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Notes From The Corner Cubicle

Is Change Good? As job seekers and employers today; we face new challenges on a daily basis. We must constantly adapt to a changing workplace and make regular investments in ourselves. Being a good employer or a successful job seeker both insist on flexibility. Growing up on a farm made the change from rural life to a high tech career a tremendous adjustment for me. However in just one generation I can see my children would accept similar change with little disruption. The children of the "Millenium" generation are already beginning to shape our future. Imagine someone who never knew life without the Internet, children today not only accept change, they expect and embrace it. We would be wise to take a cue from them; understand that business no longer stands still and change, good and often bad, will occur on an increasing basis. Even in our more traditional industry, every company will face the need to adapt. As individuals we must be understand that change, good and bad, can present opportunities for success. This month we offer you the latest news, best insights and, of course, the hottest jobs anywhere.

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Tune Up Your Resume
The stock market is tanking and Greenspan just lowered rates again. Who can guess what the economy will do? Who cares? If you are well prepared, you will endure less pain and get out of these uncertain times with minimal damage. You just have to be ready. There are many things in life that require preparation to ensure optimum performance. Why is it that we ignore one of the most critical aspects in preparing for our careers? If your personal marketing package, your resume, is not up to date, can you really expect to keep up with the pace of traffic in today's marketplace? Here are some signs that your vehicle to career success needs a tune up:

Instant Messaging - Blessing or Curse?

No longer just a tool of the idle masses exchanging rumors and recipes, instant messaging (IM) applications have encroached into the working world, where professionals swap industry information, gossip, and expertise in the blink of an eye. Instead of traipsing down the hall, making an abrupt phone call, or waiting for an e-mailed response, employees can communicate with one another via online text, "pinging" each other questions and requests, speeding up reaction rate and increasing productivity.

Do you talk too much during the interview?

interviewers often eliminate a candidate from consideration because he or she "talked too much" during the job interview. Indeed, excessive talkers irritate potential employers. The silent types often have a major advantage in job interview situations, and especially if they know how to use silence to their financial advantage!

Traditional American Values in the Workplace
Jeffrey W. Brown

With today’s topsy-turvy economy, companies seem to be cutting costs and focusing on productivity over people. Downsizing is creeping into newspaper headlines at an uncomfortable rate, and many of us are expecting the worst as we hope for the best. With this in mind, it may be a good time to focus on the qualities you bring to the office. What makes you more valuable than your pal in the cube next door?

In an effort to focus on maintaining an edge in today’s competitive job market, let’s take a look at the values our country (and possibly your company) was founded upon:

If you want more money and your company isn't forthcoming, you'll have to ask for it. Here's how.

The economy is booming, the job market is tight and your company is setting record profits. Yet all this prosperity is passing you by. It seems everyone is reaping the benefits of an unprecedented business cycle—except you.

Of course, you're not really unhappy. You enjoy your current position, your colleagues and the direction of your company. You'd consider changing jobs for the right opportunity, but the bigger issue right now is that you deserve a larger piece of the pie.

So, what should you do about it? In a perfect world, your employer would share the wealth and hand out bigger checks to everyone. But unless you work for a small start-up with an altruistic owner, that isn't likely to happen. At publicly traded companies, employees always fall in line behind stockholders and CEOs when it's time to divide the fruits of their labor.

Five Workplace Myths

The 21st century has begun, and the office is still here. A new research study conducted for Knoll, Inc., by the independent market research firm DYG, Inc., revisits some of the myths promulgated in the early 1990s by futurists and others who predicted the demise of the office by the year 2000. Here's what a national survey of 350 full-time office workers revealed

Design Mentors

Hey, kid. Do you remember hearing that? Not only in architecture and design but in all the professions, formal schooling is only the beginning of a career. Degree in hand, the young professional enters into an apprenticeship, gradually grows in skill and responsibility, earns a license, and eventually, one hopes, achieves mastery. To that model of professional training, today's design practices must not ignore another fundamental process -- mentoring -- and another fundamental role, that of the mentor, the experienced and trusted counselor or teacher.

The term "mentoring" is everywhere these days, in conference rooms and design studios, in books on management and in office manuals, in formal presentations and casual conversation. But it's not just the latest buzz-word or the organizational fad of the ‘90s. Increasingly, it's essential to a firm's success, for a number of reasons.

Working from home

The idea of working at home can fuel great fantasies. Before you do it, however, you should decide whether you can work effectively outside an office, wear all the hats you'll need to wear to be successful, and weather the inevitable distractions.

That's it for this month's issue.

Traditional American Values in the Workplace Jeffrey W. Brown

Traditional American Values in the Workplace
Jeffrey W. Brown