Posted Sun, 08/15/2010 - 16:51 by Mike Baumgartner
I am sure everyone has heard the story by now of Steven Slater, the Jet Blue attendant, who decided that his day was not going too well. So lousy was his day that he grabbed the microphone, yelled obscenities, flung open the door of the plane, and escaped down the evacuation slide. Now this employee is a cultural hero. Facebook and MySpace pages have been erected singing his praises. T-shirts extolling his name are for sale.
Posted Sun, 08/08/2010 - 09:46 by Mike Baumgartner
Times are bad now. Ignore what you are reading in the news because, regardless of the unemployment numbers and the spin, the fact remains that it is an ugly job market. As I am always saying on my show, this is not about politics and I am not going to get into that slime pool (today) but I am continuing to hear that we have turned the corner and the recovery is happening. If that is true, which every fiber of my being says it is not, then we are in for a very ugly time.
Posted Sun, 08/01/2010 - 20:38 by Mike Baumgartner
There is always at least one person (and often entire groups) who, when chaos strikes the workplace, can be heard proclaiming in a half joking manner, "Hey, its job security!" People laugh and agree. I have even used the phrase myself when I’ve been told I have a Sexual Harassment investigation or an Employee Relations issue to deal with.
Posted Sun, 06/20/2010 - 14:29 by Mike Baumgartner
There is a spot in our town where merchants gather to display their wares. Tools and equipment to solve every need, clothing to cover even the most challenging figure, and curios to adorn every wall are openly displayed for all to see. Within each merchant lies the hope that each person who passes by their carefully planned display will be tempted to purchase some item ostensibly filling a need or gap in their brief existence. In short, I was at the mall.
Posted Sun, 04/18/2010 - 22:20 by Mike Baumgartner
Last week I highlighted the tricks that companies use to find out who you really are. Secret tools that companies know so that they can get around the formality of the interview are critical to the “do we hire this person” decision. In the same vein, there are tricks, observations, and tests that you should use to understand a company’s culture, your future bosses quirks, and the secrets they don’t want you to know about.
Posted Sun, 04/11/2010 - 21:16 by Mike Baumgartner
You answered the questions flawlessly. Your suit was picture perfect. Everyone seemed to like you. You didn’t get the job.
Your friend in the company said that you were not organized enough to fit their culture and you are figuring out how on earth they came to that conclusion.
“Dude” your friend says “They went into the parking lot and looked in your car!”
Posted Tue, 03/23/2010 - 10:25 by Mike Baumgartner
For a year now I have spoken on my radio show about how things are only going to get worse before they begin to turn around. I prayed I was wrong only to find that being right is sometimes not the outcome you really wanted.
Posted Sat, 02/13/2010 - 23:40 by Mike Baumgartner
Several years ago, while not yet a recovering HR executive, I found myself, like many who read my articles, out of a job. It was a particularly harsh experience. Not because I had never been laid off before. Of course I had. Any HR person who claims they’ve never been laid off is either lying, intuitive enough to quit before it happens, or so tactically locked in they have no hope of advancement.
I am sure everyone has heard the story by now of Steven Slater, the Jet Blue attendant, who decided that his day was not going too well. So lousy was his day that he grabbed the microphone, yelled obscenities, flung open the door of the plane, and escaped down the evacuation slide. Now this employee is a cultural hero. Facebook and MySpace pages have been erected singing his praises. T-shirts extolling his name are for sale.
There is a spot in our town where merchants gather to display their wares. Tools and equipment to solve every need, clothing to cover even the most challenging figure, and curios to adorn every wall are openly displayed for all to see. Within each merchant lies the hope that each person who passes by their carefully planned display will be tempted to purchase some item ostensibly filling a need or gap in their brief existence. In short, I was at the mall.
