Her name is not baby, sugar or “doll face.”

In one of the largest discrimination awards to a single plaintiff on record, UBS, Europe’s largest bank, was ordered by a federal jury in New York to pay more than $29 million in damages to a former saleswoman who sued the firm for sex discrimination.
Ouch!
Read: UBS Ordered to Pay $29 Million in Sex Bias Lawsuit

Jobseekers! Look For Smoke, Not Fire…

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always received,” said some wise person. This is certainly true when it comes to job-hunting, especially during a “sucky” economy. How many times have you applied to a job on Monster.com? Now ask yourself, “How many other people have applied for the same position?” The numbers are discouraging I assure you. Should this keep you from applying to jobs online? By no means, job boards are a necessary part of the process. However, if you limit your jobsearch to seeking only those jobs that you are qualified for then you are making a mistake. Am I suggesting that you do a “shotgun” effect with your resume and apply to as many jobs as you can hoping that by some miraculous twist of fate you catch a recruiter’s eye? No… and yes, in a way.

Let’s put on our imagination cap for a minute and think of a horrific fire in a subdivision at the peak of rush-hour traffic. What is your immediate focus? The fire blazing bright? Sure… Are you concerned for the people in the subdivision? I hope so… “Now breathe deeply and concentrate,” I say in my Yoda voice. “See more, you will, young Jedi.” Could it be that you see smoke? Could it be that you hear a fire engine? Perhaps a helicopter with a reporter giving the TV viewers a scoop on what is happening? Perhaps there is another chopper for radio listeners? Perhaps in the distance are people who don’t know about the fire yet and are honking their horns and cursing the 5 o’clock commute? Perhaps all of this and more and why are they all there? Well, duh… they are all there because of a fire.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “What does all that have to do with my getting a job?” “Everything,” I say smugly.

Let’s say that you are looking for a job as a network engineer. So what do you do? You look for Network Engineer jobs, which is a good start but not the finish. Consider the events and surroundings concerning your job and imagine what surrounds that job. Let’s see… to network computers, there must be a group of unconnected computers somewhere. For a group of unconnected computers to be sitting somewhere, that would mean that some salesperson had to sell them to somebody else. So, who sells the computers that I am qualified to connect? Why “Computer Company A” sells the kind of computers I am qualified to connect. Why don’t I call Computer Company A and ask for a friendly sales person? Perhaps with my powers of persuasion (and a little bribery of lunch), I can get him to tell me who his best customers are. I bet his best customers could use a network engineer to hook up all the machines they just bought.

You like that? Let’s go deeper…

New computers being connected suggest new office space. If I was going to buy new office space, who would I go to? Maybe I can call the leasing office of some business complexes and ask who handles their leasing. Maybe they can refer me to someone? Maybe they lease their own space and will give me a tip on companies looking to move into their space. A possibility… Better yet, I could pick up a copy of “The Atlanta Business Chronicle” (assuming you are in Atlanta) and review their real estate announcements to see who bought what. Whoever is buying lots of office space is someone I would want to talk to.

Do I have your wheels rotating yet? The trick is not to look only for the fire (in this case, a network engineering job), but the smoke (those people who operate on the periphery of that job). Let me go a step even further. What happens after a fire has been put out? There is water damage, smoke damage, medical issues on occasion and so on. There has to be someone or some group of some ones to clean up the mess left behind. All that to say, as soon as one person gets hired somewhere, there is a possibility of an opening behind them. So, when you read in the paper about Company X has just signed on a new CIO formerly of Company Z, my advice is to call Company Z for a job. This is an especially good technique if you are an Executive, because many senior management types foster a “cult following” and bring other execs with them. (Happens all the time…) Does this go for executives only? No, this would be a good heads up for techies and marketing types as well. Why? New leadership means new processes and new processes often demand people to adapt or stand aside for new personnel who can.

“Now let’s go deeper into the force,” I say in a bad Darth Vader accent. And imagine that you cannot imagine other positions that are connected to the job you are qualified for. Imagine that you are just clueless on how to think along these lines. (Anybody can draw a blank

Jobless claims down by 19,000

The number of Americans submitting new claims for jobless insurance dropped 19,000 last week, the government said on Thursday, largely erasing an unexpected spike the previous week. READ: US Jobless Claims Fall, Wholesale Inventories Rise

At work, my name is Bond, James bond…

The Only Way to be Cool like James Bond

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Fear of Interviewing for a Job

Fear of Interviewing for a Job

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Its not us, its you Eddie Haskell…

When you walk into the breakroom, do the lively conversations stop? Do the groups quickly disband as everyone scrambles to head back to their offices? Do you think to yourself, “Was everybody’s break really over or were they just trying to avoid me?”

If any of the following situations describe you, these might be the reason you feel left out:

1. “The sky isn’t really blue — it’s actually cyan”

Do you incessantly spout unnecessary or obscure information that would make Cliff Clavin from the TV show “Cheers” jealous? Lose the “know-it-all” attitude or you’ll make a career of lunching alone.

2. Chains of Love
Are you never around because you’re always out on a “smoking break?” Limit your puffs to standard break times.

3. Workaholic Wannabe
Do you mosey in late, take extra long lunches, and don’t really start to roll-up your sleeves and dig into some serious work until about 2 p.m.? Then, do you make sure everyone sees you working past 5 p.m.? Well you’re not impressing anyone; rather you’re annoying those who already have put in a full day before you even get warmed up.

Read more: Top 10 Reasons They Don’t Like You at Work – Career Advice Article

Ageism is wrong and I can prove it…

Chalk one up for older workers. The Supreme Court last week made it easier to prove age discrimination. Aggrieved employees no longer have to plumb the murky motivations of their employers to prove they intended to discriminate. It’s now enough to show that employment policies had a “disparate impact” on workers older than 40.

The court’s decision brought the rules for proving age discrimination into line with those for proving discrimination based on other factors such as race. That’s as it should be. Except for the substitution of “age” for “race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” the language is identical in the relevant provisions of the two statutes involved – the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Civil Rights Act. Identical language should be interpreted identically.

The court didn’t leave employers defenseless. Disparate impact doesn’t matter under the statute, it said, if an employer proves that its disputed policy “is based on reasonable factors other than age.” That’s a sound balance that protects the interests of both employers and employees.

READ: No place for ageism

Gray hair is an advantage to men in the workplace… (No, really?)

Gray hair may seem like a good career move to some, especially men, but not for Aliza Sherman Risdahl, 40, who has felt unspoken pressure for years to color her prematurely gray hair. ”No one takes women more seriously because we have gray hairs on our head,” she said.

Opinions about the impact of gray hair in business remain conflicted as the workforce gets collectively older, with the first baby boomers set to turn 60 next year. Does gray add gravitas for those seeking to be hired or promoted, or is it a drawback that is best disguised? Experts say the answer depends on the circumstances.

Twenty years from now, one in every four adult Americans will be over 65. As a result, ”this way of evaluating older Americans by their gray hair will have to change,” said Dr. Robert Butler, an expert on aging and chief executive of the International Longevity Center in New York.

Gray hair is common for men at the CEO level. But whether rank-and-file employees or job applicants benefit from gray is another matter.

Read more here: Is going gray an asset in the workplace?