites
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 4:00 PM

I discovered two new approaches to online job searching today, one from the Globe and one from my boss.

The Globe article heralds Puvu.com as possibly the "crystal ball that a worker needs to prepare for the next meeting with a potential employer." Here's a break down on how the website works:

"Puvu.com, which started up last year, offers "job interview reports" on about 100 Boston-area companies for purchase. The reports offer applicants insight into what an interview for a position was like, including examples of specific questions asked."

Unlike generic job advice websites that offer unspecific articles like "how to hit off your interview," Puvu actually aims to provide first-hand knowledge about what past interviewees experienced when meeting with a company. It's a logical step, as the online job hunt experience becomes more specific, tailored, and geographically targeted.

The other jobs site is jobaloo, which brings a more bare-bones approach to the career space. It simply provides Google links on the home page and populates the site with job listings from Indeed and career-themed articles from around the Web. It's a pretty easy formula, and it just might work.

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Opt-out role model - Sandra Day O'Connor
Posted by Diane Danielson at 2:44 PM

Who knew? Justice O'Connor was forced to opt out of the law profession when her babysitter quit. (No day care back in the 60's). Interesting editorial in the Globe today about O'Connor and "relaunching mothers."

What has gone almost unnoticed, however, is the five-year period that this high-achieving woman spent at home. Yes, Sandra Day O'Connor ''opted out" and was a stay-at-home mom. From 1960 to 1965, after the birth of her second son, she decided to leave her legal practice to be home full time. Essentially, she was forced to quit because her trusted baby sitter left. There were no day care centers in those days, and she could not find a competent replacement. Four years later, O'Connor's third son was born, and in 1965 she returned to work.

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Driving off the road
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:33 AM

Yes, as in SUVs driving off the road. But in this case, as in driving an entire company off the road.

Ford Motor Company, which yesterday announced job cuts of up to 30,000 and the closing of up to 14 facilities over the next six years, is struggling. The firm, which owns prestigious foreign nameplates such as Volvo and Jaguar, is reportedly doing fine overseas, just taking it on the chin in its North American home market.

Indeed, their US market share has dropped for the last ten years in a row, and they are beset by rising costs (healthcare, unions, materials) and slumping sales (SUV's, foreign competition).

How can things reach this state? I come from a family of Ford loyalists. We had a series of awesome convertibles and wagons growing up in the 50's and 60's. They fit our lifestyle. I own two Ford products currently, but I have watched in bafflement as the firm continued to produce ever-larger gas-guzzling behemoths that are contrary to deepening concerns about unreliable global oil supplies, not to mention their adverse environmental impact.

The promising revival of the classic Thunderbird bombed - too clunky and lacking in both performance and appeal. Perhaps the biggest sin was the inexplicbale retirement of the top-selling model Taurus, which went through two or three successful redesigns and held its own for years against foreign-blooded Camry and Accord, only to be replaced by the Five Hundred, which seems all but invisible on the roads. Has anyone seen one, anywhere?

On the plus side, a hybrid version of the Escape was introduced and the new Mustang and Freestyle seem as though they might be accepted by the driving public. The F-series trucks also do well. But that, apparently, is not enough to stem the tide of red ink. What else is in the works?

Coming on the heels of GM's recent similar announcement, the massive job loss news is not only devastating for the displaced workers and their families but a sad harbinger for this once mighty US industry. It's a business school case study, for sure, probably more than one. But the bottom line for workers is: if your products don't sell, you're out of a job.

Time to get back in touch with the market, guys. Make cars people want, that fit their needs, that they want to be seen in, and - is this possible? - that last. There's a reason Hondas and Toyotas retain their resale value and have so many repeat buyers. If Japanese carmakers can figure it out, surely we can.

Make old Henry Ford stop spinning in his grave. Go out and recapture that market share and put folks - and the company - back on the road, not off.

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January 20, 2006

MCAS for college students?
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 8:54 AM

Ahem, college students. If you don't start getting your act together, the state's gonna lay an exit exam on you, too. Current reports of skill levels upon obtaining one's degree are not what one would term confidence-inducing:

Nearing the end of their degree programs, most college students cannot handle many complex but common tasks, from understanding credit card offers to comparing the cost per ounce of food.

Those are the sobering findings of a study of literacy on college campuses, the first to target the skills of students as they approach the start of their careers.

This provokes another chain of thought. As a parent staring at two sets of college tuitions - let's see, 4 x $40,000 = $160,000, x 2 = $320,000 - you can't help but wonder about the return on that enormous investment. And those sums are at current rates. Anyone a few years out is looking at $50K/year minimum for a private four-year college. Then you're up to $400,000, approaching a half-million dollars. And that's just for two kids. Sadly, state college tuitions are not far behind.

Yeesh. At some point this becomes the emperor's new clothes. What exactly are we paying for, anyway? At these skill levels, is college the new high school, and graduate school the new college? Maybe college seniors should be tested on the way out. Or should we be taking a closer look at skilled trades for our children? With plumbers earning north of $100/hour these days, why not? Real skills = real income.

Not to mention the broader economic picture:

''. . .Do they do well enough for a highly educated population? For a knowledge-based economy? The answer is no," said Joni Finney, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonpartisan group.

''This sends a message that we should be monitoring this as a nation, and we don't do it," Finney said. ''States have no idea about the knowledge and skills of their college graduates."

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January 19, 2006

Back to basics
Posted by at 5:07 PM

Here's a good all-purpose article from the WSJ Career Journal on how to organize a job search. If you're embarking on a job change and don't have a clear idea where to start, the six tips in this article will point you in the right direction.

Start by choosing a resume format that's best suited to your situation. For most, a chronological approach will do, but career changers and others might opt to organize theirs by their functional skills. Determine if a lengthy resume makes sense for your experience level, bearing in mind that recruiters often prefer a concise summary for speedy reviews.

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Office space (or lack thereof)
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 3:02 PM

According to today's Globe, Boston has more office space rented out than ever before, a sign pointing to a modest economic recovery.

"Just a fraction under 50 million square feet of office space was leased at the end of 2005, a new analysis of last year's numbers showed. That 49.9 million square feet was greater than the previous peak in 2000, when 49.1 million square feet was occupied."

So, look for construction of some downtown towers to start popping up in the near future.

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Franchise risks
Posted by Jason Tuohey at 10:08 AM

Don't be lulled into security by stats claiming that 90 percent of franchised businesses succeed. According to this week's BostonWorks, you need to be a little better than the worst 10 percent to do well in business. This article touches on some of the ways you should go about deciding what franchise, if any, to pick when starting your own business.

"So what makes for a franchise worth buying into? 'You need a business that has demonstrated that the system works and that the success is reproducible,' Craven responded..."

You can also read about how employers are boosting efforts to retain talented workers, and the quandary of whether to charge employees paid vacation time for snow days.

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January 18, 2006

How are we doing?
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:45 AM

Last week was Big Help Week which we celebrated not only with the Boston Sunday Globe supersection but with a series of online events. Check out all the action, including our cool Big Help sign generator (make your own), the Big Gig internship contest (entry deadline: January 27), transcripts of the daily live chats with our career experts, and more.

We love to hear from you, so please send us your feedback on what worked, what didn't, what you'd like to see next time around, and how BostonWorks can best help you advance your career.

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January 16, 2006

Dream believers
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:38 AM

On MLK Day, let's hold up the model from today's Globe of these present-day pioneering African-Americans:

[Dorchester health club owner Christine] Holmes is one of many African-Americans making the move toward self-employment. While the number of businesses nationwide increased 10 percent, to 23 million, between 1997 and 2002, according to a recent Census Bureau report, the number of businesses started by African-Americans during that period jumped 45 percent. Between 1992 and 1997, black-owned firms increased at a less-robust 26 percent.

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January 12, 2006

Norway's "women on board" program goes into effect
Posted by Diane Danielson at 9:42 AM

From the New York Times International:

OSLO, Jan. 8 - On the first day of this year - and in the teeth of strenuous opposition from many Norwegian businessmen - Norway's leftist government put into effect one of the more radical attempts to achieve sexual equality: requiring that in the next two years 40 percent of the board members of the nation's large, publicly traded private companies be women.

The whole article is worth reading because it looks at how Europe (especially Germany) has a dismal record of allowing women and minorities into corporate management positions, despite the fact that women are outnumbering the men in higher education, and actually making inroads in politics and media.

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January 11, 2006

Government getting serious about the gender gap?
Posted by Diane Danielson at 7:56 AM

Legislation proposed to study gender gap.

Two lawmakers leading the fight against the gender wage gap have introduced legislation to establish an institute to continually examine the gap and make recommendations for businesses to combat it. This would be the first time an American institute would be created with the sole mission of studying the wage gap and issuing guidelines to close the gap. The Center for the Study of Women and Workplace Policy would be housed at a public university and would produce annual reports on wages, as well as best-practices guides for businesses.

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January 9, 2006

The Big Help is here!
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:05 AM

Just in time to help you kick off the New Year right, the Big Help provides you with thousands of new job openings and the info, tips and advice you need to further your career.

In addition to all the great articles in the BostonWorks section of yesterday's Boston Sunday Globe, check out the line-up of the week's online events and activities. We kick off today at noon with a live chat on the outlook for the Greater Boston job market in 2006 , taking a look at what the hot jobs and industries are with two leading experts in the area.

Join us today and every day of Big Help Week and give your career a New Year's boost.

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January 5, 2006

The gold watch can wait…
Posted by at 3:54 PM

CBS News writes about the growing number of women who are choosing to remain in the workforce beyond the once-typical retirement age of 65.

Three years ago, after a long career with FedEx, Anne Manning made a difficult decision: She accepted an early retirement offer when the company was downsizing. "It was a bit of an identity crisis for me," says Manning, who is in her early 60s and divorced. "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do." After a lengthy search, she found another position in public relations at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. "I needed the structure of a full-time job, the stimulation of working with others, and the reward of being productive," she says. "The income was also welcome." Manning typifies a growing number of women in their 60s and beyond who are extending their careers past normal retirement age. Twelve percent of women over 65 are in the workforce — the highest on record. For men, the figure approaches 20 percent.

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January 4, 2006

The best of the best
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:03 PM

Here, wrapped up for your reading pleasure, is a New Year's gift: the Top 25 BostonWorks stories over the last year.

They run the gamut, from the danger of employee blogs to the value of emotional intelligence. But what they have in common, in addition to their focus on careers and the workplace, is that they were all among the most popular stories on the BostonWorks website during 2005.

Here's a sample, starting from the bottom (of the top, as it were):

25. Dress for success - Although some graduating college seniors may have a difficult time giving up the "sweatshirt and jeans" look, undergoing a business makeover is an essential step to entering the workforce.

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January 3, 2006

Three growth industries for 2006
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 3:42 PM

Happy New Year, Job Blog readers!

Let's start out the year on an up note, shall we? Check out this CareerJournal piece on three growth industries for 2006, all of which are well-represented in Greater Boston:

Resolved to find a new job this year? Consider focusing your efforts on companies in the health-care, biosciences or technology industries. Recruiters and economists say these fields will lead the nation in new-job creation in 2006.

Here are some U.S. job-growth projections for 2006 from research firm Moody's Economy.com:

-- Hospitals: 100,000, up 2.4% from 2005
-- Physicians' offices: 86,000, up 4%
-- Computer-systems-design and related service companies: 81,000, up 6.8%
-- Biotech companies, a subset of the bioscience industry: 20,000, up 2.7%

The most growth in these industries will be seen in rank-and-file clinical and technical jobs, but opportunities for executives and professionals will increase as companies in these fields expand, say recruiters. The forecast comes amid a healthy outlook for the broader senior-level job market.

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