Education And Training

By JANE PORTER

It’s no secret that job security is a thing of the past. Taking on part-time work—especially in a creative arena you’ve always wanted to pursue—is one way to earn extra income and begin exploring new work opportunities before it becomes a necessity, says Scott Belsky, CEO and founder of Behance, a New York-based company that develops products and online tools for creative industries.

But fitting this extra work into your schedule takes planning. How to get started:

Don’t duplicate what you already do. If you’re working eight-hour days as a programmer for a company you like, taking on the same work outside your full-time job presents not only a possible source of tension for the boss, but also a way to quickly drain your passion for the work.

Instead Mr. Belsky suggests taking a stab at a different skill set than the one you use in the office. Instead, put to use skills or interests you’ve never pursued actively, says Mr. Belsky. For example, if you love to plan family events, consider taking on part-time work as a party planner; if you love illustration or photography, try your hand at free-lancing projects that let you put those skills to use.

Tell people. If you’ve got a job on the side, your first instinct may be to keep it hush-hush. But Mr. Belsky says that being open with the boss, particularly when nondisclosure policies require it, will be better for you in the long run. Make sure you emphasize that your part-time commitments won’t cut into your daily routine at the office. And get the word out about what you’re doing to friends, family and colleagues. Doing so also can help keep you on track with your side work—especially if it is a creative endeavor, says Mr. Belsky. What’s more, friends and colleagues might have ideas for you on where to find part-time gigs.

Set a schedule. Coming home from a long day at the office, it’s tempting to head straight for the sofa. Set aside time a few nights a week for your part-time work to help add structure to your schedule.

If your job has some flexibility, another way to make more time is asking the boss if you can compress your schedule and work more hours certain days, says Jessica Riester, founder of FlexWork Connection, an Orange County, Calif., recruiting and consulting firm. “If you don’t have to be chained to your desk, you can juggle more during business hours,” says Ms. Riester.

Build a brand. Like anyone looking for free-lance work, getting your name out there is an important way to drum up business. But for part-timers with less wherewithal to put toward marketing, creating a Web site with work samples or a portfolio becomes even more important in getting business going. Mr. Belsky suggests setting up a blog, joining LinkedIn groups related to your interest, and using Twitter to get your work noticed by more people. Creating a profile with free-lance job boards like Odesk.com, Guru.com and Elance.com is another way to get your name out.

Make deadlines. Give yourself until Friday to post photos online, two weeks to get a blog going, a Thursday evening to get in touch with five contacts who can help you find work. Setting short-term goals will help keep you moving when there’s no boss telling you what to do next. “We are very hard-wired for this full-time way of life and we have to force ourselves to make the time to do things that are a little unconventional on the side,” says Mr. Belsky.

Keep it simple. If creativity isn’t where your part-time pursuits take you, finding part-time work doesn’t have to be a major endeavor. It can be as simple as getting a barista gig or doing telemarketing from home, says Ms. Riester. She suggests companies like LiveOps where you can sign up for call-center slots done from home that pay up to $20 an hour.

Corrections & Amplifications

LiveOps Inc. is a company where individuals can sign up for call-center slots done from home that pay up to $20 an hour. Some versions of this article mistakenly called the company Liveopps.com where you can sign up for slots that pay around $15 an hour

Write to Jane Porter at jane.porter@wsj.com

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Last year, employers filled more than half of job openings with existing employees, a new study to be released Friday shows.

Internal transfers and promotions accounted for an average of 51% of all full-time positions filled in 2009, up from 39% in 2008 and 34% in 2007, reports CareerXroads, a staffing-strategy consulting firm in Kendall Park, N.J. Survey respondents included 41 companies that employ a combined 1.8 million U.S. workers. Last year these firms collectively filled 176,420 positions.

For the 49% of jobs that were filled with external recruits, referrals accounted for the most hires — 27% — and about the same number as in 2008. On average, these yielded one hire for every 15 referrals received. Meanwhile, company Web sites and job boards accounted for 22% and 13% of external hires, respectively.

What the findings indicate, says Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads, is that networking is the most effective strategy for landing employment. “Job seekers should use job board and corporate sites to find information about openings, but they should use their network to apply,” says Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads.

Among the job boards that respondents credited for netting outside talent, CareerBuilder.com came out on top, accounting for 42%, however one respondent claimed a significant portion of these. Monster.com netted 12% of external hires, while aggregate job sites, which advertise openings from multiple job boards, hooked 10%. Classifieds provider Craigslist.org accounted for 2.8% of external hires.

Survey respondents also said outside talent was found via job boards that specialize in advertising open positions in specific categories. For example, Dice.com, a job board for the technology sector, netted 0.8% of external hires, as did TheLadders.com, which lists only positions paying salaries of $100,000 or more. All other niche job sites that employers identified were collectively credited with bringing in 27% of external recruits.

Going forward, the survey found that 48% of respondents expect to increase hiring in 2010 compared with last year, while just 11% predicted they’d reduce hiring. The remainder said they expect to make no changes to their head counts.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported Thursday that there were 2.5 million job openings on the last business day of December 2009. The seasonally adjusted job openings rate increased just slightly to 1.9% from 1.8% the month prior.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

By VICTORIA E. KNIGHT

Employers seeking to promote wellness in the workplace may have to rethink their rewards programs – or run the risk of breaking new federal rules protecting individuals’ genetic information.

The recently issued guidelines prohibit health plans and employers from offering any financial rewards to any worker for participating in a health risk assessment that requests information about their family medical history. The rules apply to group health insurance with plan years beginning on or after Dec. 7.

Getty Images

HRAs are confidential surveys that include questions about employees’ habits and health, and are used to direct them into employer-sponsored wellness and disease management programs. Most include questions about family history. Many employers offer insurance premium discounts or cash bonuses, among other rewards, to workers who fill them out.

Regulators made clear that the new rules, issued on Oct. 7, apply to wellness programs that offer financial incentives for completing HRAs that request genetic information. The rules aren’t final yet: Employers and insurers have until Jan. 5 to submit comments, which means they could yet be revised.

Employers usually ask workers to complete HRAs during open enrollment, a three-month window generally between October and December, during which employees elect their health coverage for the next year.

“It’s pretty late in the game for these rules to be coming out, as most health plans and employers have already completed their materials for open enrollment,” says Gretchen Young, vice president of health policy at The Erisa Industry Committee, a trade organization representing about 100 of the largest U.S employers.

Employers whose health plans aren’t in compliance may face significant monetary penalties. Even for unintentional violations, employers can face fines of up to $500,000. They also risk discrimination lawsuits, according to Anne Waidmann, an employee benefits expert and director with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington.

Regulators say the new restrictions on the use of incentives are designed to bring HRAs into line with provisions in the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. It prohibits the collection of genetic information, which includes family medical history, for insurance underwriting purposes.

Young fears that, with fewer incentives, fewer employees will sign up for HRAs, which employers view as a key tool in taming rising medical expenses. About 64% of employers now offer incentives for completing HRAs, up from 57% last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of about 700 large employers.

Waidmann says there are ways employers can bring their HRAs into compliance: They can simply remove questions on family medical history from HRAs when a financial incentive is being offered, or they can split the questionnaire in two and only offer a reward for the part that doesn’t solicit family information. Under the rules, employers can only ask workers to voluntarily fill out the second section once they’ve enrolled in the health plan.

By DIANA MIDDLETON

Business-school applicants have to juggle their real-world work and family commitments with GMAT-taking, tedious applications and dozens of essays. It can be difficult to figure out when to apply—and when to tell the boss you might be leaving. Here’s how to handle M.B.A. application season:

• Choose your application round carefully. Most schools have several windows in which applicants can apply. The deadlines start in November and can go as late as April. The key is to zero in on your top choice and work on that application before the others, says Stacy Blackman, founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting, which coaches individuals during the M.B.A. admissions process. But don’t wait until the third round to apply to a school you’re serious about. By that time, schools are looking for very specific types of people to round out the rest of the class, says Jennifer Hayes, senior associate director of admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

• Break the news to your employer. Applicants with letters of recommendation from a current employer are much stronger than those without. Ideally, you have discussed your long-term goals with your employer, so this won’t come as a surprise. Ms. Blackman recommends telling your supervisor about your ambitions two years before you apply. However, if you feel as if sharing your goal will endanger your employment, include an additional letter addressed to the admissions committee explaining your concerns.

• Work harder in the office. Truth is, not every applicant will get into their dream school. Scott Shrum, director of M.B.A. admissions research of Veritas Prep, an admissions firm in Malibu, Calif., suggests finding ways to make your candidacy even stronger while waiting for a final answer. If there’s a new workplace project that needs a leader, volunteer. It will give you more to talk about if you make it to the personal interview at your choice schools, says Mr. Shrum.

• Prepare for the interview. You should count on spending three weeks preparing for each interview, Mr. Shrum says. That includes checking online forums, such as those found on Accepted.com, to familiarize yourself with the specific questions each school tends to ask and studying the details of your application. Even if the interviewer has only a copy of your résumé, rest assured he or she is familiar with your application and will have questions regarding career changes or a spotty résumé.

• If you are wait-listed, don’t panic. Every school handles wait-listed students differently. You may be assigned a wait-list counselor who will keep tabs on your progress. Other schools will instruct you to submit information to supplement your application materials. If you suspect a mediocre GMAT score is a culprit, send transcripts of accounting or finance classes you took at a community college to boost your skills, for example. Make sure to inform the school of recent promotions or new work assignments.

• Plan your exit. When the acceptance letter comes, you have anywhere from four to six months to plan a departure. If your employer isn’t already aware of your plans, ask for a meeting to explain. Offer to finish any significant projects and to train your replacement, says Ms. Blackman. Work out a clear transition plan. This will leave your employer happier—and more likely to offer a positive reference. “Document all your work, make sure the files you leave behind are easily accessible,” she says. “This is still your network, and your former company is still important.”

Write to Diana Middleton at diana.middleton@wsj.com

By JO PIAZZA

Economists are convinced that height confers a natural advantage in the workplace, but some of the tallest New Yorkers still turn to each other to get a leg up in their careers.

Local talls, as they call themselves, use monthly meetings of the Tall Club of New York City as a networking venue. Members must meet minimum height requirements—5-foot-10 for women and 6-foot-2 for men, as measured without shoes—but otherwise they have little in common and hail from an array of industries.

Like-heighted comrades came to the aid of Mary Sue Lundy (5-foot-11), who saw her prospects as a mortgage-consulting instructor decline in the wake of the recession. Club members circulated her resume and coached her through an interview at Bloomberg LP, where other talls already worked.

She got the job. “It was a huge networking opportunity for me,” said Ms. Lundy, 47 years old.

Tall Club President Barry Hanold (6-foot-3) believes the economic research into the so-called height premium, in which tall people rise faster and earn more than their shorter peers, fails to capture the full picture. Sure, there are some perks with an above-average height—but there are challenges as well.

“Height is not a disability,” Mr. Hanold said. “But it is less understood in the workplace.”

The academic consensus offers a rosier view. In a 2004 paper, three social scientists argued that the link between higher heights and higher wages can be traced to adolescence, leading to speculation that taller youngsters develop self-confidence they carry into their careers.

“It has been known for a while that taller people earn more. We are talking about roughly 3% higher wages per inch, on average,” said Nicola Persico, one of the study’s authors and a professor at Northwestern University.

But Mr. Hanold, 47, points to drawbacks outside the office that might even the ledger.

“All talls quickly learn that all things cost more, so earning more money is a must,” he said. “Car size cannot be too small. Airlines always charge more for the extra room. Clothing must be custom-made or -sewn.”

Even low-ceilinged restaurants can be prohibitive, leading to careful scrutiny of the club’s meeting venues. “If I don’t have at least a foot of ceiling clearance I know my members won’t be comfortable,” Mr. Hanold said.

When the Tall Club gathers on the first Friday of every month at Pranna, a cavernous restaurant on Madison Avenue, all manner of height-related issues are discussed. For business suits, members tend to frequent the same three tailors. They trade information about ergonomic chairs and computer accessories designed for the tall.

The talk often circles around work-related topics. At a recent meeting, one tall woman revealed a tactic she had used: sitting during encounters with her shorter boss, to avoid creating a feeling of intimidation.

Mr. Hanold owes his current job in computer operations to a colleague with a link to the Tall Club, and he now repays his good fortune by contacting members when he learns of openings in his industry. “I don’t give them preferential treatment but I do throw it out to them first,” Mr. Hanold said.

Annie Watt, a 5-foot-10 photographer and the Tall Club’s founder, set out to create the group nearly two decades ago with more personal priorities in mind.

“My motivation was to date someone tall,” she said. “It worked the first night.”

Ms. Watt, 59, used her own money to place an advertisement in New York magazine: “Hi, We’re a Tall Club,” it read. Fifteen people showed up at the first meeting, and twice that number at the second. The Tall Club now counts about 100 members.

For Ms. Watt, the professional boost came from the high ratio of models and actors in the club, who often turn to her for headshots and suggest her services to other long-limbed performers.

“Annie knows how to make sure we don’t look like an all-neck giraffe in pictures,” said Kim Blacklock, a stand-up comedian who bills herself as one of tallest women on the planet.

She is a legacy member of height-oriented social groups. Her parents, both over 6-feet tall, met at a 1952 gathering of the Tall Timers in Syracuse, N.Y. Ms. Blacklock credits the New York City club with helping her stand proud after a childhood of mockery. (She reached 6-foot-5 by age 15.)

“My mother spent a lot of time crying because of how kids treated me,” Ms. Blacklock said. “But I go to the Tall Club, and they tell you that you are beautiful and wonderful. That helps when you go out into a world filled with boneheads.”

A version of this article appeared March 19, 2012, on page A19 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: At Tall Club, Members’ Careers Get an Extra Lift.

Turn down the Rihanna. No more bikinis and beer. Spring break is winding down, and college students are heading back to campus—which, if they’re at a name-brand school, is the one place, whatever their actual smarts or behavior, that guarantees them approval. Kids don’t put Harvard stickers on their rear windshields, parents do.

But for how long? These schools have much to recommend them: impressive students, organic dining halls, presidential alumni. To maintain their reputations, however, elite colleges have long relied on limiting access—Harvard’s class of 2015 is about 1,700 students, Yale’s is 1,300—and that may be coming to an end. Revolutionaries outside the ivy walls are hammering their way not onto campus but straight into class.

It’s a thrilling collegiate coup. Last fall, a couple of hundred Stanford students registered for Sebastian Thrun’s class on artificial intelligence. He offered the course free online, too, through his new company Udacity, and 160,000 students signed up. For the written assignments and exams, both groups got identical questions—and 210 students got a perfect overall score. They all came from the online group.

So if you bluffed your way into the Ivy League with plumped-up credentials or an essay edited by somebody else, it’s time to start breaking a sweat.

“I like to compare it to film,” Mr. Thrun told me at a coffee shop between Stanford and Mountain View, Calif., where his day job is running Google X, the company’s experimental lab. “Before film there was theater—small casting companies reaching 300 people at a time. Then celluloid was invented, and you could record something and replicate it. A good movie wouldn’t reach 300 but 3,000, and soon 300,000 and soon three million. That changed the economics.”

It is education’s time to change now. At the high-school level, interactive study sites are increasingly ingenious: Look at Piazza, Blackboard and Quizlet, founded by a 17-year-old. TED-Ed just launched a channel on You Tube, with three- to 10-minute lessons for kids. YouTube’s EDU Portal has been viewed 22 billion times. Khan Academy, a favorite of Bill Gates, has four million unique users a month and thousands of educational videos, from “Napoleon’s Peninsular Campaigns” to “Python Lists.” If you think that last one is about snakes, please download Khan’s new iPad app immediately.

The next big thing, though, is college-level MOOCs and MOOSes: Massive Open Online Courses and Seminars. Harvard already showcases coursework like professor Michael Sandel’s “Justice” lectures online, gratis. Now Georgia Institute of Technology, MIT, Stanford and others are offering advanced online courses, some with accreditation.

“The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed,” wrote Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich, in “Deschooling Society.” He called for “educational webs” woven among us all. That was 1971. Today, Web courses don’t just meet but beat their impersonal offline counterparts. Studies show that tutorial-style teaching is more effective than lecturing (as Oxford and Cambridge have known for centuries), even when prerecorded. Mr. Thrun’s online students told him that the course felt more personal.

In this new educational model, the shy and the easily distracted get advantages. You can rewind a video and watch whenever and as many times as you like. Plus, teachers save time with computerized grading and students save money. (U.S. college debt, nearly $1 trillion, is bigger than housing or credit card debt.)

Most important, the system promotes driven and talented students who might otherwise be denied access to higher education: a kid in Afghanistan, a young mother in Scotland, an ignored pupil in Detroit. From Mr. Thrun’s class (translated into 44 languages) Udacity chose 200 students based purely on performance and, a few weeks ago, forwarded their resumes to companies including Amazon, Bank of America and BMW.

There are glitches, of course, including a high online dropout rate, complaints about speed, questions on accreditation and the predictable whining from old-school alumni who have gotten too cozy in their club chairs.

To be truly egalitarian, classes will need to go not just online but mobile. Still, the upshot of it all is clear: more smart people is better. Just watch that ivory tower topple.

Corrections & Amplifications

Udacity recently forwarded the resumes of 200 students to companies. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said 15 students.

A version of this article appeared March 24, 2012, on page C12 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Watching the Ivory Tower Topple.

Amid the economy’s many ailments, some good news has remained mostly off the radar: The at-home work force is growing, and it is encompassing new occupations ranging from radiology and nursing to auditing and teaching.

The bad news: Fierce competition means your odds of landing one of these jobs are poor. And if you succeed, you will probably take a pay cut.

For companies, home-based employees, independent contractors and freelancers are helping cut costs and improve customer service. Full-time, home-based freelancers and independent contractors in the U.S. are expected to increase by 200,000 workers to 11 million by the end of 2009, says Ray Boggs, a vice president of IDC, Framingham, Mass., a market-research firm; he sees another 200,000-worker increase in 2010.

While that is a mere blip on the radar in an economy that has been losing nearly that many jobs in a month, the trend means a lot to the individuals who are benefiting from it. They are avoiding dreaded commutes, doing volunteer work, pursuing college degrees or caring for family. And they are performing increasingly complex tasks from home, from reading MRIs to helping clients search for Bigfoot, the mythic wilderness monster.

“We are seeing a general broadening of the work-at-home landscape,” says Christine Durst, chief executive of a work-at-home Web site and co-author of a new guidebook on the topic.

Applicants are stacking up by the hundreds of thousands, however. Based on my survey of a dozen companies that use home workers, your odds of actually landing one of these positions range from about 25-to-1 to 300-to-1.

ARO Contact Center, Kansas City, Mo., which employs just 200 home auditors and sales and customer-service workers, gets 1,000 resumes a week, says Michael Amigoni, chief operating officer. West Corp., Omaha, with 14,000 active agents handling customer-service and other calls, hires only 0.5% to 1% of its 4,500 weekly applicants. And Alpine Access, Denver, with 2,800 home customer-service, sales and tech-support agents, hires about only 2% of the 100,000 people who apply each year.

“It takes a lot of luck to get these positions,” says Tammie Deweever, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a home customer-service agent for LiveOps, Santa Clara, Calif. “You have to be good at what you do.” Ms. Deweever has a college degree in marketing and worked as a mortgage broker before joining LiveOps last January. For her, job flexibility means being able to be home for her children, 17, 15 and 8; she often works split shifts around their needs, answering calls from TV viewers wanting to buy products from juicers to jeans.

Many skilled at-home professionals and managers earn less than a corporate salary. Less-skilled customer-service or sales work usually pays about $8 to $15 an hour, ranging as high as $25 or more with incentives or premiums. Some companies pay by the minute or hour spent on the phone, while others pay by the shift. The jobs vary by company from full-time employee positions with benefits to part-time independent contractor positions.

And applicants must be wary of scam artists. Ms. Durst, Woodstock, Conn., who screens work-at-home pitches for her Web site, RatRaceRebellion.com, says she is finding only one legitimate job among every 60 pitches she examines. In 2006, the odds weren’t quite as bad: She was finding one legitimate job for every 31 pitches vetted.

Many victims of work-at-home fraud have sent money, only to receive worthless products or leads, or nothing at all, in return; others who disclose too much personal information have fallen victim to theft from credit-card or checking accounts.

But those who win the work-at-home lottery reap diverse benefits. Intent on avoiding a long commute, Heather Hedden, a Raleigh, N.C., marketing specialist, spent a year looking for her current spot, as a home-based concierge for VIPdesk, Alexandria, Va. The position was worth the wait, she says. She enjoys using her research skills to help clients find theater or sports tickets, vintage wines or travel services. When a client asked for help looking for Bigfoot, she found an outfitter with a track record of taking like-minded customers on hikes through areas of reported sightings, she says.

After 19 years in private practice, radiologist Steven Brick, Potomac, Md., began working from home for Virtual Radiologic,

Eden Prairie, Minn. The setup confers both the freedom to focus on his work, without distractions, and the flexibility to serve as a volunteer at the National Zoo answering visitors’ questions, he says. Virtual Radiologic’s radiologists, who work as independent contractors reading X-rays and other images for hospitals and other medical clients, have increased to 140 from 34 in 2004, a spokeswoman says.

Home-based work enables newlywed Stacey Anderson, 30, Ballston Spa, N.Y., to tackle numerous roles. Since landing a customer-service post last summer as a contractor for VIPdesk, Ms. Anderson has been able to bend her work hours around her husband’s rotating shifts on his job. In addition, she squeezes in a full-time course load as a college student.

Such intangible incentives are drawing skilled, experienced people. Mark Frei, a senior vice president of West, says 80% of West’s home agents have some college education, compared with 30% of those who work in office-based call centers.

Vanessa Torres, 35, San Antonio, Texas, had a bachelor’s degree in business and 16 years’ management experience before signing on last January as a home agent for West. She likes controlling her hours, and works only when her two young children are in school, she says.

Expansion of home-based work is likely to continue. Among the 12 companies I contacted, all were planning to recruit more home workers. Lionbridge Technologies,

Waltham, Mass., a provider of multilingual services including translation and product testing, is taking on new freelancers to assess “search relevance”—that is, to ensure Internet searches yield items suitable to particular locales, a spokeswoman says.

Alpine Access, Denver, is recruiting 500 more home agents and expects to add 2,000 in 2010, says Chief Executive Christopher Carrington. LiveOps, with 20,000 home agents for retailing, insurance and other companies, added about 4,000 agents in the past two months. Arise Virtual Solutions, Miramar, Fla., with a home-agent pool of 9,800, is seeking 3,000 agents for the peak holiday and cruise seasons, a spokeswoman says. Michael DeSalles, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm, sees home agents growing by at least 30% a year.

Sites which link clients with skilled freelancers also are seeing a surge in demand for virtual workers with a widening range of professional and technical skills; oDesk.com‘s monthly postings, including graphic design, software, administrative and other projects, rose to 28,000 in the past 30 days, three times year-earlier levels. Monthly hiring on Elance.com is up more than 40% from a year ago.

As more companies allow people to work from anywhere via the Internet, says a spokeswoman for Lionbridge, “we are convinced that this is the new model of work.”

—E-mail sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com.

By TODDI GUTNER

Q:
I am 55 and was laid off from a 28-year corporate communications career a little over a year ago. Since then I’ve answered ads for more than 400 open positions in my field, attended networking meetings, job fairs, and in general, done what I can to find a new position. I’m even willing to relocate. I’ve only been invited for face-to-face interviews six times. Most openings I see seek employees with only three to five years of experience, occasionally seven to 10 years, and few with 10-plus years. With my experience, employers do the math and figure I’m too old or expensive. What do you suggest I do?

A: As you well know, you’re not alone. The market is flooded with senior professionals just like yourself. But there are ways you can stand out and increase your odds of success.

First, you need to develop a strategic plan for your job search. It doesn’t sound like you’ve got one at this point. Indiscriminately sending out resumes, like the 400 ads you answered, means you’re likely going after a lot of low-level positions.

Start by identifying employers that value your particular background and skills, advises Sheryl Spanier, an executive career management consultant at Spanier & Co. in New York City. “You need to be clear about what you have to offer and who might be interested,” she says.

Think broadly. “Instead of seeking to replace your lost position, consider seeking work that can be project related, outside your industry or an adaptation of your expertise to an allied field,” says Ms. Spanier.

Next, search for networking connections who can recommend your candidacy before you send your resume to the firms you’re targeting, says Doug Matthews, president and chief operating officer of Right Management, an outplacement firm based in Philadelphia. If you suspect that your age may be hurting your chances, trim the length of your resume, suggests Alane Baranello, managing director of Eileen Finn & Associates Inc., an executive recruiter in New York. “Make sure it only highlights the last 15 years of experience,” she says. “There is no need to advertise 28 years of experience, as employers don’t require it.”

But don’t make too many drastic changes. While you may be desperate for a job, you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’ll be miserable. It may be helpful to trim your resume for a short-term assignment, but keep it longer for the job that you really want.

Another strategy is to recast your resume to illustrate how you’ve developed and mentored people over your tenure. “Many companies may see your talents as an opportunity to create a transition position to help develop less-experienced people,” says John Heins, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Spherion Corp., a staffing firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Consider marketing yourself as someone skilled in nurturing young talent if this is the case.

As for the perception that you’re too expensive, you may need to re-examine what you’re worth. Right now, companies across several industries are resorting to salary reductions instead of layoffs, says Spanier. Talk to people in your field and find out what the going salary is for someone at your experience level. It could be up to 20% below what you were making two years ago.

Meanwhile, do an assessment of what happened in those six interviews. Many professionals don’t know how to effectively interview for a new position and that hurts their chances far more than age, compensation or experience, says Mr. Matthews. For example, a common mistake is for laid-off workers is to give the impression that they’ve been victimized by their former employers. Others err by asking about compensation and benefits too early in the interview process. To find out what you might be doing wrong, ask a friend at your experience level or above to conduct mock interviews with you, says Mr. Matthews. And be sure to request honest feedback.

Write to Ms. Gutner at cjeditor@dowjones.com. If you have a question for the careers columnists, be sure to put Career Q&A in your subject line.

By DIONNE SEARCEY

By now, many employees are uncomfortably aware that their every keystroke at work, from email on office computers to text messages on company phones, can be monitored legally by their employers.

What employees typically don’t expect is for the company to spy on them while on password-protected sites using nonwork computers. But even that privacy could be in jeopardy.

A case brewing in federal court in New Jersey pits bosses against two employees who were complaining about their workplace on an invite-only discussion group on MySpace.com, a social-networking site owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. The case tests whether a supervisor who managed to log into the forum — and then fired employees who badmouthed supervisors and customers there — had the right to do so.

Photo Illustration by The Wall Street Journal

The case has some legal and privacy experts concerned that companies are intruding into areas that their employees had considered off limits.

“The question is whether employees have a right to privacy in their non-work-created communications with each other. And I would think the answer is that they do,” said Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment expert and partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York.

The legal landscape is murky. For the most part, employers don’t need a reason to fire nonunion workers. But state laws in California, New York and Connecticut protect employees who engage in lawful, off-duty activities from being fired or disciplined, according to a report prepared by attorneys at the firm Proskauer Rose LLP. While private conversations might be covered under those laws, none of the statutes specifically addresses social networking or blogging. Thus, privacy advocates expect to see more of these legal challenges.

In February, three police officers in Harrison, N.Y., were suspended after they allegedly made lewd remarks about the town mayor on a Facebook account. The officers mistakenly thought the remarks were protected with a password, but city officials viewed the page, said Harrison police chief David Hall. The remarks about Mayor Joan Walsh might have violated the officer’s code of conduct, he said.

Mr. Hall said the town board was considering firing the officers. The policemen have asked a federal judge in White Plains, N.Y., to limit the town of Harrison’s inquiry into the online postings, citing privacy concerns, said Donald Feerick, the officers’ attorney. Calls to Ms. Walsh weren’t returned.

The case in New Jersey centers on two employees of Houston’s restaurant in Hackensack, bartender Brian Pietrylo and waitress Doreen Marino, who in 2006 created and contributed to a forum about their workplace on MySpace.com. Mr. Pietrylo emailed invitations to co-workers, who then had to log in using a personal email address and a password.

“I just thought this would be a nice way to vent…without any eyes outside spying in on us. This group is entirely private,” Mr. Pietrylo wrote in his introduction to the forum, according to court filings.

On the forum, Mr. Pietrylo and Ms. Marino, who was his girlfriend, made fun of Houston’s decor and patrons, and made sexual jokes. They also made negative comments about their supervisors.

The supervisors were tipped off to the forum by Karen St. Jean, a restaurant hostess, who logged into her account at an after-hours gathering with a Houston’s manager to show him the site. They all had a laugh, Ms. St. Jean said in a court deposition, and she didn’t think any more about it.

But later, another supervisor called Ms. St. Jean into his office and asked her for her email and password to the forum. The login information was passed up the supervisory chain, where restaurant managers viewed the comments.

The following week, Mr. Pietrylo and Ms. Marino were fired. Houston’s managers have said in court filings that the pair’s online posts violated policies set out in an employee handbook, which include professionalism and a positive attitude. A lawyer for Hillstone Restaurant Group, which owns Houston’s, declined to comment.

In their lawsuit, Ms. Marino and Mr. Pietrylo claim that their managers illegally accessed their online communications in violation of federal wiretapping statutes and that the managers also violated their privacy under New Jersey law.

But the courts might not view online musings as private communication. “You can’t post something on the Internet and claim breach of privacy when someone sees it,” said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, N.J.

Ms. St. Jean said in a deposition she feared she would be fired if she didn’t give up her password, a twist in the case that Mr. Maltby says could sway a jury against the company.

Labor and legal experts say the outcome of many employee privacy cases hinges on workers’ expectations of their privacy rights — particularly whether they have been given notice that they are subject to monitoring. In the Houston’s case, the workers had no idea their online activities outside of work could be monitored, says their attorney, Fred J. Pisani. A trial is set for June 9.

Write to Dionne Searcey at dionne.searcey@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A13

David Elkins jumped through a lot of hoops before Becton, Dickinson & Co

. hired him as its chief financial officer in December 2008. After eight interviews with company officials, he underwent an executive “assessment.”

The day-long process included a business-simulation exercise involving role playing, a two-hour session with an educational psychologist and online personality tests that gauged key traits such as strategic thinking. Becton says it assessed 95 internal and external prospects for executive posts last year, up from six in 2008. (The increase was not related to additional executive hiring.)

“Getting the right people is paramount to what we’re trying to do now,” explains Thomas Ruddy, vice president of talent management at the medical-technology concern. Becton expanded its use of assessments after gaining confidence in their value, says Colleen White, a company spokeswoman.

Management assessments are booming again as companies scramble to find the best leaders amid a hiring rebound. “Our U.S. executive-assessment business increased more than 30% in 2010,” says Matt Paese, a vice president of Development Dimensions International. The human-resources consultancy is a major provider of assessments for picking or promoting top managers. Major rivals such as PDI Ninth House describe similar recent gains.

About 72% of 516 employers now use assessments to help make executive promotion decisions, nearly twice the proportion doing so in a 2010 survey, reports Aberdeen Group, a market-research firm. Those polled this year said their evaluations comprise a variety of cognitive, behavioral, simulation and motivational tests.

Assessing a C-suite candidate can cost up to $30,000 and last two days. Outside experts typically handle assessments. Their psychological interviews probe deeply into a person’s strengths and weaknesses. “It’s far more comprehensive than any job interview,” says Stuart Crandell, a senior vice president of PDI Ninth House, a leadership consultancy in Minneapolis.

During a simulation, an individual plays the part of an executive of a fictional company who must deal with a pretend boss, subordinate or customer to solve a difficult dilemma. Participants almost never get eliminated solely due to poor performance on online tests, typically taken from home. Employers receive written reports about the evaluation.

Nonetheless, prospective executives can easily veer off track. Managers sometimes knock themselves out of the race because they mistakenly try to “ace” a process where there rarely are right answers.

Experts say candidates should do their homework about the screening process, the assessor and their roles in deciding the outcome. They also should ask upfront for feedback regardless of the outcome,

Prospects eager to “learn about themselves through these exercises are prone to be viewed stronger than others,” notes Stephen P. Mader, a vice chairman of recruiters Korn/Ferry International

. He feels that the ability to learn fast represents an important factor in the success of a leader in a new role.

Earlier this year, Mr. Paese of DDI

assessed an applicant hoping to become a regional executive for a global management consultancy. The man didn’t request feedback, so he never learned that he lacked sufficient experience handling clients with difficult demands, according to Mr. Paese. He didn’t land the job.

Careful preparation counts at Becton, too. Mr. Ruddy says he encourages aspiring executives to spend six to eight hours getting ready for the simulation portion of an assessment. Mr. Elkins prepared over a weekend after he received a broad overview of his simulation exercise.

His simulation: figuring out whether a fictitious consumer-products company “had the wrong people executing the right strategy.” Complicating things, role players unexpectedly supplied additional details on the day of his exercise.

Potential executives should try to keep their cool during a simulation because companies prefer bosses “who don’t get anxious in a situation like this,” notes Dan Zdon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Liberty Diversified International Inc. in Minneapolis.

Easier said than done. Mr. Zdon says he felt too nervous to eat lunch during his first Liberty simulation in late 2000. But he did fine anyway. Since then, he has used assessments to fill 50 executive positions for the diversified manufacturer over the past decade.

Three years ago, a middle manager seeking a C-suite promotion at a conglomerate abrasively challenged the outside assessor, recalls John Beeson, principal (CQ) of Beeson Consulting Inc., the New York firm that screened him. “Losing composure under stress cost the person the job,” Mr. Beeson says. Maintaining poise during a stressful assessment can be more important than an individual’s answers, according to PDI’s Mr. Crandell.

Stretching the truth during the psychological interview also could crimp candidates’ chances. “The best thing you can do is not fake people out,” advises Steve Kelner, a leader of the executive-assessment practice at recruiters Egon Zehnder International. He sometimes sees introverts “try to come across as extroverts,” while other executives claiming to be change leaders simply follow orders.

Trained as a motivational psychologist, Dr. Kelner assessed the sales vice president of a U.S. biotech company for a possible promotion a few years ago. She exaggerated her ability to coach lieutenants, according to Dr. Kelner. Three subordinates told him, “She’s a great leader. Just take her word for it.,” indicating they didn’t view her as a great leader.

Dr. Kelner says he warned the woman’s boss that “she is not as good as she thinks she is,” and cited her high staff turnover. The sales executive soon took early retirement.

It’s equally difficult to walk the fine line between answering honestly and divulging irrelevant personal details during an assessment. Asked about their leadership values, some executives describe being abandoned by their parents at a young age, says Sandra Davis, chief executive of MDA Leadership Consulting in Minneapolis. “I am not looking for personal, private stories.”

Dee Soder, managing partner of CEO Perspective Group in New York, has assessed executives who mention a romantic affair as the reason they quit a job. “Don’t tell me you had an affair,” she warns. “It’s going to set off all kinds of alarm bells.”

On the other hand, a senior executive disclosed the challenge of growing up with an alcoholic mother during her six-hour assessment interview for the No. 1 spot at a financial-services company in 2009. “I let it all hang out,” she recollects.

The revelation apparently made a positive impression. The company offered her its CEO job. The executive turned down the offer, however. “The fit wasn’t quite right,” she says.

Write to Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com