Are we finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel?

Last month the unemployment rate dipped to 8.6%, and now we continue to see better numbers as it relates to weekly jobless claims.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years last week, the latest indication that a weak labor market is improving.

Initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 366,000 in the week ended Dec. 10, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast claims would climb by 9,000 to 390,000.

“This is unexpectedly great news,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “If claims can remain at this level, payroll growth will strengthen markedly within a month or so.”

For the week ended Dec. 3, claims were revised up slightly to 385,000 from an originally reported 381,000. Still, new claims have fallen by 19,000 two weeks in a row.

The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, closely watched by economists because it smooths out volatile weekly data, dropped last week by 6,500 to 387,750. That is the lowest level since July 2008.

The four-week average has remained below 400,000 for five consecutive weeks, one sign the economy is adding more jobs than it is shedding.

If you’ve been looking for a job but have become discouraged, now is the time to get back out there and redouble your efforts. The economy has some momentum, and economic optimism is returning. Right now Europe seems like the most important headwind for economic growth, but conditions here at home are getting better. Car sales are improving and that is one of the factors driving economic activity.

Everyone needs an icon, an inspiration, someone who shows just how much can be down and how well. Not necessarily a role model, because the most successful people tend to have extremely negative qualities, but even the most evil character can teach some important lessons. For example: Darth Vader teaches you the value of presentation, black is always in fashion, and don’t jump uphill at a man with a light sabre, you idiot.

But since the dark lord of the Sith isn’t a great exemplar for business degree students (the profit/loss sheet on the Death Star is horrifying), we’ve looked for a more down to Earth villian. Italian ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is a glory of capitalism. He is at least four different male fantasies crammed into one body. He’s made more money than Midas, twisted the law into shapes which would confuse Escher, and scored with more women than the entire population of several colleges.

What lessons can a business degree student take from this mastermind?

Networking

The single most important lesson in any business degree is networking, and Silvio masters this the same way Genghis Khan mastered making first impressions: way harder and better than anyone had ever dreamed possible, and than most people had even had even had nightmares about. Mr Berlusconi has a more powerful network than most Yakuza and uses it much more blatantly.

If you don’t make connections during your business degree it might as well be a piece of novelty toilet rule. Luckily modern technology means you can mingle without ever having to stand up, which is great, because when you work online you can take the time to craft the perfect image. Or, like Silvio, you can just own most of the TV stations and tell them to do it instead.

Think Big

No-one gets a business degree because they want to be a faithful secretary. It’s more a Gordon Gecko without the bad ending thing, power and riches and most importantly the feeling of doing something worthwhile with your time. This means you have to aim high and just keep climbing, an no-one solved his problems by aiming higher than Silvio. When his businesses were under legal investigation, he became the government and changed the rules. When Medusa cinemas were investigated for embezzling five million Euros, the judge decided that Silvio probably had nothing to do with it because the amount is too small. When you’re excused on the grounds that you couldn’t be bothered with a paltry seven digits, that’s the success of thinking big.

Understand The Rules

The most important thing in any project is a clear understanding of the rules. Some will say that this is to make sure you obey them, but come on, we’ve already mentioned Gordon Gecko and Silvio Berlusconi in this article. Sure, Berlusconi might have been finally forced to resign as prime minister, but he still has more money and sex than everyone you know put together.

The real reason you need to understand the rules is to succeed as quickly as possible. The hardest work in the world doesn’t necessarily, or often, lead to a the best reward. That’s why you’re studying a business degree instead of bomb disposal. A clear set of guidelines means clear targets and knowing exactly what you’re allowed – or able – to do to get what you want. When you study for a business degree you’re practicing dealing with the real world by getting ready to do the same. You have a clear set of tasks and courses to complete and, by far the most importantly, you have total command of your own time and resources to do so. That benefit cannot be overstated. So many jobs are based on sitting down and doing what you’re told – you want to be master of your own destiny. And like Silvio Berlusconi, you want to fill that destiny with money and fun.

Certain sectors of the economy are rebounding and jobs are following. Here’s an update on hotel and restaurant jobs in South Florida:

If you’re looking for work in South Florida, try hotels and restaurants.

Broward and Miami-Dade counties now have more people employed in lodging and food service than they did before the recession, and Palm Beach County is catching up to its former peak. Broward alone added 3,800 hotel and restaurant jobs in October from a year earlier, up 5.9 percent, state data show.

The jobs are growing because of record tourism in South Florida, as the U.S. economy recovers and visitors arrive from across the country and from Canada, Europe and Latin America. Broward set a new tourism peak for the 12 months ending Sept. 30: 11 million overnight visitors who spent $9 billion, the county’s travel bureau said. Tourism experts expect continued growth at least through 2012.

The job trend holds statewide, with hospitality leading Florida’s job recovery. Hotels and restaurants employed 31,700 more people this October than last, up by 4.4 percent to a new state record, data show.

Some new employees are coming from other fields, where work is less plentiful, including construction.

This is good news, as strong sectors should rebound first. South Florida is a mecca for tourists, so as the tourists come back, signaling a return to normalcy, then we see these hospitality jobs come back. Tourists and hospitality workers then spend money, fueling a broader recovery in the region.

Social media is a twenty-first century revolution that has swept the globe. It has given billions of people new opportunities to share their voices, connect, and facilitate the type of discussion that helps propagate more revolutions. It has infiltrated television, movies, advertising, mobile phones, online education, and a whole slew of other niches that are heavily embedded in many peoples’ daily lifestyles. To say that social media is here to stay would be an absurd understatement. In a way, the world is moving towards virtual connectivity on a level that parallels the time when the Internet first became available for personal use.

One of the most interesting things about this connectivity is how it has redefined what it means to network professionally. In the old days, networking to leverage relationships for careers was a matter of putting on a suit and tie and heading out to dinner parties—but no longer is this the case. Instead, you can join virtual networks dedicated to this type of activity like LinkedIn, Plaxo, or Jobster. Sure: you might have to bring out the suit and tie once in a while, but you’re far more likely to score a job through the Internet than you are by hosting dinner parties today (unless you can afford it).

Twitter especially is a unique platform for finding jobs for companies whose visions you are passionate about. These days, especially with the advent of online education, more and more people are obtaining highly accredited degrees—the competition is fierce, and it has become extremely important to differentiate yourself and to establish an online presence that is credible, intriguing, and that piques the interest of employers you want to work for.

And now, the million-dollar question: How do you do it?

Establish an online presence

Employers love to find people who fit their company’s cultural and behavioral values. Do you know what those values are? Do you want to work for a tech firm that values a geeky understanding of computers and the Internet? Establish yourself as an authority and a pundit in the niche you’re interested in sweeping and you will likely attract the attention of unique employers. Do you tweet about industry-relevant topics? Do you demonstrate a singular knowledge for your realm of expertise? Do your insights give other people a better understanding of the way you think—the way you approach a problem, the way you interact with others? By establishing an online presence via Twitter (where companies are always watching and tweeting themselves), you can essentially sell yourself in an environment where hungry recruiters are constantly scouting.

Connect with recruiters on Twitter

Any smart company looking to hire fresh talent knows that the Internet is one of the first places to go. Recruiters are often required to use social media as a means for sifting through potential applicants, and you might find that your dream company’s best headhunter is more sociable than you think. Follow these people—watch what they’re tweeting about, and try to connect with them about openings at their company. So what if you find that they’re not hiring right now? The more you can expose yourself to the right people, the better your opportunities are of receiving an email one day that says “Hey, send me your resume!”

Expand your network with the right people

Make friends. Connect with relevant people on Twitter who work in your industry. See what they’re talking about, and get involved in creative discussion that establishes your unique voice in your specific niche. The more your network expands—just like in the real world!—the more you raise the chance for making a random connection that could lead to your next big break. And remember: none of this requires toasts of campaign over an expensive caviar dinner—this can be done from home. Or a café. Or a smartphone.

At the end of the day, your ability to solidify the authority of your online presence will translate into career wins that you never even thought were possible. It’s very common today for hiring teams to type your name into Google when considering your application—so why not give them something unbelievably stellar to judge you by?

This has been a very difficult time for graduates, as the great recession has made it very difficult to find a job and get your career started. Many young people are stuck living at home with their parents and don’t know what to do next.

We’ve stressed the importance of creativity and finding a career that suits you, regardless of the economic situations. We’ve also stressed the importance of work-life balance, and there must be more to life than just your work.

This might be a time for you to also consider doing other things while you wait for the job market to come back. It might seem silly yo think about traveling the world given the economic circumstances, but again it’s a matter of getting creative. If your overall career is on hold, why not figure out a way to see the world? You’re only young once, and now you can take advantage of the freedom of fewer choices here at home.

Cruise companies are one option, as you can get a job on a cruise ship and make pretty good money. You’ll work hard, but you’ll see new places and you’ll be surrounded by other young people. Just imagine the opportunities that could come from that.

Europe is also another option. Of course the job market is even worse in places like England, but there are always opportunities for Americans, particularly if you’re willing to consider an internship. Look for companies in the tourism industry or even finance. Again, it’s a matter of being creative. You may find yourself working in hotels in Liverpool or a Cardiff hotel just as easily as you might be working for an American company in London.

You are only limited by your imagination. If seeing the world is a priority, use this time in your life to find something unique an interesting. It sure beats hanging around in your old bedroom at your parent’s house.

Most people are aware now that the stuff you post on Facebook and other social media outlets will likely be researched by prospective employers. This interview with Dr. Lawrence Burgee, Department Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems, Brown School of Business and Leadership, Stevenson University, illustrates the point. He tells a story of one interview where an applicant was asked if a person could be their friend for an hour to look over their Facebook page while others were interviewing him.

Bullz-Eye.com recently interviewed Dave Navarro as Jane’s Addiction was about to release their first album since 2003. In the interview he was asked about advice he’d give to aspiring musicians.

BE: What is the number one piece of advice you would give to someone starting a band today?

DN: I’ve answered that before, and to be perfectly frank, in this climate and the way the music business is, I would say the number one piece of advice is to do exactly what you love, and make sure you love doing it. I think back to when Jane’s Addiction started in the late ’80s, and we weren’t really aware that we would amount to much. We thought we were doing something special, but given the climate and what was successful at the time, we just felt that it was best to do what we wanted to do and stick to who we were, and as a result of that, we were able to gain some attention. The climate has changed so much, and the media has changed so much over the years, I’m astonished with how many people I’ve come into contact with that are really looking for fame, period. And those are all the wrong reasons to do this. You’d just be chasing some dream, and once you’ve reached a certain level of success, their whole life will be okay. But the fact of the matter is, they’re still stuck with themselves at the end of the day.

BE: So music’s not the end goal for a lot of these bands? It’s just celebrity that’s more important to them?

DN: I don’t want to say that, because there’s a really great rock movement happening, and there are lots of great artists out there. I’m saying that, and I’m sure you can understand, if you look in the more mainstream/pop world, there are a lot of people just chasing the notoriety. And hey, they’re happy doing that, I’m not saying anything negative about them. I’m just saying to upcoming bands, make the goal to work on the music that you’re most proud of, and the rest should fall into place.

It’s good advice, and the notion applies far wider than the music industry. Ask yourself why you pick any profession, job or career. Are you doing it for the money or other types of rewards, or is it something you really want to do for its own sake. You have to be honest with yourself.

We’ve discussed the cheap revolution before. It’s the notion that you can do so many things today and use countless services for a fraction of what they used to cost. This helps drive entrepreneurship and it helps people sell products or services without a huge support organization. You can be a one-person wrecking crew, using email, the web and social media to network, chase leads and close sales.

That said, there are still some older traditions that you shouldn’t abandon. While you may not need a fancy office and a receptionist answering phones, you should have a web site or other online presence, and you should have things like business cards. The online and mobile worlds are important, but person-to-person networking is still critical.

But here the cheap revolution helps as well. You can access business card printing services online and avoid all the hassles of the past. It’s easier and cheaper and you get exactly what you want. So do all the new media stuff, but never abandon old methods of meeting people in person and exchanging business cards.

With the death of Steve Jobs, there will be countless articles covering his career, and many of us can learn a great deal from his success. We’ve already posted his advice to college graduates about finding what you love to do. Jobs was also an incredible innovator and manager, even if he was a tyrant at times.

If you’re a manager or you run your own business, this story might be helpful. It comes from a Fast Company article after Jobs stepped down as Apple’s CEO but published before his death.

Jobs had recently come back to the company after a 12-year hiatus working for two of his own startups: NeXT, which made ultra-high-end computers, and Pixar. He was taking a tour of Apple, becoming reacquainted with what the company had become since he’d left. It must have been a sobering, even ugly, sight–Apple was dying at the hands of Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and other competitors that were doing what Apple did, only cheaper and with faster processors.

In a dusty basement across the road from Apple’s main building, Jobs found a solitary designer who was ready to quit, languishing amid a stack of prototypes. Among them was a monolithic monitor with a teardrop swoop, which integrated all of a computer’s guts into a single package. And in that room, Jobs saw what middle managers did not. He saw the future. Almost immediately, he told the designer, Jonathan Ive, that from here on out they’d be working side by side on a new line of computers.

Jobs may not be the greatest technologist or engineer of his generation. But he is perhaps the greatest user of technology to ever live, and it was to Apple’s great fortune that he also happened to be the company’s founder.

Those computers that Ive and Jobs worked on became, of course, the iMac–a piece of hardware designed with an unprecedented user focus, all the way to the handle on top, which made it easy to pull out of the box. (“That’s the great thing about handles,” Ive told Fast Company in 1999. “You know what they’re used for.”) That single moment in the basement with Ive says a great deal about what made Jobs the most influential innovator of our time. It shows an ability to see a company from the outside, rather than inside as a line manager. He didn’t see the proto iMac as a liability or a curiosity. He saw something that was simply better than what had preceded it, and he was willing to bet on that instinct. That required an ability to think first and foremost as someone who lives with technology rather than produces it.

Jobs was always able to see opportunity and usable innovation that others could not see. He could also spot talent and put people in situations where they can thrive. The story of his visit to Xerox is legendary, as they had the graphical user interface and had no idea people would want it in their home computers.

You may not have a Jonathan Ive in your organization or revolutionary products sitting on a shelf, but you probably have some very talented people who are stuck in jobs that waste their talent. Take the time to know your team, and dig deeper than your immediate reports. Find the talent, let them work, and your company will have a better chance to thrive.

We all have different career goals, but one that is becoming more important has to do with job flexibility. We want flexibility on issues like hours and the ability to work away from the workplace.

Even is a bad economy, these goals are becoming more attainable. Naturally, technology has a lot to do with it. But the culture is also changing, as companies and managers realize that they can have more productive workers if the offer more flexible work arrangements.

That said, it’s also good to think about certain careers that make it even easier to have a flexible work environment.

Graphic design jobs fit this category. Technology has completely changed the design field, as everything is now done on the computer. Keep in mind that collaboration is sometimes easier when everyone is under the same roof irrespective of new online collaboration software tools, so some employers will want you to spend some of your time in their office. But you can do much of this work from anywhere.

Writing jobs are a natural choice. If you can write, there are tons of jobs out there as content development is a growing field. With a computer and an internet connection, you can work for a wide variety of employers.

Web design jobs are in the same category and combine aspects of the two above. Firms are always looking for online designers, and this is something you can do from anywhere as well. Keep in mind, however, that this is becoming more of a commodity, so it’s important to keep working on your skills.