How to Pull Off "CEO Casual"

If you catch Trevor Kaufman in a business suit, you can bet he's anxious. Mr. Kaufman is chief executive of Schematic, a digital-branding agency whose work you've seen if you've visited Target.com or glimpsed Nissan's online advertising. Despite a roster of blue-chip clients, Mr. Kaufman doesn't subscribe to the old-school uniform for chief executives.
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"The suit is a signal that something's going on that I'm nervous about," says the 38-year-old Mr. Kaufman. "A suit has become something you wear when you're asking for money."

There was a time when a CEO in a dark business suit was safely dressed. That's still true in many fields: Lawyers, financiers and bridegrooms are largely expected to arrive suited up. But at creative or high-tech businesses today, a suit can feel as out-of-sync as a pair of denim overalls. It signals old-fashioned inflexibility when what's called for is casual authority.

"When people wear suits in the music business, it feels like they're not insiders," says Anni Sarah Lam, CEO of Parc Landon, a Houston-based music, sports and entertainment agency whose clients have included Broadway shows, the rapper 50 Cent and David Beckham.
Trevor Kaufman, CEO of consulting agency Schematic, discusses the role of clothing in running a business. His biggest challenge, he says, is to convey the authority of a suit without wearing one. WSJ's Christina Binkley reports.

"CEO casual" is seen most often on young people. But age isn't the determining factor here. It's all about presenting a modern, creative message.

Still, business casual is notoriously tricky, and for chief executives it has additional risks. Suits and ties convey a sense of command by hiding the body's flaws and augmenting its strengths, as well as providing psychic distance that a CEO can use to advantage. Shedding these signs of authority risks the vulnerability of exposing physical characteristics, such as a man's chest hair. A dressed-down chief executive can be shown up by a formally dressed underling. So how can a CEO signal command without pinstripes and worsted wools?

Ms. Lam, 28, indicates her insider status by wearing crisp jeans and trendy jackets to meetings. She signals her chief executive stature by carrying Louis Vuitton handbags and Montblanc pens.

Showing authority doesn't require designer labels. Steve Jobs created his own CEO uniform, with smooth, dark turtlenecks that protect the neck in much the same way ties do.

Schematic, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Minneapolis and London, has been expanding rapidly. Its $30 million in revenue last year is expected to double this year, with clients that include GE and Coca-Cola -- and it was purchased last September by the British marketing group WPP Group PLC.
[Steve Jobs]
Getty Images
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has created his own uniform with smooth, dark turtlenecks.

As Schematic's co-founder and CEO, Mr. Kaufman wears made-to-measure shirts, tailored blazers and polished leather shoes. "I want to be viewed as a creative person, not a salesperson asking for money," he said recently, attired in blue jeans, a white buttoned Prada shirt over a Marks & Spencer undershirt, and brown Prada loafers with no socks.

When I saw him a week later, Mr. Kaufman wore a white Brooks Brothers shirt, custom-made with a lowered top button to accommodate a tie-less look without flashing too much chest hair. He has had the left cuff widened to make room for his thick Audemars Piguet watch.

Those Brooks Brothers shirts are made from no-iron cotton to withstand life in a suitcase. On the day I saw him, though, his no-iron shirt was crisply pressed. Mr. Kaufman said he also has his Levis 511 jeans pressed. They were dark blue and looked as though they'd recently walked out of the store.

His two-button Burberry jacket, worn as a sport coat, was actually part of a suit. Its trendy, 1950s-inspired, tapered British cut reminded me of the television show "Mad Men," which Mr. Kaufman says he watches with zeal.
[Trevor Kaufman]
Lori Hawkins for The Wall Street Journal
Trevor Kaufman achieved an informal yet strong look recently with details like an Audemars Piguet watch, Armani shoes and a Comme des Garçons shirt.

Schematic's other co-founder and president, 43-year-old Nick Worth, has also adopted an alternative style, a touch more preppy than Mr. Kaufman's. In the company's early days, he bought Turnbull & Asser shirts on eBay and wore them without ties. "You don't really want to buy cutting-edge digital service from a guy in a suit and tie," says Mr. Worth, wearing jeans, a white tailored jacket from British label Connelly, Converse sneakers, and a blue-and-white checked Paul Smith shirt. Details, details: The shirt had purple-stitched buttonholes and matching cuff-knots.

The two executives aren't shy about asking employees to adhere to the uniform. At a recent meeting in Chicago with a potential client, Mr. Kaufman asked his creative director to remove his tie. He is equally critical of sloppy looks and encourages subordinates to buy clothes at department stores, where they can be conveniently tailored in-house.

There's a fellow in the Los Angeles office whose unpressed collar often curves up "like the Flying Nun's." Mr. Kaufman is not above a little humorous nudging. "Gee," he's said, "no collar stays today?"Write to Christina Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com

Olympians training includes etiquette 101- do not jab fellow competitors with chop sticks after winning!

U.S. Olympic Training Features
A New Requirement: Etiquette 101

Bode and Other Embarrassments Prompt
Course on Booze, Hugs and Chopsticks

By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS
August 6, 2008; Page A1

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- As the Beijing Games start this week, the leadership of the American team is hoping its athletes will embody the Olympic motto: faster, higher, stronger.

It also hopes they'll behave.

"I don't doubt you will do your best as ambassadors," former President George H.W. Bush said recently in a video shown to about 50 U.S. Olympic swimmers and coaches here. "You are role models -- and your actions matter."

BEIJING 2008

Read complete coverage of the Olympics and China's efforts to prepare for the Games.

Jen Pan, a Chinese-language teacher dressed in black pants with floral designs at the cuffs, then ran the group through a crash course on Chinese culture. She included some vocabulary ("Everybody say ren-min-bi!"), social customs ("Chinese do not hug"), eating etiquette ("Do not spear the food with your chopsticks"), and drinking habits ("Chinese don't really drink, except at banquets.")

The U.S. Olympic Committee, for the first time ever, is requiring all of its 596 Olympians to attend this course prior to traveling to Beijing. The committee has dubbed it the "ambassador program."

Some athletes have another name for it: the Bode Miller show.

"The USOC isn't calling it that, but everyone knows what this is about," says Eli Bremer, who will be competing for the U.S. in the modern pentathlon.

What this is about, according to Mr. Bremer and other athletes, is avoiding a repetition of what happened during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. Mr. Miller, the American skier who was expected to win a medal in as many as five events, portrayed himself throughout those Games as more interested in partying than winning. He was photographed drinking in bars the evening before races, in one instance prominently displaying his middle finger.

Mr. Miller was unrepentant. "I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level," he said in much-reported remarks that embarrassed the USOC and angered sponsors. He finished no higher than fifth in his events.

Mr. Miller couldn't be reached for comment. Messages to his agent and his family in New Hampshire were not returned. This past winter, however, Mr. Miller won the overall World Cup title for the second time, after breaking from the U.S. ski team and renouncing alcohol for the season.

A Two-Day Course

Keen to avoid such scenes on the much bigger stage of the Beijing Olympics -- expected to be the most-watched Games in history -- the USOC last autumn launched the new program. U.S. Olympic officials are hoping for exemplary behavior, especially in light of the diminished U.S. image abroad, due in part to the unpopular war in Iraq.

Associated Press

Amy Van Dyken, above celebrating her performance at the 2000 Olympic Trials, caused a stir at that year's Games when she spat into the lane of Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn before a race.

The course includes role-playing and group games and typically lasts two days. In the past, the USOC devoted no more than about 15 minutes to behavioral guidance.

"It is a response to lessons learned that we need to do a much better job of providing a basis for decision-making," says Darryl Seibel, one of the course organizers and head spokesman of the USOC. "This is to make clear what America expects of its Olympic team."

Mr. Seibel declined to say if the effort resulted from Mr. Miller's actions in Torino. There have been other episodes in recent years.

Last July, at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian journalist photographed a message board at the American media center that said: "Welcome to the Congo." The incident triggered an outpouring of anti-American fervor among Brazilians who felt their country had been called primitive. The USOC apologized -- explaining that the message referred to tropical heat -- and sent home a USOC official shown in the photograph.

The 2000 Summer Games in Sydney featured several embarrassing moments, including U.S. swimmer Amy Van Dyken spitting in the lane of Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn before one of their races. Members of the U.S. men's track team apologized after excessive celebrating following their win in a relay race, including flexing their muscles and sticking out their tongues. U.S. hockey players in Nagano, Japan, trashed their hotel rooms during the 1998 Games.

Explaining the Rings

The course, held in five cities across the U.S. in recent months, covered educational topics such as what the five interlocking Olympic rings represent -- unity among the five continents from which athletes hail. Also discussed was how to hold the American flag during a victory lap. (Answer: not upside down.)

"When someone throws you an American flag, we want to make sure you know what to do with it," says Andrew Valmon, who won a gold medal in the 4x400 relay for the U.S. track team in both the 1988 and 1992 Games. He was one of several former Olympians helping with the program.

The course also taught athletes to go along with rituals that might seem silly. In one game, called "energy ball," athletes formed circles of a dozen or more and passed around an imaginary ball. The participants had to say "whoosh" when handing it to the right or left, while an imaginary throw across the circle required a "zap."

If someone wanted to hold the ball for a moment, he had to say, "groove-alicious," the cue for the circle to break into a little jig.

Why?

"We want to help them with things that make them uncomfortable," explains Cathy Salit, whose New York performance-training company, called Performance of a Lifetime Inc., was hired by the USOC for the program. "If they are going to be ambassadors, they have to be attuned to what's going on around them and be able to respond."

Ms. Salit, who also performs with an improv troupe in New York, says this was her first time working with Olympians. Her clients typically come from the corporate world.

"Compared with the folks at Citigroup, they were very good at getting into the groove of it," she says.

Back at the Palo Alto hotel, Ms. Pan, the language teacher, continued with her advice on Chinese practices: "If Chinese say they are not quite sure, they are probably saying 'no' to you."

Boys Being Boys

At times, the room took on the look of a college lecture hall. In the third row, swimmer Michael Phelps, the superstar who is vying for a record eight gold medals in Beijing, ate steadily from a bag of candy, his long limbs stretched over three chairs. Nearby sat Ryan Lochte, another top U.S. swimmer, thumbing text messages into his cellphone.

Ms. Pan passed out chopsticks to the entire group for a lesson on how to use them. Mr. Phelps took his and began jabbing a coach sitting nearby.

To review the handful of Chinese phrases Ms. Pan had taught the group, she asked, "If you step on someone's toe in China, what do you say?"

"Xie xie!" shouted one of the swimmers, using the Chinese term for "thank you."

Write to Christopher Rhoads at christopher.rhoads@wsj.com

The 4 worst athlete-backed startups of all time

Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and LeBron James today announced they've joined an $8.6 million funding round for social network Weplay. Weplay isn't going to work out — vertical social networks are so 2007 — but at least the sports-star troika can take heart in knowing they're following the same path as other fading jock stars. A bubble ago, John Elway, Michael Jordan, and Mike Piazza also let slick schemers take advantage of their egos and cash, funneling them into ill-thought-out, poorly timed investments on the Web. Our three favorite athlete-startup bloopers, below.

Shaquille O'Neal, Mike Piazza and DeLisha Milton's Dunk.net
Launched in 1999, Santa Monica startup Dunk.net was supposed to promote Shaq's shoes and sports apparel with marketing help from a pre-Mets Mike Piazza and WNBA great DeLisha Milton. But within months of founding, Dunk.net laid off its entire staff and replaced the CEO with a marketer tasked with resuscitating the company. Didn't happen. Now Dunk.net is owned by a domain squatter.

John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky's MVP.com
Back in 2000, chairman John Elway and board members Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzy piled their cash together to launch MVP.com, an online store. They pledged to spend $50 million marketing the site over the next year. A couple of years later and several rounds of layoffs later, MVP.com, owing some $120 million folded as a failure into CBSsportsline.com.

Mets reliever Billy Wagner and sports author Burton Rock's ChatWithAStar.com
After writing a bestselling book about Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill and his father, author Burton Rocks convinced Wagner, another New York baseball star to help fund ChatWithAStar.com, a celebrity blog portal, featuring such well known voices as Miss USA 2006, Tara Conner. The site, launched with a party at one of Jay-Z's bar in 2006, no longer exists. We're still holding out for the company's "blogmobile," though.

Making the Move to your Second Job

90 Days: Planning a Move to Your Second Job

More than just the next move, your second job can be a key stepping stone to the rest of your career. Consider your search carefully.

By ELIZABETH GARONE
Special to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Ask most people about their first job – how they got it, how long they were there – and they can probably share a lot of details. But, ask them about their second job, and their responses will probably be a lot more elusive. For some, it will be a struggle to even remember what the job was. But that second job actually holds a lot more weight than many people realize and can often set a particular career path – and its success -- in motion. Ample thought should be given to when and where to move, say experts like Steve Piazzale, a career and life coach in Mountain View, California, who runs BayAreaCareerCoach.com.

Your First 90 Days

Take advantage. Coming off your first job, you're in a solid position. "You have experience coupled with recent education, a great combination," says Mr. Piazzale. If you've had any opportunities to work on big projects or have tangible results to show, even on a small scale, mention it. Play up these facts in your cover letter and in your interview.

MORE 90 DAYS

• 90 Days: Finesse a Flexible Work Schedule

• 90 Days: You're the New Boss, Now What?

• 90 Days: What to Do After a Layoff

• 90 Days: Make the Most of a Promotion

Downplay the negative. If you haven't been in your first job for very long, it could raise questions about whether you're a "job hopper." You can soften the reaction by being clear about your reasons for moving, focusing on a desire for a new challenge or a readiness for increased responsibility. Or, if your first job was in a field unrelated to your training and education and you want to get back into your original field, be prepared to do a bit of work before you launch a job search. "Companies would rather hire someone with clear direction," says Mr. Piazzale. If you're contemplating a move to something different, give yourself that direction while still in your current job. Ask for more responsibility in areas that mirror what you'd like to be doing in job No. 2 to show potential employers you know what you want to do.

Update your resume and interview style. It sounds like a given, but a first-timer's resume is likely to list internships and college leadership roles. Now you've got experience and you'll need to make sure it shows. "The resume definitely needs to change to emphasize your accomplishments," says Mr. Piazzale. "It's important to keep in mind that the best kind of resumes communicate what you can do for a potential employer." And that requires a style update, too.

Your resume bullet points should demonstrate how you used your skills to solve problems and produce value at that first job. "With a first job under your belt, you can also use them as stories of value during interviews," offers Mr. Piazzale.

Now that you've had bottom-line responsibility, you've also got more to talk about in an interview. Bringing up the time you helped your fraternity raise $10,000 for charity isn't as valuable an example for job No. 2 as a story about the time you saved the company $100,000 when an idea you had was implemented. Play up the on-the-job experience and leave your university days as an afterthought. Practice mock interviews with a friend, if possible.

Don't burn bridges. When it comes to the second job, college or summer job references alone won't do, either. It's important to have at least one reference from your first job, so try your best to leave on good terms. "Give them plenty of notice, provide an orderly transition," says Mr. Piazzale. "When the potential employer calls your old employer and asks (if you are) re-hirable, the answer will be yes." A peer reference is better than no reference, so, if you have to hide your job search from your manager, find a coworker who can speak to your skills.

Slow down. If you're at your first job and simply pondering a move, give it a little time. "Try to stay in your first job – assuming it's related to your degree – for at least a few years before making the job change," recommends Mr. Piazzale. And, if you need more specific experience to get the job you want, it might pay to stay at your first job for another few months. The more experience you gain, the better off you'll be when it comes time to jockey for your next position.

Reach out. Once you've updated your resume and determined your expectations, it's probably worth your time to reach out to recruiters who specialize in your field to test the waters. A good recruiter will honestly assess your experience level and your chances of landing the second job you're looking for.

Making the most of a Summer Internship

90 DAYS

Tips to Make the Most
Of Summer Internships

By ERIN CHAMBERS

Whether it's to test their interest in a certain industry or to gain a leg up on the competition come job-hunting season, internships are more popular than ever among college students. And landing the perfect one is just the beginning. Here's how to make the most of your summer internship:

Be Early. Arrive early the first day and keep it up. Be early to the office, to meetings and on conference calls. Chris Duggan, president of internship placement firm University of Dreams and summerinternships.com, recommends students practice their commute before starting and test alternate routes in case of traffic delays. "Wait outside the building if you have to," says Mr. Duggan. "But always be early."

Espie Santiago advises Stanford students to keep good notes on their summer internships -- it will help make that important recommendation letter easier for a summer boss to write later.

Get real. "For students new to the work world, they might expect 'Wow, I'm going to have this glorious internship with fabulous assignments,'" says Espie Santiago, career counselor for internships at Stanford University. "But many of them don't actually have a realistic idea of what's expected of them." If you didn't have a formal one-on-one with a manager during orientation, ask for one. That's also the time to request and review a set of guidelines and expectations.

Drink coffee. Find out where the water cooler, break room or coffee station is, and make a point of stopping by. You never know when the boss or the head of human resources might be taking a break. "Students are often too intimidated to go up to their managers and say hello," says Mr. Duggan. But internships are as much about building interpersonal relationships as they are job training. And experts agree you often learn more about the business from casual conversations in the break room than formal meetings.

Don't get discouraged. If it's been a few weeks, and you're still just making photocopies, don't fret -- or complain. Request a meeting with your supervisor to ask about new projects. Ms. Santiago says managers are often open to expanding on their list of intern tasks, but "you won't know unless you ask."

MORE 90 DAYS

• 90 Days: Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone

• 90 Days: Working Productively As a Telecommuter

• 90 Days: Working With a Career Coach

• 90 Days: Easing Back From Maternity Leave

• 90 Days: Mixing Work and School; Going Back Part Time

• 90 Days: Handling a PR Crisis

• 90 Days: Joining a Nonprofit Board

• 90 Days: Mobilizing an Unplanned Job Search

• 90 Days: Planning a Move to Your Second Job

• 90 Days: Finesse a Flexible Work Schedule

• 90 Days: You're the New Boss, Now What?

• 90 Days: What to Do After a Layoff

• 90 Days: Make the Most of a Promotion

Resist the urge to stand out. Ms. Santiago says many students view an internship as a chance to show off their skills but, "employers are really looking for someone who [fits] the corporate culture." When you are reliable and consistent, your work will speak for itself, she says. Mr. Duggan warns against being too competitive with other interns. "You want to get along with everyone."

Take notes. Keep a log, notebook or some record of everything you do. Not only will it come in handy when it's time to update your resume, but it will also help your supervisor pull together a letter of recommendation down the road.

Play softball. Think carefully before turning down any offers to get involved. Asked to join the company softball team? Go for it. Invited to go along on a Starbucks run? Say yes, even if you don't drink coffee. Asked to tag along on a client meeting? Accept graciously. Employers "want someone to take whatever is thrown at them, do it well and then come back for more," says Mr. Duggan.

Write to Erin Chambers at cjeditor@dowjones.com

I have a network dedicated to connecting current & former collegiate athletes with career opportunities (www.thecorporateplaybook.com). I routinely help these talented individuals navigate their career path & aid them in the selection of internships & summer employment. These student athletes acquire numerous skills during their course of athletic play; these skills are directly transferable into the job market. Skills such as: competitive drive, work ethic, goal oriented, coachability, ability to overcome adversity or control negative emotions, presence & positive attitude. These skills will always be in high demand in our competitive job market. I have routinely recommended summer employment that forces them to articulate these skills while building marketable experience for future employment. It's no surprise that that a straight commission direct sales position is highly marketable. The pure grit required to succeed in selling Cutco is highly attractive, let alone the communication, presentation & prospecting skills gleaned from this experience. It will never win a popularity contest but the lessons learned will translate well into all facets of life:

Summer Job: Nice Pay, if You Can Cut It

By EILEEN GUNN

When Derek Kernus failed to land a summer internship at a big company, the College of William & Mary student responded to an ad in the paper for an admittedly unusual job. Now he's spending the summer traipsing through the homes of friends, neighbors and strangers -- armed with carrots and rope -- selling stainless steel kitchen knives.

Brendan Smialowski for the Wall Street Journal

Derek Kernus is spending a summer selling Cutco knives in his hometown of Fairfax, Va.

It might sound odd at best, nightmarish if you're shy -- and a far cry from an elite internship at an investment bank, law firm, or media company. But, say many an alum of the knife-hawking business, the skills and experience you need to boost your résumé and land a job postgraduation can be found in the quirky summer job.

The knife company in question is Cutco Cutlery, an Olean, N.Y., manufacturer with $198 million in revenue, according to Sarah Baker Andrus, director of academic programs for Vector Marketing, Cutco's sales arm. Ms. Andrus says the company brings in 60% of its sales over the summer, when a force of 40,000 -- 85% of whom are students -- fan out to ply their wares.

These junior salespeople don't receive an hourly or weekly wage. Instead they earn a commission that starts at 10% and can climb to more than 50% for top sellers. Ms. Andrus says students who work the whole summer earn an average of $3,000 to $5,000. But there are plenty who earn more.

Students around the country earn money every summer hawking books, makeup, pet supplies and other goods via rehearsed demonstrations in their own homes or those of their customers. It's tough work -- even those who are successful at it say so.

"It's not for everyone, but people who go through the process are better for it," says Larry Curran, a managing director for Garrett Sayer Group, a temporary and permanent staffing firm in Parsippany, N.J., who made $5,000 selling Cutco knives in 1989, between semesters at Eastern Connecticut State University.

But Mr. Curran and others who have done it say that it provides a more marketable experience than other fallback jobs.

John Williams, 34, who now does research and consulting in Cincinnati for a technology-oriented think tank, sold Cutco knives in the summer of 1992 before he entered Northwestern University. "It was a unique and, in some ways, unnatural experience," he recalls. "You have to go into someone's home and quickly gain their trust." But in the process, Mr. Williams says, he learned how to market himself and his product, make presentations and respond to questions, adjust to new and unexpected situations, and quickly connect with people. "You also learn about integrity and following through," he notes.

These are skills Mr. Williams says he has touted in every job search he's conducted and used every job he's worked in. What's more, he and others say, the experience has caught the eye of recruiters and interviewers.

Asher Abraham also has fond memories of his Cutco years. He sold the knives throughout his four years at Queens College, in New York, and earned more than $100,000 one year, and he learned a lot in the process, he says. "The first time my [Cutco] manager asked me to speak at a weekly meeting, I thought, 'Who, me? Talk to everybody? No way,' " he recalls. But he did it, and after doing it over and over, it became second nature, he says. He graduated in 2006 and left Cutco a year later for a job at Liberty Mutual, selling commercial insurance.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, based in St. Louis, recruits several thousand new grads into its management training program every year, according to Marie Artim, assistant vice president for recruiting. The company has hired numerous Cutco alumni over the years, and hiring managers look for the experience. "We've found that the job can give people the things we look for," she says. "Things like communication skills, discipline and a work ethic, knowledge of customer service, sales and marketing, and the ability to work on your own."

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Vote: Have you ever worked a nontraditional summer job?

Gary Brulez, an executive recruiter with Corporate Personnel & Associates in Kansas City, Mo., says that the Cutco experience gives college kids basic "real-world" skills that they often don't learn until later in life.

Associates get training and support during the summer, a particular boost since the salespeople -- like Mr. Kernus, who has already sold $32,000 of cutlery -- lay out their own cash and earn only commission. Mr. Kernus spends about $10 a week on supplies and $40 for gas. Salespeople also lease a set of knives for about $135.

Newbies like Mr. Kernus get a three-day training session to learn telephone and presentation skills and role-play to practice them. There are weekly meetings at local sale offices to commiserate over difficulties and learn from successes. And there are periodic conferences with workshops that teach money management and develop business skills like public speaking and time management.

Staffing firm executive Mr. Curran says that he routinely looks for Cutco experience when searching online job boards for entry-level sales positions, which can be tough jobs to fill. The Cutco experience "puts some calluses on you for dealing with rejection," he says.

10 Most Lucrative College Majors

10. Marketing - With a degree in Marketing, the gatekeepers at PayScale.com predict that on average you'll be earning $39,400 after 5 years. And then, if you stay alive this long, after 20 years you will be in the $72,300 range.

9. Political Science - 5 years = $ 39,400. 20 years = $74,400

8. Civil Engineering - 5 years = $52,600. 20 years = $81,700

7. Mathematics - Not really sure what specific career they mean by this. The image the Forbes list uses is simply of a guy sitting at a desk staring off into space. Professional mathe-magician, perhaps? 5 years = $43,500. 20 years = $82,200

6. Finance - 5 years = $46,900. 20 years = $84,400

5. Mechanical Engineering - 5 years = $56,900. 20 years = $88,100

4. Computer Science - 5 years = $45,200. 20 years = $94,000

3. Electrical Engineering - 5 years = $59,900. 20 years = $96,100

2. Economics - 5 years = $48,100. 20 years = $96,200

1. Computer Engineering - 5 years= $60,500. 20 years = $104,00

Well, I'm pretty sure there are no surprises on this list. Most people choosing these majors are the high-earning and high-achieving stock of the college crop.

Most people who thought a 'Philosophy' major was going to be earning some serious bank, were probably not the brightest to begin with.

This list is compiled of just the national averages, though. You've gotta be kidding me with that Finance job earning only $84k after 20 years of work. That's probably not including all the big Wall Street banks.

Forbes: Most Lucrative College Majors, June 18, 2008

Ten Most Worthless Degrees!

The 10 Most Worthless College Majors

College is a great place to learn and have fun. But let’s not kid ourselves, some degrees are as useless as the plot in a Michael Bay film. Here’s a list of 10 degrees that may be interesting, but do jack shit for you in the real world.

10. Art History

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: With an art history degree you could maybe curate an art gallery or work at a museum or….yeah, that’s it. That’s all you can do. And seeing as how every art gallery and museum I’ve ever been to has exactly one dude sitting quietly at a desk reading a New Yorker and eating a food that requires chopsticks, I’m going to go ahead and assume there’s not a lot of positions open in the field. That means you’re going to have to venture out into the corporate world. And let me inform you, when you’re interviewing with Bob from the HR team at Wal-Mart who’s wearing a tie that has the twin towers smoking with writing underneath that says “We Will Never Forget,” your art history degree says to him “I’m a commie a-hole who thinks I’m better than guys with 9/11 ties.”

What Job You’ll End Up With: After your parents boot your ass from your bedroom to make room for anything that’s not your bedroom, you’ll wander towards the nearest coffee shop and get a job there, which will allow you to meet artists who will thank you for allowing them to put fliers by the cash register that inform people of their upcoming show that touts “the combination of art and flute.”

9. Philosophy

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: This isn’t ancient Greece: No one is going to pay you money, or allow you to sodomize their attractive son, in exchange for your knowledge of existence. Never has there been an employer who’s said “Man, we’re having all kinds of problems, I wish we had someone on our team who could reference and draw conclusions from the story of Siddhartha that would pull up our fourth quarter numbers.” I took many philosophy classes and it involved reading and smoking a shit pile of weed. You don’t need to pay 20,000 dollars a year to do that. All you need is twenty dollars and a library card.

What Job You’ll End Up With: Thanks to your extensive knowledge of philosophy, you’re now self-aware enough to know that most jobs out there will make you totally miserable. So most likely you’ll wait tables part time and hope someone starts paying you for the bi-monthly entries on your blog.

8. American Studies

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: If you’re not named Achmed or Bjork or G’Day Mate this isn’t a degree, it’s the last 18 years of your life. If you really want to study us you don’t need to go to some stupid class, you need only to sit back and watch a two-hour block of Must-See TV to understand The American. After doing my own research, it seems that this mysterious creature is a pot-bellied humanoid with a hot wife and bad credit who has a penchant for low-calorie beer, Chilis, Applebees, TGIFridays, Denny’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Dave and Busters, Steak and Shake, Chilis (again) and Red Lobster. Oh and he can totally demolish a White Castle Crave Case in, like, 20 seconds. OK, now give me my degree.

What Job You’ll End Up With: To take your American Studies degree one step further, you will be qualified to do 40-50 years of “graduate work” cleaning tables and taking orders at a Chilis, Applebees, TGIFridays or Red Lobster. Or possibly Denny’s.

7. Music Therapy

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: I didn’t even know this was a major until I found it on the Appalachian State website. According to their actual explanation of this major: “Music therapy is the scientific application of the art of music within a therapeutic relationship to meet the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of individuals.” Which is a big, fancy way of saying “We’ll teach you how to make a mix tape.” I guess I, too, am a qualified music therapist because my “Summer Jams ‘95” tape I made in the 10th grade totally rocked my house party. All my friends told me that kicking it off with Wreckz-N-Effects “Rump Shaker” followed by Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” totally met their physical, mental and spiritual needs to help them get wasted on my dad’s Schnapps and Drambuie.

What Job You’ll End Up With: After realizing that yoga studios and elderly homes don’t pay people just to come in and set mood music, you’re sadly going to end up putting your degree towards burning a fire to keep warm because you are homeless.

6. Communications

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: Go into a communications class on any given day and it’ll smell like dried semen and booze. Reason being, communications is the major for anyone who wants to graduate, but doesn’t want to stop getting totally wasted on weekdays. Here’s the bad news, if an employer is going to hire someone to help decipher how human beings communicate, he’s going to hire someone with the letters “Dr.” before their name, not the person who first checks to see if a class is offered online, then when they find out it’s not, let’s out a “gaaaaay bro.”

What Job You’ll End Up With: You’ll go to several job interviews that turn out to be pyramid schemes, even though at first you won’t realize this and come home and tell your parents, who you still live with, “They said I’ll probably be making six figures in less than a year just by selling these beer cozies.”

5. Dance

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: Despite what “Dancing with the Stars” and “High School Musical” may tell you, there aren’t a lot of dancing jobs out there—so you better be good because there aren’t any gigs for mediocre dancers. Outside of New York City or some crap in LA there is absolutely nothing you can do with a dance degree that doesn’t involve actually dancing for money. And since the Des Moines interpretive dance movement hasn’t really taken off yet, you have a better chance landing a job as an 8-Track repairman or a member of the Beatles.

What Job You’ll End Up With: After moving to New York and trying out for Hello Dolly! or Damn Yankees or any of the other seven Broadway plays that want dancers and not landing a single one because you got your dance degree from Ball State, you will find ample opportunity to show off your choreographic skills at one of the city’s many strip clubs. You’ll just need to change your name to Crystal or Bambi and you’ll be able finally live out your dream as a dancer. (Mom and Dad will be so proud!)

4. English Lit

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: If someone can spend a weekend with a box of Cliff’s Notes and have only a slightly less conversational knowledge of what you spent 4 years studying, you probably don’t have the most employer friendly degree. Having an English Lit degree is like being a member of the Kansas City Royals: No one cares and the best you can hope for is every once in a while someone buys you a beer because of it.

What Job You’ll End Up With: You can read and comprehend, so that gives you an advantage over 99.5% of the people that peruse Craig’s list job listings. Therefore, you’ll most likely end up landing an entry level position at a random small company, or showing up to your interview and being raped repeatedly by a group of masked men.

3. Latin

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: Not only does no one speak this language anymore, but we already have all the Latin that exists in the world. There’s no new Latin that’s hot off the presses that needs immediate translating. I’m no business major, but majoring in a language that doesn’t exist anymore doesn’t sound so good for job security. And I’m sorry to break the news to you, but the world doesn’t need someone to translate The Bible or the inscription on the side of a Post Office or El Loco Latino’s “Latin House Party.”

What Job You’ll End Up With: Since you majored in something that doesn’t exist, you’re going to have two jobs. Your first one will be as the annoying pretentious guy who gives everyone the Latin etymology of every big word he hears at every dinner party he attends. Your second, and most lucrative job, will be as a Subway Sandwich Artist.

2. Film

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: No one in hollywood gives a shit that you made a short film about an alcoholic albino that discovers the meaning of life through the help of a retarded child. Unless that retarded child was played by the son of Harvey Weinstein, your film or degree will be as pointless as the last three seasons of Lost

What Job You’ll End Up With: If you’re lucky, you’ll have an uncle who can get you a job as a production assistant on CSI Miami, where your time will be spent making coffee runs and finding whores that will let David Caruso pee on them.

1. Religion

Why It Won’t Help You Get a Job: Sorry God, but a major in Religion is about as worthless as St. Brice (The Patron Saint of Stomach Aches.) Even Duke University can’t put a solid sell on this degree: “A major in religion offers intellectual excitement and can be a pathway to a liberal education.” OK, you sold me. So now I get to shell out about a hundred thousand dollars so I can know what to wear to a Shinto ceremony and learn how many virgins Allah will give me if I blow myself up in an Israeli square? If it’s OK with you, I’ll keep my money and stick to my sinning-a-lot-now-and-repenting-on-my-deathbed plan.

What Job You’ll End Up With: This one is tricky. On one hand you’ll probably end up working behind the desk of a Christian Science Reading Room. But on the other, you may end up with everlasting peace and spiritual enlightenment. Let’s call it a draw.

Tags: 10 most worthless college degrees

Work at Home?-Big Brother is Watching- You won't get to watch that kid with the Light Saber anymore.

Work at Home?
Your Employer
May Be Watching

The clipboard toting, clock-watching, quota-setting productivity expert, peering nosily over your shoulder at work, has been out of fashion in business schools for decades.

Now he's back, in electronic form -- in the home office.

In a budding trend some employment experts say is invasive, companies are stepping up electronic monitoring and oversight of tens of thousands of home-based independent contractors. They're taking photos of workers' computer screens at random, counting keystrokes and mouse clicks and snapping photos of them at their computers. They're plying sophisticated technology to instantaneously detect anger, raised voices or children crying in the background on workers' home-office calls. Others are using Darwinian routing systems that keep calls coming so fast workers have no time to go to the bathroom.

In a budding trend some employment experts say is invasive, companies are stepping up electronic monitoring and oversight of tens of thousands of home-based workers. WSJ's Sue Shellenbarger reports.

Peter Weddle, an author, consultant and researcher on employment Web sites, calls the trend "21st Century Big Brotherism" that risks being "horribly intrusive." Skilled workers "don't need someone looking over their shoulders," he says. But while the monitoring can put a damper on home life, many people are so eager to avoid commuting hassles that they see the practice as an acceptable tradeoff.

The technology so far affects mainly freelance information-technology workers, writers, graphic-design artists and call-center agents. But as telecommuting grows amid soaring fuel costs, more people will find themselves on an electronic leash. The monitoring itself may speed the growth, because it tears down one of the biggest obstacles to working at home -- employers' fear that remote workers will slack off.

Electronic monitoring is built right into freelance transactions at oDesk.com, which links 90,000 computer programmers, network administrators, graphic designers, writers and others with about 10,000 clients world-wide. The system takes random snapshots of workers' computer screens six times an hour, records keystrokes and mouse clicks and takes optional Web cam photos of freelancers at work. Clients can log into the system anytime and see whether contractors are working, what they're doing and how long it's taking them; clients' weekly bills are based largely on the data. A small computer-screen icon pops up at the bottom of workers' screens each time a screen shot is taken.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Sue Shellenbarger answers readers' questions about work-at-home pitches, finding a trained emotionally- focused therapist, and explaining résumé gaps during job interviews.

ODesk Chief Executive Gary Swart says a client paying a freelancer likes knowing, "You can't play Blackjack. You can't watch YouTube. Why? Because I'm watching you work." When one oDesk client questioned an inflated bill from a freelancer, a check of the screen shots revealed he'd been watching a cricket game online. The freelancer reduced his bill.

One big oDesk competitor, Elance.com, says installing "spyware," as one Elance executive calls it, is going too far. Elance recently unveiled a monitoring system of its own that allows freelancers to document their work electronically, but leaves control entirely in freelancers' hands. "We don't believe in having a camera on your computer, taking pictures and tracing every move," says Elance Chief Executive Fabio Rosati. Several of oDesk's own programmers quit several years ago when the company insisted they submit to monitoring.

At first, it seems like "Oh, this is Big Brother" watching, acknowledges Russell Tweed, a St. Helens, Ore., computer-network administrator who works on oDesk. But he says none of his oDesk clients has tried to micromanage his work. Freelancers like oDesk's payment system; it takes clients' credit cards up front and, barring a veto from the buyer, pays workers promptly every week, eliminating slow-pay problems.

One oDesk buyer, Juliana Carroll, a Manhattan financial-services consultant, says she has saved as much as 25% using oDesk freelancers because they turn out more work faster than contractors she has found on her own. Menlo Park, Calif.-based oDesk, which charges clients 10% on top of freelancers' fees, says its June 2008 revenue was 2.8 times year-earlier levels.

Corporate managers with work-at-home employees also worry about potential slackers, and some have tightened ties with home-office workers by monitoring their use of instant messaging or corporate VPN links. However, employers typically resist Web cam or keystroke monitoring of their own staffers as too invasive, relying instead on screening telecommuters carefully and setting measurable work objectives.

In another sector, call-center companies are tightening the electronic leash on home-based agents, who handle calls for retailing, travel and other clients. Call-routing technology at Arise.com, Miramar, Fla., helps keep its 8,000 home agents so tightly tethered to their phones that they have to schedule unpaid time off to go to the bathroom. Calls flow fastest to the most productive workers. Arise home agents, who are all independent business owners, have incentives to take a lot of calls; their base pay starts at about $8 an hour, but commissions are added for selling cruises, computers and the like. Top performers also get more flexibility, in the form of first dibs on work shifts.

To keep calls flowing, Arise agents are discouraged from leaving their desks. Instead, Arise recommends they anticipate when they'll need a bathroom break and schedule a half-hour off the clock, without pay, at that time -- usually every two to three hours.

Another call-center outsourcer, Working Solutions, which has 4,000 active agents, is applying sophisticated speech-analytics technology to tune an omnipresent electronic ear into numerous home-office conversations at once.

It's not unusual for call-center companies to record and spot-check agents' calls by listening in now and then. Working Solutions' new system goes beyond that to instantly detect and flag such trouble signals as cancellation threats or angry voices, enabling supervisors to jump in on the conversations right away, says Tim Houlne, chief executive of the Plano, Texas, company.

Home agents' slipups, such as dogs barking or children crying in the background, are frowned upon. Like most call-center operators, Working Solutions says it has "zero tolerance" for background noise.

The trend suggests the home office, long regarded as a calmer place to work, may evolve into just another office, fraught with the same constraints as a corporate cubicle. Maggie Torres, a longtime home agent for Arise in Southwest Ranches, Fla., says her children, 17 and 18, have learned over the years to "stay out and be quiet" when she works. Even her little dog stops running and jumping; "when he sees me go to that seat, he goes to his bed and lies down and that's it."

But the rewards, she says, warrant the sacrifices. "If you do good on all your stats you get to pick your hours early. I usually do -- and thank God, I get to pick the hours I want."

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

OMG!! :) Leave the txt on ur Iphone.

Thx for the IView!
I Wud ♥ to Work 4 U!! ;)

Young Job Candidates Find
Too-Casual Tone of Textspeak
Turns Off Hiring Managers

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

After interviewing a college student in June, Tory Johnson thought she had found the qualified and enthusiastic intern she craved for her small recruiting firm. Then she received the candidate's thank-you note, laced with words like "hiya" and "thanx," along with three exclamation points and a smiley-face emoticon.

"That email just ruined it for me," says Ms. Johnson, president of New York-based Women For Hire Inc. "This looks like a text message."

Hiring managers like Ms. Johnson say an increasing number of job hunters are just too casual when it comes to communicating about career opportunities in cyberspace and on mobile devices. Thank yous on paper aren't necessary, but some applicants are writing emails that contain shorthand language and decorative symbols, while others are sending hasty and poorly thought-out messages to and from mobile devices. Job hunters are also using social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to try to befriend less-than-willing interviewers.

FORUM

Do you consider sending interviewers thank yous with shorthand language and emoticons, inappropriate or a sign of the times? Discuss

These incidents typically involve college students and recent graduates, and recruiters say such faux pas can be instant candidacy killers because they hint at immaturity and questionable judgment.

The trend may reflect a cultural divide between younger and older workers, says David Holtzman, author of "Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy." "It's driven by the communication technology that each generation has grown up with," he adds. Workers in their 20s and younger are accustomed to online and cellphone messaging, and the abbreviated lingua franca that makes for quick exchanges, he says. "It's just natural for them. They don't realize that it's perceived to be disrespectful."

Travis Hawk, a May graduate of Drake University, says he prefers sending text messages to making phone calls and almost fell victim to his text-lingo behavior in emails to recruiters during his recent job search. "I had to focus on not doing it," says the 23-year-old, who just got an entry-level sales position at Principal Financial Services Group. Now an intern at the Des Moines, Iowa, firm, he says his penchant for using abbreviations such as "r" for "are" is sometimes hard to manage. "Occasionally, on accident, I throw one in an email at work," he admits.

Other job hunters, however, don't see any need for restraint. Consider, for example, that smiley faces, hearts and other icons appear in about one of every 10 thank-you emails sent to hiring managers at KPMG LLP, says Blane Ruschak, the New York accounting firm's national director of university relations and recruiting.

But KPMG's staffing specialists, who hire about 2,700 college graduates and 2,300 interns annually, aren't amused. "We don't feel emoticons have a place in any formal communications," says Mr. Ruschak. "It's not professional." And seeing them makes KPMG's hiring managers wonder whether that sort of unprofessional communication will follow the applicant to the workplace. Graduates who commit the offense may lose out on a job if "there are other candidates similar to them that didn't," he adds.

On-the-Fly Mentality

Some job hunters are earning the rebuke of recruiters by taking thank yous to another extreme -- by sending them hastily from their mobile phones. The move suggests an on-the-fly mentality, as if the applicants haven't taken time to think about why they want the job or why they are saying thanks, says Wendi Friedman Tush, president of Lexicomm Group, a boutique communications firm in New York. "It always says 'From my Blackberry,' " she says. Candidates "should sit down at their computer in a thoughtful way and do it, not while they're on their way somewhere," she says.

Executive recruiter Hal Reiter recently received such a thank you from a chief financial officer candidate sent by BlackBerry just minutes after the interview. "You don't even have time to digest the meeting and you're getting a thank-you note," says Mr. Reiter, chairman and chief executive of Herbert Mines Associates, a New York-based search firm.

This year, hiring manager Cathy Chin received a thank you on her cellphone from a candidate for an entry-level job at ReThink Rewards Inc., a marketing firm based in Toronto. While she says her cell number is on her business card, which she gave to the candidate, all prior correspondence had been through her office phone and email. "It's infringing a bit on your personal space," she says, adding that the candidate wasn't hired partly for this reason.

Interviewer as 'Friend'

And a candidate for an assistant account-executive job recently sent a "friend" invite to Ms. Friedman Tush on her personal Facebook page following an interview. Her company doesn't have a page on the social-networking site. "I'm not his friend. I'm not even his employer. I was somebody who interviewed him," she says. "They are called social-networking sites for a reason."

Job hunters may be more inclined to use their cellphones and text lingo when thanking interviewers because the medium is gaining acceptance in a growing number of workplaces. "I definitely text my managers if I am running late," says Jennifer Nedeau, 23, a project manager at New Media Strategies Inc., a marketing firm in Arlington, Va. "I know I'm not bothering them with a phone call, but they're still getting the message."

Are there ever exceptions to sending a thank you through a mobile phone or social-networking site? Perhaps if someone is applying to a company that sells or relies heavily on the technology, say hiring managers. But Ms. Johnson points out that it may be less effective than email since recruiters can't forward these types of messages to colleagues as easily.

The younger set sees the world of interview and workplace language evolving. Chris Brubaker, a junior at Iowa State University, predicts that "textspeak" will soon become accepted in the workplace. "Text messages are much more short and to the point," says the 20-year-old. "General communication is becoming more electronic."

Indeed, employers themselves are blurring the lines to some extent by using mobile and Web technology for recruiting, including posting job ads on social-networking sites like MySpace. Ms. Chin's firm has a Facebook page that lists information about job openings and its work environment. For this reason, Ms. Chin says she doesn't mind getting thank-you messages through the site's email system. The effort can even help a candidate stand out. "It puts a face to the name because it shows your profile picture," she explains.

Still, Ms. Chin says there's no excuse for using shorthand in messages to recruiters. "A thank-you note -- even if it's on Facebook or email -- should be written like a proper letter," she says. "If I'm going to give you a job, do I really want you communicating to our clients in this fashion? No."

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Gannett Investing $10 Million In Live Streamer Mogulus?

Gannett Investing $10 Million In Live Streamer Mogulus?

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Gannett Investing $10 Million In Live Streamer Mogulus?

Gannett Investing $10 Million In Live Streamer Mogulus?

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Stanley Bing shares the rules of corporate dominance & how to work 2 hours a day while not looking like a loser.

Gil Schwartz's alter ego Stanley Bing shares the tricks that ceo's have know for years. He tells you to get off the the hamster wheel, beef up your BlackBerry plan & head to the beach. Work is for suckers & delegation is for winners. Watch the full interview by clicking on the link below.

http://www.wallstrip.com/2008/07/23/gil-schwartz-is-stanley-bing/

The Declining Value of Your College Degree

College degrees are no longer the ticket to a better life.

The #1 Resume Killer- Hint- it's not your qualifications!

I frequently receive feedback from employers about the candidates who are applying for their jobs. I keep tight records on the type of feedback received (positive & negative divided into several sub categories). Lately I have hit a steady stream of negative feedback all centered on spelling/grammatical errors found in the candidate’s resumes.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always follow the rules of grammar & diction with one exception- in my resume. I have always been under the impression that if you need advice or direction to tell you typos in your resume are unacceptable then you in fact are unemployable in this market. This does not mean mistakes don't happen.

If you think back to the jobs you applied for: your background, qualifications & experience. All may have lined up perfectly with the position you applied for. But you never heard back. There is a strong possibility you had a typo in that resume, automatically damning you to the recycling bin or heaven forbid the trashcan.

Don't feel bad everyone makes mistakes. I once circulated a resume stating I attending "by weekly" meetings. Even Colin Powell had his resignation letter returned from the White House because it had spelling errors. It's completely human to make mistakes; however it is also completely human to make snap judgments on first impressions & in this case an unedited resume is the absolute kiss of death in the job search.

Here's why:

84% of executives polled said that one or two typographical errors in a resume removes a candidate from consideration for a job opening, and 47% said it only take a single typo to get your resume doused in gasoline & set on fire.
The survey, developed by Office Team, surveyed 150 senior executives at North America’s largest companies.
Executives were asked, “How many typos in a resume does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?” Their responses:

• One typo - 47%
• Two typos - 37%
• Three typos - 7%
• Four or more typos - 6%
• Don't know/no answer - 3%

“Resumes often are a job seeker’s first contact with prospective employers,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam, in a statement to the press. “Candidates who submit application materials with typographical or grammatical errors may be seen as lacking professionalism and attention to detail, and thus spoil their chances for an interview or further consideration.”

And you’ll need more than your computer’s spell-check. Domeyer suggests have friends and family members to proofread resumes as well. “A fresh pair of eyes can help candidates spot mistakes overlooked by the spell-checking function,” she said. “I’ve often seen simple errors -- such as a job seeker applying for the position of ‘office manger’ -- derail even the most talented applicants.”

Now that we have restated the obvious: spell-check your resume, proof read your resume, have your network proof read your resume & harass a local newspaper editor until they approve it too.

Now if you have submitted a botched resume you can't change that. So as a consolation prize read the following classic resume typo bloopers & take joy in their screw ups (it's good to know they are your competition) Enjoy:


Ten Classic Resume Bloopers
Know Them So You Won’t Make Them
by Kim Isaacs
www.resumepower.com

1. “Revolved customer problems and inquiries.” Just what every employer is looking for — an expert in passing the buck.

2. “Consistently tanked as top sales producer for new accounts.” Sales managers aren’t likely to be impressed with this self-proclaimed underachiever.

3. “Dramatically increased exiting account base, achieving new company record.” If customer accounts were leaving in droves as this statement implies, it’s probably fair to assume that this candidate also tanked as a top sales producer.

4. “Planned new corporate facility at $3 million over budget.” Every hiring manager is searching for employees who exceed budgets by millions of dollars.

5. “Directed $25 million anal shipping and receiving operations.” Either this person is showcasing compulsively stubborn management qualities, or he has a challenging product packaging/storage problem.

6. “Participated in the foamation of a new telecommunications company.” This job seeker was also in charge of bubble control.

7. “Promoted to district manger to oversee 37 retail storefronts.” This is a common resume typo. There must be literally thousands of mangers looking for jobs in today’s modern world. Here’s a tip: Use your word-processing program’s find/replace feature to quickly correct this common mistake. You can also modify your application’s spelling dictionary so it won’t recognize the word “manger.”

8. “Experienced supervisor, defective with both rookies and seasoned professionals.” Many of us have had a boss like this at some point in our careers, but you usually don’t find them being so up-front about their leadership inadequacies.

9. “I am seeking a salary commiserate with my training and experience.” There are a couple problems with this statement. To begin with, salary requirements don’t belong on a resume. Secondly, a salary should be “commensurate” with experience (meaning proportionate to), not “commiserate” with (meaning to express sympathy for).

10. “Seeking a party-time position with potential for advancement.” Sounds like a fun job.



FYI- this post was not thoroughly spell checked or proofed so have it.

Best Cities to Live

Richard Florida's best cities rankings.

clipped from creativeclass.com Best cities for young singles (ages 20-29) Best cities for young singles (ages 20-29) large regions San Francisco, CA Washington, DC Boston, MA Los Angeles, CA New York, NY mid-size regions Madison, WI Worcester, MA Bridgeport, CT New Haven, CT Raleigh, NC small regions Boulder, CO Santa Barbara, CA Trenton, NJ Ann Arbor, MI Santa Rosa, CA Best cities for mid-career professionals (30-44) large regions San Jose, CA Minneapolis, MN Austin, TX San Diego, CA Denver, CO mid-size regions Bridgeport, CT Portland, ME Madison, WI Omaha, NE Des Moines, IA small regions Durham, NC Provo, UT Reno, NV Fayetteville, AR Boulder, CO

Where the Money is.

Like everything else income is concentrated in a handful of areas.

clipped from creativeclass.com

The Best Place to be Single

See if your experiences at the bar line up with the map.

clipped from creativeclass.com

The New Geography of Work

Where are industries concentrated. Where you live effects the career choices you have.

clipped from creativeclass.com

Take me down to the Paradise City!

..."Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green & the girls are pretty"... Ahh the wisdom of Axle Rose such sage advice, but where is this mythical paradise? Well Richard Florida slogged through mounds of data from the BLS to determine just this place in his recent book Who's Your City.

Florida's study flies in the face of the Friedman Flat World. We have been conditioned to believe that the Internet is the equalizer, the democratizer, the profitizer & any other izer you can think of. Place to Friedman is irrelevant (as long as that place has a broadband connection of course). Which I must say I agree with many of Friedman's points (The World is Flat, The Lexus & The Olive Tree, Longitudes & Attitudes) the Internet has made collaboration possible (possibly ubiquitous) it has created opportunities in the most far flung regions, connecting the world. But Florida contends PLACE MATTERS, more than you know Florida believes place is right up there with the big decisions creating the new Holy Trinity of decisions (Spouse, Career, Place). Florida says Place should precede the others & actually has a nice little gadget (Place Finder) to help with that decision.

http://creativeclass.com/whos_your_city/place_finder/

Alright this is no unique situation smart guy 1 makes brilliant point, then smart guy two makes brilliant counter point. So what do you make of this & how do you put it to work in you career search. Well it turns out both are useful to understand, The Flat World breaks down global economic /political make up helping us realize how to collaborate & prosper from the global workforce. However the harnessing The Flat World is only useful once you are rooted in your career & place, so Florida's research is extremely prudent now. Take a look at the following map-

http://creativeclass.com/whos_your_city/maps/

As you can see industries & professionals cluster in regions. Musicians in Nashville, Winemakers in Napa, Finance in New York & Porn addicts in Louisville KY-

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/6/google-louisville-ky-is-the-most-obscene-city-in-the-u-s-

The laws of attraction are at work here talent breeds’ talent, ideas breed ideas & markets emerge. Florida's book won't help you determine what career to choose or even what companies to work for. But once those factors are determined Who's Your City will help you to determine what city will best suit you & the career you choose.