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Category: Advancement

Can you be fired for the way you look?

Can employees be fired for being too fat? Can a job candidate who is missing her front teeth be turned down? Is it OK to hire or fire someone because of personal grooming or appearance? Most likely, the answer is yes.

Looking for support? Here’s who you need

Whether you’re trying out a new routine or trying to shift to a new career path, you’ll need supporters. These are the people who can advise you or simply listen to you when you need it. According to Laura Goodrich, author of Seeing Red Cars, you need three types of supporters during your journey. And all three are useful in their own way.

Is management right for you?

Question: “I decided to apply for a management job. I expected to receive the same salary as my friend, who has a similar position with another team. When I got the promotion, my new boss didn’t say how much my raise would be. It turns out that I not only make less than my friend, but I also work about 50% more hours. I want to transfer to a different department, but I am not sure how to go about it.”

Is the job worth a nip and a tuck?

A 64-year-old receptionist in a Chicago doctor’s office—we’ll call her Jane—recently received an ultimatum: Do something about your thinning hair or be transferred to a job with less patient contact. Jane says, “I was absolutely devastated.” How far would you go to stay competitive by improving your looks?

Give your résumé a shot of Botox

Update your image by Botoxing your résumé, says Lisa Johnson Mandell, author of Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want. Like the cosmetic procedure, Botoxing your résumé is a way to “lift, firm and freshen your look,” says Mandell.

4 ways to get your next job

You have a job now, but times being as they are, you may one day find yourself without it. The time to prepare for—and hopefully prevent—that scenario is while you’re still employed. Here are four things to do now that will benefit you if you ever lose your job.

LinkedIn: 35 connections and counting

With its workaday reputation, LinkedIn is still the go-to social-media site for anyone trying to ramp up a career. Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokeswoman, says that to reap the social-networking benefits of the site, you need at least 35 connections. Here’s how to best use the web site: