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We Want Jobs, Not Trophies

Original Post: We Want Jobs, Not Trophies

Uploaded on January 14, 2008
by Randombassist

If you think the recession is over and jobs are everywhere, you need to think again. As if the class of 2009 didn’t have a hard enough time finding a job, predictions for 2010 are just as bleak. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (and via Culpwrit), U.S. employers plan to hire 7 percent fewer college graduates than the class of 2009.

Crap.

From my own personal observations, there have been several unique things happening to the public relations industry. Although PR budgets have been relatively more stable than in advertising, there still have been some jobs lost. Additionally, the entry level is increasingly difficult for college graduates to break into. I think this is happening for two reasons. First, more people are willing to take a lower level job than be totally unemployed; AAE jobs are being filed by folks with 3-5 years of experience and internships have an unofficial prerequisite of many previous experiences. Second, with all the journalists losing their jobs, many attempt to jump into public relations, thus leaving fewer jobs for public relations practitioners.

So what about us Gen Y folk? I don’t know about you, but I’d like a job when I graduate. That’s why Come Recommended is so sweet; they’re advocating for all of us by demanding equal opportunity employment for Gen Y. Here are some pretty interesting stats about our generation that should make you worry:

Unemployment for people age 16-24 is nine points higher than the national average
Typical full-time workers age 25-34 are making less than workers that age a generation ago
Middle-management jobs have been reduced, so it is harder to move up the corporate ladder
The 1-24 age group represents 15 percent of the labor force AND one-third of the unemployed
The average student graduates with twice as much debt, yet the economy has fewer opportunities

Times are definitely changing, and it appears that it is not in favor of Gen Y at all. However, I know our generation has so much untapped potential. Our generation is changing the way we all communicate, entrepreneurship is more prevalent in our minds than ever and we are overcoming numerous challenges.

This is where we all come in. Start by checking out the We Want Jobs Not Trophies Web site. There is a lot of information on there on how to get involved with the campaign and begin advocating for the rest of your generation. Also on the site is a toolkit section that gives you the opportunity to run the campaign at the local level. This is a great opportunity for you to get some public relations experience while doing something that will help you in the long run.

Thanks to Heather Huhman and her team over at Come Recommended for leading this. We all can benefit from advocating for our generation, so I encourage you to check out the campaign.

Also, Come Recommended has some great virtual internships. The deadline is coming up for next semester, so be sure to check them out.

Downsizing Is No Longer Optional

Original Post:Downsizing Is No Longer Optional

This includes, but is not limited to: people, things, pictures, papers, mementos, etc.

I don't want to sound like a Feng Shui because a) I don't know much about it and b) it is true that my bed does, in fact, point towards the door. (Feng Shui insists, amongst many other interesting beliefs, that one should not have their bed facing the entrance of bedroom because this is how dead bodies are removed).

Getting rid of things sounds like pretty simple. But it is likely only to happen when you're forced to or if you move.

In April, I attended a conference with some of the world's most successful real estate agents hosted by LuxuryPortfolio.com. one of the most brilliantly run real estate website networks in the world - We (the attendees) were lucky to listen to a brilliant speaker. One of the points he drove home was how deep the real estate industry had gotten itself into, and how to prepare your business when things inevitably rebound. The rebound however might not be for a while - for some anyway.

He drove home a point:

If you have a employees that are there because you feel sorry for them, and they are on the payroll but dragging the organization down, get rid of them. They will be fine. You (the organization) may not be. Especially when the economy starts to move again.

It just stands to reason. Especially with all the new businesses springing up because of the economic downturn. If you've built an empire and are watching the candle flicker, it's because candles need oxygen to burn. There's only enough oxygen for the people (and other candles) that actually prop the organization up via hard work, commitment and dedication to the change that is really happening - but, it is happening outside the building.

In other words, if your business is being adversely effected by things other than the economy, it seems logical to assume that there are some things in need purging - like perhaps your entire business model? Maybe even purge the old ideals, as well because ideals aren't real - in fact they are opposites.

Once the candle goes out, it's going to be very difficult to reignite it.

50 Jobs You Can Do Over the Internet While Traveling

Original Post: 50 Jobs You Can Do Over the Internet While Traveling

Have laptop, will travel. Even better, use your laptop to earn money while you travel, to pay for your travel. Here are some ideas how.

Background

In a recent posting to the
Digital Eve Israel Yahoo Group, a group member asked the following question:

“Any leads on how to find a job that can be done on my laptop, here and there, so that I can still pay my bills while traveling?”

This reminded me of the time when I was still a programmer at Amazon.com back in 2000.

Living in Paris but working daily over the Internet with people in Seattle, I wanted to visit my family in Montreal without taking a lot of vacation time either. Luckily, Amazon’s computer systems allowed people to connect from outside the office and that made it easier to convince my boss to let me go.

In the end, I only took off 2 days for traveling purposes and otherwise worked full days from my parents’ house, basically paying for my trip and expenses. A side benefit to Amazon was that having me in a middle time zone (6 hours behind Paris but 3 ahead of Seattle) made some projects easier to finish on time.

Working while traveling and telecommuting aren’t quite the same thing

Which is true. People usually associate telecommuting with a full-time job that lets you work from home regularly.

To best answer the question above, let’s set out some criteria that make more sense regarding jobs for travelers. Those jobs usually need to be:

Jobs you can do over the Internet
Jobs that can be done over a short time-span i.e. during your travels
Jobs you can get on short notice

This last one is important in case you need multiple jobs to pay all your bills during your trip.

So we’re dealing with freelance jobs. However, if you choose well and deliver well, a short-term freelance job can become a longer-term freelance job that you continue from home after traveling.

Jobs you can do while traveling

With that in mind, the list below should give you all sorts of traveling job ideas. Each job title points at a real job description, and if the description isn’t a good match for you, just do a search on the job title to find more open jobs like it.

If you liked this article, you’ll also enjoy
15 Reasons To Take A Temporary Job Now.

Have you ever worked while traveling for pleasure? How did you find the job? Tell us in the comments.

Subscribe to JobMob via
RSS or
email and
follow me on Twitter for more travel job search ideas.

-- Jacob Share, Job Search Expert and Professional Blogging Consultant

You're Ugly! You're Hired!

Original Post: You're Ugly! You're Hired! [Job Hunt]

We love this column from Marty Nemko over at Kiplinger because it's sort of a go-get-'em morale booster to the ugly—only instead of boosting morale, it just gets more depressing as it goes on. But funny depressing. And after all the weird advice on watching your weight and avoiding hairpieces and wearing moderate makeup, Nemko makes an interesting case for why 'ugly' people are better hires.

'Why I Like to Hire Ugly People' [Kiplinger]
(Photo: foshie)

Fear Makes a Manager Poor

Original Post: inthesqueeze by Dustin Britt

"You always fear...what you don't understand"
- Carmine Falcone, Batman Begins

You also fear what you can't control, especially if you risk losing something you feel you need to "make it".

Fear is one of those weird drivers that doesn't make sense, but often seems to get the best of us; reaching its height of feeding frenzy at the worst possible moments.

Afraid of losing your job?
Watch fear kick in and cause you to do the very dumb things you don't want to do if you want to keep your job.

Afraid of saying the wrong thing?
Fear loves to distract you to the point of keeping you bound up and at a loss for the boldness you need to say the right thing.

Afraid of not making someone happy?
Guess what, you'll never make everyone happy. A focus on pleasing people = pending disaster.

Afraid of saying no?
You won't be respected enough for someone to trust you when they need to say yes.

Afraid of going against the flow?
So are most people, which means you'll just fit right into the vanilla school of everyone else.
Recognize fear for what it is and then get rid of it. It has no place in the office of a good manager.

http://www.inthesqueeze.com/2009/07/fear-makes-manager-poor.html

Dealing With a Spouse’s Layoff

Original Post: Dealing With a Spouse’s Layoff

This week, my husband was laid off for the second time in five years. This one hurts more than the first. At that time, I held a corporate job, so our health insurance and other benefits remained intact. But I became a full-time freelancer after he found a stable job with benefits. Now that’s all gone or won’t be around for long.

After I stopped reeling, it was time to start dealing. And deal I did — by taking these actions.

Accept the situation. It does no one good to scream and worry about it. Of course, I still worry about the situation, but I don’t let it paralyze me or prevent me from moving forward. It’s OK to scream when you hear the news, just know when to stop and move on.

Stick to the schedule. Despite the bad news, you need to try to stick to the schedule and make your deadlines.

Respond to emails at the right time. Sometimes you may not be in the best frame of mind to reply to a difficult email. Address problems and more challenging emails when you know you can respond logically and not emotionally.

Take care of your physical self. Exercise eases some of the pent up stress and symptoms that come with it. I also make sure I get my seven to eight hours of sleep, drink plenty of water and follow a balanced diet.

Help with the job search. This gives you a feeling of some control. Plus, you might be able to contact some people that your spouse doesn’t know.

Reach out to friends and colleagues. Letting others know about the situation ensures others understand why you may not act like everything is hunky dory. They might also help by contacting their connections who may have jobs or know people who do. If your friend is laid off, wouldn’t you want to know?

Write about the situation and your feelings. For some people, writing down their thoughts and emotions can ease the frustration and anger.

I know we’re no different from the many families with at least one person out of a job. My sister, my friends and others have all had loved ones out of work for months. All we can do is talk and support each other while pushing forward to find the right job where employee and employer can benefit from the partnership.

How Do You stay Positive In Your Job-Search?

Original Post: How Do You stay Positive In Your Job-Search?

Uploaded on August 12, 2009
by majortaylor68

This post is inspired from a recent conversation with @JRMoreau, @mehnazt & @abroman (all on Twitter)
It’s a tough slog out there for a lot of us looking for job, and have been at it for a long time. There has been much blog-writing about what people can do to keep themselves clued-in and busy while seeking a job. From volunteering, to unpaid internships, to professional networking events, there’s lots out there you can use your time toward, in a manner that is relevant to your professional goals.
But I’m no saint, and neither are lots of other job seekers out there. I know that after a point, the motivation and excitement in doing unpaid work slowly wanes. Activities that you hope will land you contacts, which will eventually (and hopefully) lead to a meeting (for a job), don’t always yield the right results, even if meticulously planned. It’s easy to feel pessimistic, lose faith in yourself and lose the personal drive to keep at it.
Over the last year that I’ve been seeking a job and volunteering opportunities, I’ve struggled to find ways to keep myself going. To move from one potential to the next without telling myself ‘it’s not worth it’. To continue to believe in myself every single day. I am always keen on knowing what others in a similar situation do to keep themselves motivated, and thought that writing about it would be a great way to find out. Hopefully this can also give tips and support to others in the same boat as me. So this is what has worked for me:

Do one thing you always wanted to do / learn about but never had the time to do it: Remember when you had a job, and you said you’ve always wanted to run a marathon but never had the time to train for it? No excuses now! Being out of a full-time job means having more time on hand to pursue interests. Read a book you’ve always wanted to, teach yourself how to roller-blade, start a blog, or go meet a friend across town you never had the time to catch up with.I used the last year to teach myself about internet marketing.
I also taught myself to cook (for real) and used the time to start my own food blog, that I also use as a medium to test social media promotion tactics.
Maintain a schedule: Idle time and lack of a structure to your day is a sure-shot way to allow negative thoughts to creep in. Most of us are hard-wired into feeling useful when there’s a format to the day, and the lack of a full-time job removes that structure. I keep fixed times for meals, make a list of things I’ll tackle for the day (and then stick to it), end the day with defining a rough agenda for the next day, and I try and stop all job-search related work at about 6 pm, post which I cook dinner, and tend to chores. A lot like how I would do it if I did have a full-time job.

Work out of your home as much as is possible: Variety in work environs often bring out the better in us. Besides, the lack of human interaction on a daily basis is just plain unhealthy. Step out of your home and work at a café, or at the library. You may even find a job-search buddy you can share notes with!

Exercise: We all know exercising releases hormones that keep us happy. It is natural to think that one should only do activities that are job-search related after losing a job, and not ‘waste’ time doing anything else. In the process, I’ve seen several job seekers give up on their health. Exercising seriously does relieve stress (even if it’s a half hour walk every other day), takes your mind off things, and most importantly, is fantastic for your sanity! Combine pt 1 and 4 and you can take up that free introductory Pilates class you’ve always wanted to.

So what works for you? What do you do keep yourself upbeat while seeking a job? I’d love to hear from you!

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