What color is your parachute? : a practical manual for job-hunters and career-changers [book]

Author: Richard Nelson Bolles

Covers: the five best ways to hunt for a job, resumes and contacts, interviews, how to choose a new career, choosing a career coach and finding work when you're aged over 50.

Repairing the World's Financial System. (journal article)
by Patrick Tucker
from Futurist, Mar/Apr2009, Vol. 43 No. 2
" The article reports on the view of Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the journal "Financial Times," on the causes of current global financial crisis. He states that the world has run out of big debtors not just on too much borrowing. He believes that the contributing factor in the crisis was the belief that U.S. could be both consumer of the world's goods and borrower of the world's money. Wolf suggests that other nations should embrace a contrasting strategy, lend less money to the U.S., invest more and open their markets to greater private capital inflows in the form of loans."

Are we having fun yet? Creating a motivating work environment (journal article)
by Regina M. Clark
from Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 41 No 1, 2009
"This paper aims to give readers some ideas about how to create a motivating work environment. A motivating environment will lead to increased productivity and reduced turnover. There are many practical applications cited in the article. All of the ideas have been implemented. "

Competences of an effective director (journal article)
by Colin Coulson-Thomas
from Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 41 No 1, 2009
"The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of investigations into the competences that an effective director should have. It draws upon the findings of surveys of director development undertaken by the author and others and the author's experience of advising over 100 boards on director and board development."

Succession planning – or smart talent management? (journal article)
by Angela Hills
from Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 41, No 1, 2009
"This paper aims to identify what succession planning actually is and the pro's and con's of buying in, or building talent in the organization. The paper is informed by BlessingWhite's 2008 global survey into employee engagement.
This paper gives new research data and an approach to succession planning. It is of value to senior HR professionals and executive teams in companies concerned about effective succession planning and talent management. "

Assessment of communication skills in manager selection: some evidence from Australia (journal article)
by Mary Bambacas and Margaret Patrickson
from Journal of Management Development, Vol 28 No 2, 2009
"The paper's main finding is that despite repeated claims that communication skills are important for successful managerial performance, HR managers only assess these informally during managerial selection and rarely target these skills in training staff for managerial positions. It is recommended that HR staff need to review these practices towards a more targeted communication skills appraisal that would measure the extent to which these skills are already apparent at selection and develop further following additional training. "

Reality revisited: leading people in chaotic change (journal article)
by Tom Karp and Thomas I Tveteraas Helge
from Journal of Management Development, Vol 28 No 2, 2009
"The paper contributes to concepts of change management in organisations faced with increased complexity in internal and external environment. The study challenges mainstream change management concepts and its chance of success when faced with increased complexity. The authors make suggestions on how to lead chaotic change by influencing the patterns of human interaction. It is recommended to focus change management on people, identity and relationships by changing the way people talk in the organisation. "

Australian resumes for dummies [book]

Author: Amanda McCarthy

Includes information about applying for government positions, designing resumes for graduates, writing a winning cover letter, and formatting resumes to fit both you and the job you're going for.

Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty : the new rules for getting the right things done in difficult times [book]

Author: Ram Charan

"Describes the steps you can take right now to steer your organization away from the pitfalls and position it for a new future. You'll find practical techniques that will help you cope with: cash and credit crunches, shrinking budgets, collapsing markets, sinking workforce morale, disappearing suppliers, and nervous stakeholders." - cover.

Monster boss : strategies for surviving and excelling when your boss is a nightmare [book]

Author: Patricia King

Whether your manager only ever has negative things to say, expects too much out of you, or acts like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, this book details how best to deal with their behaviour.

Equivalent salaries in five Australian capital cities (journal article)
by Paul Henman
From Australian Journal of Social Issues, Vol 43 No 4, Summer 2008
"Over the last decade, the spatial and geographical nature of social and economic indices has proliferated. It is well understood that there are geographical variations in prices, particularly housing prices. What we do not know is relative wages - that is, given a wage in one place, what is the wage to attain the same standard of living in another place."
Contact the library for a copy of this article

Websites being wasted in recruitment (article)
by Ann Villiers
from Public Sector Informant, February 2009
W hen we know that people are attracted to organisations that offer career paths, professional development and the chance to make a difference, you would think that government agencies would have informative, helpful, imaginative career websites. Some do. Most don't. I recently surveyed 44 ACT and Commonwealth Government websites, plus three job sites (APS Jobs, Defence Jobs, Jobs ACT), to assess the quality of career information provided. Career websites, those sections of websites devoted to career and job information, were rated as gold, silver or bronze according to criteria concerning career, job and corporate information provided and ease of location, clarity and accessibility of information. Only four Commonwealth agencies received a gold rating: Australian Federal Police, Australian Customs Service, CSIRO and Australian Bureau of Statistics. Half of the sample was rated bronze, suggesting there's scope for improvement.

Difficult year ahead for ethanol industry (journal article)
by Czarnikow Energy
from Australian Canegrower, Feb 2009
It was a difficult year for the industry, inpart due to the substantial amount of negative press directed at the sector. This has happened as a result of sustainability issues and additionally from the food versus fuel debate. As a consquence, the biofuels industry found itself in the firing line of many of its earlier greeen advocates.
Contact the library for a copy of this article

Where in the world is my team? : making a success of your virtual global workplace [book]

Author: Terence Brake

"Connecting with colleagues around the globe via technologies such as web conferencing, social networks, online forums, blogs and wikis is transforming the way we work ... but ... there are many challenges to be overcome in making the new workplace work for us. Not just the technical challenges, but human ones. Collaboration can be difficult enough when we are working face-to-face with others, but put us thousands of miles apart, in multiple time zones, and in diverse cultural groups, and ... watch out!" - cover.

The recruitment value of work/life benefits (journal article)
By Lori Foster Thompson and Kimberly R. Aspinwall
from Personnel Review Vol. 38 Iss. 2 2009, pp. 195-210
"This study sets out to investigate the influence of four work/life benefits on job choice and to examine individual differences that moderate the effects of work/life benefits during recruitment."

Money well spent : a strategic plan for smart philanthropy [book]

Authors: Paul Brest & Hal Harvey

"Starting with the premise that strategy makes all the difference in effective giving, the book shows foundations and individual philanthropists the best way to design a strategy to achieve their stated philanthropic goals. Drawing on examples from many different foundations, the authors give philanthropists the framework necessary to harness expert knowledge in various sectors"--Provided by publisher.

Capital xenophobia II : foreign direct investment in Australia, sovereign wealth funds, and the rise of state capitalism [book]

Author: Wolfgang Kasper / Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)

"Examines Australia’s recent performance in attracting FDI inflows, before considering the nature and operation of Australia’s regulatory regime for FDI." - page 1.

And the winners are... 100 best companies to work for (journal article)
by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz
from Fortune, February 2 2009
"The article describes the publication's list of its best 100 companies to work for. Top-ranked Network Appliance pays employees for days they take off to perform volunteer work. Brokerage Edward Jones has no exposure to derivatives and hired 698 employees amid an economic downturn in 2008. Others on the list include Boston Consulting Group, Google Inc., and Wegmans Food Markets."

Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions (journal article)
By Andrew Campbell, Jo Whitehead and Sydney Finkelstein
from Harvard Business Review Vol 87 Iss 2 Feb 2009, pp. 60-66
"Decision making lies at the heart of our personal and professional lives. Yet the daunting reality is that enormously important decisions made by intelligent, responsible people with the best information and intentions are nevertheless hopelessly flawed at times. In part, that's due to the way our brains work. Modern neuroscience teaches us that two hardwired processes in the brain -- pattern recognition and emotional tagging -- are critical to decision making. Both are normally reliable; indeed, they provide us with an evolutionary advantage. But in certain circumstances, either one can trip us up and skew our judgment. In this article, Campbell and Whitehead, directors at the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, together with Finkelstein, of Dartmouth's Tuck School, describe the conditions that promote errors of judgment and explore how organizations can build safeguards against them into the decision-making process. In their analysis, the authors delineate three "red-flag conditions" that are responsible either for distorting emotional tagging or for encouraging people to see false patterns: conflicts of interest; attachments to people, places, or things; and the presence of misleading memories, which seem, but really are not, relevant and comparable to the current situation. Using a global chemical company as an example, the authors describe the steps leaders can take to counteract those biases: inject fresh experience or analysis, introduce further debate and more challenges to their thinking, and impose stronger governance. Rather than rely on the wisdom of experienced chairmen, the humility of CEOs, or the standard organizational checks and balances, the authors urge, everyone involved in important decisions should explicitly consider whether red flags exist and, if they do, lobby for appropriate safeguards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]"

Gen Y in the Workforce (journal article)
By Tamara J Erickson et al
from Harvard Business Review Vol 87 Iss 2 Feb 2009, pp. 43-49
"Josh Lewis, a young staffer at Rising Entertainment, is frustrated because his boss, marketing chief Sarah Bennett, won't listen to his ideas about using new media to promote films. She's trapped in the 1990s, he thinks, when people actually watched network TV! Rushing through his assignment for a team presentation, he works up a plan and pitches it to the CEO in the hallway. The CEO loves it, but Sarah is upset with Josh for going over her head -- and submitting subpar work on the presentation. How can these members of two different generations work together effectively? Clashes between impatient Generation Y and pay-your-dues Generation X are inevitable but certainly manageable, says Ron Alsop, author of The Trophy Kids Grow Up. For starters, Sarah should reprimand Josh for bypassing her; he should respect her authority and work with her, not around her. But Sarah must address Josh's frustrations. Like many Gen Yers, he wants to know that his work is meaningful, and he needs constructive feedback on suggestions. Enterprise Rent-A-Car president Pamela Nicholson says that given the CEO's enthusiasm, Sarah should commend Josh's initiative but remind him to keep her in the loop. Sarah and Josh also might be able to forge a more productive relationship if Rising Entertainment set up training and feedback programs to help integrate Gen Yers into the workforce, as Enterprise has. Jim Miller, an executive VP at General Tool & Supply, thinks Josh put his team in jeopardy by doing his assigned tasks poorly. Sarah needs to coach him on being a team player and set clear expectations about performance and communication. However, she could have done a much better job of validating his good idea -- perhaps by asking him to spearhead some experiments for the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]"