Career Center | Q&A: Boss's lack of direction has new hire feeling lost

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I was recently hired as the executive assistant to a company president. On my second day, he gave me a project to do, then took off to play golf. I had

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: Territorial co-workers shun working mom

By Karla L. Miller / Special to The Washington Post Q: After a restructuring, I was given a new position that is less work but requires me to assist my colleagues. They have refused my help, started excluding me from

Career Center | Q&A: Owners not letting manager manage people

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I work in a small company where the owners refuse to do anything about incompetent employees. As a department head, I am not allowed to confront poor performers because the top

Career Center | Q&A: Boss not helping with promised promotion

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: My manager says she wants to help me get promoted, but she doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. For the past two years, she has said that my position

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 | Problem solved: How to be a fixer, not a whiner

By Cindy Krischer Goodman / The Miami Herald Most days, real estate agents storm into Ron Shuffield’s office with problems. They might have a closing that’s about to blow apart or a commission in dispute. They lay out all the

Career Center | Q&A: How to get micromanager off your back

By Liz Reyer / Minneapolis Star Tribune Q: My new boss doesn't seem to realize that I know how to do my job. He's a nice guy, but he is always telling me what to do even though I've been

Career Center | Q&A: Few people at work know that I exist

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: Even though I'm a senior manager, no one outside my department seems to know I exist. Whenever people need information related to my group, they always contact my boss. Instead of

Career Center | Self-promotion is a must, but keep it simple

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune I’m excited for my bosses to read this so they can see what an awesome job I’m doing at column writing and at being handsome and great. You see, the subject this week is

Career Center | Q&A: Boss only has eyes for his iPhone

By Liz Reyer / Minneapolis Star Tribune Q: My boss is addicted to his iPhone. He checks emails during meetings and sneaks glances at it when we have one-on-one meetings. I really feel like he's not paying attention to me

Career Center | How to stick up for yourself at work

By Allison Ellis / Special to NWjobs Last-minute projects, insane deadlines, backstabbing … you’ve had enough of being the team player with the heaviest workload who just wants to stay out of trouble. But how do you tackle the issue?

Career Center | Stuck with a bad boss? Time to try 'managing up'

By Diane Stafford / McClatchy Newspapers Management consultant John Beeson has written extensively about how to deal with a bad boss. He says it's vital to career success for you to take responsibility for improving the relationship. At least for

Career Center | How to escape a chatterbox manager

By Marie G. McIntyre /McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: My manager has an annoying habit of talking nonstop about her family. She goes into great detail about her daughter’s clothes, her son’s sports activities, or her mother’s latest trip. I obviously

Career Center | Look out for yourself to advance your career

By Andrea Kay / Gannett Ready for a new habit that will keep your career as safe and secure as a career can get these days? Call it the “Keep a Watch Over You” habit — because everyone else is

Career Center | When you tire of being the workplace doormat ...

By Liz Reyer Minneapolis Star Tribune Do you feel surrounded by slackers at work? As if you’re doing your job and the jobs of your co-workers? If so, you need to focus on finding the right balance between being and

Career Center | How to start smart with a new boss

By Lora Shinn / Special to NWjobs When a new supervisor steps onto the scene, everyone gets a little nervous. That’s only natural, according to Julie Jansen, author of “You Want Me to Work With Who?” The little details of

Career Center | Boss must not play favorites

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: On a recent employee opinion survey, my staff gave me a terrible rating on favoritism. I have no idea why they feel that I'm biased, since I try to be very

Nine to Thrive | Going to work sick: Sometimes you have no choice

On Monday, the Seattle City Council is expected to pass a bill requiring local businesses to grant their employees paid sick leave. [Flickr photo by ghindo] As the Seattle Times reported yesterday: Advocates say the law will enhance public

Nine to Thrive | Tips for corporate newbies

Last week, a reader who spent his entire career working in public service wrote me in a panic. After spending a year at home with his young son, this reader (let's call him "Julius") had returned to work, this

Nine to Thrive | 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

Nine to Thrive | What to do when your company gets a new leader

Now that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, it's natural that employees might feel anxious about the company's future and their place in it, despite the fact that replacement Tim Cook has a long history with Apple. [Flickr photo

Nine to Thrive | Why we need horrible bosses

We've all worked for them. The tyrant who enjoys belittling others in public. The snake who pawns off her work on you and takes credit for it. The workaholic who expects everyone else to give up their personal life just

Nine to Thrive | Are workers becoming more comfortable with flexibility?

A new national survey says yes. According to survey sponsor Work+Life Fit, Inc., which helps companies create flexibility programs, today's full-time workers are less worried than they used to be that having a flexible work schedule will affect their paycheck

Nine to Thrive | How to get more responsibility at work

As anyone who's ever held a job for more than a week will tell you, being underutilized at work is the kiss of death. As if dying of boredom isn't bad enough, you also get to worry about being branded

Nine to Thrive | How to deal with a clueless boss

As you've no doubt heard, Will Ferrell is guest starring on "The Office" this spring. If you watched Thursday night's episode (preview below), you know that Ferrell's Deangelo Vickers is just as bumbling a boss as Steve Carell's Michael Scott.

Nine to Thrive | 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

Nine to Thrive | Want a promotion this year? Start angling for it now

Looking to move up in the work world? You may be surprised to learn that along with the start of the year, summer may be one of the best times to nab a promotion at your company. LinkedIn announced today

Nine to Thrive | Would you attend your own layoff party?

A friend recently mentioned that her employer was throwing a goodbye party for its outgoing pink slip casualties. [Photo by Flashy Soup Can] One of the laid-off, my pal was unsure whether she should -- or even wanted to --

Nine to Thrive | You and your boss: BFFs forever or strictly professional?

Who says the recession hasn't brought coworkers together? In a recent survey by employment agency Adecco Staffing U.S., 78 percent of managers polled said they felt a stronger bond with their team members than they did three years ago.

Nine to Thrive | Texting the boss: Yea or nay?

A new survey about how we communicate with the boss recently got my attention. [Photo by Zawezome] According to the makers of the mobile phone texting app textPlus, some young workers have no qualms texting the boss about urgent

Nine to Thrive | Book event 6/26: How today's men juggle work and family

With Father's Day fresh in mind, the Elliott Bay Book Company hosts a 2 p.m. book reading today at its new Capitol Hill location with Donald Unger, author of Men Can: The Changing Image and Reality of Fatherhood in

Nine to Thrive | Is it ever okay to diss the boss in public?

We were just talking about giving your boss a bad review when this week it came to light that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the country's top military dog in Afghanistan, gave his own boss, President Barack Obama, a scathing review

Nine to Thrive | Note to boss: You get an F!

Most of us have had a manager we'd like to give a piece of our mind. [Photo by amboo who?] Maybe they're too meddlesome, absent-minded, or meeting-happy. Maybe they're an idea-stealing blowhard, an uninspiring bully, or an ineffective boob.

Nine to Thrive | How to keep meandering meetings on track

I've blogged about ways to avoid time-sucking, soul-quashing meetings before. But how about those meetings you can't wriggle your way out of? How do you ensure these conference room confabs stay on track? [Photo courtesy of Bring TIM! inventor Brad

Nine to Thrive | Rocking the boat at work: When (and how) to do it

Every week, we read about bigwigs standing up for their beliefs at work, consequences be damned. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons] Take the president of local bank Frontier Financial who was reportedly fired last month when he refused to change his