What do women really want? My guess would be a chocolate-covered millionaire with a fist full of shoes. The reality is (at least concerning women in IT) women want more women in IT. Check this out:

Last month, a panel of highly successful businesswomen met in Morristown, N.J., to discuss the current environment for women in IT and its effect on recruiting, retention and women's careers. The forum was sponsored by the New Jersey chapter of the Society for Information Management, and it drew one of the biggest crowds in that chapter's history. Seven of the participants agreed to meet again, virtually, with Computerworld's Kathleen Melymuka.

As we enter the 21st century, what's new about the problems of women in IT?

Weaver: Now that IT is evolving to focus on information technology as an enabler of business, it's becoming more conducive to women's being able to embrace IT and excel. Now it's about understanding the business and delivering technology to help enable and grow the business versus "Here's the next new box to deploy."

Scites: IT used to be so much of an individual contributor world, but that world is changing. Every operation is a team operation. There are multiple disciplines for IT and many ways in which women can succeed. But the fundamental issue for women is that very few are going into IT.

Walk: By 2012, computer professionals will be 11% of the total work population in the U.S. By 2031, we will have a 35 million-person labor shortage. In 2030, women in management and professional occupations will be 54% of the workplace. We'll have a huge need to develop women in all professional groups.

READ: What IT Women Want

2:13 AM 0 comments

Some students spend their college years peering into a microscope or scrutinizing graphs and formulas. Others are more likely to analyze dense prose or write insightful essays. They may earn similar grades, but when it comes time to look for jobs, it often seems the students with a knack for numbers see the bigger payoff.

College students graduating in 2004-05 with a math- or science-related degree are likely to earn significantly higher starting pay than their peers in liberal arts disciplines, according to a February survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

According to the survey, chemical engineering students graduating in 2005 reported snagging job offers with an average salary of about $53,700. Computer science grads reported average offers of around $51,000. Accounting grads got offers of about $43,000 and economics/finance majors' offers averaged roughly $40,700.

By contrast, liberal arts graduates reported average offers of about $29,100.

This leaves scores of history, philosophy and English majors fuming: Why do math and science degrees seem to be more valuable?

READ: Math and Science Degrees More Valuable Than Liberal Arts? - Career Advice Article

7:45 PM 0 comments

Working for himself was something he'd always wanted to do, but he wanted one solid, steady client to get him going. So he came up with a plan to outsource his own job. His boss, Steven Greenberg, "listened to my reasoning, that he would get the same level of results from me in a more cost-effective way," Mr. Lieb recalls.

Mr. Greenberg agreed, and arranged for Mr. Lieb to work in the office once a week and be available by phone as needed on the other days in exchange for a retainer. Now Mr. Lieb has a half-dozen clients as well as Greenberg. The deal he struck isn't the one he'd negotiate as a seasoned consultant (he charges other clients an hourly rate). But Mr. Lieb says his former boss has given him referrals and sends him to represent the company at events where he can network with other potential clients. Most importantly, he says, the arrangement gave him a low-risk way to strike out on his own.

If you've been longing to join that crowd of free agents, but don't know where you'd turn to find that crucial first client, take a cue from Mr. Lieb and look around your office.

How to Get Your Ex-Employer To Become Your Client

7:41 PM 0 comments

"Fast 500 CEOs are confident that the economy and their businesses are poised for growth," said Tony Kern, a principal with Deloitte & Touche LLP and deputy national managing principal of Deloitte's U.S. TMT industry practice. "Tech CEOs are focused on facilitating that growth by improving internal operations and hiring and retaining talent, rather than on external issues, such as economic conditions and geopolitical instability."

Ninety-five percent of the CEOs have plans to grow their workforce. Forty-two percent indicate plans to add at least 25 percent more employees in the next 12 months, while 19 percent have plans to add more than 50 percent.

High-quality employees are the greatest contributors to success, according to 25 percent of respondents, up from 19 percent last year. However, finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees remain CEOs' biggest operational challenge at 27 percent, the same as last year.

READ: Survey: Top CEOs bullish on the future

9:10 AM 0 comments

Typographical errors and unclear formats are common mistakes people make when creating resumes. These errors can doom an applicant’s chance of landing a job.

There are several tips to creating an error-free resume said Margaret Krantz, director of Hanover College Career Center, said.

Job seekers will have an opportunity to submit their resumes and talk with potential employers during the 2005 Regional Job Fair on April 28. The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Venture Out Business Center.

Krantz said the most common error people make on their resumes is not clearly responding to an employer’s needs.

“It’s absolutely critical that they understand just the kind of things that person (the employer) would want to know,” she said.

READ: Your resume a first impression

12:38 PM 0 comments

Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Garbee may not know as much about Linux as her father Bdale Garbee, Linux CTO for HP and former Debian Project Leader, but that won't stop her from presenting at linux.conf.au 2005.

Elizabeth, who has had a computer since she turned two, has been running Debian since the time she was nine. According to her bio on the conference speaker’s list, her installation of Debian GNU/Linux on a server before she had reached 10 years of age "proves that installing Debian really isn't very hard", although it should be noted that "Dad is around to answer questions" if trouble hits.

Elizabeth will be speaking on "Extending Tuxracer – Learning by Playing", a seminar which Chair of the 2005 organising committee Steven Handley has said will revolve around making modifications to Tuxracer (a popular open source game involving Linux’s cuddly mascot) with the aim of making the game more fun. Ex-Debian Project Leader and dad Bdale will also present at the conference.

Whether Elizabeth is representative of a new generation of youthful Linux gurus is hard to determine, but her seminar at this year’s linux.conf.au conference, to be held at the Australian National University from 18–23 April, is certainly one example of what Hanley has said is an attempt to make the conference more "interesting, fun and unusual".

Read about it here: 13-year old to address Linux conference

2:58 PM 0 comments

It's not exactly the kind of want ad you'd see in The Wall Street Journal or on a 3-by-5 card posted at the supermarket.

"I am willing to come to your home to teach all the residents the proper method of putting on a new roll of toilet paper. History will be explained. Technique will be demonstrated and all participants will have the opportunity to practice in real-life situations. All participants will be awarded with a certificate of completion and a 4-pack roll of 2-ply toilet paper. Note: Only the 'Roll Over' method is used."

It's from Katherine Howard, a licensed professional counselor, and was posted recently on the OutRaGeouS job listings site, part of the tribe.net Internet community.

Oh, what a community.

On the site you can find fire-breathing ministers, graffiti artists and spell-casting witches ("get money, win love or curse enemies!") offering their services.

READ: Unusual jobs are the norm at site

12:25 AM 0 comments

Check out: Computing Research News

12:15 AM 0 comments

Diane K. Danielson is the founder and executive director of the Downtown Women's Club, a national Boston-based networking association. She is also co-author of "Table Talk: The Savvy Girl's Alternative to Networking." She urges women to chew on the following:

- "The biggest mistake women make is to work through lunch. In the course of a one-hour lunch, valuable information is swapped and relationships are cemented, and no amount of e-mail exchanges or online research that you attempt while spilling soup in your lap can make up for it."

- "Lunch with co-workers can be just as productive as lunch with clients. When men in the office get together for lunch, women should invite themselves along. I did this a decade ago, and my jaw dropped at the amount of information they shared over a sandwich--information I would never have been privy to otherwise, not because they wanted to keep it from me but because I was never around when it came up."

- "Working mothers have time constraints. As a single mom, I stick to CLCs--coffees, lunches or cocktails--for networking. Sit-down dinners can drag on forever."

Click here for the full story

8:07 AM 0 comments

In one of the largest discrimination awards to a single plaintiff on record, UBS, Europe's largest bank, was ordered by a federal jury in New York to pay more than $29 million in damages to a former saleswoman who sued the firm for sex discrimination. Ouch! Read: UBS Ordered to Pay $29 Million in Sex Bias Lawsuit

7:04 AM 0 comments

Let's put on our imagination cap for a minute and think of a horrific fire in a subdivision at the peak of rush-hour traffic. What is your immediate focus? The fire blazing bright? Sure... Are you concerned for the people in the subdivision? I hope so... "Now breathe deeply and concentrate," I say in my Yoda voice. "See more, you will, young Jedi." Could it be that you see smoke? Could it be that you hear a fire engine? Perhaps a helicopter with a reporter giving the TV viewers a scoop on what is happening? Perhaps there is another chopper for radio listeners? Perhaps in the distance are people who don't know about the fire yet and are honking their horns and cursing the 5 o'clock commute? Perhaps all of this and more and why are they all there? Well, duh... they are all there because of a fire.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "What does all that have to do with my getting a job?" "Everything," I say smugly.

Let's say that you are looking for a job as a network engineer. So what do you do? You look for Network Engineer jobs, which is a good start but not the finish. Consider the events and surroundings concerning your job and imagine what surrounds that job. Let's see... to network computers, there must be a group of unconnected computers somewhere. For a group of unconnected computers to be sitting somewhere, that would mean that some salesperson had to sell them to somebody else. So, who sells the computers that I am qualified to connect? Why "Computer Company A" sells the kind of computers I am qualified to connect. Why don't I call Computer Company A and ask for a friendly sales person? Perhaps with my powers of persuasion (and a little bribery of lunch), I can get him to tell me who his best customers are. I bet his best customers could use a network engineer to hook up all the machines they just bought.

You like that? Let's go deeper...

New computers being connected suggest new office space. If I was going to buy new office space, who would I go to? Maybe I can call the leasing office of some business complexes and ask who handles their leasing. Maybe they can refer me to someone? Maybe they lease their own space and will give me a tip on companies looking to move into their space. A possibility... Better yet, I could pick up a copy of "The Atlanta Business Chronicle" (assuming you are in Atlanta) and review their real estate announcements to see who bought what. Whoever is buying lots of office space is someone I would want to talk to.

Do I have your wheels rotating yet? The trick is not to look only for the fire (in this case, a network engineering job), but the smoke (those people who operate on the periphery of that job). Let me go a step even further. What happens after a fire has been put out? There is water damage, smoke damage, medical issues on occasion and so on. There has to be someone or some group of some ones to clean up the mess left behind. All that to say, as soon as one person gets hired somewhere, there is a possibility of an opening behind them. So, when you read in the paper about Company X has just signed on a new CIO formerly of Company Z, my advice is to call Company Z for a job. This is an especially good technique if you are an Executive, because many senior management types foster a "cult following" and bring other execs with them. (Happens all the time...) Does this go for executives only? No, this would be a good heads up for techies and marketing types as well. Why? New leadership means new processes and new processes often demand people to adapt or stand aside for new personnel who can.

"Now let's go deeper into the force," I say in a bad Darth Vader accent. And imagine that you cannot imagine other positions that are connected to the job you are qualified for. Imagine that you are just clueless on how to think along these lines. (Anybody can draw a blank…) For these folks I say, look for the recruiter jobs. If you see a company looking to hire Recruiters, Staffing Consultants, Internet Researchers (people who support recruiters by finding resumes online) or Online Sourcers (same thing as Internet Researcher), then that should sound like a cowbell at dinner time.

If you are thinking to yourself, "Why should I care about HR jobs? That's not my background." I suggest that you slap yourself. Why would a company hire recruiters? They hire recruiters because they are about to load up on new employees! What kind of employees? Well, look at the kind of recruiter they want! Are they hiring technical recruiters? Sales recruiters? Executive recruiters? Ahh... I see the light bulb has just flashed over your head, you're with me now. (Glad to meet you-wink).

There is an old joke by a comedian named Robin Harris that says, "If you cannot get to the man, get next to the man that is next to the man. And if you can't get him. Get next to the man that is next to the man that is next to the man and so on..." If you are feeling frustrated in your job-search, look beyond finding jobs that fit you, but rather seek out people connected to what you do. If you cannot connect with them, then connect with the person next to them and so on and so on and so on...

7:48 AM 0 comments

When James Bond is under pressure he doesn't fold. He focuses. He can call up his talent at will when dismantling a ticking bomb or when talking with an interesting woman. Want to do this too? There's only one way. Start taking gentle rulership over the three aspects of your personality. The body, mind, and feelings. Especially the feelings.

But your personality will fight the real you with "pulls" distracting you from your goals, and with "blocks" which stop you with fear.

Your individuality is perfect. But the personality is not. The body gets tired, the mind forgetful, and the emotions sad, impatient, and angry. It is your job to raise up these three energies of the personality to maturity. Just as you raise up children. Finally you will be able to express the perfection that is you, using the tools of the personality.

This will not make you an "unfeeling robot". It will actually free up your energies so that you can feel what you want to feel, when you want to feel it.

This is the most important aspect of living James Bond lifestyle. For only when you realize that you are not your personality, but perfect individual energy and start taking gentle control of your three personality energies, can you begin to upgrade all areas of your life. So be like Bond. Take control and express the cool perfection that is you.

Paul Kyriazi - Live the James Bond Lifestyle
http://www.BondLife.com

11:02 AM 0 comments

Your heart is beating faster than usual, your hands feel clammy, your mouth is so dry it feels like you have cotton inside -- and you're supposed to feel confident. Are you going to an interview or a torture session? The answer is --"it's all in your perspective."

Ideally you would sit poised thumbing through a magazine, feeling relaxed as you wait your turn to have a conversation with the interviewer for the company. Think about it -- what do you have to lose here? What's the worst thing that can happen? What if you don't get this job -- is the world going to stop turning? I realize of course, that bills must be paid, but you are taking the wrong approach if you are going to come across as desperate - - "Please, please, hire me." Interviewers smell fear.

A change in thinking

The first, and most important step is to change the way that you view the interview. This is not an appointment with the dentist who may inflict pain. It is a conversation with another person. What is the worst thing that can happen as a result of the interview? You won't get the job, which may not have been the right job for you anyway.

Secondly, this is a conversation -- a two-way process. You will be interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Is there a good fit here -- both ways? What looks good on paper may not be what it appears -- for either party. It will be part of your job during the interview to investigate whether this a good place for you, and whether you want to invest a significant part of your life here. When you are not checking them out and what they have to offer you are missing an opportunity that you may regret later.

Calming techniques

One of the best techniques to handle stress is through breathing. Take deliberate, shallow breaths. Take air in through the nostrils and exhale quietly through your mouth. This is a technique that should be practiced as a relaxation technique before the interview so that your body gets used to slowing down the breathing process and relaxing.

Relaxation techniques such as yoga, and meditation classes, are recommended for anyone who has an extreme case of "interview fright." The interview can cause panic attacks if the fear is strong enough. Pre-conditioning will do wonders for this type of anxiety.

Preparation before the interview

These are competitive times and you should steel yourself to expect some rejection. Think about it this way, "Did you get a marriage proposal after every date?" Well, you probably aren't going to get a job offer after every interview.

For every job you apply for there are more than likely three to four equally qualified candidates in line for the same job. Whether you stand out from "the crowd" will depend on your preparation and ability to show confidence in yourself -- believing that you are the "best candidate for this job." How can you possibly sell anyone anything if you don't believe in it yourself?

Preparation will make you feel more confident and less anxious. Can you imagine giving a performance without some practice and preparation? "Winging" the interview in today's market is a big mistake.

Fear of Rejection

You may have had a number of interviews with no offer. You may be feeling defeated, and it's beginning to affect your-self esteem.

This would be true of anyone. But it is a mistake to take it personally. There are so many factors that could be affecting the offer that it is impossible to say what is happening. There may be internal candidates, relatives promised jobs, a competitor who is a perfect match for the job, a lack of chemistry between you and the new boss, a mismatch in salary needs, etc., etc.

Let it go

Give yourself credit for getting an interview -- only a small percentage of people get this far in the process. Give yourself credit for going out there and putting yourself on the line, even though it is painful for you. Give yourself permission to not get job offers. Believe that an offer will come through when it is the right offer -- the right fit for the company and for you. Take the control back and reject the feeling of fear.

When you have done everything to prepare for the interview, and you are satisfied that you can present yourself in the best light possible, the next step is for you to let it go. You can learn something from each interview. Learn to enjoy meeting new people and having new experiences. Who knows you may even grow to like interviewing.

1:46 AM 0 comments

If any of the following situations describe you, these might be the reason you feel left out:

1. "The sky isn't really blue -- it's actually cyan"
Do you incessantly spout unnecessary or obscure information that would make Cliff Clavin from the TV show "Cheers" jealous? Lose the "know-it-all" attitude or you'll make a career of lunching alone.

2. Chains of Love
Are you never around because you're always out on a "smoking break?" Limit your puffs to standard break times.

3. Workaholic Wannabe
Do you mosey in late, take extra long lunches, and don't really start to roll-up your sleeves and dig into some serious work until about 2 p.m.? Then, do you make sure everyone sees you working past 5 p.m.? Well you're not impressing anyone; rather you're annoying those who already have put in a full day before you even get warmed up.

Read more: Top 10 Reasons They Don't Like You at Work - Career Advice Article

1:38 AM 0 comments

The court's decision brought the rules for proving age discrimination into line with those for proving discrimination based on other factors such as race. That's as it should be. Except for the substitution of "age" for "race, color, religion, sex or national origin," the language is identical in the relevant provisions of the two statutes involved - the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Civil Rights Act. Identical language should be interpreted identically.

The court didn't leave employers defenseless. Disparate impact doesn't matter under the statute, it said, if an employer proves that its disputed policy "is based on reasonable factors other than age." That's a sound balance that protects the interests of both employers and employees.

READ: No place for ageism

5:38 PM 1 comments

Opinions about the impact of gray hair in business remain conflicted as the workforce gets collectively older, with the first baby boomers set to turn 60 next year. Does gray add gravitas for those seeking to be hired or promoted, or is it a drawback that is best disguised? Experts say the answer depends on the circumstances.

Twenty years from now, one in every four adult Americans will be over 65. As a result, ''this way of evaluating older Americans by their gray hair will have to change," said Dr. Robert Butler, an expert on aging and chief executive of the International Longevity Center in New York.

Gray hair is common for men at the CEO level. But whether rank-and-file employees or job applicants benefit from gray is another matter.

Read more here: Is going gray an asset in the workplace?

12:46 PM 0 comments