Employers know that their employees need a break once in a while. That's why companies offer paid time off (PTO) in the form of vacation days, holidays, personal leave, and sick leave. Some employers' plans offer a specific amount of days for each form of PTO, while others, particularly in the healthcare and financial industries, provide one set amount of paid days off that can be used for various reasons at the employee's discretion. The definition of paid time off is any time not worked by an employee for which the regular rate, a fixed or a prorated amount of pay, is accrued and paid to th... view article details

Horrendous Resumes Actually Submitted to Hiring Managers So Much for First Impressions... Resumes and cover letters are often the first things seen by hiring managers and the deciding factors that determine whether or not you get a job interview. Armed with that knowledge, most people spend copious amounts of time crafting them, honing them, and even paying professionals to write it for them. And then there are those who don’t. The following examples will likely be difficult to believe, but there really are some people out there who give zero thought to how they come across to potential em... view article details

In 1982, the Village Voice started the trend of offering domestic-partner benefits, or benefits an employer voluntarily decides to offer to an employee's unmarried partner of the same or opposite sex, to its employees. The cities of Berkeley and West Hollywood, Calif., followed suit in 1985. And since then, about 3,500 employers - including nearly one-fifth of Fortune 500 companies - have offered domestic-partner benefits, according to Kim Mills, education director for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay and lesbian political organization.'[The trend] really took off in the IT sector in ... view article details

Higher education may be getting more expensive, but a college degree is necessary to compete for jobs in many industries. College should be healthy mix of passion and pragmatism, and it’s important to pursue the things you love while recognizing the fields that give you the best chance of finding a job upon graduation. According to research by CareerCast.com, here are the majors with the best career prospects. We also provided the median salaries of various jobs in each industry based on Salary.com data. 1) Accounting They say numbers don’t lie, but did you know they can also get you a job? T... view article details

Do Your Homework For our entire childhood, homework seemed like a chore or even punishment. 'OK class, take out your homework!''Go upstairs and do your homework!''You’re not watching any TV until you’ve finished your homework!'Aw, mom. But there’s a reason your parents and teachers insisted on this extra activity. When taken seriously, the extra work and practice prepares you to excel in a given task, be it algebra or literature.'Do your homework' is also the first thing any expert will tell you when preparing for a job interview or salary negotiation. Unfortunately, like an antsy tee... view article details

Job descriptionProject management is the process of planning, organizing, staffing, and guiding the process of creating a solution or system. Project managers are responsible for providing a plan and the means on which to base management decisions throughout the life of a project. There are many scheduling software tools available to help project managers perform their job, including PERT, Microsoft Project, Scitor Project Scheduler, and many others. While such applications are usually designed for certain industries or projects, they all use Critical Path Methodology, or CPM. CPM plays a larg... view article details

Discover How to Be the American Express for Visas During the last eight years, James Sheldon* has served his Uncle Sam in Athens, Tokyo, and the Sinai Desert. And he did not even have to go through basic training. Sheldon was working as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State. Foreign service officers are America's diplomacy corps. They typically are generalists who perform a multitude of duties across the globe - issuing visas, protecting U.S. citizens overseas, accompanying foreign officials, reporting on diplomatic issues, and conducting press conferences for ambassado... view article details

There was a great episode of Cheers long ago where the dim-witted Woody was duped into accepting the higher title of “Senior Bartender” over a pay raise. (For those under 30, Cheers was a sitcom in the 80s and Woody was played by Woody Harrelson … you know… that guy from True Detective and Hunger Games).Maybe it’s because I somehow saw my future-self helping others negotiate, but even at the young age of 19, that scene really struck with me. After all, who could possibly want something as insignificant as a higher title, when the bottom line of money is what they were clearly looking for?Well,... view article details

Paul Levy and Farzana Mohamed have written a book to help new arrivals to the job marketplace, college students and others who have been offered a position but are not quite sure how to negotiate the terms of their job with their new prospective employer. They start their book, How to Negotiate Your First Job, with this story:Karim, soon to be a college graduate, was stunned into inaction, paralyzed by an unforeseen opportunity. In the midst of a recession, with an unemployment rate topping 9 percent, he had been offered a job.The e-commerce company at which he had just spent the summer as a s... view article details

Leading up to Salary Negotiation Week, we surveyed more than 1,000 people on several different topics related to salary negotiation. We had readers answer some questions regarding their experiences asking for raises, and what they're afraid of when it comes to negotiating salary. Here is input from an actual Salary.com reader, and our subsequent advice.Job Title: Director of CreativeCity: DurangoState: COCurrent Salary: $48,000Last Raise: 10/2011Company Size: 50What is motivating you to ask for a raise? I negotiated my starting salary but have not asked for a raise since. I have proven results... view article details