Marty Nemko's Blog, page 297

Short Answers: Landing a Job, Being Appropriately Ambitious

People may be more likely to change behavior from concise advice than from a tome, even though the short piece is, by definition, less comprehensive.

So in a PsychologyToday.com series, Short Answers, I answer common practical questions. To date, all have been on career issues. Today's installment addresses two questions: How should you decide what approach to focus on in landing a job? And how ambitious should you decide to be?

In tomorrow's installment, I'll move on to relationships.

Short Answers to Common Career Questions: Change Careers? Be Self-Employed?

As the second in my PsychologyToday.com series:  Short Answers, I offer short-form thoughts on figuring out if you should change careers and if you should be self-employed.

Short Answers to Common Career Questions: Should I Pursue an Artistic Career? Should I Retire?

Should you pursue an artistic career? Should you retire? Those are common career questions and a I take a crack at providing hyper-concise answers to them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Behaviorism at Work

Behaviorism is among psychology’s most robust principles. Per B.F. Skinner, the principle is that you get more of what you reward, less of what you ignore and especially punish.

Behaviorism is widely used with challenging behavior, for example, with children with developmental disabilities. In the workplace, it's often referred to as Organizational Behavior Management (OBM.)

Manuel “Manny” Rodriguez  is the Executive Director of the Organizational Behavior Management Network and its former President of the Board. My interview with him is my PsychologyToday.com article today.

My Approach to Writing: Tactics for your professional and personal writing.

After having written nine books and more than 3,000 nationally-published articles, including for TIME, The Atlantic, and more than 1,000 for Psychology Today, perhaps it might be helpful for me to describe my approach to writing. I offer them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

You needn't be a how-to writer to use these tactics. They may be useful in a wide range of professional and personal writing.

Career Advice for New Graduates in a Tough Market

The government-reported low unemployment rate paints a misleadingly upbeat picture. The job market looks far less rosy when you add two huge groups not counted in the “unemployment rate:” 

There’s the under-employed: People who wished they had a full-time professional-level job and are working part-time, for low-pay, on a job they could have done straight out of high school---Uber anyone? Then there are the millions who have given up looking for work. They, somehow, are not counted in the “unemployment rate.” The more accurate statistic is the underreported Labor Participation rate, which is within ½ of 1% of the lowest since early 1978. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/labor-force-participation-rate   A record 95 million Americans 18-64 are not in the labor force.

And with the U.S. having the highest percentage of college graduates in history, that degree is a mere hunting license for employment beyond a McJob.

The ideas I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today may help. They’re widely applicable, not aimed at stars.

If You Didn't Have to Work, Would You? A short-short story.

The year is 2050 and 2017’s optimists were pretty much right. People only work if they elect to. That’s because technology has made everything so inexpensive that corporate taxes can afford to support everyone at a middle-class level.  Would you elect to work? Would most people?

I explore that in a short-short story that's my PsychologyToday.com offering today.

Helping a Mean Child Become Kinder

If you’re fortunate enough to have a child who, from early on, is all about sharing and caring, wonderful. 

But what if your child tends to be mean: the kind of kid who’d pull a cat’s tail, root for the villain, make fun of a fat child, beat up a weakling, spread rumors about a popular person, or coax someone into getting high or into having sex when reluctant.

As my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer tips. They’re aimed at parents but much is applicable to relatives, teachers, and other influencers.

"Girls Rule!" What your son is seeing about his sex.

I noticed a couple walking with a school-age boy and girl. The boy was wearing a non-descript shirt but the girl was wearing one that said, “Girls Rule!”

That motivated me to do some research on the extent of anti-male versus anti-female products. I summarize what I found in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Ethical Dilemmas: Pros and cons of nine common conundrums.

One way to improve our ethics is to example arguments on both sides of common ethical dilemmas.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers nine.