Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. ~Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, c.1420
You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice. ~Steven D. Woodhull
What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939, translated from French by Lewis Galantière
Don't wait for the Last Judgment. It happens every day. ~Albert Camus, The Fall, 1956
Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other. ~Henry David Thoreau
Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns! ~Allison Gappa Bottke
Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. ~Jim Rohn
In what you say of another, apply the test of kindness, necessity and truth, and let nothing pass your lips without a 2/3 majority. ~Liz Armbruster, onwww.robertbrault.com
See everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little. ~Pope John XXIII
Though the circular round-and-round of routine be the bulk of life's affairs, make an occasional jutting diversion - of fun, love, or something that will outlast you - so the shape and motion of your life shall resemble the round lifegiving sun with bright rays shining forth from all directions. ~Destin Figuier
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You will turn over many a futile new leaf till you learn we must all write on scratched-out pages. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning? ~Coleman Cox
Laziness will cause you pain. ~Slogan on T-shirt worn at the Vee Arnis Jitsu School of Self-Defense
If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it. ~Toni Morrison
Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity. ~Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949
Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Author Unknown
Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste. ~Brecht
[O]wning your burdens is half the battle. ~From the television show Scrubs
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. ~Victor Hugo
We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood. ~William James
You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. ~Leo Aikman
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty. ~Frank Herbert, Dune Chronicles
The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile. ~Plato
Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. ~Jonathan Kozel
Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum. ~Frances Willard
Always when judging
Who people are,
Remember to footnote
The words "So far."
~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Author unknown, variation of an excerpt from "The Serenity Prayer" by Reinhold Neibuhr
People cannot go wrong, if you don't let them. They cannot go right, unless you let them. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Excess on occasion is exhilirating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up, 1938
The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself. ~Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Last Tournament," Idylls of the King
I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes. ~Sara Teasdale, "The Philosopher"
Every one should keep a mental wastepaper basket and the older he grows the more things he will consign to it - torn up to irrecoverable tatters. ~Samuel Butler
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt
Whatever we worship, short of God, is sure to be our undoing. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Toss your dashed hopes not into a trash bin but into a drawer where you are likely to rummage some bright morning. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back. ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982
Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself. ~Elbert Hubbard
On the bathing-tub of King T'ang the following words were engraved: "If you would one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day. Yea, let there be daily renovation." ~Confucian Analects
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. ~Jimmy Johnson
What a strange narrowness of mind now is that, to think the things we have not known are better than the things we have known. ~Samuel Johnson
To sensible men, every day is a day of reckoning. ~John W. Gardner
There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go. ~Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier)
Face what you think you believe and you will be surprised. ~William Hale White
Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, 1943, translated from French
Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way. ~M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped. ~African Proverb
One can enjoy a wood fire worthily only when he warms his thoughts by it as well as his hands and feet. ~Odell Shepherd
Practical life teaches us that people may differ and that both may be wrong: it also teaches us that people may differ and both be right. Anchor yourself fast in the latter faith, or the former will sweep your heart away. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare,Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice that which we are for what we could become. ~Charles DuBois
Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon
It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. ~Albert Einstein
Decorate yourself from the inside out. ~Andrei Turnhollow
Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts. ~Charles Dickens
We have a choice every day - to act on yesterday's good intentions or get an early start on tomorrow's regrets. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
When you start treating people like people, they become people. ~Paul Vitale
Be kind to your shadow. ~Rebecca Lawless
I thought growing up was something that happened automatically as you got older. But it turns out it's something you have to choose to do. ~From the television show Scrubs
If you have to do it every day, for God's sake learn to do it well. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
You do not have the right to quit trying. (The universe wobbles when you do.) You have the right to quit Toxic People. (They're contagious.) ~Dr. SunWolf
Dare to be imperfect and one day there will tug at your sleeve a soulmate. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest. ~Henry Miller, The Books in My Life
Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe it anyway. ~Elbert Hubbard, A Thousand and One Epigrams, 1911
Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong. ~Dandemis
Whatever you are be a good one. ~Abraham Lincoln
It's better to fight for something than against something. ~Author Unknown
The day will happen whether or not you get up. ~John Ciardi
Nature gave men two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man's success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most. ~George R. Kirkpatrick
One should always play fair when one has the winning cards. ~Oscar Wilde
Think of your faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep. ~Chinese Proverb
When you live in reaction, you give your power away. Then you get to experience what you gave your power to. ~N. Smith
When "Why not do it?" barely outweights "Why do it?" - don't do it. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
If you hate your lot but wouldn't trade it, it's not your lot you hate. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
Half the failures in life arise from pulling in the horse as he is leaping. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
When you invite trouble, it's usually quick to accept. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak. Sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go. ~Author Unknown
Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise. ~Author Unknown
All philosophy in two words, - sustain and abstain. ~Epictetus
Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake. ~Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne
Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. ~Janis Joplin
Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein
The biggest problem in the world
Could have been solved when it was small.
~Witter Bynner, The Way of Life According to Laotzu
In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet. ~Albert Schweitzer
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up. ~Robert Frost
What you can't get out of, get into wholeheartedly. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Surely a man needs a closed place wherein he may strike root and, like the seed,become. But also he needs the great Milky Way above him and the vast sea spaces, though neither stars nor ocean serve his daily needs. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert
Never believe in mirrors or newspapers. ~Tom Stoppard
I may be justifying my pockets of chaos, but I will always choose people over perfection and the heart over task and tidy. ~Betsy Cañas Garmon,www.wildthymecreative.com
Never confuse thoughtlessness with malice. ~Robert Charles Whitehead
Yet some things you miss and some things you lose by keeping your arm outstretched. ~Author Unknown
You want to run out in front, prepare to be tripped from behind. ~S.A. Sachs
Now and then it is a joy to have one's table red with wine and roses. ~Oscar Wilde
It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark. ~Howard Ruff, How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years, 1979
Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water, and when you're tired, go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand. ~Bruce Lee
While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. ~Doug Horton
To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy. ~Hippocrates
Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. ~Buddha
People are like holidays. Do others see you as Christmas, or more like Tax Day? ~Ward Elliot Hour
Make somebody happy today. Mind your own business. ~Ann Landers
Things sweet the taste prove in digestion sour. ~William Shakespeare, King Richard the Second, 1595
Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? ~Abraham Lincoln
Lend, by your imperfections, self-esteem to others, and you will be invited everywhere. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." ~J.R.R. Tolkien, "Three Is Company," The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954
There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. ~James Thurber
The essential question is not, "How busy are you?" but "What are you busy at?" ~Oprah Winfrey
Don't get your knickers in a knot. Nothing is solved and it just makes you walk funny. ~Kathryn Carpenter
Never undertake anything for which you wouldn't have the courage to ask the blessings of heaven. ~G.C. Lichtenberg
Being loved by all is little fun
Unless you're also loved by one.
~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
We must have passed through life unobservantly, if we have never perceived that a man is very much himself what he thinks of others. ~Frederick W. Faber
Never saw off the branch you are on, unless you are being hanged from it. ~Stanislaw Lec
Watch the little things; a small leak will sink a great ship. ~Benjamin Franklin
Don't despise empiric truth. Lots of things work in practice for which the laboratory has never found proof. ~Martin H. Fischer
Is bread the better for kneading? so is the heart. Knead it then by spiritual exercises; or God must knead it by afflictions. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
The best way to predict your future is to create it. ~Peter Drucker
You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. ~Irish Proverb
Beware of a man of one book. ~English Proverb
Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey. ~Tad Williams
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. ~Baltasar Gracian
Go with your heart, buddy. Our brains only screw things up. ~Chris Fedak and Allison Adler, Chuck, "Chuck Versus the Ring"
It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed. ~Horace
Leaves are light, and useless, and idle, and wavering, and changeable; they even dance; and yet God in his wisdom has made them a part of oaks. And in so doing he has given us a lesson, not to deny the stout-heartedness within because we see the lightsomeness without. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare,Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. ~Henry David Thoreau
Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours. ~Swedish Proverb
The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense. ~Thomas Edison
Aspire to a lower level of harm. ~Anonymous
I try not to kid myself. You know, I don't mind romancing someone else, but to fool yourself is pretty devastating and dangerous. ~Bill Veeck
You can't truthfully explain your smallest action without fully revealing your character. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
It's all right letting yourself go as long as you can let yourself back. ~Mick Jagger
When you lose, don't lose the lesson. ~Author Unknown
There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire. ~John C. Collins
Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. ~Frank Tyger
Dig the well before you are thirsty. ~Chinese Proverb
Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly. ~Benjamin Franklin
Be nice to people on your way up because you'll need them on your way down. ~W. Migner
When you throw dirt, you lose ground. ~Texan Proverb
The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. ~Albert Schweitzer
Everyone should learn to do one thing supremely well because he likes it, and one thing supremely well because he detests it. ~Brigham Young
Sometimes the only way you can take a really good look at yourself is through somebody else's eyes. ~From the television show Scrubs
Sometimes the best way to hold onto something is to let it go. ~Author Unknown
It isn't what you know that counts, it's what you think of in time. ~Author Unknown
The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show. ~Author Unknown
For visions come not to polluted eyes. ~Mary Howitt
The key to happiness and youth is an unencumbered spirit - whether it comes naturally or whether you have to work hard for it. ~Emme Woodhull-Bäche
Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls and to-tomorrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Remedy it, or welcome it: a wise man's only two choices. ~The Quote Garden
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. ~Chinese Proverb
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you're the easiest person to fool. ~Richard Feynman
Don't let it be all in your head, nor all in your body. ~V.L. Allineare
Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk. ~Joaquin de Setanti
God is good, but never dance in a small boat. ~Irish Saying
It is better to stir up a question without deciding it, than to decide it without stirring it up. ~Joseph Joubert
Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise. ~Mary Kay Ash
Where you find quality, you will find a craftsman, not a quality-control expert. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. ~Malcolm S. Forbes
I used to believe that anything was better than nothing. Now I know that sometimes nothing is better. ~Glenda Jackson
Wise Words
0 commentsHow to get the job
0 commentsSomething happens to people when they get online. Maybe it's the instant access, maybe it's the "I-could-be-naked" anonymity, but when people get online they sometimes get overly casual and informal. This might be fine when your talking to your buddy in Omaha or the sweetheart you just met in a chatroom, but it doesn't work well when you're trying to get business done.
Just because you're communicating online does not mean you should consider yourself exempt from any of the formalities of paper-based communication. Online cover letters are notoriously awful, poorly written throwaways of fewer than three lines whose only purpose is to say "I'm applying, this is my resume, have a nice day."
When formatting the cover letter, stick to left-justified headers and four-inch wide text lines in your paragraphs. You never know when the address you're mailing to has a small e-mail-page format that will awkwardly wrap text around the screen. Also, many e-mail systems cannot handle text enhancements like bolding, bulleting or underlining, so play it safe by using CAPITAL LETTERS -- or dashes -- if you need to make an emphasis. For more expert advice on cover letters, check out the Vault Job Search Survival Center .
Proper E-mail Cover Letter Etiquette
Anil Dash, the former chief information technology officer for an online music video production studio in Manhattan, lost his job this January when the company fired nearly all its employees. Since then, Dash figures he's applied for more than a dozen jobs, contacting every one of the potential employers - befitting an out-of-work CIO - through e-mail.
But every time he prepares another e-mail, he faces a choice. Should he bother to write an e-mail cover letter, the sort of thing he'd do if he were mailing the resume, or should he merely dash off a few lines to the effect of, "Hi, I'm interested in your job, and I've attached my resume as a Word file. Thanks."
"I do cover letters for jobs I really want," Dash says. "For ones I don't care about, I just spam them."
Why cover letters still matter
According to recruiting experts, Dash is doing the right thing by writing extensive e-mail cover letters. Even though cover letters came of age in the age of pen and paper (or typewriter and paper), they still have a place in the 21st century, when want ads, resumes, and interviews all fly over virtual networks.
"It's going over the Internet, but it's the same product," Madeline Miller, the manager of Compu-Type Nationwide Resume Service in upstate New York, said of e-mail cover letters. "The cover is very important and it should be the same quality if you were to mail it."
Since e-mail messages generally tend to be conversational and quickly written, many people aren't used to drafting carefully written e-mail cover letters. But Miller said any applicant who creates a fully-fleshed e-mailed cover letter has an advantage over an applicant with a more slapdash cover letter.
"There is a tendency to jot off a few lines, and people might write, "I'm applying for this job, here is my resume," Miller said. "But if there is a cover letter, that could put somebody over the top."
But at the same time, make sure your e-mailed cover letter isn't a chore to read. If brevity is a virtue with conventional cover letters, it's a necessity for e-mailed cover letters. You can find out more about cover letters with Vault's expert career advice.
Appropriate cover letter length
Reesa Staten, the research director for OfficeTeam, a staffing service firm, says e-mailed resumes shouldn't run more than two or three paragraphs.
"You want to include the same type of information, albeit in a shorter version," Staten said. "What you don't want to do is rehash your resume. There's no need to restate what you've done in the past. What you want to do is tell them where you learned about the listing, why you're right for the job, and how they can reach you."
Tips for sending cover letters and resumes
If you really want the job, follow up an e-mailed cover letter and resume with a hard copy you mail. Make sure this hard copy includes a cover letter, too, that restates who you are and why you're qualified. Somewhere in the cover letter, be sure to write, "I recently e-mailed you my resume and I'm following up with this hard copy."
Why should you do this? A hard copy gives your resume another chance for exposure and makes it easier for a potential boss to pass around or file your cover letter and resume. In cases where your e-mailed cover letter and resume have been overlooked in someone's in-box or rendered inaccessible by a computer glitch, a hard copy may be your only chance for exposure.
If you're including a resume as an attachment, first make sure the prospective employer accepts attachments. Then, in your cover letter, mention the program you used to create your attachment. ("I've enclosed a cover letter written in Microsoft Word 2000.") It's also a good idea to include a cut and paste text version of your resume in addition, in case the person reading the resume doesn't have the software to open your attachment.
With any resume file you're attaching, open it first to make sure it's updated, error free, and the version of your resume you want to send. Sending a virus is tantamount to sealing your job-doom.
Save a copy of whatever you send by including your own e-mail address in the "BCC" field or by making sure a copy goes to your "Sent mail" folder. This allows you to resend the letter if a problem pops up.
Lastly, don't fill in the "to" field with the recipient's e-mail address until you've finished writing and editing the cover letter and resume. This prevents you from accidentally sending off the message before it's ready.
For more expert advice on the job search, from resumes and cover letters to interviewing and salary negotiation, go to the Vault Job Search Survival Center
Best career advice
0 commentsIn the ideal situation, the interviewer and the interviewee are equally interested in finding a perfect fit. Look out for yourself. Ask hard questions about work conditions, drawbacks, and low points. If asked tactfully and backed up with research, well-directed questions of this sort won't offend a responsible interviewer. After all, a happy employee is going to be more productive than someone who hates his job.
But if you choose unwisely the first time, don't worry -- jobs are no longer forever. People change careers nowadays about as often as their hairstyles. Chances are, even the person who interviews you, if he or she hasn't been living in a cave with blind fish, will understand that you probably won't be with the company for life. Gone are the days of the 1950s "company man" who signed up after college and stayed on until he retired. Nevertheless, choosing a job and career right the first time saves a lot of time and angst.
Vault.com offers insider company research on thousands of top employers. You can also fill out an employer survey on Vault and quality to win $500.
The following are some questions you'll want to answer, either by yourself prior to the interview or during the interview, to avoid ending up in the wrong position:
What are the hours?
If your research hasn't revealed this already, you should ask if a job advertised as 40 hours a week really takes 50 or 60 hours a week, or more. You have a right to know how much you'll be working and should protect yourself by asking in the interview whether or not this is truly a 40-hour-a-week job. Interviewers should be honest with you about this; it's information you need to know in order to make a good decision. If you're going to be slammed with work from nine to nine every day, it might not be worth it for you.
Pay?
Be aware that overeagerness to ask about salary can make you look unprofessional. Asking about salary while calling up to schedule an interview is a bad idea. The best time to ask about salary is after you've gotten the job, but before you've accepted. Even if money is your prime motivation, wait till late in the interview to ask money questions.
Still, salary and other benefits are important. Before you go in for an interview, think about how much you need to make to live comfortably, and how much you think you deserve to make, given the responsibilities and your qualifications. You can find pay information at specific companies with Vault company research.
What type of work will I be doing?
Before you go in for an interview, think about which type of work environment suits you best. As we saw earlier, different corporations develop different attitudes. The atmosphere on the floor of the New York Stock exchange is very different from a public library in a small town. Some jobs require you to work with a team in order to produce a final product, while you'll work in solitude in others. It's your responsibility to find the environment that best suits you.
How long will I be here?
Before the interview, you'll also wish to think about your commitment to the job. The interviewer will be concerned about how long you will be able to stay with them. Are you looking for summer employment between school terms, for a six-month experience, a three-month internship, or a lifelong career path? In establishing a career, consider that anything under a year does not constitute a valid work experience to some employers. In many jobs it takes six months just to get up to speed.
Are there walls?
When you go in for the interview, be alert to the work environment, both physical and human. Pay attention to the way the company gets its work done. Imagine yourself coming into that building every day. Do people in the office wear Armani or Levis, DKNY or Dickies? Do they crowd into cubicles or kick back in plush, well-ferned offices? Is there a backslapping, good-ol'-boy, "see the game last night, Joe?" feel to the place? Do the workers seem happy or do they wander round the office like zombies? Are there stains on the carpet, interesting art on the walls? If you look at the interview experience as an opportunity to gather as much information as you can about the company, you'll have plenty of factors to sift through when it's time to make a decision.
Big fish in small pond or cog in machine?
How big a company do you want to work for? Will you be more comfortable as a prominent player in an office where everyone knows one another, or as a single, relatively unnoticed cog in a massive corporate machine? Smaller companies are more likely to offer flexible hours and vacation policies, and they may offer more opportunities for immediate, diverse, and substantive involvement. In addition, a smaller company may be a growing company. It can be exciting to ride a company as it grows, to watch and participate in the formation of its culture and lingo. Smaller companies also tend to suffer less from bothersome bureaucracies, so your ideas have a better chance of immediate implementation.
By the same token, it's difficult to hide in a small company. Everyone will soon realize if you're not producing. It may be more difficult for you to take vacation, or even a long lunch. Small companies also tend to pay less and can't offer the benefits of a larger firm. And especially in these consolidation-crazy times, they're somewhat more susceptible to buy-outs and bankruptcy than a big, established operation. Fortune 500 companies, on the other hand, can usually afford higher salaries than smaller places can. They also offer more comprehensive benefits, and may offer a wider variety of potential places to live.
In the interview process, employees at small companies understand that they don't have the name recognition of bigger places and won't expect you to know as much about them. This is why it's an especially good idea when interviewing with a smaller place, to find out who they are and what they do. Make sure you thoroughly check their web site, if they have one. At least research the industry in which the company's involved if you can't find anything more specific. Also, Vault.com's company research provides insights into workplace culture at major employers.
