Career advice from Anne Fisher - FORTUNE Magazine

Should you reveal a disability during the job search?

Mon, 09 May 2011 17:59:52 EDT

Dear Annie: I have an unusual problem, but I hope you and your readers can give me some pointers. The situation is this: I suffer from fibromyalgia, which occasionally (about twice a month, on average) is so painful that I literally can't move.

Top 10 myths about job interviews

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:16:50 EST

Dear Annie: I graduated from college last spring and, after taking a few months off to take care of some family business, I'm looking for my first "real" job. I've been lucky enough to get several interviews, and they've gone pretty well, but I have to say, I'm kind of mystified. While I was still in school, I read a bunch of books about how to prepare for a job interview, and one thing they all said was that interviewers would be well prepared and ask probing, detailed questions.

How to launch a second career that gives back

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:54:29 EST

Dear Annie: After 38 years in financial management, I'll be retiring at the end of this year, but I hope to be working just as hard at something new. My wife and I (and our two daughters) are avid amateur musicians who each got our start through music classes in our public schools.

How to manage millennials

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:24:27 EDT

Dear Annie: I read with amusement your recent advice to the summer intern who hoped for a job offer despite a tattoo ("Get hired after an internship," August 20). Great, but how about some help for those of us on the other side of the desk? I'm managing a team of 10 part timers between the ages of 17 and 20 -- and I'd gladly accept tattoos in place of some of their attitudes.

Turning down the volume on political talk at work

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:13:24 EDT

Dear Annie: I hope you and your readers can give me some guidance, because I am at the end of my tether. I am the supervisor of a small department (eight people) that includes a couple of extremely vocal Tea Party activists, three or four "liberal" types, and one or two of us who are more middle-of-the-road.

Is cubicle etiquette an oxymoron?

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:35:39 EDT

Dear Annie: Am I the only one who wonders what ever happened to good manners? I'm not even that old (37), but it seems to me that people used to make more of an effort to be polite at work and practice certain basic courtesies. Now, it seems the workplace has gotten so casual that anything goes.

How women can change the work world

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:42:09 EDT

No question about it, women have come a long way from the days when Susan Bulkeley Butler first joined consulting firm Arthur Andersen (now Accenture). Back then, in 1965, "There were no female consultants. It was unheard of for a woman to fill any role except support staff," Butler recalls. "So, before they could hire me, my new bosses had to check with clients and make sure they could accept a 'man in a skirt.'" However reluctantly, the clients agreed, and 14 years later, Butler became Andersen's first female partner.

How to ask your boss to work flextime

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:16:54 EDT

Dear Annie: I hope you and your readers have some suggestions for me, because I'm just about at the end of my rope. My 89-year-old mother, who has what her doctor calls "moderate" Alzheimer's disease, came to live with us a few months ago and needs constant supervision. We are lucky enough to have a licensed practical nurse who comes in on weekdays to be with her, but the nurse leaves at 3 p.m., which is right around the time my two teenaged kids get home from school. They've been great about pitching in, but I don't feel it's fair to ask them to give up extracurricular activities in order to keep an eye on my mom. The long and short of it is I really would like to be able to work from home in the late afternoons and early evenings.

Help! My boss is allergic to new ideas

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:16:53 EDT

Dear Annie: I really hope you have some suggestions for me, because I'm tearing my hair out. For the past year or so, a new top management team at my company has been telling us over and over again that we need to come up with lots of fresh ideas, both for becoming more efficient at what we already do and for developing new revenue streams. I and several other people in my department have brainstormed some big proposals that we're pretty sure would produce great results.

8 ways to make air travel less grueling

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:12:08 EDT

Dear Annie: I graduated from college in May and was hired in July as a trainee with a major consulting firm. This is a great opportunity and I'm really excited about it, with one reservation: Starting soon, I'm going to be traveling -- always with a senior associate, in the beginning -- about three weeks out of every month. I've never flown for a job before, only for vacations, and my new boss told me I should watch the movie Up in the Air to get an idea of what he calls "the road warrior subculture," even though, unlike George Clooney, I won't be firing anybody. Anyway, I'm just wondering, do you and your readers have any suggestions on how to make constant air travel less of a hassle? --Junior Birdman

Find a 'retirement' career you'll love

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:43:13 EDT

Dear Annie: For the past six months or so, my employer has been offering voluntary severance packages, including early-retirement packages that would "bridge" senior managers to a pension. I think the hope is that enough people will volunteer to quit that they don't have to lay anyone else off.

Is a college degree really worth $1 million?

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:18:50 EDT

Dear Annie: I bet I'm not the only reader wondering about this, so I hope you can give me some advice. My 17-year-old son, starting his senior year in high school, is very bright but not a good student. He just doesn't enjoy learning in a classroom setting, or excel at taking written tests.

Overworked? Take back your lunch hour

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:34:56 EDT

Dear Annie: Your article about why everyone should take a vacation ("5 ways to take a guilt-free vacation," June 2) got a lot of attention in my office, and we all agree that we are exhausted and need some downtime. But how are we supposed to take our vacations when we can't even get away from our desks long enough to go out for lunch? I work for a big company where so many people have been laid off in the past two years that, even with business relatively slow, we are all putting in 10- and 12-hour days (for weeks on end) just to get the work out the door.

After a drug conviction, can you ever get hired?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:37:02 EDT

Dear Annie: I just read your column on job hunting with a flawed credit history ("Bad credit, no job?" July 2010). I have an even worse problem. About 14 years ago, when I was a junior in college, I made a totally idiotic error in judgment involving drugs. I was arrested and convicted and did some jail time. When I got out, I finished college -- I was a computer science major with a minor in engineering -- and an uncle of mine hired me as an IT guy in a company owned by my family.

Ask for a bigger salary -- and get it

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:36:08 EDT

Dear Annie: I applied for an opening as a senior marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company two months ago and have since been back for three rounds of interviews. The meetings have gone really well, but they haven't made an offer yet.

Get hired after an internship -- even with a tattoo

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:58:19 EDT

Dear Annie: I'll be starting my senior year in college in a few weeks, and right now I'm about two-thirds of the way through an internship at a company where I'd really like to work after I graduate. A counselor at my university's career center told me that it's important to show enthusiasm, so I've been coming in early, staying late, and volunteering for extra work after my regular assignments are done. Apart from that, is there anything else I can do to get hired?

Employers' wacky interview questions

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:08:50 EDT

Dear Annie: I've been lucky enough to get several job interviews in the past couple of months, and I've noticed something strange about all of them, which is that the hiring managers have posed what I would call trick questions.

Get a job, or go to grad school?

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:26:55 EDT

Dear Annie: I hope you can settle an argument. My parents are saying that with my college major (English), it will probably be hard for me to find a job when I graduate next spring. They want me to go straight to grad school and get a master's degree, which they say will make me more "marketable." (They are willing to foot the bill, which I do appreciate.)

Bad credit, no job?

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:37:20 EDT

Dear Annie: I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem. I just came from a job interview -- my first in 4 months, despite pounding the pavement every day -- where the interviewer asked me to sign a form permitting the company to contact any or all of the three major credit bureaus for my current and past credit scores.

What pay should you expect now?

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:36:51 EDT

Dear Annie: I read with interest your recent column on pay ("Get your big paycheck back") because I've been talking with a prospective employer about a new job. The position is similar to the one I have now, running a big chunk of North American manufacturing operations for a global company, with the significant difference that the job I'm considering is brand new -- they recently reorganized and have had no one in this role until now -- so there really is no "usual" (previous) compensation package attached to it.