I love January. In contrast to the hot, humid "dog days" of August, the cool, crisp air gets me really cranked up about the potential and promise of the coming year. I’ll finish my book, trace my family roots, pick up my guitar again, knock two inches off my waistline. Hey, watch me go. This is the year! But, old habits die hard. Before the ides of March, my ambitions will likely give way to last year's familiar rhythms an...

Even before the call back for another round of meetings, Brad knew he had aced his interview. As he described it to me later, he was "in a groove.” Everything fell into place. He sounded articulate, bright, downright charming. Clearly, a strong candidate (isn't that what the HR Director had said?), he was not surprised to be invited back as one of the finalists for the job. Brad had worked hard to get to this point and...

Networking. Everybody says it's the sure-fire fastest way to a new job. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone, so it goes, you'll get to the hiring manager more quickly and cut through the search process in no time. Networking has been promoted as, by far, the most effective method of advancing your career or landing a rewarding position.Still, if you're like most, you probably don't relish the idea of "wo...

As a student...some time ago, I can remember predictions by respected scholars and forward thinkers that advances in industrial automation and labor-saving technology would supplant the need for a 40-hour work week by the turn of the century. Leisure studies programs blossomed on campus, as leading-edge learners geared up to help a generation plan and manage their newfound lives of leisure. This impending crisis for Amer...

A little courtesy, is that too much to ask? Apparently, yes -- and nowhere is this more evident than in the job search process. You can spend countless hours, days, perhaps weeks, crafting the perfect resume, tailoring your networking pitch, grooming yourself for the big interview -- only to be interrogated like a two-bit huckster. Why should we hire you? What can you do for us that someone else can't? What have you learned...

Our American workplace has become a playing field of competing viewpoints and values as four generations -- Silents, Baby Boomers, GenXers and Echo-Boomers -- share the same workspace. Living cubicle-to-cubicle, office-to-office, we daily navigate unknown cultural territory, where clashes over leadership, power and work ethic are commonplace. Competencies and capabilities no longer correlate to age or experience, so respect...

If you've explored health insurance options lately, you know that medical coverage costs "an arm and a leg" -- and that's presuming you've met the huge deductible and forked up the co-pay. To further add insult to injury, once you've sacrificed your body parts, you'll need your insurance company's approval before the doc can prescribe the pain medication you'll need. You can't deny the sickening feeling that all is not well...

If you’re not talking with your people about their careers, you can bet somebody else probably is.In today’s workplace, your top performers are the very ones that are most marketable to the outside. They are poised to be prime targets for headhunters in this rebounding economy -- and there will be plenty of organizations ready and willing to lure them away when the time is right. So if you’re waiting for the annual perfor...

If you're one of the downhearted, downtrodden, downsized workers out there decrying your downfall from the company ladder, take solace. The people with jobs don't seem to be much happier than you are. Why? Isn't having a job, even if you hate it, better than not having a job at all? Not much, apparently. According to a new study by the Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit business group, only 44 percent of wor...

I'm sitting in a hotel lobby waiting for the shuttle to whisk me back to the airport. Two young men, recent grads I think, are sitting a few feet away engaged in a heated conversation. One says, "I don't care, I'm not gonna play the politics.” The other adds, "I know what you mean. That’s why I left my last job. I hated the politics." As they count off a collection of "hypocrites, backstabbers and suck ups" they have known,...