thecareerbeat.com Blog

Sharing salary details

One more sign that I’m getting old: I don’t tell my friends what my salary is.

According to a New York Times article this morning, younger workers (aged 20-35) are much more likely to share salary details with friends and family.  Some people quoted in the article said being more open about salary makes sense in the Internet age and can help workers understand their worth.

I’m still skeptical about the value of talking about your salary.  The article didn’t spend much time on the issue of sharing salary details among coworkers, which remains taboo. For some wise advice on this, see “Beware of Sharing Salary Details.”

The rude side of wireless working

Have you ever been a conference call in which one of your coworkers — on a cell phone — flushes the toilet? I have. Apart from being rude, the experience is uncomfortable and definitely unprofessional.

We can thank wireless technology for that advance in bad behavior. In fact, the proliferation of wireless gadgets in the professional realm has created a whole new set of unacceptable behaviors.

A recent survey by Yahoo! HotJobs found that while workers appreciate the flexibility and productivity the comes with wireless gadgets, they also get frustrated by five rude behaviors fostered by wireless devices.

The No. 1 offense: Accepting a personal call while in a meeting or presentation.

Read the full article for more bad behaviors!

Mass layoffs down in March

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 1,571 mass layoffs for the month of March. The agency defines “mass layoff” as 50 or more employees let go by a single employer.

The good news is that the number is lower than the February total (1,672). Could this mean that the unemployment rate will drop from the 5.1 we saw in March? Stay tuned.

Top companies for diversity

When you’re looking to switch jobs, one thing you should always do is research companies you’d like to work for. And one item to watch for is the company’s commitment to diversity.

DiversityInc magazine just released its annual list of The Top 50 Companies for diversity, and some of the nation’s top employers — like Verizon, Procter & Gamble, IBM — are on it.

In releasing the list of 50 companies, DiversityInc noted some key findings about the group:

• Among the listed companies, 25% of management employees are black, Latino, Asian, or Native American, compared with 15% in companies nationwide.
• Women make up 22% of boards in the Top 50, compared with 15% nationally.
• All of the ranked companies offer domestic-partner health benefits for same-sex couples, compared with 53% of Fortune 500 companies.

You can read more about it here. Also check out the other great resources at DiversityInc magazine.

Here are a few more relevant articles on diversity issues:

• Avoiding isolation when you’re the only minority
• Gay employees weigh coming-out issues
• AARP names best employers for people over 50

Surfing the waves at lunch hour

I love the read the New York Times on Sunday.

Today’s paper had a few work-related articles worth noting…

“Working Life (High and Low)” highlights some of the dangers and risks for people who are independent contractors, as exemplified by the infuriating chain of events in Jean Capobianco’s tenure with FedEx. But there’s also an interesting profile of Patagonia and how it values work-life balance for its employees — some of whom go out surfing during their lunch hour.

There’s also a column about the deluge of email, which is a common frustration for many workers. Alas the piece doesn’t offer much in the way of advice, so you might want to look here. (In fact, I need to do some inbox-clearing today…)

And the big investigation of military “analysts” that are trotted out on TV news revealed some disconcerting tendencies among the men (usually retired officers) who have this gig.

Lots of bad news this week…

… At least in terms of the job market.

Layoffs were a common theme in business news this week.  The big-name employers getting ready to issue pink slips include Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, AOL, AT&T, and possibly E*Trade.  The projected total number of jobs slashed from just those companies comes to more than 15,000, conservatively.  And that’s on top of recent bad news in the airline industry (see “Prepare for turbulence“).

Today’s New York Times reports on another disturbing trend — many employees are working fewer hours these days as compared to six months ago. It’s another sign of a deepening recession, the article suggests.

All this bad news is also a strong reminder to make sure your resume is updated, among other steps you can take to avoid being hurt by the economic slowdown. For more, check out these articles:

• Keeping your job security in uncertain economic times
• 5 ways to keep your job in a recession
• Maximize your long-term salary growth

Job-hunt lessons from the campaign trail

Can you imagine going through hundreds, if not thousands, of job interviews for more than a year for a coveted position?

We’re all involved in that sort of hiring process right now, and over the past year we’ve whittled down the field of candidates to three senators, all of whom badly want to be the next U.S. president. Looking at the presidential candidates as job applicants, we can learn some basic lessons about how to successfully conduct a job search.

I recently wrote an article about six do’s and don’ts from the campaigns, and one example of a lesson is that a job candidate must differentiate herself or himself. Sen. Barack Obama is a good example of that, with his message of “Change We Can Believe In,” which helped establish his early momentum.

Career expert Alexandra Levit (author of How’d You Score That Gig?) suggests: “Find your niche, or an area of the organization where something is broken that you have the unique expertise to fix. Clearly outline why your offering is different and better than what’s already being done, and build a business case for it.”

Many career experts also suggest that job seekers should have a personal brand identity, a 30-second “elevator pitch,” or a single slogan or summary sentence that distinguishes you.

In the case of the two remaining, dueling Democrats, they seem to have narrowed their differentiators to one-word themes: “solutions” (or possibly “experience”) for Sen. Hillary Clinton and “change” for Sen. Obama.

Can you summarize what you are about — or what you bring to the table — in a single word?

Prepare for turbulence!

The news about big airline mergers — Delta and Northwest, and possibly United and Continental — raises many issues for travelers. But what about employees?

All the companies mentioned above are very large, with tens of thousands of employees. Mergers of that magnitude pose several challenges, and the affected employees will face a period of major uncertainty and stress. It could easily happen to you — even if you don’t work in the airline industry.

In any merger of companies, employees can take some steps to survive the culture shock, as this recent article points out. Prepare to be flexible and patient!

Layoffs can also be an unpleasant cloud looming on the merger horizon. If you are facing this situation, you can take steps to protect yourself from a layoff and possibly save your job.

Other relevant articles to check out:

• What ‘right-sizing’ means to your career
  
• How job anxiety can help you succeed
• Job-hunting in an unsteady economy

Managing multiple interviews

There is a pretty good article in this morning’s San Francisco Chronicle about how to handle meeting with multiple interviewers as part of a job interview.  This scenario is pretty common, so it’s good to prepare to meet not only with a hiring manager but also potential teammates.

Read the full article here.