"Networking's for Suckers, Not Me"
Q: I swear I hear the word “networking” a hundred times a week. My co-workers insist it’s the only way to climb the business ladder. My parents tell me it’s how to meet friends. My boss tells me it’s a…
Careers
5 Steps to a New Look for Work
In the new year, many women and men want to freshen their looks but still appear professional for work. Kim Smith, a wardrobe stylist in Honolulu since 2004, offers these tips on how to get started. 1. Purge! Before you hit…
How’s Your Luck?
Name: Cheryl Ohta Age: 58 Job: Fortune cookie writer and treasurer/HR manager, Hawaii Candy Inc. Start: The Mililani resident received her business degree in marketing from the University of San Francisco in 1981. “My husband, Keith, is the third-generation owner. His grandfather started…
Pot is Legal in Many Places but Workplace Testing is Legal Everywhere
Q: My girlfriend and I spent our vacation in Colorado, skiing, hanging out with family and smoking some of their legal and beautifully packaged weed. Back home now, I heard my company is doing random drug testing this week. I’m…
My Job: Air Traffic Controller
Name: Alika Parish Age: 28 Job: Air Traffic Control Specialist for Federal Aviation Administration at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport Start: Alika Parish was born and raised in Ewa Beach. He joined the Hawaii Air National Guard after graduating from Campbell High School…
My Job With the Red Cross Provides Help When They Need It Most
NAME: Christina Doty AGE: 57 JOB: Lead casework volunteer, American Red Cross of Hawaii Start: “My first experience with the Red Cross was in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1974 as a candy striper volunteering with elderly clients in a nursing home,” Doty says. “I…
The Careerist: Don’t Tell Anyone, but I’m Terrified I've Been Promoted Too Quickly
Q: I’m one of the lucky ones. While so many of my friends came home after college with lots of debt and no job, I got through school with minimal debt and landed a sweet job with the company I’d…
10th Annual Wahine Forum
The Wahine Forum is Hawaii’s largest leadership and career development conference for women. The conference is attended by Hawaii’s top female executives, entrepreneurs, up-and-coming leaders and others intent on advancing their careers. This year’s theme is WORK TOGETHER, RISE TOGETHER,…
The Careerist: You'll Live, Despite No-Phone Meeting
Q: I run weekly team meetings with our field staff so we can stay abreast of everyone’s projects, deadlines and possible crossovers. It’s one hour, and I try to run a tight agenda that covers all the ground without bogging…
My Job: Giving an Arm and a Leg
NAME: Randall Pang AGE: 51 JOB: Certified prosthetist, C.R. Newton Co. Ltd. START: Randall Pang was born in San Jose, California, but moved to Kaneohe with his family when he was 8. While at Mid-Pacific Institute’s high school, he…
Hawaii's Young Businesswomen say: We can do it!
They may be young, but the women graduating from business schools these days already know what they want and they're shooting for the stars. They're passionate, assertive, organized, ambitious, altruistic and well-trained – often with many sets of business skills.…
Thank Goodness, This Is a Drill
Firefighters train for two of their most important roles in an airplane fire: clearing a fire-free path for evacuating passengers and rescuing incapacitated victims. These Federal Fire Department recruits train using a mock large-body aircraft, whose fire is fed by…
My Job: We All Scream for Ice Cream!
NAME: Cari Ann Leong AGE: 32 JOB: Owner, Ice Cream Dreamz, an ice cream/gelato truck, and full-time hairstylist START: “It’s a family-run truck,” the Sacred Hearts graduate and Kaimuki resident explains. “We started it about three years ago. It was…
Death Is His Life’s Work
NAME: Charles Clark AGE: 57 JOB: Mortician, Oahu Mortuary START: When he was about 17, Clark attended a friend’s funeral service at Borthwick Mortuary. “The funeral director and I became friendly and chatted, and when I returned to the funeral…
Women at Work
Why are there so few women at the top? Just 5.8 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are women. Globally, women hold around 15 percent of corporate board seats; in the U.S., it’s just 11 to 12 percent. There…
The Careerist: Help! Gift Collectors Are After Me Again
Q: What’s with obligatory office gifts? I love my job, but it seems like I get a couple of emails every month “asking” me to donate money for the office gift for someone’s shower – bridal, baby or whatever. Often,…
EXTRA: Read All About Him!
Real estate agent’s other job is background actor for movies and TV shows. He's great at blending in. NAME: Jerald Pang AGE: 56 JOB: Nonunion background actor (extra) and full-time real estate agent START: In the summer of 2013, Pang…
My Job: He Goes In After the Police Are Done
NAME: Robin Fujiyama AGE: 53 JOB: Biohazard Technician, Bio-One Hawaii START: Fujiyama served in the Air Force Reserve for eight years, and has been a firefighter for 26. His cousin owns Bio-One Hawaii and, in 2014, contacted Fujiyama about doing…
The Careerist: Toughest Interview Question: “What are your salary requirements?”
Q: Help! I changed jobs recently and now I work from home three days a week. I thought it would be amazing, staying in my pajamas, working on my own schedule, tossing a load of laundry in occasionally. But the…
Secrets of Headhunters
Sandra Ohara and Chris Cruthers Adams don’t miss a thing: The conversations in the outer office. Smiles. No smiles. Chaotic piles of desk papers. The easy way employees communicate. Or don’t. In short, they explore the culture of a workplace…
My Job: Flying High and Free
NAME: Paul Franco AGE: 40 JOB: Paragliding and tandem instructor, Proflyght Paragliding, based in Kula, Maui START: Franco was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to an American mother and a Brazilian father. His father was an airline pilot and also…
The Careerist: Help! Food Pushers Are Stalking Me!
Q: I’m a vegetarian in an office that worships food. Daily spreads of manapua, brownies (not the kind from college), casseroles with ingredients I don’t recognize, and slow cookers of kalua pork (with a rice cooker on the side) fill…
My Job: Everyone Needs a Hug
NAME: Celeste Indvik AGE: 25 PART-TIME JOB: Professional cuddler and co-owner of Aloha Cuddle Co. START: Indvik was born and raised in Orange County, California, received her B.S. in nursing from Hawaii Pacific University, and is now a full-time labor…
The Careerist: Am I Too Old to Change From White Collar to Blue?
Q: I’ve been in middle management for 25 years, and I have a closet filled with aloha shirts, khaki pants and work shoes to prove it. I’m good at what I do, but I’m bored. And I worry, that as…