Career Tools

<p><strong>In this cast, we continue our conversation on how to work with an angry and demeaning boss.</strong></p> <p>In case you missed it, here is part 1 of the series: <a href="http://www.manager-tools.com/2009/02/bad-boss-1-angry-and-demeaning-boss-part-1">Bad Boss #1 - The Angry and Demeaning Boss, Part 1</a></p> <p></p>

<p><strong>This cast explains how to work with an angry and demeaning boss.</strong></p> <p>We wish we didn’t have to do casts like this, but angry and demeaning bosses are a fact of life. And, for most of us, it doesn’t matter how great a boss WE are if we WORK FOR someone who is angry, demeaning, and generally unprofessional. Despite our recommendations to focus on your team, because that’s where the leverage is, OUR boss still exists. And if she’s a jerk, we’ve got to adapt. Here’s how.</p> <p></p>

<p>This cast recommends a simple approach to speed up your fitting in to a new organization and role.</p> <p></p>

<p>This cast explains how to improve an especially important relationship during economic downturns: your boss's peers.</p> <p></p>

<p>This cast explains how to handle gossip in the workplace.</p> <p></p>

<p>This cast describes a recruiting “technique” called the “Dangle”, and how to combat it.</p> <p></p>

<p><strong>This cast explains the SECOND most important behavior or habit to ensure your success as a project team member.</strong></p> <p>It’s one thing to manage a project. But far more of us are ON projects, not managing them. How can we do this while still getting “all of our real work done”?</p> <p>We have a series of recommendations – this is the second one. ;-)</p> <p></p>

<p><strong>This cast explains an effective way to maintain relationships with professional recruiters. </strong> </p> <p>In today’s slow economy, we don’t want to NEED a recruiter and then discover none of them remember us. Almost no one but smart senior executives reach out proactively – but you can do it too. Here’s how.</p> <p></p>

<p><strong>This cast describes the reasons why leaving your company or industry in a downturn CAN be a bad idea, and recommends options to consider in those situations.</strong></p> <p>Too many professionals fail to realize that leaving their company or industry during a downturn has a long-term consequence – executives are expected to have experience navigating all the way through a slowdown.</p> <p></p>

This cast explains an important career search question, and how to answer it: "What do you want to do, and where do you want to do it?" You're going to be asked this question, and you have to know how to answer it, without limiting yourself. It's one of those fleeting career moments whose outcome is defined likely BEFORE the moment arrives.

This cast makes the case for the most important thing you do at the beginning of your professional life: get good grades in College/University. This is the first in a series of what surely will be many Career Tools casts about college and university as preparation for one’s professional adult life. As with so many other [...]

This cast describes a simple way to handle the interviewing question, “What’s your location preference?”

This cast describes a way to approximate One on Ones (O3s) with your boss.

This cast describes your initial communications with a friend or associate whose career is at risk, for whatever reason. We read in the Wall Street Journal this week about a bank failure in the US due to the mortgage/debt crisis the markets are facing. As it turns out, we have several Manager Tools members there, [...]

This cast describes steps to take when you realize early in a job that you don’t like it. One of the things that has changed as individuals have had to take over their own career management is more mistakes made by younger professionals. Years ago, larger organizations had a more complete HR approach, and managed their [...]

This cast describes a simple verbal tool for addressing tension, conflict or other ineffective emotions in the workplace. Mark has finally gotten around to writing this cast down! Every time Mark teaches this technique to an executive or manager, he turns to Mike and says, “we gotta make this a cast.” And then he doesn’t. When [...]

For years pundits have been predicting that technology (videoconferencing, etc.) will lead to the decline and death of business travel. We here at Manager Tools don’t agree. We're human, and humans do better with face to face connections to ensure a complex project does well.

In this cast, we cover part 3 of our conversation with John Lucht, premier executive recruiter and author of "Rites of Passage".

In this cast, we cover part 2 of our conversation with John Lucht, premier executive recruiter and author of “Rites of Passage”. Note: John’s website can be found here: RiteSite.com

In today’s cast, we conclude our conversation on Myspace and social networks. As always, if you’re new to Manager Tools and haven’t listened to the first part, you may wish to go back and listen to that first.

We have a special treat for you … as a matter of fact, today we’re publishing the very first podcast with someone other than Mark and Mike. Mark and Mike recently had an opportunity to meet with John Lucht. In this show, you get to hear the first part of the 90 minute interview. If [...]

This cast gives guidance for managers’ use of Social Networking Sites like MySpace and FaceBook. If you’re one of our younger listeners, members, or premium subscribers, with less than 5 years in the workforce, chances are you have a MySpace or a FaceBook page. You stay in touch with friends, let people know what you’re [...]

This cast tells you how to handle requests for your references when engaged in a job search. Even though “References Available Upon Request” is no longer a good idea, reference CHECKING is on the rise and will only increase in the coming years. It seems like since resumes don’t include the age-old line — the why [...]

We’re all in meetings all the time, right? So how come there’s not an instruction manual? We all complain about them. But no one seems able or willing to do something about it. We will. We shared - 3 years ago - our recommendations on how to RUN an Effective Meeting. [...]

This show describes a couple of simple techniques to help you remember people’s names. Whether we like it or not, other people are part of our professional lives. And, as Dale Carnegie sagely noted, “A person’s name, to that person, is the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” But how to remember [...]

This podcast is the second of two on the subtleties associated with being interviewed during a meal.

This podcast details all the subtleties associated with being interviewed during a meal. We have NO EXCUSE for why we didn’t do this podcast 2 years ago. We get this question all the time, so much so that we’re making it part of the standard weekly show rather than restricting it to the interview tool. [...]

This cast updates one of our most popular casts Your Resume Stinks [October 31, 2005] with learnings from our community and some timely recommendations regarding recent trends. And, in this cast, we make a very exciting New Product Announcement! The Link: Manager Tools Resume Service Description

This cast explains how to introduce one person to another in social and business settings. We surprised some of our members a couple of years ago when we included podcasts on how to attend a party, and how to introduce oneself to someone else. Some saw this as “etiquette”, which the modern business world had, [...]

This week, we conclude our conversation on the Manager Tools Annual Layoff Immunization Guidelines.

We received lots of comments and email regarding our show regarding the first rule of layoffs. While our recommendation struck some folks the wrong way - “finances rule??” - those who HAD been laid off told us we were dead solid perfect. The fact is, we did not expect three years ago to get [...]

This cast describes a simple way to handle a group interview. Interviewing is one of the real tragedies in most companies. It’s so easy to do it well (once you get over the Horstman Curve), but so few are willing to take the time. Oh, sure, everyone wants to complain about lousy output (low [...]

This is the second of our casts that describe our recommendations about calendar management.

This cast describes the first of our recommendations about calendar management.

This cast reveals the most important concept a laid off manager must know: Finances Rule. it is the first in a series designed to help both prepare for and navigate through a layoff. Most of us fear being laid off. It’s a good fear to have, frankly - being laid off is a difficult [...]

This cast describes how to leave an effective voicemail. If you’ve ever gotten a voicemail which sounded like, “[your name], this is [their name], call me,” you know why we’re doing this cast. Phone manners have been steadily decreasing for decades. When boys used to call for Mark’s daughter Kate, they would slouch verbally through, “Is [...]

In this cast, we describe how to be effective in everyday conversations.

This cast describes how to answer the interviewing question, “Describe Your Leadership Style.” This is perhaps the third most important interviewing question, after, “Tell me about yourself,” and behavioral questions. It can be a tough one if you haven’t done some thinking about how you lead and motivate others, and why others perform well when [...]

This cast is about interview preparation, and the need for ethics and candor during the process.

Today, we cover the 2nd in a two-part series on Horstman’s Wager. Last week we covered the basics as to why “Playing the Game” doesn’t work … today we get into the details of the dreaded Horstman’s Wager MATRIX. During the show, we refer to the printed matrix included in the slides for [...]

This cast is about interview preparation, and the need for ethics and candor during the process. We’ve been pleased by the demand for our interviewing product - close to 1,000 purchases so far, and the early feedback has been quite powerful. If you would like to read what folks are saying, you can see that [...]

More and more, companies are using psychological and behavioral tests as pre-employment screening devices. They supplement their interviewing processes in order to ensure less false-positives.This is wise, in our judgment, based on what we see of interviewing. Too many companies don’t screen rigorously enough, and have started enlisting more cerebral and/or technical techniques [...]

This cast describes an effective way to take notes. If you go to meetings all the time… no, wait. BECAUSE you go to meetings all the time, you need an effective way to take notes. There are certainly a LOT of different ways to do so, but if you ask a hundred or so executives, [...]

Today, we finish up our two part series on writing effectively.

This cast teaches how to improve your writing quickly.

We’ve talked about thank you notes hundreds of times. They are fast becoming a nearly lost art. That’s too bad, because they are always appreciated. We know too many managers and professionals who keep them for years! Mark often talks about the basket under his desk full of cards, which [...]

In this cast, we share one of the best interviewing answer templates you'll ever hear. It's simple, elegant, easy to deliver, and surprise, surprise: it directly answers the question.

Mark recently blogged about the crazy advice being given - by the Wall Street Journal! - about how to handle the perennial interviewing question, “Tell me about a weakness.” He was stunned by how wrong some of the suggestions were, as well as the implication that a clever interviewee could trick the interviewing manager [...]

We’ve talked about the importance of interpersonal skills before, with casts on handshakes and meal etiquette. While for many, they might not sound like managerial subjects, the fact is that career management skills are part of the modern manager’s repertoire. And, as surely you’ve read, business gets done at dinner, at parties, at [...]

Well, once again, we’re barely getting this out in time to call it an October cast. But, I think you’ll find it worth the wait. This month, Mark and I want to share a cast from our upcoming Interviewing techniques product. This particular cast is one out of 14 casts on Interviewing. [...]