Career

Here at LiveCareer, we provide guidance and resources to help working people and job seekers find ways to manage their careers. When employees take full control of all the decisions that impact their working lives, they never make a single mistake, they bounce back immediately from job loss (which is never their fault, of course), and they make daily, flawless decisions about how to impress their employers and leap ahead of the competition.

It's been suggested that here in the United States, we put in longer work hours on average than employees in almost every other developed country in the world. But do our long hours actually mean we accomplish more? And can too many working hours per week actually cause more harm than benefit to our health, our quality of life, and even the success of our companies?

Career advisors and news outlets can't seem to stop buzzing about the miracle of social media. From every direction, we're blasted with messages about the astonishing impact Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can have on the growth of our careers. And there's no doubt these message hold some truth. But watch out. Social media isn't a career-boosting cure-all, and when used recklessly, it can actually cause more than good. Keep an eye on these sneaky ways social media sites may be holding you back.

If you're an employee over the age of 55 and you've spent years working your way up the ladder of your specific career, your days of scraping and scrambling to win pats on the head are over. You aren't breaking into anything at the ground floor, and even if your boss is younger then you, there are still plenty of things he or she has to learn that you may already know like the back of your hand.

You may know that guy. Or you have met him at least once. He's the guy who adopts a specific persona while he's at work, a persona he thinks will put him on the fast track to professional success. He's pretty sure that if he gets it right, he'll fool everyone, build a fan base and win a promotion to the corner office.

What does it take to succeed in the world of hospitality? To put yourself on the fast track from entry level, to management, to upper management, consider these tips. Simple guidelines like these will also help if you plan to open your own hospitality establishment someday.

You stayed at the office late, went the extra mile, and lost a night of sleep trying to make sure your latest project was executed perfectly. Now the project is in the bag, and you're hoping you'll be assigned to the next big task, one with a greater level of responsibility and a potentially higher profile. But a minute ago you walked past your boss's open door and overheard this snippet of conversation:

Across almost every industry, progression up the career ladder eventually involves one universal rite of passage: an employee's first official shift into management. The day an employee is assigned to her first direct report (or reports) will usually happen sometime between the first day of her first real job and her arrival at the high point of an ambitious professional climb.