Category: Your Career (Page 61 of 62)

Cool site: 1st Job in Sports

November 29, 2009 / Staff

For many sports fans, the idea of working in the sports industry is very appealing. With today’s tough job market that dream might seem more difficult, but opportunities exist out there for those who are willing to start at the bottom and work their way up.

1st Job in Sports is a cool site devoted to sports jobs. We noticed that they have a number of internships available with various sports teams.

Unfortunately, the site requires a membership fee. That of course makes it more difficult, as it would be much more convenient if they had a free option for some of the features. That said, if you’ve thought about working in the sports world, this is a good place to start.

Your Career

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Tax credit for hiring might be coming soon

October 8, 2009 / Staff

This was originally proposed in the first stimulus package but was then removed. It looks like there would be bi-partisan support, and given the terrible job market, it seems like a workable idea.

The idea of a tax credit for companies that create new jobs, something the federal government has not tried since the 1970s, is gaining support among economists and Washington officials grappling with the highest unemployment in a generation.
The proposal has some bipartisan appeal among politicians eager both to help their unemployed constituents and to encourage small-business development. Legislators on Capitol Hill and President Obama’s economic team have been quietly researching the policy for several weeks.
“There is a lot of traction for this kind of idea,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip. “If the White House will take the lead on this, I’m fairly positive it would be welcomed in a bipartisan fashion.”

The New York Times article does a good job of explaining the pros and cons. Hopefully some form of this will pass.

Your Business, Your Career

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Founder Visas

October 8, 2009 / Gerardo Orlando

I’m a big fan of Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard when he’s speaking about entrepreneurship – not so much when he discusses politics or macro economics. So, if you want to start a business, start reading Rich regularly. If you wanted a hint of the economic collapse that occurred last fall, you wouldn’t have been tipped off by Rich.

Your Business, Your Career

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Stop multitasking – operation focus

September 17, 2009 / Staff

This is the first of what will probably be many posts on the subject of multitasking. It must be stopped. I’ve read numerous books about improving performance, particularly job performance, and eliminating multitasking is the single best idea I’ve heard so far.

Here’s a humorous and helpful article from A.J. Jacobs and his experiment called Operation Focus.

Hence, I’ve decided to begin a little project I call Operation Focus. I pledge to go cold turkey from multitasking for a month in a quest to regain my brain and sanity. I’ll unitask―that is, perform one activity at a time. And just as important, I’ll stick with each thing for more than my average 30 seconds. I’ll be the most focused man in the world.

It’s worth a read.

Email is the perfect example. How many times a day do you check it? When you get bored or stuck on something, do you check it just to give yourself something else to do? Where does that lead you? I suspect you often end up wasting time on something completely unrelated to the task at hand.

The goal with work is not to be busy. The goal is to get things done. There’s a huge different.

As I said, we’ll be addressing this again, but try to work on tasks or projects in 90 minute spurts. Sit and your desk and focus on that task or project, and don’t do things like check your email or have the TV on in the background. You’ll be amazed at how much you accomplish.

Your Career, Your Workplace

Taking what they can get

September 11, 2009 / Gerardo Orlando

With unemployment soaring in the current recession, many Americans are taking jobs they would not have considered in the past.

Some of the dirtiest, smelliest, most dangerous jobs are suddenly looking a lot more appealing in this economy. People who have been out of work for months are lining up for jobs at places they once considered unthinkable: slaughterhouses, sewage plants, prisons.
“I have to just shut my mouth because I can’t do anything about it,” said Nichole McRoberts of Sedalia, Mo., who pictured more for herself at age 30 than working in a poultry plant, cutting diseased or damaged flesh off chicken carcasses.
Recessions and tight job markets always force some people to take less-desirable or lower-paying work than they are used to. But this recession has been the most punishing job destroyer in at least 60 years, slashing a net total of 6.7 million jobs.
All told, 14.5 million people were out of work last month, with a jobless rate of 9.4 percent. The result is that many people have had to seek jobs they would not have considered in the past.
Take Kristen Thompson. Before the recession, she worked at an upscale Los Angeles-area gym arranging pricey one-on-one personal training sessions. Now she’s a guard at a women’s prison in rural Wyoming.

Nobody wants to end up in this situation. Obviously, if you’re out of work, you have to start expanding your options. Hopefully we’ll start to see a rebound so this won’t be necessary, but many will have to deal with these realities for some time.

Looking forward, however, you should be making plans that will minimize the chances that you’ll be facing these tough decisions in the future.