Today I was interviewing a search consultant for a project I’m doing: a series of interviews about the current hiring climate in various sectors, for the career management website BlueSteps.com. We were talking about a common acquaintance who recently took a very senior job. It turns out that this particular search consultant had been considering this candidate for another very senior job, and at the very last minute the company withdrew their offer. Why? Because in conducting their due diligence, the search firm found that the candidate had inflated his graduate degree. He said he had an MBA, but it turns out he had something different.

Lately I’ve been attending plenty of conferences, but not blogging as I should. Since I last wrote there was the IACPR conference where one of the panel discussions included a VP of HR for a major investment bank claiming that they couldn’t find enough women interested in their re-entry program. Turns out the program welcomes women of all financial services stripes — not only alumnae of that particular firm. Well, this is interesting. Name brand banks and consulting firms, among others, are welcoming back women to work on a project basis or on flexible schedules. The reason? We’re in a Talent Shortage.

Yesterday I attended a lunch given by a group called Nexxt Phase: a networking community of women looking to get back into the workforce after a hiatus. The group represents an elite Manhattan community of accomplished, polished, well-off women — all of whom have decided it’s time to do something in addition to raising kids and doing volunteer work.

Do you find that your feelings about your work spill over into your free time–the time you’ve specially reserved to relax and do non work-related activities? It’s amazing how work touches everything we do: if things are going well with work, time off is more fun. If work has taken a downturn, well, watch out.

Do you find that your feelings about your work spill over into your free time–the time you’ve specially reserved to relax and do non work-related activities? It’s amazing how work touches everything we do: if things are going well with work, time off is more fun. If work has taken a downturn, well, watch out.

I frequently see resumes that lack specific educational data. Some people state the institution and type of degree without the date of graduation–a sign they think they’re old. Others list the institution without the type of degree–a red flag since it looks like they didn’t graduate. And maybe they didn’t.