Most US universities have an internship system offering students practical experience during or immediately following their courses. Most of these programs are well-managed outsourcing of practical training that helps students round out their resume and understand what a full-time job is all about. Although some large companies use internships as a means of...

I recently had the good fortune of hearing FutureBrand's Asia-Pacific CEO, Matthew de Villiers, speak about how his industry, the branding industry, has changed dramatically since the New York Trade Center disaster. His clients have curtailed their media and marketing spending and...

In these tough times, sales is the lifeblood of most companies. Without good salespeople, a company's human potential and intellectual assets are worth little. Actually, we're all having to become salespeople for our companies, interacting more with strangers and more...

These days, getting a pay raise is not just a matter of being in the company a long time. CEOs and managers are getting smarter about rewarding innovation and increased contribution. But the big question is, "How can I increase my contribution when I'm already working my guts out?" The answer is...

The IT business is a good source of employment. When times are good, companies are all trying to develop new, exciting ways to reach the mass market, and when times are bad, companies are trying to cut costs by automating. Either way, the technology needs people to create and operate it. It's no wonder then that there are a lot of people who start out in other professions and realize that they want to migrate...

Back in 1990, I believe that I was one of the first entrepreneurs to bring skilled PC and network engineers into corporations to cut costs and boost quality. Today, this process is called Outsourcing. We didn't have a name for it then, but it was an obvious development of the ongoing search for better efficiency and cost control for our clients. And in order to make this new service work...

In 1999, in the midst of the Internet boom, a small company in Hong Kong announced that it was going to do an IPO on Nasdaq. The company had a modest $3M Web design business, offices in 4-5 countries around Asia, and was touting itself as an up-and-coming Asian e-solutions powerhouse. Not many people paid attention - lots of...

No downturn in the economy lasts forever, but Japan's is going to definitely take a year or more. During that time, companies are going to be evermore vigilant about costs and commitments -particularly employment commitments. I've spoken before about taking time off to do an MBA as a holding strategy until the job market picks up again. But obviously...

I think it's pretty clear that Japan is in for a turbulent second quarter (Apr-Jun) this year, and many companies are going to be in trouble. The buy-out funds, ever on the prowl for distressed asset opportunities, know this and are getting ready to wade in. All this chaos is going to create a new class of manager: someone who...

I often hear multinational employers lament, "All I want is a smart, energetic bilingual person to learn the business and grow into a senior position!" For those of you who have recently graduated and wonder what the job market has in store, don't despair. If you have the attitude and language skills, but not much experience, there are still plenty of opportunities out there. For example...