I received an email recently from an engineer who was considering a job at a non-profit. They offered him a much lower salary than he was expecting, because they were a “non-profit.” Some people are slimeballs, even if they work at non-profits. A non-profit has revenue. A non-profit pays salaries and benefits to its employees. […]
I was speaking with a project manager the other day, who’s looking for a job but does not have a PMP certification. He was worried, so I asked him how he presented himself to potential hiring managers and HR people. He said, “I don’t have a PMP, but I’ve been really successful managing projects for
Experience and Education makes the point We hire people to complete tasks and run functions (not really–we employ talent to create value, but I?ll try to stick to the point). He goes on to say The problem is, both of these (years of experience and education) are unreliable measures of whether someone can do a
If you haven’t yet read Why We Hate HR, it’s time. The main points of the article are: HR should help find the best hires HR should nurture the stars HR should foster a productive work environment Keith Hammonds, the author, says HR should be joined to business strategy at the hip. Ahem. I disagree.
Set Godin, in his The ever-worsening curse of the cog says something profound: The end result is that it’s essentially impossible to become successful or well off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else. I still think managers can describe parts of a useful, non-cog job. But jobs where a person’s
The folks at the monster blog have another winning post One More Time of tips for job seekers. One of the most important tips is to show your value in a resume, a tip from Five Ways to Make Your Monster Resume Stand Out. Thad Peterson says “Use Numbers to Your Advantage” and highlights some
Seth Godin talks about his search for interns in Needles, haystacks & magnetism. He makes several points I like: Employers don’t hire candidates because the candidate deserves a job. Employers hire people because they like the way they feel about you when they interview you. Employers are looking for something special, something non-commodity about candidates.
David Anderson has an intriguing post, Lawyers, Unit Tests and Performance Reviews. David says “Individual team members can be set specific goals and behavior objectives…” and gives examples. I prefer that team members set their own goals with input from their managers. But the key here is that a technical person should be looking to
Alan Weiss, of Summit Consulting, is a well-known speaker and consultant. When he talks to speakers (or consultants), he suggests people think about their fundamental value proposition. He says, “Ask yourself how people are better off when you leave?” You don’t have to be a consultant to take advantage of Alan’s tip. When you complete
Here’s a list of the top ten questions interviewers ask. (How do they know??) I really like the way these questions are framed in behavior-description style. I have a nit to pick with question 2: What did you like best and least about your previous job? I don’t think that’s a question about administrative and