I just got this e-mail from a WCW reader:   “Dear Alexandra: When I was younger, my parents, who used to watch the old TV show Family Ties, used to call me Alex P. Keaton.  I’ve always had a knack for numbers.  I got my first savings account when I was in second grade, and I’ve been playing the stock market since I was in high ...

Well now, this is kind of scary… While employers and hiring managers are seeing more job applicants with online degrees these days, they’re not exactly clamoring to hire them. According to Vault.com’s 2008 Online Degrees Survey, while 49% of those who make hiring decisions have encountered applicants with online degrees, a 15 percentage ...

I’ll be honest.  I always thought that going to a temp agency was a waste of time.  This perception comes from the fact that when I was in college in the late 90s, I visited a few firms, filled out reams of paperwork, took a few computer tests, did several interviews, and never got a single job out of the ...

We've talked periodically about the impact that the economy's downturn is having on the job market.  Last week, in the new Outside Voices blog that recruitment guru Joel Cheesman is writing for U.S. News and World Report, the topic is compensation in traditionally hot fields like technology, finance, and government contracting.  Joel ...

My friend Chris Russell over at Secrets of the Job Hunt reported on a recent study by global HR consulting firm Development Dimensions International and Monster that examined the most inappropriate questions job seekers have been asked during an interview.  The study coordinators divided the most popular responses into several categories, ...

In the coming months, I’m going to be focusing some of Water Cooler Wisdom’s content around employee recruitment and retention techniques.  Let’s start with the obvious: the e-advertisements that you, as a manager or HR rep, might be perennially posting on major online job boards.  You know that these boards receive tons of traffic, but ...

Everyone has been buzzing about the different careers featured in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Careers of 2008 piece.  Since I’m going to be doing my fair share of talking about cool jobs come the spring, I thought I would highlight some of the more interesting observations that writer Marty Nemko makes about forthcoming career ...

Thanks to my fellow career blogger, Anita Bruzzese, for calling my attention to the important issue of the unemployment and underemployment of recently-discharged Iraq war veterans.   When a person joins the military, says the website HireAHero.com, there is a promise made.  This promise is either explicit or implied that, if you serve ...

I’m really interested in the topic of career change, so I was intrigued by this new study by Career Builder and Harris Interactive, which showed that fully one-third of employed workers are seeking a change.   According to the survey, nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of U.S. workers report they have changed careers at least once. More ...

It’s official: recruiting has entered the twenty-first century.  A few weeks ago, I introduced the concept of Web 3.0, and what do you know?  We’re here already.  TMP Worldwide is working with exclusive companies including eBay, Microsoft, HP and Verizon, to create NiW (Network In World), the world’s first virtual, 3D interactive ...