careers - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

• Getting a mentor and tips on Twitter, job references

  You don't need to be a recent college grad or mid-level employee to benefit from a mentor. In fact, says Caroline Simard, director of research at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and coauthor of Mentoring in a Box, mentoring is shown to increase future earnings, promotions, job satisfaction and retention regardless of your career stage. "It's especially important now because as Baby Boomers prepare to retire, there's this whole knowledge transfer that needs to happen," she says. Here's how to find an outside mentor and get the most from that relationship.

• How Washington, D.C. is using IT to clean streets

  The District of Columbia had a mess on its hands. Its streets were dirty and illegally parked cars were blocking the city's fleet of street sweepers from cleaning them up. Faced with an average of 89 illegally parked vehicles per street sweeping route, per day, parking officials were only enforcing regulations for 20 percent of the problem. Meanwhile, 40,000 pounds of oil and grease and 1,200 pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus needed clearing from roadways each month by the department of public works. Residents wanted it taken care of.

• A New Business Model for a Wal-Mart Supplier

  An old adage tells us that the best things come in small packages, but an e-commerce partnership between Stork Craft Manufacturing and Wal-Mart Canada has proven a big deal.

• How CIOs can foster innovation in IT

  "OK. What's Next?" It's the last leg of a three-part agenda Eurpac CIO Mike Skinner uses each time he meets with his staff. Number one: Where are resources invested? Number two: What progress have we made? Number three: What's our next goal? Every meeting. Every agenda. Every time.

• Break your public speaking PowerPoint addiction

  The CIO walked on stage with every apparent confidence, relaxed and ready to tell his story. His opener was a droll little anecdote about fending off starving vendors. The audience was smiling back at him, BlackBerrys tucked away, fully engaged. Then the speaker picked up the clicker, lashed himself to the mast of an absolutely stupefying, bullet-point-riddled PowerPoint deck and sank like a stone. Sixty seconds into his slides, the BlackBerrys revved back up and the audience was gone, baby, gone.

• Why CIOs and IT need a vacation

  Stress necessitates rest, and yet a recessionary pressure-cooker of a workplace has some IT leaders scared to take their due vacation time.

• Twitter tips: how to find job posts on Twitter

  Although many companies have been shedding jobs, some employers and recruiters have turned to Twitter to post positions and find new talent.

• IT consultants still in demand in June: SEEK

  The growing rate of unemployment in Australia may be stabilising, according to the findings of the latest SEEK Employment Index (SEI).

• IT job seekers: Can you answer 12 gotcha questions?

  There's a dozen interview questions that fluster IT job seekers at all career levels. Give a surprised or weak answer to any of them, and red flags fly. Hiring managers may conclude that a candidate is ill-prepared, and thus the job seeker can look forward to more months of firing off résumés in the worst job market in years.

• How to stop e-mail from ruining your holiday

  Does your holiday checklist include sifting through hundreds of e-mails the day before you return to the office? Will your BlackBerry be as essential as your swimsuit? Do you fear your "staycation" will turn into writing e-mails each day?

• Three Tips for Hearing about Jobs from Recruiters

  Help!

• Job seekers: get ready for the 'character' interview

  As laid-off executives flood the labor pool, some employers are seizing the opportunity to "upgrade" their management teams, say executive recruiters. In this job market, employers realize they might be able to recruit more experienced leaders -- possibly at lower salaries -- now than in the past.

• ICT salaries continue to grow despite GFC: ACS

  Salaries of ICT professionals have slowed on average over the twelve months to May 2009 a new survey from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) finds.

• ACS, AIIA promote National ICT Careers Week

  The National ICT Careers Week will again be held this year in an effort to increase the uptake of IT education and training.

• Why even successful speakers need to practice

  Rock stars do it before striding on stage. Actors do it before gazing into the camera. Even nervous 10-year-olds do it before arriving at their piano recitals. (Of course, their mothers make them.)