Ask a Manager

A reader writes: As a college senior, I applied to law school and deferred admission to a top-3 law school. (I mention this to help mitigate concerns over the crumbling state of the legal profession.) I was never very interested in law, but I majored in sociology and didn’t know what other grad school I’d […]

Three interesting things — 1. A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research examined the employment and earnings of 1.4 million people who attended for-profit colleges (like University of Phoenix, etc.). They found that on average, people who attend for-profit schools “experience a decline in earnings after attendance, relative to their own earnings […]

Four interesting things (I may make this a standing Friday thing) — 1. I’m quoted in this article about companies that ask employees to pay for business expenses on their personal credit cards and then wait to get reimbursed. 2. This is a very long but very interesting article about what Google learned after poring through […]

Looking for a job? For the next few days, I’m offering a discount on my e-book, How to Get a Job: Secrets of a Hiring Manager. Use this discount code today for a massive 40% discount: newjob If you’ve ever wished that you could look into the brain of a hiring manager to find out what you need […]

Three interesting things that have come across my radar recently — • Someone shared this article in the comments recently — it’s a pretty great look at how social class plays out at work, and specifically about the ways that it can be tough to adjust to white collar environments when you grew up in a blue […]

Three interesting developments related to employment law that you may be interested in, plus one more rant — • The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that obesity that isn’t linked to or caused by an underlying medical condition is not an ADA-protected disability. • Back in July of last year, the EEOC determined that […]

It depends on what you value and how much, what you dislike and how much, and what trade-offs you can be reasonably content with.

A reader writes: How do you choose a career path? I’m a recent grad as of last May, and I currently have a pretty decent job (in terms of pay and benefits) as an admin at a university library. I like my job most days, but a lot of times I feel like it’s not […]

I make a point here of suggesting specific language for people to use in tricky situations — because I think often the language is the biggest sticking point for people. Sometimes you know that you need to deliver Difficult Message A or have Awkward Conversation B, but the hard part is figuring out exactly how […]