As a college junior, I set my sights on participating in my university’s study/intern-in-Washington program. Word on campus was that the program was quite selective, particularly for students like me who were applying from outside of the school of public policy, so I took great pains to prepare and put on my most professional 20-year-old face.
Not long after sitting down in front of the three-member interview panel, one of the the panelists seriously tested my composure and professionalism. On his large, shiny forehead he had a scab, which he scratched, dragging blood across his brow. As the meeting went on he kept touching his head and making the bloody smear worse and worse. I didn’t know whether to laugh or vomit, but he showed no sign that he was aware of the situation.
Luckily, I kept it together and made it to Washington, D.C., to intern at the National Park Service and study public policy, a step that definitely contributed to getting me where I am today. (read more…)
Back in October, guest blogger Joseph Grenny tackled the topic of how to have tough talks. Earlier this month, I addressed a tough but necessary talk many employers should be having: employee attire. Now, The Washington Post’s “How to Deal” columnist Lily Garcia has addressed yet another topic that is tough to talk about but must be addressed.
In her column yesterday, Garcia took a question from a manager whose employee regularly makes a number of embarrassing pronunciation blunders — for example, “liBary” instead of “liBRary” and “mines” instead of “mine.” Clients and co-workers had made comments about the mispronunciations and the manager just didn’t know what to do.
Garcia gave the tough but totally correct answer: The manager must talk to the employee and work with him to improve his pronunciation. Yes, it will be tough, but it’s simply cruel to let someone go along making mistakes that make him look foolish and could be detrimental to your business and his career. (read more…)
In this week’s episode of “The Office,” Michael gets invited to attend the Dunder Mifflin shareholder meeting in New York City because he is the failing company’s best branch manager. He is thrilled about what he believes to be a great honor and over the moon when he discovers that corporate sent a limo to pick him up instead of a Town Car.
“Town Cars suck. Town Car is something that a company sends when they’re in trouble,” Michael says, adding way more significance to the vehicle than it deserved. “A limousine is something that a company sends when they have cause for celebration. And in this case I think we are celebrating me.”
Michael finds the celebration to be short-lived when he, the board members and executives walk out onto the stage at the meeting and are greeted by loud booing from the audience.
“This is not as much fun as I thought it would be,” Michael whispers to David Wallace. (read more…)
“The season of bonuses has turned bleak,” writes Scott Spreier.
No joke! As we approach the end of a year in which most people who still have jobs did more with less all while fearing they would be the next one to receive a dreaded pink slip, there’s a good chance that most of those dedicated employees will receive nothing extra but a pat on the back for all of their hard work.
Back in the day of flusher times, even those who worked half that hard could often count on ending the year with some extra money from their employer as a thank you for a job well done. Nowadays, anyone working outside the c-suites of Wall Street have lowered their expectations and managers have been saddled with the unenviable task of letting employees know that they will be getting only a small bonus or no bonus at all.
So what do you do if you’re one of those managers? (read more…)
Just in time for the start of the holidays, some workers have some good news to help boost their good cheer. Recent surveys show that many companies that stopped matching employees’ 401(k) contributions because of the recession have either reinstated the matches or are making plans to soon.
“It looks like the beginning of a return to something like it looked like before,” said Mike Doshier, vice president at Fidelity, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans. A recent Fidelity Investments survey found that 27% of companies that either eliminated or reduced their match had already returned to the previous level of matching or planned to by the end of 2010.
Human resources firm Watson Wyatt also surveyed companies that had cut back on matches and found that 35% planned to reverse those cuts within the next six months, up from 30% in June.
It may be small, but it’s nice to have some good money-related news for a change. (read more…)
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