I was on Facebook the other night, scanning through my friends’ status updates. I’ve declared my love of Facebook here before — sometimes, it’s the easiest way for me to reconnect with friends and extended family, and reading the Twitter-like mini-posts and shared news (or non-news) articles makes me feel a little more in-touch with the far-flung people in my life.

I generally try to keep Facebook for my friends and family and use LinkedIn for professional networking but, just as in real life, those two worlds collide from time to time. Read the rest of this entry »

Who is in charge in your household? The typical American home has seen a major change since the 1950s and 1960s, researchers say, with the majority of the important decisions now being made by women.

According to a new poll released last week by the Pew Research Center, 43 percent of respondents said that the woman makes the decisions in more of four key areas — household finances, weekend activities, big purchases for the home, and who controls the TV remote — than men. The guys have the upper hand in about 26 percent of all couples, and 31 percent said that they split decision-making responsibilities — even though that answer wasn’t one of the options given in the poll.

Pants for everyone!

But here’s the real news, buried in the poll results: In dual-income couples, it is the woman who has more say, regardless of whether she earns more or less than her partner. Read the rest of this entry »

How many times have you written an email, hit “send,” and immediately wished you had an “unsend” button?

Maybe you saw a typo in the split second that the email system was processing. Maybe you wrote the missive in a fit of anger, and belatedly realized that it needed a re-write or several in order to be considered anywhere near diplomatic. Or maybe, in that moment the email was still on your screen, before it flew out into the ether, you saw that you had addressed it to the person you were writing about instead of the person you were writing to. Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t change my name when I got married.

There are many reasons: I was in my 30s by the time I walked down the aisle, I already had a career in my own name, with a reputation and bylines and even a book. I owned my home and car and other things outright, and changing my name on all of those legal documents was a hassle.

But, most of all, I kept my name because it was my name — I was used to it, and replacing it with my husband’s made me feel like I was faking it, somehow. Read the rest of this entry »

Even if you’re completely happy in your current job, it makes sense to keep your resume up to date. You never know when you might stumble upon your dream job — or, in this economy, have to deal with a nightmarish downsizing. Here are a few tips for readying your resume:

1.) Update your focus. When was the last time you looked at your own resume? Chances are, it’s tailored for the job you already have. Do you want to stay in the field you’re in right now, or do you have other skills you should highlight? Either way, make sure that your most-recent experience is at the top of the page.

2.) Make it email-friendly. Nowadays, companies don’t necessarily want to wait for the postal service. Paper is proper, of course, but make sure you have your resume ready in an easy-to-email format as well. It’s not hard to do: Eliminate the graphic elements that look so good in print and stick with plain text, in a clear font, and use 12-point type. (Also, some people shy away from opening attachments, so copy and paste the text into the body of your email.)

3.) Make it active. Instead of listing your responsibilities, list your achievements. Mention specific projects and goals that you met. As the Penelope Trunk points out on BrazenCareerist.com, “Anyone can do a job. Achievements show you did the job well.”

4.) Keep it short. Remember that you’re pitching an idea to a busy person, and that idea is “Hire me!” and that person is really, really busy. If a prospective employer has to turn the page to read the rest of your resume, chances are that he or she isn’t going to bother reading the rest of your resume. Keep it to a single page.

5.) Rethink your references. You don’t have to put your contacts on your resume — and you don’t even have to include “references on request” because, really, everyone assumes they are — but you should take the time to get in touch with your references and make sure they’re still willing to vouch for you. Do they prefer phone calls or emails? Do you have their correct titles and contact information? Is their input still relevant to the jobs you’re seeking?