From JobWeb, here’s a great list of improper and proper interview questions. 

Once you’ve read through these, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what an interviewer can and can’t ask.  Handy.

You may wonder, Is there some secret to doing great job interviews? 

The answer is, There are no secrets.  There are just things you have not thought of, or have forgotten.  As for job interviews, the big “secret” is to take control of the interview.  How?  Check out today’s post over at U.S. News & World Report for tips.

Well, maybe not all.  But some! 

Check out these two revealing Q&As just posted in the blogosphere today:

Q&A #1:
Ronnie Ann runs a fun and smart blog over at Work Coach Café.  Go there for good sound insight about the world of work.  Ronnie Ann knows whereof she speaks because she’s had even more jobs than Working Girl!  (Scary.)  Anyway, today she’s posted a Q&A.  Wherein both WG and RA had more fun than is maybe decent in the workplace.  You will, too.  

Q&A #2
If you are interested in writing and being a writer, you should be reading Writeononline.  It’s just a nice place to be.  Today, there’s a quick interview with Working Girl all about how “The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl” turned from an idea into a book.  Read and be…..amazed.  Then stick around and check out the Newsletter.

This just in:
Another interview today with the lovely Melissa Wadsworth over at her dreamy site.

Working Girl now has a “fan page” on Facebook.  It’s got fun updates and photos and backing and forthing and whatnot.

Check it out!

Full disclosure:  WG would not have such a lovely page if it weren’t for the wondrousness of friend and social media mentor Charlene Kingston at Crow Information Design.  Thank you, Charlene, for the, um, nudging…….AND for the actual material assistance. 

(Yes, that’s right, people, Charlene pretty much put up the entire page herself.  Working Girl contributed the dithering.)

Always nice to hear from SFGirl:

Dear Working Girl,

It takes me 2 buses and a train to go a networking event once a month.  There’s another person who works a few blocks over who I sometimes carpool with.  But it always feels like forced charity.  He replies at the very last minute before I have to catch the bus.  And I have to ask every month.  So I figure if I have to ask it probably means he’s not that interested.  Does that sound right?  In the past it wasn’t so awkward because his wife would ask, saying I helped her a lot when she was sick.  We’re both volunteers in this networking organization.

Dear SFGirl,

It sounds as if this person either has poor social skills or just doesn’t want to drive you to these meetings.  Try taking the two buses and train next time, and then pay attention to what he says/does when he sees you there.  If he really wants to take you (and had just forgotten to offer), he should say, “Oh, how did you get here?  I’m sorry, I meant to offer you a ride.”  And then he should offer you a ride home.

If he says NOTHING and maybe even avoids you, it means he really doesn’t want to drive you to these meetings.  Why?  Who knows.  People are funny.

Yes, it is a pain that you have to put up with an arduous commute while this guy has a car, but…..people are funny.  And sometimes it’s easier to take two buses and a train then it is to deal with the awkwardness and uncertainty of dealing with them.

Working Girl says:   Find someone else to ride with.  Or…..get a good book to read on the bus/train.  Or, if you can’t read on transport (WG can’t), nap or mentally compose haiku.  Or just contemplate the wonders of the universe.  Anything is better than wasting energy on Car Guy.

It’s not because we can’t.  After all, we’re tenacious, we’re great networkers, we know how to create something out of nothing, and we are the supreme multitaskers.

So what’s missing?  Check out this week’s regular Wednesday post at U.S. News & World Report to find out.

Working Girl has been named “Chic of the Week” over at Chic Entrepreneur. 

Cool!  (Or, as they say in France, “Chic!”)*

Chic Entrepreneur is the brainchild of Elizabeth Gordon; read all about her here.  She is one chic chick!  And while you’re at it, buy her book, “The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels.”  It’s on Working Girl’s nightstand at this very moment!

*Yes, “chic” really is an expression in French meaning “terrific.”   It’s also an adjective, of course, meaning…um, “chic.”   Those are your new facts for the day.  You can go to bed now!

It happened this weekend. Two launches, one Friday, one Saturday. We sold out of books both nights! Here are a couple pix:

WG with fabulous & beloved writers' group

Working Girl signing books. Yes, it WAS fun.

It takes a long time to write a book.  You think the day will never come when it becomes a book, when you will be able to hold it in your hands, look at your name on the cover (yikes), and know that whatever you wrote in there will stay in there, forever.

But that day has come for The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl.  And if there’s one thing Working Girl knows for absolute sure, there would never be a book if it weren’t for many many fabulous people–friends, colleagues, family–who offered advice, support, encouragement, comfort, and the occasional kick in the behind. 

Tonight is the Pre-Launch party to thank all those people.  Tomorrow is the Big Book Launch at Parkplace Books in Kirkland, WA.  As you can imagine, things are a little crazy at the moment chez WG.

So if you want to read something with more substance than this–and, imho, a very smart, very fair, and very wonderful post about the book–wander on over to Tim Tyrell-Smith’s Spin Strategy blog.  Then stick around–Tim writes a great and hugely useful blog about job hunting and job keeping.

Thanks, Tim.  You are one of the above-mentioned  fabulous people!

Really.

Check it out at WG’s regular Wednesday post over at the U.S. News & World Report.