Overqualified


Book Description

Cover letters are all the same. They're useless. You write the same lies over and over again, listing the store-bought parts of yourself that you respect the least. God knows how they tell anyone apart, but this is how it's done. And then one day a car comes out of nowhere, and suddenly everything changes and you don't know if he'll ever wake up. You get out of bed in the morning, and when you sit down to write another paint-by-numbers cover letter, something entirely different comes out. You start threatening instead of begging. You tell impolite jokes. You talk about your childhood and your sexual fantasies. You sign your real name and you put yourself honestly into letter after letter and there is no way you are ever going to get this job. Not with a letter like this. And you send it anyway.




Overqualified/Underqualified


Book Description




Elgar Encyclopedia of Organizational Psychology


Book Description

In this comprehensive Encyclopedia, Matthijs Bal brings together over 190 international experts to present fresh perspectives on key concepts, theories and research in organizational psychology. Entries cover central topics in the field, such as performance and work family balance, as well as upcoming and underrepresented areas such as decolonization, authenticity and playful work. This title contains one or more Open Access entries.







Careerealism


Book Description

Why are so many people unhappy on-the-job? . As many as 7 out of 10 Americans are currently dissatisfied with their careers. . Expensive college degrees are seen by our society as a requirement to enter the American workforce. Yet, many students fail to graduate with the skills and knowedge necessary to embark on a satisfying career path.The result is an unprepared individual, saddled with debt, and frustrated with a system that has left them hanging with respect to making good career decisions. . The concept of work-life balance continues to elude our society as thousands of workers complain of 'living to work' instead of 'working to live.' It's no secret that career satisfaction eludes much of the American working population, but what's worse is the lack of resources and coaching to help today's employee find the career satisfaction they seek. In this innovative, step-by-step guide, workplace expert, professional development specialist, and nationally syndicated career advice columnist, J.T. O'Donnell (www.jtodonnell.com) unlocks the secrets to working smarter when it comes to creating a career you can get excited about.With more than 15 years experience, having coached thousands of individuals, O'Donnell will show you how to develop an authentic definition of professional success that will get you results. Here's what readers have to say: Her strategic approach really helped me flesh out what traits and experience I brought to the table for a potential employer in a different field. Her methods, encouragement and continued support have led me to find the right career path.- Helen D. I hated my job, wanted out, and didn't know where to begin. I had a decision to make: I could continue on the track to working my 9-5 job in front of a desk and let it define me and make me miserable, or look for something different. J.T.showed me that it's not your job that defines you at all;it's you who defines your job. She worked with me to figure out my strengths and work on my weaknesses. J.T.helped me learn that who I am is far more than the paycheck I bring in. Through that exploration of my own real desires, J.T.helped me to realize that I needed a far more creative outlet to be successful in. I can truly say that without J.T.'s help, I certainly would not be where I am today. I'm more aware of my life and the people in it...I absolutely love my job and really feel successful. I owe an immense amount of gratitude to J.T. for getting me to this place in my life. - Danielle H. The information in this book is so on target, I wish I'd found it earlier in my career.I can't begin to express what it is like to have finally found not just the reasons, but the solutions, to my past career disappointments.- John T.




Leaving Academia


Book Description

A guide for grad students and academics who want to find fulfilling careers outside higher education. With the academic job market in crisis, 'Leaving Academia' helps grad students and academics in any scholarly field find satisfying careers beyond higher education. The book offers invaluable advice to visiting and adjunct instructors ready to seek new opportunities, to scholars caught in "tenure-trap" jobs, to grad students interested in nonacademic work, and to committed academics who want to support their students and contingent colleagues more effectively. Providing clear, concrete ways to move forward at each stage of your career change, even when the going gets tough, 'Leaving Academia' is both realistic and hopeful.




Turning Science Into Things People Need


Book Description

Ten respected scientists who have built successful careers in industry reveal how they made the transition from research scientist to industrial scientist or successful entrepreneur and discuss what kind of jobs scientists hold in the private sector.




Why Good People Can't Get Jobs


Book Description

Peter Cappelli confronts the myth of the skills gap and provides an actionable path forward to put people back to work. Even in a time of perilously high unemployment, companies contend that they cannot find the employees they need. Pointing to a skills gap, employers argue applicants are simply not qualified; schools aren't preparing students for jobs; the government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants; and even when the match is right, prospective employees won't accept jobs at the wages offered. In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton management professor and director of Wharton's Center for Human Resources, debunks the arguments and exposes the real reasons good people can't get hired. Drawing on jobs data, anecdotes from all sides of the employer-employee divide, and interviews with jobs professionals, he explores the paradoxical forces bearing down on the American workplace and lays out solutions that can help us break through what has become a crippling employer-employee stand-off. Among the questions he confronts: Is there really a skills gap? To what extent is the hiring process being held hostage by automated software that can crunch thousands of applications an hour? What kind of training could best bridge the gap between employer expectations and applicant realities, and who should foot the bill for it? Are schools really at fault? Named one of HR Magazine's Top 20 Most Influential Thinkers of 2011, Cappelli not only changes the way we think about hiring but points the way forward to rev America's job engine again.




Why Wages Don't Fall during a Recession


Book Description

A deep question in economics is why wages and salaries don't fall during recessions. This is not true of other prices, which adjust relatively quickly to reflect changes in demand and supply. Although economists have posited many theories to account for wage rigidity, none is satisfactory. Eschewing "top-down" theorizing, Truman Bewley explored the puzzle by interviewing--during the recession of the early 1990s--over three hundred business executives and labor leaders as well as professional recruiters and advisors to the unemployed. By taking this approach, gaining the confidence of his interlocutors and asking them detailed questions in a nonstructured way, he was able to uncover empirically the circumstances that give rise to wage rigidity. He found that the executives were averse to cutting wages of either current employees or new hires, even during the economic downturn when demand for their products fell sharply. They believed that cutting wages would hurt morale, which they felt was critical in gaining the cooperation of their employees and in convincing them to internalize the managers' objectives for the company. Bewley's findings contradict most theories of wage rigidity and provide fascinating insights into the problems businesses face that prevent labor markets from clearing. Table of Contents: Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Methods 3. Time and Location 4. Morale 5. Company Risk Aversion 6. Internal Pay Structure 7. External Pay Structure 8. The Shirking Theory 9. The Pay of New Hires in the Primary Sector 10. Raises 11. Resistance to Pay Reduction 12. Experiences with Pay Reduction 13. Layoffs 14. Severance Benefits 15. Hiring 16. Voluntary Turnover 17. The Secondary Sector 18. The Unemployed 19. Information, Wage Rigidity, and Labor Negotiations 20. Existing Theories 21. Remarks on Theory 22. Whereto from Here? Notes References Index Reviews of this book: In Why Wages Don't Fall During A Recession, [Truman Bewley] tackles one of the oldest, and most controversial, puzzles in economics: why nominal wages rarely fall (and real wages do not fall enough) when unemployment is high. But he does so in a novel way, through interviews with over 300 businessmen, union leaders, job recruiters and unemployment counsellors in the north-eastern United States during the early 1990s recession...Mr. Bewley concludes that employers resist pay cuts largely because the savings from lower wages are usually outweighed by the cost of denting workers' morale: pay cuts hit workers' standard of living and lower their self-esteem. Falling morale raises staff turnover and reduces productivity...Mr. Bewley's theory has some interesting implications...[and] has a ring of truth to it. --The Economist Reviews of this book: This contribution to the growing literature on behavioral macroeconomics threatens to disturb the tranquil state of macroeconomic theory that has prevailed in recent years...Bewley's argument will be hard for conventional macroeconomists to ignore, partly because of the extraordinary thoroughness and honesty with which he evidently conducted his investigation, and the sheer volume of evidence he provides...Although Bewley's work will not settle the substantive debates related to wage rigidity, it is likely to have a profound influence on the way macroeconomists construct models. In particular, the concepts of morale, fairness, and money illusion are almost certain to play a big role in macroeconomic theory. His demonstration that there exist in reality simple, robust behavioral patters that cannot plausibly be founded on traditional maximizing behabior also raises the prospect of a more empirically oriented, more behavioral macroeconomics in the future. --Peter Howitt, journal of Economic Literature Reviews of this book: I think any scholar interested in labour markets and wage determination should read this well-written, lively, and highly stimulating book...[It] provides a fresh view and a lot of complementary background knowledge about how experienced people in the field see the employment relationship and what is actually crucial. Knowledge of this sort is all too rare in economics, and Truman Bewley's truly impressive study can serve as a role model for future investigations. --Simon G'chter, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics To call this book a breath of fresh air is an understatement. The direct insights are fascinating, and Truman Bewley's use of them is sharp and insightful. Labor economists and macroeconomists have a lot to think about. --Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate, Institute Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Truman Bewley set out to conduct a handful of interviews with business executives to gain some theoretical inspiration, and his project blossomed into over 300 interviews with business people, labor leaders and consultants. He is truly the accidental interviewer of economics. Time and again, he found that workers behave like people, not atomistic, selfish economic agents. His insights will engage and enrage economic theorists and empiricists for years to come. --Alan Krueger, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University




Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2023 Settling In


Book Description

This joint OECD-European Commission publication presents a comprehensive comparison of the integration outcomes of immigrants and their children in OECD, EU and selected other countries.