Salary secrecy

Posted on November 29, 2010
Filed Under Corporate Policy, Employment, Promotion, The Workplace | Leave a Comment

Like most college students, I used to work during my summer and winter breaks. Perhaps unlike some college students, I used to completely throw myself into my job. Even if I never received a literal pat on the back, I would, every now and again, receive a bonus. One year I learned that I had earned that same bonus as a coworker who (I thought) cared for his or her job very little, a coworker who I selfishly believe was completely undeserving of the bonus he or she received that year (of course, I was horribly wrong). Unsurprisingly, I grew somewhat resentful, and although I maintained the same workload I had all summer, my enthusiasm for my job did dwindle somewhat. A recent study done by the University of California-Berkeley and Princeton University shows that my experience is not only not unique, but that with a lack of salary secrecy comes great workplace peril. Read more

Shopping for a job this holiday

Posted on November 25, 2010
Filed Under Employment, Finding a Job | Leave a Comment

Every year, retailers gearing up for the holiday season bring on a large number of temporary workers whose job it will be to help manage hoards of consumers on peak shopping days throughout the season. However, wrangling shoppers is not the only job that becomes available during the holiday season. As Anna Maria Andriotis of SmartMoney recently reported, there are a number of large employers who need to fill vacancies during the holidays and are looking for new full-time permanent and temporary employees. Although many of the employers, Andriotis singles out, cannot be classified as so-called economic engines (those businesses or sectors whose good and bad days have a pervasive impact on the economy as a whole), they are growing (for the most part), and are in need of some extra hands. Read more

CareerBuilder and USA Today’s Q4 2010 Job Forecast, Part II

Posted on November 22, 2010
Filed Under Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

As discussed in my last post, the first three quarters of 2010 saw positive developments in hiring, and CareerBuilder and USA Today’s Q4 Job Forecast expects that trend to continue, with 21% of employers reporting that they plan to hire additional full-time permanent employees during the fourth quarter. Although the fact that employers are hiring is in itself a positive development, employers have, since the economy began to recover from the trauma of the recession, hired only with the greatest reluctance (for example, see my previous post, A conundrum in the age of long-term unemployment). As one Wall Street Journal contributor recently put it, before hiring help, employers “want to keep squeezing as much output from their current workers as they can.” Even though this quarter’s findings should by no means be scoffed at, this trend of limited hiring—given that despite the fact that many businesses and segments of the economy are experiencing some growth, because the global economy has not fully stabilized, such are still not actively hiring—has affected workers. Read more

CareerBuilder and USA Today’s Q4 2010 Job Forecast, Part I

Posted on November 18, 2010
Filed Under Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

Like other job forecasts released each quarter this year by CareerBuilder and USA Today, the forecast for the fourth quarter contains more than a kernel of optimism. Overall, hiring has, according to the forecast, trended up with 24% (up from a projected 21%) of employers reporting that they had hired additional full-time permanent staff during the first three quarters of 2010. Nevertheless, Career Builder’s chief executive officer, Matt Ferguson, issues the following warning at the outset of this quarter’s report: “Although the recession officially ended a year ago, we still have an economy burdened by debt. Employers are watchful and gradually augmenting their staffs with permanent temporary hiring.” Today’s blog post will look carefully at some of the results of this quarter’s job forecast. Monday I will conclude my discussion of this quarter’s job forecast by looking at what this quarter’s results say about the psyche and health of the American worker. Read more

The job seeker’s bill of rights

Posted on November 15, 2010
Filed Under Employment, Employment Law, Finding a Job, Interview | 2 Comments

A number of years ago, while I was still studying for my bachelor’s, I applied for a job administering summer programs for a nearby local government. I was asked to interview for a position teaching school age children chess during the summer. During the course of the interview, the issue of faith was brought up in a way, which to me, seemed rather benign. Though I am certain the reason why I was not extended an offer related more to my badmouthing Jane Austen in the interview (blurting out, “I find the prospect of reading Austen utterly abhorrent”) than my faith. Nevertheless, as I mention in a recent blog post, such questions—relating to one’s faith and not Jane Austen—are (in most contexts and situations) wildly improper. In addition to the “religion” question, Investopedia contributor Porcshe Moran, identifies a number of questions of which interviewees should be weary. Read more

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