Stories by Meridith Levinson

Is an IT career a good idea right now?

In 2006, Chris Loope was working as a consultant implementing a new ERP system for a client. The 18-month project required Loope to clock 80-hour work weeks and to travel frequently between his home in Dallas and his client's office in Atlanta.

For years, CIOs have been fighting the stereotype that they're weak communicators, unable to speak the language of business or relate to anyone outside of IT. But by using practiced communication skills, many CIOs are proving how convincing, credible and captivating they can be-in the boardroom and on the Web. (For evidence, check out blogs by British Telecom's JP Rangaswami, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center CIO John Halamka and Mike Schaffner, the director of IT for Cameron International's valves and measurement group.)

Recruiters, professional résumé writers and other career experts give out tons of advice on how best to write a résumé that will stand out from the competition. Their intentions are noble - they want to help people land jobs - but the problem with their advice is that it doesn't always apply to IT professionals and the nature of the work they do, says Shana Westerman, a recruiting manager with IT staffing firm Sapphire Technologies.

Jobvite, a maker of recruiting software, released the results of its third-annual social recruiting survey this morning, and the findings underscore the many reasons job seekers need to incorporate online social networking into their job searches.

What's the recipe for project management success? Many IT professionals agree that buy-in and support from top management,clearly defined scope and requirements, good communication, and the right project resources top the list of key ingredients.

IT departments say they want innovation from their outsourcing vendors, and the vendors say they want to provide it. So <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/141066/CIO_s_Exclusive_Outsourcing_and_Innovation_Survey">why is innovation in outsourcing so rare</a>?

When Nathan Bennett and Stephen Miles started working on their book, Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals (Stanford University Press 2010), they noticed that the vast majority of career management books offer the same advice: Get to know yourself, what you like and dislike, what you're good at, and find a job that combines those things.

So you arrive at a big job interview confident and prepared. It starts off strong. Conversation flows smoothly. You're saying all the right things.

Despite the global recession, historic unemployment and massive corporate budget cuts, U.S. project managers are largely optimistic about their salaries in 2010, according to data from the Project Management Institute's (PMI) recently released 2009 Project Management Salary Survey.

George Moraetes, an information security executive, hasn't been able to find a steady job in two years. As a result, he's had to consider moving into a smaller home. His wife is losing her patience with him and with their financial situation, and his children tell him he's a loser.

Social networking is a key component of today's job searches because job seekers want to be where hiring managers can find them, and increasingly, hiring managers are cruising social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter to source and vet candidates.

Job loss and unemployment hit their victims hard. When people lose their jobs, they also lose a significant component of their identity, along with their daily routines and financial security. Job loss and unemployment upend people's feelings of self-worth, comfort, security and personal control.

No one likes to talk about their job search, especially when they're not making much headway, which is unfortunately the case for most unemployed professionals these days. But talking about your job search with your immediate family can be particularly frustrating. After all, they're the ones who have the most to gain or lose from it.

With the Olympic fanfare over, I finally had the chance to watch Undercover Boss, CBS's new reality TV show about corporate executives who go undercover to observe first-hand what's happening on the front lines of their businesses and find out how their almighty management decisions really get implemented.