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The Way to Yard Sale Success
We may not have yards in Manhatttan, but we do have sales–stoop sales. I stopped by one in my neighborhood recently, where cute women’s clothes were hung on racks and laid out on blankets. Not one item had a price on it, but heck–it was a yard stoop sale! So I picked up several things, then asked the price of a sundress. Then, I put everything back–starting with the $40 used dress–and went on my way.
There are lots of ways to unload your unwanted stuff–we covered a bunch of them here–and that’s a good thing in these still-tough times. But there are just as many ways to botch a sale, resulting in wasted time and dollars lost. Our friend Bargain Babe has some useful tips for making more money from your yard (or stoop) sale…
Six Ways to Avoid Blowing Your Job Interview
For nearly five months, I’ve been trying to fill a few positions at our human capital firm, and along the way I’ve learned quite a lot about the many ways job candidates can blow their job prospects—obvious and not so obvious. In this still-challenging economy, it is not what the company can do for you, but what value you bring to the company. You should focus addressing any issues that could keep your candidacy from moving forward, and try NOT to shoot yourself in the foot with one of these moves.
Being Arrogant
Hiring managers want people who are confident—but most also want team players who work well in groups. There is a very fine line when it comes expressing confidence in an interview and what hiring managers see as being arrogant or cocky….
Recession Lessons from the Jersey Shore
Toss out your econ books and get your nose out of the financial section, because the best real-world lessons for surviving a recession aren’t in any textbooks or newspapers. They’re staring you down on Jersey Shore—the MTV reality series about eight 20-somethings struggling to find their true selves while living in a world awash in recession.
Okay, so the actual focus of Jersey Shore might not entirely be on educating people about the recession, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned from watching it. After the jump, five recession lessons we’ve picked up from watching Jersey Shore.
Start performing at work or you will be replaced. Slacker employees may have had more leeway in the past, but employers have the advantage in a recession where the unemployment rate is hovering at 10.4 percent. Take it from Angelina, who got fired from her gig at a T-shirt shop for failing to show up and was subsequently booted from the show…
How to Keep Your Job by Becoming Irreplaceable
At the risk of stating the obvious, skill, talent, and seniority no longer guarantee job security. And blackmail and corporate espionage aren’t great alternative strategies — it’s generally better to get canned than to get jailed.
But there are ways to you reduce your chances of getting targeted during the next round of layoffs. After all, every workplace has a few key players whose bosses believe the place couldn’t run without them — whether it’s the person who can run a finicky fax machine or the only staffer who maintains a good rapport with a difficult client. These people tend to be the same ones who avoid layoffs time and time again.
You can become one of them — without a lot of hard work but with a good dose of sucking up. Here are five other tips to follow…
How to Land a Law Job
Like most professional fields, law has taken a big hit in the recession. Law firms, once considered safe havens, have laid of employees in droves. And, of course, new jobs are hard to come by — especially for law students.
That means once a student (or recent grad) lands an interview, she has to be ready to nail it. Looking for interviewing advice last year, I found many websites and blogs had the same old rules — show up early, dress impeccably, ask good questions. We go beyond the standard protocol, with tips will push your interviewing skills to the next level and will help you land the job.
Talk about Your Non-Legal Experience
Just because you are interviewing for a legal job does not mean that you can or should only talk about your legal experience. Discuss your non-legal experience that relates to the work you will do at the firm. Since I worked as an executive recruiter before law school, I would talk about the parallels between recruiting and practicing law.
Five Surprising Ways to Stretch Your Beauty Buck
Makeup is about beauty, and that extends to the packaging. We love shiny lipstick cases that snap shut, perfect eye shadow palettes, pretty bottles and boxes.
So you might think there’s nothing beautiful about an eye shadow compact held together with duct tape or a nub of concealer mashed into a jar. But especially if you buy high-end beauty products you can save a pretty penny by squeezing every bit of use out of them.
Here are five ways to save money on your gorg-ifying regimen. And if if makes you feel better, I’ve never seen a professional makeup artist lay out a row of pristine cases to work their magic. They mix, smash, drip and re-package.
Mend your broken makeup
When I was more free-spending, a dropped eye shadow would result in some mild cussing and another $15 charged at the makeup counter. But when I was unemployed and smashed a favorite MAC powder, it seemed crazy to spend so much on a little circle of pigment. Turns out, you can fix a broken shadow with a few drops of alcohol and a few other household items.
Why You Should Sell Yourself Short
It used to be called an Elevator Pitch.
In this social media age, it’s known as a Twitter resume. And it’s still a potentially powerful asset.
I don’t mean an actual tweetable resume–despite what some experts advise, it’s hard to believe that people are getting work that way. I mean a distilled version of your story. What you’re about in a powerful sentence.
It can get the attention of someone you’re meeting for five minutes. It makes you memorable. And the process of getting to that summary forces you to figure out what you really have to offer.
Make lists. Boil them down. Think in vivid, active terms..
Tips for Holiday Tipping
recession is a great excuse for cutting back on your spending—be it the amount you pay for a pair of shoes or the number of nights you’ll go out to expensive dinners each week. But try blaming the recession for your slimmer-than-usual tips. People are generally okay when others spend less on themselves, but they’re less forgiving when it comes to penny-pinching on gratuities—especially during the holiday season.
Not that they’re not cutting back on tipping themselves. A recent report released by PayScale found that hourly gratuities dropped an average of 5 percent in 2009 from the year before. Meanwhile, other surveys have shown that up to 26 percent of Americans plan on spending less on holiday tips this year. Only 6 percent plan on spending more…
13 Ways to Save Money on Holiday Gifts
Black Friday may be the day retailers start turning a profit, but for shoppers it can be the day budgets starts plunging into the red. Still, with careful planning and some creativity, you can avoid the chest pains that so often come in January when you open your bills. And cutting down on holiday spending doesn’t mean you have to cut down on the holiday fun—not with our 13 savvy tips.
- Create and stick to a budget. Avoid surprises with a holiday budget that includes everything involved in celebrating the holidays, not just your gift list. Consider the cost of attend parties, making or attend holiday dinners, shopping expeditions, lunches with friends, etc…
16 Questions for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
We’re entrepreneurs. We like entrepreneurs. We are especially fond of what we call New Entrepreneurs — the countless people who, having been downsized in the downturn, were inspired to start businesses for the very first time.
Last week we interviewed Lori Chalmers, who started her handbag company, ChaCha, after being laid off from her graphic design job. Her one piece of advice for those looking to follow in her footsteps: Plan, if you can.
Enter David Ronick’s 16 questions…
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