It’s the season for job fairs. These are mechanisms for companies and candidates to screen each other and for both sides to get a feel for the market. They are an interesting combination of informational interview, actual interviews and networking. The skill is identifying which is which and applying the correct strategy. Today, there is discussion about how useful they are…

At a dinner party last week I was asked by a yummy mummy, what field should she encourage her daughter to go into and what academic choices would I advise she make? The kid is 8.  Now my first instinctive reaction was that this was more than a little over the top. I wondered if I had encountered a good dose of PMS (Pushy Mother Syndrome)…

Never let schooling get in the way of your education – Mark Twain Hard and technical skills we are told become outdated as fast as we obtain them, making a commitment to lifelong learning even more important than ever. Content learned in the first year of an engineering degree is said to be out of date before the end…

  We are seeing increasing moves from employers to control the activities of ex-employees. This can mean zero contact with the market sector in general, especially with competitors, network connections or even ex colleagues. It could include punitive and restrictive non competition clauses lasting as long as two years, or asking for LinkedIn connections to be deleted from the employee’s LinkedIn account. I…

One of the most curious and confusing trends in recent times is the business dressing down culture. A fad from California and dot.com start ups in the 90s, it has spread with  the viral persistency of fast food outlets to other geographies. We started with casual Fridays, an employer’s way of showing the caring and human sides of their corporate natures.  In many organisations this has evolved now into…

The growing beard and designer stubble trend There is no doubt facial hair is on trend in my part of the world at least. A quick look around my MBA classroom, TV shows and a recent series of interviews, was a clear testament that designer stubble and beards of various shapes, sizes and design are adorning an increasing number of male faces. From David Beckham, to…

Generational diversity in any organisation encourages a broader range of talent, but it can often mean conflicting ideas and judgements impacted by unconscious bias based on generational stereotyping. Identifying and appreciating generational differences can transform the selection process from one of miscommunication to building up an effective age-diverse and productive team. Mind the gap One of the greatest challenges for let’s say more mature candidates, is when they are…

Executive Presence Rules are confusing! No kidding! We’ve read a lot recently about executive presence and the hype associated with those indefinable characteristics  style, substance and character or charisma, communication and appearance.  A veritable industry has been spawned to define and navigate this amorphous concept which apparently is perceived to contribute by 26% to successful career progression. So is there…

Even though my kids left school years ago, I’ve always been impacted by the back to school vibe. Just like in school, it’s a great opportunity to use this symbolic period to take some refresher classes.  I decided I needed to go back to school and focus on some time management tips. Why? My goal is to work smarter not longer. Click…

interview (n.) 1510s, “face-to-face meeting, formal conference,” from Middle French entrevue, verbal noun from s’entrevoir “to see each other, visit each other briefly, have a glimpse of,” from entre- “between” (see inter-) + Old French voir “to see” (from Latin videre;). After six years of deep recession and demand driven hiring processes, interviews have been…