Blog
Debra Wheatman, President of Careers Done Write, provides expert insight to the job search process that puts your career in gear with tips for interviewing, networking, job search strategies and how to create a winning resume and cover letter.
What Labor Day Means for Modern Professionals
The long weekend at the start of September is universally recognized as the unofficial end of summer. For corporate professionals across the United States, it offers a welcome pause—a chance to step away from endless email threads, wrap up final summer plans, and recharge before the busy autumn quarter begins. Yet, beneath the end-of-season barbecues and back-to-school sales lies a historic American holiday with roots deeply embedded in the modern employee experience. Labor Day was created to honor the contributions, sacrifices, and economic achievements of the American worker. Understanding its origins provides valuable context for the workplace protections and standards that shape corporate life today….
The Invention and Evolution of the "Career"
The concept of a career is so deeply woven into modern identity that it feels like an ancient human constant. In reality, it is a relatively recent invention, forged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as the Industrial Revolution restructured human labor. Before industrialization, most people did not have careers; they had trades, land, or regional livelihoods determined by inheritance, guild regulations, or social status. The word career itself traces back to the Latin carrus (a wheeled vehicle) and the French carrière, originally referring to a horse’s racecourse. It was not until the early 1800s that the term was applied to a person’s professional trajectory—a metaphor for a single, forward-moving track….
From the Ashes: Women Leaders Who Transformed Tragedy into Justice
This week marks the 115th anniversary of the deadliest industrial accident in the history of New York City. On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women and children, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village. At the time of the fire, Frances Perkins was having tea with friends at a townhouse around the corner from the factory. When they heard the fire engines and the commotion, they rushed outside and witnessed a horrific scene firsthand. Perkins watched as workers, trapped by locked exit doors and failing fire escapes, began jumping from the factory’s upper floors. She later described the experience as a “searing” moment that changed the course of her life….
A Cautionary Tale of the Importance of Culture
History is littered with business flops, some catastrophic, highly visible disasters that were often hugely hyped before their eventual doom. This year marks the 25th anniversary of one such calamity when media giants AOL and Time Warner combined their businesses in what has come to be described as the worst merger of all time….