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3 Research-Based Tricks To Get A Raise

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Asking for a raise can be a tricky and often nerve-wracking venture. And simply mustering up the courage to ask for one can be a daunting task in itself. However, getting the raise you deserve can be achieved by following these three simple tips. Watch the video to make sure you know when, how, and how much to ask for. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser

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Here's How Much Government Employees Make In Each State

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If you’re a government employee, your salary usually depends on your position and years worked. However, it also depends heavily on the state in which you live.

Each pair of maps illustrates average annual salaries (extrapolated from one month of full-time payroll in March, 2012) for a specific government function; state government salaries (left-hand maps) are compared to local government salaries (right-hand maps).  The scale applies to all maps, so any map can be compared to any other.

Some of the differences are striking because the roles are fundamentally different.  For example, in education, most local government employees are grade school teachers, whereas state employees are university professors. Others may be due to how governments allocate their resources or emphasize the importance of a given function. For example, Nevada seems to fund local parks more heavily than other states.map government employees

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Why This Startup Cofounder Is Only Looking To Hire 'Experts' In Their Field

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For one startup CEO, finding a niche is the key to success in both business and hiring.

Tim Weingarten is a cofounder and CEO of The Hunt, which lets users post pictures of items they want to purchase but can't find and receive help from its online community. In an interview with Skiddy von Stade, founder of finance career site OneWire, Weingarten said he looks for hires who are both experts in their fields and good culture fits for the company.

"What you really need is someone who is not only an expert in their field, say they're an amazing Objective C engineer. Objective C is the language you use for iOS, for iPhone applications. Maybe they're an amazing engineer, but beyond being amazing in their field, do they fit in with the team? And really that means do they fit in with the culture of the company," Weingarten said.

He also said he looks for someone who is willing to take a risk working for a startup, who values equity in the company as much as salary, and who is a self-starter, who is individually driven.

Weingarten believes specialization is one thing that's made The Hunt successful. With a 96 percent female user base, he said the goal of a community-driven website is to make the audience feel like they belong.

"My view as an entrepreneur is that a big mistake you can make is trying to go too horizontal, too broad, too fast to be all things to all people," he said. "That usually ends up being a mistake, especially with these community driven sites and these huge user-driven generated content sites ... The best approach is to build, go deep and narrow, and really own a particular demographic segment and vertical of the economy."

The Hunt launched in 2013, and has raised over $16 million in funding from investors, including celebrity investors Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher.

You can see more Open Door interviews with OneWire CEO Skiddy von Stade by subscribing to the series here.

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7 Bizarre Job Interviews You'll Be Glad You Weren't Involved In

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Step Brothers awkward interview scene

The internet is full of good advice for what you should and should not do during a job interview.

For instance, experts recommend that candidates present a unique personality trait to make themselves stand out, while avoiding the use of excuses when describing their past performance.

But there are some situations even the most rigorous research won't prepare you for.

People on Quora recently discussed the question, "What is the most bizarre job interview you have ever been party to?"

While the stories people told might not provide a lot of insight for your next job interview, many of them are simply too good not to share.

Here's a sampling of the craziness that befell these unfortunate interviewers and interviewees:

1. Strip, please.

Quora user Sami Thompson's interview for a receptionist position was going pretty well, at least until the interviewer asked her to take off her clothes. It was then that she realized she was interviewing for a receptionist job at a strip club.

"Needless to say, I expressed my regrets, plucked my application form from [the strip club owner's] hands, and we both had a good laugh as I hastily retreated to my car with the reddest face on the planet," Thompson recalled.

2. No guests allowed.

Bennett McEwan was interviewing recent grads for a healthcare analyst job at Unisys when one of the candidates arrived with a very special guest in tow: her mother.

McEwan reports that the prospective hire barely said a word, instead deferring to her mother. Among other demands, the mother said Unisys would have to pay for an additional hotel room whenever her daughter had to travel because "I accompany my daughter everywhere."

Needless to say, neither the mother nor the daughter left with a job offer that day.

3. The opposite of flattery.

Video-game industry veteran and Quora user Chris Charla was interviewing a job candidate and asked which video game consoles she liked to play. 

"I've owned every game system since the Super Nintendo except PSP," the candidate replied. "I was excited for it and then I played 'Death, Jr.' and I hated that game so much I decided the system sucked."

The problem? Charla was one of the primary creators of "Death, Jr."

Fortunately for the candidate, Charla didn't hold it against her.

"She got the job because a) she was the best qualified candidate, b) I'm not vindictive and c) her graceful recovery from an embarrassing moment demonstrated effectively that she did well in high-pressure situations," Charla wrote.

4. A job interview that turned into a date.

Leitha Matz was interviewing to be a copywriter for an older businessman when it became increasingly clear that the man was looking for more than just a new employee. The two-day interview included dinner, drinks, several rides in a fancy car, and a hike to a romantic vista before the man revealed that he wanted to marry her.

After an unwanted kiss, Matz politely told the man she didn't want to be his wife — or his copywriter.

5. A date that turned into a job interview

An anonymous Quora user responded to a personal ad on Craigslist to go to a sex club with another man. On the way there, his date revealed that he was the founder of a web company, a perfect fit for the unemployed Quora user's software skills.

One thing led to another, and Anonymous had himself a new job by the end of the evening.

"It's my favorite job I've had so far; I kinda feel like I could do this for the rest of my life," he wrote.

6. Earthquake!

Quora user Lee Ballentine had the perfect opportunity to prove his toughness to the CEO of a Silicon Valley company who had previously served in the Israeli army. Midway through the interview, an earthquake erupted.

But while others scrambled for the exits, both Ballentine and the CEO continued through the interview as if nothing was wrong.

"I decided that if the CEO could take it, so could I," Ballentine wrote. "We kept right on talking until we were the only two people left in the building."

The rest of the people in the office returned about a half hour later. Several days after that, Ballentine had a job offer.

7. Whose dog is it anyway?

Venture capitalist Murli Ravi tells the story of a friend who was interviewing candidates for a mid-level position at his company when one of the job applicants walked in with a golden retriever.

Ravi's friend said the interview was pretty normal, with the only exception being that the dog spent most of it lying under a table, only to leave the room with the interview still in progress.

At the end, Ravi's friend couldn't help but ask the candidate why he decided to bring a dog to the job interview.

The candidate's response: "My dog? I thought it was your dog! I wanted to ask you the same question!"

It turns out the dog had walked in off the street.

SEE ALSO: The Surprising Interview Mistake Most Job Seekers Make

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15 Real Tech Company Interview Questions You Will Probably Be Asked (And How To Answer Them)

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The Internship

There's a scene in the 2013 move "The Internship" where the two laid-off sales guys (played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) are asked one of those legendary Google brain teaser interview questions.

The question was: You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

Answer: Lots of variants but one is that you jump out. According to the square-cube law your strength-to-mass ratio should have changed, allowing you to be much stronger for your size and jump really high, like an insect.

That's a real question that Google once asked people. Google has reportedly banned the brain teaser portion of its interview process now but that doesn't mean that interviews with today's biggest tech companies have gotten easy.

We've scoured job-hunting site Glassdoor.com and interview training site Impact Interview and found a number of difficult questions that other tech companies have actually asked.

Question from Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com Customer Service Analyst interview question:

“How would you direct traffic in the result of a catastrophic earthquake?”

Possible answer: This clearly falls into the "brain teaser category" looking for problem-solving skills, as we can't think of a case where a customer service analyst will be asked to become a traffic cop after an catastrophic earthquake.

Have fun with the answer, while explaining how you help people avoid torn up streets and drive to safety.



Question from Microsoft

Microsoft management position interview question:

"What is a product you love but is marketed very badly? How would you market it differently?"

Possible answer: Probably NOT wise to choose: "Windows Phone" or "Microsoft Surface." Just sayin.



Question from Amazon

Amazon Product Management interview question:

"Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?"

Possible answer: Well Bezos likes newspapers (he bought the Washington Post and he's an investor in Business Insider) and he likes clocks (he's spending $42 million on one that's supposed to last for 10,000 years), so if you were trying to impress Bezos, those two areas could be good.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The Only Thing Worse Than Having A Ph.D. In This Market Is Not Finishing One

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When I first began my Ph.D., I kept hearing other graduate students bandy about the term “ABD,” but I had no idea what it meant. Arrested Botox Detonation? Anointed Between Demigods? I didn’t dare ask, because Rule No. 1 of Grad School Fight Club is that you never admit that you don’t know something in public. (“Oh, Phenomenology of Spirit? I’ll have to re-read that this semester.”)

Eventually, I figured it out: ABD stands for “all but dissertation,” a description of a student who has finished coursework and passed comprehensive exams, but has yet to complete and defend the doctoral thesis.

Today, the Ph.D. Completion Project estimates that the ten-year completion rate (that is, someone’s status a decade after they begin) is 55–64 percent in STEM, 56 percent in the social sciences, and 49 percent in the humanities. Not all Ph.D. dropouts advance to the dissertation stage before they leave—but since the project’s charts start leveling out around Year 8 (the dissertation begins in Year 3 or 4), it’s safe to assume a hell of a lot do.

Aside from the obvious professional consequences (it’s hard enough get a job with a doctorate!), there are also psychological ramifications to leaving grad school without finishing. Last month, Jill Yesko, an ABD in geography, took to Inside Higher Education with a wrenchingly honest look at how she and many of her fellow ABDs feel:

Only in the parallel universe of academia is it possible to log years of Herculean scholarship, write and defend a complex dissertation proposal, and – upon failing to complete one’s dissertation – come away with nothing to show but the humiliation of not being recognized by the academic industrial complex for one’s blood, sweat and uncompensated toil.

Many programs do disown their dropouts, refusing to write letters of recommendation and often cutting off all contact. But the anger, disappointment, and betrayal Yesko expresses here reveal far more about the lasting emotional damage that leaving graduate school can cause. It is, in fact, especially wrenching to students who never envisioned a life outside of academia (and, often having gone directly from college to graduate school, have never lived one). In recent years,manymany online resources have sprung up to offer academic cast-asides the support they otherwise lack.

Speaking of which: Reaction on IHE to Yesko’s piece—and her solution, to offer a new kind of degree between an M.A. and a doctorate—was a snide pile-on. “Can we make sure that the Certificate of Doctoral Completion also comes with a little plastic trophy and a large green ribbon signaling excellent participation?” sniped one commenter. Added another: “These degrees aren’t soccer trophies for young childrens [sic] whose spirit might get crushed. Terminal ABD has a meaning: Failure.” And you, dear reader, may also feel, right this second, as if those who leave Ph.D. programs simply couldn’t hack it.

Maybe they couldn’t. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Dissertations—some 250 pages of original research in the humanities, and topping 400 in the social sciences—are objectively, indisputably difficult. It sometimes takes years just to collect data or comb through the necessary archives, and then the damn thing must be written, often in total isolation. Dissertations are not impossible, but they are very hard, and most people in the world—including, perhaps, you, my friend—cannot complete one.

ben bernanke mit commencement graduationThere are innumerable reasons for this, and I know them all, because when I quit academia, I started working for a company that “coaches” dissertators who are blocked, stalled, or simply in need of some practical guidance. Thus, I happen to have firsthand knowledge of the countless obstacles put in the way of ABDs—by outside forces, and by themselves—because it is my job to.

First, the outside hindrances: Some advisers are helpful and supportive. But many run the gamut between absentee, excoriating, and micromanagerial. There are the advisers who retire, leave, or even die. Then there’s the total lack of preparedness for such an extensive and rigorous project: A seminar paper is a 5K fun run; a dissertation is anultramarathon. And in the social sciences and STEM fields, there are data sets or experiments that simply fall apart.

Then there are the inner hindrances, the ones that cause procrastination, and then shame, and then paralysis. Here’s my favorite: believing, erroneously, that one must read and master every single word of existing scholarship before even beginning to write. Here’s my least favorite (which happens to my clients all the time): refusing to turn in any chapter that isn’t perfect, and thus not turning in anything at all—which results in the adviser getting irate, which puts even more pressure on the student to be even more perfect, ad infinitum. This is how dissertations are stalled, often forever.

So what can be done to fix this? The Izzy Mandelbaums of academia may argue the system is fine the way it is: In a field that requires extended independent work to succeed, the trial by fire of the dissertation is an apt initiation. (“All aboard the pain train!”) But does it have to be this way? I see no reason why, for example, more dissertation advisers couldn’t be enthusiastic about seeing early drafts, to provide guidance and support. Some already do this (mine did), but far too many of my clients say their advisers won’t even look at anything that isn’t “polished.” Every adviser who says this is part of the problem.

Another step in the right direction would be not just to hold dissertation workshops, but also to make them mandatory. A lot of grad students are simply too paralyzed (or ashamed to admit they don’t know what they’re doing) to attend one of their own volition. A mandatory workshop frees them to get the help they need, without having to admit they need help.

And, most importantly, though I’m not sold on Yesko’s idea for an in-between degree, Ph.D. programs need to stop disowning the students who do not graduate. Whatever inconvenience a jilted adviser suffers from an ABD is nothing compared with the ABD’s fractured life and career. The least an adviser can do is write a letter. And, finally, along with the current drive to require programs to publicize their real (i.e., full-time) job placement rates, so should they be compelled to list attrition.

Finally, here’s what ABDs can do to help themselves. Dare to stop reading and start writing, and revel in an early draft that is an unabashed hot mess. Realize that the greatest misconception of dissertation writers is that the project must be perfect. In fact, for a career academic, the dissertation should actually be the worst thing you ever write.

Sure, the best way to avoid the psychic wounds of not completing the dissertation is to squeeze that bad boy out any way you can. But we must also remember that students leave Ph.D. programs for innumerable reasons, usually complex combinations of things in and out of their control. Terminal ABDs will work for much of their lives to overcome what is at best a sense of lingering incompleteness, and at worst lasting anguish and damage. But it is the academic establishment’s treatment of those who fail initiation—disowning, shame, refusal to reveal attrition—that is one of its dirtiest secrets. 

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How To Make Small Talk

Business Insider Is Hiring An Ad Traffic Coordinator in New York

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ad ops team business insider

Business Insider is looking for a new Ad Traffic Coordinator to join the team in NYC.

The Ad Traffic Coordinator will be an important member of a collaborative team that is responsible for executing advertising campaigns for a growing list of major advertisers and agencies. The individual will be responsible for setting up new campaigns, making sure our clients ads run correctly on the site, learning how to trouble-shoot ad issues, and working with the Sales Operations team to ensure campaigns go off without a hitch.

This role is an incredible way to enhance your career at a fast-growing digital publishing company. You'll interact with Sales, Account Management, Business Development, External Vendors, Programmatic, and Editorial groups. In addition, this individual will be responsible for running campaigns on desktop, mobile, video, private marketplace, and other emerging formats.

Duties include:

  • Ensuring that all aspects of campaigns get scheduled properly so campaigns go live on time
  • Managing the ad QA process, which includes making sure client assets work properly in all browsers and operating systems 
  • Managing the set-up process for new ad campaigns
  • Creating a checklist to make sure we have all creative elements in on time for new campaigns, and working with team members to ensure creative deadlines are being met 
  • Collaborating with internal teams to test and approve new and innovative ad formats for our site

The successful candidate should be a detail-oriented individual with at least one year of experience in digital ad trafficking or account support. The ideal candidate must have a BA/BS Degree and be extremely detail-oriented, exceptionally organized, and has the ability to multitask and manage multiple accounts. Strong written and verbal communication skills, solid computer/technical sills, and thriving in a fast-paced, deadline oriented environment are key characteristics we need. He or she must have some HTML skills and be familiar with Javascript and CSS, and also have basic knowledge of adservers (DFA, DFP, Atlas). 

If this is the job for you, please upload your resume and tell us why you're the right person for the role. 

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How To Talk To The CEO Of Your Company Without Making A Fool Of Yourself

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networking talking office party

Starting a new job is full of stressful situations, but perhaps none is as intense as meeting your new CEO for the first time.

Whether you bump into them in the office hallway or wind up at the same table during the company picnic, these interactions can be a delicate balancing act between making a good impression and respecting the demands of what is sure to be a busy schedule.

Here are five tips to make sure you and the boss get off on the right foot:

1. Take cues from your coworkers.

Every company and CEO is different, so a good first step is to take cues from the people around you who have already been at the company for a while. 

"How are the other colleagues at your level addressing the CEO? Do they use the CEO's first name when speaking directly to him or her, or are they using something more official such as Mr. Smith or Ms. Jones?" said Amanda Augustine, job search expert at TheLadders.

2. Read the situation.

CEOs are busy people, and it's important to figure out how open they are to chatting. Barbara Pachter, a business communications expert and the author of "The Essentials of Business Etiquette," says that it's not a good idea to barge in if your CEO is in the middle of a conversation with someone else. But if you find yourself alone in the elevator with them, there's no reason not to introduce yourself.

"There's no downside to meeting people and acknowledging people, and seeing where it goes from there," Pachter said.

3. Take initiative, but keep it short and sweet.

Pachter said it's important to remember that building your career means more than just doing a good job while you're at work. As such, new employees should find out what's important to the company and get involved — whether that means attending a company blood drive or participating in a golf league with coworkers.

These extra-curricular events are great ways to come in contact with your CEO in a relaxed setting where they will likely be more open to getting to know you.

Still, rather than talking your CEO's ear off, Pachter said it's best to introduce yourself in a succinct manner, and then see where it goes from there.

 4. Project confidence.

It's easy to feel like you should be groveling at the feet of the person ultimately responsible for your paycheck, but both Pachter and Augustine agreed it's important to give off an air of confidence.

This means dressing appropriate for your workplace, looking your boss in the eye, and having a good, solid handshake. Augustine said you use your body to send positive vibes by smiling, and, if seated, leaning forward a little to indicate interest in the conversation you're having.

And make sure to keep your cell phone out of sight.

"I think you should always be polite and powerful," Pachter said. "If you walk into a room, walk into it like you belong there."

5. If there's alcohol around, make sure to keep yourself in check.

Pachter tells the story of a young man who had a bit too much to drink at a reception for applicants to a fellowship he was hoping to win. During it, he put his arm around the head of the program and loudly proclaimed, "I love you, man."

He did not receive the fellowship.

"Really, if you're going to be meeting CEOs and presidents and heads of programs, people do get nervous," Pachter said. "Stay sober. Because what you say can and will come back to haunt you." 

SEE ALSO: Here's The Pill That Could Make Your Next Big Presentation A Hit

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5 Tips And Tricks That Will Make Small Talk Easier

These Three Factors Determine Whether You Love Your Job

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lifeguard‘The best job in the world.” This was how Tourism Queensland promoted the chance to be caretaker of the islands on the Great Barrier Reef. It was marketing genius. More than 35,000 people applied and they secured US$70m (£41.6m) of free publicity.

Flush with their success, Tourism Australia then promoted the 150 best jobs in the world and had 10 times more applications. Roles included a wildlife caretaker in South Australia, “chief funster” in New South Wales, park ranger in Queensland, wine and food taster in Western Australia and outback adventurer in the Northern Territory.

Whilst these are clearly the best jobs for some people, they wouldn’t be for me.

With skin so pale that few sun lotions guarantee protection, an embarrassingly low threshold for physical exertion and a firm conviction that the day does not officially start before my first Americano, the jungles I prefer are invariably urban. Having once been a restaurant critic when I spent too many Saturday nights in hotel restaurants with the piped sound of the Eagles as my only company, I think I’d tire of the food and wine tasting too.

I used to work with an IT manager who, in his spare time, played bridge for Britain. He often moaned to me about his job and so one day I asked him why he didn’t take up bridge as a full-time, equally well paid profession. “I’d stop enjoying it” was his response.

He was right. In an experiment where two groups of people were given the same, mildly pleasurable task — sorting Gary Larson cartoons — the group that was paid to do it stopped sooner and enjoyed it less than the group that was unpaid. The simple fact that it is “work” seems to dilute the joy.

The idea that some jobs are intrinsically better than others is flawed. Being a full-time mum or dad is the best job in the world for some, whilst others can’t wait to get back to work and “adult company”. Is a gardener a better or worse job than a bar tender, or a banker?

Psychology professor Amy Wrzesniewski found that the work we do has no significant impact on how we feel about it. In a study where people were asked to allocate 100 points based on the degree to which they saw their work as a “job”, a “career” or a “calling”, she found that doctors and hospital janitors had identical weightings (a third for each). This proved to be the same for a wide range of different jobs.

In a separate study, people doing exactly the same job on a factory line in Sao Paulo had diametrically contrasting views. One hated every second whilst his colleague relished every moment of her day.

There are three factors that determine the degree to which we enjoy our work and none of them depend on what the job is.

The first is being challenged at something that plays to our strengths. It doesn’t matter if it is spreading tomato paste evenly on a pizza base or corralling turtles on the Galapagos, so long as we are stretched to improve a skill that we cherish.

Secondly, we need to know that what we do matters. This can be as straightforward as understanding how our work helps achieve a team or company goal but it is more powerful when we believe the fruits of our labour are helping to make the world a better place.

Thirdly, we need to work for people we respect, with people we like. If the environment is toxic, or we’re likely to feel left out, no matter how seductive the job sounds, it won’t be much fun.

If you’re one of 49pc of us who, surveys suggest, are using this summer break to think about a career change, then these are the criteria to apply. And if you’re the manager of someone who is thinking about leaving, it’s clear what you need to do to stop them.

As for Brit Ben Southall, who got the “best job in the world” as caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef, in his last week he was stung by a potentially lethal jellyfish. Fortunately, he made a full recovery.

Octavius Black is CEO of Mind Gym (www.themindgym.com). Follow him on Twitter: @octaviusblack

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Companies To Work For In America

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Here's One Thing About The Office That Hasn't Changed Since The Mad Men Era

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The popular television show "Mad Men" gives viewers a glimpse into what it was like to work in the advertising industry during the 1960s, a time when the typical office environment was characterized by analog technology, free-flowing martinis, and rampant sexism.

But while you'd probably get fired for drinking on the job today, "Mad Men" star Christina Hendricks wants the world to know that there's one important part of the old-timey office that has remained in tact: the men are still making a lot more money than the women.

In a new video for the website Funny or Die, Hendricks reprises her role as the secretary-turned-bigwig Joan Holloway. But instead of the familiar space of Sterling Cooper & Partners, Holloway is seen this time trying to adjust to the 21st century office.

Coworkers gawk as Holloway struggles to learn the difference between a computer and a type writer, and indulges in cigarettes and alcohol in the office.Christina Hendricks wage gap loading paper into monitor

Christina Hendricks pouring martini

Christina Hendricks coworkers wage gap

But when one of the other women suggests that she doesn't understand the modern office, Holloway reveals the reason for her anachronistic behavior: she's making a point about how women still aren't treated equally when it comes to pay.

Holloway lets her coworker know that today, women in the U.S. make 23% less money than their male counterparts and account for 70% of the minimum wage workforce.

Plus, just under 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

"So I figure if we're going to run our business like it's the 1960s, I'm going to act like it," she quips.

Here's the full video:

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Deere Laying Off More Than 600 US Plant Workers (DE)

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Four Deere & Co planters are seen at Spirit Farms in Sheridan, Illinois, about 65 miles southwest of Chicago, in this picture taken May 2, 2013.   REUTERS/Tom Polansek

Deere & Co, the world's largest maker of farm equipment, said it would indefinitely lay off more than 600 employees at plants in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas as falling grain prices hurt demand for tractors, harvesters and other agricultural machinery.

The company reported a 5 percent drop in third-quarter sales on Wednesday and cut its full-year profit forecast.

Deere had about 67,000 full-time employees as of Oct. 31, 2013, of which about 33,900 were in the United States and Canada.

The layoffs are at plants in Moline and East Moline, Illinois; Ankeny, Iowa; and Coffeyville, Kansas.

Deere, whose shares were little changed at $84.90 in early trading on Friday, said it would also implement seasonal and inventory-adjustment shutdowns at the affected plants that would result in temporary layoffs.

The company operated 26 plants in the United States and Canada as of Oct. 31, of which 17 primarily make agriculture and turf equipment. Deere also makes construction and forestry equipment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast record U.S. corn and soybean crops this year - a prospect that has sent prices plummeting and discouraged farmers from buying equipment.

Up to Thursday's close, Deere's stock had fallen 6 percent this year. It fell about 2 percent on Wednesday.

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How To Spend The First 10 Minutes Of Your Work Day

These 11 Tech Companies Are The Most Fun To Work For, Employees Say

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Twitter boston

The tech industry is known for showering employees with perks. Employees are expected to work hard and play hard, all at the office.

But loving your job in the tech industry isn't just about the free food and foosball. Employees want nice coworkers and to feel like their work is making a difference and their companies behave well in the world.

Job-hunting site Glassdoor.com sifted through its enormous database of employee reviews to come up with this list of the 25 companies that employees say have the best corporate cultures in 2014. Employees rated their corporate culture on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

Not surprisingly, the tech industry dominated that list.

This list should surprise you. It includes a few names you would expect (though not in the order you might expect) and a few you wouldn't think of.

No. 25: NetApp

Company: NetApp

Employee rating of corporate culture: 3.8

What it does: NetApp makes computer storage equipment.

Example of great corporate culture: Named among the Top Companies for Work-Life Balance, Glassdoor, 2013

"Supportive management. Company culture is great. Good ideas and work are appreciated."– NetApp employee 



No. 20: Adobe

Company: Adobe

Employee rating of corporate culture: 4.0

What it does: Software

Example of great corporate culture: Named among the 25 Companies With The Best Pay and Benefits, Glassdoor, 2014

"Great perks, benefits. Adobe strives to be a good corporate citizen, fosters innovation and creativity." Adobe employee (San Francisco)



No. 19: Citrix

Company: Citrix

Employee rating of corporate culture: 4.0

What it does: Software that lets people log into computers remotely.

Example of great corporate culture: Because Citrix makes software for remote employees, employees have the freedom to explore how, when, and where work gets done, the company says.

"Culture and good values define who we are as a company. There is an ongoing commitment to improve the customer journey and ensure our product strategy is well defined."– Citrix Systems Senior Manager (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)



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The 25 Most Enjoyable Companies To Work For

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REI employees

A good job isn't just about the paycheck and insurance benefits. Most people want to feel like their work is contributing to the greater good of the world.

And they want their workplaces to be fun, not miserably stressful, given how many hours of their lives they will spend there.

To that end, job hunting site Glassdoor.com sifted through its enormous database of employee reviews to come up with its 2014 list of the 25 companies that employees say have the best corporate cultures. Employees rated their corporate culture on a scale of one (lowest) to five (highest).

There are some surprises on this list for sure, including a fast-food chain that caused controversy this year with its corporate culture.

No. 25: NetApp

Employee rating of corporate culture: 4.5

What it does: Social media network

Example of great corporate culture: Because the Twitter platform is instantaneous, the work involves a lot of cutting edge technology and solving hard, interesting problems from mobile to building self-learning machines. 

"Team meetings on the roof are the best, great teamwork and a lot of smart people. I love how the 10 core values drive the company to always be better."– Twitter Software Engineer (San Francisco, CA)



No. 24: Progressive

Employee rating of corporate culture: 3.9

What it does: Insurance

Example of great corporate culture: Named among the Top 100 Military Friendly Employers, GI Jobs, 2014

"Progressive is in a constant state of change and improvement, is extremely transparent and promotes a sincere customer service culture."– Progressive Insurance Claims Representative



No. 23: Discover

Employee rating of corporate culture: 4.0

What it does: Credit cards

Example of great corporate culture: Named among the Training Top 125, Training, 2012

"Discover offers great benefits. I am also very pleased with the amount of overall good they try to do as a company."– Discover Employee (Phoenix, AZ)



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Map Of Journalist Deaths By Country Since 2004

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When James Foley was executed last week by the Islamic State, he became the 32nd journalist killed in 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ has been documenting every work-related death of a media member since 1992. We've used CPJ's data to create the graphic below, which provides information about the journalists killed around the world in the last decade.

CPJ defines journalists as "people who cover news or comment on public affairs through any media — including in print, in photographs, on radio, on television, and online." That includes staff journalists, freelancers, stringers, bloggers, and citizen journalists.

The numbers we've used total the cases CPJ defines as "motive confirmed," meaning the death is directly related to the individual's work as a journalist:

"We consider a case 'confirmed' only if we are reasonably certain that a journalist was murdered in direct reprisal for his or her work; was killed in crossfire during combat situations; or was killed while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as coverage of a street protest. We do not include journalists who are killed in accidents such as car or plane crashes."

In all, 619 journalists have been killed since 2004.

Interestingly, while the killing of James Foley has prompted media debates about the dangers of freelance journalists traveling to foreign conflicts, the vast majority of journalists killed in the last decade were local staff reporters.

graphic journalists

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Here's What It Is Like To Work In A Nuclear Submarine

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USS tucson nuclear submarine navy

Editor's note: This post originally appeared on Quora, as an answer to the question, "What Is It Like To Work In A Nuclear Submarine?" With permission we have shared Retired U.S. Navy Jeff Kay's answer. 

Cramped.  Imagine living in a space only slightly larger than a cargo container, the kind you see on the back of transport trucks or stacked on cargo ships.

In this container, you have the control spaces, dining and living areas, engineering, weapons and everything else a modern ship has.  This space is divided into 2 or 3 levels, connected by ladders seemingly designed to crack skulls on and only navigable by only the most acrobatic of sailors.

submarine navy
There is generally only one way to get on the sub, through a hatch on the top of the hull (not normally the sail when you're in port) only big enough to barely fit a normal sized human, much less much of the supplies that need to get brought aboard.  The hatch goes through the considerable thickness of the hull, so if you're claustrophobic, don't even bother. 

You and your hundred or more shipmates are trying to get through the same passageways, which are only designed for very thin people to begin with, so you often find yourself at an impasse if you happen to try getting through the same time someone else does from the other end.  You end up saying things like "Make Way!" or "Coming Through!" a lot if you're in a hurry.  If you're not in hurry, you need to learn the art of making yourself as flat as possible to let others pass. 

us navy nuclear submarine
Then, there's the fact that you're living in a steel tube along with a nuclear reactor, multiple missiles with high explosive warheads, air that requires recycling with no means of getting it fresh if you can't surface, and understanding that your purpose in life is going to oceanic depths capable of crushing the life out of anything from the surface.  

nuclear submarine us navy
One little trick some submariners like to do is to place a string taut across the interior of the hull and watch how much it sags the deeper the sub goes.

Mostly, though, it's like any other job.  You get into the daily grind and you don't think about any of this, just your job, what's being served at chow and when you can hit your tree (go to bed) next.

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An Ivy League Alum Explains How Prestige Can Destroy Lives

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yale university

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by hubris. From an early age, they were persuaded that they had a talent in school, or excellence in some extracurricular activity; for that their names became lauded in school newspapers, emblazoned on certificates, or announced on podiums. The high of recognition was addictive, and began to slowly eclipse the achievements themselves.

As they grew older, they learned that within the message of empowerment, what most grown-ups mostly care about is prestige. If you wanted to make them proud, and earn the right to be proud yourself, the story of your life had to abound with names and titles – AP Merit Scholars, national finalists on the Policy Debate circuit, School Orchestra Leader — that would provoke an envious silence.

The students had learned that the only legitimate reason for being proud was being an object of jealousy. The future was a zero-sum game.

At the top they stood, their future lives well-defined: suited financiers, white-coated doctors, smile-forcing lawyers, pasty hackers, and turtle-necked entrepreneurs.

At some point, a few lucky ones realized that anyone who cared about the world they would leave behind, and worked to better it, had found something more precious than pride. Others never left the cult of prestige. They had scrambled to the leading edge of every bell-curved valley, and were rewarded at each peak with quick and pacifying hits of a drug called pride. It was an opiate that their lives had bathed them in, to pre-empt the fabled agony of “low self-esteem.” Many found that they couldn’t live without it.

When college acceptance letters came back, some of them ended up as the “lucky” ones. The next four years had a timeless, theatrical quality. Narration was provided by the voice of awed posterity, against a background of carillon bells and WASPy a-capella hymns. It was a time to plan for the important and visible postgraduate careers that they would be called upon to do.

But it wasn’t long before the high wore off, and the airy plateau gave way to a deeper valley. A friend, dressing impeccably, returned from an investment banking “networking session” in tears; she applied for the job, anyway. Seniors with return offers at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs moaned about their clients and bosses, and grouched about trying to move into the mythical “buy-side” — the same work, only with fewer hours.

man suit buildingsAt the top they stood, their future lives well-defined: suited financiers, white-coated doctors, smile-forcing lawyers, pasty hackers, and turtle-necked entrepreneurs. At the bottom sat those whose young adult lives — a guest copywriter for a startup blog, for example — were a merciless anticlimax. How steep was the ascent? How long would it take? How many would enjoy life at the top? Did it matter?

For ever-smaller highs, pride set ever-higher expectations, and called for ever-greater sacrifice. What mattered was that those on the other side had MBAs and JDs and CFAs, that they lived in respectable places like SoHo or Berkeley. It would become perversely enjoyable, even, in doing what pride demanded – of martyring the self and its preferences, and building in their void an obedient engine of self-advancement. It was another sport to convince themselves that slaving over contract law and discounted cash flow models was a meaningful use of their young lives.

Yet four years is not fourteen or forty. And few have gasped amid pinging heart monitors that they should have made more people jealous. This is not to say that no one loves contract law, or that all flashy titles ar en’t worn by people who were born for them. But most are born for something else – or more likely, for a few things else. And for them, scaling the wrong mountain takes a lifetime, even when trickles of pride numb the aching cold.

Most 20 year olds who want to be doctors are only a shade wiser than six year olds who want to be spies. And the six year old has a kind of wisdom that the 20 year old didn’t inherit: he wanted to be a spy because he thought he would like it.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by hubris.

Our current lexicon of work offers tellingly little guidance. We have “professions” just as we would “profess” to be good at anything, whether or not it’s true.

We have “careers” just as we would board any “carrier,” whether or not the destination is worth it. Conspicuously absent are “vocations” and “callings,” which sound touchy-feely, perhaps because they touch a nerve.

It is no coincidence that Dante imagined the prideful as stooped “carriers,” who haul crushing boulders past statues of the famously humble. Their sin was inverting the moral relationship between career and what is carried. In life, their careers didn’t serve them and hasten them to a better place; they had become careers. They had entered an unwitting servitude carrying someone else’s baggage and expectations. (The exemplars of humility are not just unburdened, but themselves made of stone.) It is probably no coincidence, either, that Dante put them in Purgatory, where their suffering would be only temporary. But I think he still went too far; a life spent that way is purging enough.

Withdrawing from hubris isn’t easy. So start by taking pride in the fact that your career is carrying you, that you haven’t confused approval with value, and that your life isn’t a zero-sum game because it isn’t a game at all.

Follow our Strikingly blog for more zero-BS articles on student life and entrepreneurship.

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Here's What You Can Earn At The 20 Top Tech Companies

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apple employee

While there's debate over whether there's a shortage of qualified tech workers, there's one thing no one argues about: Tech companies pay their employees well.

We've heard of senior engineers getting a base salary of $160,000, with stock options and other benefits on top. Some interns are earning 7,000 a month, which amounts to $84,000 a year.

So we sifted through job-hunting site Glassdoor to find the best-paying jobs listed on that site, at the best tech companies, according to Glassdoor's ranking of the best places to work.

We listed the highest-paying job on Glassdoor, plus salaries for two common tech jobs: a senior technical role and a software engineer, at each company, to give you a sense of what those jobs pay as well.

No. 20: Salesforce.com, $319,000

Salesforce.com's top-paying job listed on Glassdoor is for an executive vice president at $319,347.

A senior technical staffer gets, on average, $130,233.

A staff software engineer gets, on average, $112,942.

Employee rating: 3.8 out of 5 (Rank 20)

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

What it does: Salesforce.com offers a cloud computing service that helps companies find and support customers. 



No. 19: eBay, $320,679

eBay's top-paying job listed on Glassdoor is for a vice president at $320,679.

A senior technical staffer gets paid, on average, $178,080.

A staff software engineer gets, on average, $120,424.

Employee rating: 3.8 out of 5  (Rank 19)

Headquarters: San Jose, California

What it does: eBay is an ecommerce site best known for letting consumers sell stuff through online auctions.



No. 18: Texas Instruments, $156,530

Texas Instruments' top-paying job listed on Glassdoor is for an applications engineering manager at $156,530.

A senior technical staff get, on average, $125,778.

A software engineers gets, on average, $91,633.

Employee rating: 3.8 out of 5  (Rank 18)

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas

What it does: Texas Instruments is a semiconductor manufacturer.



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