Career Center | Q&A: Boss pressures workers to buy products

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: The head of our department has been pressuring employees to purchase products from her husband, who recently began selling diet supplements through a multilevel marketing company. When I was invited to

Career Center | Q&A: Discovery of tryst makes office enemy

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: About a year ago, I accidentally walked in on the CEO’s secretary in a compromising position with one of the vice presidents. From then on, this secretary did everything possible to

Career Center | Q&A: Office romance sparks gossip, hurt feelings

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: Two of my co-workers, “Jake” and “Cheryl,” sit next to each other and spend a lot of time whispering and giggling. They often leave the office together and are sometimes gone

Career Center Blog | Is all fair in love, war and job hunting?

While many experts can advise people about the best ways to write a resume or interview more effectively, there's one career-related topic that you and only you will be able to address: your personal career morality. For better or worse,

Career Center Blog | For every job interview rule, there are exceptions

Has someone spiked the water cooler? Perhaps it's this summer's unseasonably hot weather. Or maybe the Mayans were really correct about 2012 being the end of time. Whatever the reason, a few recent stories in the news appear to be

Career Center | Fake wedding ring at job interview a bad idea

By Karla L. Miller / Special to The Washington Post Q: I was thinking about wearing a wedding ring to my next job interview in order to appear less as a loser and more as a connected adult who can

Career Center | Job seeker fears planned vacation will hurt candidacy

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Q: I hope to be offered a job soon. The problem is the week training would start, I am supposed to go to Mexico with my family, maybe one of the last family vacations

Career Center Blog | Do you really know what your references are saying?

It's one of the basics of job search: You have your killer resume, a multitude of networking contacts and a rock-solid list of three to five references to help back up your past performance. But do you really know what

Career Center Blog | Erasing unsightly blemishes from your resume

In most cases, the more experience you have on a resume, the better it looks to hiring managers. But are all experiences created equal? Not always. Have you had several jobs that only lasted a few months? Were you ever

Career Center Blog | Secretly videotaping your co-workers with your smartphone

There's sure to be lots of talk of scary supervisors and creepy co-workers this week. But you know what's really scary? The person at work who secretly uses their smartphone to record unflattering, embarrassing, or compromising videos of their

Career Center Blog | Quitting the job you just started for a better one

A Seattle area reader I'll call "Mark" recently wrote me about a sticky employment situation he found himself in: "I have been doing consistent contract work with one employer for several years. I just signed the paperwork for a new

Career Center Blog | When the boss cries in front of you

Crying at work is back in the news. This time, it's because Dick Cheney suggests in his new memoir that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a bit of an on-the-job sobber. Much can be said about how those

Career Center | Sharing salary history is standard practice

Q: Conventional wisdom seems to be that sharing your salary history with the recruiter -- as opposed to the prospective employer -- will not result in a lower offer. However, it then follows that once the recruiter has determined your

Career Center Blog | Online do-overs: Do we need a law to erase our internet mistakes?

Unless you've been living under a rock the past few years you're probably well aware that any improprieties you make online can come back to haunt you professionally. One suggestive tweet or drunken YouTube video can be all it

Career Center Blog | Anti-fraud policies: Why your business needs one

On career websites like this one, Independence Day often conjures up talk of starting one's own business. In fact, my esteemed colleague Randy Woods wrote an excellent post on the topic yesterday. [Flickr photo by timlewisnm] For many new

Career Center Blog | Are women who take their spouse's name judged unfairly at work?

I recently got married with the least amount of fanfare possible. No engagement announcement. No ring. No dress. No floral arrangements, seating charts, Jordan almonds, bridesmaids, or high-priced photographer (the picture at the left is not of me). Just

Career Center Blog | For some job seekers, every day is Earth Day

Happy Earth Day -- do you know where your employer stands on environmental sustainability? In a survey released earlier this month by carpet maker Interface Inc., a majority of respondents said they sure hoped they knew where their company

Career Center Blog | Is revenge against a bad boss ever acceptable?

Depends on how you avenge yourself, say researchers from UC Berkeley's Hass School of Business and UC Santa Barbara. In a study recently published in the journal Industrial Relations, respondents said that getting back at a resented boss is "more

Career Center Blog | In defense of March Madness office pools

It never fails. Once the flowers start blooming, my inbox bubbles with press releases warning against the evils of participating in March Madness office betting pools. Please. That's about as effective as telling employees not to swipe the occasional pen

Career Center Blog | Employee awards: Yea or nay?

With Hollywood's awards season officially in full swing, I thought it would be fun to discuss on-the-job awards for the rest of us working stiffs. Using Facebook and LinkedIn, I conducted an informal, unscientific poll on what rank-and-file employees and managers

Career Center Blog | Who wants to be a white collar criminal?

Apparently enough people to prompt Wake Forest University's Schools of Business to host a panel called "Finding the Way Back: Impacts of White Collar Crime" last week. Designed to warn students against the temptations of corporate theft, the panel featured