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Career advice from Anne Fisher - FORTUNE Magazine

10 biggest job interview blunders

Dear Annie: A few months ago I lost a middle-management job at a company where I worked for 14 years. I received four promotions during that time, but it had been quite a while since I actually interviewed for a new job.

Over 50, and zero job offers

Dear Annie: I'm a week away from my 54th birthday and, man, am I getting discouraged. After being laid off from a fairly senior job in May, I've spent the past few months networking nonstop, and managed to get three interviews. One interviewer never got back to me at all, and the other two both said I am overqualified for the jobs they have to offer.

Facebook your way to a new job?

Dear Annie: I enjoyed your Sept. 30 column, and readers' comments, about how to decide whom to "friend" on Facebook. I recently joined LinkedIn, which I have heard is a terrific job-search tool, but I could really use some pointers on how to make the most of it. (I lost my old job about six weeks ago and, while my severance pay will last another couple of months, I need to step up my job hunt.)

15 best places for green jobs

Dear Annie: I graduated from college with a civil engineering degree last spring, and I'm planning to go to architecture school. I want to focus my training on learning how to retrofit existing buildings and power plants to be more energy-efficient.

5 ways to cut work stress

Dear Annie: I found your column "6 Ways to Be Happier at Work" very helpful, but what I could really use is some advice on how to help the people under me be happier (and more productive). Our department was cut drastically, back in February, so everyone has been working crazy hours since then. On top of that, we just heard our pay has been frozen, and bonuses this year will be far smaller than in the past.

My boss fired me, then 'friended' me

Dear Annie: Is there some kind of standard etiquette for deciding whom to "friend" on Facebook? Lately I am finding myself in a couple of different quandaries with this. For one, my old boss, who laid me off from my last job with no warning (and no severance pay), has sent me a friend request. I'm still angry and hurt over the way he handled my termination, but should I accept anyway?

Why more women don't get MBAs

It's a bit puzzling: Over the past 20 years, as women have made tremendous gains in the business world, the percentage of B-school students who are female has remained at about 30%, or roughly the same now as in the late '80s. (By contrast, female enrollment in law and medical schools has risen over the same time period to about 50%.)

7 steps to finding a job online

Dear Annie: I have two questions for you. First, I graduated from a top engineering college in June and have been applying for jobs all summer with no luck.

Help! My boss is driving me nuts

Dear Annie: We used to have a great team here, until our boss was replaced by a manager brought in from another part of the company who is now trying to control our every move. He insists on telling everyone what to do and how to do it in minute detail (even though we've all been excelling at our jobs for years). No detail is too ridiculously tiny to escape his scrutiny, and he's constantly issuing new rules and guidelines, some of which contradict each other.

You're hired! You move. You're fired!

Dear Annie: I hope you can help me, because I am in a real mess here. I was laid off in January and, after a six-month job hunt, was offered a position similar to my old one. The new job required that I move from the Boston area to Atlanta. So my wife and I sold our house at a considerable loss, my wife quit her job, and we signed our kids up for their new schools in our new hometown. The company paid me a signing bonus and paid about half of our moving expenses. (My understanding is that the other half is tax-deductible, since we moved for work reasons.)

Can you get promoted now?

Dear Annie: I work as a senior manager on some projects that are showing strong returns. I haven't been here very long, so I'm still trying to figure out the politics, but I'm pretty sure I'm due for a promotion to the next level -- or at least, I need to start planning how I'll get to that level. How do I make a case for my promotion? And how should I seek out my boss's honest opinion about what I need to do to move up? -- Politically Perplexed

How to save the world at work

Dear Annie: Call me an old hippie (I served in the Peace Corps in the late '60s), but I've always wished I could find a job that would let me make a decent living while also doing some real good for someone.

6 ways to be happier at work

With widespread job cuts and a recession to deal with, it's not easy to maintain a positive outlook at work these days. But being upbeat, despite the stress, could actually help you thrive during a downturn.

Do women do better in a recession?

There's one sure-fire way to start a heated argument, whether around the water cooler or at a dinner party: Just say something that suggests women manage very differently from their male peers. Then stand back and watch the fireworks.

Where the tech jobs are now

Dear Annie: My son is going to graduate from college in December with a B.S. in computer science, and I am just wondering about the IT job market. On the one hand, we keep hearing about layoffs and outsourcing, but on the other hand, everything runs on computers now, so surely there must be some good tech jobs in this country, especially at the (relatively cheap) entry level. Is there anything he can do to increase his chances of getting hired six months from now? -Pasadena Papa

How to be a better global manager

In 1997, with $100 billion in annual sales and 750,000 employees in 8 countries including the U.S., Wal-Mart decided to open 85 stores in Germany, a move Wall Street analysts applauded because it would pave the way for expansion into all of Europe. The retailer bought up a couple of smaller German store chains, and sent over an executive who had successfully run 200 U.S. Wal-Mart stores from headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to manage the German operations. Nine years later, in July of 2006, Wal-Mart announced it would close down its German stores. The resulting loss: About $1 billion.

Job market for techies to get healthier?

Dear Annie: As I understand it, President Obama's economic stimulus package contains incentives for hospitals and medical offices to get all their old paper medical records computerized, which is supposed to produce huge cost savings in the health-care system (and I think it's pretty obvious that it would do so). This caught my attention a few weeks ago when the stimulus package was first unveiled, since I have some experience in the health-care field and several IT certifications, but I haven't heard any mention of it lately. Do you think that, assuming it gets through Congress, this plan to wire the medical world could create many IT jobs? -Tacoma Techie for Hire

Trading a white collar for blue

Dear Annie: I just finished reading Matthew B. Crawford's new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, and it has really got me thinking. I always liked working with my hands, and I spend most of my free time woodworking (building furniture and cabinets for my family and friends) and tinkering with old cars. But like lots of other people, I got a college degree because I was told it would be the ticket to a lifetime of employment security. Ha! Pretty funny, right? Having been laid off twice in three years, I'm not laughing. Meanwhile, my wife's brother, who did an apprenticeship instead of college, owns a successful business as an electrician and has been urging me to come to work for him. It would be a complete career change but, having read Crawford's thoughts on how satisfying his motorcycle-repair shop is, I'm seriously considering leaving the corporate world behind. I'd be interested to hear what you and your readers think. -- White Collar Blues

Dare you ask for a raise now?

Dear Annie: I know this probably sounds nutty, with so many companies cutting pay or freezing pay in order to avoid layoffs (or, further layoffs), but I'm thinking of asking for a raise. First of all, my employer has not cut or frozen anyone's pay -- at least not to my knowledge. However, we have had layoffs here, so I'm now doing the work three people used to do.

Keep the job-search blues at bay

Dear Annie: I am worried about my husband of 19 years, who had a successful career in manufacturing project management until this recession hit. He lost his most recent job almost ten months ago, and at first he was doing a lot of networking, applying for jobs online, and even getting a few interviews, none of which panned out.