It’s hard to believe that a few words could irritate someone enough to make them stop reading your resume, but it’s true. Some hiring managers and recruiters admit that they have their own mental lists of words that annoy them. Resume how-to books may recommend that you pack your resume full of as many verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as you can. But if you aren’t careful, you could turn off more prospective employers than you entice. Effective word choice is what really appeals to hiring managers—not action verbs and glittery modifiers. Here’s a rundown of some words that hiring managers...

A new programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine is available thanks to a couple of Google’s developers.  Called Noop (pronounce it like an abbreviated version of “no operation”), the developers claim that it combines the finest aspects of other languages and attempts to guide users towards accepted best practices. Other parts of the new Noop homepage (which is hosted by Google Code) explain that Noop “in source form looks similar to Java.  The goal is to build dependency injection and testability into the language from the beginning, rather than rely...

A common adage in the management consulting business is that efficiency and effectiveness are completely different measurements. An organization can be extremely efficient, getting high productivity from their workforce and producing their product or service with very little waste or churn, yet be totally ineffective in meeting their objectives if, for instance, their product or service is not accepted in the marketplace. This difference is often distilled to the statement “efficiency is about doing things right, while effectiveness is about doing the right things.” The Seven S approach is...

You may be the best developer in the world, or you may be able to diagnose any network problem in three minutes flat, but that does not automatically make you a good candidate for a manager. That’s like saying “I play a mean cello, so I should conduct the entire orchestra.” These are two different skill sets. The Manager tag should not be your goal. It is not something by which to measure your personal worth. It’s a responsibility, and it’s a lot of work. It’s also very unfair to team members to take on their management if you don’t really know how to do it. If you think you deserve...

Regardless of your job, role, or organization – and, no, it doesn’t matter what your political beliefs are – keep these 3 management rules front and center when making plans for the future: 1. The strategies most likely to win are the ones that are the easiest to understand. If the situation is complex, figure out a way to make it understandable. Otherwise, you’ll end up being another one of those really smart people who has no followers, no success stories, and no promotional future. 2. Emotion wins over logic 9 times out of 10. When we get emotional we generate energy and enthusiasm...