The Labor Department released unemployment numbers for the month of May on Friday, revealing some good news / bad news for the U.S. economy. 345,000 Americans lost their jobs in May — far fewer than experts had predicted. In January, 741,000 Americans were laid off — more than double May’s numbers. The dramatic slowdown in the rate of job loss is seen as a positive sign that the recession could be coming to an end. On the other hand, with 345,000 more people now looking for a job, plus most of those laid off early in the year still job searching, the unemployment rate cont...

The New York Times recently ran this insightful piece on how the recession has been impacting former Stay at Home moms. According to the article, about 80 percent of the layoffs in the current recession have been men, forcing a number of once full-time moms to head back to the workplace. Author Eilene Zimmerman interviewed a number of career experts around the country, all of whom seemed to concur that one of the biggest challenges for moms reentering the workforce is how to market themselves. That includes creating a résumé that reflects both previous career experience and skills gained ...

If you are about to graduate from college, you are probably feeling a bit nervous about finding a job in the current climate. The Boston Globe recently answered a question from one such student — a January ‘10 grad with concerns about making himself attractive to would-be employers. Some of the Globe’s suggestions included: Taking full advantage of your campus career services office Networking with professors and other on-campus professionals in your field Setting a quantitative goal for your job search — for example, five face-to-face networking meetings before ...

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 ̵...

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...

If you are going to read just one book about planning your career, you should make it What Color Is Your Parachute. Without a doubt, this quintessential book by career planning expert Richard Bolles is the be-all-end-all for figuring out what you want to do — and setting a plan in action for doing it. Parachute has been published in 20 different languages in 26 countries, selling more than 10 million copies and spending more than two decades on the New York Times Best Seller list. No matter what stage you are at in your job hunting journey, you can and will learn something (big!) from...

With the unemployment rate reaching a 34-year high, many of those without a job are turning to higher education rather than the job market for their next career move. With enrollment on the rise at two- and four-year colleges across the country, the question is:  Are you considering pursuing an adult education?  Here are seven reasons to send in your application today. 1) Networking There is no better place to meet the future movers and shakers of your would-be career field than at college: from your professors to fellow students (especially grad students in professional schools like busi...

Starting today, Mondays at the JobMonkey blog will be dedicated to charting your career course through education.  For some of you, that may mean figuring how to find the right degree program that will allow you to change your career — and your life.  For others, it will mean deciding as a teenager or young adult where you want to go to school and what you want to study. Now, I will warn you, I have a pretty strong liberal arts bias coming into this whole thing.  I went to one of those colleges that told you: “Major in art history. And then become an astronomer.”  The ...