I'm so glad to see that others were as outraged as I was at the guest's tone-deaf, heartless, and most importantly, highly ignorant response about internships.

I actually work in recruiting and am aware of the ignorance that can exist in each company the higher you go in the recruiting chain, but this woman takes the cake. I'm so upset at how outdated, racist, and biased her views are--completely without her awareness.

She sounds like a typical HR-cos-she-can't-do-anything-else type of HR person. Along with all of the issues mentioned in these comments, I'm concerned that she told the gender queer/nonconforming person to basically hide his/her self from potential employers. Obviously dress to fit with the office environment (or a little nicer) is sound advice for interviewing, but at the same time, why act like something your not? Especially when it involves workplace discrimination issues. If the gender queer caller wants to wear a bow tie, I say wear the bow tie (assuming it looks good). Interesting topic, wrong guest.

Post-school, unpaid internships are BS!!

It is Korporate™ abuse and should be TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!

Jack from United States~

Some VERY Sick Sh*T™!!

Welcome to 1984.

Jack from United States - That's pretty stunning, considered you passed via multiple litmi, beyond that test. This is what they get for making that test count as 100% of the consideration. If it's so important, why fly you out for interviews before checking your score? It's no salvo, but it's their loss. And maybe you don't want to work for such a short-sighted organization, any way.

But this is hardly any more "brave new world" than those of us who took Meyers-Briggs and other kinds of personality tests in the 80s. I worked for a company that administered them to everyone, down to the receptionist. it did nothing for their employee turnover, but some vendor's earning a nice monthly from it.

Last week I was invited to fly to California to interview for a position as a clinical healthcare provider. I met with the Medical Director and various department heads whom had already reviewed my resume and work history and I was offered the job on the spot. I received an email confirming the offer in which the director said, “it was a pleasure meeting you, I think you would be a good fit and great asset to the clinic.”
The next day, I received another email informing me that Human Resources had reviewed my application, and due to a low score on a Talent-plus survey I had taken on the online application, the offer of employment was rescinded. The Director was as shocked as I was, but her hands were tied.

The Talent-plus test is basically a personality profile, a series of multiple choice questions which is then graded by a computer and given a score. It is designed to screen applicants for their ability to provide efficient, quality care, to be able to think on ones feet in various situations and carry out the facility’s mission in an honest and effective manner. I have worked in the frontlines of healthcare for over 25 years in every type of organization imaginable and have excellent references from each and every one of them. I had also taken the test in the midst of my brother and mother’s death as well as my elderly fathers’ illness, and this may well have affected the outcome, although I cannot say for sure. Regardless, Human Resources failed to even consider any of this. Basically, a 20 minute personality profile negated 25 years of highly professional and compassionate care, without question or follow-up of any kind. I found the whole experience to be draconian, Kafkaesque, dehumanizing and absurd. It is indeed a Brave New World in Corporate America.

Please address all these issues in a future program (plenty of people would like to call in, I expect), BUT please find an actual current expert, not a person whose advice went out with What Color is Your Parachute! nice lady, but totally out of touch. But the subject matter continues to be of interest.

And as a hirer in the past, one quick way of reducing five hundred resumes for one position down to about a hundred, was to throw away every resume which put in a wrong spelling for the job title! but now that apps are done online, possibly spellcheck will rescue them.

WOW! How could someone, presenting themselves as an "expert", be so out of touch? Plus she sounded bored to death...and offered nothing new that hasn't been in print, or on-line for decades! "Research the company and drop it in your cover letter." Wow! Groundbreaking!

Lets face it, HR is nothing more than a processing job (various legal papers and time sheets) at this stage, and most of them have little to no real skills when they get the job...other than their saying, "I'm a people person!" Ugh!

As to the internship Q; Sometimes an internship is the only real means into an industry - like radio and television. And certain financial sector jobs...so its not always an option to not take an internship position. And for females looking to break into a male dominated industry, its a license to treat the intern like sh...!

I'll leave it there, as the others posters did a great job calling this guest on her inadequacies.

What needs to be addressed in NY State's Department of Labor's unemployment office. Staff have no clue of job trends or industry segments. DOL offices are something out of 1980 where there are typewriters and the staff have no pulse of what job seekers go through. There is no outreach to firms or even companies who have received big subsidies from Cuomo. But, what do you expect when you have former Assembly Member Rivera as the Commissioner. This man did nothing for workforce development while he was an elected official.

Good segment, definitely deserves a follow up many more times, focusing on different social groups and such.

Leonard, I really hope you'll take up this topic again, soon, perhaps multiple times with different guests--perhaps representing different job sectors? Other angles:

"non-traditional" job-hunting tactics
networking - ways to do it
seasonal jobs (believe me, this can be eye-opening)

Please make sure your guests actually have current knowledge of the issues on today's job market. Obviously, Humphrey's did not.

Jennifer from NYC - That's the point: the guest was woefully unaware of many contemporary mores of employment types and employment law, rendering her irrelevant (to the point of many here).

We get it: you're just another Boomer who reached retirement age and took a fat package that allowed you to pen an out-of-touch book. She'll be quickly found out, and the book will take its place on the heap of bargain bin business titles.

Otherwise, Jennifer, the State and AG don't investigate companies unless someone actually registers a formal complaint--and enough individuals have complained, such that there's sufficient precedent upon which others can benefit. Net: we can't count on employers to observe the law, so it's down to the intern to understand how it applies to their role and level/volume of responsibilities--and self-advocate accordingly. The trend won't change until enough people hold employers to this. That's my point.

WOW!This level of detachment from issues concerning interns from an HR executive is shocking but alas not surprising.... WOW! many of Humphrey's answers to questions seemed extremely offensive.

That girl in Chelsea - The guest was not aware of the regulations. She expressly stated that she doesn't see the reason for the controversy behind unpaid internships. As aggressive as the NY Department of Labor and Attorney General may be, they don't investigate or prosecute all infractions. I take issue that someone in the guest's field is so blasé about the controversy given how often those regulations are violated and workers are exploited, particularly in today's job climate.

Sometimes it *can* work to ask why you didn't get a job. I took a test for a freelance job & was told I hadn't met all the criteria. I asked which criteria I hadn't met, & it turned out that they'd changed the formula so that the no. of pages they'd asked me to edit didn't reach the point where they'd wanted the edit to end. I did the rest of it & got the job.

Only in america could people who have been in america 3-4 generations have to be concerned about having a name that sounds 'black'. I've been fairly successful with call backs (usually around 15% of resume submitted and during the height of the recession it dropped to 8%) for interviews. I have a name that's often assumed to be 'black' (it's spanish and greek in origin) because i am black and it's not white (despite having a very 'white' surname thanks to slavery). i have on occasions had 'odd' comments about name during interviews, but I am clear my name doesn't represent my skills and more importantly competencies. I believe tied into the 'black' name question is an issue of class and the belief that someone of a 'lower' class does not have the required skills for the position. ultimately, this speaks to the company's inability to train individuals who have stock skills to the competency needs of the company. On the same hand as someone who hires individuals from time to time I have made equally bone head assumptions about a name ... ie: a strawberry is somehow less likely to meet my 'needs' than a sarah.

Poor guest choice to discuss the current job market, obtaining employment, etc. There are better experts out there. Strongly recommend not asking Victoria H. back. Her advice on resumes and cover letters is available online for free. Her response to the poor woman who was having no luck getting a response from Kelly employment was no help at all and downright dismissive. What a joke.

As a career services expert and professional resume and LinkedIn profile writer, I was looking forward to this program, as I know that so many professionals have questions and seek good advice. I hate to be negative, but truly recommend that the next time you do a show on a similar topic, please feature an expert who provides more current, pertinent guidance.

Jennifer from NYC - There are very specific laws in New York State itself protecting those who take "internships" that require full-time (to overtime) labor and lack appropriate compensation. The New York State Department of Labor and the Attorney General have investigated dozens of companies, and pursued compensation for those whose "opportunities" have abused the intern, or otherwise skirted the law.

She sounds like a typical clueless manager.

Don't like being a slave-intern? Get a job!

It's like "let them eat cake".

You missed the point of unpaid interns!

I had no choice and could not take on an unpaid internship despite my strong desire to go for those unpaid internships (at the best magazines, publishers, radio, etc).

I could not afford that luxury; only those students who had parents who could afford everything for them could go for those unpaid internship.

I was quite annoyed by the dismissive response to the idea of unpaid internships. These are abused by many employers, especially in design industries like architecture, in which unpaid interns are part of a company's business strategy. For example, many aspiring architects with graduate degrees find themselves competing with undergraduate students for unpaid internships in extremely expensive cities such as New York. This is not only unethical, but it is bad for architecture and bad management.

Can your guest speak about when potential employers request salary history? I have often worked multiple part time jobs such as adjunct college and university jobs and transitioned from one field to another (social service to visual arts). My salary is currently about 1/3 of what it was 10 years ago and arts salaries have not changed in 20 years.

Thank you in advance,

Juliana

Q- What's the problem with unpaid internships?
A- In the creative field (retouching, modeling, photography, graphic design, etc.) there are hundreds of young people willing to take the jobs as unpaid internships in NYC despite the fact that these internships aren't teaching anything, they are just jobs that should be paid, but the company can get away with not paying because so many people are willing to take it because we are told to take anything we can get. The problem is this is driving the pay down so far that most creatives can't survive without a side job in a different industry.

I have been told by superiors that I couldn't hire someone because "They aren't desperate enough".

I once watched a show named I almost got away and in one episode this guy was a con artist and he would go to real hard jobs for executive positions etc, anyways later the feds cought up to him because he would get hire and steal money from many companies and when he was interview they ask him how he got hired without not knowin the specific job details and he said that he would just know some of the wgat the job detailed and he would get hired...moral of the story for me is just be good at b.s and focus your intention somewhere else

Victoria Humphrey is a joke. She sees nothing wrong with unpaid internships? Many organizations use unpaid interns in place of paid employees. In addition, these organizations hold the possibility of a job over the head of unpaid interns, but have no intention of giving said intern a job.

Unpaid internships are abused and can present violations of Department of Labor regulations. There are US regulations that define what form and structure a proper internship should take. Your guest should be better informed about these regulations, but it doesn't surprise me. We are not labor-centric in this country.

Your guest Victoria H seems to be out of touch and looking to fill jobs with common stereotypes rather than creating a dynamic workplace that can contribute to the development of a company.
Today's (American) culture is stagnant because of a fear to move forward and be challenged.

Sad to hear that Victoria is so out of touch with emerging trends in HR. Corporations are recognizing that their competitive positioning depends on recruiting diverse talent that enables them to think outside of the box. Those of us who aren't stuck in the boy/girl box (and we are a wave) can bring a wealth of fresh thinking to our workplaces. Would she also recommend I pretend I'm straight? Aren't we learning anything?

Business is conducted within legal frameworks, and our current legal framework does not have neutral terms for terminated relationships. Yet many non-union, hourly positions are "AT WILL" and employers have an incentive to terminate relationships so they don't have to pay unemployment insurance.

Do you see the slippery slope? Get a gap in your experience, take risks working outside your career domain, and find yourself with a messy resume full of more gaps.

A recent article in a major business journal calls the current labor laws "...a patchwork of regulations, mostly designed for the industrial era..." Do laws and classifications intended for 19th and 20th century factory workers represent the part-time, temporary, and contract work forces working in retail and customer service today?

Victoria,
I am stuck in a job i hate that pays me very well.

I have made it to many second and third interviews in the past and prospective employers all stop calling me after they learn how much i currently make.

Any advice?

If during an interview, an employer asks about my time at a company that I was laid off from, should I address that in my answer?

one of the more honest guests in a long time. she tells it like it is, not a pollyanna version. her answer to the bow tie wearer was not easy to say, but she said it honestly. same to the question about african- american names. you cant find a job and change the world at the same time.

How would Ms. Humphrey adapt her advice for freelancers?

Past generations in my family changed their names from very Irish sounding to more WASPY sounding to get employment. It's unfortunate that they had to do that, but they felt they needed to do it to get ahead. This is not a new problem.

Fifty six? Sorry, honey--you've lasted longer than most people in advertising! Mid-40s is a typical time when opportunities start to dry up, and with flatter organizations than when you entered this industry, there simply aren't more places to go within it.

You might collect your marbles and bring your skills to either the client side of the business, and target more specialized agencies--the big network ones make their money saving money, and you're likely topped out, salary-wise at this point.

Take it from someone who knows!

I graduated from University last year, worked on term projects, and have now been job searching since March. I've gotten some interviews while temping but found I couldn't leave project sites to go interview without frustrating my employers. But at the same time, I now cannot say I'm employed full time. A lot of the feedback I'm getting is that I'm getting "beat" by more experienced hires. However, I can't get anymore experience if I can't get an entry level or junior level job. I'm worried that despite some great experience and having built up "real world" skills after graduating, no one will hire me because I've been searching for so long. What advice would you have for graduates that have been unemployed long-term?

I'd hire this caller who's suffered a stroke!

He sounds great!

To the bow tie-loving caller: Because it's more important for you to wear your silly bow tie and campaign your views around than to keep a job?
Good luck?

Hmmm; equating being in transition to having a beard?

That uncomfortable exchange points up reality: this isn't "just life," it's an admission that hiring managers are blindsided by any presentation that isn't perfectly vanilla and "safe." You have to "fit in with the majority." Helpful!

I have many male friends who have become unemployed for various reasons and have had great difficulty finding jobs in their current field or in changing fields. However, my female friends have had much less difficulty. Sometimes they take a step backwards to enter another field and are very successful. Men are rarely given such opportunities. Id there a known bias?

What do you advise for a woman who has been home for years caring for children, who now wants to re-enter the job market? How to deal with this in resume and cover letter?

I work in a small office. There are a group of people who are related to the second in command. Another employee (the daughter of the second in command) had her job functions changed, and I was hired to take over her clients. I have over 20 years experience in this line of work. But it seems that this other employee is still involved with these clients, and I am left out of the loop on some communications. This other employee applied for one of my clients to receive a speacialized credit card. I wasn't told. I received the welcome package but not the actual credit card. I notified the client and cc'd the second in command that the package had arrived, and would let them know when the card arrives. Then the other employee says she has the card in her possession. So I look stupid in the eyes of the client. This is only one example of what is going on. Besides looking for other work, how do I ask to be included in all communication without coming off as demanding? Thanks

If you don't like how things are run or how you are treated in your workplace, should you fight to change things? Speak to your HR person, or maybe your supervisor (usually pointless)?
From my experience, nothing will change and there will be bad blood. In the past, I've just left for another job.

More and more companies require online job applications. The first people at the company who review resumes are always HR or even external recruiters. It is my experience that most HR recruiters are very junior level people within the organization and don't really know what business unit managers are actually looking for in job candidates - especially at an executive level or for complex/complicated roles.

To make it easier recruiters are provided with a list of competitor companies for HR recruiters to select candidates from. As a result, qualified candidates who came from companies off of that list are overlooked. Many job skills are easily transferable from one industry to another.

Can your guest address this observation?