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 communicating with hiring managers, the hidden job market, what to do if you have (or are) a younger boss, what to do if you’re frustrated by your job search, and how to survive coming back from vacation.

From the Wall Street Journal: Thx for the IView! I Wud? to Work 4 U!!

“Hiring managers like Ms. Johnson say an increasing number of job hunters are just too casual when it comes to communicating about career opportunities in cyberspace and on mobile devices.”

Wally’s Comment: Here’s a handy tip. That cool text message shorthand that works so well with your college buds may not be quite as impressive if you use it for business communication.

From Fortify Your Oasis: Finding a position in ‘the hidden jobs market’

“It’s not like it used to be. You can’t just open the Appointment pages of your broadsheet newspaper of record and find the job of your dreams. In many instances now, the first time you hear about a job is after it has been filled. This has been christened the ‘hidden jobs market’ and it is frustratingly like an iceberg – only a small percentage of the available jobs are above the waterline.”

Wally’s Comment: The best article I’ve seen on working the current version of the hidden jobs market.

From Where Great Workplaces Start: Your Boss Is Younger Than You…Now What?

“Bridging this generation gap alone is common among coworkers today, with workplaces often having 2-3 different generations working together. What happens when one of the younger employees becomes the boss of an older employee? It’s not uncommon to find tension in these situations, however there are several ways for both the boss and his or her employee to work well together.”

Wally’s Comment: This is a good article about one of those things people talk about, but don’t ever seem to write about.

From Ask a Manager: recent grad frustrated by job search

“I got my B.A. at a prestigious university over six weeks ago, and since then I’ve been actively pursuing a job in government, law or policy. But after a few dozen applications and several interviews, I have no offers. I realize that many people go far longer without having a job, but the pressure is on and desperation is beginning to set in.”

Wally’s Comment: I included this post because it’s good, but also because of the timing. This is about the time of summer when college graduates who thought they’d be happily and lucratively employed by now start to get desperate. But desperate money never wins and besides, it may be your expectations that need adjusting.

From the Chief Happiness Officer: Top five tips to beat the post-vacation blues

“Aaaahhh… Summer vacation. Depending on your fancy it’s time to lie on the beach with a good book, wear out your shoe soles exploring a strange city or scream your head off skydiving or in some other adrenaline-driven pursuit. But invariably the vacation ends and you go back to work, and that transition can be a little rough.”

Wally’s Comment: Yep, BFVDS, Back from Vacation Depression Syndrome, coming soon to a diagnostic manual near you. Don’t despair. Instead, read Alex Kjerulf’s helpful and enjoyable post.

Dave thought he had gotten a dream job. He hadn’t been out of high school long when he wound up with a job as a video game tester.

That probably seems like the perfect job for most game players, but he found that it wasn’t what he expected. Dave thought he’d be playing games all day. The reality was that he’d play a game for a while and then write up an extensive “bug report” about what needed fixing.

He didn’t like doing the bug reports. He wasn’t good at them.

At that point he could have just marked time while he looked for another job. Or he could have quit. But Dave chose to make the most of his situation.

He didn’t know it but he was following one of my mother’s best bits of advice. She thought that whatever situation you find yourself in you should ask, “What good can I make of this?”

Dave made good of his situation by learning how to write reports well. It was hard in the beginning. But soon the reports were something he could handle decently, maybe not joyfully, but decently.

Dave also decided that he could expand his job to do some of the things he liked. He knew a lot about sound systems and sound mixing. So he started making suggestions about how the games he was testing could be improved by making the audio experience better.

By the time he was ready to move on to his next job, Dave had become a decent report writer. And he’d earned himself an Associate Producer credit for his sound work.

Dave followed a strategy my mother would have loved. Whatever situation you find yourself in, ask yourself, “What good can I make of this?” Dave saw two excellent ways to make good of a job that wasn’t quite what he wanted.

He figured out what he could learn and how he could improve. That’s a great choice because you take your learning and skills with you for the rest of your life.

And he looked for ways to change his job so that it was a better fit. That’s a good strategy, too, since it makes it more likely that you’ll do great work.

Not every job you get will be the great experience you expect. But you can do what Dave did and make good of it.

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 responding to a rejection, career must-haves, when it’s time to leave your current job, making career choices, and the secret to staying energetic in your career.

From Ask a Manager: job rejections and vitriol

“My organization emails rejection notes to all applicants we don’t offer a job to. It’s a friendly and polite letter, and we send it within a few days of knowing that we’re not moving the applicant forward in the hiring process. Sometimes we hear back from people thanking us for the notification (which I recommend — reflects well on them), but every once in a while a candidate sends a nasty email back, outraged that they’ve been rejected.”

Wally’s Comment: Read this post. Keep it handy. Read it before you respond to any rejection letter.

From Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace: 5 Must-Haves for Careers and Career Leadership

“The problem is that just one or two of these criteria are typically not enough to keep us excited about our choice. We soon we find ourselves not enjoying our work. Although we love the pay maybe the boss is difficult; or, we’re not getting to do the tasks we enjoy; or, something else we overlooked is now an issue. You can avoid this problem by thinking about 5 C’s of your career at the outset.”

Wally’s Comment: Good advice on being picky enough.

From 45 Things: How to Know When It’s Time to Take Your Job Off Life Support

“You can’t exactly put your finger on it, but somehow your job has started sucking the life force out of you. Every day you feel a little more depressed, a little more like maybe you should just call in sick and sit home and watch “Cash Cab.” Still, the thought of looking for another job is even more depressing. There’s the business of writing the resume. You know you’ll face rejections. You’ll have to go on interviews, and that ranks right up there with having someone wax your entire body.”

Wally’s Comment: We’ve all been there. We’re sure we should go, but …

From My Global Career: Forget the laws of supply and demand

“What if you could glimpse the future and foresee low demand for your skills in 2012? Would you change careers based on that data or would you continue to chase your dream?”

Wally’s Comment: Good advice to start with yourself when it comes to career planning.

From Curt Rosengren at US News: The Secret to Staying Energetic in Your Career

“What if you had a way to make sure you’d never need to come to someone like me to help you figure out how to inject the energy back into your career? Better yet, what if the process were easy and painless? Would you want to know about it? Well here’s the secret sauce: Make your work a nonstop research experiment focused on you.”

Wally’s Comment: This is a simply stellar post about how to get the most out of every situation. My mother always said that the two most important things were to make good of whatever situation you were in and to learn from your experience. She would have loved this post.

I love Jack and Suzy Welch’s column that appears in Business Week and on their own web site. In it, they answer questions from readers about career and personal advice.

One issue they’ve identified many times is that hardly anyone seems to get a candid and helpful performance review. In fact, when they ask the question “Have you gotten an honest and helpful appraisal in the last year?” to audiences around the world, less than ten percent of the people raise their hands.

That’s awful. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. You need it to get better.

And you need feedback that’s both candid and helpful. So, if you’re not getting that at work, what should you do? Here are some ideas.

Talk to your boss. Tell him or her what you want. Explain why. They’re not likely to suddenly start giving you feedback if you don’t ask.

Talk to your peers. One of the best sources of advice and feedback at work is your peers. They know you and they know the work. Perhaps you can create a “Mutual Feedback Society” pledged to provide candid advice without meanness.

Talk to your mentor(s). If you don’t have a mentor, it’s time to find at least one. We’re developing Momentor to make that easier for you.

You can give yourself feedback, too. Develop a simple system of critiquing your own performance and behavior.

Be clear about what you intend to do. Be honest about what you did and how things turned out.

Beware of our common human tendency to rate ourselves according to intent, not results. Rate yourself as if you’re someone else.

Then, do something about what you learn. Figure out what you need to improve. Develop a plan to improve it.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions and it’s up to you to make sure that you’re getting the feedback you need to succeed.

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 handling off-the-wall interview questions, positive stereotypes, dumb advice questions, becoming indispensable, and getting your resume noticed.

From the Washington Post: How to Field an Interview Curveball

“As executive director of the Washington Improv Theater, Chalfant uses interview tactics that work in his artistic milieu. But investment banks, biotech firms, media companies and start-ups also are throwing out strange and offbeat job interview questions as they consider which MBA or project manager to hire. ”

Wally’s Comment: Sometimes I think there’s a sort of “arms race” going on in the recruiting/job hunting world. Recruiters come up with new ways to learn about applicants who learn how to game the system so recruiters have to come with new ways …

From Carmen Van Kerckhove at Race in the Workplace: How positive racial stereotypes can harm your career

“People of your racial or ethnic group are stereotyped as good employees with a solid work ethic. That should bode well for your career, right? Not necessarily. Even so-called “positive” racial stereotypes could spell trouble for you in the workplace.”

Wally’s Comment: Even positive stereotypes can hurt you. Carmen tells you why.

From the Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk: Three bad career questions people ask me all the time

“I’d like to tell you that there are no bad questions. But you know what? That’s not true. So here are the ways people ask me questions that drive me nuts.”

Wally’s Comment: Anyone who gets asked for advice frequently will recognize these questions. Penelope does a super job of pointing out why they’re dumb so you can avoid asking them.

From Dan Schwabel at Personal Branding: The Nirvana of Personal Branding is to Become Indispensable

“That’s right, if you become indispensable, you will not be subject to a firing or replacement. This is the most challenging personal branding goal. It’s lofty but wouldn’t you like to have that much job security and negotiating power? How would you feel if you could ask for any salary or benefits, as well as pick your company or start your own company, with customers or employers lined up at your door?”

Wally’s Comment: This post seems like an expanded version of some of my favorite career advice. It’s from Steve Martin: “Be so good that they have to ask you back.

From Career News: Tips for Getting your Resume Noticed

Wally’s Comment: No fluff, just good advice you can use as a checklist.

From my perspective, one of the striking things about today’s job market, compared to when I was starting out, is the role and importance of internships. This came home to me last weekend during a lazy discussion of careers.

Four of us were involved. There was me, age 62. There was a man of about 50, a woman in her thirties and a college student.

For the college student, internships are a natural part of the way you learn and wind up in a job or career that’s right for you. He had one in high school and in each of his college summers.

When the woman went through school, there were lots of people doing internships, but you still stood out if you did one. She went to work at a television station during college and discovered that she loved the business. Today she’s a producer with a cable network.

The 50-year-old didn’t really have an internship, per se. He got a job at a local TV station, while he worked on his degree in journalism. He thought it would give him good experience. When he graduated, the station hired him.

When I was going through school, I doubt that many people beyond those going into medicine knew what an internship was. I certainly didn’t.

One reason why internships have become so popular is that they work for everyone. The intern gets the opportunity to try out different settings and see work up close that they can’t experience any other way. The internship can be an “employment audition,” too.

And employers like internships. They get some work done, but more importantly they get to look at people up close that they may, or may not, want to hire one day.

Internships have become so common that the challenge today is different than in was even ten or fifteen years ago. Today, you’ll have a lot of internship opportunities to choose from, but you’ll also have competition for the good ones.

So start grabbing internship experience early. And, every year lay out a strategy to get the internship you want.

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 feedback, interviewing, creating the life you want to live, GTD abuse, and how your workplace can change during hard economic times.

From Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace: “How’m I Doin’?”: More Feedback, Relationships, and Success

“Let’s get something out in the open: I don’t like the word feedback. It’s a buzzword. Once a word falls into that category it loses its power and effectiveness. It becomes a cliche. Like buzzword. I’ve got some suggestions today for finding out how you are doing with people in relation to your mutual goals. The latent professor in me feels the need to first provide some context for the whole feedback thing.”

Wally’s Comment: A great post on feedback which is, after all, the Breakfast of Champions.

From Rowan Manahan at Fortify Your Oasis: When the interview ends

“The interview process does not finish (for you or for them) at the concluding handshake. They will be doing the ‘talking-about-you-behind-your-back’ thing for some time after you leave and you should also use the time immediately after the interview to your advantage. Almost everyone, even the poorest of candidates, operates a countdown schedule coming up to the interview. You should learn to continue that schedule in the aftermath.”

Wally’s Comment: Interviewers of all kinds know this. But if you’re interviewing for a job, this may be new to you since most how-to-get-a-job materials don’t cover it.

From David Bohl at Pick the Brain: Using Creativity to Carve Out Your Niche in Life

“Creativity can be the act of bringing something new into this world. Or it can be the uniqueness of each person that sets them apart from others. In the first instance, you may be creating something with your hands like painting a picture, or with your mind like writing a book. Even though in this case to create is to bring forth, you can’t help but stamp all your creations with your uniqueness. Your picture won’t be like anyone else’s and neither will your book.”

Wally’s Comment: Here’s a good how-to post about taking a look at your life and making it truly your own.

From Christina Laun at Bootstrapper: When GTD Goes Too Far: How to Avoid Productivity Paranoia

“Anyone interested in improving their productivity has no doubt heard about the Getting Things Done philosophy. Created by David Allen, this workflow program advocates a five step process to getting your daily to-dos under control. For many, it’s helped them turn their chaotic and unproductive work hours around and get their careers and jobs under control. But for others, productivity management has taken over their lives and their well being. If you feel yourself slipping into this kind of productivity paranoia, it’s not too late to salvage your sanity and your productivity. Here are some tips for getting your obsession under control.”

Wally’s Comment: GTD (Getting Things Done) is a wonderfully simple system that can make you more productive and make your life easier. But even good things are subject to abuse.

From Lindsay Blakley at BNET: Five Signs That You Have a Crummy Job

“Below are five telltale signs that recession is putting your organization in a chokehold, and possibly making your job unbearable. If they sound familiar, don’t worry: Once you’ve identified the situation, read the rest of our feature package for helpful insights on how to cope — and how to look at an economic slump as a time to seize opportunities and grow. ”

Wally’s Comment: This is a simply wonderful article about what can happen in your workplace. Like that popular (and factually wrong) illustration about the boiled frog, you may not notice important changes because they’re gradual. Unless you read this article, that is.

How many people are in your company? How many are just like you?

No matter how big the number is when you answer that first question, the answer to the second one is always the same. Zero. The answer would be the same if asked you how many people in the world are like you.

You’re unique. Your life and career will be unique. The big question for you is, “How can I create the life and career that are perfect for me?”

Don’t expect much help from your HR department. Most HR departments are “one size fits all.” Some are little more flexible. They’re “two sizes fit all.” One size includes “high potentials.” The other is for everyone else.

The good news is that some companies are starting to recognize that “one size fits all” career development is a bad idea. A few of them were covered in a recent Human Resource Executive Online article titled: “Flight of the High Performers.”

Don’t let the title fool you. The core of this article is about companies who are finding ways to let everybody take charge of some of their own career development.

At Dow Chemical, a program called My Profile allows all employees to share their experiences and aspirations with the company. At Wachovia, a program called hGrid gives IT employees a way to connect with interesting projects. At Hewlett Packard, a program called “People Promise” is designed to help individuals find options for their career development.

This is good news if you work one of these companies. If you don’t, you’re still stuck with “one size fits all” career development, unless you do something about it.

In most companies’ the “one size” is for people who want to move up in management. If that’s not you, check out the different Career Paths we’ve identified so you can start customizing your own path.

Even if you do work at a progressive company with more than one career option, you may not work there forever. In the end, the life and career you have are your responsibility.

At Momentor, we’re building a site where you can find the resources and mentors you need to make sure you live the life and career that’s perfect for you and you alone.

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 matching your personality to your career, resignation letters that won’t come back to haunt you, resumes falling into the black hole of cyberspace, how to deal with a counteroffer from your current employer, and advice from corporate recruiters.

From Employment Digest: Best Jobs For You – How to Match Your Personality to Your Career

“Why is it that one man or woman’s job search produces a dream career while another’s turns out to be a nightmare? The often overlooked reason is personality mismatches with the chosen career.”

Wally’s Comment: This post helps you look at career choice through the lens of personality.

From Kris Dunn, the HR Capitalist: I Quit!! Resignation Letters Gone Bad….

“Ah yes, the resignation letter. Properly crafted, an act of thankfulness, dignity and perhaps most importantly – full of language that doesn’t cause the proverbial “bridge” to combust into flames.

Wally’s Comment: When it’s time to go, go gracefully. It might feel good to do otherwise, but it’s usually a bad idea.

From Rusty Weston at My Global Career: How Résumés Find Black Holes

“What do job seekers and astronomers have in common? Dumping your résumé into a corporate receptacle is like plunging into a black hole in cyberspace. Okay, not always, but often enough to be a problem.

Wally’s Comment: You don’t want your resume to get lost, right?

From Forbes: Receive a Job Counter-Offer? Don’t Take It

“In my 25 years of experience, I have learned that accepting a counter-offer is usually career suicide. Watching your boss scramble to keep you may be a heady experience, but in exchange for that sweet moment, you’ll have squandered your honor, a sacrifice that will haunt you for many years. Even more troubling, you may never know exactly when or to what extent your reputation has been sullied. ”

Wally’s Comment: Accepting a counteroffer from your current employer seems like it might be a good idea, especially if the counter offer is really big. But beware. This is one of those situations that almost never turns out well.

From Career News: Recruiters Advice to Job Candidates

“We asked our Corporate Recruiters: What’s the most important advice you would give a Job candidate to gain the edge above the competition and get that interview?

Wally’s Comment: Here it is, folks, career advice from some of the very people you want advice from.

Last week, the Charlotte News and Observer reported on an Urban Institute evaluation of North Carolina teachers who were part of the Teach for America (TFA) program. TFA is a national teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach and to effect change in under-resourced urban and rural public schools across America.

The News and Observer story, “A ripple across America’s classrooms,” reported that students in classrooms with TFA teachers “performed better on math and science end-of-course tests than did students in other classrooms.” Among several factors that drive this success was TFA’s mentoring program.

“The summer before they enter their first classroom, corps members undergo intensive training and then are followed closely with observations and meetings with their program directors and fellow teachers for the duration of their two-year commitment. By contrast, most novice teachers coming from a traditional teacher-education program are at the mercy of whatever mentoring programs their school districts offer, which can range in quality from excellent to absent.”

That sounds like strong proof that mentoring can help you succeed even a tough environment like a classroom in a poor district. It was supported by an Arizona Republic article titled “Mentoring program helps new teachers defy odds,” that looked at teacher mentoring through the eyes of a single teacher. Here’s a quote from that story.

“Had it not been for a mentoring program, Mia De La Rosa might not have survived. The Sevilla West School teacher defied the odds by remaining in the classroom for at least three years. Nearly one-third of new teachers quit across the country during their first three to five years on the job. Many blame poor working conditions, according to the National Education Association.”

In education or any other field, mentoring can help you succeed. Whether you define success as overall achievement of objectives, or through the success of an individual teacher, it’s clear that mentoring works.

That’s why you need to find mentors to help you. That’s what Momentor is about. We’re building a site where you can find mentors and other resources to help you no matter what field you’re in, what Career Path you choose, or what Career Stage you’re at.