When to Work for Free

My article on AOL today: When to work for free.

Job Hunters: Job simulations are replacing standard interview questions

I've long advocated that employers use job simulations as a key tool for deciding whom to hire. The practice is taking off, including firms that corporations hire to create such simulations. One, HireArt, was touted recently in Thomas Friedman's New York Times column. Another, HireVue, was profiled in this month's Forbes.

Adam Grant, a currently hot employment guru wrote this, providing the intellectual underpinnings for replacing interviews with assessments. He particularly touts instruments that assess drive. 

The message to jobseekers: Especially if you're applying to large companies, be sure you're applying for jobs where you can demonstrate the skills to do the job  and not just try to get by with slick resume and cover letter language, and canned answers to standard interview questions like, "Tell me a problem you solved."

My next UC Berkeley lecture is open to the public: "What Every Career-Minded Professional Must Know for 2014 and Beyond"

After keynoting the Beyond Academia event at U.C.Berkeley two months ago, it has hired me again, this time to give an Extension Public Lecture. The event is open to the public.

I'm calling it, What Every Career-Minded Professional Must Know for 2014 and Beyond. I'm flattered to have been given that opportunity and that it was the first event touted by the Dean in her summer message.

It will be on June 12 from noon to 1 pm. I'll discuss six career "truths" that I don't believe are so true any more, if they ever were.

While the lecture is free, registration is required. To register or for more information, including location, click HERE.

My Home-Office Garden

Forgive my deviating from the no-nonsense tenor of this blog but I am enjoying how the deck planter outside my home-office is looking now and thought you might too.

The third picture includes my doggie Einstein.

Click on the images and they'll enlarge.

It's remarkable how little work it takes me to produce a good garden in the San Francisco Bay Area with absolutely no spraying for pests or fungus. The keys are an automatic watering system and that I've carefully selected hybrids for beauty, length of bloom season, and disease-resistance.

The bright pink plant is Godetia Grace. The light pink daisy bush is Argyranthemum Pink Comet. The orange zinnia is Magellan Coral. It blooms beautifully for eight months and available in many nurseries for just $3 or $4 for a six-pack or by seed from many vendors, for example, Harris Seeds. The large white daisy is Snow Lady. The small bright red rose is one I hybridized and is commercially available: Paint the Town.

I know that "heirlooms" and non-hybrids are today's fad, perceived as more "natural" but most of those really are inferior: less beautiful and more disease-prone.

The rest of my garden is looking good now too. Here's just one picture from it. It's of three bougainvillea: left to right: Spectabilis, James Walker, and Imperial Delight. 

Creating a Strong, Ethical Resume, Fast

You're dreading writing your resume. My post today on USNews.com and republished on Yahoo!.com: How to create a strong, ethical resume, fast.

I'd Like to Ask a Favor

Update: I just heard that thanks to you, almost $4,000 was raised during my show's hour. For comparison this was four times as much as the show that preceded mine. Thank you very much. I will continue to work hard to earn your support. 

This morning (Sunday, May 19) from 11 am to noon, Pacific time, on my KALW-FM (NPR-San Francisco) radio program, Work with Marty Nemko, on which I try to help people with their worklife,  I'll ask listeners to donate money to the radio station.

I get none of the money but the amount I collect during my hour is used as an indicator of how many people listen to my show, the strength of their support for the show and, in turn, whether my show should stay on the air.

As in most public radio donation drives, I offer thank-you gifts for giving during my hour:

• If you donate $75, you get an autographed copy of my book, How to Do Life: What they didn't teach you in school.   

• For $150 or $250 for a couple, you get to come to the studio on June 30 to watch the show and then have brunch with my wife and frequent co-conspirator on the show, Barbara Nemko, as well as with fellow donors. We've done these brunches before and they are a networking opportunity, a chance to offer input on my show, and oh yes, people find it quite fun. A number of people have come more than once. It's limited to just a dozen people.

It is a bit ironic for me to ask you to donate to KALW. After all, the station mainly presents leftist views and I so value diversity of ideology. And I wouldn't choose to listen to most of the music played on the station. But I do care to keep doing my program, soooh, there you go. At least I'm asking in a way that I believe is devoid of the hype that too often characterizes money-raising efforts.

Oh and, of course, most of the show today is not spent asking for money. I'm committed to keeping the requests brief. The hour focuses on Barbara and me talking about how to get cured of excessively  interrupting people---one of my many failings.

Whether during or after the show, it's easy to donate. Just call 1-800-525-9917 or go to www.kalw.org.  As I said, I get none of the money. It's just a way to help keep my show on the air and more important, to support public radio. Whether you're donating during my show or afterwards, I would appreciate your mentioning that you're donating to support Work with Marty Nemko. 

Whether or not you donate, I hope you'll listen this morning from 11 am to noon. You can hear it on 91.7 FM in San Francisco, or anywhere on the world right here on your computer at www.kalw.org from 11 am to noon, Pacific time.

Me Talking Careers on AOL as the "Opening Act" for Sheryl Sandberg?!

AOL video-interviewed me today for a half-hour. HERE is the three-minute highlight reel.

The interviewer asked me about resumes, landing a government job, and who should and shouldn't go to college or graduate school.

The video continues with Marlo Thomas asking Sheryl Sandberg about  whether college is still a wise choice.I never thought I'd ever be the"opening act" for Sheryl Sandberg!

HERE is the full interview. In the first few minutes, two unemployed college graduates tell their tale. Then I try to help them, after which the interviewer asks me various career-related questions.