Temping isn’t just for job market newbies any more. With more than 5 million people out of work since the downturn began, an increasing number of savvy careerists have recognized the angles you can play with a temp gig. Show your best stuff and get brought on full time. Plug holes in your resume with carefully selected temping stints and be ready for the next full-time position when the economy revives.
Archive for April, 2009
Temp to Career Track
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009A Good Time to Reassess
Monday, April 20th, 2009The latest in a series of notices in the MSM about a potential upside to the down economy: More and more people seem to be stepping back and asking themselves if the rat race has run its course and whether if it isn’t time to do work that matters.
Dancing with the COBRA
Friday, April 17th, 2009If you’ve ever left a job before lining up the next gig, you have probably felt your way down the dark alleys of COBRA. If it feels like the system was set up to cheat you, that may be because it was. Here’s a map.
Whining on Gen Y
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009A lot of the complaining about Gen Y sounds an awful lot like the same crap you heard about the children of the sixties, or Gen X, or the Flappers, for that matter. Do you think that the adults who are piling on with the new members of the workforce realize that they have become the oldsters they once despised? Here’s a prime example. The other side of story is that maybe there is something to be learned from them. All together now: “I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now…”
The T Season
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009That tax refund? Go ahead and spend it in one place.
Economic Roundup
Monday, April 13th, 2009Let’s check in on the economic news: President Obama says he sees a glimmer of hope in the recent economic numbers. Well, he has to, doesn’t he? The people in Cape Fear aren’t seeing much hope, and it seems to be getting harder and harder to spend your unemployment check at the mall. If there’s good news, it seems to be that we’ve fallen so far, so fast.
Tales of Renewal
Friday, April 10th, 2009It only feels like it will never get better. Here’s more proof that it will, eventually.
Tech at Work
Thursday, April 9th, 2009The down-spiraling economy means more applicants for every job, and the flood of applicants means more work for the recruiter who has to separate the wheat from the chaff … unless she has invested in some first-rate software that can really help identify the ideal candidate.
Raspberries for the Boardroom
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009Remember Dennis Kozlowski? The guy who used all the Tyco money to throw his a birthday party that would have made Caesar blush? Too bad he wasn’t still here to kick around now that he and his ilk are squarely in the cross-hairs of an outraged public. But the Great Downturn may help bring executive pay back down to earth.
Children of the Jobless
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009I went through several jobless months last year after bailing on the failing newspaper industry, and the toughest part by far was thinking about what it meant to the kids. They didn’t really care that I didn’t have to go to work; they actually seem to be among the tiny minority who like having me around. But it was on me to keep saying “no’’ to the steady demands for sweets and trips and trinkets without letting them feel like we were in a tough spot, and to do it with good humor.