Happy Wednesday! The week is half-way over, which means it’s time for Hot Jobs. This weekly post features three hot new jobs posted on the JobMonkey Job Center. Are you in the market for a new job? Then make the Job Center your first stop. We feature a trove of jobs from around the country — and the world, in every imaginable field. Our list is updated daily and the best part is it’s free to job seekers! This week I have a unique opportunity for an adventure-seeking animal worker, a payroll manager for REI, and a web programmer for ESPN. Good luck with your job application...

Volunteering has become a popular theme here lately at the JobMonkey blog. The New York Times reported earlier this week on the burgeoning ranks of volunteers in New York City. Laid-off workers are turning in droves to volunteer organizations to help them fill their time and contribute to people in need, while still aggressively looking for a new job. Remember this post from last week about how to volunteer your way into a new job? I’m thinking some of those New York volunteers might be hoping to network, too, while serving up soup or rescuing stray animals. Nothing wrong with that! I...

Apropos to my post yesterday about following your dreams despite the recession, the USA Today just ran a review of a new book about the very same topic. Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields is a guide to teach you how to make money while doing what you love. After you figure out what you want to do (i.e. what you love doing), you have to work out the finances. Fields says you do not need to earn top dollars, but there is no reason that following your heart should leave you destitute. The book is filled with personal vignettes from others who have left the rat race to follow their dreams ̵...

This recession is doing funny things to people’s career goals. On the one hand, it is forcing us to reevaluate our plans and think practically about our futures. That’s mostly a good thing. If our heads had been in the clouds, they are not any more. Of course, the flip side is that people are abandoning their career dreams to focus on what they think (hope?) is a “sure thing”. Things like recession proof careers, steady paychecks and stable 9-5 jobs. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that living your life responsibly and paying down your mortgage are...

It’s been another busy week here at the JobMonkey blog. Did you notice that we have added yet another new feature? (There’s always something new and exciting at the JobMonkey!) We are now featuring a weekly column from a seasoned career planner. Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minnesota and is a nationally syndicated career columnist. We are thrilled that she will be a regular contributor to the JobMonkey as well now. If you missed her most recent posts, check them out now: >> Better Resumes, Online Applications >> Meaningless Metrics and Jargon ...

TGIF friends! I hope you have had a productive week and will get to enjoy some well-earned R&R this weekend. While you are lounging around, take a few minutes to read through these links. I found some great material on job hunting this week, which will hopefully inspire, inform and motivate you in the weeks to come! If you have recently read something great, please leave me a comment with the link. >> Volunteering Helps Network and Job Search @ Culpwrit A slightly different take on volunteering to land a job (did you see my post from earlier this week on the same topic?) Here the ...

It’s a bit of bad news vs. good news for the airline industries these days. Well, actually it’s pretty much bad news for them, but good news for would-be travelers. According to this March 10 Wall Street Journal article, airlines are finding that despite reduce fares, people still are not flying. Between deep cuts in business travel and people too freaked out by the recession to commit to personal travel, the airlines say they will have to further reduce fares. That’s the good news part, at least for those of you planning on taking a trip in the near future. At the same ti...

Notes from a Career Counselor by Amy Lindgren Here are a couple of things that crossed my desk recently. Maybe something will provide inspiration or innovation as you go about your job search. Jargonizing the Resume. It’s an age-old battle between a resume writer (me) and a job candidate (my client). The writer wants to create a clear, crisp document and the candidate wants to include all those industry terms that fly around a conference room like gnats in the outfield. Gnats? Well, maybe I’m harsh here, but my instinct is always to spit these terms out when I encounter them. An...

Notes from a Career Counselor by Amy Lindgren It’s been a quiet couple of weeks in career-land, but here’s a topic I’ve been concerned about for quite some time. Meaningless Metrics. In my last blog, I mentioned a disagreement with a client over using jargon in her resume. Well, not to pick on the same client, but here goes. Now we’re scuffling over the use of metrics – probably in part because my head still throbs from the jargon issue. Actually, I think I just resist the term “metrics” because I’m still a little attached to “measuremen...

We still do not know if — and when — the Alaska natural gas pipeline will get built, but it seems that some political progress has at least been made. According to the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, the project is now a top priority for President Obama, who is considering making the initiative a public works project. Until the economic recession, there were two companies vying for the right to construct the 2,000-mile natural gas pipelines: TransCanada and Producers BP and ConocoPhillips, together with Denali. But the collapsing world financial market has led many in Alaska to worr...