Here’s some truth about why people get hired and it’s not what they tell you. Here’s how to make the most of it. — Sitting in a recruiter’s office in Denver, they told me a client looked them dead in the eye and said, “No tattoos!” Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors? Here’s a taste. That recruiter needed the job, and this client was 50% of their book. …

Corporate Glossary: every Friday, learn the secret meaning of common corporate words — Every Friday, you get the real meaning behind padded corporate terms that get tossed around like the nice guy’s ball cap in study hall. Knowing the reality behind the sanitized words or phrases will help you protect yourself and avoid learning these for the first time when you’re experiencing them. …

Here’s how to turn their heads and shut their mouths! — Riding on a commuter-packed train from New York to Boston one Monday morning, an intense young woman was juggling her laptop, a conference call on a mobile phone, and a bunch of, you guessed it — a stack of résumés. Any eavesdropper would have recognized the call was a discussion…

Bankable ways to shake off awkward feelings and get your money. — When I’d arrive home in the dark on a Friday night, alighting from an airport cab at the end of a 60-hour week, there was never any food in the fridge. I’d order from a strip mall Chinese place about a mile from my house. Fortune cookies would float around…

This you? Please take it down. — Recently graduated from college, broke, and paying off student loans, I got a second job to make ends meet. Two nights a week, I'd report to the elementary school down the street to teach English as a Second Language. I was a naive twenty-something facing adults from other countries whose…

And it’s one reason you’re getting ghosted. — Scouring the internet researching for an event, I found an article from the Harvard Business Review on how to get a job. I’ve read a lot of great articles from their Business Review, so in HBR's defense, this is the exception, not the rule. But the advice is terrible. The…

Why does the question you ask matter? — There's a video clip making the rounds on social media featuring Taylor Swift. A voice behind the camera filming her asks, "What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a singer?" Her reply? " Hmm. Get a good lawyer." Not the answer you'd expect, huh? Not "Practice,"…

In what area of your life are you feeling this? — The first “food porn” I ever saw was in “The Age of Innocence.” The movie is a series of opulent pictures. Sensual tableaus of food and flowers are the sex the characters suppress. Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis lead this Scorcese movie about the ultra-wealthy in 1870’s New York City. …

It revealed a lifetime habit I didn’t know I had. — She was so not into it — annoyed and bordering on angry. She didn't want to wait in the long line. She didn't want to see the show she'd never heard of. She was tired and wanted to return to my San Francisco apartment and sleep. …