Category Archives: Work

To get a job, write your story instead of a resume

by Brooke Allen  I am 61 years old and I have been doing paid work since I was 16. I’ve been a grocery clerk, camp counselor, film projectionist, sound man, light man, cameraman, freight loader, computer programmer, teacher, operations research analyst, manager, salesman, writer, consultant, and for the last 30 years I’ve been a securitiesContinue reading “To get a job, write your story instead of a resume”

How to find a calling instead of a career

by Brooke Allen  In my Quartz piece, To get a job, write your story instead of a resume, I talked about the value of finding a purpose in your work, and suggested that in order to do that you reflect on your life and write your own narrative. I talked about how economics is aboutContinue reading “How to find a calling instead of a career”

How to give me a negative reference on LinkedIn

By: Brooke Allen (you will find my LinkedIn profile here.) Be aware that on LinkedIn you cannot give me a negative reference unless I approve it. This is bad news because if it is impossible for you to say something negative, then the positive things I might allow you to say must be taken with aContinue reading “How to give me a negative reference on LinkedIn”

Give us your tired, your poor, your overly-automated.

Deborah Branscum just wrote an article in Medium Backchannel: Our Hiring Process is Broken. Can a Hackathon Fix It? It talks about her experience of a new approach to hiring that my partner, Noah Goldman, and I are pioneering that we’re calling Staffup Weekend. You can see a photo of the attendees, a report onContinue reading “Give us your tired, your poor, your overly-automated.”

How my life was changed when I began caring about the people I did not hire.

Ask yourself this question, “What do employers owe the people they do not hire?” I asked myself that question more than a decade ago and it changed my life forever. On Sunday, January 18, 2004, I ran a help-wanted ad in the New York Times that read in its entirety, “Programmer – Will train, enjoyment ofContinue reading “How my life was changed when I began caring about the people I did not hire.”

URGENT: Help Make Work More Fun

Over Super Bowl Weekend (Feb 1-2) some friends and I will be attending an Education Start-UP Weekend to develop tools that will help people bring more fun to work. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Here is how you can help us: 1) Tell us your stories: How did you or someone you know make an onerous taskContinue reading “URGENT: Help Make Work More Fun”

Persistence

© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International FamilyMagazine Republished in Folks Magazine on 11/7/09. I was working as a computer programmer at Rutgers University when I saw the perfect job advertised by American Airlines. It had everything that I wanted: interesting work, decent pay, and free travel everywhere American flew. I sentContinue reading “Persistence”

Trade or Profession

© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine I have just returned from the annual meeting of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance (www.cqa.org) where one speaker made a convincing case that the brokerage and banking systems are bankrupt and another made the case that so is the Federal Government. The world isContinue reading “Trade or Profession”