As usual, they crammed quite a lot of action into “The Office” this week: Michael is overwhelmed by the extra work brought on by the absorption of the Buffalo branch. Darryl files a workers’ compensation claim for a broken ankle, and Dwight launches an investigation that could have spawned a ridiculous number of lawsuits. Jim requests a promotion and finds his plans thwarted by Michael. Pam tries to pin down RSVPs for her and Jim’s wedding.
Through all of that one theme jumped out to me — and if my obsession with advice columns serves me well, it’s a perpetual issue in all sorts of workplaces: How friendly should you be with your co-workers?
Michael claims Jim is his “best friend,” but then in a ridiculously misguided attempt to keep him around, he tells big boss David Wallace that Jim would not be good for a promotion that should have been a slam dunk. (read more…)
Most lists of the best companies for working mothers tend to focus on perks like flexible scheduling and lactation rooms. But after examining the executive ranks of those companies, Eve Tahmincioglu argues that they’ve got it all backwards. “What I found was pretty pathetic. Women leaders are few and far between at these so-called ‘best’ companies.”
- Are we using the wrong criteria for judging woman-friendly businesses?
- Make the most of your relationship with a mentor
- Why HR is like sales
Image credit, ftwitty, via iStock (read more…)
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Workforce — tracks feedback from leading managers and HR practitioners. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter and feature analysis from SmartBrief on Workforce Senior Editor Mary Ellen Slayter on this blog.
Last week’s poll question: Have you ever worked in a dead-end job?
- Yes, and I quit, 49%
- Yes, and I’m still in one, 27%
- No, 21%
- Yes, and I was fired, 3%
Dead-end jobs aren’t good for your career — and they aren’t good for employers either. A sense that your skills are building up to something — even if it’s just a little more freedom to work independently and a little boost in your paycheck — is crucial to career satisfaction. That more than a quarter of SmartBrief on Workforce readers say they are in a dead-end job now should concern hiring managers. Those people are likely to quit as soon as the economy turns around. (read more…)
Today’s guest post is by Ethan L. Chazin, an executive recruiter and employment professional with nearly 20 years of experience in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, financial services and publishing.
When hiring managers and business owners are faced with a tremendous glut in available talent, you would think that finding the right candidate would be a breeze — and you’d be wrong.
When there is a tremendous wealth of highly talented candidates to choose from, writing job descriptions to find the right person (or people) to fill your company’s vacancies becomes all the more critical.
The best job descriptions are much more than a compilation of that job’s roles and responsibilities. Here’s what they should also include:
- A quick summary of a company’s origin. This is critical for companies in business for less than five years.
- A plain-English pitch for the company’s “unique selling proposition.” A USP is what makes your company a unique place to work.
It doesn’t take a lifetime in the working world to figure out that a job that looks great on paper could easily be terrible for you in practice. There are seemingly endless reasons that a job could be a bad fit — culture clash, bad boss, crazy co-workers … I could go on and on.
In this week’s Washington Post Sunday Jobs section, frequent Post freelancer Vickie Elmer tackled this topic in an article titled “Get Creative to Find out Whether You’d Fit In.” She tracked down some great advice from experts, but still the article left me wanting to shout out some caveats that I’ve learned the hard way.
One of Elmer’s sources recommends checking out the best-employer lists that are put together by a variety of publications each year. That’s not a bad plan, but take what you read with a grain of salt. I once took a job at a company that appeared on a popular local magazine’s best-employers list. (read more…)
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