Screwed: 1,400 at Gannet Co.

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

Today’s partial total: 3,479

In another round of layoffs newspaper publisher Gannet Co. will be laying off 1,400 within the next few weeks… Spirits maker Diageo PLC. is laying off 900 workers as part of its restructuring efforts in Scotland… Virgin Atlantic plans to cut 600 jobs, losing about a tenth of its workforce… Briggs Stratton will layoff 43o Wisconsin employees by mid next year… Acushnet Co., one of the largest patent holders in Massachusetts, is laying off 77 employees in its golf ball plants…

Sell Yourself Without Feeling Like a Jerk

The term “self promotion” often carries a negative connotation—and with good reason. No one enjoys dealing with someone whose solution to every problem starts—and ends—with “I.”

But in tough economic times, it’s more important than ever to make yourself memorable to employers, potential employers, clients, and business and networking associates. You might know what you do—and what you can do. That’s not the same as making sure other people know it.

So how do you advertise “you” to the world without earning Sir Lancelot’s “C’est moi” reputation? By communicating a value package of which you are one component—a fundamental one. Here are the three essentials:

1. Talk about the team

Conveying your abilities is more than providing a laundry list of education, skills training, and professional experience; you need to talk in terms of achievements and accomplishments. To do it without feeling like a braggart, remember that facts melded with humility are a powerful combination…

The Truth About Job Sites

I’ve done a lot of professional speaking on resume writing, and over the past eight years have talked to thousands of people. Every time, I ask the following question: “Has anyone gotten a job off of Monster.com?”

Eleven people have raised their hands.

There are hundreds—if not thousands—of job boards online, and they list millions of positions. Yet many of us have had this experience: You’re trolling job listings, clicking on openings in your target field, when you see The Dream Job. Your pulse starts racing. You look more closely. You are a perfect fit. You are such a perfect fit that it was like you had written the job description yourself. So you spend hours editing, proofing, tweaking and finessing your resume and cover letter. You hit “send” confident you’ll be contacted right away. You never hear a peep.

When it comes to job listing sites, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes…

My Wife is My Boss: An Entrepreneur Couple’s Tale

“Let’s go over this again: you’re going to spend our life savings on dried fruit?” I asked my wife, Noha, in 2004 when she first pitched me the idea of starting Peeled Snacks, a fruit and nut snack company.

Earlier in the year we’d both quit our jobs to go traveling before I started a stint as a public school teacher, but I’d assumed that she’d get back to work with a position lucrative enough to offset the modest teacher’s pay I’d soon receive. Instead, she decided to become her own boss and make negative money.

Though those first days truly did gobble up our savings at a frightening rate, watching a company grow and flourish from the front row is exciting. It was a real kick when people started to actually buy these treats…

Lemonade Makers: Queens of Unemployment Bling

Stephanie Aucoin, 48, was laid off from an accounting firm in September. Barbara Bourn, 59, who works in interior design sales in Sarasota, Fla., has seen her income decline 60 percent thanks to the downturn. In March the longtime friends designed and started selling silicone arm bands embossed with the words “I Need a Job.” They have made back their initial investment and are turning a profit. Bourn talked with us about launching their first business.

Lance Armstrong has sold more than 70 million LiveStrong bands. How many have you sold?
We’re probably getting up around the 10,000 mark…

Out on the Street: The Hardest Yard

Joe the Trader chronicles his experiences with life after Wall Street.

Sports is full of clichés about scoring or winning, and fans and analysts are obsessed with the notion of being clutch. In baseball the relief pitcher who comes in the ninth inning to seal the victory is the closer. In football quarterbacks are measured by their ability to negotiate the last twenty yards and how well they can guide their team in the last two minutes of a game. In soccer the forward who can score the goals is called a finisher.

I have never been any of those.

In soccer I played midfield and when I played rugby I was the fullback, the last line of defense.

The 5 Questions You Should Ask an Interviewer

Trust me: it’s different now. In this economy, where unemployment is high and you have many more job seekers than jobs, you can’t afford to improvise on the interview. So yes, if you got called in to talk about a position, be psyched. But then knuckle down and do some prep work.

Find out as much as you can about the position you’re interviewing for, how the process will go, and who will be interviewing you. Research the people you’ll be talking to (use Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and real-life contacts) so you have common ground to discuss, and check out the company and the competition.

Wait, you’re not done yet. You still have to ace the interview. These five questions will pull you ahead of the pack:…

Life on the Edge—of the City

Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness…

–From “Here is New York” by E.B. White

Driving through the parkland north of New York City and heading up the Taconic Parkway sets our current economic troubles in geologic perspective. Boulders the size of houses and trees—maples and pines and elms, some of them a hundred years old— sit imperiously as traffic flows by. The to-ings and fro-ings of the drivers and the speed and mania of commutation ebb and flow with the rising and falling of dollars to be gotten in Gotham.

My friend Steve is one person who flowed and is now ebbed, thanks to the loss of his job this spring. Over the years, he had commuted in from parts of Westchester, making his way progressively north until he was grinding it out with a car ride to a train ride. The job allowed him to support a growing family and still have access to woods and alone time.

“I never thought once about moving into the City,” says Steve…

Screwed: 7,816 in Puerto Rico

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

The government of Puerto Rico plans mass layoffs beginning with the dismissal of 7,816 public workers… Canfor is shutting down three sawmills, resulting in 570 layoffs… Alliant Techsystems will shut down the recently acquired Michael Bianco Inc. factory by July 31, resulting in 350 layoffs… Miami Dade College is forced to cut 197 staff positions… ESPN lays off 100 employees in Connecticut… Chart Industries plans to lay off 100 employees as of July 8…

Lemonade Maker: Ken Gullette, Online Martial Arts Master

Ken Gullette, 56
Silvis, Illinois

In April 2008, after more than two decades in media and communications, Ken Gullette was laid off from his job at the University of South Florida. He decided to try turning his small side business—shooting and selling martial arts DVDs online—into a full-fledged company. Within several weeks, he had launched Internal Fighting Arts, a website that provides long-distance instruction in Chen Tai Chi, Hsing-I Chuan and Baguazhang to subscribers around the world.

You launched your business on the Fourth of July?
It was my metaphor for being independent of the man. The other day on IM one of my friends typed, “Oh shit, tomorrow’s Monday.” I thought, Yeah, tomorrow I get to work harder! When Friday comes I’m almost disappointed…