http://weddles.com WEDDLE's RSS en-us http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/5050.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/5050.html The conventional wisdom is that searching for a job is, itself, a full time job. That was good advice in the 20th Century. Today, it’s a formula for long term unemployment. If you spend all of your time looking for a new position, you can’t get to the other task that’s required to be successful in the job market. What’s that? Revitalizing your career. Fri, 5 Mar 2010 11:30:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artone.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artone.html We’ve all heard of the alpha male and female. The dictionary defines them as the dominant person in a group, the one everybody emulates and follows. The term was originally coined to describe behavior in wolf and dog packs, but for most of the 20th Century, it also accurately depicted the way we interacted in our career. Fri, 29 Jun 2009 12:29:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/arttwo.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/arttwo.html If you’re looking for a job, you’re probably doing so with two strikes against you. I realize that’s a harsh statement, but sadly, it’s almost certainly true. Why? Because most of the people in the job market today conducted their last job search prior to December, 2007, the date today’s Great Recession began. Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:21:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artthree.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artthree.html Back in the day, accomplishments at work were only accomplishments if they were acknowledged by a supervisor. That reality had at least two downsides for you. First, it limited the definition of an accomplishment to whatever made sense to your supervisor, whether or not it made any sense at all for you. And second, your accomplishments were only recognized if your supervisor bothered to do so, and sadly, not all supervisors have good human relations skills. Tue, 11 Aug 2009 6:17:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artfour.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/artfour.html Job security has joined the pay phone and carbon paper. It’s no longer a part of the world of work. Employers may promise it, but they can’t deliver it. The global marketplace is just too dynamic, too unpredictable. Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:14:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/carsecur.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/carsecur.html A recent poll of U.S. workers found that the one thing we most want from our employers is job security. While that’s completely understandable in today’s crazy world of work, I’m afraid we’re more likely to get a visit from our fairy godmother. Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:59:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/vciocars.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/vciocars.html We’re all familiar with bubbles. There was the dot.com bubble in the 1990s and the housing bubble in the early years of this century. They were overheated investments that ultimately fell flat. In our careers, however, we’ve done exactly the opposite. Most of us have invested little or nothing in our careers, and the resulting vacuum is strangling our future. That sucking sound we hear is our future imploding. Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:11:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/tjmvc22.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/tjmvc22.html Billions of words have been written about job search tools and tactics in this job market of our discontent. Job board dos and don’ts. Twitter. Facebook. Building a personal brand. Improving your “findability.” It’s all good advice, but none of it will work if your career is sick. To put it in another and admittedly blunter way, don’t bother looking for a job if you have a wimpy career. Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:15:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/htdwfail.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/htdwfail.html Most of us go into a job search thinking we may be a little rusty, but confident that, basically, we know what to do. Then you do it, and the galling indifference and humiliating rejection begin. Employers don’t acknowledge your resume submissions, executive search and staffing firms don’t return your calls, and recruiters act as if you are damaged goods. It’s hard not to feel as if you’re a failure. Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:02:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/tocoltu.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/tocoltu.html A lot of us have been unemployed for a very long time. The conventional explanation for this situation is that layoffs have forced more workers to compete for fewer positions. While that’s true, it is not the only reason—nor the most important one—that so many people remain out of work for so long. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:34:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/twwwhk.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/twwwhk.html The positive growth turned in by the American economy in the third quarter of this year suggests that maybe, just maybe this Great Recession is now in our rear view mirror. As it fades away, of course, the tales will begin about what we did during this terrible time. While recounting those legends is surely important, so too is sharing the insights we’ve acquired from our experience. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:49:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ifaflw.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ifaflw.html Four letter words are generally thought to be unfit for public consumption. We counsel our kids to refrain from using them, and we do our best to abide by our own wisdom. It’s odd, therefore, that so many of us seem determined to rely on a four letter word when we search for a job and manage our careers. What is this seemingly inoffensive term? It’s the word “free.” Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:20:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/thamdr.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/thamdr.html The American Dream. While it is a quintessentially American aspiration, each of us has a unique vision of just what it is. For some, the dream is a chance to build a successful business. For others, it’s a home of their own. And for still others, it’s the opportunity to shop until they drop. As alluring as all of these visions are, however, I would respectfully suggest that they are outcomes of the dream and not the dream, itself. The American Dream is actually a state of mind. Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:05:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/wai2010.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/wai2010.html Prognosticating is a fine, old end-of-the-year tradition. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that the devil we know is bowing out and the devil we don’t know has yet to appear, but we seem especially interested in these forecasts during the last days of December. How much credence should we put in them? Well, the dictionary defines prognostication as an activity in which you “predict according to present indications or signs.” To my way of thinking, however, figuring out the future is nothing more than guesswork gussied up as deductive reasoning. Nevertheless, I think it’s helpful to look ahead at what might happen if only to scare ourselves into paying more attention to the emerging trends and issues around us. So, without further ado, here are my predictions for those in the world of work in 2010. Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:05:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/teoe.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/teoe.html January is a fitting time to think about beginnings. They are, of course, a big part of our lives. Each year, we tear the December page off our calendar and begin a new passage around the sun. Many of us also use the same demarcation point to begin diets or physical fitness programs or family dinners every week. Universally, beginnings are hopeful times, which is why it’s so strange that we exclude them from our careers. Fri, 8 Jan 2010 16:51:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ctnoascc.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ctnoascc.html A lot of people are angry and frustrated with their careers these days. They played the game and obeyed the rules, and still, they’ve been blindsided by circumstances that have battered their security and self-respect. They expected their career to be able to accommodate the situation, but it let them down. They thought their career was a self-correcting system, only to discover it needs a guiding hand. Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:20:00 EST http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ygwsw.html http://www.weddles.com/RSS/Content/ygwsw.html Ask almost anyone in the workplace today, and they will tell you they are doing a good job. While they might acknowledge that their work isn’t perfect, they take pride in what they do and the contribution they believe they are making to their employer. So, why do so many of us get hit with what seems like a layoff out-of-the-blue? What’s behind the pink slip so many of us never saw coming? The answer lies in the changing definition of security. Fri, 5 Feb 2010 13:10:00 EST