SusanStrayer.com

Bad Jobs...Good People...

This week's Washington Post's Career Track column, written by reporter Mary Ellen Slayter focuses on people who work for companies accused of fraud or other improprieties. In the article I share a few tips on how to handle these situations on your resume and in interviews. Guess it helps that I have Arthur Andersen on my resume.

Career Tip of the Week*: How Friends Can Help Your Job Search

Your best friends can't help you. But their friends can. The best career connections are friends of friends. Research shows that the most job leads come from acquaintances so if you are in a job search, make sure your friends know and ask for their help in combing their own networks. Be sure you can communicate exactly what kind of contacts you are looking for so your friends can best represent your interests.

I can't tell you how many job searchers complain to me that they don't know the right people. Of course--or else they would already have a new job. Many of us rely on the networks we already have, or, use crutches as an excuse (I've been out of the workforce, I'm in a new city, etc.). Those crutches should be your motivation.

It's easy to stay comfortable with your current circle of friends or assume they can't help you. You may think they are working in different industries, or maybe even are stay-at-home moms or dads that you assume don't know the right people. The reality is different. You don't know who someone knows unless you ask.

The key here is to ensure you know what you want and can make specific requests (i.e., "do you know anyone working in a high-growth technology firm" or "I am looking to network with anyone who works in consumer marketing"). Then, ask away.

This Career Tip of the Week* can be accessed by adding my Google Gadget to your homepage.

Google: Best Place to Work...For Who and How Long?

A business trip took me to the official Googleplex in Mountain View, CA last week. While I thought my excitement was my own I have had so many people ask about my reaction to touring Google, I had to blog about it. My immediate reaction? Cool in theory, harder in practice.

As part of a meeting, I had a tour of the Googleplex. Google has dozens of offices around the world, but the main campus in Mountain View, CA (outside San Francisco) is the main headquarters. I noted the many buildings situated for a community atmosphere as well as significant security in place (need a passcard to get in almost everywhere and no photos inside any of the buildings). My favorite feature (and likely others') was the scrolling query. In the lobbies, Google projects a rolling list of Google searches performed around the world (scrubbed for appropriateness of course). Check out blogger Robert Scoble's video of this eye-opening window into the world in the Google lobby.

Long known as an innovative and unique place to work, the campus is touted worldwide because of its free food (multiple cafes), open workday (employees can work when and how they want) and perks (free laundry, volleyball courts and swimming pool, free gym, microkitchens with free snacks). Workers never really need to leave the Googleplex—constantly spurred by this “Google high.” And while it’s funny that a lifeguard is actually on the Google staff, it also makes you wonder…does this work?

Clearly Google is doing something right. They were #1 on the List of Fortune’s Best Places to Work and boast an extremely low turnover rate: 5% of corporate employees. But success comes with the price---employees known for working long hours, and free food keeping them at work instead of at home. If you take an hour out to play volleyball, you probably have to make that up. If you’re eating dinner at work are the time, are you missing out on being at home? And isn't 5% too low?

And there’s the flip side—employees who don’t want to play games or take a pool break or stay for dinner—are they missing out on Google-bonding? And even more important, does it only attract a certain demographic? As Google expands its product range it needs to attract a demographic of older users, parents and grandparents that need and want a combination of online ease and personal interaction in their lives. If you foster a “no need to leave environment” you can alienate part of the population that can parlay this insight. Word at the Googleplex is that the waiting list for childcare on campus is ridiculously long.

Moreover, the extensive commitment, the “I never need to leave campus” mentality, may not be the best for business. Clearly the founders’ intent is there—to take care of their employees, but I question how long this “Google high” can last. Or better yet, does it only last as long as the stock is up? One Google employee I spoke too said his hobbies were Google. Cool, but maybe not so great. Too much focus means you’re not thinking, you’re not refreshed, you can’t walk away, clear your mind and come back a few days, weeks or even months later. Sometimes you need that kind of break.

The culture and perks, for now, are clearly helping Google. But does this bode well for long-term stability? As the Fortune article contemplates: “But can Google's founders build a culture that doesn't depend on the stock price?”

Career Tip of the Week*: Bypass the Job Boards

Spending all of your time on job boards is like searching for one kind of cookie in the world's largest cookie store. Skip the job boards and use tools like your library, Google and YouTube to research companies and then go straight to the source. You'll get more information on whether the career and the company are a fit for you. Example? KPMG's Brand Channel.

I have always been a proponent of the targeted job search. And by targeted I don't mean "search for accounting jobs". I mean accounting jobs at speciifc size companies, in your targeted geographies, with a culture that fits you, serving specific types of clients. You can use the Kaleidoscope Career Model to prepare for your target, use online tools (like the KPMG brand channel above) to narrow your companies and then focus on open and potential jobs at those companies using your social networks (Facebook, Linked In etc.)

Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Do the work on the front end to make the haystacks so small, you can't miss the needles.

This Career Tip of the Week* can be accessed by adding my Google Gadget to your homepage.