My husband sent me this theory on friendships by the wife of a prominent ESPN blogger.  He doesn’t remember where he found it, so I’ll just have to quote rather than link:   “I have always said that female friends are ''pursuers'' or ''pursuees.'' I am a ''pursuee.'' You have to pursue me to be my friend. I don't like planning ...

I just got my official copy of my friend Michelle Goodman’s My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional.  I say official because I had the opportunity to provide a back cover blurb a few months ago.  I was happy to do so, because for those of us who long to have the flexible lifestyle and income ...

According to the Associated Press, U.S. workers can expect skimpy raises in their base salaries next year, but top performers may still fatten their paychecks with merit compensation.   A study just released by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm, found base pay will rise by 3.8 percent in 2009, marking the ...

Laura Stack, a personal productivity expert over at Divine Caroline, has some great tips for looking like a workaholic without actually being one.  Let’s have a look at ways you can sustain a strong reputation while maintaining control over your time. Get noticed in eight hours.  Anybody can spend a day keeping busy. It takes ...

Juggling multiple jobs is becoming more and more common, as people seek work that will provide an additional paycheck or personal satisfaction that is lacking in Job #1.  Over at Stepcase Lifehack, Thursday Bram, a writer who has done this herself, has these insights to share: Keep firm dividers between your different jobs. Even if ...

I recently had the chance to chat with Chris and Stuart, two enterprising twenty-somethings who founded Gradspot, which they hope will become the premiere online destination for life after college.  They are super-impressive young professionals, having graduated from Harvard and Emory respectively and boasting work experience in the ...

My new book, Success for Hire (ASTD Press) features employee recruitment and retention practices that a lot of people think they know but in reality, don’t put into practice.  One of those practices is effective in-person interviewing, which can ensure that you hire the right candidate the first time around.  The next time you speak ...

My friend and 30/20 Vision radio show co-host Lindsey Pollak and I had the opportunity to contribute to Marci Alboher’s New York Times career coach roundtable on management consulting and investment banking as careers for soon-to-be college grads.  Here was the question, as well as highlights from our responses: “I will be graduating ...

I’ve encountered a lot of couples where one person has left his or her job to support the career of the other.  Typically, one spouse is an accomplished entrepreneur, so the other pitches in to help grow the business – often in a subordinate role. I’m wondering how many of you would do this if you had the chance.  It would ...

I just received an e-mail from Pat Viro, a reader who has a job in an interesting new field known as “nurse consulting.” You’ve probably heard of the growing need for health professionals to care for a quickly expanding number of senior citizens.  This demographic shift has been well documented.  For example, according to ...