Weathering the storm

Posted on January 31, 2011
Filed Under Corporate Policy, Employment | Leave a Comment

Without the prospect of a school delay or school cancellation, one would think adults would not have much to be happy about on the eve of a snowstorm. The hope felt by children eagerly anticipating a blizzard is somehow lost on adults tortured by the thought of hours of shoveling and an aching back. The truth is, even with the grim prospect of hours of shoveling looming overhead, adults anticipating a “snow day” from work, very quietly, experience the same excitement as children the night of a major snowstorm. As the first snowflake falls, work-related concerns are supplanted by memories of hot chocolate, sledding, and spending hours hunched down shoving a small lump of loosely packed dry snow around your yard with the hope that, eventually, it will grow in size and serve as the base for one of a family of snowmen and women. Read more

How to compose an attention-grabbing cover letter

Posted on January 27, 2011
Filed Under Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job | 1 Comment

Like the façade on a building or a book’s cover, the cover letter is the first thing recruiters see when they receive a job application. Even though the old adage, “One should not judge a book by its cover,” is true, books are often judged not by the potentially insightful narrative contained within; but instead a warm reception is determined by its “cover.” Readers can be fickle, and if a book has been subjected to scorn or criticism or if it is declared a “bore” by the world’s preeminent literary critic, it is unlikely that readers will eagerly run to their nearest bookstore to purchase and peel back the pages of that book. In the same way, if a cover letter appears to be dull, uninformative, or irrelevant its reader will assume that the corresponding resume is simply the same and will not take the time to discover whether his or her assumption is fact or fiction. Would you enter a museum whose façade is made to resemble a building which is not only in disrepair, but looks abandoned and structurally unsound? The cover letter should be like an enticing welcome mat, drawing in its reader, prompting him or her to investigate what lies beyond. Read more

“Hardly Working—A look into business at the workplace”

Posted on January 20, 2011
Filed Under Employment, Keeping your Job | 2 Comments

Have you ever wandered around the office around midday? When employees are surreptitiously appropriating company time to very quickly check their Facebook profile, or update their Fantasy Football roster? With their screens turned in slightly so passersby are unable to observe and detect their online movements, these employees, because of their jerky and nervous mannerisms, betray themselves, making evident to virtually everybody walking past that their rapid mouse clicks and quiet laughter have absolutely nothing to do with work. While it is assumed that employees take time each day to peruse the net for life’s unanswered questions, the latest news updates, or perhaps, groundbreaking news about Kim Kardashian’s latest love interest (farewell Miles Austin), how much time are we actually spending at work, not doing…work? Read more

Vacation?

Posted on January 17, 2011
Filed Under Corporate Policy, Employment | 1 Comment

At the end of every year I am astonished as friends (working in both the federal and private sphere) admit to me that they are on compulsory leave. Why? It has nothing to do with inappropriate comments, ethics code violations, or a poor work ethic. Rather, like a squirrel storing food for the winter, they have stored up their vacation hours—fearing that the use of such might interfere with their work. Unlike the squirrel however, whose hoard diminishes over the course of the winter, and thus greets the dawn of spring with joy and adulation, these employees store not to eat or use, but simply to store. Read more

Will WikiLeaks affect federal hiring practices?

Posted on January 13, 2011
Filed Under Employment, Federal Employment | 1 Comment

Regardless of your feelings about WikiLeaks, one thing is beginning to become evident: world governments, the United States especially, are beginning to reevaluate the security of their information infrastructure—and are reexamining the security protocols meant to keep such information protected and secret. However, it is possible, if not likely, that the government’s response to digital espionage and the leaking of classified information will go beyond a meager reinvention of its digital security net—tightening control over in what form, circumstance, and with whom sensitive information is shared. Read more

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