As year-end rolls around, no matter when your fiscal year occurs, you know it equates to one thing: Feedback!

Well, if the review is not so sunny and bright, there are a few pointers to keep in mind as per The New York Post.

For starters, keep your cool. Jodi Glickman, author of Great on the Job explains, “If you can’t keep your composure, say that it’s not what you expected, that you’re disappointed and excuse yourself.” You can always continue the conversation later on when you’re less emotional.

Once reality sinks in, Dan Schawbel recommends taking stock if it isn’t your first negative review with this company. The author of the forthcoming book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success, tells the newspaper, “But don’t quit until the new job is in hand.”  Read more

Leave of absence, anyone? Or maybe you just want to throw in the towel, give your two weeks notice and take time to get introspective and figure out your next career move.

According to this piece on Brazen Careerist, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Go ahead and take time off! But don’t do it to figure things out. The piece mentions people who had the best experiences during their ample time didn’t intentionally take the time off to figure things out and get clarity. In fact, it’s the opposite — they arrived at that zen moment by enjoying the journey. Truly. Read more

We thought getting the ax was tough enough via text message but getting the pink slip doled out over the phone doesn’t sit well with us either.

Somehow this story fell off our radar screen last week when it occurred so even though this post is belated, we can’t not take notice.

As originally reported on JimRomenesko, last week between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., 50 staffers at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer got the pink slip on the phone. At home. They were told to go to the newspaper’s production center 10 miles away to collect their severance materials.      Read more

Please say it isn’t so! Some fashion trends were meant to die on the vine. We think this is one of them.

The Wall Street Journal reports power dressing is back and it’s in full force. And yes, it’s just what you think it is for women at least. Conservative menswear suits to remind us of yesteryear (and by that we mean the ’80s). Read more

We’ve heard about getting fired for an inappropriate tweet or Facebook post but now Instagram has joined the game.

Our friends at Gothamist reported that Wade Groom, the top salesperson for the U.S. branch of Lacoste, posted a picture of his paycheck to Instagram.

As you can imagine, the corporate office in France was less than pleased and said it was a breach of the employee confidentiality agreement. Read more

Our friends at CareerCloud are at it again! We just got word from Chris Russell, their CEO, about their new app and service, Jobs With Friends.

Tapping into your contacts for Facebook and LinkedIn per the new service seems like a no brainer. After all, according to JobVite, approximately 40 percent of all hires are attributed to employee referrals!

He dishes, ”We are moving to a world where recruiters are scouring the web (social media in particular) to discover new talent. And if you can’t be found, you can’t get hired.” Read more

Hashtags got you down? If you’re overwhelmed by looking for a job on Twitter, you’re not alone.

As pointed out by CBS News, Gozaik assists users in making sense of the 50,000+ jobs posted to Twitter on a daily basis. You can search and sort the tweets without having to follow specific companies. The site also lets users enter the location you’re seeing by searching for jobs within a radius.

We decided to give the free service a whirl: By entering the title of journalist for 50 miles within New York, N.Y., five job postings appeared on the screen. Wondering why more jobs didn’t appear, we noticed the fine print:  ”Gozaik contains jobs from selected US employers. Contact us at 855-6GOZAIK or info@gozaik.com to include your jobs.” Read more

If you’re accustomed to a traditional performance review, it may be time to adjust your thinking.

Eric Mosley, author of The Crowdsourced Performance Review, tells The New York Post the traditional annual review as we know it “remains frozen in time.”‘

He explains:

“There have been revolutions in knowledge and information management over the past 50 years, but areas within human resources, like performance reviews, have changed surprisingly little. Crowdsourcing has fundamentally changed the perception of value in the business world today. Incorporating this technology and approach to performance reviews via social recognition gives HR leaders the data they need to more accurately measure employee performance.” Read more

If you’ve gone on an interview and shaken the hand of a potential boss who’s a little clammy, your expectations became set instantly, right? (Remember, as the job seeker you’re evaluating the employer as much as they’re evaluating you.)

Conversely, if you’re the hiring manager and shake a candidate’s hand with chipped nailpolish or multiple tattoos, you may think differently about their candidacy. According to a piece on ERE, there are a few ways to wipe out handshake bias. Read more

When we read this post on LinkedIn, we couldn’t agree more. Tim Brown, CEO at IDEO, made a list of pros and cons of freelancing from a worker’s perspective.

Yes, freelancing is terrific in terms of creating a flexible schedule and work-life balance. As for the cons, there are very few benefits (if any), a lack of community and unstable work as well as pay.

From a company’s perspective, they save some cash by not providing benefit packages and then they can hire talent on demand as needed. It’s not all rosy for them either since there could be conflicting timelines such as wanting to hire a contractor who’s already working on a project. Factor in steep learning cuves and some legal constraints for long-term help and you’ve got a mixed bag.

By talking with his colleagues at IDEO’s Bay Area contract talent team, Brown created answers to the question as to how we may make the experience of freelancing better for both the individual and the client. Read more