Do Nice Guys Finish First?: Poll Results

A couple of weeks ago I asked the question, "Do Nice Guys Finish First or Last?" (see the Career Planning Blog post dated November 2nd) This clearly struck a chord with a lot of people -- nearly 200 people responded to the poll. More than half (52 percent) answered that, "yes, it is helpful to be nice at work," 37 percent felt it can be harmful to be nice and 10 percent said it doesn't matter. It's not to late to weigh in with your opinion.

There were some interesting comments made about that post as well. One comment, "What really helps is if you are tall, or if you are younger, or if you know someone in the organization. I noticed hiring managers do not even bother to read a resume before an interview" met with this response: "I’m a manager with hiring responsibilities. I do read resumes, which is how I choose candidates for phone screening and from there for interviews–both before I’ve seen how tall, and (unless the candidate includes an age on the resume) how old they are." Good to hear that! Another comment was, "the nice guys/gals are frequently taken advantage of by their co-workers and managers." Oh no -- I hope that's more the exception than the rule. You can read more comments and add your own by going to the post and clicking on comments.

Since it appears that being nice is more helpful than harmful, at least according to those who responded to this poll, you may want to find ways that you can be nicer to your co-workers. You could bring in cookies to share with your office mates or maybe send a funny card to cheer up a co-worker who is going through a rough time? Or, how about starting by simply showing your colleagues respect.