Happy Friday! It’s been a heckuva lousy week for the American employee. Each day, the layoff announcements were worst than the last. President Obama’s $819 billion Stimulus Plan did pass through the House of Representatives, and now its up to the Senate to decide what to do. If the spending plan passes, a major component is a  job recovery undertaking that will begin in a variety of sectors, including state services and the green economy. That said, the Plan will ramp up job creation at a rather modest pace — with the full impact not being felt for as long as a decade. Tr...

Dear Job Monkey, I am a 28 year old about to graduate from nursing school. A friend of my mom’s works at a large, local hospital and they are having a hiring fair next week. There will be representatives from all the different departments and they will be doing informational sessions as well as scheduling actual job interviews. My mom’s friend told me to come prepared with a resume and cover letter. I have a resume, but I don’t have a cover letter. I have done some research about how to write a cover letter, but I have no idea how to write one for so many different people at ...

Happy Hump Day. It’s job announcement day and the Job Monkey free job center is brimming with new job listings. If you love animals, today’s Hot Jobs are definitely for you. I am posting a range of animal job openings — from a college internship at the Oregon Zoo to a zoo keeper position in Grand Rapids, Michigan to the CEO job at the Chaffe Zoo in Fresno, California.  And these three positions are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a menagerie of animal opportunities over at the JobMonkey data base right now, so if you see your professional future in the animal kingd...

Here’s a fun little poll for this cold and snowy Tuesday afternoon. If Congress passes President Obama’s $825 billion Stimulus Plan, you will be getting a stimulus check in the mail for $500 ($1,000 for couples — income restrictions do apply.) So, what would you do with your check? Would you stimulate the economy by spending it? And if so, on what? Would you pay down debt? Or would you show your faith in America’s flagging financial institutions and sock it away in the bank? I’m boring: I’d add it to my online savings account and call it a day. What about yo...

With the recession reaching record-high proportions, many of the unemployed are turning to retraining rather than resume writing. A story today on CNN’s Money Magazine focused on this growing trend to retrain, especially among the more “mature” worker. If you are considering going back to school after a layoff, here are three questions you should ask yourself: Can I afford the tuition? Many states offer retraining programs, which are free or highly subsidized, for people receiving unemployment benefits. If, however, you are planning to pay for school yourself, will you be ...

The news hasn’t been good for weeks, but today America’s job market reached an all-time low. CNN reported this afternoon that 71,400 jobs were lost today. That’s the single highest job loss day since 1945. The companies affected include: - Catepillar, which is cutting 20,000 jobs - Drug-maker Pfizer, which is reducing its workforce by 10% — 8,100 jobs - Sprint Nextel, which is eliminating 8,000 jobs - Home Depot, which is closing its Expo Center and cutting 7,000 associates - Texas Instruments, which is slashing 3,400 employees - Financial group ING, which is reducing i...

I hope you are having a great weekend. We’ve got freezing temperatures and snow here, but I’m staying warm inside and enjoying a little trip around the (career) blogosphere. Here’s what I’ve got for you this fine Saturday. >> A Warning for Job Seekers: Is That Job Ad Real? @ the Job Hacking blog. Here’s a depressing little tidbit looking at scam job ads. His conclusion: “30% – 50% of ads represent jobs that don’t really exist one way or the other.” Two weeks ago I did a post on work at home scams.  If you want to know how to ̶...

The best advice I ever got from a career counselor was to approach my job search like it was my full-time job. I was about to graduate from college and venture off to a new city to make my fame and fortune (okay, truth be told I made neither fame nor fortune), so I scheduled an appointment at my campus Career Planning Center. The counselor said to me: “It’s okay that you don’t have a job yet. But you need to make it your job to find a job.” What exactly did she mean?  Here are some ideas: Get up at the same time everyday   It is so easy to slack off wh...

Welcome to Wednesday! Yesterday I talked about how to make a good impression on your first day of a new job. If you’re still in the job market then file that post away and focus instead on today’s hot jobs. Every week, I give you a list of three exciting new opportunities from JobMonkey’s cool job board. Today I am switching things up a bit and featuring three different employers, all within the tourism industry (and who said tourism was a dying industry?). Alaska Wildland Adventures, Westin Hotels and Resorts, and Marriott International all have multiple opportunities in ...

If you have recently landed a new job — congratulations! Now it is time to turn your energy from making a good impression in your job interviews to making a good impression on the job. How do you do that? Here are six suggestions that take a page from President Obama’s playbook on this most impressive day in American history. #1. Be a great listener. President Obama has been praised from across both sides of the aisle for his willingness to listen to input from all corners. You should do the same. Or, as my grandmother used to say, “Keep your mouth shut and your ears open....