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This article from Elle talks about how using “girl speak” and up-talk at work can hurt your career. (Totes McGotes, right?)
Extra Petite ponders how to style the sheath dress.
Capitol Hill Style gathers advice for job seekers who are currently employed and don't want their interview outfit to broadcast their intentions while they're at work.
Above the Law‘s “Anonymous Recruitment Director” reveals nine recruiter pet peeves, ranging from applications received without transcripts to rudeness toward receptionists.
Do you work during vacations? Never take vacation time at all? Glassdoor‘s recent survey shows that you're not alone.
Learnvest (via Popsugar Smart Living) offers several tips on spring-cleaning your finances.
Finally: Eww. Lifehacker says to never drink water from an airplane.
Did we miss anything? Add 'em here, or send them to news@corporette.com. Thank you!
31 Comments
Back in the 80s Valley Girl Speak was the term for girl speak (and it did originate in the Valley, I believe).
I’m starting to get paranoid that I do this sometimes and don’t even realize. The more I read the links from the article, the more I worry. Especially the example in this article about the professor who found it creeping into his speech:
I’m also wondering if this is why I drive my sister crazy when we talk on the phone. It seems like every after every other sentence I will say “ok” or “mm-hmm” and then she say “Stop saying ok!”. But I have to wonder if part of it is that she’s slightly uptalking the ends of her sentences, so they seem like questions I should be answering, instead of just statements.
Obvious (Valley Girl) everything is a question uptalking is super annoying – but the very subtle slight uptalking is harder to put my finger on – hence my worry that I’m doing it subconsciously.
I had no idea this was a real thing. I know it when I hear it, and as I consult for an agency that uses people straight out of school, I hear it A LOT.
So saying “like” every other word is “girl speak”. But I hear young men talk this way, too, so to call it “girl speak” is more than a little irritating.
And please let us not dignify it like they did with “Ebonics”. It is sub-standard language and should be hunted down and mercilessly eradicated as such.
Okay Meg, I should have clicked on your link before I posted. I have a co-worker who talks like this (the rising intonation) nearly every.single.sentence. It is beyond unnatural and annoying. And it makes her sound like a confused little child. (She is nearly 50.)
Looked at the Extra Petite post, and just couldn’t get behind about half the ideas. Blouse under, cardigan or jacket over, fine. But why pretend your dress is a skirt or top? Just seems bulky and uncomfortable to me.
Agreed! Though her pictures look fine I would feel really weird doing it.
I’m not a fan of blouse under either. It can probably work in theory but I’ve never seen the right blouse and dress in reality. I like her sheath.
i wear blouses under dresses all the time. i love the look and it works with just about everything, though for work, i generally stick with variations on a button down.
That amount of layering is also fine when you’re as petite as she is. If I tried to pull off some of those looks I’d look about 2 sizes bigger than I am.
She seems to be able to pull it off. I kind of doubt I could.
It could be a good option if you’re going to a party after work – that skirt looked like it would fold quite small, so put that and a necklace in the bottom of your work bag, slip them on after work, hey presto, party ready in five minutes and no worries about carrying your work clothes.
Most of her ideas here seem like they would work only if you held completely still all day. I really dislike the “dress as a skirt” and “dress as a top” styling she does.
I love blouses under dresses and most of those ideas are really cute. Also good in the winter for warmth.
I don’t know, blouses under dresses kind of remind me of first grade jumpers…they work for some women, but I have too much going on up top to make it work for me I think.
I’m with you. I’ve tried this look on but never leave the house that way. I just feel silly.
I read her blog from time to time, but the proliferation of skin tight clothes and super short skirts off putting. After a while, editing what I see with what would work for my body and lifestyle becomes exhausting.
Also all the fashion blogs that show you 8 different pose-y pictures of the same outfit (sans detail shots) seems like attention wh*ring to me.
I have been at my legal job for just under a year. While I am normally a very detail-oriented and obsessively organized person, I cannot stop making minor mistakes in projects, to the point where people are noticing. I tried checking things 4-5 times before I submit them and they still have mistakes. Part of the problem is that I find the work (a lot of document review, transferring names and figures to forms, etc.) tedious and boring. I am considering getting screened for ADD because it ultimitely comes down to an inability to focus on projects. I also wonder if the problem is just that I hate my work and don’t feel interested or challenged by it. I find myself doing literally anything else to avoid starting or completing projects. I’m not sure if I should sink money into seeing if this is a medical issue or just try finding a new job.
Do you print out the documents and review them in paper form? I find it much harder to catch mistakes on the screen.
+1
+1
Legal editor? I’m curious/interested. How did you get that type of work? Are you an attorney?
I may need to repost to your attention in the open thread…
You should definitely consider seeing if this is an actual medical issue, because while my ADD gets way worse at jobs I hate, part of my issue is that this bad habit tends to come back around to ALL my jobs once the newness has worn off. So whether you need CBT, medication, etc is something you’ll need to decide for yourself – but even the best jobs have annoying tedious details that need to be done right.
Or, I should add, as mentioned in the comment below – figuring out coping strategies. For me, classical music on Pandora helps with my concentration a ton, and I’ve also resorted to white, pink or brown noise in earbuds when I really need to drown out background noise and make myself concentrate.
My company has a strict no Pandora rule (due to the streaming) compounded with a negative attitutude toward using head phones or listening to music out loud. The thing that I am really struggling with is that I have never had difficulties accomplishing tasks in any other areas of my life, including in professional school. I have always delivered exceptionally high quality work and I am not a procrastinator (I actually have more of a “better to get it done ASAP” attitude about everything else). But then again I have never before had to accomplish tasks similar to the ones I deal with at work.
ugh that is super annoying!! If I have to get a lot of detail work done, I do much better if I can drown out distractions. That is so obnoxious of them to have a problem with that.
I know the feeling that you have never struggled with this before. It doesn’t mean you’re horrible, it’s just that the work is different, try to not to think of it as a personal failing.
If the work involves lots of routine steps, the same list of steps you have to take iwth each document, have you tried creating a checklist for yourself? I have done custom ones for certain tasks, and also ones that cover thigns I have to do over and over. I even print out the checklists so i can physically cross things out when I’m done. like:
– FIll in name in form
– put in address every place needed
– change XX to YY
– add XX figure every place needed.
Etc. And I feel like you could do that for document review too, here are each of the things I have to look for. And when you make a mistake on one project, immediately go add that to your checklist so you check for it the next time.
Also, are you maximizing Ctrl-Find and Ctrl-Find-Replace?? Those are huge for me, I search for every instance of “Rep. X – change to Rep. Y” so I can make sure I changed the Congressperson’s name in every place instead of accidentally leaving the wrong name (oops!!)
Also I recommended this earlier, but I found this book really helpful whenI was trying to get off ADD meds after college: ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Kolberg. She gives actual detailed options for different organizing strategies and tips that you can immediately try.
I think you can do it!! Good luck!
I know you said its an anti-headphones place, but which will be more likely to get higher ups frustrated – headphones or error filled work product? I found that a single ear bud drowned out enough background distraction but allowed me to jump to attention right away when someone came into my space – I think some of the anti-headphone sentiment comes from spending several minutes trying to peel someone out of there headphone induced glazed state – its a pet peeve of mine as well.
Another question – are you making mistakes because you are constantly interrupted and lose your thought mid-proof reading? Or are you letting your mind wander halfway through a dreaded task “oh look an email popup, I better check that!”
100% mind wandering. I would love to use one of the distraction blocking programs but our computers are on super lockdown. I can’t download anything. This is another big frustration for me because I normally have good self control but I am really struggling with motivation.
Even with super lock down, I was able to install the stayfocusd Chrome extension.
Have you tried changing strategies in reviewing your work product? You obviously aren’t going to improve if you keep doing the same thing that isn’t working over and over. Some tricks that work for others include: proofreading from the end to the beginning, printing out any work and turning off all screens while you proof it to ensure focus, (on the opposite end of the spectrum) listening to soft or classical music while working to give some background noise without distracting you, and setting a timer for X number of minutes that you HAVE to proof, whether you see mistakes or not.
I think ADD screening should be an “if all else fails” remedy. Frankly, MOST people wouldn’t have the attention to detail for doc review, etc. – it’s not a medical problem necessarily. If you don’t enjoy the work and there’s no end in sight, I’d explore other options. But if this is just something you have to slog through before you can do what you want, developing coping mechanisms will be worthwhile.
Coping Strategies:
In the interim, here are some coping strategies that might help.
– Print out document. Go over every single word, making a dot over every word once it’s read. Go back over document from the end, reading every sentence over to make sure you didn’t make grammatical or other simple mistakes, line by line, circling the dot over the first word of the sentence once you’ve reviewed it.
– Print out document. Find a very quiet room. Read each sentence aloud, highlighting each ‘approved’ sentence.
-Earplugs. Seriously. I found that using some hardware store neon orange earplugs really helped me.
-Pomodoro-method-ish. Set timer for 25 minutes. Take 3 minute break. Set timer for 10 minutes. Take lap around work area/brief walk/etc. Repeat.
+1.
When I do a “close read” I touch the tip of my pen to every word, and in cites for cases, every part of the cite (reporter, pinpoint citation, etc.). I also read sentences starting at the end of the document, and work my way back to the beginning.
We all have days that are “other tasks as may be assigned.” Today is one of those days for me, in my local gov’t planning job:
5 years pursuing a professional bachelor’s degree in-state: about $75000
time spent in the profession post-graduation: 11 years
spending the day coloring for the cover of an organizational publication: priceless
Putting that bachelor’s of landscape architecture to work!!
(Granted, this is not my first day of coloring at my job. I actually do it every few months or so, and I’ve been here for 6 years! But still, it’s not part of my everyday job description)
Like these posts? Follow us on Twitter or Facebook — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale through our CorporetteDeals Twitter feed.) You can also follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, or by our RSS feed.
Back in the 80s Valley Girl Speak was the term for girl speak (and it did originate in the Valley, I believe).
I’m starting to get paranoid that I do this sometimes and don’t even realize. The more I read the links from the article, the more I worry. Especially the example in this article about the professor who found it creeping into his speech:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002967.html
I’m also wondering if this is why I drive my sister crazy when we talk on the phone. It seems like every after every other sentence I will say “ok” or “mm-hmm” and then she say “Stop saying ok!”. But I have to wonder if part of it is that she’s slightly uptalking the ends of her sentences, so they seem like questions I should be answering, instead of just statements.
Obvious (Valley Girl) everything is a question uptalking is super annoying – but the very subtle slight uptalking is harder to put my finger on – hence my worry that I’m doing it subconsciously.
I had no idea this was a real thing. I know it when I hear it, and as I consult for an agency that uses people straight out of school, I hear it A LOT.
So saying “like” every other word is “girl speak”. But I hear young men talk this way, too, so to call it “girl speak” is more than a little irritating.
And please let us not dignify it like they did with “Ebonics”. It is sub-standard language and should be hunted down and mercilessly eradicated as such.
Okay Meg, I should have clicked on your link before I posted. I have a co-worker who talks like this (the rising intonation) nearly every.single.sentence. It is beyond unnatural and annoying. And it makes her sound like a confused little child. (She is nearly 50.)
Looked at the Extra Petite post, and just couldn’t get behind about half the ideas. Blouse under, cardigan or jacket over, fine. But why pretend your dress is a skirt or top? Just seems bulky and uncomfortable to me.
Agreed! Though her pictures look fine I would feel really weird doing it.
I’m not a fan of blouse under either. It can probably work in theory but I’ve never seen the right blouse and dress in reality. I like her sheath.
i wear blouses under dresses all the time. i love the look and it works with just about everything, though for work, i generally stick with variations on a button down.
That amount of layering is also fine when you’re as petite as she is. If I tried to pull off some of those looks I’d look about 2 sizes bigger than I am.
She seems to be able to pull it off. I kind of doubt I could.
It could be a good option if you’re going to a party after work – that skirt looked like it would fold quite small, so put that and a necklace in the bottom of your work bag, slip them on after work, hey presto, party ready in five minutes and no worries about carrying your work clothes.
Most of her ideas here seem like they would work only if you held completely still all day. I really dislike the “dress as a skirt” and “dress as a top” styling she does.
I love blouses under dresses and most of those ideas are really cute. Also good in the winter for warmth.
I don’t know, blouses under dresses kind of remind me of first grade jumpers…they work for some women, but I have too much going on up top to make it work for me I think.
I’m with you. I’ve tried this look on but never leave the house that way. I just feel silly.
I read her blog from time to time, but the proliferation of skin tight clothes and super short skirts off putting. After a while, editing what I see with what would work for my body and lifestyle becomes exhausting.
Also all the fashion blogs that show you 8 different pose-y pictures of the same outfit (sans detail shots) seems like attention wh*ring to me.
I have been at my legal job for just under a year. While I am normally a very detail-oriented and obsessively organized person, I cannot stop making minor mistakes in projects, to the point where people are noticing. I tried checking things 4-5 times before I submit them and they still have mistakes. Part of the problem is that I find the work (a lot of document review, transferring names and figures to forms, etc.) tedious and boring. I am considering getting screened for ADD because it ultimitely comes down to an inability to focus on projects. I also wonder if the problem is just that I hate my work and don’t feel interested or challenged by it. I find myself doing literally anything else to avoid starting or completing projects. I’m not sure if I should sink money into seeing if this is a medical issue or just try finding a new job.
Do you print out the documents and review them in paper form? I find it much harder to catch mistakes on the screen.
+1
+1
Legal editor? I’m curious/interested. How did you get that type of work? Are you an attorney?
I may need to repost to your attention in the open thread…
You should definitely consider seeing if this is an actual medical issue, because while my ADD gets way worse at jobs I hate, part of my issue is that this bad habit tends to come back around to ALL my jobs once the newness has worn off. So whether you need CBT, medication, etc is something you’ll need to decide for yourself – but even the best jobs have annoying tedious details that need to be done right.
Or, I should add, as mentioned in the comment below – figuring out coping strategies. For me, classical music on Pandora helps with my concentration a ton, and I’ve also resorted to white, pink or brown noise in earbuds when I really need to drown out background noise and make myself concentrate.
My company has a strict no Pandora rule (due to the streaming) compounded with a negative attitutude toward using head phones or listening to music out loud. The thing that I am really struggling with is that I have never had difficulties accomplishing tasks in any other areas of my life, including in professional school. I have always delivered exceptionally high quality work and I am not a procrastinator (I actually have more of a “better to get it done ASAP” attitude about everything else). But then again I have never before had to accomplish tasks similar to the ones I deal with at work.
ugh that is super annoying!! If I have to get a lot of detail work done, I do much better if I can drown out distractions. That is so obnoxious of them to have a problem with that.
I know the feeling that you have never struggled with this before. It doesn’t mean you’re horrible, it’s just that the work is different, try to not to think of it as a personal failing.
If the work involves lots of routine steps, the same list of steps you have to take iwth each document, have you tried creating a checklist for yourself? I have done custom ones for certain tasks, and also ones that cover thigns I have to do over and over. I even print out the checklists so i can physically cross things out when I’m done. like:
– FIll in name in form
– put in address every place needed
– change XX to YY
– add XX figure every place needed.
Etc. And I feel like you could do that for document review too, here are each of the things I have to look for. And when you make a mistake on one project, immediately go add that to your checklist so you check for it the next time.
Also, are you maximizing Ctrl-Find and Ctrl-Find-Replace?? Those are huge for me, I search for every instance of “Rep. X – change to Rep. Y” so I can make sure I changed the Congressperson’s name in every place instead of accidentally leaving the wrong name (oops!!)
Also I recommended this earlier, but I found this book really helpful whenI was trying to get off ADD meds after college: ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Kolberg. She gives actual detailed options for different organizing strategies and tips that you can immediately try.
I think you can do it!! Good luck!
I know you said its an anti-headphones place, but which will be more likely to get higher ups frustrated – headphones or error filled work product? I found that a single ear bud drowned out enough background distraction but allowed me to jump to attention right away when someone came into my space – I think some of the anti-headphone sentiment comes from spending several minutes trying to peel someone out of there headphone induced glazed state – its a pet peeve of mine as well.
Another question – are you making mistakes because you are constantly interrupted and lose your thought mid-proof reading? Or are you letting your mind wander halfway through a dreaded task “oh look an email popup, I better check that!”
100% mind wandering. I would love to use one of the distraction blocking programs but our computers are on super lockdown. I can’t download anything. This is another big frustration for me because I normally have good self control but I am really struggling with motivation.
Even with super lock down, I was able to install the stayfocusd Chrome extension.
Have you tried changing strategies in reviewing your work product? You obviously aren’t going to improve if you keep doing the same thing that isn’t working over and over. Some tricks that work for others include: proofreading from the end to the beginning, printing out any work and turning off all screens while you proof it to ensure focus, (on the opposite end of the spectrum) listening to soft or classical music while working to give some background noise without distracting you, and setting a timer for X number of minutes that you HAVE to proof, whether you see mistakes or not.
I think ADD screening should be an “if all else fails” remedy. Frankly, MOST people wouldn’t have the attention to detail for doc review, etc. – it’s not a medical problem necessarily. If you don’t enjoy the work and there’s no end in sight, I’d explore other options. But if this is just something you have to slog through before you can do what you want, developing coping mechanisms will be worthwhile.
Coping Strategies:
In the interim, here are some coping strategies that might help.
– Print out document. Go over every single word, making a dot over every word once it’s read. Go back over document from the end, reading every sentence over to make sure you didn’t make grammatical or other simple mistakes, line by line, circling the dot over the first word of the sentence once you’ve reviewed it.
– Print out document. Find a very quiet room. Read each sentence aloud, highlighting each ‘approved’ sentence.
-Earplugs. Seriously. I found that using some hardware store neon orange earplugs really helped me.
-Pomodoro-method-ish. Set timer for 25 minutes. Take 3 minute break. Set timer for 10 minutes. Take lap around work area/brief walk/etc. Repeat.
+1.
When I do a “close read” I touch the tip of my pen to every word, and in cites for cases, every part of the cite (reporter, pinpoint citation, etc.). I also read sentences starting at the end of the document, and work my way back to the beginning.
We all have days that are “other tasks as may be assigned.” Today is one of those days for me, in my local gov’t planning job:
5 years pursuing a professional bachelor’s degree in-state: about $75000
time spent in the profession post-graduation: 11 years
spending the day coloring for the cover of an organizational publication: priceless
Putting that bachelor’s of landscape architecture to work!!
(Granted, this is not my first day of coloring at my job. I actually do it every few months or so, and I’ve been here for 6 years! But still, it’s not part of my everyday job description)