Career

What's Fun Got to Do With It?

2 March 2010
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Leadership, Life, Uncategorized

This past weekend I had the good fortune to attend an independently organized TED (Technology Entertainment Design) event in Manhattan Beach. TED is all about Ideas Worth Spreading; you can find more about this at TED.com. While I learned so much during this one day event, I’ve found myself talking about a particular presentation about play and fun and see how this ‘plays’ out in work – mine, my clients’, and my 13 year old son’s.

Michael Shore, VP of Worldwide Consumer Insights at Mattel Inc. presented valuable research about what fun means to a wide cross section of kids, summarizing this with 10 Expressions of Fun. I’ve been measuring my sense of fun against these. And, after presenting this list to my video playing obsessed son, understand more about what he gets from these games, and appreciate more what we’re all really after. In fact, fun is absolutely key to a satisfying career. Check yourself against these 10 Expressions of Fun. How much are these a part of your work and life?

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How a Black Mark Can Derail a Job Search

5 February 2010
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Job Search, Life, Uncategorized
This is a disturbing bit of information. I know this has been a very stressful time of looking for positions, and this article can make it more stressful. I suggest 1) take this with a grain of salt as not everyone has been vetted by recruiters, and 2) do your own background check just as you might check your credit history. Read on…. By JOANN S. LUBLIN You messed up a job search, making a faux pas during an interview or handling a turndown badly. But you probably don’t realize that your mistake, exacerbated by the tight job market, could harm your long-term prospects. At a networking event last August in Bellevue, Wash., a recruiter pointed to a software developer across the room. He’s qualified, but “very bad in his presentation skills,” he told career coach Paul Anderson and a human-resources official for a big technology concern. “What’s that guy’s… Read More

Lifting the Curtain on the Hiring Process

26 January 2010
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Job Postings, Job Search, Life, Uncategorized
By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN Ever wonder what exactly goes on behind the scenes when you apply for a job? While the recruiting process varies by industry, company and even department, the end result is the same: One person out of many receives an offer. Indeed, last month there were 6.4 unemployed persons for every job opening, according to the Labor Department. For those who aren’t hired, understanding what happened to their candidacy along the way can be a mystery. Not every firm notifies applicants that they have been rejected, and few say why. But knowing what goes on in the hiring process may give prospects the inside track for a job. Many employers start filling vacancies below the executive level by using a team of recruiters or human-resources personnel to weed out applications that fail to meet a job’s basic qualifications. “They should only be removing candidates… Read More

Key to securing jobs in growing fields

2 January 2010
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Job Search, Life, Uncategorized
Landing a Job of the Future Takes a Two-Track Mind Career Experts Say Positions in Growing Fields Will Require an In-Demand Degree Coupled With Skills in Emerging Trends By DIANA MIDDLETON If you’re gearing up for a job search now as an undergraduate or returning student, there are several bright spots where new jobs and promising career paths are expected to emerge in the next few years. Technology, health care and education will continue to be hot job sectors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ outlook for job growth between 2008 and 2018. But those and other fields will yield new opportunities, and even some tried-and-true fields will bring some new jobs that will combine a variety of skill sets. The degrees employers say they’ll most look for include finance, engineering and computer science, says Andrea Koncz, employment-information manager at the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But to… Read More

An idea and glimmer of passion lead to bliss

15 December 2009
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Life, Uncategorized
All change starts with an idea and a glimmer of a passion… Finding a Future in Doggie Day Care A Telecommunications Executive Follows Her Bliss to Become a Successful Franchiser By Elizabeth Garone When Amy Nichols says that her career has gone to the dogs, it’s a good thing. Ms. Nichols, a former telecommunications sales executive, is the founder of Dogtopia, a national chain of upscale day-care centers for dogs. Ms. Nichols approached seven banks before she secured a loan for Dogtopia Ms. Nichols always knew that she wanted to work with animals. “I didn’t want to sell animals. I wanted to be caring for them,” she says. But, after college, she thought she should get a “real job.” Following in her father’s footsteps, she chose telecommunications. In the late 1990s, she built a career working for a number of the big players: Bell Atlantic (which later became Verizon),… Read More

Managing Your Career as a Business

15 October 2009
Daisy
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Categories: blog, Career, Life, Uncategorized
Entrepreneurial Edge: Managing Your Career as a Business By James Flanigan Amid job uncertainty, more people are finding online employment sites and social media a way to take control of their own careers. EMPLOYMENT experts have some advice for the many Americans either looking for work or fearing they soon will be: Consider yourself an entrepreneur — of your own working life. The term entrepreneur is usually applied to people seeking to start their own small businesses. But those in the recruitment and employment industry say the uncertainty in the current economy means that workers need to think of their careers as their own small businesses. “The lesson of today is that you’re working for yourself,” said Janice Bryant Howroyd, the founder and chief executive of Act 1 Personnel Services, a staffing and employment company. “Most people say they’re giving their lives to the company, but it’s more of… Read More