All Blog Posts Tagged 'Jobs' (50)

In general we think that getting old has many more downsides than upsides what with declining health, reduced relevance, and being closer to death perhaps among the most egregious. And as has been noted many times in the past few years, the rapid and widespread ejection of many older workers from the workforce has left many feeling depressed and inconsequential at what they feel is a premature conclusion to their careers.

Aging and career do not have to be oil and water.…

As a an aging male with 60 years of perspective I can't help but note the huge change American women are undergoing in terms of their career options. As women have demanded and are realizing a shift in social, political, and economic power sharing there is a wide and growing range of work choices available to them.

I still remember how odd I thought it looked to see my first uniformed female police officer and big rig female truck driver and woman on a construction crew. It's not that…

A very interesting and potentially watershed story has emerged in recent days in business news. It concerns the top-down working conditions decision made by the recently selected CEO of Yahoo! Marissa Mayer. Ms. Mayer has announced that telecommuting among the company's employees is to be eliminated. Although this decision was intended for internal dissemination only it quickly leaked to the rest of us and has sparked a rapid and vociferous debate about productivity and innovation in cutting…

Social media appears to be growing in functionality beyond being just a way for friends to share interests. Marketing professionals, for example, generally accept that getting their product or service shared and discussed among connected individuals is now a solid and preferred part of any business' promotional plan. Facebook and Twitter have become an essential part of many marketing campaigns.

The power of social media is also playing a factor in career development. Sharing career…

Job boards, such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed, and SimplyHired are getting a bad rap these days. The word is out that job boards are no longer effective or relevant for job searchers.  Their image problem can be summed up in the words of a client who recently said to me, "C'mon, have you really heard of anyone getting a job from Monster?"

It wasn't that many years ago job boards were seen as the next great thing. Instead of going to newspaper classifieds job seekers could…

These are tough times for those of us who really dislike shopping. We are not only bombarded by holiday shopping advertising everywhere we turn, but are told by economists and those who report what they say that shopping is practically a patriotic duty. Apparently, the economic health of the country is largely dependant on how robust consumer activity is. The more we buy the better the economy.

Now I understand retail makes about a third of their annual revenues between Thanksgiving…

Encouraging and supporting a high quality system of educating youth and adults is fundamental to our being a thriving and competitive country in today's global marketplace. A nation that would short-change its schools and training opportunities gets what it pays for—an unmotivated and unskilled workforce.

But the role of educational institutions is under pressure to change not just some of its practices, but its core mission. Preparing citizens for the future is not what it…

So many of us just want a job with a decent employer so that we can go about our lives free of the stress and turmoil of job hunting. It's not such a bad thing to want employment complacency, in other words to cruise along doing something we like in exchange for the security of a steady pay check. Unfortunately trying to find that level of contentment in today's job market is becoming less and less likely.

The harsh reality is that loyalty ain't what it used to be. You may…

Every line of work can benefit from a workforce that knows how to communicate clearly and effectively. A free and comprehensible flow of information among colleagues, across departments, and between customers and companies leads to optimal productivity and profitability. Conversely poor communication diminishes competitiveness and quality of service.

Normally we think that mastering a specific skill set is the surest way to advance one's career. Obviously the better you can…

Negotiating terms and conditions of contracts following a hiring offer can be a daunting experience for everyone. It has been noted by many observers, including women, that women have not been as savvy as men in negotiating compensation packages, resulting in depressed wages for comparable work being performed by men. Breaking that mold has been hard. In many ways "business" has been set up to be a man's world with male behaviors dominating the way business is conducted.

One…

As is the case with most industries the profession of resume writing is trending in new directions and undergoing changes. As writers we know that to make resumes effective for their primary purpose, getting the job candidate an interview, we have to please not only the job searcher, but perhaps more importantly the recruiter or hiring manger viewing the resume.

Career Directors International, a global professional organization for career professionals, recently published…

There are some common claims being tossed around in the national self-diagnosis occurring of why hiring isn't significantly picking up. Declarations such as employers are learning to do more with fewer employees and that there is too much economic uncertainty to risk hiring, especially after how bad businesses were hurt at the start of the recession, are two often heard. There is another claim that doesn't get quite as much play, but is starting to be heard often enough. That being employers…

It's time to start stating the obvious. This is not your garden variety recession. We are not likely to bounce back to either the levels or type of employment that we had prior to 2008. Yes, I know technically we are no longer in a recession, because we have not had two consecutive negative growth quarters since 2009. To be precise we are in a period of sluggish GDP growth. But to most Americans it feels as if the recession that started in December 2007 is still with us. This has gone on…

By now it has become conventional wisdom that age discrimination against hiring workers 50+ years of age has become excessive in recent years. Examples are becoming too numerous to count. Here's one. I just heard from a client the other day about a directive he had heard from a friend that was given where she works issued by an HR manager that went something like, "Give me all the names of employees over the age of 50." The inference was clear. They were being targeted for something. Tell…

Lots of people work in retail. Whether one has chosen it as a career or parked there temporarily as they try to put their career plans together, retail employment occupies the time and energy of millions of employees. Retail is viewed simultaneously as both career lite by some and then again very seriously, particularly for managers and people very passionate about the product they are selling. Trying to determine if long-term work in retail is right for you requires a bit of contemplation…

Over the last week or so the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that job growth slowed significantly in March. In fact, the rate of growth was slowed by a factor of about 50% with March showing approximately 120,000 new jobs added versus an average of 240,000 jobs per month in January and February. Before we begin fortifying the bunker and stock-piling drinking water we have plenty of reasons to sit back and relax a bit as all is far from lost.

It’s important to remember that…

With this, my 100th website blog posting since opening my career development business Ryan Career services LLC in January 2009, I am compelled to stray from my usual pattern of offering career advice to instead summarizing how the business experience has been for me and to reflect on what I've learned from this venture.

Following a 31-year career in public education, which I left in 2008, I was primed to try something completely different—an entrepreneurial enterprise that…

We have all been taught that if we toil, apply ourselves, and put our noses to the grindstone that we can attain success which leads to happiness. Contentment, we are told, must be preceded by success, which in turn must be preceded by hard work that is often associated with not being happy. This cause and effect paradigm is an American truism harkening back to our earliest past. And it continues to find widespread expression, particularly with a bullying management style that implores…

One of the most disheartening things for an introverted job seeker to hear is that networking is by far the most effective means of finding new employment. Networking conjures images of energetic engagement in small talk or worse yet, meaningful conversation with total strangers! It might not be so bad if the introvert could just position themselves in a designated spot and gregarious people could walk over one at a time and begin the dialogue. But, of course, insult has to be added to…

With an uptick in hiring expected this year the combination of those trying to get back into the workforce and those currently hired but wanting new positions will mean that hiring competitiveness is likely to remain high. But not every job seeker apparently knows how to compete. Common complaints can be heard from company interview teams, HR personnel, and recruiters about what job applicant behaviors lead to rejection. If your goal is to make a potential employer say, "You're hired!", then…