Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Did Your Interview Questions Break the Law?

My friend Chris Russell over at Secrets of the Job Hunt reported on a recent study by global HR consulting firm Development Dimensions International and Monster that examined the most inappropriate questions job seekers have been asked during an interview.  The study coordinators divided the most popular responses into several categories, including:

Illegal and Inappropriate

• "Would you join a church to get a job?"
• "Are you single? Why not?"
• "Why are you not yet married?"

Offensive and Outrageous

• "Would you be available from time to time to watch my children?"
• "Are you willing to further this interview over dinner and do you mind me bringing my daughter along?"
• "Would you be willing to stay overnight with a client if they request it?"

Overly Personal

• “Do you intend to have children?"
• "Are you happy in your relationship?"
• "Is that your natural hair color?"

Bizarre and Irrelevant

• "Who is your favorite Beatle?"
• "What would you do if I gave you an elephant?"
• "What is your perception of the painting in our lobby?"

“This should be a wake-up call for companies who think that their interviewers are always behaving appropriately with candidates,” says Scott Erker, DDI's Senior Vice President of Selection Solutions. “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides professional guidelines regarding specific questions that hiring managers shouldn't ask, including questions about race, religion, marital status, and age.”

So considering the potential legal landmines, what’s the best way to conduct an interview?  "Focus on their previous experiences and how they relate to the job at hand. You can find out how they deal with customers, how they work in a team and their management or work style by asking for specific examples from previous jobs," Erker says. "You'll learn a lot about them from their past behavior and experiences."

Should You Publish a Book?

A lot of twenty-somethings and early thirty-somethings e-mail me asking for advice on how to publish a book written for their age group.  While I’m not one to discourage people from anything they have their hearts set on, if you like to write and want to offer proactive advice to people your age or a little younger, my honest advice is to start a blog rather than publish a book.  There are a lot of high-profile books out there targeting young people already, written by authors who have years of experience and professional expertise under their belts.  And while you might be considering self-publishing, an outlet like Lulu won’t bring the credibility and distribution of a major New York publisher like Random House or Penguin. 

Blogs, on the other hand, are just getting more popular among the post-high school and college sets, and many twenty and thirty-somethings are using them as jumping off points to writing in other mediums (check out, for example, Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog and his associated products). It’s also much easier to build an audience and a following for a blog than for a book, and blog writing gives you great practice in honing your writing technique and style. 

A few years, ago, when I got started, I didn't have the option of writing a blog because they didn’t exist. Because I had no credibility as an expert, I had to sell my first book for no money to a tiny publisher.  It was a difficult process and a tremendous amount of work for very little payoff.  Now, though, I'm seeing blog writers break into big-time publishing with relatively little effort because they have already proven that people want to read what they have to say.  It’s a smart and systematic approach, and it works.

3 Tips to “Recession Proof” Your Life

I discovered a great new blog, TwentySet, this week.   It’s about personal and professional growth for Millennials, and is written by Monica O’Brien, who has been blogging since the ancient year of 1998.  I especially liked Monica’s post about how twenty-somethings can “recession proof” their lives. I love that the Millennials are actually thinking about their financial well being, because it wasn’t long ago that I was hearing scary statistics about how this generation is already deeply in debt and, thanks to the Baby Boomers draining social security, will be completely out of luck when it comes to retirement benefits. Here are some of Monica’s top tips, in my humble opinion:

1.   

Pay Off Bad Debts: The last thing you need during an economic recession is bad debt in the form of high-interest credit cards.  Take the time now to stop accumulating bad debt and possibly pay off a little extra each month by forgoing entertainment activities, such as movies with friends, dinners at restaurants, or drinks at the local bar.

2.

Invest In Your Career:  It looks like many of us will probably be getting an extra $600 back with our tax return this year thanks to the White House. Whether that return will come in time to halt an economic recession remains to be seen, but either way it’s important we take the money and spend it to stimulate the economy.  Take the $600 dollars and spend it on your career or personal development - that way, you are benefiting the US economy and bettering your job situation.

3. 

Build Long Term Wealth: This is the best time to invest your money in your 401K plan because stock prices will be low, you’ll get more for your money, and you have about 30-40 years of investing time.  You could make huge returns, as long as you choose stable stocks from commodity companies who have been in business for a long time.

There’s a lot of hand wringing going on with all of this recession talk, and it’s great to see smart twenty-somethings like Monica out there providing actionable advice you can apply today.

Inspiring Story of an Incredible Career Switch

This post continues the saga of my friend Phil, who just successfully transitioned from a career as an evening news producer to a sweet gig as the Director of Communications for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus.

As you guys know, talking to people about how to change careers, and how to find a job they’re truly passionate about, is pretty much what I do. And Phil’s story is one of the best I’ve heard this year. Fortunately, I was able to personally witness how the events unfolded.

Phil and Beta had invited a panel of successful Ohio-ans to supplement my keynote, and Phil and I discussed how, during the networking portion of the afternoon, he’d talk to every single one of them about his potential career switch. Well, one of those panelists was Jay Goyal, an inspiring guy himself who, in his mid-twenties, had just been elected to the Ohio House of Representatives.  Jay gave Phil’s resume along with a glowing personal recommendation to some people he knew on the Columbus political scene, and next thing we all knew, Phil had an amazing job in a brand new career. He’d barely broken a sweat.

A few months ago, Phil and his wife Elizabeta invited me to speak at a networking event they were holding in their hometown of Columbus, OH. Phil was still working at the TV station then, but knew he wanted to explore very different opportunities in communications, so we edited his resume the night before the event to reflect his more general skills areas – like public relations, event coordination, and people management – rather than his ultra-specific TV experience.

I have to admit, when Phil first told me he wanted to move from journalism into a senior communications position, I was skeptical. I’ve been in the communications field for almost ten years, and you’re usually expected to work your way up. But Phil figured out what he wanted to do, he crafted a resume that would appeal to his targets, and then he went about meeting the people who could help him make the switch a reality. He exemplifies how if you’re willing to follow a workable process and have a little faith, you can do just about anything.