In college, I worked as a waitress at a popular Italian restaurant in Boston. The owners were reputed mobsters and did nothing to discredit the rumor. Basically, they treated us like dogs and told us not to complain about it because we were making big tips. The tips were indeed good, so I hung in [...]

Two entrepreneurs seize the day. Making a career dream come true means different things to different people. For a certain brand of entrepreneurs who have a passion to share with the world, the best career path is self-employment. “I’ve always been big into goal-setting and making dreams come true,” says Anne Leighton, an independent music [...]

Feeling like you have no say in your career? Feeling like a leaf drifting down a river, at the mercy of the currents, with no say in where you land? Feeling generally frustrated with your work? Like so many people today, these feelings may seem familiar. Increasing competition, technological innovation, and shifts in economic fundamentals [...]

Start early to get a jump start on your internship and a career. Finding the right internship can make all the difference in launching a promising new career, and not only for young people just out of college or graduate school. But how do you find the internship that’s right for you? That’s up to [...]

Should you get a full-time job after graduation or start work on an M.B.A.? The answer depends on whom you ask. Students who go directly to graduate business school insist they get a lot out of their studies without working first. But many business-school officials don’t agree. Many M.B.A. programs require students to work for [...]

Fear of math and muggers. That, in a nutshell, is what Don Martin sees as his biggest obstacle to attracting more women to the M.B.A. program at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, where he is associate dean for enrollment management. With women accounting for only a quarter of full-time enrollment, Chicago lags [...]

Transition From the Student World to the Real World Will Kiser, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Georgia in Athens, isn’t quite ready to graduate yet. An English major, he is now the variety editor for UGA’s student newspaper, the Red & Black. No stranger to the world of work, Kiser has put in [...]

These bad beliefs can divert your career path. Sometimes those looking for employment can get faulty guidance. The following myths can keep jobseekers from finding a great job after graduation. Myth #1: I need to take the first job I am offered. Don’t allow those school loans force you to make a hasty career move. For [...]

Academics find success as corporate trainers. Academics in search of extra cash, or just keen for a change of pace, are taking their talents to the corporate sector. The critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills they developed inside the ivory tower are highly valued elsewhere. Academics straddling both worlds say the trick is to [...]

Should you get a full-time job after graduation or start work on an M.B.A.? The answer depends on whom you ask. Students who go directly to graduate business school insist they get a lot out of their studies without working first. But many business-school officials don’t agree. Many M.B.A. programs require students to work for [...]

The robust economy drove up salaries for the Class of 2010, according to a recent survey of 104 colleges released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The most recent graduating class saw, on average, larger salary increases than did the Class of 2009. Some employers are even reporting that students, who recognize [...]

Interning–otherwise known as the modern equivalent to slave labor–can be the most rewarding way for young students or recent grads to gain experience in a particular field. At least, that’s what the experts say. But these experts aren’t the ones sorting, collating, or filing. At what point does your intern experience fail to become its [...]

The term adventure travel gets tossed around so much these days, it’s in danger of becoming a cliche. But what exactly is it? Luckily, you don’t have to go careening down a 540-foot drop on snow skis, brave the oxygen-deprived elevations of Nepal’s Mt. Everest or risk your life rafting the roughest passage of the [...]

The number of working women in the United States has increased phenomenally in the past century, from only 5.3 million in 1900 to 75 million in 2010. In fact, according to the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, 99 out of every 100 women work for pay at some point in their lives. If you are [...]

Ask managers worth their salt if praising staff is important and they will answer with a resounding “yes.” Then ask their employees if they receive enough recognition. Invariably, they crave more kudos for their hard work. Why is there such a disconnect? If managers wholeheartedly agree that praise is beneficial, why do their employees struggle [...]