How to Map Out Your Dream Job

Ah, recession…a perfect time for career reassessment. Especially when you get tossed out of our job and need to figure out your next move — but also when the economic shakeup makes you realize you’re not all that satisfied with your work.

We’re loving this handy chart from the book How to Keep Your Cool if You Lose Your Job. (Full-sized version below.) You probably haven’t seen it, since author Kathryn Jackson lives in New Zealand. But it’s a wonderful way to visualize and measure all the different aspects of your work…

How to Go It Alone

The Wall Street Journal is calling this the “age of going solo.” The reasons are obvious: more people are working independently, because they gave up on the corporate world or were chucked out. A startling 20-plus percent of US workers are freelancers, consultants, contractors or (my personal favorite) “micropreneurs.”

Are you one of them? Could you be? The Journal’s story by Richard Greenwald offers some powerful tips on how to succeed. Read the original article for more, like what to beware of in a professional network.

Think long term

You might see this as a temporary, in-between jobs situation. But it might not be. And if you think of it that way, you won’t be very good at it. And with competition for gigs fierce, your halfhearted approach won’t make you a pile of money.

Learn and teach

You need cutting-edge skills, both to justify your rates and improve your chances of getting a full-time gig, should you want one.

Have the Cheapest and Awesomest V-Day Ever

Say what you will about commercialism and Valentine’s Day—it’s hard to reject a day that celebrates love in all its squishy glory.

Stop using money as an excuse to check out–who says you have to buy roses at inflated prices, or shell out for an overcrowded restaurant? In fact, sharing V-Day in a way that involves less spending (much, much less…) can be even more special. Start with our nine tips for gifts, meals and activities that will
make your Feb. 14 about connection, consideration and romance, not cash and cliches.

Say it with pictures

Or as PhotoJoJo puts it: “If you love someone, shoot them.” Go out and take portraits of each other, even if it’s with a crappy camera…

Five Simple Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2010

There are no excuses left for not getting a good, firm grip on your money.

I’ll just earn more? Last year, even the richie-richest learned that cash doesn’t always keep rolling in.

I don’t know where to start? There are countless resources on the internet.

I don’t have time? There are great tools that will break it all down into steps that can take as little as a few minutes.

Learn your lesson from the recession, already, and get your financial ducks in a row. Start your year with these simple steps:

Get organized

Don’t know where to start? Our friends at LearnVest (one of Recessionwire’s content partners–hey Caroline Waxler!), are running a financial bootcamp this month…

The New Year’s Second-Hand Shopping Guide

In New York, frugal women know about Encore, the consignment shop where Jackie O. famously sold all of her unwanted clothing for extra cash. And since the recession hit, such stores have seen consigners come out in discreet droves to pare their closets and pad their wallets.

What you may not know is that holiday time is the best time for closet cleaning — which means that the start of the year is prime for scoring bargains. And most of America doesn’t think to resell Grandma’s Chanel bag at Encore; often, great goods go straight into the hands of non-Vogue reading volunteers at charity thrift stores, who price them way below market.

Don’t believe me? Good. More cheap Valentino scarves to adorn my unemployed neck.

If you’re fashionable but poor, consider dropping the pride and checking out these four thrift shopping venues. For $3 you may be walking home in a pair of never-worn Florentine leather boots.

1. Estate Sales

The only thing sadder than the death of an elderly person is watching families hold estate sales so they don’t have to clean out closets. Luckily for the recently laid-off, you now have time to rummage through those boxes to find that pre-war handbag from Paris…

How to Sniff Out Your Talents

Whether you’ve been laid off, hate your job or just have that uncomfortable, it’s-not-really-me feeling at work, you’ve probably faced this question recently: What the $@%# do I do with myself?

You might even feel like you haven’t managed to unearth your most special abilities. If that sounds familiar, check out this post we recently found at Skelliewag. The gist of it is that you have hidden talents, “things you could do that would make you happy. But you don’t know it yet.”

Skelliewag is talking about skills that aren’t necessarily practical, but isn’t it a great start for thinking about a career? I mean, there are people who manage to build careers out of things that my conservative grandparents would have deemed totally useless. (Personal stylist comes to mind.)

To find your new passion, write down a list and then just try stuff out. Seriously…

What I Learned About Jobs in 2009

Last year was the biggest learning experience I’ve had. In 2009 I had to learn how to stay positive when almost on a daily basis I was interacting with candidates who were losing their homes, savings and any sort of self respect. And I had to be flexible when we saw our own company’s recruiting efforts become fruitless because there were so few jobs to fill.

After all, last year drove home that people who are able to change and adapt to the changing economy were the most successful. With zero experience in radio, we launched a web radio show, landing interviews with Keith Ferrazzi (author of Never Eat Alone), Michael Port (author of Book Yourself Solid), and the brash Jeffrey Fox (author of How to Become a Rainmaker). We put up their bios and shared the interviews with our talent pool. Did it make us a single penny? No. But we learned (some more) and were able to give back.

I think 2010 is going to be an interesting year–and it will be more successful if we use all the lessons we learned in the last 12 months:…

Life Lessons from a Laid-Off Lawyer

Earlier this year, just out of knee surgery, with a wife in school and just a few thousand dollars in the bank, David Koller got booted out of his job.

That night, the Philadelphia lawyer asked himself the kinds of questions that (we’ve learned) bubble up after you’ve been forced out of a job: Was he happy? Did he really see himself choosing the traditional company for the long term? Was what seemed so impressive to other people — a good salary, a respectable company — actually satisfying?

On Law.com, Koller explains how he turned around and started his own law firm. Sound snoozy? I can’t remember the last time I read every single word a lawyer wrote. I’ve been asked several times how someone who has just been get kicked out of a job can have the confidence and pluck to start a business. Well, here are a few lessons from his account…

Save Money with the 30-Minute Rule

The 30-Minute Rule has nothing to do with eating food off the floor.

It’s a way to keep your spending in check by curbing impulse shopping — especially important as some of us are starting to feel flush again.

Maybe you’ve just found a job after months of unemployment. Maybe you just feel like the economy is starting to wobble towards a recovery. It’s hard not to unleash all that pent-up desire to buy. But over-spending is not a habit we want to return to as a society.

The 30-Minute Rule is ridiculously simple….

How to Turn a Phone Interview into a Face-to-Face

When time and budgets are tight many employers start their interview process with a phone interview. Though it may sound like a lower hurdle than an in-person meeting, that’s not necessarily true. There are things you need to know to get you to a meeting with the hiring manager—and eventually, to a fantastic new job.

DO

Be positive and energetic. Remember that the person interviewing you can’t see any body language and can only read the inflection of your voice. Practice this if you need to—and if you have trouble with it, put a mirror in front of you to watch your face as you are talking on the phone.

Show you’re listening. The occasional “I see,” “Yes,” “Great,” make for a better conversation—as do any positive vibes you can give during pauses…