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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Astronology - Work Share vs. Layoffs
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Do One Thing and Do It Well
Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? Do you bring your laptop to meetings and then pretend you're taking notes while you surf the net? Do you eat lunch at your desk? Do you make calls while you're driving, and even send the occasional text, even though you know you shouldn't?I nodded my head at all of these, and that can't be a good sign. It got so bad the other day that while on a conference call, I went to send an e-mail and while thinking about the next e-mail I was about to send, I sent the first e-mail to the second e-mail's recipient. Outlook's "recall mail" feature isn't going to make up for that mistake.
But I liked the author's solution: "The best way for an organization to fuel higher productivity and more innovative thinking is to strongly encourage finite periods of absorbed focus, as well as shorter periods of real renewal." And here's how he suggests managers promote doing that:
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Astronology - What Type of Managerial Attitude Do You Have?
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Sunday, March 04, 2012
The Funny and the Not-So-Funny
On the not so funny is another blog piece that says all that you can say in picture form, this time in infograph about all of us dying from our jobs from Mashable (H/T Sarah). We can all laugh at the first graphic in this blog post but the Mashable infograph is depressing and sheds a light on desk jobs--and gives more reason to making sure you get out of your chair, go outside, and walk around at least at one point in the day.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Facebook and Twitter Aren't As Popular as Thought with Recruiters
This doesn't mean that all social media is being ignored and it doesn't meant that Facebook or Twitter aren't being used in conjunction with another service, but it does mean that if you're just sitting on Facebook or Twitter hoping to find a job, well, maybe it's time to change your strategy. Only 3% of recruiters are either on Facebook solely, Twitter solely or combine just Twitter and Facebook.
The other 97%? They may use Twitter or Facebook but it's always in conjunction with LinkedIn. In fact, almost half (48%) use LinkedIn as their sole social media outlet for recruiting. We've written on this blog many times about the virtues of LinkedIn as a job finding tool, but this further serves to expand that feeling. It doesn't mean that a clean and well-done Facebook or Twitter page won't help you find a job, but in order to catch the eye of a recruiter, it's best to work on your LinkedIn profile and keep that up-to-date.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Astronology - Whistleblowing in 2012
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Friday, February 10, 2012
When a Cover Letter Goes a Bit Overboard
"I am unequivocally the most unflaggingly hard worker I know, and I love self-improvement. I have always felt that my time should be spent wisely, so I continuously challenge myself ... I decided to redouble my effort by placing out of two classes, taking two honors classes, and holding two part-time jobs. That semester I achieved a 3.93, and in the same time I managed to bench double my bodyweight and do 35 pull-ups."Modest, aren't we? The truth of the matter, as the article points out, that this cover letter did exactly what a cover letter is supposed to do: get you noticed out of the large pile of applicants and make sure people talk about your resume. This one, though, may be for the wrong reasons. Even in investment banking which values those with self-confidence and brashness, this even seems like it may be over-the-top. We wish this applicant the best, but know that it might not have been the best route to finding a finance job this summer.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Astronology - Top Seven Warning Signs of Poor Organization Design
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Finally Time to Stop the To-Do Lists
The alternative to the feckless to-do list is what I call "living in your calendar." That means taking your tasks off the to-do list, estimating how much time each of them will consume, and transferring them to your calendar. (Don't forget to leave time to process your email. And leave some empty space — one to two hours — each day to deal with the inevitable crises that will crop up.) In essence, you're making a production plan for your work.As the blog post goes on to say, it's an eye-opening exercise that will be tough, but it's a necessary exercise to help you better determine what's important--and, almost as vital--what can be left out of your life. There are only 24 hours in the day, so stop spending hours doing to-do lists and start using that time to be more productive
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Unpaid Internships: Legal or Not?
[Some internships] could actually violate state- and federal-labor laws. The Department of Labor guidelines stress that "the internship experience is for the benefit of the intern," and for-profit employers are supposed to derive "no immediate advantage from the activities" of the unpaid interns. Indeed, business operations "may actually be impeded" in order to train the intern, who should "not displace regular employees."It's a three-page article and certainly one to check out. Although some internships are beneficial for everyone involved, many employers who are trying to take advantage of free labor instead of hiring more workers may get a knock on their door soon. Make sure that your internship program is a fair one within the confines of the guidelines by reading through this article and consulting your local regulations.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Astronology - Does Office Etiquette Exist?
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo May Be Worth Hiring
The article is talking about the movie/book "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" and the lead character Lisbeth Salander who is a bright and creative girl but covered with tattoos and piercings. The point of the article is that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover--that we shouldn't dismiss someone from being qualified for a job just because of their body art. In fact, the author argues the opposite, that we should think of them for certain roles:
People with body art are generally not only creative, but also bold, and often decisive. They are passionate, capable of thinking outside the box, and are often more open to the ideas of others than the general population. Those characteristics translate well to many professions—sales, marketing, advertising, public relations, and art direction, to name but a few.This isn't to say that the only people you should hire are the ones with visible markings, but it is to say that sometimes you need to get past initial stereotypes and figure out if what you see in a person on the outside will make them a good employee for your organization. And in the race to get the best employees for your organization, maybe it's best that you don't dismiss an employee just because they may have a dragon tattoo on their body.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Guest Post: Professional Emailing Etiquette that is Too Often Abused
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So much of our conversation today takes place through informal modes of text. With things like text messaging, instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, and emailing, we've become very comfortable with fast paced and impersonal conversation. While these modes of communication were at one time reserved solely for personal or informal discussions, conversations in a professional context have become more and more common through these impersonal text avenues. While this has made many professional conversations easier to get through, it has also stirred up several agreed upon technical rules and guidelines for professional emailing that go (annoyingly) ignored. These four professional emailing etiquette rules can be easy to overlook, but are (no doubt) some of the biggest pet peeves of your boss and coworkers.
Replying 101
This is the No. 1 emailing thing you will hear people in the office complaining about. Pay close attention to how and to whom you are replying when you send an email. Never reply all. This is basically a good guideline to go by always. Obviously, if you are the boss or supervisor, sometimes reply all is a necessary step, but for the most part employees shouldn't need to reply all. Email chains that end up circling the office are distracting and obnoxious for recipients who are not actually concerned with the content. Reply to the people you need to see your email. The reply all plague often happens when people are simply careless and not paying attention. A good way to avoid this is by only putting the people you want to reply in the to line and then CC everyone else that needs to see the text.
Subject Lines
Subject lines are one of the most important aspects of your email in both a personal and professional atmosphere. The subject line of an email helps your recipients understand what the email concerns and how urgent it is. Put a subject that is brief and to the point, but that is telling of the email's content. You should give your recipient the bottom line of the message when they read the subject line. If the email is urgent (and only if it is truly urgent), put the word urgent in the subject. You should be precise and detailed in your subject line without being longwinded. Do not leave the subject line blank. Recipients use the subject line to determine how (or if) they will read the message.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Astronology - Retaining Talented and High Performing Management Staff
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