WageSlave: Editor's Blog for AOL Find a Job

Lessons Learned From Being Broke

- Know your priorities.

- Set goals and tune out peer pressure.

- Small sacrifices add up to big rewards. More

I came across this article on Kiplinger.com, and I thought it offered some great advice. It's also a little comforting in these trying economic times. A good reminder that it's not about the money, but what you do with it. Hope this is helpful.

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Fortune's latest piece, Confessions of a Layoff Coach, offers some advice for professionals who are faced with starting a new, unexpected job search. The piece also offers some inside info about the job of layoff coach... what do they do? How hard it must be to constantly be the bearer of bad news.

Here's some advice:

Q. Do you have any advice for someone who may be facing a layoff, on how to make the most of outplacement?

A. I would say two things. First, to get the most out of it, you have to be committed to the process. It's like buying a powerful computer with a lot of capabilities: You can just use it to send e-mail and type Word documents, or you can really make use of everything it can do. Outplacement is like that. Take advantage of all the different features and services that are offered.

And a related point would be, outplacement is more than just a resume-updating service. It's a chance to step back, take a deep breath, and take a careful look at your career -- to re-evaluate your goals in life. What do you really want to do next? Maybe it's time to move on to something completely different. This is your chance to find out.

There's also a quiz that helps you determine if you are at risk of being laid off.

These pieces look at jobs that may be in jeopardy and fields that are in need of workers.

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The Washington Post's latest jobs update says:

U.S. employers have now eliminated more than 232,000 jobs in the last three months. The United Stateshas not lost jobs for three months in a row since mid-2003, as the effects of the tech bubble's collapse and the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon were beginning to dissipate. Until January of this year, employers had added jobs for 52 consecutive months.

The bulk of the March job losses came, as they did in January and February, in the manufacturing and hard-hit construction sectors.

The bright spots seem to be education, health care and government-related jobs. A total of 60,000 jobs were added in these fields.

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What's the most boring job you've ever had?

Sometimes the lines can blur... and the worst may very well have been the most boring. Nanny Confessions gives us a peek at an "uncomfortable" job experience, but this Top 10 list from the Washington Post got me thinking... A boring job can definitely be a doozy... or do zer however you look at it.

Here are a few from that list.

The most boring job I ever had involved filing...lots and lots of filing (not to mention transcribing countless hours of video). I convinced myself that it was the worst job EVER, but after reading all the accounts of mind-numbing jobs in a discussion on "The Gene Pool", I have to say that perhaps I was being a tad dramatic.

Sure, filing was a bore, but it's nothing compared to some of the jobs members of "The Gene Pool" have to had to deal with. I went through the group and picked out 10 jobs, as described by readers, that I think qualify as the "most boring." Here they are...


10. Moderator Gene Weingarten: "This was my job:  I had to translate the display ads in the Mexican Yellow Pages from Spanish into English, to be republished in the American Yellow Pages.   Sometimes I got to translate them back from English into Spanish. I did this for eight hours a day."  

9. db_va: "I worked summers in college doing traffic surveys. The more accurate description would be "counting cars." We'd survey AM/PM rush and lunchtime at fast food restaurants mostly. Counting through traffic and turns on the major road, as well as entrances and exits from all the driveways of the restaurant. If it was on a really busy road, it did get a little frantic at times. But since no one REALLY knew how accurate I was, that took the pressure off a bit.."

8. Splangy: "Then there was the art studio security guard, had to watch the paint dry."

7. sarafiend: "Spent a summer as an undergrad removing staples from old newspapers and then photocopying them for archives."

What's your 'Most Boring Job'?

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Recession-Proof Your Career

This article provides some good advice on ways you can be proactive versus sitting and waiting to be handed your pink slip. There's a lot you can do to keep your job as well as have something waiting before you're forced into unemployment.

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With a recession "looming" ... or here... depending on what's going on in your world, many people have begun to consider taking jobs they might have otherwise avoided. Or could be that you took a  job in the past that you thought would be great but turned out disastrous. Either way, what made it so bad? Was it the boss? Your co-workers? the work itself?

I've heard some pretty bad job stories in passing, but would love to hear yours.

As for me, once in college during summer break, I sold frozen pizzas over the phone for a "fundraising" company. It might not have been the all out worst  job, but it definitely was weird. A few months after school started, we (me and my best friend who'd worked there too) drove by, and the company was gone. *insert Twilight Zone music

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In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd save the real gushy stuff for the true love birds and ask about romance turned sour at the job.

This week's article: How to Keep Romantic Sparks at the Office From Burning Your Careeer delves into love gone awry. It's bad enough when things don't work out, but what about at work? Is it a good idea to date co-workers?

The topic's not new, but information travels fast and far these days. What's the worst work romance disaster story you've heard?

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Here are some top stories that circulated this week:

Jobless Claims Low, but Number of Laid-Off Workers High

Senators Mull Merits of Extra Jobless Benefits

Job Shock: U.S. Lost 17,000 in January

Texas, Worker Shortage Worries Renewable Energy Firms

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"Coaching" has become one of the biggest trends of the new millenium. People have fitness coaches, finance coaches, life coaches, relationship coaches; you name it, we've got it. In college, they offer you career counseling before you graduate ... I am remiss to say that I think went to one session out of obligation, but I didn't really take advantage of what that advice could have meant for me. Perhaps a more direct route to career stability, less "crazy" jobs ... who knows.

I recently came across a book, 'Speaking of Success' about how to achieve your career goals, and one of its featured contributors, Marsha Haygood. Haygood is a career coach who caters to more than top execs. She caters to a wide range of clientele, and she offers her services for fees that make it feasible for the "little people" to get help and get ahead.

Career Counseling Isn't Just for Execs looks at some ways career coaches can help you reach success and  ... earn more money.

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The latest scandal about the Detroit mayor's escapades captured in cell phone text messages and then a voicemail left on a student's phone, then broadcast for the entire world to hear have proven, once again, that "privacy" is all but null and void. If you're doing something wrong... it carries a heavier weight.

While office gossip might not reach nationwide proportions, there are times when it crosses the line and has very real consequences for people. What you might NOT know is that there are also legal ramifications for gossiping at work.

I hate the topic, personally, but in a way, we'd have nothing to talk about it if weren't for tabloids and celebrity gossip. Askmen's article 'Office Gossip' gives the 411 on gossiping at work.

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