How much of yourself do you give up to get that job ?

• Getting Hired (the employment game)
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Last week I moved to the East Coast as a trailing spouse even though it meant that would loose the clients I had acquired for my consulting business (they were West Coast businesses).  As I start to look for here in the Boston area I am reminded of two things; first the ancient process of getting hired and second, the fact that too many people are giving up who they are to get positions that, in the long term, are not going to be a good fit. Continue reading…

The majority of employees are worried about job and benefits security

• Work today
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The gradually falling unemployment rate is not yet providing American workers with a sense of security about their current employment status. In fact, the majority (56%) of employees are worried about job and benefits security as they watch the inner working of their employers’ daily decisions about these critical issues. These are among the findings of the new Harris Poll Job Security Index which forms a baseline score that will be measured monthly to track the changing sentiment of today’s American workers. Continue reading…

A leader can see greatness and passion

• Work today
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There are so many books and articles on leadership but I believe that the only way to be a real leader is through experience. A real leader can see greatness in people and rather than bail on them and give up it’s up to them to nurture this greatness, improve skills so that the employee’s greatness can applied for the good of the organization.  However it’s a lot easier to throw your hands up than to work with someone to help them succeed. Continue reading…

The walking dead of job seekers

• Work today
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While Wall Street cheers the latest drop in unemployment there are a lot who have been rendered the walking dead by months and years of sending our resumes only to learn the silence of looking for work is deafening.  Even though some may have found work there is no doubt that their self esteem has taken a huge hit as they learn that most big companies view employees as expenses to be trimmed when sales go down. Continue reading…

The damage left behind by a bad CEO

• Work today
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Ron Johnson’s tenure at J.C. Penney Co. will long be associated with a 25 percent sales plunge. Lost amid the criticism since his departure last month is the $170 million it cost to install Johnson and his top three executives who are now all gone and whether JC Penney can ever recover from his poor management.  Constant layoffs, a culture of secrecy, and distrust of Johnson’s management team left many employees, and even executives, miserable and getting morale back in going to be a major challenge for the new CEO. Continue reading…

The bias against the long term unemployed

• Getting Hired (the employment game)
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It goes without saying that the explosion of long-term unemployment is a tragedy for the unemployed themselves. But it may also be a broader economic disaster.The key question is whether workers who have been unemployed for a long time eventually come to be seen as unemployable, tainted goods that nobody will buy. This could happen because their work skills atrophy, but a more likely reason is that potential employers assume that something must be wrong with people who can’t find a job, even if the real reason is simply the terrible economy. And there is, unfortunately, growing evidence that the tainting of the long-term unemployed is happening as we speak. Continue reading…

Job burnout may be worse for your heart than smoking

• Work today
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Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacations, and retire later than employees in most other industrialized countries, so it figures that many of us are prime candidates for job burnout — the physical and cognitive exhaustion that comes from too much stress at work over a long period of time.  It’s long been known that prolonged stress is tough on your health. Now, it turns out that job burnout may be worse for your heart than smoking. Continue reading…