The news that some employers have asked for direct access to the Facebook accounts — including user names and passwords — of people applying for jobs at their firms has set off a firestorm of controversy. The reports have …
Career Strategies
Practice Being a Leader
Leadership is not an innate trait that you’re born with. It can be learned. The key is to practice before you have the official title. Start by focusing on the choices you make now, such as who to put on your team or what vendor to use for your project. Recognize that you likely don’t know everything. Making decisions based on …
Keep Your Cool When Getting Feedback
No one likes to hear that they aren’t performing well. Yet, everyone can improve. Next time you receive constructive feedback, do these three things:
Here We Go Again: Is College Worth It?
A new report shows that Americans are investing like crazy in college savings plans. But the financial value of a four-year degree remains difficult to assess and is often disappointing.
4 Secrets of the Most Productive People
The path to productivity is not a new assistant or project management software. It’s these four shared characteristics.
Regain Your Focus
Multitasking may speed you through your to-do list, but it also makes you more likely to make mistakes and miss important cues, and less likely to retain information. Here are three ways to focus:
How to Make Your Resume Last Longer Than 6 Seconds
This should cheer you up: You spend days, weeks, maybe even months working on your resume, fiddling with fonts and wording and getting it into perfect shape for your dream job. Then a recruiter looks at it for mere seconds and …
Need a Mentor? Forget the Expert
When people early in their careers seek mentors, they often target those with a depth of experience. But experts can’t teach you everything. And, often they are so far removed from your day-to-day work that they can’t help you solve problems. Select at least one mentor with only a few more years of experience than you. Someone who …
Beware of Falling Trees: The Best and Worst Jobs in America
Lumberjacks are celebrated in folklore (hello, Paul Bunyan) and in song (hello Monty Python), but as a career choice lumberjacking leaves something to be desired. At least according to the Jobs Rated 2012 report released earlier …
4 Perks Employees Love
In the dot com/bomb heyday, kooky perks became the icon of much that was wrong with start-ups, as they blew through investment money and got little to nothing in return. And that is unfortunate. When competition for talent is …
Take Harsh Criticism in Stride
Whether it’s an office rival or a well-intended colleague, someone will likely say something punitive or hurtful to you at some point in your career. When it happens, remember:
How to Know Whether You Should Switch Employers
Is now a good time to switch employers? Or is it wiser to stick with your current job and make the best of it? The days in which workers could expect to have one long career at a single company are long gone. In more recent …
