unemployment

Unsure of what to say to your unemployed friend; why not put it in writing.

In response to the nation’s 9% unemployment rate Hallmark has rolled out some new greeting cards. The country’s biggest card manufacturer says it has eight designs meant to cheer up the jobless.

One card reads “it’s hard to know what to say at a time like this. How about, I’m buying!” Another says “don’t think of it as losing your job. Think of it as a time out between stupid bosses.” Some take an optimistic tone and read “one day you’ll look back on all this with the wisdom that distance bestows and you’ll say, wow that sucked.”  read more »

The recession might be hitting all of us hard here at home. But at least we’re not alone in our struggles.

On a recent trip to Ireland I had a chance to talk with David Daly, a well known Dublin Developer for Albany Homes. Real estate values in Ireland have taken as big a hit as in the U.S. And just as here, the economic collapse has forced Ireland to dramatically cut public spending and raise taxes. Banks are under water. Unemployment is above 13% and there is no rapid turnaround in sight. Daly says they have only themselves to blame for overbuilding. Daly says the money was spent as fast as it was coming in but the boom is over. And Daly says we have yet to learn, in Ireland and in America.  read more »

Forget the teachers, books and dirty looks. Some of your most important business lessons can’t be found in the classroom.

CareerBuilder.com has come up with four important lessons for success in the workplace. They asked employers and employees what vital skills always seem to be missing and number one on the list is communication. Experts say tools like small talk, reading between the lines and public speaking can give you the advantage in almost any situation. Bronwyn Saglimbeni, a Public Speaking and Media Coach says one of the most overlooked communication tools is active listening. Saglimbeni says most of the time people listen with the intent to answer versus listening to fully understand what is being said.  read more »

Social networking sites are designed to connect you to people but what about connecting you with the right job?

Molly Wendell is CEO of Executives Network, a company she started to teach people how to network their way to their next job. When Molly found herself looking for work after fifteen years as a Marketing Executive she started the job search by looking at job boards and sending out her resume. But Molly soon noticed that there weren't many managment level positions posted so after an unsuccessful year and no job offers she began reaching out to old contacts and building up her network. Soon she had received thirty serious job offers within ninety days. Wendell says being a great networker can get your foot in all the right doors.  read more »

While you may be feeling the pain of unemployment right now, there is hope on the horizon.

According to Yahoo Hot Jobs, in the next few years jobs will outstrip demand in some professions. So instead of spending hours locking down your next pay check why not find a career where the money comes looking for you? Yahoo Hot Jobs lists ten careers that within a few years are going to meet these criteria.

Wanted: you! 10 jobs where employers come looking for you

Written by Romy LeClaire Loran, findtherightschool.com, for Yahoo! Hot Jobs:  read more »

Are you as angry as I am about all the rhetoric being spouted by politicians who seem to be saying that taking “corporate junkets” to cities such as Las Vegas is somehow the wrong thing to do right now. And if you take a corporate jet anywhere you are wasting taxpayer or stockholder money.

Even President Obama weighed in last week during a speech in Elkhart, Indiana when he said that companies “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime”. He’s certainly right that companies taking taxpayer money to survive must adhere to a higher standard of accountability. But the problem is in using Las Vegas as an example; he tarnishes a city that is already reeling from recession.  read more »

These days help wanted signs at stores draw a bigger crowd than 75 percent off sales. So how can you get to the head of the massive line of job seekers?

Believe it or not there are jobs out there. Some companies are hiring. In fact Yahoo Hot Jobs Senior Editor Tom Musbach says cities such as New York, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco and Oakland are top markets for job openings and opportunities. Musbach says in these tough times you have to expand your resources and nurture any and all networks you might have.  read more »

This past week the country’s unemployment rate spiked to 6.7 percent, with 1.5 million jobs lost in just the past six months. Analysts are split on when the economy will turn around, but you still have to pay those nagging bills.

Despite all that pessimism, entrepreneur, economist and University of San Francisco business professor Jon Fisher says it’s still possible to land a good job.

He says some of the pain we’re encountering now is the result of problems that we went through in the past. While the economy will certainly get worse in the short term, it will be a lot better in ’09. So it’s just a question of how much risk tolerance you can endure.  read more »

You may think offering that special Happy Thanksgiving toast during your turkey dinner this year may be tough to do. But it shouldn’t be.

Sure, we’ve hit a bad patch on our economic road to riches that some may say has become a road to ruin. Greed and fear, the twin idols of Wall Street, have yet again reared their ugly heads. In response, wagging fingers are pointing at bankers, regulators and consumers who deceived the system and themselves.
But downturns, even as severe as this one, have a way of cleansing the system of its scoundrels. And it becomes the perfect opportunity to focus on basics.  read more »