Office Gossip: As Certain As Death and Taxes

This is a guest post by Lauren Kleinman.
Just as Benjamin Franklin convinced us that nothing in the world was certain but death and taxes, nothing in the office is as certain as boredom and consequently, gossip.
Gossip is an inevitable and unavoidable pettiness in the workplace. No matter your stance on it, it will always prevail and it will always be there. Just as we manage daily our grasp on death and taxes, we must manage and deal with office gossip. Here are some tips on coping:
1. NEVER be the person spreading the gossip. Unless you want the nickname Chatty Cathy, and then by all means, go for it.
2. When it eventually comes your way, remember that office gossip is similar to the game telephone you played as a kid. It certainly isn’t the same information it was when it started.
3. When the information comes your way, play ambivalent. I don’t care if you just found out that your boss is sleeping with the CEO of your company and it finally explains how the idiot has kept his job, act as if you don’t care. This will eventually dissuade the gossip queen or king from coming back to you with more dirty office secrets.
4. Finally, admit to yourself that while you know that gossip is unproductive and unfair to the person it targets, it does spice up the workplace. AH HA, so you admit that you are part of the problem!
The truth is that gossip will always be a part of the workplace, but as a love-hate relationship. We love it when it doesn’t include us but it entertains us, and we hate it when it affects us. By keeping these tips in mind, it can help you deal with this certainty of gossip in the workplace, but above all, create more understanding when it does occur.
Real lives hang in the balance. A co-worker’s messy divorce or financial woes are no laughing matter. Before sharing something you’ve heard, pretend it is you in the situation. Because as immune as you might feel, tomorrow’s water-cooler gossip session could easily be about you.
Article posted by Andrew G.R. and courtesy of jobacle.com – your cure for carbon copy career advice!

Background Check Violations

Improperly conducted background checks can cause as many problems as negligent hiring suits, as a Newport News call center recently found out. The company used LexisNexis Risk Management Inc., which has been accused of failing to let employees know of problems found in investigations and of creating too many issues for those who requested reviews. LexisNexis has agreed to pay a settlement that exceeds $20 million.
Christopher Colt North was the attorney representing the plaintiffs. On behalf of his clients he accused the company that the conducted the background checks of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. North said that he believes that this is the largest settlement for a case involving the 37-year-old piece of legislation.

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I’m All a-Twitter

Question of the Week

To help me stay on top of the latest employment law developments, I subscribe to approximately 28,000 different news services. Scanning the dizzying array of headlines from the past week, two topics stood out above all the others: babies and guns.
On the baby front, it appears that more and more employers are allowing employees to bring infants into the workplace. According to the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, doing so is “a viable, inexpensive tool for helping employees return to work sooner, lowering turnover, improving morale, increasing overall productivity, enhancing teamwork and collaboration, recruiting new employees, attracting new customers, and making existing customers more loyal.” One business owner told Time Magazine, “I don’t think a baby is more distracting than talk about Dancing with the Stars or your weekend.”
On the gun front, most of the debate centers around a recently enacted Florida statute that will make it unlawful for employers to prohibit employees from bringing guns to work. Effective July 1 — absent some last-minute political or legal wrangling — Florida employees will be allowed to keep guns locked in their vehicles on company property.
We wanted to find out what you — America’s foremost workplace experts — think about these hot issues. So, here’s this week’s question:
Which should employees be allowed to bring to work?

• Babies
• Guns
• Babies and guns
• Neither babies nor guns

To cast your vote, click here.
Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower’s North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.

The One Time It’s Okay to Gossip

What’s the one time it’s okay to gossip? When you’re looking for a job.
Discussion of your job search should not be reserved for close friends/family or headhunters or official networking events. If you’re looking for work or thinking about looking for work, you shouldn’t hesitate to tell everyone you know the particulars, and encourage those people to talk to the people in their networks. This is because you absolutely never know when you will meet someone, or be introduced to someone, who will be in a position to help you.
Here’s an example. One of my friends recently moved from New York City to Cambridge in the UK as a result of her boyfriend’s job. For her part, she was in need of a senior-level position in a financial services firm. So instead of relying on her resumes and cover letters to make their way across the pond, my friend simply started talking. Turns out one of her good friends from college currently worked with a woman from Cambridge who was well-connected in the financial industry. The college friend was able to set her up for several informational interviews as soon as she arrived in town.
Within three degrees of separation, my friend had a plum job offer in another country. Not too shabby!
Article by Alexandra Levit and courtesy of Water Cooler Wisdom blog.

Is That An Appropriate Question?

Many of you will be graduating this summer and have inevitably started your job search. When searching for a position you inevitably have to go through interview after interview, which can be nerve racking in itself. Here is a great article from the ADVANCE for Occupational Therapy website that anyone getting ready for an interview should read.
Should I Answer That? address how to keep your cool if you encounter inappropriate or illegal questions from your interviewer.
“While the majority of people do recognize when they’ve been asked an illegal question during an employment interview, many are not sure what to do when faced with such questions, said Karen Veres, director of career services at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA.”
Before your next interview, read over this article. Hopefully you will not have to deal with the type of questions covered, but it is always good practice to be prepared for anything. Good luck and happy interviewing.
Article courtesy of RehabCare Student blog. RehabCare provides college recruiting for Physical Therapists, Physical Therapy Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants and Speech Language Pathologists.

How to Use Facebook Chat in Your Job Search

Facebook chat isn’t just for kids.
Remember Facebook now has 75M members (compared to 15M total US college students) – Facebook is about 50% business.
Sure, your teenaged kids use chat as a way of communicating with friends when they aren’t wearing out their thumbs on text messaging. Even major enterprises have instituted internal IMs as a communication tool.
But Facebook chat is a LOT more powerful than kids chatting, with a little creativity in its use. So how to make it work as an effective tool in your job search?
Facebook chat is like being at a networking event filled with thought leaders, industry experts, authors, and top industry recruiters…and you don’t even have to bring business cards. Look at it this way…would you like to be able to easily start conversations with industry leaders and recruiters in your industry? Could that help you to network and search for your next job?

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Interview in a Snap

30 Seconds…
That’s the maximum time how long it takes to form a first impression according to a number of experimental Psychologists. Some have found that it’s all over with the handshake in the first few seconds. Keep in mind that not everyone interviews this way….it’s just the vast majority that make decisions based on first impressions.
Two Harvard researchers, Nalini Ambady and Robert Rosenthal studied nonverbal aspects of teachers, by having observers rate instructor effectiveness from 10 second silenced video clips. When Ambady ran a second 15 item personality rating based on just 5 second clips, the ratings were the same. They were the same when she showed just 2 second clips. And they were the same as end of semester teacher evaluations. Ambady found that we make snap personality judgments in just a couple of seconds – literally in a snap.

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Which is more important to you and why: Money, Job Satisfaction or Personal fulfillment.

Personal fulfillment because without it I can’t have job satisfaction and no amount of money is going to make a difference.
I once accepted a job because it was at the time what I consider a high rate of pay. When I was in the interview I knew I would be bored with the job but decided to take it anyway because the money was good. I think I lasted maybe two months. Even with the money being good I wound up hating going to work and it was a horrible experience. That’s the only job I have walked away from without proper notice. I basically worked the sick and vacation guidelines so that I could walk away without being fired. It was a great job for the right person, but horrible for me and I suspected that to be the case before I started. Within a week of starting I new it was true.

– Submitted by K. B. through the CollegeRecruiter.com Career Blog Application on Facebook.com.

What was one of your proudest moments?

Getting one of the top award at my place of employment. The award didn’t mean much to me in and of itself. But the way my colleagues responded to me and the fact that my boss thought highly enough of me to make it happen was wonderful.

– Submitted by K. B. through the CollegeRecruiter.com Career Blog Application on Facebook.com.