Archive for October, 2008

Archives for Education

Though we hear media reports about casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan there is no spotlight shining on the thousands of U.S. soldiers who are unable to return to the jobs and careers that they had before the war.  Even less well understood are the steps that government and corporations are taking to help retrain or prepare these brave men and women for the next phases of their professional lives.

Even as the injured veterans undergo treatment or therapy, the Walter Reed Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO) offers classes to help prepare them for careers in information technology (IT) and tech support.  As a part of the Assistive Technology Training Program (ATTP), educators guide participants to develop the knowledge and skills they need to become Microsoft and Network + certified technicians or even engineers.

Early on, the program was a huge success with a number of men and women passing their first level of certification and, more importantly, gaining needed confidence to excel in a new career.  However, many in the program were discharged from the hospital before they were able to complete the program. They were unable to learn the full set of skills necessary to pass certification exams.

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Archives for Employment

You show up for a job interview at a company you care about. But the interviewer is ill-prepared, ill-mannered or clueless.

Do you take the job anyway if it is offered to you?

I would take a job if I liked the position, the upside and the company. That is, assuming that the interviewer I disliked isn’t going to be my boss or his boss.  But that puts me in the minority. Two-thirds of respondents to a survey of 6,000 staffing directors, hiring managers and job seekers, conducted by Development Dimensions International, a consulting firm, and Monster Worldwide, say they wouldn’t take the job. They would sooner walk away.

Would you say that these job seekers sound a bit brittle? If you’re called in for four or five or six interviews, aren’t you bound to dislike one or two of them? Unless you’re interviewing for a senior position, expect that one or two interviewers will go through the motions or be distracted by a pressing appointment.

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Archives for Education

Have you ever visited a poorly translated foreign website and wondered why the company hasn’t bothered to get it right? Building a “culturally-customized” website is not an action item for most businesses, except for those seeking an edge in global commerce.

Effective global websites require much more effort than simply translating content: from rewriting marketing pitches to reflect different cultural values; to reconceptualizing website design and colors; to getting small details right, such as formatting or currency, explains Prof. Nitish Singh, California State University, Chico, author of a pioneering book on this topic.

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Archives for Job Boards

Do you work in a predominantly Christian workplace? Increasingly, Christian job boards are making this mission, as some put it, a reality.

My take on the job boards that match “followers” with “Christian employers” is that a Christian workplace is at least partially about excluding non-believers who may undermine their value system.

This statement on Christian Staffing’s website summarizes the mindset: “Have you dealt with staff problems including stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc? We did, and so we have decided to try to hire people we knew had a good reputation … and more specifically followers of Jesus Christ.”

In a pitch to Christian recruiters and employers, Bill Clark, Director of Sales & Business Development for ChristianJobs.com, writes on About.com that there are 200,000 job seekers on their site each month. “These folks are in need and we believe that it is our responsibility as members of the body of Christ to help them in every way possible,” writes Clark. “As such, we invite you to visit our site and see if you can embrace our mission … expressing your faith by posting your positions ….”

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