State CPA group gets seasoned leader from Woodbury

April 17, 2008

When Sharon Sabba Fierstein is installed May 15 as president of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, she will actually be halfway through her commitment to the role. That's because Fierstein, 48, of Woodbury, has been president-in-training for the past year, working on projects that will be carried forward during her official presidential tenure. The outgoing president said to her recently, "I'm almost done - you're almost halfway through."

Recent columns

• Reverse mentoring

  April 13, 2008

  Five years ago William Krol started making the transition from a longtime role as office administrator to that of a full-time writer-editor. And in 2006 he landed a job as publications editor for Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown. A few months later he was asked to add a whole new function to his workday: that of the foundation's communications-media relations manager.

• Mentoring in reverse

  April 11, 2008

  Five years ago William Krol started making the transition from a longtime role as office administrator to that of a full-time writer-editor. And in 2006 he landed a job as publications editor for Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown. A few months later he was asked to add a whole new function to his workday: that of the foundation's communications-media relations manager.

• PROFESSIONS: LI lagging in growth of executive hiring

  April 10, 2008

  You can't blame a decline in expected executive hiring in the area on the most recent tough economic times, says Steve Levy, principal of outside-the-box Consulting, a search and recruiting consulting firm based in Huntington. He says that for the past two years the New York metro region has dropped off the list of the top five projected growth regions for such hiring as determined by newly released research from ExecuNet, a Norwalk, Conn.-based networking and job-leads group for executives.

• When laptops and phones intrude on meeting etiquette

  April 4, 2008

  Yes, attorneys and staff at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone Llp in Mineola are expected to hop to it and return client e-mail and phone calls as soon as possible.

• PROFESSIONS: Making case for how humor helps law firms

  April 3, 2008

  First we had presidential candidate John McCain cracking a lawyer joke on "The Tonight Show." Now we have a law firm in San Francisco creating and posting to YouTube a lighthearted video about its firm - "The Law Accordion to Hanson Bridgett" - viewed almost 15,000 times since its launch last month. (See inspired.

• Preparing the next manufacturing generation

  March 27, 2008

  Vincent Marzigliano sees a significant need down the road for workers in manufacturing as baby boomers retire. So he's working to help his alma mater, Farmingdale State College, make sure its program is state-of-the-art in its effort to prepare students to fill those jobs.

• Fun isn't all Millenials want

  March 20, 2008

  There was a measure of relief among human resources professionals at last week's joint meeting of the Hauppauge Industrial Association's human resources and education workforce connection committees.

• LI attorneys: Mock trials make for good argument

  March 13, 2008

  High school students, being coached by area lawyers, are learning just what it's like to present arguments in a legal case, with eight high schools in Suffolk and another eight in Nassau advancing to the next round of competition in the annual New York State High School Mock Trial Tournament.

• CHANGE @ WORK: Recession-proof your career

  March 9, 2008

  Whether you believe President George W. Bush, who says we are not in a recession, or multi-

• Recession-proofing your career

  March 7, 2008

  Whether you believe President George W. Bush, who says we are not in a recession, or multibillionaire investor Warren Buffett, who says we are, just the fear of economic bad times and the job turmoil that results can be reasons to stop and think:

• Rallying to hire scores for Brookhaven Lab

  March 6, 2008

  Deborah Lange and her Brookhaven National Laboratory team of one part-time and two full-time recruiters have their jobs cut out for them: They need to fill 60 openings for engineers, scientists, procurement and project management staffers, as well as IT people by the fall - plus another 60 next year.

• Tax accountants never rest

  February 28, 2008

  Are you, like me, busy assembling receipts, credit card summaries and tax documents in preparation for the annual calculation of our financial tribute to Uncle Sam? And do you have the notion that accountants, too, have parallel pressure leading up to the April 15 deadline - with a correspondingly nice long breather until this time again next year?

• CHANGE @ WORK: Widening your Web

  February 24, 2008

  At the suggestion of a few colleagues, and with an eye to keeping up with the times, Jeannine Ayres, a life coach in Huntington Station, signed on several months ago to MySpace.com, the social networking site.

• Can Facebook and LinkedIn help your career?

  February 22, 2008

  At the suggestion of a few colleagues, and with an eye to keeping up with the times, Jeannine Ayres, a life coach in Huntington Station, signed on several months ago to MySpace.com, the social networking site.

• Therapist sees no alarm after NYC killing

  February 21, 2008

  Last week's brutal killing of psychologist Kathryn Faughey in her Manhattan office leads us to ask: Just how do therapists prepare to deal with potential danger? And after such an episode, how secure do they feel?

• Stony Brook prof is serious on the science of love

  February 14, 2008

  This being Valentine's Day, we might take a little liberty and refer to Arthur Aron, a social psychology professor at Stony Brook University, as Professor Love and Attraction. But, just to be clear, he wants us to know that he's no Dr. Phil.

• Valentine's season: Time to examine those office flings

  February 6, 2008

  There are co-workers who meet and fall in love at the office -- or, maybe, just have a fling. And then there are married co-workers who meet and fall in love at work -- or, maybe, just have a fling.

• Talking politics in the office

  February 1, 2008

  It's almost Super Tuesday: Do you know whom your colleagues are voting for?

• Using stories effectively

  January 25, 2008

  Annette Simmons, who has worked with clients such as Microsoft, NASA and the IRS, offers these ideas to help you ease into the storytelling process.

• When it's time to drop the Power Point and tell a story

  January 25, 2008

  If you want to ensure you get across the key points in a presentation, you could throw data at people in the form of PowerPoint graphs and charts.

• When is an exec worth a big payday?

  January 18, 2008

  It may seem insane and offensive that executives who preside over the meltdown of their companies get to walk away with millions, as is the case with the chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp, Angelo Mozilo. Let's see how that's allowed to happen:

• Help for a career relaunch

  January 11, 2008

  With growing numbers of parents opting to step out of the for-pay work world to stay home with their children, there's also growing interest in just how they'll pick up their careers once the time is right.

• Marketing accountants as superheroes

  January 9, 2008

  If you've never undergone an IRS audit, you may not regard your accountant as a "superhero." But an auditing experience led to a local marketing concept with the tagline: "In the real world, we're CPAs. To our clients, we're superheroes."

• Career doldrums? Here's a book to consider

  December 28, 2007

  Let's be clear: The blockbuster bestseller "Eat, Pray, Love -- One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" is not about career reinvention.

• Working abroad -- the hot new assignment

  December 14, 2007

  At a Q&A session with employees two weeks ago, Theresa Ahlstrom, managing partner in the Melville office of accounting firm KPMG Llp, fielded questions such as these:

• Now it's your turn to give performance reviews

  December 7, 2007

  There's a first time for everything -- and that includes the day you switch from being the recipient of a performance review to being the person who delivers it.

• Interest builds for 'career academies' on LI

  November 14, 2007

  At the fifth annual Workforce Builders Luncheon in Melville Thursday, the Long Island Works Coalition is expected to announce the launch of an initiative to encourage and support the formation of career academies at high schools. The coalition is working with the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies, a program developed by the Ford Motor Co. Fund to encourage kids to go into business, engineering and technology careers.

• How local companies are doing business in Second Life

  September 21, 2007

  When Greg Verdino of Melville gets up to go to work, he no longer makes a dash for the Long Island Rail Road to commute to Manhattan. No, as chief strategy officer of a new marketing company called crayon, on many days he sits down at his home computer and logs into a 3-D virtual world called Second Life.

• Getting a head start

  May 20, 2007

  Last fall at Adelphi University's freshman orientation lunch, Joseph Geraci touted the school's alumni association. That may seem a bit premature, as the students had miles to go before being in a position to start writing donation checks.

• Meditations on a Blackberry

  August 6, 2006

  Just three weeks ago, I was about to leave for a 12-day mind-body meditation retreat near Ithaca. This is a place where you do yoga, contemplate a lotus pool, swim in a spring-fed pond (that I prayed was snake-free) and take long walks on country roads, sighting deer and bunnies.

• Getting some rest

  March 20, 2005

  'So, are you ready to sleep?" Eileen McGill asked the other afternoon from her concierge desk at the Benjamin Hotel in midtown Manhattan. As the official sleep concierge, she had invited me to try out one of the hotel's new services -- an executive nap.

• The hostess of possibilities for GOP convention

  August 29, 2004

  One afternoon early last week -- as workers were still hammering, stapling and moving bins on the convention floor -- Maureen Reidy took time to reflect on the moments when a year's worth of work starts taking tangible shape. About as much reflective time as could be taken between her many cell phone calls and BlackBerry checks.

• TKTS employee's 1-man show

  July 11, 2004

  While we all might find our workplaces ripe with material for the theater of the absurd, it's only in our dreams we get to share those oddities on a grand scale, say, from the stage of an Off- Off-Broadway theater.

• Mixing it up

  May 23, 2004

  You've got those 50-pound bags of potatoes to lift, those hunks of raw fish to break down, those competitive guys in a hot, pressured kitchen, looking to see if you can take the heat.

• Armed with charm

  May 9, 2004

  Last of three articles

• Button up

  May 2, 2004

  Second of a three-part series

• Candid camera

  April 25, 2004

  First of three parts

• Candid camera

  April 25, 2004

  People may think that getting a job is all about having the right skills. But it also has a lot to do with the image you present. Do you come across as a gawky, uninitiated novice who wouldn't even know how to answer a telephone? Or as a reasonably smooth professional who could be trusted to represent an employer well?

• Thanks For the References

  January 4, 2004

  This is Part 15, the last of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 14: An Offer You Can Refuse

  December 28, 2003

  Part 14 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 13: Responding To A Job Offer

  December 21, 2003

  Part 13 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 12: Who's Going to Vouch for You?

  December 14, 2003

  Part 12 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 11: Following Up The Interview

  December 7, 2003

  Part 11 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 10: Prepare For the Interview

  November 30, 2003

  Part 10 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 9: Replying More Effectively To Ads

  November 23, 2003

  Part 9 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 8: Paths Not Often Taken

  November 16, 2003

  Part 8 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 7: A Recruiter Can Be An Advocate

  November 9, 2003

  Part 7 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 6: Get Your Foot In the Door

  November 2, 2003

  Part 6 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 5: Think About Networking

  October 26, 2003

  Part 5 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 4: Sprucing Up That Cover Letter

  October 19, 2003

  Part 4 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 3: The Art of Resume Writing

  October 12, 2003

  Part 3 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 2: Research Industry and Target Firms

  October 5, 2003

  Part 2 of a weekly series helping people with job searches.

• Part 1: Out of Work?: Use Your Mirrors

  September 28, 2003

  For most job hunters, the first step is to log onto Web sites or pore over help-wanted ads. But they skip the key step that helps focus their sights and sell themselves: self-assessment.

• Many Retirees Lack Saving Grace

  June 16, 2002

  There's a whole herd of people headed for retirement -- about 76 million baby boomers. Some are sitting pretty. Others are just sitting there with their eyes glazed over while they think about all the planning they haven't done.

• Prepare for the Pink Slip Before It Comes

  October 7, 2001

  HEY, YOU! YES, YOU -- the one hiding under the covers. We know it's scary out there in layoff land, but won't it be a whole lot scarier not to be even a little prepared should you be forced to join the swollen ranks of those already laid off?

• One-Stop Career Center Offers More Than Just Employment

  September 6, 2001

  Been laid off? Feeling dumped? Well, you might be interested in a place where they try real hard to treat you with TLC -- even though they're seeing 6,000 others walk in their front door in a month.