thecareerbeat.com Blog

Workplace ‘wisdom’ from ‘30 Rock’

I’ll admit to being a “30 Rock” fan, and the exaggerated workplace situations are such a great complement to “The Office.”

Right now there’s a great Yahoo! TV blog on the collected “wisdom” of Jack Donaghy.  Here is one fine sample:

Check out the full entry, with more clips, here.

Talk about a fun career…

Tracey Ullman has made a great career of impersonating people as a way to make audiences laugh.  Her characterizations sometimes make for a bit of satire — it’s not mindless humor.

The new show looks like another milestone for her, and I can’t wait to see it!  She gives a little preview in the clip below…

Movie of the moment: ‘Up in the Air’

This new comedy with bleak undertones follows a dashing corporate downsizer (George Clooney) as he flies around the country to do the dirty work of handing out pink slips.  The film also examines the impact of being laid off, dramatized by several characters at various points in the film.

I haven’t seen it yet (can’t wait), but here’s what some reviewers say:

“Crisply funny and fleetly paced, it’s in its quiet way one of the saddest things in the theaters all year. … It soars.” (Amy Biancolli, SF Chronicle)

“One of the pleasures of “Up in the Air” is that its actresses — including Anna Kendrick, who plays Bingham’s colleague Natalie — share the frame with Mr. Clooney as equals, not props.” (Manohla Dargis, NY Times)

“It’s a rare and sparkling gem of a movie.” (Owen Glieberman, Entertainment Weekly)

Rocker opens up about unemployment-themed video

Last week I wrote an article for Yahoo! HotJobs about a compelling new music video that features real unemployed people while trying to help them get hired. The video dramatizes the new single “Breathe” by Ryan Star, an emerging rock star whose debut album “11:59″ will drop in early 2010.

While doing my research, I gleaned interesting insights from Star that I was unable to use in the article, so here is more of the conversation, followed by a clip of the music video:

Tom Musbach: What do you hope is the message from your song and video for people who are struggling with unemployment?

Ryan Star: The essence of the song is that we’ll get through this together. That’s why the video has real people going through it right now; it puts a face to the problem. One of my best friends is in the video (the marketing professional), and I think that when you watch it you can in a way see someone you know. So I hope people take it personally and reach out those who they can help.

You collaborated on the video with artist Jonathan Lia. What surprised you about the making of this video or what surprises you about the final product?

Jonathan is brilliant and really executed the idea in a way that keeps the “real life” idea intact on film. When I watched the first cut I experienced something I never have with my own music. I got the chills. I thought, “Wow! This is great.” That’s the feeling I get when I watch others’ works that move me, so I felt so proud to watch it and be a part of it.

Your participation on the “Rock Star: Supernova” reality show was sort of like being in a long, public job interview before many “hiring managers” — the viewing public. What did you learn from that experience that could be applicable to other job seekers?

Well for starters don’t do what I do when they kicked me off of the show. I pretty much told Tommy Lee to f@*% off live on air. I am not a fan of burning bridges, but in this case they deserved it. They beat me up for weeks while the viewers had my back, and I felt like he had it out for me from the beginning.

What I truly learned was to be myself. I was on the show for one purpose and that was to do my best and let my true colors show. I knew at the end of the day I had to go back to New York after it all ended and had to hold my head up high with the work I did on the show. To this day I am proud of all of my performances on the TV show.

What was your first job as a paid employee?

My first real job was loading trucks at Jones Beach Amphitheatre on Long Island. The only real reason I was doing it was to try and sneak my demo tapes into the dressing rooms of all the big acts that came through every summer. The hours were insane and the pay was crap. Bumping into rock stars and moving their amps around was so humbling. I was so close to my dream every night, but on the wrong end of the totem pole.

Work humor: the wacky secretary

I have been sick for a little over a week, so my blog output has slowed.  At times like this a good work-related “SNL” skit can do the trick:

‘Unreality TV’ that distorts job duties and pay

When I began my career in journalism, I secretly hoped to find a newsroom that resembled the one on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

The camaraderie with coworkers, the breaking-news excitement, and the pleasant communal atmosphere seemed so attractive. And though I knew nothing about the show was real, I still longed for a similar sense of fun and purpose.

Today I wonder how many budding police detectives feel the same about “The Closer” or magazine editors about “Ugly Betty.”

PayScale.com has done some interesting research on how these and other popular shows distort the realities (often unflattering) of certain careers. My favorite is the analysis of “Ugly Betty,” where junior staffers at the fashion mag Mode live lifestyles that aren’t possible on real starting salaries in New York.

Also, PayScale took a fascinating look at “Mad Men” and how the fictional salaries of the various characters stack up against today’s advertising professionals.

Of course we don’t watch sitcoms for guidance in our professional lives, but who can help wishing? If you want TV with accuracy about the working world, try “Dirty Jobs.”

New fields for the Twitterati

Did you know your passion for Twitter or Facebook could open up a new career? These habits are among several trendy pursuits that can make for surprisingly marketable job skills.

An article in the New York Times looks at one such job: Ghost Twitterer. Surrogates are writing “tweets” on the microblogging site Twitter for people like Britney Spears, 50 Cent, and even President Obama.

But Twitter-related jobs aren’t just for the star-crazed. Companies like Whole Foods and Comcast have employees who are finding innovative ways to use Twitter to reach out to customers and market the brands.

As this article on surprisingly marketable job skills suggests, people who constantly use Twitter and Facebook could also parlay the habit into a job as a social media publicist.

Similarly, you could become a professional blogger — a job that didn’t really exist a few years ago. This is a good gig for many journalists who may be hit by the widespread downsizing of newspapers.

To be fair, not all celebs use ghost twitterers. Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal told the Times: “It’s 140 characters. … If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.”

You can also turn other passions into professions. A love of travel is a must-have skill (among others) for a global mobility consultant. Like beer? (Who doesn’t?!) The job of brewmaster might be worth considering.

For more on these and other fascinating jobs, check out “The Best Jobs You’ve Never Heard Of.”

Career transitions: Dwayne Johnson

From pro wrestler to movie star to … song-and-dance man!

Johnson gives an entertaining look at his career trajectory in this monologue from “Saturday Night Live.”

(I tried to embed the video, but something didn’t work.) Enjoy!

Career lessons from 2008’s stars

What do President-elect Barack Obama, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, and MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow have in common?

They gave us good examples of how to advance our careers in the new year. You can read more about it in “Career Do’s and Don’ts from 2008.”

The article has become a fun annual tradition for me at Yahoo! HotJobs, and I received more examples/lessons than I could use in the article. Here’s a great one from my neighbor Pat Mayfield, who is president of Pat Mayfield Consulting in San Francisco.

The lesson: “Don’t be at the airport when your ship comes in. When unexpected and unplanned opportunities appear, quickly react and take the detour. Lost opportunities can rarely be recovered.”

The example, of course, is Tina Fey stepping in to impersonate Gov. Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” after she was tapped to be McCain’s running mate. Those detours from Fey’s “30 Rock” show did more than her Emmys to advance her career this year.

Who deserves more pay: Stewart or Colbert?

Web users believe that Jon Stewart deserves a higher salary than his fellow Comedy Central host, Stephen Colbert.

That’s according to a vote set up as a way to promote a survey that is part of National Payroll Week (Sept. 1-5). Great attention-getter. I hope it’s working!

Speaking of attention-getters and salary, here’s another one: “Job Hunters: Price Yourself Like a House.” This interesting article by Liz Ryan looks at real-estate tricks and applies them to the job-seekers’ task of figuring out what salary to request.

She makes a good point: If you do the research and know your “market value,” you should have confidence in asking for it — even if you have to bring up the subject after your second interview (or some other appropriate point).