Hopelessness hit 9.4% in May. Oh wait, we meant joblessness. Actually, with jobless claims about half the average loss of the past six months, could hope poised for a comeback? [NYT] (Photo: joshuahoffmanphoto)
jobs
Intern For Consumers Union In Austin
By 6.2.09
No, you’re not seeing double! In addition to the Intern positions we posted last month, Consumers Union — the publisher of The Consumerist and Consumer Reports — is looking to fill another position in its Austin, TX, office. This is a part-time, year-long web-development internship. Responsibilities will include uploading content, and working on database upgrades. Applicants should live in the Austin area. Apply here. (Photo: treasuresthouhast)
Tax-Saving Moves For 14 Big Life Events
By 6.2.09
Life is full of surprises and challenges. Luckily, there’s a tax form for just about all of them. Via Kiplinger’s, here’s 14 major life events that allow for smart tax-saving moves, and how to make those moves.
Consumer Confidence Is Up. Wait, Compared To What?
By 5.26.09
Do you feel more confident? According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence is up to its highest level in eight months, and made its biggest increase in six years.
Intern for Consumers Union in Austin
By 5.22.09
Apply now for a great internship with Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumerist and Consumer Reports. This is a part-time, year-long internship with the Share Your Story team, based in CU’s Austin, TX, office. Responsibilities will include reading through stories submitted by consumers, writing case studies for CU sites, and helping to identify ways to solve consumer problems. Applicants should live in the Austin area. Apply here.
Jobless Guy Buys Facebook Ads To Land Microsoft Gig
By 5.21.09
Eric just graduated from an MBA program Monday and landed smackdab in the middle of our job-shriveling recession. So what did he do? To try to land a job at Microsoft, he bought Facebook ads that specifically targeted employees at the companies he wants to work for. It cost him less than $50, and he got over 20 Microsoft employees to contact him offering their help. Here’s how he did it:
If You Do What You Love, Will The Money Follow?
By 5.6.09
“Never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood.” “Your age is the percent of your portfolio you should have invested in bonds.” “You can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings every year.” Many of these sort of short, quick personal finance rules-of-thumb have become so generally accepted that most people don’t even question their validity. In many cases, the guidance these sayings offer are quite good. Yet some of them have morphed from solid money advice to almost zen-like statements that are just as likely to be untrue as true. For example, here’s one that sparks a lot of debate:
Two Guys In A Garage Invent Bacon Salt, Quit Their Day Jobs
By 4.23.09
They say recessions are good times for innovation and a time to start your own business, and Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow are proving both true with their invention, Bacon Salt. Building from the simple idea that “everything should taste like bacon,” these two entrepreneurs quit their successful tech jobs and started their alchemical project out of their garage. By showing up at sporting events dressed as bacon and using Facebook and Twitter, they racked up 800 orders in the first week and sold out of Bacon Salt in 6 days. An inspiration for anyone with the entrepreneurial desire sizzling inside them.
8.5% Unemployment? More Like 15.6%
By 4.15.09
Officially, the unemployment rate is 8.5%, but that’s just part of the picture. It doesn’t count those who have given up looking for work, or those who are working part-time when they’d rather be working full-time. The real unemployment rate may be closer to 15.6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yikes.
Job Seekers Crowd Jamba Juice. Customers? Not So Much.
By 4.9.09
I saw this crowd outside the Jamba Juice on 3rd Ave and 61st today. They’re hiring. The job applicants stretched around the corner and down the block. At peak lunch time, there were only three customer inside. That’s pretty much the economy in a nutshell smoothie right there.
5 Tips For Getting Unstuck From A Miserable Job
By 4.9.09
There are two common feelings that many of us have regarding our work lives: happiness that it’s Friday (TGIF!) and dread that it’s Monday. In other words, we’re less than thrilled with the satisfaction we get from our jobs. Trent at The Simple Dollar brings up this age-old issue and suggests five steps for making the move to a career/job you might actually enjoy (though you’ll likely earn less doing it) as follows:
By 4.6.09
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Sallie Mae is going to “reverse outsource” and move 2,000 jobs from overseas back to the US in order to get people, (the president?) to like them again. Will it work? HAHAHHAHAHA. Oh, sorry. That was unprofessional. [Reuters]
People Haven't Returned Hyundais b/c They Weren't Yet Eligible
By 4.1.09
Rather than some secret barometer of the economy’s resilience, the real reason why no one has returned a car yet under the Hyundai Assurance Program is that you have to make at least two payments before you can return a car. Also, you must first miss three payments, so the earliest you would start to see returns is Mayish. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense than the armchair social economics crap I was coming up with. (Thanks to readers kman and Dennis!) (Photo: popofatticus)
Meet Your New Freelance Assistant Editor, Laura Northrup!
By 3.23.09
We have a new tipline czarina, Laura Northrup. She’ll be digging through your emails to tips@consumerist.com, thanking you for sending in tips, and pushing good stories to the editors. In due course, she’ll start contributing posts, too. We snagged Laura from the Albany Times Union, where she assisted consumer reporter Dan Higgins with his columns and posted on their consumer advocacy blog, The Advocate. A reformed professional librarian, she also owns several hamsters and has been known to engage in cheeky cross-stitching. Please join me in giving her a big Consumerist welcome!
Craigslist: Fall Guy For Your Hedge Fund (Financial District)
By 3.11.09
Is your hedge fund in dire financial straits? Are you totally screwed and now realizing that someone has to take the fall? Has your ponzi scheme enveloped numerous celebrity-endorsed charities benefiting Laotian children with AIDS and been discovered by the SEC?
By 3.9.09
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We suppose this was inevitable. [Stuff Unemployed People Like]
