Posts Tagged ‘jobs’

“How to Get Any Job: Life Launch and Relaunch for Everyone Under 30,” by Donald Asher (Ten Speed Press, 2002 & 2009) aims to advise college-aged people on their future careers. He structures workshops for the readers to figure out what they’re all about, throws in some anecdotes to support his workshops, and ties it all together with economic advice.

Asher recommends that we take our time now to figure out what we want, because we have yet to be indoctrinated in the “adult working world.” He says to hold out for an ideal opportunity, instead of taking what you can, and chastises us losers who live in our parent’s basements.

He has some good advice, but he didn’t realize how expensive housing would become (as compared to the book’s first printing in 2002), the growing unemployment rate, and the fact that most of today’s college kids have been in the “adult working world” since they were 14. The economy is changing, and here’s how to confront it:

1. Living as a team is the new recipe for success: Living in your parent’s basement isn’t the travesty it used to be. To save on funds, many grads are opting to live with their parents. You are no longer weird for wanting to save money!

2. Take what you can get: We typically want to start an actual career right out of college. But what do you do when people who have worked in your field for twenty years are suffering massive layoffs? There are also lapses in insurance to think about. You may want to think about having a “day” job with benefits, while you pursue your passion in your off time.

3. Get creative: Perhaps Asher was able to wait around for his career opportunities, but we can’t. If you want a job, sometimes you just have to invent one for yourself.

If you want a career, sometimes you have to invent your own path. Try taking more responsibilities on at your current job. For example, if you’re a future editor working at a minimum wage job, offer to edit the training manual. I know a fellow who works in data entry that just got a raise for using his IT knowledge. Otherwise, you can always contract your skills privately or start your own business

Q. I’m unemployed with an accounting degree, but I don’t see why anyone would hire me because I really don’t enjoy doing that kind of work. If I cannot convince myself I want a job in the field, I don’t expect to convince any interviewers.

I know my attitude means I need to find something else to do, but I have absolutely no idea what that might be. My unemployment benefits will soon run out. Any advice?

Dear Readers,

Hating your chosen line of work is just one reason people consider taking the giant leap to change careers. My dad, for instance, was earning a fine living in New York City in the 1950s drawing newspaper advertisements for Macy’s when he began to wonder if he might be happier working as a Protestant minister. He eventually enrolled in a seminary and made the switch. Thirty years later, when his doctors advised him to retire because he needed to reserve his energy, depleted by multiple sclerosis, he returned to his earlier love, art. He earned modest sums and kept his spirits high by producing a series of prize-winning watercolors.

Whether it’s voluntary or forced, changing fields calls for some soul-searching. “What do you want to accomplish before you die?” That’s the rather blunt question Martha Mangelsdorf poses in her book, Strategies for Successful Career Change: Finding Your Very Best Next Work LIfe (Ten Speed Press, 2009).

Why attempt to adopt such a long-term perspective? “It’s helpful to look at the big picture, ask yourself what you want to be, and articulate that,” says Mangelsdorf. Deep contemplation is productive even if you are forced to make a change — due to a layoff, for instance. “You may not have all the options you want, but it can help you choose among the things that are available,” she says.

Asking big questions does not guarantee quick answers. Typically it is small steps that help people find a promising new direction. “Often [discovering what you want to do next] is a fairly gradual process,” says Mangelsdorf. During her four-year tenure writing The Boston Globe’s monthly “Transitions” column, Mangelsdorf interviewed dozens of career changers. She found that talking with people in the line (or lines) of work you’d like to consider, attending conferences and trade shows, reading trade publications and scanning industry association websites, and looking into the field’s growth prospects are key actions that can help you make a wise choice.

Getting some additional training may be worthwhile, but that doesn’t necessarily mean studying for a brand new degree at an expensive university. Many community colleges offer cheaper options with more flexible scheduling. Other possibilities include certificate programs, short courses, and compressed degrees. Mangelsdorf interviewed one woman who started a bed & breakfast with just one intensive seminar under her belt. “The options are out there, once you start doing the research,” she says. One source she recommends: www.careeronestop.org, which has a section devoted to education and training.

Think about which skills you have that may come in handy in other settings. These are more formally called “transferable skills.” Sometimes they are not immediately obvious, as in the case of a sales manager who decided to take up organic farming. He took courses from a farm industry association to get up to speed on agriculture, but when it came time to sell his goods to grocery chains, he had an advantage over his competitors. “You’ll often find new ways to apply skills you already have,” Mangelsdorf says.

While it is extremely important to do your homework before making a change, do not underestimate the “serendipity factor.” You may just happen to meet someone, or read something, or volunteer somewhere that gives you a spark of an appealing idea. Try to keep active and stay open to new experiences and people at the same time you reflect on those things that you have long valued. By playing around with the mix, you will likely stumble on some new possibilities.

Q. After graduating from college in May, I have found a full-time position at a plant nursery near my home. I am the receptionist. Unfortunately, the closest I have gotten to using my B.A. in English has been proofreading some things. I am very thankful to have a job, but I am also worried that I am so far from getting any real experience, I will never be able to work within my desired fields of public relations or publishing. Should I freelance to get some writing samples?

Dear Readers,

Having to take a job for which you are overqualified is such common problem nowadays that it would be foolish for job interviewers to hold it against you. Instead, they should respect you for making the mature choice of doing whatever it takes to support yourself.

That said, you will have a better chance of breaking into your chosen field if you figure out a way to get some experience even while you are working full time at something else. A budding writer has all sorts of options. She can write freelance articles for print or internet publications. As a volunteer, she can approach nonprofit organizations and offer to help with their newsletters or other marketing materials.

But publishing is just one of many fields where there are many opportunities to work as an independent contractor or consultant. Sologig.com is one web source for people searching for freelance opportunities in a wide variety of fields.

If you cannot find freelance jobs, look for ways to volunteer. Choose opportunities that are challenging enough to give you some significant experience. Also make sure that there is someone willing to document your contributions and give you a reference when the time comes. In addition to gaining valuable experience, you will meet people who are likely to be impressed by your determination, and consequently may alert you when job openings appear.

Repair Resume With Resilience

Q. I have a question about resumes. I will be applying for a new internal position with my company. My resume has a two-year period of work experience that does not relate to my current or new job. (This was a time when I was out of work and was looking to put food on the table.)

Should I delete these two years from my resume, and if I do remove these years, what should take their place? The prior job (for a year) was as a private contractor. Should I extend this time frame to cover those years?

Dear Readers,

You should never fudge facts in your resume. If any falsehood is discovered, it can undermine your integrity and ultimately your employability. “I always say honesty is the best policy,” says Mary Janaitis, principal at MSJ Consulting in Oakland, Calif. “Otherwise you can get wrapped up in a series of lies. Any discrepancy can cost you your job.”

Janaitis suggests taking a close look at the opportunity you are applying for and highlighting on your resume the skills and abilities at each prior position that would advance your candidacy.

Do the same for the two-year gap that worries you. If there is no connection, then either minimize that period or omit it entirely. You can cover the gap briefly in your cover letter and point out the characteristics that make you shine, like your sense of responsibility towards your family, resilience, resourcefulness, or determination in the face of adversity, says Janaitis, and “use them to sell yourself.”

Determination is a big selling point, whatever the job. As the late Senator Ted Kennedy told his son, when Ted, Jr., asked his father why they always were the last ones out at sea practicing the night before a sailing race: “…most of the other sailors we race against are smarter and more talented than we are. But the reason why we are going to win is that we are going to work harder than them, and we will be better prepared.”

As his son wisely observed, the Senator was not just talking about boating.

Dear Readers,

As a talk show host on Wisconsin Public Radio station WPR, Ben Merens listens for a living. Whether he is interviewing education critic Alfie Kohn about his opposition to homework or energy policy analyst Antonia Juhasz about her book, “The Tyranny of Oil,” he has to do more than formulate probing questions. He has to listen carefully to his guests’ answers so he can respond intelligently and move the conversation forward.

Merens’ years of honing his own skills have prompted him to develop a side business training others in how to listen. He admits that “a lot of good listening is basic and not complicated,” but adds that with the rise of multi-tasking, many of us need a few pointers, especially when it comes to employing this vital skill effectively at work.

“What’s changed in the workplace is that there are more distractions – PDAs, minicomputers, cell phones, work phones, and more people wanting your attention,” he says. “With more people working in cubicles than in separate offices, the amount of noise has skyrocketed, which can make it more difficult to listen.”

Who should listen more closely, managers or their staffers? “I think it’s crucial for both for different reasons,” says Merens. “If you’re an employee, you need to know what’s expected of you. Employers need to listen to employees because they are the footsoldiers; they are dealing with your client base every day. You need to hear what they need from you to do their jobs better.”

Merens offers 10 tips to help everyone listen more effectively to their colleagues and customers:

1. Take time to listen to yourself. Turn off your electronics five minutes a day – twice.
2. Be in the moment with others. Give them your full attention. If you have a limited amount of time to devote to the conversation, tell them that ahead of time. Example: “I’ve got 10 minutes, and then I have to get back to work.”
3. Look at people when they talk to you.
4. Do not look at your computer when you are talking to someone on the phone.
5. Repeat what you have heard to make sure you have heard it right, and to let the person you are talking to know you are listening.
6. Do not multitask when you speak to others.
7. Take a break when you find your listening focus is going astray. Say, “I need five minutes,” and then take time to stretch, or take some deep breaths. If you are someone who cannot listen for a long stretch, be aware of that, and build in break times.
8. Do not agree to talk when you are busy. Instead, set a future time when you can talk.
9. Similarly, when you want to be listened to, make sure to ask the other person first, before you launch into conversation, “Is this a good time for you to talk?” Because this is so rarely done, your courtesy will stand out.
10. Take cryptic notes to maintain key information you will need later. Do not be a stenographer and write down every word, just key concepts. If you want more detail, write up the conversation from memory soon after it is over.

Because we can listen faster than we can talk – at a rate of 450 words per minute vs. 150 (give or take a few) words per minute – there’s lots of time for our minds to wander. That is why people often don’t feel heard.

Merens complains about lack of listening skills by people in retail jobs. “I often wonder when salespeople are talking to me, ‘Why won’t you look at me?’ [That they don’t] makes me feel less than special.”

“When you are listening effectively to someone, he or she feels there is nobody else in the world besides you and that person – whether it’s between a doctor and patient, or coworkers. The communication does not have to be intense or last a long time. However, that person feels that “when I’m with him, I have him completely,” says Merens. “It’s a fulfilling experience.”

We all know the difference between talking and being heard. That’s why giving freely the gift of “listening fully” to colleagues and others often reaps its own rewards.

Dear Readers,

Has this ever happened to you? A new department is expanding and your department has to accommodate the new employees by doubling up on office space. That’s the news I got a few weeks ago. Not only am I losing my wonderful office mate – a philosophy professor fond of quoting both famous novelists and Dr. Seuss – I must now share my 10 x 12 foot university office with not just one, but two other lecturers.

Sharing office space with someone else is an art, and our talents are being called into service more frequently than ever before for a host of reasons. The sagging economy is the most obvious. Since office space is the second largest expense after paying for staff, it’s not surprising that managers eye it as a budget item that could use a trim.

Some businesses see shuffling employees into a shared space as a way to facilitate teamwork. Other organizations feel forced to choose between adding space or upgrading technology, and technology wins out. Younger employees tend to be more comfortable with that choice than older workers, who have long viewed the size and location of one’s office as a measure of professional stature.

In any case, since it’s rarely possible with today’s tight budgets to reverse the decision – and my case is no exception – I decided to see if there are ways to make the most of being shoehorned in with near strangers. And, of course, there are.

First there are space-saving measures. Experts advise clearing the desk of photos and hanging them on the wall. Continue to think vertically. Add space on your desk by adding shelves on top or tucking things underneath. Often the space surrounding your legs can be used for extra storage.

Organize, organize, organize. Key folders and equipment should be within reach. But be ruthless about disposing of everything else you don’t need. Organize the items that remain by category. Books should be grouped by topic or alphabetized.

Next comes attitude adjustment. Plan to be in problem solving mode. Make sure to talk initially about what everyone needs to get their jobs done, and then check in on a regular basis. Your goals should be to stay out of each other’s way yet facilitate productivity any way you can. If that means speaking more softly, or moving your file cabinet a couple of inches to the left, do it. Then you’ll have some capital to spend when you need to request some important concessions to satisfy your own needs.

If you do not know your new office mates at all, try looking at the bigger picture. It’s quite possible you will pick up some useful tips. In fact, it’s almost impossible, unless you are completely closed to new ideas, not to be enriched by spending time getting to know another human being. Often the more different someone is from you, the more enriching the experience.

Most cities have companies that rent out shared office space to people who would otherwise work from home, Office Nomads in Seattle and Independents Hall in Philadelphia are two examples of companies that promote “co-working.” It’s an arrangement where people can drop in irregularly or pay a monthly fee for regular use of a desk, locked file cabinet, telephone use and conference space, and as much networking as they want. Office Nomad’s current members include an executive starting a U.S. division for an international food company, a copywriter, and an urban planner. Its website states, ”We are dedicated to cultivating a dynamic, creative and productive community office…[for people] who think that by working together they can accomplish more than they could by working alone.”

The idea of creating a dynamic office can also be pursued by people who work for the same employer. After all, you are far more likely to have at least some overlapping goals. Office Nomads co-founder Susan Evans says she and her partner developed what they lovingly refer to as a “Don’t Be a Jerk Policy” as part of the agreement that members sign. It calls on co-workers to refrain from anything that would interfere with “peaceful operation or enjoyment” of the space. Sounds simple enough. Where do I sign?

I read your column about the value of creativity at work with great interest. I have read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, and you are right on. What are the innovative, creative, out-of-the box type of companies that are looking for right brainers?

Dear Readers,
If you’re a job hunter leading with your right brain, obvious choices for potential employers are companies that are keen on capitalizing on new technology and introducing new products. Apple and Nike spring to mind. Another clue is whether a company is using new communication tools to connect to customers. Gilead Sciences, Hulu, Nokia, Intel, General Electric, and Toyota are among the magazine Fast Company’s latest list of 50 leading corporate innovators, which can be found online. Business Week also publishes a list from time to time.

These sorts of operations “take advantage of creative souls,” says Lynn Hazan, a Chicago-based executive recruiter who specializes in marketing and communications. Also promising are mature companies that have a growth segment. “They will have pockets that are still open to new ways of doing things,” says Hazan.

In addition to looking for innovative companies, you might identify ways you can deliver your special skills to a more staid business. One way to get noticed is to create your own web presence by developing a website, blog, or both. LiveJournal and Wordpress both make it easy to get started, although updating your site regularly does take some time and effort. “It’s a way to form a unique position statement on your own behalf,” says Hazan. “It’s never been easier to create a voice.”

For more ideas, consult The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People (Ten Speed Press, 2007) by Carol Eikleberry. Its list of careers may give you a host of new options – from acrobat to young-adult librarian – to consider.

Friend or Phone?

I text. I email. But I hate talking on the phone. Now I am applying for jobs that will require me to use the phone to contact suppliers and field customer questions. I’m terrified. What can I do?

Dear Readers,

Talking directly with someone on the phone may seem like an antiquated form of communication but it’s not dead yet. And it probably never will be. Many conversations benefit from the participants hearing each other’s tone of voice, or recognizing that the other person is either hesitant or in a rush. The ability to detect or insert meaningful pauses mid-sentence or paragraph can also be quite useful. Example: (long pause, then in a voice that’s barely audible)…I love you, too.

Telephone conversations often play a key role in the hiring process. While your resume may be selected by a computer programmed to scan for key words, getting hired almost always requires follow up screening by a key individual, via telephone, in person, or both.

As a reporter for Time Magazine for 20 years, I got comfortable calling people out of the blue and firing questions. It’s a handy skill. You need to proceed with equal parts friendliness and self-confidence, explaining succinctly at the outset what you need and why.

Those who don’t have much practice making “cold calls,” can help themselves by writing out what they want to say and rehearsing ahead of time. While that may seem like overkill, it can be a huge confidence booster. Rachel David, an intern for this column, dislikes using the phone a great deal. Pressed by me to do some reporting, she wrote out her introduction ahead of time. “At least I know if my brain falls out, I can keep talking,” she says.

If taking calls is more anxiety-producing than making them, try to figure out what is worrying you. For many people, it is the fear of getting roped into doing something they don’t want to do by the person on the other end of the line, be it their supervisor or mother-in-law. If that’s the case, politely tell any caller who is pressing you to do something unreasonable that you need time to consider the request and will reply shortly. Then take the time you need to formulate your answer, call back, and politely decline. Both of these little speeches can also be written on notecards, kept by the phone, and rehearsed in advance.

My boyfriend makes more money than I do but seems to have less fun. He’s quite successful by any professional measure, but always being in overdrive seems to have quite a cost. He doesn’t make time for friends, has difficulty making weekend plans, and frequently falls asleep cuddled up with the computer. Am I right to be concerned, or is this the way most people succeed nowadays?

Dear Readers,

Anyone who loves someone who fits the above description is right to be concerned. Sadly, we are all more vulnerable to ‘work addiction’ nowadays. With the growing availability of technology that makes working 24/7 easier than ever and the widespread worry about holding onto jobs in a tight economy, it’s easy to forget how important it is to strike a healthy balance between work and play.

Ideally, technology can add more control to your worklife. But if you begin to feel manipulated by your Blackberry rather than the other way around, take stock of your priorities and try to reinforce the boundaries protecting your private life.

Many people can simply recalibrate. It’s those who don’t want to cut back on work because it seems more satisfying than their personal lives who can truly be called workaholics. Not sure? Take a look at Chained to the Desk (NYU Press, 2007), a guide for workaholics and their families by psychologist Bryan Robinson. A professor emeritus of counseling at the University of North Carolina, Robinson provides a 25-item checklist that can help you determine whether you have workaholic tendencies. Another checklist can be found on Workaholics Anonymous website.

Robinson’s checklist requires readers to rate themselves on a scale from 1 (never true) to 4 (always true) on a variety of items. Among them:

• I prefer to do most things rather than ask for help.
• I get impatient when I have to wait for someone else or when something takes too long.
• I get upset with myself for making even the smallest mistake.
• I ask the same question over again without realizing it, after I’ve already been given the answer once.

Depending on their scores, readers are rated as highly workaholic, mildly workaholic, or not at all workaholic. If you score high, your addiction can be as destructive as alcoholism, which means it also is likely to be adversely affecting your relationships with family members and friends. I would strongly suggest examining your relationship with work more closely with the help of a trained counselor.

One easy way to start thinking about adding more balance in your life, offered by Robinson, is to chart how much time you devote to self, family, play, and work as a percentage of your time and compare that with a more desired allocation for your future. The difference between the two gives you some idea of the scope of the change you seek.

Managers should be wary of the workaholics on their staff, says Rutgers University management professor Gayle Porter, who has conducted numerous studies on the differences between high performance workers and people suffering from work addiction. Despite the common view that workaholics are the most productive employees, she notes that workaholics are typically inefficient. “You can’t judge by face time,” she says. “Workaholics’ goals often are to take on more work than they can possibly handle and fill up as many hours as possible.” In his book, Robinson sums up the difference this way: “The healthy worker is in the office looking forward to being on the ski slopes; the workaholic is on the ski slopes thinking about the office.”

Workaholics who are employed in organizations that reward the round-the-clock effort they are trying to curtail may have to consider changing jobs, Porter says.

Taking action to address work addiction is guaranteed to pay off handsomely in the way that matters most: personally. As the highly driven Michael Jackson discerned in “Off the Wall”:

So tonight gotta leave that nine-to-five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself.

Dear Readers,

Job hunting expert Richard Bolles, author of the bestseller What Color is Your Parachute?, has long considered doing a thorough self-assessment as a prelude to a successful job hunt.

In addition to releasing a revised edition of Parachute, due out this fall, Bolles has produced a cheaper, more concise guide designed specifically for job hunters facing today’s brutal job market: The Job-Hunter’s Survival Guide: How to Find Hope and Rewarding Work, Even When “There are No Jobs” (Ten Speed Press, 2009). Even when pared down, self-assessment continues to be a key element of his advice.

Having a thorough inventory of your skills can help prevent you from turning into a “job begger,” Bolles says. It’s important to go into every interview knowing that, “I’m going to be a helpful resource,” and if not at this particular company, somewhere else. The point of an interview – which we are more likely to forget when we are worried about our next paycheck – is for both parties to determine whether there’s the possibility of a good fit.

Evaluating your fit with a perspective employer requires you to know the parameters of your own skills. Bolles offers useful exercises to help readers develop detailed descriptions of their past accomplishments. His list of 192 transferable skills will help you expand your ways of describing your duties. Among the choices: acting, founding, recommending, traveling, testing, expanding, enforcing, imagining, memorizing, and unifying.

My absolute favorite activity is Bolles’ list of seven possible goals to describe what you were trying to do at your last job:

• Working with the human mind, trying to bring more knowledge, truth or clarity into the world.
• Working on the human body, trying to deal with the need for shelter, food, and clothing, or health and fitness.
• Working with the eyes and other senses, trying to bring more beauty into the world.
• Working with the human heart, trying to bring more love and compassion into the world.
• Working with the human will or conscience, trying to bring more morality, justice, righteousness, or honesty into the world.
• Working with the human spirit, trying to bring more laughter, spirituality, faith, compassion, forgiveness, love for God, into the world.
• Working on the Earth, trying to ensure more protection of the planet.

You may find that more than one of these descriptions fits your goals. “If ‘just keeping busy,’ is your answer, then think of what goal you would like to have been working toward,” Bolles writes.

Another bit of unusual advice offered by Bolles is to ask your interviewer a straightforward question at the end of the last round of interviews: “Given what we’ve discussed, can you offer me this job? It would help me a lot to know.”

Bolles believes this is the most efficient way to get some feedback about your chances. “What’s the worst thing they can say?” he asks. His reasoning: If the interviewer says no, then you have some closure on the process in a timely fashion. If you get a more positive response, then you’ll also have that feedback more quickly than you would if you had been less aggressive. “We don’t ask a lot of questions because we think we already know the answer,” says Bolles. That insight actually applies to many situations, beyond job hunting.

Bolles encourages readers to create a description of their own dream job. He doesn’t expect you’ll find it, but if you at least know what you’re looking for, there’s more of a chance you’ll find a position with some overlap.

Bolles divides job hunters into two categories. The first group is composed of people who are so driven by the vision of their dream job that “they are searching with every fiber of their being,” he says. The second group is composed of applicants who have “already cut out the dream and so are only half-enthusiastic” about their search.  Who would you hire?

And what about the Internet as a job search tool? Bolles estimates that only 10 percent of job hunters land a position via internet searches, and he suggests limiting them to 10 percent of your effort.

His estimate of the success rate of those who do a thorough self-assessment is much higher: 86 percent. You choose.

Dear Readers,

A parade of 10,000 workers organized by the New York City Central Labor Council marked the first Labor Day in 1882, and soon it became a national holiday. More than 125 years later, we still celebrate the day, typically with a cookout where we lament the speed at which summer sailed by.

But not everyone has time for bratwurst and beer. Nearly 42 percent of the workforce spends at least part of the holiday working, according to a 2005 survey by Development Dimensions International, a Pittsburgh-based human resources consulting firm. Some activities are accomplished from home: While 28 percent of the respondents said they would check work-related email and voicemail messages and 14 percent said they would catch up on paperwork, only 17 percent of those surveyed planned to go into the office.

Any chance those numbers have dropped in the last four years? I doubt it.

Some people volunteer to work on Labor Day; others have no choice. We depend on paramedics and other first responders, for example, to be available should we need them. At the other end of the spectrum, some workaholics will use any excuse to avoid spending time relaxing with their families.

Here is a peek into the lives of a small sample of people who typically report for duty:

Jennifer Coston, Supervising Forensic Investigator, Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, Houston, Texas.
“Holidays are typically pretty busy,” says Jennifer, who will work the weekend shift of Friday-Saturday-Sunday leading up to Labor Day. “There are big family outings, alcohol consumption, and water activities.” The forensic department’s 26 investigators examine 16,000 deaths annually, scientifically identify decedents, and notify next of kin. The work requires extreme precision, the willingness to come in at any hour, and compassion toward the families who have lost a loved one, Coston says. While she appreciates that “there is no typical workday,” she acknowledges that the work is demanding. Investigators typically work 10-hour shifts four days in a row and then have three days off. “Children’s deaths are the worst, because they are the hardest on the families,” she says.

Entrepreneur and employee Phyllis Heitkemper, Hubertus, Wisconsin.
Phyllis works fulltime in data management for Wells Fargo and oversees business matters for Aurora Trucking, her husband’s one-truck operation. She regards Labor Day, a day off from her day job, as an opportunity to catch up on Aurora’s paperwork.
Phyllis does not complain. Instead, she finds it rewarding to be a big part of a small operation. “When you’re so close to a business, you can see the immediate results of your work,” she says.

Ann Kohlbeck registered nurse, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Ann and her family schedule their barbeques for some other day because for the past 23 years she has not been home on Labor Day. This mother of two has spent the holiday working in either a hospital emergency room or a medical clinic. This year she will spend the day caring for her six dialysis patients.

Jon Heartt, sales associate, major department store, Wisconsin.
Jon expects to be bored on Labor Day, when customer traffic is slow. “Hardly anyone comes in,” he says. “It seems kind of silly to staff a ghost town.” Jon and his colleagues are expected to work on any holiday without being consulted, and they are paid the same hourly rate as regular days.

Carolyn Daly, spokeswoman, New York City Central Labor Council.
Long ago, the Labor Council began scheduling its annual parade for the Saturday after Labor Day. “We fought so hard for the three-day weekend, we don’t want to take it away by asking people to march,” Carolyn explains.

Parade planning has evolved into a year-round activity. While it doesn’t attract legions of spectators, the parade involves a fair number of politicians and 50,000 union members, other workers and – this year especially, when the parade will be held on September 12 – unemployed workers parading down Fifth Avenue. Because New York City’s main thoroughfare will be shut for six hours, Carolyn must secure numerous city permits and arrange for police protection. Contingents of marchers include groups as diverse as steamfitters, horse carriage drivers, Broadway musicians, teachers, principals, firefighters, and police, some of whom brighten the festivities by playing bagpipes and drums.

I’m on the verge of quitting my job. My boss and I do not get along. If I quit, would I be eligible for unemployment insurance? I am tempted since the federal government just extended benefits for another 13 weeks. A smart move?

Dear Readers,

The prospect of collecting unemployment benefits is rarely a good reason to quit your job. In fact, it’s generally true that if you quit, you are not eligible for benefits. This safety net was designed to lend support to those who lose jobs through no fault of their own.

That said, most states have some exceptions for extenuating circumstances. In Wisconsin, for example, if you quit because your paychecks bounce or you have to relocate to a different market to keep your job, you may be eligible. In Connecticut, you may be entitled to benefits if you quit for “good cause,” which may include reasons like caring for a seriously ill child or spouse. Even so, you have to be available for full-time work.

Because unemployment is administered by each state and the rules change periodically, it is important to check with your state labor department to find out the latest requirements. Even if you do become eligible for collecting unemployment checks, either because you are downsized or quit for what is ruled “good cause,” you will be required to engage in a job hunt. Since you are unhappy in your current situation, why not get a head start?

Interviews Galore

My friend is applying for an executive position. She’s been interviewed more times and by more people than for any other job she’s ever held, and still there’s been no decision. What’s going on?

Dear Readers.

Now that the high unemployment rate has put employers in the driver’s seat, they are being more selective than ever. They also more cognizant of “the costs of making a wrong decision,” says John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the Chicago-based outplacement firm. Often it takes six to eight months to realize that a mistake was made, says Challenger, which means at least half a year’s salary can be wasted.

Consequently, employers, whether they are hiring executives or temporary employees, are beefing up their screening process, confirms Mike Steinmetz, vice president and general manager of Manpower Inc.’s Midwest division. “Some of the larger firms have been trying to reduce risk through multiple rounds [of interviews], getting multiple people involved,” he says. Rather than be interviewed simply by a prospective supervisor, for example, a candidate also may have to meet with the supervisor’s supervisor to make sure there is a consensus on the hiring decision.

The hiring process is also more likely to include “behavioral interviews” and other sorts of assessments, such as skill tests. Behavioral interviews incorporate sets of questions that “attempt to elicit a candidate’s behavior in concrete situations that parallel what might be found at the company,” Challenger says. When Steinmetz interviews candidates for managerial positions, for instance, he typically inquires about difficulties they encountered and how they dealt with them. “I don’t want all rosy stuff,” he says.

Steinmetz notes that “soft” skills, such as leadership, teambuilding, conflict resolution, and the ability to motivate employees who are not direct reports, are highly prized. The best way to prepare for an interview nowadays, adds Steinmetz, is to come with some specific examples that can illustrate any number of these traits. “If the illustration can answer two or three questions at once,” that’s great, he says. “I like it when I don’t talk very much.”

With so many layoffs, Steinmetz notes, many “A-players” have been downsized. Whether companies are hiring new employees or hiring back old ones, “they are trying to upgrade their staffs by identifying and adding the available A-players.”

Candidates do not have to be proficient in every single area. Screening also helps employers identify areas that need coaching or on-the-job training once you are hired.  Most of all, you want your interviewer to view you in the following way: as someone who is reliable, trusthworthy, teamwork oriented, inquisitive, and always looking for a better way to do things. “I much prefer someone with those skills and mediocre technical skills than the other way around,” says Steinmetz.  That’s because technical skills are more easily taught.