If you are looking for different options to advertise and to promote your business and want to narrow down on the best options for your particular needs, then this article will help you in finding out the different ways to advertise online and how feasible it is to your budget and business needs. Although the article focuses primarily on the internet listings, the traditional personal approach of postcards and mailers should not be written off completely, although we are seeing it as a dying trend – the web has indeed strengthened over the years and will be a highlight for all major advertising for small and mid size businesses this decade.

Local Listings

Getting listed n your local search pages is essential to your advertising strategies; most of the searches that happen on the internet are in search for business listings in close proximity to the customer (searcher). Here are a few ways you can use local listings to advertise your business:

Yellow Pages

According to Wikipedia: A particular Yellow Pages (YP) is a print directory which provides an alphabetical listing of businesses within a specific geographical area (e.g., Greater Chicago), which are segregated under headings for similar types of businesses (e.g., Plumbers). Traditionally these directories have been published by the local phone company, but due to the highly profitable nature of the business there are numerous independent directory publishers. Yellow Pages directories are usually published annually, and distributed for free to all residences and businesses within a given coverage area.

Are yellow pages economical for small business advertising? Although yellow pages advertising is appropriate for all businesses but it may prove expensive depending on the option you chose for the listing and the city where you advertise it. It all depends, you may pay less for a one line ad but the options are numerous, you can use bold, highlighted ad or half page or full page ad and thus increases the cost. It is a good idea to be on the yellow pages but one must poll the customers as to what percentage of your clientele comes through yellow pages. If is not as effective as you would want to be and not the right ROI then perhaps other options might be better for your business advertising.

Yellowpages.com has made the data input and instant access to the internet listings pretty easy and fast and some listings are free as well. So no harm in trying them once and finding out whether they are really worth investing more or time to move on to the ones listed below.

CitySlick.net

Another very interesting online resource for advertising. They feature free listing for one category; you can even add your URL address and add a coupon as well. Impressive, why not try them out?

Local.com

They offer a lucrative free package as well as other incentives for the paid options, check out the comparison here: http://corporate.local.com/advertisewithus/local_businesses_compare.asp

CitySearch.com

Some businesses are doing great with the citysearch listings and personally I feel the restaurants are doing great using citysearch listings, for the others of course, try it by all means, but yet again the price per month is on the higher side as compared to other local listing websites. You must analyze how effective it is to pay the monthly charges they demand and the amount of clicks you get through the ad.

Google Local Business Center

Yes, for sure something of this kind was expected from Google and they did not fall short on expectations. Google’s Local Business Center offers as many coupons as you want to create for your listing, provides a link to your Google analytics account and you can see the clicks and call to action from the advertising straight away. Good service for sure, customization and upgrade options available, worth a try, and since it is free it should be a must on your checklist of advertising.

Online Marketing

Online marketing is a big maze in itself and can be extremely time-consuming and may not prove to be as fruitful as you expect them to be if you do not know which method works out the best for your particular business.

Businesses which benefit tremendously from online marketing are:

• Website design or website template designing
• Online branding and web marketing services
• Real estate agents (offers at new houses on sale etc.)
• And pretty much any online business that you have be it in the beauty sector or garden supplies, the list goes on

Businesses which might not get as many customers from online marketing as compared to traditional forms of advertising (through personal mailers or yellow pages books) are:

• House Cleaning services
• Handyman plumber services
• Automobile services
• Haircutting Salons

Now what are the ways to use online marketing, here are some of the popular ones:

Email Marketing

Reaching out to your customers/clients through direct mail is one of the most effective ways of online marketing. You can either “buy” an email list or build on your own to ensure credibility and powerful personal reach to your current and prospective clients. This particular method is very effective for those businesses which sell products or services through the internet, those who sell services like paid webinars and e-books or online courses and also selling affiliate products. You may want to read a precious article titled The Good and Bad of Email Marketing to get a better understanding on Email marketing.

Google AdWords

Thinking of advertising or marketing your business on search engines? Then this method could be one of the best ones to use. The first part of this century is pretty much influenced by Google and its omnipresent technology. According to the Google AdWords website:

With Google AdWords, you can create and run ads for your business, quickly and simply. Run your ads on Google and our advertising network — no matter what your budget, you’ll only pay when people click your ads.

AdWords ads are displayed along with search results when someone searches Google using one of your keywords. Ads appear under ‘Sponsored links’ in the side column of a search page, and may also appear in additional positions above the free search results. That way, you’ll be advertising to an audience that’s already interested in your business.

Look up the website for more details and pricing information.

• Also there is more to search engine marketing than just AdWords, do look up this document from SCORE/OPEN for some in-depth analysis: Marketing Your Business on Search Engines

Social Media

Of course, you will say! The amazing “discovery” of social media in our lives has been as recent as around two years, we are in the beginning stages of this social-media-cloud-burst but already the waves are reaching far and wide. You can leverage the social media in different ways to promote your products, increase credibility or just stay visible in the fierce competition that you see around.

• Here is a good article to get started with if you want to leverage social media marketing using Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz etc. to advertise your business: 5 Steps to Leverage Social Media for Businesses
• SCORE along with Sony have a simple concise article titled Demystifying Social Media: Using Its Power to Connect with Customers which might introduce you to the various ways social media is helping out in advertising. Most certainly the maze is still there, you have to figure out what best works for you and how much time you want to invest in such advertising – since most of them are pretty time consuming if you can delegate such tasks to your partners or friends/family it could be an added asset to your overall marketing plan.

How are you advertising and what has been most effective for you? Do spare a few minutes to comment and share!

What marketing strategies do you use to promote your business? If you have not tried email marketing as an option, then this article is definitely for you – to help you understand what E-marketing is about and also to get a list of resources to get going on it.

The Good

One of the major pros of email marketing is that is cheap and effective (cheaper than direct mailing and effective in reducing the time to reach out to thousands in a matter of minutes). There are various email marketing tools and services which you can setup within a matter of hours and get going on your marketing plan – of course the list has to be your effort (or someone else’s if you are willing to pay for it).

The best part about email marketing is that you can reach out to your potential clients anywhere anytime. Your next customer could be the one at Singapore airport who had some time at hand before boarding the next flight, checked his email, saw your recent offer and happily clicked on the secure buy webpage to get your latest offer. Or it would be that person in Bergen, Norway who loved your latest template that you have recently promoted through your newsletter and is downloading it right now and it could be the middle of the night for you. Web marketing is effective in reaching out to thousands and millions in a matter of minutes and has a global coverage for a little cost involved.

Through the email newsletters you can promote your business by:

• Sending out discounts and coupons for your products or services
• Keeping your present customers informed about the latest releases of your products or information on upcoming ones
• Sending out surveys that help improve your products or services or to gauge customer interest in new areas
• And of course you can earn more income by promoting other’s businesses and products – known as affiliate marketing

The Bad

A major drawback of email marketing and especially if you are buying email lists to advertise your business is you could find yourself in the spammers list. And there goes a lot of credibility. Always give the users a chance to opt out of your email newsletters and listings, without a catch – always.

Another drawback of email marketing could be that you are not reaching out to the customers as effectively, either they are deleting your newsletters or not finding them informative enough or you have bombarded them with too much information too often and they are not interested anymore. However this “bad” factor is up to your marketing skills entirely. Always survey what the customers want and limit your emails to certain times of a week only.

Also when promoting affiliate products just don’t go overboard with promoting whatever comes your way or whoever pays you more, if there are people on your list they are there because they trust you, never betray their trust. The more honest you are with your customers the more money they will bring to you.

Strong ethics and credibility are essential to a sustainable business.

Where to get it?

If you are good at HTML programming and content management (and of course you have the time to create content, manage lists and post on regular intervals), then email marketing could be one of the cheapest advertising and marketing tool. If not then there are some pretty good options available at present which offer great value and support throughout the setup and after, you may want to check a few of these and decide which option works out the best for you. Here is a list of the bigwigs of email marketing:

Topica

Website: http://www.topica.com/
Free: Yes, 14 days
Cost: 0-5,000 Monthly cost $49.95 ((more pricing info on website also the pricing may be updated on the website, the one quoted here is not the final price) Trial

iContact

Website:  http://www.icontact.com/ 
Free Trial: Yes, 15 days
Cost: up to 250 – $9.95, up to 5000 – $47.00 (more pricing info on website also the pricing may be updated on the website, the one quoted here is not the final price)

Constant Contact

Website: http://www.constantcontact.com/ 
Free Trial: Yes, 60 days
Cost:  0-500 – $15.00, 2,501-5000 - $50.00 (more pricing info on website also the pricing may be updated on the website, the one quoted here is not the final price, also always check of there is a  contract or extra initial fees)

Vertical Response

Website:  http://www.verticalresponse.com/ 
Free Trial: Yes, 30 days
Cost: 0-500 – $10.00, 2001-4000 – $46.00 (more pricing info on website also the pricing may be updated on the website, the one quoted here is not the final price, also note there might be some contract or extra initial fees)

AWeber

Website: http://www.aweber.com/ 
Free Trial: First month for $1.00
Cost: 0-500 – $19.00, 2,501-5,000 – $49.00 (more pricing info on website also the pricing may be updated on the website, the one quoted here is not the final price, also note there might be some contract or extra initial fees)

MyEmma

Website: http://myemma.com/ 
Free Trial: hmm, did not see at this time, but there could be …
Cost:  http://myemma.com/pricing.php check the website for details

GroupMail

Website: http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/default.asp 
Cost: They have custom plans for different user groups, see http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/purchase.asp

The options do not end here, if you can manage the emails listing and content management yourself you can do all entirely for free or a bare minimum cost, check out these software and see if you can play around with them to come up with a personalized email newsletter for your client base:

PHPLIST

Website: http://www.phplist.com/

phplist is an open-source newsletter manager. phplist is free to download, install and use, and is easy to integrate with any website.

MailChimp

Website: http://www.mailchimp.com/

Free for up to 500 subscribers, you can send up to 3,000 emails per month.

Has email marketing been effective for you? Do share your thoughts and comments.

Freedom from fear – fear liberates you to endless possibilities.

This post is about how I have overcome the “fear” of moving my blogger hosted blog to my own domain; but first I want to take time to sincerely thank you – the readers for your continued support and participation on this blog. THANK YOU READERS and visitors I deeply appreciate you taking time to read, comment and reach out to me in the last four years of Satisfying Career- Happier Life blog. I seek your support through this transition and I hope you will reach out to me and provide your valuable feedback and comments on all future posts of the blog.

This is the new residence of Careerbright.blogspot.com Welcome to the Careerbright blog - a place to find helpful career articles, advice and career insight from professionals - a website which helps to Illuminate your Career!

Freedom from Fear
In my observation the stepping stones to overcoming fear are knowledge and risk; we have to work hard to attain both these essential tools to help vanquish fear.

Why knowledge? Of all the fears that we fear most is the one of the unknown – the “ifs” and “buts” which in reality may not even exist. Knowledge is the key weapon to use to obliterate fear. It is the preparation step – preparation to beat fear. Gain the knowledge to understand the reasons of your doubts or trepidation and you will discover that most of them are unfounded or not so formidable anymore.

Why risk? Knowledge is power – but without action it is of little worth. Unless and until you commit to taking a risk you would not be able to conquer fear. Risk is the action step. Act to overcome fear. You cannot expect things to change or be different if you continue to do what you do – you have to take the risk to evaluate if the change can be for the better and does it accelerate you towards your goals.

All this in my context was just to get over the fear of moving my blog to my own hosted domain (instead of blogger). My fears were – my readers might not like or accept the change, my blog traffic would suffer, readers are used to the look and feel of the blog, and my own “unknown” fear – what if it does not go as I want it to.

For more than a year I have delayed the process of moving my blog to my domain http://careerbright.com/ and the main reason was of course, fear. As I say above, the two step process to snub fear were gaining knowledge to understand that most of my fears are not true – there are ways to keep the traffic and redirect from the blogger blog (Thanks to all those wonderful guidelines on the internet, I followed mostly Amit of Digital Inspiration) and the strength to take the risk to see what the new change brings in.

And then there is this last very important step which ensures sustainability to any project or idea – faith. The faith that I have in myself and the readers – to you who have been the reason of the continuity of this blog. Without the readers there would be not much reason to be excited to put up that latest employment news and to inspire if no one is listening. I thank you all again for your continued support and I hope I will prove to be a valuable resource to all your career needs and issues.

Please note:

• You do not have to renew your subscriptions.
• You do not have to change any URL settings you have saved, there will be a auto redirect from the Blogspot web address to the new one.
• The posts have been categorized at the Careerbright blog, you can have a look at the categories here.

I seek your approval, support and comments on the new look and feel of the blog, which articles will benefit you the most and please contribute to the CAREERBRIGHT blog as you wish – I welcome guest articles and also feedback on published posts and ideas for new ones.
I look forward to hearing from you.

To your satisfying career and happier life – my best wishes always!
Cheers,
Shweta @ Careerbright

If you are bored at work and have done nothing about it, perhaps this article will get you up and working on how to get out of it right now – You really can be bored to death, researchers say.
According to the report:

“Those who reported they had been very bored were two and a half times more likely to die of a heart problem than those who hadn’t reported being bored,” AP reports and cites comments from cardiologist Christopher Cannon that chronically bored people may not be motivated to take care of their health or may suffer from depression, which is linked to heart disease. Cannon also told AP it was possible that when people are bored, dangerous hormones are released in the body that stress the heart.

If you are bored at work and wondering what to do about it and are not one of those who are exhilarated for not doing anything and still getting paid – like Dilbert and Wally here in the Dilbert comic picture; then this article is for you.
If you do not enjoy your current work and the thought of getting up everyday and getting ready to get to a place that bores you thoroughly makes you writhe and squirm, then follow these 5 steps that will help you deal with your current boring work and help you find a better solution to get out of it as well!

1. First- Analysis – is the work boring you or the routine
Often you will come across people who say have had a great performance record at their present job but slowly and surely they find it dwindling to the extent of getting bad reviews, disinterest in any work and not keeping the deadlines. Is it the job that they once were completely excited about a dead end for them or is it the routine that has bored them? What about you? Have you taken time to analyze why once a “to-die-for” position has suddenly lost its luster entirely?
As time goes by our priorities change and so does our interests, when the work seems dull and boring it is time to analyze the reason WHY first.
Ask questions like:

• What is most boring about my job today?
• Why did I not complain before?
• If I were to be excited about getting up every day and going to work, what would I enjoy doing the most?
• Does that translate into any positions that I am aware of in the present company?
• What has changed in the recent past that adds up to the situation?

2. What’s the Problem? Boss, Team, Relationships
During your analysis stage you will find one or many reasons on why you are bored with something you loved before. It is time to answer the main question now? What is the Problem? If your supervisor if not the reason of your disliking the current work then go ahead and talk to your boss about any other projects he can recommend that interest you more. At times you are not so lucky to have a compassionate and understanding boss. Well sure enough it could be the reason why you despise work now because the human connection which perhaps you had before is not there. Your team members have moved on, the company downsized and the group is much smaller, there is a new boss with whom you do not connect. The reason could be any or all of these. Work is boring because you do not enjoy as much as you did before with the new team or leadership, they fail to motivate you. If most of the above fall in your list of reasons then it is perhaps time to explore other positions within your company.

3. Another position within your company
Give it a chance at least. Especially in the times of recession and low hiring, you stand a better chance of retaining a healthy cash flow through a steady income by not quitting your job. You can start on the informational interview with friends and colleagues who are in other groups to know more about what they do? It is the first step towards finding something that might be a better fit for your skills and personality.

4. Take a Break
A monotonous life is not for many. Perhaps it is time for seek adventure and perhaps a time to take a break. Why don’t you give it a try? When you break off from routine and let the mind rest, better thoughts may prevail, think Archimedes. But this step calls for more than just time off in your bathtub. You might consider a sabbatical to first relax and then explore on exciting possibilities to further your career or you might seek assistance of a job counselor or a career expert who can guide you through a career “rediscovery” process and you might be enlightened with some support and guidance. So irrespective of whether you have a cooperative boss, an internal opening g might be a possibility or you are planning on quitting your job, give taking-a-break a chance. I would especially recommend you to do so if you are considering quitting your job.

5. Quit your job
When nothing works then it is time to quit job and start looking for something more satisfying and that utilizes your potential and skills. Where you do not exist as a mechanical head on typing fingers. Of course follow the course of practical thinking and keep your focus on what you want not what you don’t want.
You have one life; don’t spend most of it being bored.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE/ARE BORED AT WORK?

Related Posts:

Top Reasons for Poor Performance at Work
When you do what you’d rather not do
Feeling Stuck – Are you in a Job you would rather not be in?
10 Reasons why you are not in your Dream Job
5 Career Questions that you must ask yourself this New Year
What is most Satisfying about your Job?

A major trend from the current recession has been a continued wave of layoffs and outsourcing and as we all have seen in the past two years, more and more companies around the world are focusing on cutting on spending that mainly results in a reduction in workforce.
As soon as there is a revenue drop or even a prediction we see major layoffs being announced. This has been a trend in the last many months and continues this year as well. Here is a short compilation of how companies have fared and used strategic tactics to keep afloat and grow during recession.

Expatica.com says:

Companies making tough choices to stimulate growth during recession

Firms focused on rapid growth are blending defensive tactics like staff cuts with offensive measures in their efforts to pass their competitors, according to a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit.In an economic downturn as steep as the current recession, companies tend to hunker down, cut costs and seek efficiencies. But firms focused on rapid growth are blending these defensive tactics with offensive measures in their efforts to pass their competitors.
This is the main finding of a new research report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Management magnified: Strategies for revenue growth in an economic downturn, sponsored by SAS. The research is part of a three-pronged analysis of management strategies that includes an examination of decision making in a recession and an assessment of executives’ perceptions of the link between sustainability and growth.
Companies will continue to face challenges in the near term. The EIU forecasts a slow recovery for the global economy through 2013, although performance will vary by region and industry. The economies of North America and Western Europe will slowly expand, not topping 2 percent GDP growth until 2013. Latin America and the transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe will pick up in 2011, and the Middle East and North Africa will experience a somewhat stronger rebound, starting in 2010. Emerging Asia will be the fastest growing region in 2010 – 13, led by India and China.

Read on ….

Some snippets from the last year:

Computerworld reports:
HP revenue drops in tough climate

Computer industry bellwether Hewlett-Packard Co. reported a 3% drop in revenue as its major lines of business continued to be hammered by the global recession.
The company also became the latest technology vendor to resort to layoffs in order to cut costs. Over the next 12 months, HP will lay off about 2% of its work force, or about 6,000 employees, HP Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said during a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday. HP employs 321,000 worldwide.

Another major impact comes from outsourcing jobs to lower spending.
Another report from Computerworld says:

IBM, which is cutting thousands of employees in a move that it has refrained from describing as a layoff, is offering affected workers what it calls Project Match. The employees who can take advantage of the offer include those who have been “notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada” and “are willing to work on local terms and conditions,” the company said.
U.S. workers have long taken jobs in other countries to get promotions or for the experience of living overseas, but corporate expats are typically paid on a U.S. wage scale. IBM said that as part of Project Match, it is offering workers financial aid to offset moving costs, assistance with visas “and other support to help ease the transition of an international move.” But their wages may be similar to the pay of employees in the countries to which they’re moving.

Read on…..

Changes in policies and long-term plans might be in place for many organizations but what they must understand that even during the tough times the most important asset of any company is its people. They must ensure that employees do not live under the fear of layoffs or termination. It is extremely difficult to thrive and be productive if you fear a sword hanging over your head. This year the focus must shift towards retaining their talent, recognizing hard working / valuable employees and appropriate changes in marketing strategies to ensure a decent ROI.

Related Posts:

• Employment and Workforce News
• 5 Steps toward Overcoming Challenges of a Career Change
• Creating New Jobs – News from the White House

I get free food at work, the cafeteria offers a range of entrées and the dessert are irresistible; but help…my job is making me fat!
Here are some tips and ideas from the web pages that talk about how to lookout for healthy habits at your workplace and how not to let your job make you fat.

From WebMD
Easy, Healthy Workplace Snacks -12 portable goodies that will keep you away from the vending machine
By Elaine Magee

First, take a lesson from employers who are actively promoting good health habits in the workplace.
Logan Aluminum in Russellville, Ky., has an 11-year-old wellness program most workers can only dream about. The company has about 1,000 employees, mostly male. Each year the company sets company-wide goals and encourages work teams and individuals to set goals.
Last year’s employee goals included reducing body mass index (BMI), exercising at least three times a week, reducing tobacco use, increasing use of seat belts, and lowering health-care costs.
“Kentucky ranks fourth among states in the incidence of obesity,” says Logan’s wellness director, Teresa Lovely. “Around here, people raise tobacco and eat fried food.”
Last year, Logan saw a 4% increase in the number of workers whose BMI is in the acceptable range and an 8% increase in exercise. Of the 900 employees who set wellness goals, 800 met them and received $50 gift cards.
“That’s very high participation,” says Lovely. “The first year we had individual goals was 1997, and we awarded incentives to just 10 people.”
The wellness program includes classes, a fitness center, and a policy of offering healthy alternatives whenever the company provides food. For example, in addition to hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and soda at the company picnic, there are grilled chicken breasts, baked chips, bottled water, and fresh fruit. “We’ve made these changes, and people accept them,” says Lovely.
Read on…
From DocShop.com
Is Your Job Making You Fat? Fight Back with Work Workouts
By Amy Teeple
Taking the Fight against the Office Weight Gain to the Next Level
If you are already using the above recommendations, there are things you can do to take your work workout to the next level. Just realize that you may elicit some curious stares from your coworkers.Additional steps you can take to add physical activity to your workday include:
Use Under-the-desk Exercise Machines – These small machines fit under your desk and can allow you to burn extra calories through a pedaling or stepping motion.
Replace Your Chair with a Balance Ball – Forcing your body to balance strengthens your core muscles and helps burn more calories.
Create a Desk Workout - The typical desk workout can take about five minutes. Popular components of desk workouts include:

• Wall push ups
• Jumping jacks
• Chair squats
• Torso twist
• Water bottle curls

Start a Weight Loss Support Group – These groups can take the form of true support groups or they can follow the growing trend of Biggest Loser-type competitions among coworkers.
Read on..

What do you do keep off those extra pounds creeping on at your desk job?

Related Posts:
How to Move Away from Work During Weekends
Healthy Lunch for a Working Mother
My Stress My Addiction
Top 5 Reasons why you want to Work Part-Time

When work overpowers your life and it is work while you work and work while you play – that means no time off for Johnny; it is time to sit back and evaluate what is going wrong. Many employees around the world are prone to burning the candle at both ends and in the long run the results are hard hitting on their health, personal life and even career.
Is it just that the work at present is too much or is it that this is the norm – you are mostly in a fire fighting mode at work and the tasks at hand are taking control of you rather than being the other way around?
Until and unless the reasons are taken care there is a high probability that you will land in this situation once again sometime in future. Taking control of our habits is the first step toward getting us out of the “fire-fighting” eventualities.

Learn to say NO

When it becomes so overwhelming it is time to step back and evaluate the reasons on why you are this stage in the first place? Do you have more on your plate than you can digest? Are you in the habit of pleasing your boss and saying “yes” more often to the appointed tasks? Don’t think that doing more means you could be the good books of management and your co-workers; stress and work overload affects productivity and quality of work. What matters eventually is the quality not quantity. Your first step now is to learn to say NO to what you cannot accomplish in a given time frame or just is too much for you to handle.

Delegate Delegate Delegate

The second step is to learn to delegate – since you are completely overwhelmed and stressed out chances are you are not in the right mental stage to get all the work done in the time it is due and maybe the quality of your work might suffer. At this point it is time to delegate those tasks which others can do for you.

Break it Down

Once you are done with the evaluation stage the major task of course is to get the task done anyways. First break it down – what can be done and what cannot be done. And of course first list out what MUST be done. Once you break down the task and itemize them in your priority list the picture gets clearer. It is always a good idea to write your “sub tasks” down, anything in writing is more effective than

And yet again I want to stress the point that if you see this happening many times over then it is a habit – get out of it before it wrecks your career and personal life. Learn to say No and delegate tasks to your team right at the planning stage.

Related Posts:
Stress Management for Working Women
How to Move Away from Work During Weekends
My Stress My Addiction
How to Talk to your Boss about your Career Goals
Top Reasons for Poor Performance at Work
Work-Life Balance – as it means to others

I can gaze into your eyes for hours together, many a times I fail to blink. I do not mind that at all, I can strain as much and would happily take on glasses or contacts but cannot think of a day when I do not look at you.
I want to take you home from work, but my wife does not like you. I sometimes sneak in around bedtime to my home office and look at you through my PC, just another hour with you completes the day’s work – I mean worth.

Employment, workforce news and updates from the last month and projections for the future from various sources, and as usual you will see that the reports are not so very consistent.. we all hope that the recession is behind us and the predictions make us elated or sad and so does the DOW goes up and down… more people have lost jobs in the last 2-3 months than ever before in a given month then why are we rejoicing on the unemployment rate “falling” to 9.7 percent!
Well, the bottom line is not that how many people lost their jobs but how many more jobs were created.
Here are some major news from the US on employment and new jobs created:

From CNNMONEY.COM

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The government’s monthly job report on Friday showed that the disastrous labor situation plaguing the nation’s economy is moderating. But the report also underlines an unsettling reality: 8.4 million jobs have been vaporized since the recession began, and digging out won’t be easy.
The unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in January to 9.7%. And businesses shed 20,000 jobs for the month, far fewer than the 150,000 jobs that were lost in December.
But, at the same time, the Labor Department revised its previous estimates for the number of jobs that have been lost over the past 25 months. What they found wasn’t pretty.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost 1.4 million more jobs than previously believed. The adjustments also showed losses for 2009 alone came to 4.8 million jobs, greater than 600,000 more than previously estimated.

 
From the WALL STREET JOURNAL

Productivity, Jobless Claims Rise
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, indicating the labor market remains sluggish even as the economic recovery gains steam.
Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 8,000 to 480,000 in the week ended Jan. 30, the department said in its weekly report. The previous week’s level was revised upward to 472,000 from 470,000.

From the WHITE HOUSE

Back to Basics: Creating New Jobs with the National Export Initiative
The NEI is going to impact a whole array of issues that affect our ability to export, but we’re fundamentally focused on three things:

• Expand the US government’s export promotion efforts in all its forms. Many American companies don’t export, or export less than they should, because they simply don’t have the resources to identify promising new markets or the necessary contacts in foreign countries. The National Export Initiative will funnel $132 million to the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), and the US Department of Agriculture to educate U.S. farmers and businesses about opportunities overseas and directly connect them with new customers.
• Improve access to credit, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses that want to export.
• Increase the government’s focus on knocking down barriers that prevent U.S. companies from getting open and fair access to foreign markets.

From FORBES.COM

Economic Recovery Not Translating To Jobs
Surprise jump in weekly unemployment claims has investors on edge heading into Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report.
The Labor Department reported a surprise increase in first-time unemployment claims Thursday, a worrisome signal ahead of Friday’s much-anticipated January jobs report.Related Posts:
Latest News on Employment from the US
Will our Jobs be more Stressful in 2010?
Creating New Jobs – News from the White House

A list of articles on the Careerbright Blog on interview tips and advice – prepare, present and follow-up, and there is more on how to make your next interview a success story.
Interview Etiquettes, the Preparation and Presentation Before and During the Interview
Your Non-Verbal ImpressionsYou are assessed much before you even speak the first word. A substantial amount of your impression is put forward through your body language and other non-verbal skills. If you have prepared or done a role-play earlier it might make you more confident and get your non-verbal skills up to the mark.
Read on….

Dealing with Rejection after an Interview
It is true that you have spent many months, weeks and hours over preparation and managing the interview process and you feel dejected and withdrawn when not getting a favorable response but time spent mourning is the previous time spent wasted. Use this time instead on research and analysis on what went wrong and how to deal with the rejection in the positive light.
Read on…

Dressing up for an Interview
Tips for dressing up an interview are all over the place and even though you may have been to many interviews it’s very often the case that you stand in front of your wardrobe and think, “I have nothing to wear for this interview.” Or, “Would this be appropriate?”
Read on…

5 Tips to help you beat the Fear of Interviews
It is not uncommon to experience fear or anxiety before an interview, but since the interview process is your gateway to the job, you must make efforts towards addressing this issue honestly. Here are some tips that might help you in overcoming the anxiety.
Read on…

On Negotiating Going Part-Time from Full-Time
Many working women think about going part-time due to work-life balance issues, dependent care responsibilities or due to personal problems or preferences. Part-time works or flexible working hours gives many a working mothers a considerable choice to not opt-out of the workforce after having a baby.
Read on…

Sustaining a Long Interview
With some of the interviews running over multiple hours and sessions sustenance is a major issue as well. How can you be enthusiastic, attentive and energetic after 3 hours of one-on-one interviewing and 2 hours of group interviewing and more to come?The mind and body work together in tandem, if one is overworked and exhausted it affects the other.
Read on…

Interview or a Meeting – The First Impression
“The first impression is the last impression”, may or may not be true, but first impressions last. The first impression may be just your appearance that day, a simple handshake, a smiling entry or the first few words of greetings you deliver. These trivial gestures make an instant impact and even to an extent leading to a decision about your personality and your attitude. Within the first three seconds of a new encounter, you are evaluated… even if it is just a glance.
Read on…

How to Handle Work-Life Balance Questions during an Interview
If you have some priorities in life regarding flexible working or part-time work, it is good to inform of your expectations during an interview, because if you are unable to convey to the recruiters/hiring managers to what you truly want, a few months or year down the new job, you might not be satisfied with the working conditions and not able to handle the stress at work and managing family. Job hopping can be stressful and also may not be possible at all in case of a bad economy.
Read on…

Interview Question – What are your long term career goals?
How honest can you be with the answer when you are confronted with this question either in an interview or during the annual performance review? Or, how would you answer this question at an interview at a company where you see yourself working for a short time only?
Read on…

5 Tips to help you beat the Fear of Interviews
“Thinking of the interview or the forthcoming presentations makes my hands and legs tremble, I feel nervous and cannot breathe easily.” It is not uncommon to experience fear or anxiety before an interview, but since the interview process is your gateway to the job, you must make efforts towards addressing this issue honestly. Here are some tips that might help you in overcoming the anxiety.
Read on…