Every week I check dozens of “career” blogs and other online publications, looking for things that will help you find a job, get promoted, develop your skills, and keep everything in perspective and balance. Here’s the pick of the lot for this week. I’m pointing you to items about new ways to do resumes, different education options, doing something different, surviving the impossible boss, and using feedback.

From Forbes: The New Approach to Resumes
“Paige Robinson, 22, graduated from the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana into one of the worst job markets of all time last spring.”I started thinking of different ideas about how to stand out,” she says. “I wanted to do something that not only would get my résumé out there but would get my personality out there as well.” Fortunately for her, her father is a job search professional.”

Wally’s Comment: Change is the only constant. That’s true in job search, like anywhere else. Read this article for ideas about how you can make your resume more attractive to employers.

From the Wall Street Journal: The Alternative M.B.A.: One-Year Master’s Degrees
“More students are looking to business schools for shorter and more focused alternatives to the M.B.A., with in-depth education in everything from science of management to international finance. Schools, in turn, are beefing up the specialty programs they already offer and adding more to keep up with demand.”

Wally’s Comment: Specialty programs are worth considering if you’re looking for in-depth coursework in a functional area or if you already have experience and solid general management skills.

From Bret Simmons: Personal Branding: The Motivation to Do Something Different
“If you look around at your peers, compare yourself to them, and aspire to copy what they are doing, you will by definition become mediocre.  That has never been a good choice, but it is an even worse choice in these hypercompetitive times we live.  Why aspire to be just like everyone else when you can choose to be excellent?”

Wally’s Comment: Bret Simmons crafts this post and video on the idea that if you want to be excellent you have to do things that your peers aren’t willing to do. It’s a choice. It’s also hard work.

From Bob Sutton: Working for an “Impossible Boss:” Is the Only Option to Suffer in Silence Until You Can Escape?
“I was just reading a compelling and heavily research based by psychologist Robert Hogan called Personality and the Fate of Organizations.  In Hogan’s chapter on “The Psychology of Managerial Incompetence,” he cites an interesting study by McCall and Lomdardo (see this book for a summary of much of it) where they had interviewed a large number of managers about “career defining events.”  Every manager reported that they had spent a long stretch “working for an impossible boss, not difficult, cranky, or abusive, but impossible.”  So their first conclusion is that just about every adult will have to work for an impossible boss at some point.  The researchers reached a second conclusion that troubles me, “when working for an intolerable boss, if a person sticks up for him or herself and refuses to bullied, his or her career will be irreparably damaged.  When working for an awful boss, a person’s only option is to suffer in silence.”   I was taken aback by this advice.”

Wally’s Comment: Bob Sutton’s posts are always well-supported and well-reasoned. This post, and the comments from readers, considers the options and tactics you might choose if you’re working for that impossible boss.

From Mary Jo Asmus: Now That You Know: What Do You Do With That Feedback?
“You’ve asked for it, you’ve received it with grace, and now – what do you do with it? You have two choices.”

Wally’s Comment: There’s lots of talk about getting feedback. But feedback is useless unless you use it to change what you do. Mary Jo Asmus presents options you can select. You’ll also benefit by reading post on the same subject by Steve Roesler: “It’s Not the Feedback, its What Follows.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:57 am and is filed under Tools and Strategies for Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.