Updating your resume is a good idea not only for job seekers but also for those who are currently employed. And there’s another good reason to do so, according to W. Martin Keller, a career coach and business consultant based in Western Springs.

“… Updating your resume also should be done for the following reasons, which I learned from a man who only had two employers in 50 years of working, ” said Keller.

“He said that you should use your resume as a self-examination of progress and that a resume should be revisited every quarter. You should see progress in your current position. … If you are not seeing a change in your responsibilities and successes, you may be in peril or simply not challenged.”

Men’s clothing: How men should dress for a job interview is a subject of controversy – especially among men.

Jim Baske, a health insurance specialist from Oak Forest, Ill., was especially annoyed recently to read here that a male applicant was turned down for a job because his button-down collar was not fastened.

“This is typical of the kind of nonsense that passes for management insight’ in today’s business world,” said Baske. “I’m sorry, but was the employer looking to hire someone for a technical position or the cover of GQ?”

The specialist adds that “if the guy came to the interview as a total slob, I could understand some trepidation. But this was not the case. I have worked with a lot of people who are far from fashion plates but are quite good at what they do. It is unfortunate for this poor guy that he had to interview with some clowns who were clearly overimpressed with their own analytical abilities.

“I hope he found a good job somewhere else with a good employer.”

I do, too.

Culture counts: The values that a company professes to hold really matter to its employees. And when the stated beliefs of the firm are different from the way it behaves it affects whether employees decide to stay or go.

“Corporate culture is an important driver of employee retention in corporate America today,” according to a study of 1,281 employed adults by Spherion Corp., a staffing company based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Yet, the survey shows that only 44 percent of those surveyed “believe their company has a widely-embraced and understood corporate culture.”

For the other 56 percent, that gap can be a problem for them and their employers. “… Most employees view their company’s culture and work environment as an important driver of retention,” observed Richard Lamond, Spherion senior vice president and chief human resource officer. “So this disconnect. …should be troubling to many companies.”

Carol Kleiman is the workplace columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

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