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 bad career advice, keeping track of your accomplishments, desperation, loving what you do, and the costs and cures of depression.

From Alison Green at US News: 5 Pieces of Bad Career Advice

“I’m sometimes unnerved by some of the career advice that gets repeated over and over in job-hunting guides and career columns. Here are five particularly bad pieces of advice that I cringe every time I see.”

Wally’s Comment: There’s a lot of career “advice” out there that makes me yell at my screen. Alison Green feels the same way but she wrote about it first and better. Read this post as a vaccination against common, but bad advice.

From Career News: Note your Achievements - Advance Your Career

“As you network and cultivate relationships with peers, supervisors, mentors and employer prospects on your path to career growth, it’s important to tactfully highlight your achievements.”

Wally’s Comment: You can’t expect people to know your accomplishments unless you remind them. You can’t remind people of your accomplishments if you don’t remember them yourself.

From Deb Owen at 8 Hours and a Lunch: looking for a job? desperation is still a turn-off

“you may have heard recently about the guy in new york who stood on the street in his suit handing out resumes to anyone who would walk by. but that’s not all he did. he also wore a sandwich sign asking people to hire him. now, while i applaud his creativity, there is a problem there. see? the sandwich sign hearkens back to images of the depression. it sends a signal of….you said it….desperation. ”

Wally’s Comment: If the search has been long and fruitless, read this post. Remember the gambler’s adage: “desperate money never wins.”

From Lindsey Pollak: Why I do what I do: a post about Dave Brubeck

“People often ask me why I write career advice, why I want to help people — especially young people — find happiness in their careers. This weekend I found the best way to explain it.”

Wally’s Comment: Passion and loving what you do are career power. What better example than Dave Brubeck? I suspect that if you asked Dave when he intended to retire, he’d respond, “Retire from what?”

From Ken Nowack at Results vs. Activities: Down on Being Down

“Emotions do indeed play a role in productivity, morale and customer service. Any guess what medical condition or health risk is the most costly to employers? If you guessed stress, smoking, obesity, inactivity or diabetes you are way off the mark. In fact, the most costly is depression and can affect 20% of any of us during our lifetime1.

Wally’s Comment: Here’s some hard data on depression. Ken’s post also includes the good news that depression is a treatable condition. There’s info on how to spot it in yourself, a loved one or a co-worker and advice on what works.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 7:32 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.