You Got Fired For What!

You Got Fired For What! Working in management is no easy task. Being responsible for not only your own work, but that of multiple employees comes with its share of challenges. As any manager will tell you, firing employees is one of the downsides of management, but a necessary evil. While there’s certainly no shortage of employees who deserve to be fired, in their quest to protect the company’s name and image, occasionally managers do overstep their boundaries. Let’s take a look at a few examples of employee terminations that left us asking management…what were you thinking??? 1) Wife-Swapping: According to a recent lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, two deputy sheriffs in Bossier Parish, LA were recently terminated for wife-swapping. After falling in love and eventually moving in with each other’s wives, the deputies were told they were violating the parish’s Sheriff’s Code of Conduct. They were placed on unpaid administrative leave and told not to return to work until they changed their living arrangements. They were told that once they had, they would be demoted and transferred to the sheriff’s detention and correctional centers at a reduced salary. After refusing, both deputies were fired. Their subsequent lawsuit stated that not only were they not doing anything illegal, but management conveniently turned a blind eye to other questionable activities going on in the department, including one deputy who was in a romantic relationship with his daughter-in-law. 2) Wearing Orange: Employees of a Florida law firm had a longstanding tradition of wearing orange every payday. Since orange is the color of the University of Florida Gators, as well as the fruit the state is known for, they felt it showed solidarity when they went out to happy hour after work. In 2012, the firm was taken over by new management, who saw the orange as some form of protest, despite the fact that the employees had been wearing the color before new management took over. In the end, 14 employees were fired without severance for their color choice of clothing. 3) Being Too Sexy: In a previous blog post, I wrote about Melissa Nelson, an Iowa dental assistant who was fired because her employer considered her good looks too distracting. The happily married mother of two worked for her boss for over ten years before the two started casually exchanging texts about work and personal matters. When the employer’s wife eventually found the texts, she insisted he fire Nelson. Despite admitting that Nelson was a good employee, her boss felt that continuing to work with her may eventually lead to an affair. She was subsequently fired, and the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the termination on the grounds that the firing was not illegal sex discrimination as it was motivated by feelings, not gender. 4) Writing in All Caps: In an effort to alert her coworkers to some important information, an employee at a New Zealand healthcare company typed part of her e-mail in all caps, then further emphasized it with red font and bold lettering. Management disapproved of her font choice, saying it caused “disharmony in the office.” Consequently, she was fired. She then filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, during which her employer was only able to produce one e-mail to support their case. The court found in her favor and she was awarded a monetary settlement. 5) Stopping a Carjacking: When a waiter at a Thai restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL noticed a commotion outside his establishment, he went out to investigate. Upon seeing a woman being carjacked by a man with a knife, he came to her aid, disabling the carjacker and holding him on the ground until police arrived. Despite his heroic actions, management was unhappy with the ensuing publicity resulting from the altercation and terminated his employment. Employers who are quick to fire employees for any and all reasons should know that wrongful termination lawsuits have risen 260 percent in the last 20 years. When litigated, 67 percent of lawsuits result in the employee’s favor, and according to Boone Management Group, the average employer payout is $326,640. Not surprisingly, 97 percent of cases are settled out of court, which still result in an average payout of $40,000 by the employer. So the moral of the story is â€" be careful who you fire and make sure it’s for a good reason!

Launch Your Own Website to Boost Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Launch Your Own Website to Boost Your Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career More than half of all recruiters (56 percent) are more impressed by a candidate’s personal website than any other personal branding tool, according to a recent study. Despite this majority, only seven percent of job seekers actually have a personal website. If you dedicate the time to launching your own website, it’s really easy to be one of these impressive job seekers. Start by purchasing a domain name. For job seekers, the simplest way to decide this is by sticking with your name. Use the version of your name you’d like to be called in the professional world (either your full name or a shortened nickname). Purchase your name at a dot com site for the most professional appeal. For bonus credibility, use the domain name as your personalized handle on all of your social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Next, you need to choose a hosting platform. Sites like WordPress offer customizable templates that make it easy to fill in the blanks and create a unique website. Find the platform that works best for you. Create a list of pages you want to include. A job seeker website should have pages for your bio, resume, portfolio, and contact information. Depending on your career path or industry, these pages may vary. Research websites of other job seekers in your industry for ideas. Determine the pages you will need on your website. There should also be links to your social media sites. After you decide on the skeleton of your website, it’s time to make it pretty. The look of your site should reflect your professional image. This includes the layout, colors, font, photos, writing style, and more. All of these details should work together to portray your personal brand. Once you’ve got the basic pages of your site, it might be wise to add a blog. If you can devote the time on a regular basis, a blog is a great way to showcase your writing and knowledge of your industry. Choose topics specific to your industry and skills. Use it to write about the things you learn from industry trends and experts. Recruiters like to see when you write about things relevant to them. If you do decide to include a blog, it’s important to update it regularly. When your website’s last post was six months ago, and the next post was four months before that, recruiters will not be impressed. An un-updated blog looks unprofessional and lazy. Finally, it’s time to share your website with the world. Post the link to your site on social media and include it in your resume and cover letter. Give recruiters a reason to view your site. It’s time to take some action. Be a part of the impressive seven percent and launch your own website. If you do it the right way, it can only strengthen your brand and excite recruiters. What tips do you have for job seekers building their own websites? Author: Heather R. Huhman  is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of  Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for job search and human resources technologies. She is also the instructor of  Find Me A Job: How To Score A Job Before Your Friends, author of  Lies, Damned Lies Internships  (2011) and  #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle  (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for  numerous outlets.

Step by step career planning for students - Career Geek

Step by step career planning for students - Career Geek What all students must remember is that school is only a way of transition into the working world. A career is what will define a person’s life for many years, and the critical decisions about one’s future are often made very early in one’s life. Here are five steps that will help you prepare for life outside the classroom. Step 1: Know What You Want Knowing what you want is the first step in career planning, and it can be the most difficult one. When you are in school, you have the opportunity to decide to become skilled at something new, but what you pick must be something that you know you actually want to do in life. The best way to make this decision is to experiment with different fields, think outside the box, join different clubs and research different careers. You should also consider your existing skills, knowledge and talents. However, keep in mind that the purpose of school is to learnâ€"and if you do not know much about a particular skill, there is always opportunity to learn. [ALSO READ Why Small Businesses are the Big Career Break] Step 2: Visualize Think about the future. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What about 20 years? Imagine how you’d like to live your life, and what you can see yourself doing. To understand what will make you content in the future, you must know yourself first. Do you prefer stability, or challenges? What keeps you motivated? Do you see yourself living internationally, or in your same city? Do you need a lot of money, or would you prefer less money but more meaningful experiences? By asking these questions, you will begin to hone in on the types of jobs that are best suited for who you are, and these can be translated into specific types of college majors. [ALSO READ  Graduate Students: Concerns and Benefits of Studying Abroad] Step 3: Consider Financial Benefit A student needs to make serious consideration about how to monetize their desired career. Money may not be the most important thing to consider when choosing a career, but a career must be financially viable, or else you may find yourself in an entirely different and perhaps unwanted job, simply to pay your bills. While studies in straightforward professions in fields like law or medicine almost guarantee financially satisfying jobs, a less structured majorâ€"something like musicâ€"means the student must consider a solid strategy of developing their career and finding satisfying employment. This may include focusing on becoming a teacher, or entering the business side of the industry. [ALSO READ  Study Abroad: Where International Students Go And Why? [INFOGRAPHIC] Step 4: Prepare for the Real World There’s a lot to learn in school, but keep in mind there are a lot of differences between the professional and academic world. Begin to take up professional practices on your own initiative, which may include everything from self-promotion, creating business cards, a LinkedIn profile, to doing things completely removed from your studies in an effort to become more noticed in your desired fieldâ€"such as attending trade shows and networking with people in your profession. Step 5: Seek Internships, Apprenticeships Internships and apprenticeships can be your best opportunities to transition from academia into the working world. To prove reliable in a professional context and to make critical real-world connections is the surest way of building a successful career. A student must keep one foot planted in their studies, and one foot planted in ‘real life’. The biggest mistake a student can make is to improperly plan their future. Don’t let this happen to you, instead pursue your dreams with confidenceand know what you really want before you make a critical decision. [ALSO READ  How to Get Noticed by Recruitment Software]

Youre IT - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Youre IT - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career When I was a kid, one of the favorite games to play in the neighborhood was called IT. The premise of the game was a simple one. One person was IT and had to cover his eyes and count to twenty. During this time, the rest of the players would hide.  After the IT person reached twenty, he would announce, Ready or not, here I come!  The IT person would run around the area looking for kids who were hiding, and after finding one would tag the player and state, Youre IT. Such a simple game would go on for hours in our neighborhood. Even though the object was to avoid being caught, everyone eventually wanted a turn being IT. I was reminded of this game during a talk I attended last week and I thought about how this game represents how many of us manage our personal brands. We all want a turn at being IT to be found others and hearing the announcement that you have been selected. However, many of us hide from opportunities sometimes unintentionally and hurt our opportunity at being found by others. Even though the purpose of the childrens game is to stay hidden, our personal brands should never stay hidden.  One should work to ensure ones personal brand is known and understood by others. As the year draws to a close, this is an opportune time to recommit to being found by others. Commit to meeting a contact for lunch once a month. Commit to participating in a local networking event in your community.  Commit to offering insights and beginning discussions on a professional blog. Let 2014 be the year you step out from your hiding place and take your turn being found. Then you can tell everyone, Im IT!

Twitter for C-Suite Executive Job Search - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Twitter for C-Suite Executive Job Search Do you think Twitter is a big fat waste of time, and that it has no value  in c-suite job search? I urge you to think again, and at least explore what Twitter has to offer. I think youll find that its worth carving out Twitter-time in your search efforts. Ive rounded up the most recent posts Ive written about Twitter to help you, along with my basic how-to post, listed first: Twitter Turbocharges Executive Job Search and Personal Brand Visibility Start here. This post will help you set up your profile, get a feel for how it works, build your Twitter network, and includes a list of dos and donts. Twitter Executive Branding Strategy: The Beauty of a Retweet Think you don’t have time to come up with great tweets? Learn how you can leverage the value of Twitter with very little time and effort. Are Your Target Employers on Twitter? Many top employers are busy on Twitter â€" posting jobs and real-time news about the company, people, products and services. The companies youre targeting may be there, so you should be too. 55 Top Job Search Experts To Follow On Twitter Many careers industry professionals tweet regularly and offer tips and resources on job search and career management. Ive pulled together a list of some of the very best, for you to follow and learn from. How Top CEOs Use Twitter for Branding Business Week looked at 18 savvy chief executives who include Twitter in their personal brand and company brand ommunications plans. For earlier Twitter posts, see my round-up Twitter Help and Strategies for Executive Job Search and Personal Branding. 00 0

Resume Trends Keywords and How to Use Them - CareerAlley

Resume Trends Keywords and How to Use Them - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy-but that could change. Dan Quayle Author Byline: Cathy Eng, CARW, Owner of Resume Rocketeer, Inc. Author Website: http://www.resumerocketeer.com These days, employers have very little time to spend looking through resumes in search of those with the right skills sets. In fact, if you do not establish right away in your resume what you have to offer, you will likely get passed over even if you are perfect for the job! One of the best ways to do this is include a keyword list. Here is a simple way to create a quality keyword list on your resume: Search online for resume keywords or key phrases in order to get ideas for yours. Remember, there are no right or wrong keywords. Some people may opt for Customer Service Expertise while others prefer Customer Relationship Management. Think about what you have excelled at in your previous positions. Did you discover special talents in certain programs or other job functions? These can be highlighted in your keyword list. While you should keep an open mind, be sure to include key words that accurately describe your expertise. If you are only slightly familiar with COBOL, it is best not to include Advanced COBOL Expertise in your keyword list. Stick to no more than 12 bulleted keywords/phrases as hiring managers wont be impressed if they have to read your top 50 keywords. In fact, they may only read the first few, so it is smart to prioritize based on your best assets and those required in the job to which you are applying. Avoid going heavy on the soft skills in your keyword list. These should be skills that make you unique compared to your competition. Teamwork and communication skills are a given and do not belong in this section. Key words are a great way to sum up your top skills and grab a hiring managers attention. Always be sure to match up applicable wording from the job description with your existing keywords to get that extra edge. And remember, your keywords should be just like you as a professional: smart, attention-getting, and a great fit to the job you want! Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search.Joey Trebif

A Company Can Be Priceless

A Company Can Be PricelessLooking for the best resume writing service is a never ending task. The market is flooded with a huge number of companies that cater to the needs of job hunters looking for a job.This is because, now more than ever, a company wants their business to flourish. In order to do this, a company has to protect their image. Having a good resume means more than a job, it also means a company's reputation.Not having a memorable resume can have serious consequences. It is not only annoying to job hunters but it also hurts the company's reputation. A good resume reflects your skills and achievements. If you cannot give them, how will they find you?Resume writing is not an easy task. It requires dedication and focus. Before you write anything, you have to prepare your resume. You will need to study and re-study your job history in order to come up with a well-structured resume.Job hunting is stressful and it is something that most people can't take. This can easily take away from your focus and concentration. Many job hunters do not have any idea about how to prepare their resumes. They will often end up rushing through their job search and forget to properly draft their resumes.Job hunters need to create a simple resume that they can use for their job search. A resume should be both effective and memorable. That is why you need to find the best resume writing service that can create a great resume.Chicago resume writing service is one of the few firms that can give you professional assistance for your job search. In return, you get paid. Make sure that you don't choose a company that does not offer good rates for their services.