CHICAGO (Reuters) – Around 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit here.

But the protest was much smaller than one attended by an estimated 2,500 people at a downtown plaza on Friday. The biggest rally is expected to be on Sunday near the convention center where world leaders will gather.

The protest on Saturday began as a group of around 50 people, including some former patients of six city-run mental health clinics that closed at the end of April to save $2.3 million as part of a drive to eliminate the city’s $650 million budget deficit.

“He (Emanuel) hasn’t talked to us once, not once since he’s been in office,” said Marti Luckett, 60, a patient at one of the shuttered clinics who is bipolar and suffers from depression. “We want him to show up.”

“I think President (Barack) Obama should be calling Rahm Emanuel and say ‘shame on you,’” added Luckett, a petite woman with reddish hair.

Chicago has closed half of the dozen city-run mental health clinics because of budget cuts. The city says patients should be able to receive care at the remaining clinics or some run by outside groups.

“The administration is committed to promoting the health and wellness of Chicagoans in every neighborhood,” a spokeswoman for the city said.

Small groups of protesters, some carrying signs that read “food not bombs” or “seize the peace,” accompanied former patients of the clinics dressed in green hospital smocks going door to door to talk to residents in Emanuel’s neighborhood. The former patients wore signs saying “welfare not warfare.”

At the mayor’s home protesters reached were greeted by around 30 police officers who were in a relaxed mood but told protesters to keep moving.

Less than a block from the mayor’s home Colette Kelsey, 39, and Doug Anderson, 43, were among the few residents who opened their doors to protesters.

“We can all empathize, but when you have limited funds what can you do?” Kelsey said of the clinic closures.

The protest on Saturday followed the announcement that three men arrested earlier in the week at a house in the Chicago area had been charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism. Prosecutors said the three self-described anarchists were planning to attack Obama’s campaign headquarters and Emanuel’s home.

Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said two likely protesters were arrested for trespassing at a downtown museum early on Saturday morning, but did not have additional details.

(Writing By Nick Carey; Additional reporting by James Kelleher; Editing by Dan Burns and Vicki Allen)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/small-protest-descends-chicago-mayors-home-164703078.html

By TODDI GUTNER

Q:
I’m mentoring a young, ambitious engineer in our company. He’s competent and demonstrates his energetic drive every day. However, he constantly makes spelling and grammatical errors in his writings. I’ve asked him to utilize spell-checking and re-read his emails. But mistakes such as confusing “our” with “are” and “there” and “their” aren’t picked up with the computer tools. It’s been over a year and he’s still making these mistakes. What would you suggest as an appropriate next course of action? I am not sure if there are any additional classes he can take to improve his grammar/spell-checking skills.

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Spelling and grammatical errors indicate a lack of professionalism that can get in the way of your success.

A: While it is clear you have casually mentioned to your mentee about his spelling and grammatical errors, it sounds like it is time you have a more formal, direct discussion with him about his mistakes. It may be that he doesn’t fully understand the gravity of the problem and the impact it can have on his career. “He needs to know that these mistakes are getting in the way of his success and that his lack of professionalism and inaccuracy is unacceptable,” says Brad Karsh, president of JobBound, a career consulting firm.

To be sure, in this world of online communications, hastily written texts and emails filled with spelling and grammatical mistakes are easily accepted in an individual’s personal world. But they are still unacceptable in the business world, says Beth N. Carvin, chief executive of Nobscot Corp., a human-resources consulting firm.

In your discussion, you’ll want to stress the importance of being detail-oriented in written communication. “Tell him if he is serious about his ambitions, he can’t risk being perceived by senior leaders as immature, illiterate or lacking attention to detail,” says Ms. Carvin. It is possible his communications may end in the office of a C-suite executive who may not know he is a great engineer. “The C-leader’s impression may be immediately (and permanently) soured,” she says.

When you open up the conversation, “ask him if his manager has mentioned the spelling and grammatical mistakes to him, and whether it’s impacting his performance,” says Rabia de Lande Long, consultant and executive coach at Chartwell Advisors. If your mentee doesn’t know, ask him if he would like you to discuss this issue with his boss to find out. If it turns out that it is a problem, then your mentee might be more motivated to improve his work.

Once you’ve established the importance of well-written and accurate communications, you’ll need to lay out strategies for him to follow. One suggestion is for him to print out all important communications before he sends them. He should slowly proofread them and make corrections on the paper copy. He can also ask a peer or teammate to double-check his work, says Ms. de Lande Long.

Ms. Carvin suggests two books to help with spelling and grammar rules: “The Art of Spelling: The Madness and the Method” by Marilyn vos Savant and Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style.” Another option is to enroll him in a nearby community college or continuing-education grammar course. This will give him a chance to improve and perfect his skills, says Mr. Karsh.

Be aware, however, that your mentee may share that he has a learning disability, like dyslexia. If he chooses to share his diagnosis with the company, then he has the right to ask for a reasonable accommodation from the company. Learning disabilities like dyslexia are considered an impairment for American Disability Act purposes. “Unless the company can show that reasonable accommodation would cause undue hardship on the operation of its business, it will engage in an ‘interactive’ process with the engineer to establish a reasonable accommodation,” says Ms. de Lande Long. For example, the company might offer him more time to prepare his work and establish a quiet location to aid concentration, she says.

Whether your mentee’s grammatical and spelling issues are the result of hasty work processes or a learning disability, he is lucky to have someone who has taken the time to notice a potential career derailer and work with him.

Write to Career QA at cjeditor@dowjones.com. Please include Career QA in your subject line.

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125132002307361669.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By ALEXANDRA LEVIT

Standing out in a crowded marketplace isn’t always easy. And these days, people have seen it all, which means you might only get ahead if you use a compelling and unique approach like Pat Lencioni’s to present your ideas.

Several years ago, Mr. Lencioni, 44 years old, of Lafayette, Calif., was a Bain Co. consultant who loved writing screenplays and fiction pieces on the side. He didn’t move to Hollywood or New York City to pursue his passion.

Instead, Mr. Lencioni stayed where he was—in the business world—and used his talent to break out of the typical management-consultant mold. He began writing business books that read like novels and featured real characters to which textbook- and theory-fatigued readers could relate. In “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” for example, the fictional DecisionTech’s new CEO, Kathryn, must unite a fractured executive team.

Many say Mr. Lencioni’s parables have sold over 2.5 million copies because they attract people who need to be better managers but don’t want to read a traditional business book to do it. “The plot-driven approach makes people want to read to the end,” says Mr. Lencioni. “Readers are also more comfortable passing the books on to friends because they personally enjoyed them and were able to learn without a lot of effort.”

So, how do you infuse your day with creativity if it’s not your natural strong suit?

First, block out some time on your calendar to think about it. When you set aside time to do something, you elevate its importance in your mind.

Practice clearing your head of all of your everyday concerns, turn on some music, and let your mind wander. If you’re having trouble letting go, ask one of your artistic friends what she does to get in the right frame of mind and try adapting that technique to make it your own.

It also helps to look at your life and business from a different perspective. In providing career advice during this recession, for instance, I often pretended I was the person I needed to reach—a reader who was out of work. I asked myself, “What information do I need right now, and how would I best like to receive it?”

If your daily reading consists of one paper or online publication and Google news, you might try expanding your horizons.

In particular, today’s literary fiction and narrative nonfiction books are often worded so eloquently that they can’t help but inspire you to express yourself in a more creative way.

If you read before going to sleep, be sure to keep a pen and a notebook by your bed to jot down ideas that come to you in the middle of the night.

You might also want to start carrying a pad and pencil with you when you commute or travel. Inevitably you’ll overhear or see something that provokes an interesting train of thought.

Mr. Lencioni suggests forcing yourself into an uncomfortable situation to get your mind going—like doing manual labor if you’re a high-ranking executive, for example.

Sometimes just getting out of your comfort zone can spark creative ideas. “And finally,” he says, “you have to be willing to throw stupid ideas out [there], or ideas that no one believes in but you.”

Recognize that creativity doesn’t understand deadlines. Because you can’t depend on a terrific idea to show up at a certain point, you might try to build in long timelines for projects that require creative zeal and try not to put a lot of pressure on yourself.

“My best insights don’t usually show up when I’m sitting at my computer waiting for them,” says Mr. Lencioni. “I’ll usually be jogging or in the shower, or out in the public where my creative mind is stimulated by watching others.”

Once you’ve begun to think more creatively, look for ways to apply this change at work, from suggesting new projects to discussing projects in a new way.

— Alexandra Levit is a business and workplace author and speaker.

Write to Alexandra Levit at reinvent@wsj.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704335904574497420696199630.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By ALEXANDRA LEVIT

Penelope Trunk knows something about risk. A nationally syndicated columnist, Ms. Trunk shocked the business community when she revealed intimate details of her personal life on her blog. At the time, many weren’t sure this was the right move, but the blog shot up in popularity and eventually garnered over 30,000 subscribers.

If not for that loyal following, Ms. Trunk might not have been able to make a case for her current venture, Brazen Careerist (BrazenCareerist.com), an online professional network for Generation Y.

Courtesy Alexandra Levit

Alexandra Levit

Launching a new company is a perilous endeavor, but Ms. Trunk thought the risk was worth it. “This world isn’t set up for writers to get anywhere,” she says. “Although I went into massive debt and ended up sacrificing my marriage, it was essential that I take my career into my own hands.”

As a result, she is no longer dependent on publications for her livelihood and has achieved one of her lifetime goals — to serve as a mentor to twenty-something employees.

Big Risks, Big Rewards

If you think about it, most accomplished people in our culture are entrepreneurs who have taken big risks to net proportionally high rewards.

Tough as it is for cautious people like me to accept, if you don’t occasionally take calculated gambles, you won’t get ahead as quickly as those who do. You will also never get over your fear of the unknown, and life will be predictable and dull.

How do you go about deciding if a career risk is necessary and will bear fruit?

First, it helps to think long term. Where do you want your career to be in five years, and what actions will you have to take to make sure you get there? Next, clearly define the challenge and the opportunity — or the upside if the risk goes well.

Then, consider the downside. Will the worst-case scenario be career-ending, or something that can be overcome?

What’s Your Backup Plan?

Finally, what are some clues to assess if the risk is going bad, and what is your backup plan if your risk isn’t successful?

In thinking through these questions, you might determine, for example, that quitting your well-paying job and spending your savings to pursue an invention idea isn’t a risk you find tolerable.

The smartest risks have a limited downside and a huge upside. They involve research and the counsel of experienced people — but also the willingness to step back and let the cards fall where they may.

Believe that you’ve made the right choice, and have faith that everything will turn out all right in the end. Insecurity and negativity won’t serve you well, because you’ll be constantly holding your breath, waiting for things to fall apart.

Speaking of which, if a risk doesn’t work out, don’t let it stop you from taking similar actions in the future. It’s normal to feel disappointment and even embarrassment. But it’s essential that you pick yourself up and move on.

Take stock of what went wrong and make a note to do it differently next time. There is no shorter path to career fulfillment.

Write to Alexandra Levit at reinvent@wsj.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125400159502543783.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Name: Adam Sheehan

Current Job: Senior Events Manager, FUNimation Entertainment

First Job: Washing dishes at a diner

Education: Bachelor’s in marketing, University of Texas at Arlington

How I got here in 10 words or less: By always striving to create a better event

Adam Sheehan has what Japanese animation fans might consider a dream job. As a senior events manager for Funimation Entertainment, a producer of shows like “Dragon Ball Z” and “Soul Eater,” he sets up video screenings, autograph signings and other activities at about 20 anime conventions a year. But Mr. Sheehan, 32, says launching a career tied to a special interest typically requires more than deep-seated passion. Education, pro-bono experience and networking is also essential. Edited interview excerpts follow.

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Henry Lee

Adam Sheehan with anime character Shin chan

Q: How did you get hooked on anime in the first place?

A: I grew up I watching cartoons like Astro Boy, Voltron and Robotec.

Q: You also got involved in college. How?

A: I majored in marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington and served as president of the school’s anime club for three years.

Q: How did you land your first anime job?

A: During my junior year (in college), I did pro bono work at anime conventions for a friend who had just started a marketing firm. It was to get something on my résumé. I learned so much and so fast. After graduation, I got a job offer right out of the gate with Score Entertainment as a tour manager for the Dragon Ball Z TCG (trading-card game). My job was to go to malls and conventions around the country in an H1 (Hummer vehicle) decorated with characters from Dragon Ball Z. We ran demos of the game, gave away prizes and had voice-over actors for the show sign autographs. It was incredible.

Q: After three years, you changed jobs. Why?

A: I’m more of an anime fan than a card-game player. So one day I called Funimation and said ‘I’d love to work with you guys.’ I got to know them through the mall events and conventions because we hired their actors a lot. You have to grow relationships however they come. If it wasn’t for me being so close to these people, getting my job wouldn’t have been so easy.

How You Can Get There,Too

Skills you need: The ability to stay organized and communicate well with others is critical. Event planning requires juggling multiple tasks at once such as ordering materials from vendors, coordinating schedules with support staff, and setting up and taking down booths at conventions.

Where you should start: Student groups specializing in marketing and anime. Mr. Sheehan joined the American Marketing Association’s campus group at the University of Texas at Arlington while he was a student there, as well as Delta Sigma Phi, a business fraternity. He also belonged to his school’s anime club.

Degrees you should go for: Bachelor’s in marketing.

Best advice: Do volunteer work to grow your network and get experience you can add to your resume.

Professional organizations to contact: American Marketing Association

Salary range: Event planners earn an average annual salary ranging from $45,000 to $63,000, according to Salary.com. Senior event managers earn more, and pay varies by industry and job demands.

Q: Fans at anime conventions often dress as their favorite characters. Do you ever forget you’re working?

A: I always need to keep a friendly and professional demeanor. I have to demonstrate full knowledge of all of our shows, the company and the industry overall. When I’m speaking on panels, which average about 500 to 800 people, I have to say everything very carefully since I may be quoted. Someone might be blogging about the event while it’s happening or filming it for the Web.

Q: Any career highlights to share?

A: There’s a super group of four female Japanese manga artists called Clamp, and (Funimation) had a chance to bring them to the U.S. for the first time in 2006. It was the biggest event of my career. It involved six different companies world-wide and took about the nine months of the heaviest planning I’ve ever had to do. It was for the Anime Expo in Anaheim, Calif., and it drew the biggest crowd that Clamp had ever received—about 5,000 people.

Q: Any advice for pursuing a career like yours?

A: Get involved as soon as possible. We get a lot of fans who come up to us and (tell us) they love your shows and want to work for (us). Some clearly just want to be closer to the shows they love, but others talk about the business and how they’re going to school for it. Those are the ones who actually get to the next step.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511672557163450.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By ELIZABETH GARONE

Many workers who lost jobs in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy are now looking to change careers. But crafting a résumé that shows the benefits of hiring an industry outsider can be challenging.

In this installment of The Résumé Doctor, three recruiting experts critique a résumé from a job hunter eying a move into facilities management from commercial construction.

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Cameron Wittig for The Wall Street Journal

Mark Peterson served as project manager for a new football stadium at the University of Minnesota before his layoff last July.

• The Job Seeker: Mark Peterson, 47, of Woodbury, Minn., was laid off in July from a senior project manager/sales position at a small commercial-construction company where he had worked for 19 years. Though he was hired in November as a senior project manager for a rival firm, the contract job is commission-based and doesn’t include medical or other benefits. He says the position is unlikely to yield a salary anywhere close to his prior annual income of around $125,000.

• The Objective: Mr. Peterson is seeking a mid- to senior-level executive position in facilities management. Mr. Peterson would like to stay in the Minneapolis metro area and is seeking a minimum annual salary of $85,000, significantly lower than his previous salary but on par with what he expects in the current economy. If the economy were to improve, he says he would be looking for $100,000 to $125,000.

“Any company that has a large campus or multiple buildings to manage could work well for me,” he says.

• The Experts: Offering feedback on Mr. Peterson’s résumé are Ken Rose, a senior client partner in Chicago for executive-search firm Korn/Ferry International Inc.; Nanci D’Alessandro, a vice president and national account executive in New York for commercial real-estate firm Grubb Ellis

; and Julia Hicks, director of human resources at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. Universities are one of his target employers because of their many buildings to manage.

The Doctor Is in

View Interactive

• The Résumé: Mr. Peterson has kept his fairly standard résumé to one page. He leads with his contact information, followed by a summary statement and 11 areas of expertise. The résumé goes on to describe his career in reverse chronological order with bullet points and concludes with details of his education and training.

• The Positives: Our experts were impressed with some of the accomplishments cited in Mr. Peterson’s résumé. They also gave it kudos for being clutter-free despite its short length.

• The Advice: Much of the information that hiring managers want to see—such as the size and scope of projects he worked on and certifications he holds—is there, our experts agree. What Mr. Peterson needs to do is revamp the layout so it is more pleasing to the eye and easier to quickly scan, they say.

Right now, the résumé is formatted with a significant amount of white space in some areas and in other places, text is bunched together. Most of all, he needs to direct his résumé away from construction and more toward facilities management by highlighting his transferable skills when describing his former positions.

“Quite frankly, I would have overlooked this résumé, and it would not have made my list,” says Ms. D’Alessandro. “The résumé is still very much geared to construction.”

For starters, our experts recommend Mr. Peterson get rid of the “Management Professional” title at the very top. “There’s really no point to giving yourself a title or categorizing yourself,” says Mr. Rose. “Your professional experience and training should stand on its own.”

Likewise, our experts agree Mr. Peterson should revamp his summary statement. As it is, it is unclear and it doesn’t even mention facilities management, they say. “It needs to be more focused on what he is trying to achieve and it should show his strengths,” says Ms. D’Alessandro.

For Ms. Hicks, the summary statement “needs to be more specific about what he can offer and not what he is seeking from an employer.”

Mr. Rose usually counsels his clients against including a summary statement. But he says he would make an exception for someone looking to change careers. “Otherwise, the person looking at his résumé is going to ask, ‘Why is this drywall guy sending this to me?’ ” he says.

Read More

Résumé Doctor, First Installment: Creating a Résumé That Sells

The Best and Worst Jobs

Landing a Job of the Future Takes a Two-Track Mind

The next section of Mr. Peterson’s résumé features a list describing his areas of expertise. Ms. D’Alessandro and Ms. Hicks said they both like it, but they said it should be shortened to six bullets from the current 11. They suggest formatting the section into two or three columns rather than one to make it more visually appealing. “When the list gets too long, the reader loses focus on the most important skills he is trying to convey,” says Ms. Hicks.

By contrast, Mr. Rose considers the list “a waste of valuable real estate” and suggests deleting it. He says he prefers résumés that highlight strengths with tangible accomplishments in the work-history section. “There really is no value-add in a list like that,” he says. “Hiring authorities don’t really trust your assessment of yourself.”

While there are mixed feelings among the experts about including a list of skills, all agree that when used, it needs to be concise and contain only those skills that can help a candidate stand out from the competition.

For the section that lists past employers, our experts want to know more about Mulcahy Inc., where Mr. Peterson spent 19 years. This is especially important for job seekers who have experience at a small or midsize firm that might not be known outside of its particular state or region. “What kind of company is it?” says Mr. Rose. “It could be a multinational, or it could be Mr. Mulcahy, his son and Mark.”

Our experts also want to see more details about what Mr. Peterson did at Mulcahy. “Did he hold the same position for all 19 years, or was there career progression while he was there?” asks Ms. Hicks.

“If there were multiple positions, you would want to show that,” says Ms. D’Alessandro.

She suggests adding subsections under a particular company. Even if Mr. Peterson held only one or two positions at Mulcahy, he should still break up his time there in order to show the breadth of his job as well as career progression, she adds.

The Doctor Is In

If you’d like your résumé reviewed for The Resume Doctor: Send your document along with a short description about your job search and the type of job you are seeking to cjeditor@dowjones.com. Please use Résumé Doctor in the subject line.

Our experts also didn’t like how Mr. Peterson’s résumé displays his past accomplishments. He lists seven, single-spaced bullet points, each packed with responsibilities and accomplishments, for the time he spent at Mulcahy. “They need to be spread out more with additional bullet points, so they are not just a mass of verbiage,” says Mr. Rose.

Further, Ms. Hicks says that Mr. Peterson could have done a better job of explaining his major career accomplishments.

For example, rather than listing the companies he had contracts with by name, she says she would have liked to see the different industries they’re in, because this would show his breadth of experience.

Perhaps most important, our experts say he is missing out on an opportunity to highlight experience that would prove highly relevant to a job in facilities management. In two of his early positions, he mentions the field in bullet points that describe his responsibilities but doesn’t elaborate.

“A lot of people make the mistake that if it happened 20 years ago, no one cares about it,” says Mr. Rose. “But you accomplished things back then that show career advancement.”

Including early stints can be especially important for prospective career changers, he adds. Mr. Peterson “should leverage some of that experience so he won’t come across as a complete newcomer,” says Mr. Rose.

In the education and training section, our experts were critical of Mr. Peterson for citing uncommon acronyms for all but one of the certifications he listed. Instead, they would have preferred to see these spelled out. Ms. Hicks also suggests Mr. Peterson show when he obtained the certifications, especially if he got any in recent years. Including dates would also show that he’s “up-to-date on what’s going on in the industry,” adds Ms. D’Alessandro.

Further, our experts noted that Mr. Peterson should have gone into detail about what may be the most valuable credential he has for a job in facilities management—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Having a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) designation demonstrates significant knowledge in green building practices and would transfer well to facilities management. It could also mean the difference between Mr. Peterson’s résumé going to the top and bottom of the pile, says Ms. D’Alessandro.

Finally, our experts said that to fit the extra information, Mr. Peterson may need to expand his résumé to two pages from one, and that doing so would be acceptable for such a senior-level job hunter.

“With 25 years of experience, you cannot articulate the depth of your experience in a one-page résumé,” says Ms. D’Alessandro.

Write to Elizabeth Garone at cjeditor@dowjones.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104574652483090184034.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By TODDI GUTNER

Q:

l am 30 years old and have six years of engineering experience. I am trying to move to a new field of engineering within the same company, and I’m currently looking at outside opportunities. The problem is that I only have theoretical knowledge in the field I want to be in and no actual work experience. Hiring managers want actual work experience. How should I proceed?

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There are steps you can take to improve your chances of successfully switching to a new career.

A. If you’ve been a strong performer and are highly valued, making a career change within a company is much easier than pursuing similar opportunities with organizations that don’t know you. “Hiring managers will always go with a known quantity (with known strengths and weaknesses) over a potential newcomer,” says Rabia de Lande Long, an executive coach with Chartwell Advisors Inc.

But being a known quantity only goes so far. There are steps you can take to improve your chances of making a career switch within your own company.

First, you’ll need to learn about the job responsibilities and the skills required. Invest in learning what you need to know through reading, doing course-work and joining professional organizations that focus on the specific career you would like to enter.

Once you have a good handle on what will be required of you in the new career, request an exploratory conversation with the hiring manager. “Emphasize what you do know and what you’ve done and how these areas relate to what is required in your new field of engineering,” says Ms. de Lande Long. “Identify on the similarities in your current and envisioned roles,” she says.

Then, you’ll want to “get to know people in the target group, serve on committees, ask for informational meetings and introductions,” says Laura S. Hill, a career coach with Careers in Motion. Be visible. Tell people of your interest in their department and have them contact you when an opportunity arises.

If your current manager knows that you would like to make a change, you can ask if he or she would be willing to endorse you for the new job, says Ms. Hill. To gain experience in the field, see if your manager would be willing to loan you out on a project. This will help you “begin to network with those who may call on you when the time is right,” says Ms. de Lande Long.

Write to Toddi Gutner at cjeditor@dowjones.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704416904575122060802724930.html?mod=rss_Career_Strategies

By JO PIAZZA

Economists are convinced that height confers a natural advantage in the workplace, but some of the tallest New Yorkers still turn to each other to get a leg up in their careers.

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Emily Berl for The Wall Street Journal

Tall Club members Kim Blacklock (6-foot-5) and Sonya Staton (5-foot-11)

Local talls, as they call themselves, use monthly meetings of the Tall Club of New York City as a networking venue. Members must meet minimum height requirements—5-foot-10 for women and 6-foot-2 for men, as measured without shoes—but otherwise they have little in common and hail from an array of industries.

Like-heighted comrades came to the aid of Mary Sue Lundy (5-foot-11), who saw her prospects as a mortgage-consulting instructor decline in the wake of the recession. Club members circulated her resume and coached her through an interview at Bloomberg LP, where other talls already worked.

She got the job. “It was a huge networking opportunity for me,” said Ms. Lundy, 47 years old.

Tall Club President Barry Hanold (6-foot-3) believes the economic research into the so-called height premium, in which tall people rise faster and earn more than their shorter peers, fails to capture the full picture. Sure, there are some perks with an above-average height—but there are challenges as well.

“Height is not a disability,” Mr. Hanold said. “But it is less understood in the workplace.”

The academic consensus offers a rosier view. In a 2004 paper, three social scientists argued that the link between higher heights and higher wages can be traced to adolescence, leading to speculation that taller youngsters develop self-confidence they carry into their careers.

“It has been known for a while that taller people earn more. We are talking about roughly 3% higher wages per inch, on average,” said Nicola Persico, one of the study’s authors and a professor at Northwestern University.

But Mr. Hanold, 47, points to drawbacks outside the office that might even the ledger.

“All talls quickly learn that all things cost more, so earning more money is a must,” he said. “Car size cannot be too small. Airlines always charge more for the extra room. Clothing must be custom-made or -sewn.”

Even low-ceilinged restaurants can be prohibitive, leading to careful scrutiny of the club’s meeting venues. “If I don’t have at least a foot of ceiling clearance I know my members won’t be comfortable,” Mr. Hanold said.

When the Tall Club gathers on the first Friday of every month at Pranna, a cavernous restaurant on Madison Avenue, all manner of height-related issues are discussed. For business suits, members tend to frequent the same three tailors. They trade information about ergonomic chairs and computer accessories designed for the tall.

The talk often circles around work-related topics. At a recent meeting, one tall woman revealed a tactic she had used: sitting during encounters with her shorter boss, to avoid creating a feeling of intimidation.

Mr. Hanold owes his current job in computer operations to a colleague with a link to the Tall Club, and he now repays his good fortune by contacting members when he learns of openings in his industry. “I don’t give them preferential treatment but I do throw it out to them first,” Mr. Hanold said.

Annie Watt, a 5-foot-10 photographer and the Tall Club’s founder, set out to create the group nearly two decades ago with more personal priorities in mind.

“My motivation was to date someone tall,” she said. “It worked the first night.”

Ms. Watt, 59, used her own money to place an advertisement in New York magazine: “Hi, We’re a Tall Club,” it read. Fifteen people showed up at the first meeting, and twice that number at the second. The Tall Club now counts about 100 members.

For Ms. Watt, the professional boost came from the high ratio of models and actors in the club, who often turn to her for headshots and suggest her services to other long-limbed performers.

“Annie knows how to make sure we don’t look like an all-neck giraffe in pictures,” said Kim Blacklock, a stand-up comedian who bills herself as one of tallest women on the planet.

She is a legacy member of height-oriented social groups. Her parents, both over 6-feet tall, met at a 1952 gathering of the Tall Timers in Syracuse, N.Y. Ms. Blacklock credits the New York City club with helping her stand proud after a childhood of mockery. (She reached 6-foot-5 by age 15.)

“My mother spent a lot of time crying because of how kids treated me,” Ms. Blacklock said. “But I go to the Tall Club, and they tell you that you are beautiful and wonderful. That helps when you go out into a world filled with boneheads.”

A version of this article appeared March 19, 2012, on page A19 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: At Tall Club, Members’ Careers Get an Extra Lift.

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304459804577285710102760818.html?mod=WSJ_TimesEMEA

By LESLIE KWOH

Unless Goldman Sachs

executive Greg Smith is shopping a book proposal, the scathing opinion piece he wrote announcing his resignation in Wednesday’s New York Times is a lesson in how not to quit, career experts say.

The piece, titled “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs,” accused the banking behemoth of fostering a toxic culture where profits come before client interests. In the piece, Mr. Smith criticized senior management and aspiring leaders for hewing primarily to the goal of making money.

The right way to quit is to “just resign and move on, and keep it quiet,” says Laura Hill, president of Careers in Motion LLC, a career-coaching firm in New York City.

Mr. Smith may have sought sympathy or catharsis, but airing grievances about superiors in a letter, whether private or public, is unlikely to amount to much, she adds. “It’s not going to change the organization,” she says.

Still, Mr. Smith’s piece dominated chatter among Wall Street workers on Wednesday and set off a social-media firestorm. Online commenters’ views ran the gamut of emotion, from disgust to wistful admiration for Mr. Smith. On one point, however, nearly all agreed: Mr. Smith is unlikely to find work in finance.

Ms. Hill concurs: “What he did generally renders you unemployable in your industry” and makes him unlikely to be seen as trustworthy by many other firms.

Mr. Smith didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday.

However harmful Mr. Smith’s letter may be for his future prospects, crisis-management experts say the episode should spur Goldman to think deeply about how and why one employee’s discontent could fester and spill over so publicly.

Employees generally become disgruntled when they feel like they aren’t being heard by management, says Davia Temin, chief executive of Temin and Company, a New York crisis- and reputation-management firm. Frustrations can grow when employees escalate concerns to higher and higher levels and still feel ignored.

While Ms. Temin says she doesn’t have firsthand knowledge of the situation within Goldman, she notes that it’s possible that writing an op-ed may have been a last resort for Mr. Smith. “If he felt like he was being heard, it probably would not have gotten to this point,” she says.

In a statement, Goldman rebutted Mr. Smith’s account of the company’s culture. “We disagree with the views expressed, which we don’t think reflect the way we run our business,” a spokeswoman wrote. “In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.”

Ms. Hill of Careers in Motion notes that while it may be difficult to lead cultural change at a company as large as Goldman, disgruntled employees should handle their frustrations by first “setting an example” for their colleagues. If they’re still dissatisfied with the response, then it may be time to leave the company—gracefully. That includes refraining from bashing an employer in later job interviews.

Someone in Mr. Smith’s position, for example, might describe their previous employer in more diplomatic terms, she says: “Over time, I felt their commitment to customers was not as strong.”

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304692804577281760852666318.html?mod=WSJ_TimesEMEA