Ever wondered how some folks always seem to be able to snag that promotion? Whether flip flops qualify as Casual Friday attire? How you can fire someone and still sleep at night?

Learn how to navigate the minefield of office politics and come out ahead with Mark Swartz, the Career Activist®.

 
Posted: March 3, 2010 | 9:53 ET
File Under: Client Relationships | Client/Agency Relations | For Brand Managers | For Media Directors | For Media Planners

BY MARK SWARTZ, THE CAREER ACTIVIST®

Minhea, the Brand Manager for product X, leans forward in his chair. His face flushes red while speaking to his boss Suzana, Director of Marketing.
“Look, Suzana, I don’t mean to overstep my bounds, but I’m wondering whether or not our agency is up to the task in terms of media placement.”
“Take it easy, Minhea,” says Suzana. “What happened now?”
“You and I agree that their creative for the campaign was good, once we helped them fine-tune it. But this is a major re-launch for us and I’m having a hell of a time, pardon my language, with their Media Planner.”


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Posted: February 12, 2010 | 14:39 ET
File Under: Client Relationships | Client/Agency Relations | For Media Planners

BY MARK SWARTZ, THE CAREER ACTIVIST®

For the eleventh time today your email pings with another message from Client X. You grit your teeth – this client is giving you hives. They already switched their media buy twice this morning and demanded a major rate cut. Won’t lunchtime ever arrive?

Now they’re complaining that the plan you drafted so carefully for them is “light on social media ... why are you focusing more on frequency than reach?” Arggh! If they know so much about audience metrics why don’t they just place the frigging ads themselves?



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Posted: January 8, 2010 | 14:37 ET
File Under: Career | Women




In her new book The Male Factor, author Shaunti Feldhahn reveals “The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions, and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace.” She argues that women who want to climb the office ladder have to start by penetrating the mysterious inner workings of male minds. Only then can females figure out how to get ahead.


Feldhahn conducted research over seven years and interviewed thousands of men at all levels in the workplace, to distil profundities about how guys like me perceive, and react differently to, our distaff co-workers.


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Posted: December 21, 2009 | 16:41 ET
File Under: Career | Work Environment



Let's face it—work today demands a tremendous amount from us. Often we give our employers almost everything we’ve got. Like when we stay late to get the report done. Or come in on the weekend if we have to meet a deadline. Or make the boss look great but not take credit for it.



Such are the imperatives of today’s hyper-competitive workplace. Sacrifices like these are common. But what about the flip side: what have you taken away from your employer lately?

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Posted: December 4, 2009 | 13:22 ET
File Under: Career | Work Environment



"Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?"

It’s one of the happy refrains floating gaily around offices these days. Pretty harmless stuff. Unless you happen to be Muslim. Or Hindu. Atheist. Or anyone else who subscribes to one of over a hundred other belief systems. For the 40% of Canadians who are non-Christians, December can be an unexpectedly cruel month.

At no other time of year do minorities feel quite so marginalized. You may either end up pretending to be in the spirit of the majority, which belittles your own identity, or you constantly have to reveal your own background. Either way, it can be less merry than the Jolly Fellow might have you believe.

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Posted: November 20, 2009 | 12:58 ET
File Under: Career



You probably haven’t spent a lot of time Googling the Ontario Human Rights Code lately (if you have, may I respectfully suggest that you get out more). Anyway one of the more riveting things it says is that every employee is entitled to freedom from harassment in the workplace.

Even so it happens regularly: unwanted sexual innuendos, getting insulted while co-workers are present, being exposed to racist comments. So what can you do if you're being abused on the job by your employer or colleagues?

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Posted: November 9, 2009 | 9:39 ET
File Under: Career





A friend of mine called to say she’d landed an interview with the ad agency of her dreams. Big budgets. Stellar clients. Wildest roof parties in the industry.

Nice gig if you can get it.

Only problem was she’d left her last employer on bad terms. "Fired" isn’t quite the way to describe it. More like downsized for lack of fit. (Alright, so she’d jumped into the job because it paid a whack of cash, found out the place was a hell hole, but they turfed her before she could quit).

"How in the world do I relate this to the person I’ll be interviewing with?," she asked.

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Posted: October 23, 2009 | 14:55 ET
File Under: Career



Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to a therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist. How about a career coach, financial planner or substance abuse group? Hey, how come your arms are still planted firmly at your sides? Hopefully your life is so trouble-free you’ve never had to reach out for help. Or is it that, like most of us, you’d rather admit to getting de-friended on Facebook than having sought assistance for your problems.

Fret no more; there is free, confidential counseling available to just about anyone in the marketing or advertising and communications sectors.

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Posted: October 9, 2009 | 12:41 ET
File Under: Career

Rudeness. Disrespect. A lack of basic manners. Is your workplace turning into a zoo of bestial behaviour?

According to Pamela Bedour, founder and director of the Protocol School of Ontario, "the general decay of society's manners is being reflected in business: our own pleasure, convenience and primacy are superseding anything else," she says.

Bedour relates the shift in politeness over the last half century. As recently as the 1950’s, etiquette was still being taught in schools. Back then the social graces ruled: proper dining skills, how to comport oneself with dignity... mainly superficial behaviour that made charm schools and finishing academies so popular.

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Posted: October 2, 2009 | 13:28 ET
File Under: Career



In my previous column on this topic, I covered the basics of what to do immediately after your employer lets you go. It can be really disorienting to lose your job even if you’ve been expecting it. Take it from me, I used to get fired so often I began to feel like pottery. So in this second installment I’ll be talking about how to regain your equilibrium and start moving steadily forward.

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Posted: September 18, 2009 | 12:33 ET
File Under: Career



Swoosh. Like the noise a blade makes when plunging through the air, the sound of getting downsized from your employer may be eerily quiet, yet with equally devastating results. In both cases something ends up getting severed.

So what do you do right after your boss or HR person has taken you aside to give you the news that you’ve been “terminated” effective immediately? First and foremost, don’t panic. Being laid off from an employer is an unsettling experience regardless of the circumstances. However it’s very common these days and there are many steps you can take to make the process more manageable.

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Posted: September 4, 2009 | 13:34 ET
File Under: Career





Anytime you’re faced with hunting for employment it can get pretty overwhelming very quickly. So much to do and keep track of. From polishing up your resume, rehearsing your 30 second introduction, preparing a list of potential contacts to start networking into the hidden job market with, burnishing your online presence, applying for posted positions, researching opportunities...it’s no wonder that an intensive work search can become a full-time job in itself.

As with any multi-stage process, the job hunt is best approached by breaking down the tasks into bite sized, manageable activities. With this in mind I’ve provided you with a Check List of the most common elements in today’s quest for employment. Hopefully it’ll help you plan and stay on top of what might otherwise be a tidal wave of things to do.

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