Job Scam Feeds on Desperation of Unemployed Workers

Unless you’ve been hiding out in a black hole, you’re well aware of the scantness of the job market.  Chances are if you are not among the unemployed, you probably know a few people that are in the scramble for a steady monetary flow and health insurance.  Read more

5 Ways a Career Mentor Can Make You a More Valuable Asset

Ever wish you had a way of seeing what your career might be like in 20 years? Yeah, me too. However, since the DeLorean was our best effort at time travel and because most us are not willing to pay $40 an hour to have someone read our future from a foggy crystal ball, your best bet might be going with a medium of foretelling that’s a little more realistic. Read more

Real New Yorkers: When a Bachelor’s Just isn’t Enough

When recent college grads first envisioned themselves graduating from college, they probably imagined tossing textbooks to the side and starting their new lives as decently paid working professionals. Few imagined they would be dealing with of a lack of available jobs and a nation in recession. As a result of the current financial crisis, however, many recent graduates are opting out of the job market for the time being, and deciding to go back to school. Read more

Is it Fair to Sue Your School if You’re Unemployed?

The Post ran a story last week about a 27 year old recent college graduate who is suing her school, Monroe College, for $70K — her college tuition bill.  She claims that the Bronx college didn’t do anything to help her obtain interviews from potential employers.  Read more

The Top 5 Interview No-No’s

It’s 3pm on a Friday afternoon, and just when you think you can’t submit any more resumes or write anymore cover letters, the phone rings. It’s the company you’ve been waiting to hear from for weeks. They want to schedule an interview for Monday at 10am; you happily agree.  You now have approximately two days to prepare for your big day. Read more

From ‘Rents to Roommates

Between student loans and credit cards, its no wonder that we’re being dubbed ‘Generation Debt.’  If you’re under the age of 25, chances are you’re reading this in your sweats before heading to the kitchen table to clip coupons with mom for the weekly CostCo run.

Monthly Mashup: April Edition

With summer on the upswing, New Yorkers are preparing themselves for weekends full of lazy outdoor afternoons, trips to the parks and beaches, intramural sports and hopefully some summer Fridays (crossed fingers).  But the most important thing about summertime is that it’s the best season to save money since free things like outdoor concerts and street festivals pop up almost every weekend.  Ah, New York in the summertime.

With the rainy days of April hopefully behind us, we’re taking a retrospective look back at our favorite and most popular stories from LifeStyler and the rest of the webs.

Is it Possible to Live Below your Means in NYC? – New York is a place of unparalleled expenses.  For the vast majority of us making under six figures a year, it can be one of continual financial stress having to live paycheck to paycheck.  We asked our writers to come up with some ways that help them live below their means in the big city and threw it all together to make a list of the ways we cut corners to keep some money in the bank.

The Best 15 Financial iPhone Apps – David at Money Under 30 sifts through the vast wasteland of iPhone apps to find the best iPhone apps for your money — management, that is.  Our favorite?  The ATM Hunter.

How Far is Too Far in the Quest for Employment? – How far are some people willing to go to make a living if unemployment strikes?  We spoke to a few readers to find out where they draw the line.

Being Frugal on Groceries Doesn’t Mean Starvation – The guys over at Thrive (an free online personal finance management program) discuss how to be a frugal grocery shopper without starving in the process.

Sell Junk for Cash and Free Your Soul – Cleaning out the apartment can not only be beneficial to your wallet, it can be emotionally cathartic too.  Our associate editor, Jeffrey Wilson, explores the benefits of cleaning house and selling off old nostalgia.

Budget Decorating Guide – New York Magazine can sometimes overshoot the budget shopping guides, featuring a $250 summer dress as a “steal” when most of us would have to choose between that purchase and rent. But they finally hit the nail on the head with their latest budget decorating guide, focusing on budget shopping hot spots like Pearl River Mart, National Wholesale Liquidators and Bowery Kitchen Supplies.

Confessions of a Habitual Job Hopper – We’re all aware of negative outlook associated with job hopping, but as a happy job hopper myself, I wanted to point out the positive aspects of the “sport” and take a look at how Gen Yers, with all their saavy web 2.0 know how, are indeed a generation of job hoppers and how they’re out to change the current work landscape.

NYPL Offers “Job Search Central” for Job Seekers

As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.  You can probably think of many areas in your life where a little bit of practice could make all the difference, but what about your job seeking skills? Everyone, young and old, could use some advice on today’s job market and a fresh set of eyes on your resume probably couldn’t hurt. Read more

Confessions of a Habitual Job Hopper

In my first five years of working in “the real world”, I held down five different jobs.  One of these was part-time and held in conjunction with my current day job.  However, when friends or co-workers would ask me about my job history, it would oftentimes seem that I was older than I really was — soley because of the fact that at the ripe old age of 25, I’d already amassed a whole resume page full of relevant job titles.

It was then that I realized I was what the adults called a “job hopper”.  With it’s adverse sound and generally negative connotation, I immediately jumped on defense — backing the countless responsibilities I’d been so lucky to nail down.  But the fact was — and still is — that I am indeed a job hopper.  And I’ve come to realize that there’s nothing wrong with that.

In fact, we’ve got a whole generation of job hoppers jumping into the work force.   While the recession may temporarily slow them down and dissuade them from making their usual career leaps, you can bet they’ll be back in full force once the economy builds up strength — moving from company to company looking for the next bigger and better thing.

Aside from the typical negative stereotypes of job hoppers, this isn’t necessarily a completely bad trend.  I say this knowing that I fit the description to a T.  So with a lack factual data about job hoppers (if there even is any), I will limit my ideas of the pros of “hopping” to my own experiences as a habitual job hopper.

Job Hopping Allows Companies to Keep New and Creative Ideas Flowing into the Workplace

Think about the first few months after starting a new job.  Maybe even up to the first year.  Most people generally have a good reservoir of creative ideas on how to more effectively manage projects, cut costs, be more creative — those ideas stem from many things, one being excitement over a new job and wanting to show your value to the company.  Job hoppers tend to crave that feeling and are able to capitalize off of it by producing fresh ideas often to a continually changing audience.  On the flip side, I think that employers can reap the benefits of the influx of innovative ideas coming in.  Even though the argument can be made that the person with the original idea may have left by the time the company is ready to implement said idea, fresh ideas are always good.  They can not only lead to better working conditions, but they can also motivate and invoke creativity in other employees.

Job Hopping Increases the Employee’s Ability to Shimmy up the Salary Ladder

Another good thing (for the hoppers, that is) is the ability to weasel up the salary ladder a lot quicker than someone working for the same company for 5 years.  When switching companies, one generally has far more leverage to negotiate a higher salary than their previous one.  On average, job seekers tend to nail down a 10-15% increase in pay when making a move to a new company.  Compare this to a typical raise of 5-8% when staying with the same company, and it’s not hard to see why frequently hopping the fence can be an attractive option.

Job Hoppers Build Networking Contacts at a Far Quicker Pace

Networking events are all good, but let’s be honest:  real contacts are made through day to day relationships.  Relationships with co-workers who’ve seen your abilities and your work ethic.  Job hopping can be tricky, as you certainly don’t want to burn bridges.  But if done right, constantly building and recycling your networks throughout different companies or even different industries, will build a huge pool of diversified contacts to turn to for future job prospects, career advice, or help when you decide to branch out with your own venture.

While it’s obvious that job hopping is clearly more beneficial to the employee over the employer, there are still benefits that can provide useful for both sides.  I’m a big believer in constant change, as nothing noteworthy has ever been born out of stagnation, and consistent turnover definitely delivers that change.

Even though it may seem audacious for a 25 year old to flaunt a two page resume, keep in mind that it certainly doesn’t mean those two pages aren’t warranted or that less energy was spent on their accomplishments — only that it was completed in a compacted manner.

*Salary increase statistics taken from CNN Money.

How Far is Too Far in the Quest for Employment?

It’s no joke that tales of unemployment and rising debt have pushed many of us to our limits. Between student loans, credit card debt, and monthly bills, things can get really overwhelming pretty fast.  If faced with a serious money dilemma, would you go to extremes in order to make ends meets?

The Associated Press (AP) reported this week that, “the tough job market is prompting a growing number of women across the country to dance in strip clubs, appear in adult movies or pose for magazines like Hustler.”

I can understand doing whatever it takes to put food on the table, especially if you have a family to support. But I began to wonder what other women who are only supporting themselves would do in a rough financial situation.

With half of my friends unemployed and the other half hanging on tight, the idea of hitting rock bottom has most likely crossed their minds at some point. All young women under the age of 28 who are currently living in New York City, most of them come migrated here from different parts of the country, all with different beliefs and values. An eclectic group of publicists, administrative assistants, teachers, artists, and advertising executives, I was eager to hear their opinions , I sent out a quick message to all of them asking, simply, “How far would you go to pay your bills?”

Personally, I wouldn’t think twice about walking door to door to every retail store and restaurant looking for a job. I would rather scoop ice cream for half of what I’m currently making than to have to ask my parents to pay my rent for me. On the other hand, an unemployed friend scoffed at the idea of working any place other than an office job.

After I sent out the email, the responses came pouring in and I knew it was going to be interesting when most of them began with, “Are you going to print my name with this?”

Many of the women who answered my question said that they would work at Domino’s but never as a delivery driver and flipping burgers at McDonald’s was off limits. The consensus was that retail on any level is acceptable and some even thought that serving up ice cream cones sounded more fun than their current job. Another even quipped that she used to mow lawns in high school and would go back to it if she had to. Although, I believe the landscaping industry may not be thriving in New York City, but her work ethic was still admirable.

When it came to stripping for the benjamins, opinions started to change. One woman said that while she wouldn’t turn down any job that was presented to her, taking off her clothes was her limit.

“I wouldn’t turn down working at a strip club, for example, but I wouldn’t strip,” she said.

Another respondent described a prior job at a fast food restaurant in which she was so disgusted with the conditions of the kitchen that she would never do it again no matter what the financial situation. As far as taking off her clothes, she would only do it as a last resort.

There was only one respondent who mentioned the thought of moving back in with their parents in a time of distress, and another toyed with the idea of selling her eggs.

Some respondents were a little ashamed to admit that they would rather strip for cash than work at McDonald’s or deliver pizzas. But, they said that it was mainly due to the amount of money that could be made. According to the Associated Press, women who dance at upscale clubs in NYC could make anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 a year.

“If it was between me selling myself and living on the streets, I think I’d block it out and do what I’d have to do for the cash,” answered one woman.

While many may look down on strippers or club dancers, after speaking to other young women, I think it depends on the situation. I’m a firm believer in that it doesn’t matter what your job title is as long as you’re supporting yourself. As long as you protect yourself and remain in control of the situation, no one can look down on someone who is trying to keep their head above the water during these tough financial times.

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