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.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 8:00 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.