The (unintentionally hilarious) human condition

Those of us who work with people in the employment sphere like our work for a number of reasons.

On the altruistic side, we can help people achieve higher levels of self-actualization. Simultaneously, we can help companies grow by improving their talent population.

We have also learned a very challenging lesson: people are the only product which can talk itself out of the sale.

If you deal with people and employment for any length of time, you have some delightful "horror" stories to share with other recruiting or human resources professionals. Like the 20 email string where a candidate maintains they have the degree from a fictitious university.

Sorry, saving that for the memoirs.

Well, here is a delightful compendium of people at their simultaneous best and worst. Enjoy!

Empathic networking

Marty Nemko (http://www.martynemko.com) is a successful career counselor and radio host here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Marty does a one hour radio show at 11 AM Sundays on KALW 91.7 FM. It is also downloadable from iTunes as a podcast.

Marty has great advice and a great perspective.

This little gem on successful, empathic networking rings true. Suggest you follow the principles here and listen carefully to form a lasting connection.

And now the legal stuff: © Copyright, Marty Nemko, 2004-2009 (martynemko.com) All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

How to advance your career without sucking up

It never hurts to maintain positive work relationships. Especially in challenging times. Particularly with your manager.

No doubt you've read "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." Well, now it's time to cultivate the top ten habits bosses love.

Once again, the most simple, obvious things are the behaviors we sometimes forget. It's really pretty easy, straight forward stuff:

1. Communicate frequently
2. Collaborate always
3. Acknowledge statements
4. Build relationships
5. Understand place
6. Learn peeves
7. Anticipate needs
8. Think upwards
9. Open yourself
10.Stay engaged

It's the little things that count

Sometimes small things can be big problems. A clever email address can be sending unintended (and unprofessional) signals.

You can't swing a hot resume without hitting a free email box today. Please use one professionally.

In addition to the "tech savvy" comments in this piece, I confess to a personal pet peeve: aol.com email addresses.

The Commodore 64 days are gone and they aren't coming back.

Retained vs. contingent search

There are two basic types of search firms: retained and contingent.

This nifty little piece gets most of the differences right. As a search professional with 20 years of retained work, there are some minor quibbles.

But for the novice, this is a valuable comparison and contrast to the two styles.

Does this make sense? Are these distinctions without differences?

What NOT to say in an interview

Sometimes essential wisdom comes in a deceptively simple format. Loved this post on Yahoo Hotjobs.

The format is as important as the content. Please skip, umm the uhhhh filler, y'know. And like avoid the totally bogus jargon which can like mess up the whole positive impressionista thing.

If you want to be perceived as a mission critical, best in class professional who has pushed the envelope with all the right stuff ... skip the buzzwords.

Totally.

A funny thing happened on the way to LinkedIn ...

Found this comic insightful ... something about recommendations in the real vs. the virtual worlds. Check it out.

What do you think? Had an experience like this?

What's your worst networking experience?