The 29 year old woman I recently counselled would seem to represent a perfect package to launch a career as a communications professional. Along with undergraduate and master’s degrees from prestigious Canadian universities and two additional diplomas, she is also funny, poised, and with a history of entrepreneurship to boot. Yet rather than landing in an entry […]

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BARBARA MOSES After a great run, I recently decided to resign from my monthly Globe and Mail column.  I had many reasons. In part, it was time to move on (more on this below). This was coupled with a growing dissatisfaction with how the column was being edited; changing content expectations; and word-count restrictions. This […]

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A friend is dreading an upcoming performance review with one of her employees. She complains that although the staffer is a solid performer, everything about the woman makes her uncomfortable – the way the employee’s mouth twitches when she doesn’t know what she is talking about, her petulance when she doesn’t get what she wants, […]

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At a recent social event an acquaintance told me about a corporate cost-reduction program he was leading. At least I think that’s what he was talking about. To my ears it sounded like a word salad of warmed over MBA-speak: strategic … belt tightening … turn around … fiscal restraint … new direction … metrics […]

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A talented 27-year-old client of mine complained that her mother, a vice-president, was on her back to lobby for a larger bonus and an exercise subsidy. She said her mother didn’t understand the difference between being at the top of the ladder and the bottom when it comes to latitude for negotiating perks, even if […]

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When my book Career Intelligence was published in 1997, the response could be summarized in part as, “C’mon – you can’t really be saying there is no more job security.” It has taken more than a decade for the realities of the “more, better, faster” mantra to sink into people’s consciousness. Employees’ sentiments have morphed […]

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I once knew a woman, a marketing director, who loved her job and thought she was doing her best work ever. She saw the long-term strategy she was working on as a two-year project at minimum, and was looking forward to its implementation. Then she got a new boss, brought in from another business area […]

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Recently, one of my clients told me how upset she was about a colleague’s disturbing behaviour at an important department meeting. Her co-worker, my client said, attacked her, interrupted speakers, and generally acted obnoxiously. After the meeting, my client called her on this. The co-worker’s defence? She wasn’t “comfortable in meetings.” “What about our comfort?” […]

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In the past few months I have been deluged with recent graduates bemoaning the tough job market. Although they are poised, and sophisticated in their general understanding of the job search process, they are often naive about the mechanics and etiquette that underlie an effective search. For example, they know how to network, write a […]

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Many people return to work after a vacation break dissatisfied and start to ruminate about making a major career change. But all too often when people are unhappy, they attribute their distress to what they are doing – their role and the skills they are using – rather than to where they are doing it. […]

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