Ask-A-Recruiter: Optimizing A Long-Distance Job Search

Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

I have been planning a move to another state, where I don’t have a job yet. Should I just move and try to find a job when I’m there? Are employers more interested in candidates who are instate rather than long-distance?

Moving to a new geographic location without a job is obviously riskier than moving with a job in hand. However, while a long-distance job search poses unique challenges, you can be successful with enough planning.

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Mergers, Mergers Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Spare

980808931_8986077489_m.jpgWarren Buffet gets to play Willy Wonka, as he facilitates the acquisition of chewing gum giant Wrigley by closely-held candy conglomerate Mars Corporation, maker of M&Ms, Snickers, Mars and Milky Way bars. The deal, announced on April 29, 2008, will involve Mars and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway teaming up to acquire Wrigley for $23 billion. Wrigley shareholders will receive $80 per share in the buyout, which represents a 28% premium over the share price at the market close on Friday. After the announcement of the news, Wrigley stock prices were on the rise.

The resulting privately-held company will be a major force in global candy markets. A spokesman for Mars indicated that the company plans to use the Wrigley brand to improve market penetration in fast growing areas Russia, Asia and India. Financing for this deal was provided by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, which was widely seen as a sign of confidence in the capital markets that these investment powerhouses were able to get behind this deal with significant financing.

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Voice of Experience: Joan Bavaria, Founder and CEO of Trillium Asset Management

Contributed by Alana Elsner

From a student of the 1960s, to a single working mother, to Time’s “Hero for the Planet”, Joan Bavaria has certainly led an extraordinary life. “I was the generation of women who tried to do everything,” she explained. As founder and C.E.O. of Trillium Asset Management- one of the first and now oldest independent Socially Responsible Investment firms- Joan sits on numerous boards, has won various prizes, and even managed to start two non-profits- Ceres and the Social Investment Forum.

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Should Employers Accomodate Working Mothers? Part 1

Contributed by Jacqueline Church

 

61299014_c5d3918331_m.jpgThe Glass Hammer article “Why Working Mothers Lie” and the comments that followed it illustrate what can go wrong when work and family issues are mishandled at the workplace. The problem is not bias against working mothers, though it exists. It’s not preferential treatment for working parents, though this too exists. Accommodationist policies, entitlement attitudes, and how we measure employees’ contributions are all part of the problem. Another culprit is an institutional unwillingness to drop “either/or” thinking in favor of “both/and” thinking. As in, we can either support working moms or we can have good business results.

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Time for a Proposed SEC – CFTC Merger?

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s proposal to merge the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is not a new one.

Robert Litan, a senior fellow at the non-partisan think tank Brookings Institute, told the Chicago Tribune that the Bush administration is using the distress in capital markets as a way to finally get these ideas a public hearing.
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BoardMatch Gives Women a Boost in the Boardroom

Contributed by Heather Cassell

FWE_E_Logo.JPGNora Denzel is very happy with her new seat on the board of directors of Overland Storage, a San Diego-based data storage company, she says.

Denzel, Senior Vice President of payroll services at Intuit, Inc., found her board seat with the assistance of BoardMatch, a program run by Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives (FEW&E), a Palo Alto-based organization for female executives.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” says Denzel, who serves on two committees on Overland Storage’s board and is also the FWE&E’s BoardMatch coordinator. She says that, since the inception of the program in 2006, she has conducted a dozen board searches and is one of two women who found a seat on a board in 2007 through the program.

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SixFigureStart Teleclass Series:How to Launch a Successful Job Search

Join Connie Thanasoulis for a four week teleclass that will offer you a complete overview of how to launch a job search, make yourself more marketable and ultimately be successful. Be Sure to mention The Glass Hammer when you sign up.

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Passions: Dog Mushing

Contributed by Saadiah Freeman

Picture_096.jpgI can’t recall exactly what triggered this disturbing addiction. Was it the frenzy of excited barks, howls and yelps that greeted me as I walked into the snowy dog yard, every dog seemingly begging to be harnessed up for a joyous romp through the freshly-fallen powder? The hushed exhilaration of gliding through the winter stillness in the sled basket, the silence broken only by the swish of the sled runners and the dogs’ soft footfalls on the hard-packed trail? Or, perhaps, the elation of driving the sled for the first time as the trained leaders swung expertly to the left in response to my call of “Haw! Haw!”? These ancient and unfamiliar commands, used by dog drivers (or “mushers”) all over the world, seemed to flow up from a place deep in my belly and emerge from my mouth fully formed, as though they had been sleeping there all along, waiting for this moment to leap into life. I knew I had to find a way to make this last. I had to do it again, and soon. No doubt about it – I was hooked.

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Science Sheds Light on Why Women Leave Work

Contributed by Bailey McCann

421949167_a2b2301595_m.jpg“If you are seriously interested in a career you don’t have time for children and if you are seriously interested in bringing up more than one child, you don’t have the time, effort, and imagination for getting to the top of a career.”

That quote by British sociologist Catherine Hakim, and her subsequent publications have brought the ire of the feminist community, who would argue that women are not their own barriers to advancement. However, recent scientific understanding of women’s brains seems to support Ms. Hakim’s idea. An excerpt from Susan Pinker’s book “The Sexual Paradox” was featured in the Times of London. Her research examines how having children can cause high-achieving women to turn down prestigious positions in favor of their family’s needs.

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Ask A Recruiter: Transitioning from For-Profit to Not-For-Profit

Contributed by Gretchen Anderson and Michelle Kedem

woman_with_laptop.jpgI’ve recently run into a few women I used to know in banking, and they’re now working in the not-for-profit sector. Inspired by their stories, I’m contemplating making this kind of transition myself, but I’d like to get a realistic sense of what this would mean before I put myself out there. How can I demonstrate that I’d be a good choice for a mission-driven organization, even if my whole previous career has been in the for-profit sector?

As you already know, you’re not alone in wanting to make this switch. In today’s job market, there are record numbers of mid-career private sector professionals who are shifting over to the not-for-profit sector. And, while finding a way to give back is often a primary driver for this shift, these people often find a host of other reasons to love their new jobs: a chance to engage with big-picture issues, an improved lifestyle, and a chance to work with colleagues with a different range of experiences, to name just a few.

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