This is the story of Sergei and Tony. Both of them served in World War II. When they came home, they chose their life’s work in the same way.

They looked at projections of what the “best jobs” would be in the years ahead. My guess is that the lists they looked at resembled the one at “Hottest Careers for College Grads” or the one at “Top Ten Careers.”

Both of them were successful. They both retired financially secure and after receiving honors from their companies and their industries. But that’s where the resemblance stops.

Sergei is the essence of a “grumpy old man.” He wasn’t always grumpy, though. His wife thinks the job did it to him. I agree.

When you talk with Sergei, he never mentions his work. Not ever. He doesn’t socialize with people he used to work with.

Tony is the polar opposite. He laughs a lot and spends time with old work friends. He tells stories about work.

It’s not that Tony is living in the past. He volunteers with the SBA’s SCORE program to help small business. And he’s set himself the goal of playing the best golf courses in fifty countries. Did I mention that he loves golf and loves to travel?

Being “successful” is not enough for most people. Most of us want to do work that is important and rewarding with people we like. Tony had a career like that. Sergei didn’t.

I’m guessing that you want to wind up more like Tony and less like Sergei. If you do, use those “best careers” lists as starting points for research.

Find out what kind of daily work the people in different careers do. Use part-time jobs and internships to check out interesting career options.

Look for work where you can make enough money doing something you love. That’s the recipe for both a great career and a satisfying life.

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 interview deception, youngsters versus oldsters in the job market, a little help from strangers, researching employers, and the MBA in a downturn.

From Coup d’Oeil: Job Interview Presentation: Sprucing Up or Deception?
“It just got me to thinking, and wondering if Leanne is (a) being dishonest with her prospective employer, albeit in a seemingly benign way, or (b) creative, original, and smart. I’m sure the interviewer would be able to size up pretty quickly whether she’s an airhead or the real deal, but my jury is still out on whether or not the action is duplicitous. I’m choosing to ignore the perception of the two women engaged in the conversation (at least the one making the comment) because it’s possible she just doesn’t get what’s going on. Besides, the general question is more intriguing. The “lie” is obvious — she’s potentially making the attempt at making herself appear more intelligent than she is — not to mention the fact that she doesn’t really wear glasses. What’s original and smart about it may not be readily apparent.”

Wally’s Comment: When is it deception and when is it creative? Here are some twists and turns.

From Kris Dunn writing at Fistful of Talent: Who Ya Got in this Death Match? New College Grad VS The Experienced, Degreed Worker
“The latest from Workforce Recruiting underscores a talent morality play occurring in an interview process near you.  It’s the new college grad VS the experienced, degreed worker.  They both need the job you have – as they say in betting circles, who ya got?”

Wally’s Comment: Kris Dunn shares his advice as a recruiter for both young and old. Even if you’re in the middle, it’s a good read, too.

From the Wall Street Journal: Strangers Lend a Hand to Job Seekers
“Alarmed by the nation’s rising unemployment rate, many working Americans are going out of their way to help their laid-off counterparts — often complete strangers — secure new positions. They’re sharing job leads, leveraging their networks and making referrals and often putting their own reputations on the line.”

Wally’s Comment: One thing I remember from my parents’ stories of the Depression was how everyone helped each other. This seems similar, only set in the present.

For a bonus, read Nina Simosko’s post on “Paying it Forward.”

From MainStreet: Find the Best Employer
“It’s high time that job seekers have some leverage. After all, we have questions, too. So if you’re hip-deep in a job hunt, look past the job responsibilities, the perks and the pay, and take a long look at the company itself. How much money does it make? How fast do they lay off employees? Any government contracts? (It’s a big plus in this day and age.) How does it treat its employees? Have they ever been sued? If so, how many times, for what reasons, and by whom? Is the company privately funded? By who? Knowing the answers to these questions before you accept a job offer can mean the difference between the corporate fast track and career-induced chaos. Here’s where to start:”

Wally’s Comment: Due diligence is important. Here’s how.

From the Miami Herald: MBA’s appeal grows in a shrinking economy
“Add this number to the many fact and figures being bandied about during this recession: 246,957, the record-high number of GMAT exams administered to aspiring MBA candidates last year. So far this year, numbers of test-takers show the volume looks to be even greater.”

Wally’s Comment: To get an MBA or not? That is the question. And lots of people seem to think the answer is “Yes.”

“I didn’t even realize it was Ellen,” Beth said, “she was crying so hard.”

There are good ways and bad ways to handle layoffs. Ellen’s was especially brutal.

She had joined the company after college, done well, and risen to a high middle manager position. She was in financial services, so she knew that everyone was at risk, but she wasn’t prepared for what happened to her.

Ellen’s manager came to her office and asked her to go with him. There was someone the manager wanted her to meet.

They walked to another part of the building. Her manager opened the door to a private office. Then he said, “Ellen, this is Tom. Tom this is Ellen, she’s been a productive part of our team.” Then her manager disappeared.

Lots of people have heard a version of that speech these last few months. I call it the “Handoff to the Executioner.” The executioner in this case was a hired gun consultant from an outplacement firm.

An hour later, Ellen was in the parking lot, loading a box of her personal possessions into the car, re-reading the “I’ll never sue” waiver she signed, and reaching for her cell phone. She called her friend, Beth.

What do you say when you get a call like that?  First, listen. Prompt the person to tell the story. This is not the time for advice or empty reassurance.

When someone has just lost their job, they don’t need advice. They need to know that someone cares. If they called you, it was probably because they thought you would.

If you’re going to respond, demonstrate that you’re willing to be part of the solution. Beth told Ellen that she’d help “work out a plan for what to do next.”

When they get together, Beth can make suggestions about what to do. Then it will be time to help Ellen be realistic. Then it will be time to urge Ellen to keep moving, taking positive action steps every day.

If a friend who’s just lost their job calls you, listen first. The time for “what to do” suggestions can come later.

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 online search firms, social media and your career, time management and social media, taking charge, and negotiating for salary.

From the Newark Star-Ledger: Online search firms thrive
“As the recession worsens and the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits increases — it topped 5.1 million last month — companies that help find jobs are increasingly in demand.”

Wally’s Comment: You’d expect this, but the article covers some firms you may not be aware of.

From Art Petty at Management Excellence: Mind Your Knowledge Gap: Why Social Media is Essential to Your Career
“This is a wake-up call to my mid to late 30 to 40 something (and older) contemporaries.  It’s time to figure out what all the noise is about social media and how to leverage it for yourself, your career and your organization.”

Wally’s Comment: If you’re thirty-five or less, you probably won’t find anything new here. But if you’re much older than that, this piece is a must-read.

From David Allen at Business Week: Time Management in the Age of Social Media
“The most obvious issue about social media: Is this a useful way to spend your time, or is it a sinkhole of attractive distraction?”

Wally’s Comment: After you take Art’s advice and start using social media, you will almost certainly find that it changes your time management and workflow challenges. GTD guru David Allen offers some ideas on how to handle the load.

From Miriam Salpeter at What would Dad say: Are You Driving Your Own Career Bus?
“How much happier would we be if we stopped trying to change the things that we cannot alter and instead focused on what we do control – our responses?”

Wally’s Comment: This is a world where there’s a lot you can’t control. Don’t obsess about it. Take control of what you can and get moving.

From Working Girl: What’s your bottom line?
“You’ve sent countless resumes, spoken with too many recruiters and have had your fair share of interviews. Now you have a job offer, but do you know what you’re worth and do you have a “bottom line”? You need to know both, what you are worth in the current job market (please see my post Are you paid what you’re worth?) as well as your “bottom line” (defined as the lowest salary, benefits and other perks at which you would accept an offer and not feel as if you are under selling yourself). Today’s post will cover some tools you can use to help evaluate a job offer.”

Wally’s Comment: For many people, the toughest part of the job search is the salary negotiation.

The economy is down. Layoffs have decimated the workforce. If you’re one of those out of work or worried if you’ll have work at this time next week, it’s natural to consider a career change.

When the Great Depression hit, my grandfather’s business failed, along with many others. His career change was going to work for the railroad, running the dining car on trains to and from Florida.

Today, the Associated Press tells us that teaching is the most popular new career. Government work of all kinds starts to look good when the economy turns down. It looks steady, secure, and safe. It comes complete with benefits.

This is also the time of the “necessity entrepreneur.”  Those people start a business to keep the cash coming in after getting laid off.

This is also the time when “find a great job” schemes and scams surge. They promise big money and good jobs.

It will be easy. It’s a sure thing. Usually the folks who make those promises also are the folks who are going to sell you something to make them come true.

Here’s an example. A news release trumpets: “Recent Study Demonstrates The Fastest Way to a New Career is Likely in the Field of Real Estate.”

Sounds good, eh? But there’s no research in the news release to support the claim. There’s just a link to the site of the company who issued the release.

That’s where you’ll find a comparison chart of carefully chosen examples. You’ll also find the following statement. “A Great High-Paying Job – You’re practically guaranteed to get a job where you can earn $50,000 in the first year.”

The key word here is “can.” When you see that word in any claim about income from a job, you can usually be sure of two things.

You can be sure that the job involves commission selling. And you can be sure that the figure quoted is the best that anyone has done in living memory.

I don’t have anything against a real estate career. I’ve suggested to coaching clients who have sales skills, self-discipline, and the ability to master detail that getting into real estate now is a good long term strategy.

But it’s not likely to be a short term solution to cash flow problems. The real estate market is down, way down. Here’s a quote from the Charlotte Observer.

“Allen Tate, the Carolinas leading real estate firm, is closing one-fourth of its offices amid a wrenching housing slump that saw area sales and prices fall hard again last month.”

Tough times can be the spur to a career change that makes your life rich and rewarding. But they also bring lots of promises from people who want to sell you a magic solution.

Be skeptical. Do your due diligence before you invest in a “magical” career change.

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 branding yourself online, tips for college seniors, preparing your resume, following-up, and talkative interviewers.

From HRM Today: 50+ Tips to Brand Yourself Online
“Once you’ve designed your personal brand and have a personal brand name, use this handy list of suggestions to implement your personal branding strategy.”

Wally’s Comment: Social media are today’s hot topic and HRM today gives you some ideas about how to use them to build your personal brand.

From CollegeRecruiter.com: 10 Tips for Job Hunting College Seniors
“John Buettner of Stevenson University, was quoted in an Examiner.com article about how college seniors can land a job in a down economy. John provided 10 great tips for the article. I’ve taken those tips and adapted some of them to better suit the needs of the students and recent graduates who use CollegeRecruiter.com to help them find a great internship or entry-level job.”

Wally’s Comment: From tip number one, “Get real,” all the way to the end this is a good read for you if you’re a college senior thinking about entering the job market. It’s a good read for the rest of us, too.

From Alison Green at US News and World Report: Objectives: Leave Them Off Your Resume
“I’ve never seen an objective that made me more interested in hiring a candidate, and I’ve seen plenty that actually hurt a candidate’s chances. At best they’re neutral, so why risk it?”

Wally’s Comment: Should you include an objective on your resume? Many advisors think you should. Alison Green thinks it’s a bad idea.

From the Wall Street Journal: Did You Get My Resume?
“Recruiters say the percentage of online applications viewed by an actual human being ranges from 5% to 25%. And while it drives job hunters crazy, there’s a good reason companies use so-called applicant-tracking systems to screen and rank candidates. Even in slow periods, your average coffee-stained corporate headhunter is scrambling to fill 20 positions at a time. Given the ease of applying online, recruiters are flooded with more résumés than they can possibly review.”

Wally’s Comment: The reason so many people feel like they’re sending their resume into an automated black hole is because they are. Here’s a good article that will help you understand the systems that large companies use, so you know what you can and what you can’t do.

From Fortify Your Oasis: Talkative interviewers
“Question: What do I do if I find myself being interviewed by an interviewer who just won’t shut up? I had this situation recently and he kept on talking about how successful the company was what a wonderful place it was to work in, but I couldn’t get a word in edgeways to sell myself and ended up not getting the job. What should I do if I encounter this again?”

Wally’s Comment: “Make the blathering man stop!!!” Sooner or later you’ll get one of those ramblin’ interviewers who will go on and on and on and on. Rowan Manahan suggests some things you can do to escape, short of faking a medical emergency.

The article in CFO is titled: “The Next Stage.” It gets a little bit right and a lot wrong. Here’s the teaser quote.

“Want to ascend to a true leadership role? Be prepared to let go of what you’re good at.”

The part that’s right is that personal growth demands leaving your comfort zone. It demands that you move to positions and try things that you’ve never tried before. It demands that you master new knowledge and new skills.

While that’s all good, it’s not the whole story. Here are some more things to think about.

Leadership isn’t the only career path. Last week I blogged here about “The Boss Trap.” The fact is that leadership is a bad choice for a lot of people. And the fact also is that many people who could be leaders choose something else.

We’ve learned that there isn’t just one way to have a successful career. The path that CFO calls leadership, we call “Manager.” Other career paths are the Specialist, the Entrepreneur, and the Generalist/Project Manager.

Successful career development is about building on your strengths and doing work that you enjoy. And it isn’t one long development cycle in the same place either.

Careers are a series of stages. You will feel like you’ve mastered your work at several points in your career. That will be OK for a while, but then you’ll start seeking something new. When you find it, there will be a period of learning.

Most 21st Century careers are going to be made up of several jobs, and perhaps even several career changes. Most of us will have more than one employer before we’re done, too.

Leadership isn’t the only path to success. You need to select the path that’s best for you. Then plan on having several stops along the way.

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 what to leave off your resume, blogging and your career, job survival tips, getting face time, and thoughts on starting a business.

From US News and World Report: 7 Things to Leave Off Your Resume
“What you omit from your resume can be just as important as what you include. Here are seven things to leave off.”

Wally’s Comment: You might want to follow something of a job seeker’s version of the oath that physicians take: “First, do no harm to yourself.”

From the Evil HR Lady: Blogging and Your Career
“Don’t worry. I have no plans to start posting pictures of my wild parties. However, I started a blog recently. I know that it is common for prospective employers to search the Internet to dig up dirt on job applicants, so I am wary of putting too much personal information, good or bad, on my blog. My concern is that some employers might refuse to hire me because of my political, religious, and ideological views. Is this a valid concern? What suggestions do you have for blogging so that I do not hurt my future career?”

Wally’s Comment: Speaking of things that can do you harm, if you’re a blogger, you should consider how what you say will impress a potential employer. The Evil HR Lady has some good advice.

From the Arizona Republic: Hang on to your job: 10 survival tips
“Here are 10 steps you can take to save your job, your sanity and move ahead.”

Wally’s Comment: It’s not just keeping the job. It’s also staying sane.

From 45 Things: Getting the Attention of the Five-Minute Boss
“While many people think that never seeing the boss might be a good thing, those who have a manager that rivals the Stealth Bomber know differently.”

Wally’s Comment: Remember: it’s easier for the boss to lay off people he or she doesn’t know. Remember: the people most likely to get promoted are the ones the boss remembers positively. Now read this post for how to make sure that you’re on the boss’s radar in a good way.

From the Wall Street Journal: A Toe in the Water
“If you’re anticipating a pink slip and thinking about starting a business, consider this: Many entrepreneurs say they first tested out ideas for new ventures while working full-time jobs, resigning only after becoming confident that their companies were headed toward success.”

Wally’s Comment: When times are tight there are a lot of folks who think, “I’ll just start my own business.” That may be a good idea. But remember that success leaves clues and one thing many entrepreneurs have in common is that they started their business while they still worked for someone else.

Karen is caught in the Boss Trap. Her company promoted her to Team Leader because she was a top performer in her marketing analyst position. But she hates the job and wants to get out.

It could be too late. Too many companies promote people to management based on their performance as something else. Then they don’t allow the promoted person to return to the ranks if they find they don’t like their new job.

That’s the Boss Trap. You can’t do a thing about the way your employer promotes people. But you can figure out in advance if it’s a good thing for you.

The best way to find out if you like being a boss is to be one for a little while. Temporary assignments as the head of a task force are great for this. So is filling in for a boss who’s on vacation or medical leave.

Analyze the particular work that bosses do. Here are some specific things that people responsible for group performance do that others don’t do.

Bosses are responsible for group performance. Your evaluation depends on their work. If you’re not comfortable with that, being a boss may not be right for you.

Bosses are responsible for team members. If you don’t like helping other people succeed, being a boss may not be the right job for you.

Bosses have to confront team members about behavior or performance. If that makes you uncomfortable, being a boss may not be right for you.

Bosses have to make decisions and then live with the results. If you have trouble coming to decisions and then being accountable for them, being a boss may not be right for you.

If being a boss is not the right career choice for you, don’t despair. There are other career paths that you can take. But it’s way easier to seek them out before you’re offered a “promotion” that may not be good for you and catches you in the Boss Trap.