Even in the current uncertain environment, the U.S. economy is driven by nerds — a term that recently morphed from an insult into a quasi-compliment. Nerds specialize in computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, physics, biophysics, molecular biology, nanotechnology, bio-nano and who knows what. They are smart, sometimes arrogant, and not necessarily the most sociable folks
Dear Human Resources Manager: Hi! I’m writing to apply for a position on your board of directors. While I have only modest knowledge of polymer-based hollow-rod extrusion, stenciling and vapor recovery — and no actual office experience per se — I am eager to be well-paid for little or no work. 71
In Silicon Valley these days, precious few jobs are available for high-tech workers. In the past two years, hundreds of companies have folded and tens of thousands of employees have been laid off. Many of the job hunters who came here in the late 1990s for the dot-com rush are gone. 76
Can mere economics explain the meteoric rise of CEO pay since the 1980s? If we liberate our minds from that warped construct known as “perfectly competitive markets,” then the answer is yes. As we’ll soon see, economics can even explain the effect of such disparate influences as government intervention and charisma. Taking nothing for granted,
It seemed as though every Monday morning in my 20-year career as a lawyer I sat at a desk and dreamed of just not being there anymore. “If only I could retire,” I sighed. Then with a felicitous combination of savings, luck and daring, I did it at age 46 on Jan. 1, 2000. A
“Dad, I’ll pay you a dollar if you baby-sit me for an hour.” Coming from his five-year-old daughter, this offer got the attention of a middle-aged oil-company executive. “All the money in her piggy bank for an hour of my time,” he says. “I realized I’d let my life get pretty far out of whack.” 69
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001, the magazine where I worked as a marketing manager for more than two years laid off 69 employees. I was one of them. The layoffs weren’t a surprise. We’d heard about them internally and on CNN and in the New York Post. In fact, for at least a week prior,
Job satisfaction has been on the decline since 1995 and has hit an all-time low, according to a survey by the Conference Board. The increased pace of business, greater demands for results and less time for recreation are among the factors bothering employees, the Conference Board found. “As technology transforms the workplace — accelerating the
Americans value modesty. This is a fact. Whether you’re a Rockefeller, Rothschild or Kennedy, the expectation is that modesty will prevail, and you’ll present yourself as a humble person, never flaunting your fame and fortune. And whether or not it behooves us to be humble in any given situation, we nonetheless comply. In fact, in
In 1998 I found myself, for the first time in my career, a “free agent,” meaning that I was not a “regular” employee anywhere; in fact, I was untethered to any organization and loosened upon the world. Fortunately, my spouse works, so I wasn’t desperate to accept just anything. I had his health insurance and
Even senior-level executives with decades of experience and six-figure salary histories still make mistakes when it comes time to look for new positions. Over the years, as a recruiter and more recently as head of an executive-career-services firm, I keep seeing executive job seekers — especially those age 50 and older — commit the same
Jolene Tornabeni, 50, started out as a nurse 25 years ago. Two grown children later, she is the chief operating officer of Inova Health System, a health-care provider with facilities in Northern Virginia. She attributes her rise in the ranks to being a mother. “People always ask me if children didn’t stop me in my
Some people believe that the New York Stock Exchange’s Richard Grasso and the New York Times’s Howell Raines were forced out because they didn’t bother to update how they conduct themselves in these troubled times. Could it be that professional arrogance, denial and self-aggrandizement are bad for business? If you read the business news, you
Today, new technology and process improvements can sharply truncate the length of time it takes for employers to hire employees. Through their online hiring systems, leading employers are compiling databases organized by candidates’ skills. This allows for automated matching of talent supply and demand. Once an employer identifies the skills and competencies it needs, it
As any stay-at-home mom can tell you, quitting work and staying home to raise a baby is a far cry from retirement. If you’re planning on it — or have already done it — you’ll find that this 24/7 on-call position provides many intangible benefits, but, unfortunately, no income. 78
I first saw the power of delegating when my mom published her housecleaning plan on our refrigerator. Each family member had to clean a room by a given date. Except for my mom. She cleaned the house without lifting a sponge. 70
Last fall, Richard Grasso, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, was forced to resign following disclosure that he had accepted a $187.5 million compensation package. The chairman didn’t set his own salary, however. The board of directors set it. What was their rationale for approving a package of that magnitude? Was he being
In the current job market, many senior-level candidates are learning that great backgrounds, terrific interviewing ability and stellar references don’t guarantee success. So how can you break through the iron curtain that screens most job candidates from managers who can hire you? Instead of trying to circumvent the human-resources department, you must accommodate it in
As a captain in the Indiana Army National Guard, I’ve been on active duty since Jan. 2, 2003, and serving in Southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since Feb. 12, 2003. I’ll be returning to my job as a manager for a chemical company this month. It’s been a long year, but in
Waiting for the national jobs picture to brighten, or for government or corporate initiatives to stimulate employment, is folly for the individual job seeker. The responsibility for staying employable in the long term rests on each of us. 65
