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The New Face of Promiscuity
Tweet Share on Facebook August 21, 2008 Comment (1)How can you be promiscuous online? Through indiscriminate linking and networking on sites like LinkedIn.
Social promiscuity dilutes the value of Web 2.0 connections. Even the networks themselves are opposed to it. Kay Luo, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn, recently told the New York Times: "We try to discourage promiscuous linking."
Luo does not, however, discourage elitism.
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What You Can Learn From Erin Donohue
Tweet Share on Facebook August 20, 2008 Comment (1)If the odds—any odds—are against you in your career, here's a big dose of inspiration for your midweek rut: Olympian Erin Donohue.
According to the New York Times, Donohue's body is "too short and stocky to be a star middle-distance runner."
But there she is, competing in the 1,500-meter heats in Beijing on Thursday.
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Vote: Does Smoking Hurt Your Career?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 20, 2008 Comment (5)What effect, if any, does a smoking habit have on a person's career and opportunities for advancement?
Over at Jobacle today, Andrew G.R. details "the perils of smoking at work":
• Smoking can be a sign of weakness to management.
• It creates a certain perception at work. Smoking is a controversial topic these days, and it depends which person is making the perception whether it is good or bad. Regardless, there is always a stigma attached to the title of "smoker."
• You smell. Sorry, I don't have a nice way to say it. Although I have given up work smoking completely, I enjoy the occasional with a beer. I smell when I do it, and so do you.
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You're Lucky if You're in Advertising
Tweet Share on Facebook August 19, 2008 Comment (2)It can be really frustrating to work in an industry that seems to be growing less attractive to talented workers. But it can also be a great thing for your career.
In this video from AdAge.com, Nancy Hill, CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, detailed recruiting and retention problems in the advertising industry. Hill, speaking at an industry luncheon, says the industry's single biggest challenge is: "Finding the talent, compensating the talent, growing the talent, keeping the talent—when they have so many other options from Google to Microsoft to Hollywood."
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Go Compliment Your Most Annoying Coworker
Tweet Share on Facebook August 19, 2008 Comment (2)Here's a workplace challenge that involves more guts than gray matter. The Careerealism blog is challenging readers to compliment the most irritating person in their office.
A little primer on the purpose of the exercise:
1. Compliments and appreciation are two different things. People tend to overuse appreciation and under-utilize compliments on-the-job.
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Some Women Work Too Hard to Be Promoted
Tweet Share on Facebook August 18, 2008 Comment (3)You're a woman. You're a hard worker. But, for some reason, you're not getting promoted. Although you may assume the worst—that you're hitting your head against a glass ceiling—consider that you may, in fact, be working too hard.
That's the message relayed by career strategist Karyl Innis, as reported by the Dallas Morning News:
Ironically, the reward for being known as a hard worker is often more hard work—not that leadership position you may be after.
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The Labor Market in Your State
Tweet Share on Facebook August 15, 2008 Comment (4)How did your state's workers fare in July? Here's a rundown of unemployment rates that standout, as reported by the Labor Department today. Others run more closely in step with the national trend. (For reference, the national unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in July—1.0 percentage point higher than a year earlier.)
States with the highest unemployment rates:
- Michigan: 8.5 percent
- Mississippi: 7.9
- Rhode Island: 7.7
- California: 7.3
- Illinois: 7.3
- Ohio: 7.2
- South Carolina: 7.0
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Tamara Urushadze Knows the Color of Her Parachute
Tweet Share on Facebook August 15, 2008 Comment (1)If you want to know what it's like to really have passion and conviction about your work, examine the video here, of Georgian reporter Tamara Urushadze, who refuses to be sidelined on the job by a sniper's bullet to the arm.
Urushadze, 32, was reporting live from Gori, Georgia, when she was shot. The Daily Mail reports that other journalists and aid workers took cover as she "bravely or foolishly" continued to report.
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Can Your Favorite Colors Reveal Your Career?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 15, 2008 Comment (11)It's hard to know what to make of many of the career assessments out there. I leave accuracy up to the pros and largely measure based on brevity and interest. In those regards, here's a good one:
The Color Career Counselor, offered by Careerbuilder's CareerPath.com, quizzes you several times on your favorite colors and then analyzes your personality.
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I Wish I'd Spent More Time at the Office
Tweet Share on Facebook August 14, 2008 Comment (5)We've all repeated the phrase: "No one ever said on their deathbed, 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office,'" but do we really agree with it?
Lucy Kellaway called it "sentimental pap" recently in her Financial Times column, and I'm tempted to agree with her.
After all, don't you want to take out the BlackBerry and check E-mail during the subway ride home? We could spend the time reading Hemingway or composing sonnets—but we'd rather check in to see if there was any response to an afternoon presentation, or if a client responded to that recent E-mail. It's desire, not drudgery, that drives us.
Brett Favre apparently had his quiet moment at home and screamed "no" all the way to New York.
Aren't all the purpose-driven, parachute-colored, seven-stepped, power-of-positive books meant to help us craft careers that are about more than paychecks and gold watches? Don't we believe that finding meaningful work makes us one of the lucky ones?
If anything, we may say, "I wish I'd spent my time better at the office." Or "I wish I'd moved my office to the beach." Or "I wish I'd telecommuted more." Or "I wish I'd treated my assistant better."
