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.
How to deal with the annual self-appraisal
It’s the fourth quarter of the year. That means that salespeople are scrambling to get deals signed, finance people are getting ready to close out the year, and that the dreaded self-appraisal is upon us. The self-appraisal is a common performance management practice. Ostensibly, an employee’s self-appraisal and rating should give the manager valuable…
Tales from the trenches…HR and Management Incompetency Edition
This is my second installment of a new series called “Tales from the trenches,” in which I share a particularly fascinating (and usually rife with stupidity) story I’ve heard. I do not work in a large corporate environment, but many of my clients do. This means that although I am not involved in the…
It’s a shame: Social media & the job seeker
In my work as a career coach, I talk to a lot of people. A lot. When I’m working with job seekers, I often counsel them to review their social media accounts and think critically about the content within the context of “would this be appropriate in a professional setting.” Of course, personal social…
Corporate Bro, yo!
Corporate Bro culture has been getting a lot of press, especially with the ensuing #MeToo movement. One of the best illustrations of corporate Bro culture this blog post, which is a female engineer’s reflections on a long, strange year she spent at ride-sharing company Uber. This blistering missive describes antics you would expect (but…
Are you hiring for cultural fit? You might want to rethink that.
Companies that love to brag about their distinct and defining cultures often cite culture as a significant recruiting tool. In turn, their hiring managers often regard the nebulous “cultural fit” as the most essential factor in evaluating candidates. But is this a good way to hire? Not always. What tends to happen is that…
Everything you love to hate about performance reviews
The performance review. Universally reviled by all involved, this annual exercise is one that causes managers and employees to recoil in horror. Managers hate writing performance reviews and holding meetings. Employees dread the annual discussion of what could be done better. While some companies have, in recent years, moved to eliminate the formal, annual…
Top ten pieces of old, outdated career advice that you should ignore
Over the last 30 years, the job market has fundamentally changed. The advent of the internet and the ensuing Information Age, along with a complete revision of the postwar employment contract has placed the onus of managing one’s career on the individual, rather than on the company. But with this responsibility comes a heightened…
Lazy hiring to the extreme
If you follow my blog, you know that one of my pet peeves is #LazyRecruiting and its cousin #LazyHiring. Lazy hiring/recruiting is rampant in any job market. When it’s an employer’s market, it takes the form of hiring companies kicking back, and having job seekers do all the work. In a candidate’s market, like…
Millennials and Gen Z are Changing the Culture of the Workplace
In the bygone era, prior to the late 1980s, life in corporate America was good. It was comfortable. Predictable. Secure. All you had to do was go to college (or not), get a job, work your way up, and then, 40 years later, retire with a full pension. By 1988, “downsizing” had come into favor…
How to deal with sycophants at work
In Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, two swindlers convince a vain emperor they could weave the most elegant clothes so uncommonly fine, only those with the highest refinement, good taste, and exceptional intelligence would be able to see them. The ambitious emperor heartily agrees, thinking it would help him to distinguish the…