Career Development

"Developing employment opportunities for individuals with difficult backgrounds can be extremely challenging, especially in today's economy. Even when these candidates have strong vocational skills, many have difficulty finding or keeping good jobs. They just can't get along with their coworkers, won't listen to their supervisors, seem unwilling to follow common sense expectations. Why is this, and what can we do to help?"

"When college presidents and other higher education leaders talk about federal policy these days, the most common theme is dismay at proposed new regulations from the Department of Education. But a close second is the inadequacy of data from the Education Department's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for evaluating anything. "

"How far would you move for a job? Moving is complex and expensive, but sometimes job survival means workers don't have much of a choice, especially if you're unlucky enough to live in an area plagued by unemployment."

"When considering starting a new business or simply doing some consulting on the side, it is important to determine your main strengths and skills as a professional to evaluate the most appropriate industry to target or the best people with whom to network. "

"[I]f you are asked "how has your teaching changed over the years" or "how has your management of people changed over the years" or "how has your interaction with clients changed over the years" the wrong answer is "it hasn't.""

"In Saturday's WSJ, writer Virginia Postrel has a retrospective on the "Mommy Track." She takes us back to a controversial 1989 Harvard Business Review article by Felice N. Schwartz called "Management Women and the New Facts of Life." Schwartz started with the fact that not all working women want the same things. Some are chiefly career-focused, making "the same trade-offs traditionally made by the men who seek leadership positions." However, most women want children, Schwartz wrote, and "are willing to trade some career growth and compensation for freedom from the constant pressure to work long hours and weekends.""

"Are slackers more adept at handling work-life stress than type-A go-getters? A new study finds that may be the case. Those who cope with work-family conflict by becoming busier and looking for more resources to solve problems - type-A multitaskers - actually experience more stress and strain, says the study in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The researchers studied 193 people who were all combining work and college studies with family duties."

"Death on the job was a routine hazard for American workers a century ago. About 100 workers, on average, died every day as mines collapsed, ships sank, trains crashed and factories burned. Nearly all of them are long forgotten."

"Recently, I said goodbye to a beloved coworker and former boss who left to pursue new career interests. She was here for less than three years-I've been here for 10-but during her short tenure, she made a very big impression on me. Her management and editing style was stronger and more inspiring than that of anyone I had reported to previously, and under her guidance, I saw my career ascend to a much greater level."

"The biggest changes in family life sometimes happen gradually. New employment data suggest one such seismic change is upon us: Job-holding patterns between the generations have turned upside down."

Focused jobseeking: A measured approach to looking for work.

"The last three men nominated to the Supreme Court have all been married and, among them, have seven children. The last three women - Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Harriet Miers (who withdrew) - have all been single and without children. "

"Do you feel like your job choice out of college is the most important decision you will ever make, and that blowing it will tank your career? Relax and get used to it. It is just the first of many job choices you will be making throughout your career."

"In 2003, Career Development Alliance (CDA) was challenged to provide quality career services to the diverse, geographically dispersed workforce of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA)-and to do so on-demand and at a reasonable cost. We met this challenge by designing a dynamic system of telephone and Internet services provided by over 30 career counselors across the U.S., supported by a state-of-the-art website, streaming video, podcasts-tech tools. At the seven-year mark, we have provided career counseling, training, and executive and management coaching to thousands of clients and have worked within budget while garnering consistently strong feedback."

College career development centers are regularly faced with the challenges of increasing their visibility to students, establishing more collaborative relationships with faculty members, and developing more employer contacts. Recently, the Starr Career Development Center (SCDC) at Baruch College (City University of New York), under the guidance of its Director Dr. Patricia Imbimbo, has developed a critical tool to assist in meeting all these challenges, the Starr Sub Program.

Information and advice for students and adults returning to school, as well as parents, counselors, faculty advisors, and education policymakers.

"We've written before about bosses who have gotten fed up with the demands of the juggle and have made changes to their workplaces to relieve some of the pressures. But is it possible to have a boss who takes work-life balance to such an extreme that "life" outweighs "work"?"

"On just about every reality TV show, from "The Bachelor" to "Jersey Shore" to "The Real Housewives" (pick a city -- any city), we hear the same thing: "I don't like drama." But disdain for drama isn't limited to our favorite reality stars. It's also apparent in the workplace. Bing: Don't get burned by office politics"

"I answered my phone recently to hear a friend shrieking in my ear. "Check your inbox for the email I just sent you," he wailed. "And please, please tell me I didn't hit Reply All." What happens when we hit "reply all" by mistake? The result can be very embarrassing to say the least. Elizabeth Bernstein offers some tips on how to avoid making such a potentially costly mistake. You know that feeling: You hit Send-and your heart nearly stops. This shouldn't still be happening. After almost two decades of constant, grinding email use, we should all be too tech-savvy to keep making the same mortifying mistake, too careful to keep putting our relationships and careers on the line because of sloppiness. "