Wear Your Resume on Your Sleeve (or Shoulder)

So you went from worshipping the “It” bag to feeling like a bag lady. Well, at least now you know just how versatile a purse can be.

But bet you hadn’t thought of this: In addition to broadcasting your social status and storing your worldly possessions, you can also use accessories to showcase your skills and experience.

That’s especially useful in the downturn, when you might feel like you need to pass out your C.V. out like sample sale flyers. Here are four cheeky tips for scoring a job interview with your bag. And please — don’t forget to have your resume stashed in it…

The Recession Will End… In Years, Not Months

Most Americans think we’ll be in recession for two more years. According to a new poll from Gallop/USA Today, just as many people think the recession will end in a year as do those who think it will end in five years, with the rest of the respondents falling in the middle.

Could such gloom just be the winter blues? Perhaps, but the findings are similar to those from July:

When asked in an open-ended question how long they expect it to be before the economy starts to recover, 30% now say five years or more, up from 19% in February but similar to the 28% who said so in December. Overall, 68% of Americans now expect it to take two years or more before the economy starts to recover, little changed from 71% in February. One in four (27%) now expect it to take less than two years, about the same as the 24% in February who said this.

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Recession Briefing: Highway Robbery on the Rise

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Thieves are increasingly swiping tractor-trailers filled with goods, triggering a spike in cargo theft on the nation’s highways. (Wall Street Journal)

Nationally, 37 million people — about one in eight Americans — visited food pantries and soup kitchens in 2009, compared with 25 million in 2006, according to Feeding America, the national hunger-relief network that did the study. Officials say the numbers really began to skyrocket at the onset of the recession in late 2007. (Chicago Sun-Times)

President Obama’s proposals to tax and curb the activities of Wall Street have thrown an unpredictable element into the debate over financial regulatory reform. They also have touched off an intensive new round of lobbying and raised questions in Congress over whether his plan will add urgency or merely bog things down. (New York Times)…

Screwed: Up to 4,000 at GlaxoSmithKline

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s total: 5,058

GlaxoSmithKline plans on eliminating up to 4,000 jobs from their workforce…Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that it will lay off about 400 employees to cope with declining DVD sales…Harleysville National Bank expects to cut up to 300 jobs after a merger in March…In Tennessee, First Horizon National Corp. has decided to shut down one of their departments, leaving 100 employees out of work…CBS News will hand out pink slips to up to 100 staffers next week…Fujifilm North America Corp. announced its plan to lay off 100 nonunion employees after shutting down their Texas facility…PNC Financial Services Group plans on laying off 58 IT jobs in Cleveland…

The End of the Trend

Bid goodbye to waiting lists for nail polish colors (at the risk of dating myself, remember Chanel’s Vamp?), figuring out how to work mustard yellow into your wardrobe, and short-lived fashion trends in general.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal story, the past few years have seen the death of the trend. (WSJ.com has a pay wall, but you can get around it by Googling the headline.) “Everything is in style,” the creative director of Doneger Group consultants told a group of retailers.

Christina Binkley reports that we’re in an age where women can more easily wear what looks good on them. The must-have of the month is gone. And before you bring up gladiator sandals and harem pants — gladiators had a good long run given how damn distinctive-looking they are, and harem pants seem to have died in the desert. Thank God…

Creative Travel on Less Than $300

Just because you’re eager to get away doesn’t mean you’ll need to spend a fortune. Sometimes a weekend-long scenic hike is all you need to unwind. Check out 10 LearnVest ideas for weekend getaways that cost less than $300:

Head To A Bed-And-Breakfast.
We far prefer a solid B&B to a pricey hotel. In our experience, the rooms at a B&B are more uniquely decorated, and can cost as little as half of what we’d pay at a hotel. Recently, we found a B&B room in Portland, Oregon for $79. Compare that to $164 for the same type room at a hotel. (Plus, we get breakfast!)

Cruise Last-Minute Deals.
If you live near a port, sign up for last-minute cruise getaways from CruiseDirect. We found a three-day cruise from Miami to the Bahamas for only $43 per day!

Go Business Casual.
Opt for a business hotel in a nearby city for the weekend. Since they cater to the business crowd that usually stays during the week, weekend stays are sometimes as much as 50% off. Search sites like Starwoods.com or Hilton for hotels in specific cities…

Recession Briefing: Bonuses are Back

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, could be about to pay its chief executive Lloyd Blankfein a bumper bonus of up to $100 million in defiance of moves by President Obama to take action against such payouts. (Times of London)

Professional sports teams, concert venues and opera houses may all be seeing drops in attendance as a result of the recession, but suburban community colleges are having the opposite problem. They’re running out of room. (Chicago Daily Herald)

California wine shipments fell in 2009 for the first time in 16 years as purchases in the U.K., the biggest export market, plunged during the global recession. (Bloomberg)…

Screwed: Possible 4,300 in New York

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s total: 5,347

NYC government officials are working on a budget proposal that may leave 4,300 people without jobs…Electric Boat announced last Friday that they will be cutting 432 jobs by April…ATK handed pink slips to 420 Utah workers and plans on laying off another 200 in May…Last Friday, Iberdola USA started their 140 job cuts all over the Northeast…US Bank plans on laying off 50 workers from its Illinois branches come March…Sun Microsystems laid off 32 jobs this month and will cut another 197 in March and April…On another round of layoffs, Dell Inc. plans on laying off an unspecified number of peoplethis week…