The numbers for new home construction have been steadily getting better, and that has been having positive effects on the job market. But this article explains how many construction jobs are going unfilled as contractors are having a tough time finding qualified workers, particularly in markets that got hit hard in the housing crisis.

This presents excellent opportunities for unemployed workers will to do this type of work. You have to be a self-starter and be willing to learn new skills like dry wall installation, but the jobs are out there.

After years of relentless tuition hikes, many colleges and universities are facing a backlash and more students and parents are looking at value. They don’t want to be stuck with outrageous student loans, and now many private colleges are offering record financial aid to keep classrooms full.

Stocks jumped on this news as the report was expected to be bad. Again, the Labor Deportment made significant upward revisions to reports from previous months.

Overall the unemployment rate is at a 4-year low of 7.5%. Of course there’s a long way to go but at least we’re making some steady progress.

More than 80,000 people from around the world have signed up for Case Western Reserve University’s first free online courses – and there is still time to register.

The noncredit courses start Wednesday through Coursera, a company that provides an online platform to dozens of colleges for MOOCs, massive open online courses. It is CWRU’s first venture into MOOCs, which have exploded in popularity since Stanford University offered the first one in 2011.

As of Monday afternoon, over 65,000 had registered for a six-week CWRU course, Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence, taught by Richard Boyatzis of the CWRU Weatherhead School of Management. The nationally known professor of organizational behavior plans to teach about how emotional intelligence can complement analytic tasks as well as invoke curiosity and openness in students’ lives.

Check out the entire article if this course interest you.

If you think you might be interested in a business development career, or if you’re not sure what a business development professional does, check out this article for an excellent overview about this potential career path. Topics discussed include how to prepare for such a career, including how an MBA or a JD degree can be very helpful. Bus dev guys put deals together, and knowing how deals are structured is essential. You can learn quite a bit by getting an MBA or JD, but frankly hands on experience doing deals is the most important factor.

Here’s an excellent article from CNET on the 25 things you should know if you’re considering self-publishing a book.

Here’s one of the great tidbits of advice:

22. Design your book cover to look good small.

Traditional book publishers design — or at least they used to design — a book cover to make a book stand out in a bookstore and evoke whatever sentiment it was supposed to evoke. Well, with Amazon becoming a dominant bookseller, your book has to stand out as a thumbnail image online because that’s how most people are going to come across it. If you’re primarily selling through Amazon, think small and work your way up.

Check out the entire list before you start down the road and make too many mistakes, and follow our eBook thread.

It’s a fair question, whether you’re looking for a job or you’re settled in with a job.

This articles describes 15 traits of the ideal employee. It’s a great list for prospective employers as they evaluate job candidates, but it’s also a great checklist for those of us looking for a job. What can we do to add more value to our company? Here are the first two items on the list:

1. Action-oriented – Hire employees who take action and take chances. While chances may lead to failure, they will more often lead to success and mold confidence while generating new ideas. Stagnant employees won’t make your company money; action-oriented employees will.

2. Intelligent – Intelligence is not the only thing, but it’s a strong foundation for success. While there are many variables you can be flexible on when hiring, intelligence is a must or you’re going to be spending an abundance of time proofing work, micromanaging and dealing with heightened stress levels.

The term “problem solver” isn’t on this list, though many of the attributes point to this quality. It’s important to be able to identify problems, but the best employees will help you solve them and also take the initiative where appropriate.

As you look for a new job and prepare for interviews, keep this list in mind.

The eBook explosion offers real opportunity for aspiring writers who want to take control of their own writing career. There are tons of articles out there explaining how to self-publish and how to use tools like Amazon.com.

This is probably the best article I’ve found so far on this topic. It covers everything from the process of getting a book published to tips on the writing process itself. Topics like choosing a niche and a title along with how to handle things like the cover page and your summary description are also addressed.

More and more companies are realizing that a healthy worker will be a more productive worker. Thus we’re seeing all sorts of changes as companies add gyms to workplace campuses while encouraging or even subsidizing gym memberships. Others also try to work in issues like nutrition, offering healthy meal choices in the workplace cafeteria, and replacing vending machines that only offer junk food for workers.

This is all great stuff, and everyone should do their best to take advantage of this. But frankly, not everyone responds well to the idea of going to a gym. So some workers have to be a little more creative, and that involves doing exercises literally at work. Now this isn’t for everyone as well. I don’t really like the idea of working up a sweat in my suit. But it’s not as much about replicating the gym experience, but rather doing some activities that at least prevent you from living a sedentary lifestyle of you don’t have the time or the inclination to hit the gym.

The best solution in my opinion is to simply start walking regularly. That can include a walk around the office campus during lunch, or even doing a daily lap or two or three inside the halls of your building. Movement is key, especially when you use it as a quick break from work. Many people walk in the evenings, and that’s a great habit as well.

This article has many more ideas for quick and easy workouts at work. Check them out and you will likely find several that work great for you. Of course it’s more important to find regular workout programs you can do regularly outside of work in the proper setting, but something is always better than nothing. But, keep in mind that while these movement exercises can help, most doctors will tell you that working up a sweat is very important, so always try to build on what you do at work.

No matter how bad you think your interview went, it can’t be as bad as this one.

Hopefully a little humor will help you ease any stress you feel about the interview process.