Clay Parsons, MA, MLA
Editor, Career Counselor and Coach
Alternative Futures
 May 15,
2006
A warm welcome
again from CareerBites, a career management
newsletter published by the Alternative Futures Press.
We hope you enjoyed the last issue with the article
entitled Career Health. This issue
of CareerBites offers lots of additional information
and commentary plus a timely article entitled How
to Deal with a Difficult Boss, A
Few Suggestions to Help You Survive and Even Prosper. Enjoy.
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Please print and post copies of this newsletter and pass on copies to your colleagues, friends and relatives.
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The Way I See It
Sometimes, amidst the incessant demands of our
21st century culture, it is very easy to lose our way
and miss what is really important. This disconnect sometimes
shows up in how we view our work. For example, how
would you define the word career?
I define it differently than most people.
Our
career is not nine to five. It is not a job, or
even a series of jobs. Our career is what we decide
to do with our lives, with the time that we have
been given. As
such, that decision is one of the most important
choices we will ever make.
~
Clay Parsons
On The Front Line
Company
Implants Electronic Tags in Workers!
Financial Times
An Ohio company has embedded
silicon chips in two of it’s employees! It
is the first known case in which US workers have
been tagged electronically as a way of identifying
them. CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance
company, said it was testing the technology as a
way of controlling access to a room where it holds
security video footage for government agencies and
the police. Embedding slivers of silicon in workers
is likely to add to the controversy of RFID technology,
widely seen as one of the next big growth industries.
RFID chips – inexpensive radio transmitters
that give off a unique identifying signal have been
implanted in pets or attached to goods so they can
be tracked in transit. “ There are very serious
privacy and civil liberty issues of having people permanently
numbered,” said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns against
the use of identification technology. Sean Darks, chief
executive of CityWatcher, said the glass encased chips
were like identity cards. They are planted in the upper
right arm of the recipient, and read by a device similar
to a card reader. The technology’s defenders
say that it is acceptable as long as it is not compulsory.
Critics say that implanted devices could be used to
track the wearer without their knowledge. VeriChip
- the US company that made the devices claims to have
the only chips that have been approved by the food
and drug administration – said the implants were
designed primarily for medical purposes. So far around
70 people in the US have had the implants.
The potential of this
technology for misuse by government or corporations
makes me shudder! (Clay)
$6.5 Million Awarded
in Job Bias Verdict
The Press Democrat
Santa Rosa, CA
In what may be the largest
civil judgment in Sonoma County history, a jury awarded
a county employee with fear of crowds $6.5 million
in damages in an employment discrimination lawsuit. After a five-week Superior
Court trial, the six-woman, six-man panel awarded $1.5
million in lost wages and $5 million in pain-and-suffering
and other noneconomic damages to George Alberigi of
Forestville. Alberigi, a Medi-Cal eligibility
case worker for Sonoma County's Human Services Department,
argued that the county refused to accommodate his disability
by allowing him to work with clients over the phone
instead of in person.
He has been diagnosed with panic
disorder and agoraphobia, a condition that makes it
difficult to interact with strangers, since 1986.
The
jury deliberated for five days before returning a verdict
and damage awards late Tuesday. Jurors also awarded
Alberigi attorneys' fees, which could add another six
figures to the total, said his lawyer, Steve Murphy
of San Francisco. "They (the jury) were outraged," he
said. "It
was a combination of his long-term employment with a good work history and
the county's unreasonable position."
Public Rates Nursing
as Most Honest and Ethical Profession
Gallup News Service
Princeton, NJ
Nurses top Gallup's annual survey on the honesty and
ethics of various professions, followed by other medical
professionals like doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists,
and dentists. Car salesmen, HMO managers, insurance
salesmen, lawyers, realtors and advertising practitioners
are rated as the least honest and ethical. Overall,
there has been little change in the public's rating
of the honesty and ethics of professions over the past
year. The public's image of the clergy has partially
recovered from last year's child sexual abuse scandals,
while the images of business executives and stockbrokers
remain slightly lower than they were before the recent
wave of business scandals.
Resumes : Don’t
Fudge the Facts
New York Times
Lying on a
resume to enhance a mediocre educational or employment
record is hardly new. But several recent surveys, as
well as anecdotal reports from hiring managers and
recruiters, indicate that resume falsehoods are on
the rise and are just as likely to come from high-profile
chief executives as recent college graduates.
A study conducted
by ResumeDoctor.com found that 43 percent of the more
than 1,100 resumes they examined had one or more "significant
inaccuracies," while
13 percent had two or more. The most common transgression
could be found in three areas: education, job title
and dates of employment.
Resume embellishers may also
want to refrain from lies for the simple reason that
it is easier than ever to catch cheating. A simple
Google search can often turn up a wealth of information
on a prospective employee.
Why
does the phenomenon seem more prevalent than in the
past? Hiring managers cite a myriad of reasons. Many
people are desperate and feel financial pressure to
land a job, while some are confident that "white
lies" will not be discovered.
I completely agree that fudging the facts on a
resume is a very bad idea, but remember, a resume is
a PR document. You need to present yourself well, not
just state the facts. (Clay)
Not Quite
Ready To Retire?
Time Online
As life spans lengthen, pensions
tighten and workplace rules change, hopping from full-time
work to full-time leisure is appearing less realistic
and, to some, less desirable. The trend has given rise
to a new category of employment, the so-called bridge
job. Economists use this term to describe part-time or
full-time jobs typically held for less than 10 years
following full-time careers. According to a 2005 working
paper from the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College,
one-half to two-thirds of workers take on bridge jobs
before fully retiring--one reason the number of workers
65 and up is expected to increase 117% by 2025. "Why go from 100 m.p.h. to
zero?" says Joseph Quinn, a Boston College economist
and co-author of the paper. "You wouldn't do that
in your car. You'd do 70, then 50, then 20."
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Inspiration
Genius is one percent inspiration, and
ninety-nine percent perspiration.
~ Thomas Edison
Change is not merely necessary to life, IT IS
LIFE!
~ Alvin Toffler
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A Little Humor
Interview with an Honest Boss ...
click
here to view the Flash file.
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New Career MileStones
Examples of what Clay’s clients at Alternative Futures’ are doing.
Holly B. is now performing part time
as an opera singer. She is also in the process of creating
a new opera based on her life story. Holly also just
accepted a position as a CTI Business Architect with
a major SF Bay Area high tech company in Silicon Valley.
Steve S. has been retained by the
United Nations to assist in implementing the peace
accords he helped negotiate in the (DRC) Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Steve will be working out
of Kinshasa. Steve has extensive experience in conflict
resolution
in Africa and is the former President of the Peace
Corps Association.
Michel S. has
been hired as a management systems consultant to
Wells Fargo Bank of San Francisco. Michel’s
background is in economics and business management.
He is also an accomplished classical guitarist and
has published several albums.
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Article
How
to Deal with a Difficult
Boss……….!
A
Few Suggestions to Help You Survive
and Prosper
By
Clay Parsons
We have all heard the horror
stories. And many of us have experienced our own
version. A difficult boss is an all-too-common
phenomenon in the workplace. Establishing a healthy
professional relationship with such a person can
be a real challenge. Here are a few suggestions to
keep in mind to help you survive as you struggle
to establish a pleasant and productive relationship
with the most important person in your workplace....
Click
here to read the article (pdf)
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Until next time,
Clay Parsons, MA, MLA
Alternative FUTURES Press
2034 Blake Street
Suite 6
Berkeley, CA 94704
Tel: (510) 287-5664
Fax: (510) 548-9921
www.alternativefutures.com
Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask
yourself what makes you come alive. And
then go out and do that. Because what the
world needs more than anything is people
who have come alive. ~ H. Whitman
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