Thanks to MSNBC columnist Eve Tahmincioglu for revisiting the issue of the noncompete agreement.  I address this topic briefly in Success for Hire, and I think it’s an important one to be aware of if you’re job hunting or thinking of making a career transition anytime soon.  Says Eve: “Among the flood of forms you get when ...

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 ...

Employment Digest has posted a brilliant article on job offers that aren’t actually as good as they look at first.  Writer Carole Martin tells the story of Nicholas, who received an on-the-spot offer and was so thrilled he accepted right away. Nicholas was offered $55,000 per year, with a hiring bonus of $5,000 – a $10,000 raise from his last ...

Thanks to Todd Raphael’s World of Talent blog for pointing out TechRepublic’s new article on how to avoid age-bias landmines during the interview process.  According to the article, you may encounter subtle age bias in questions and comments from interviewers. The trick is to identify the questions and know the best way to answer them, ...

[ImageAttachment] CollegeRecruiter.com has a great post on topics to avoid during job interviews.  According to Steven Rothberg, you should avoid topics such as sex, politics, and religion unless they are directly relevant to the position (they almost never are) as well as any discussion of compensation, your old boss, your significant ...