Office Politics: Why You Need to Play the Game

42% of 18-24 Year Olds Swear at Work But Whopping 58% of 35-44 Year Olds Do

Comparing age groups, younger employees were the least likely to swear at work, while employees ages 35-44 are the most likely to curse while on the job. Continue Reading

Candidate Experience – Make It Engaging and Interactive, Part 6 of 6

Joe Murphy of Shaker Consulting Group

This is part of a series connected to the Candidate Experience Monograph.

We asked job seekers to clarify their outlook for an interactive application experience two ways.  In general, we wanted to know if there was a strong preference for engaging activities and if there was an expectation for interactive activities over text only experiences.  The large number of neutral responses to a preference for interactive experience might indicate that candidates do not have enough exposure to job applications with this feature to have a strong opinion one way or another.   However, the majority of job seekers have expectations that they will find a more engaging candidate experience than just reading about the job. Continue Reading

60% of Paid Interns Receive Job Offers. Unpaid Internships Create Almost No Benefit.

Approximately 60 percent of 2012 college graduates who took part in paid internships received at least one job offer, according to results of a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s 2012 Student Survey also found that unpaid interns fared only slightly better in getting job offers than graduates who had not taken part in an internship. Thirty-seven percent of unpaid interns received job offers; 36 percent of graduates with no internship experience received job offers.

“These results are consistent with what we saw last year with the Class of 2011,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. “Students with a paid internship have a decided advantage in the job market over those who did an unpaid internship or didn’t do an internship at all.”  Continue Reading

Hiring a Web Developer

Joe Thomas, Founder and Owner of Left Brain Digital

If you can afford to have your brand new warehouse built from the ground up, who are you going to hire to build it?

The intelligent answer is simple: a reputable building contractor with happy clients and lots of experience, right? I mean, why on earth would you invest your hard-earned dollars to hire anyone less than a pro?

What about your office building or store? As a business owner, you know that it needs to have the right look and feel to be successful. Go ahead, go shopping or to the insurance guy or the doctor. Are the stores and offices run down with bad paint jobs and worn-out carpeting? Does the store you’re buying from have empty crates and clothes blocking the aisles? Of course not. They’re all clean and neat and professional – and most are decorated to impress the customer.

So why, then, would anyone take the opposite approach with their online business? Continue Reading

Tech Companies are Hiring

“Do what you love” has been the advice embedded in American commencement speeches for decades. Now, however, it’s “do STEM’’ — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Matthew Brosious, Co-Founder of FreightCenter.com

“We have the brains, we have the educational capability and I’m pretty sure students want a job when they graduate high school and college. We do not have to go overseas to find our talent,” says decorated Army Ranger and entrepreneur Matthew Brosious, co-founder of FreightCenter.com. The third-party logistics company and freight software technology provider does for freight shipping what Expedia does for travel.

Brosious’ company is hiring and, for students and people interested in new careers, what it’s seeking in job candidates offers valuable insights. Continue Reading

Building a Successful Team

J. Allan McCarthy

Great coaches take into consideration an athlete’s talent and heart when they’re building a team, but they consider group dynamics, too, says entrepreneur J. Allan McCarthy.

“It’s not just a matter of getting the fastest, strongest and smartest players on your side,” says McCarthy, an international scaling expert and author of Beyond Genius, Innovation & Luck: The ‘Rocket Science’ of Building High-Performance Corporations.

“If you’re building a championship team, you’re gauging how the individual athletes fit together; how their personalities, talents, drive and abilities will mesh to meet the team’s goals. It’s exactly what you need to do to build a winning corporate team. As Michael Jordan, put it, ‘Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.’ ” Continue Reading

Defining the Masters in Project Management

When considering a master’s degree in the field of project management, it can be difficult to decide which path is truly right for you. Without doing the proper research, a master’s degree in project management can easily be confused with a master’s degree in human resources or a master’s in business administration. What is the difference between these programs? Which one is better? Let’s find out the truth behind these degree’s and their titles, as well as how they can help you reach your professional goals. Continue Reading

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: How to Remain Focused While Earning an Online Degree

The majority of students, from those seeking their online RN to BSN to individuals earning a Distance Learning MBA, are discovering the many advantages the internet, in terms of education, has to offer. Flexibility, lower costs, a multitude of degree programs and opportunity to stay home in the rain to attend classes are just a few of the benefits online education offers to first time students, those seeking advanced degrees and busy professionals.

Unfortunately, the lack of one-on-one instruction and invigorating classroom involvement has a negative impact on many online students, causing them to lose focus, which can have a negative impact on their grades and future job prospects. If you’re concerned about dealing with the solitude and need for self-motivation that online education requires, here are a few strategies, tips and tricks to help ensure you remain focused and successful: Continue Reading

Three-Year Degrees Pros and Cons

“I could have learned all this in one semester.” That’s the groan of graduating college students as they look back on their four-year bachelor programs. Colleges load curricula with general requirement classes that don’t support students’ majors – all for the sake of “culturing” students.

And that “culture” comes at an expensive price. That’s why a lot of colleges are beginning to offer three-year degrees. They’re cheaper, quicker, and they get students into the workforce or graduate programs sooner.

In most of these programs, students take more but shorter classes in the fall and spring and some take classes over the summer. Continue Reading