By Lynne Curry What happens when you imagine marshaling your courage and telling the law practice managing partner or someone else in a position of authority that he’s made the wrong judgment call? Do you fear retaliation or making a problem situation worse? If speaking the truth to power feels as risky as jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, you’re not alone. … [Read more...] about Speaking truth to power
Your career
Your work honeymoon is over: What now?
By Lynne Curry The job that was so exciting when you landed it now bores you. A year ago, you would have joined the throngs of employees exiting their employers in the Great Resignation. Now you hesitate. What if media accounts about the looming recession result in any shiny new job you accept evaporating within months if you’re laid off as “last hired, first let go”? Maybe … [Read more...] about Your work honeymoon is over: What now?
College…no longer the golden ticket for employers or employees
By Lynne Curry College was once the “golden ticket” to the American Dream of greater job security and higher lifetime wages. In the last decade, however, college enrollments have declined. According to a recent Harris poll, 51% of U.S. adults report that skyrocketing college costs have decreased their ability to pursue a post-high school education.1 Although 62% of U.S. … [Read more...] about College…no longer the golden ticket for employers or employees
Recession fears: Here’s how to avoid being laid off & what to do if you are
By Lynne Curry After months of talent wars triggered by the great resignation, the job market has again shifted, with business growth slowing and recession fears looming. Despite low unemployment rates, 3.5% nationally,1 over 60 percent of the 750 CEOs surveyed by the business research firm Conference Board expect a recession in the next 12 to 18 months1. Another 15 percent … [Read more...] about Recession fears: Here’s how to avoid being laid off & what to do if you are
Jobs in law top pre-Great Recession numbers
The U.S. legal services sector now has more total jobs than it had when the count hit its previous high point in 2007 shortly before the Great Recession, according to U.S. Labor Department data as reported by Reuters. The legal sector added 3,000 jobs in June, reaching a total of 1,185,600, the preliminary seasonally adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. This … [Read more...] about Jobs in law top pre-Great Recession numbers
Love contracts: Help for hot messes
They arrive at work separately. They never touch each other in your presence. Then, as you chair a meeting, you see his gray eyes seek hers out across the conference table. She returns his gaze; her eyes linger. Suddenly you know. The senior manager, despite all the sexual harassment seminars he’s attended, appears romantically intertwined with an accounting clerk. If you’re … [Read more...] about Love contracts: Help for hot messes
How to handle the office romance 2023 version
By Lynne Curry Three potential hot messes. In company Z, a senior manager considered his workplace a dating pool in which he fished. When he put the moves on a new female employee, the workplace grapevine ignited. In company Y, the head of marketing had serial crushes on one after another of the male management trainees. Because she was attractive and personable, several of … [Read more...] about How to handle the office romance 2023 version
Do you make this costly interviewing mistake?
Don’t focus a job interview on whether the candidate can do the job. The purpose of an interview is not to evaluate hard skills or job experience or training. Anybody who makes it to the interview already meets the requirements. Look instead for the behaviors of the person. The interview is the time to find out the motivators, the personality, and the soft skills of self … [Read more...] about Do you make this costly interviewing mistake?
How job hunting changed: You have leverage you never had before
By Lynne Curry Question: I left a senior position in a large practice when the pandemic and four children at home forced me out of the workforce. At first, my now ex-husband and I thought I’d take a month off, get the kids settled and return to on-site work. But COVID-19 dragged on, and I couldn’t see leaving the kids at home to fend for themselves while I returned to … [Read more...] about How job hunting changed: You have leverage you never had before
4 day workweek: Is it in your future?
By Lynne Curry If you’re an employee, you’re immediately interested. If you’re an employer, you’re doubtful—yet you keep hearing about this new strategy that might make a significant difference in your company’s ability to survive and thrive. It’s the four-day workweek, though not the compressed 4/10’s workweek that oil patch and similar companies used. Employers … [Read more...] about 4 day workweek: Is it in your future?