There’s supposedly a desperate need for nurses in this country. The demand is so great, we’re told, nurses have their choice of jobs and the money and benefits are flowing.

So why the heck are nurses going on strike!?

At 7 a.m. EST today, the nurses and other health care workers set up picket lines outside of Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

The 1,500 members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals went on strike because, they say, the hospital’s management was bargaining in “bad faith.”

Wow, the hospital administrators have balls given the demand for health care workers. Or is the much-hyped growing demand for health care workers, hyped by labor experts, the media, and even me on occasion, just a bunch of bull? (more…)

The job market is slowly coming back to life. Well, that depends on the industry you’re in.

I love it when I get surveys that actually poll people who are in the know. And who better to know about who’s hiring and who’s not than human resource professionals.

The Society for Human Resource Management, know as SHRM, released a poll yesterday that surveyed nearly 2,500 HR folks and found that some industries are indeed in hiring mode. There were some surprises (more…)

Recently, there’s been a series of articles about a very outspoken woman who lots of people hate.

I know, you’ve heard this scenario before.

This time the women is Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and the head of Congressional oversight for TARP, the program that poured money into banking institutions to keep the financial sector from collapsing. She’s pretty much the watchdog over that program and she’s one of the strongest voices out there pushing for the creation of a government agency that would protect consumers.

Why do people hate her? Because she’s a woman and she’s outspoken. (more…)

I hate most interview questions, especially this one: “What is the one thing you’d change about yourself.”

I always want to say, “My decision to come here.”

But recently a good friend of mine told me about, what we both agreed could be, the ultimate interview question. (more…)

It may seem like this economic downturn will never end, but it will and job growth will begin again.

Economists have been predicting there will be more jobs than people once the Baby Boomers start to retire, and once the economy turns around we’re supposed to see employment opportunities galore. The jobs they leave behind will need to be filled, everything from education to social services positions. And the aging population has created a demand for more health care, and that means there will be many jobs related to medicine.

Many of these jobs don’t involve sitting behind a desk. And many require emotional connections with people unlike anything you may have experienced at the water cooler.

The question is, will you want to take any of the jobs that will be the most abundant? Do you have the skills, or the desire? (more…)

This might sound strange, but Uhura from Star Trek was sort of my role model growing up. She was smart, tough and she was of the only women helping to run things on the bridge — the Enterprise’s corner office.

Most everyone agrees, role models are a key to building confidence, confidence we all need to make it in the world.

But too often, women just don’t have enough successful women around them to learn from and emulate.

Many women top executives and leaders I’ve talked to say it was male role models they most looked up to, often their dads. While that’s a great thing, gals also need a dose of gal power.

That’s why I was so excited when I checked out a new online interactive offering for college women and recent grads called Career Gal Road Trip. (more…)

So you spent a few weeks backpacking through Europe. Now you think you’re an international expert?

Not quite, says my new intern Diana Gialo, a senior at the University of Delaware.

Gialo is applying for an international internship and she’s got some pretty strong feelings regarding what it means to live abroad.

She shares her thoughts here, and also includes a video she made to help her land the internship. I suspect the video helped set her apart because she was chosen as one of the top 20 now in the running out of hundreds of applicants. The video is funny and creative and may give some of you college grads and job seekers of any age inspiration to try something new for your job search.

Say hello to Diana: (more…)

I was at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Conference in Phoenix this past weekend listening to Amit Singhal, a Google fellow, talk about “The Future of Web Search” and during the question and answer segment a journalist in the audience, a mom, stood up to ask a question.

The reporter, who I had met earlier, was worried about whether her kid would find a job out of college. She took this opportunity to ask Singhal about job opportunities for her son at Google.

Many of us in attendance laughed, but it got me thinking about how much our parents should be doing to help us land a gig.

Does it help or hurt to have mommy go to bat for you? Did the mom in question undermine herself and her kid in the process? (more…)

Every year around this time I get an endless stream of emails for PR people pitching stories about March Madness.

The pitches mainly come from law firms and employment companies, and they are always the same.

“March Madness gambling is illegal and those who engage in it are breaking the law.”

or,

“Basketball fever is leading to a loss of workplace productivity.”

Seems you’re all a bunch of gamblers and layabouts around this time of year. But one guy thinks you’re not so bad. (more…)

Women have been sounding off about the wage gap for years but now we might get more voices joining the chorus.

The recession has been hardest on men in this country, and many have lost their jobs. That’s meant in many households the women are the only ones bringing home the bacon.

So, suddenly, the fact that women make 77 cents on the dollar to men really sucks. Yeah, it sucked before, but now whole families are suffering for it even more, or at least feeling the impact more pronouncedly.

For those of you who are rolling your eyes and saying, “here goes another feminazi bitching about pay equity. That’s all just propaganda. The problem isn’t that bad.”

I’ve got a feminazi bitch-slap reality check for ya. (more…)