To rally those who have lost their jobs or are facing possible job loss in the current devastated economic climate, Quintessential Careers has created Job Action Day. Job Action Day, which is today, aims to empower workers and job-seekers to take proactive steps to shore up their job and career outlook.  As a blogger in this space, ...

According to the Associated Press, U.S. workers can expect skimpy raises in their base salaries next year, but top performers may still fatten their paychecks with merit compensation.   A study just released by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm, found base pay will rise by 3.8 percent in 2009, marking the ...

My friend and 30/20 Vision radio show co-host Lindsey Pollak and I had the opportunity to contribute to Marci Alboher’s New York Times career coach roundtable on management consulting and investment banking as careers for soon-to-be college grads.  Here was the question, as well as highlights from our responses: “I will be graduating ...

I just received an e-mail from Pat Viro, a reader who has a job in an interesting new field known as “nurse consulting.” You’ve probably heard of the growing need for health professionals to care for a quickly expanding number of senior citizens.  This demographic shift has been well documented.  For example, according to ...

According to USA Today, this summer Utah will become what experts say is the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees.  Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide ...

Ben Casnocha brought back to life a very cool commencement speech given by David Mahoney at Rutgers University in 1996. Mahoney, then chairman of the Dana Foundation, a brain research organization, provided some compelling tips about why young people should adopt a ''Centenarian Strategy'' for life. The central premise is that if you're a young ...

The other night, I was watching a re-run of an episode of Wife Swap.  I’ve seen this show before, and more often than not one of the characters is a stay-at-home-mom who acts very self-righteous about the fact that it is her job to take care of her children, and that it’s not appropriate to allow anyone else to be involved.   I’ve ...

Given current events, I thought it would be appropriate for this dream job spotlight to focus on a political career.  Today, we’re talking with Chris, 29, a speechwriter who gets paid to put eloquent words in the mouths of our favorite candidates and is featured in my new book, How’d You Score That Gig?     Alex:  How do you ...

When I performed last year’s survey of the coolest jobs, I was a little surprised when no one voted for two of the most traditionally prestigious occupations – lawyer and doctor.  And sure enough, this week the New York Times reported that the desirability of the law and medical professions is at an all time low.    In the days ...

It’s interesting.  You always hear about supermoms trying to do it all, but what about superdads?  Here’s what Stephanie Armour at USA Today has to say about this issue: Todd Scott, 32, has two children under age 5.  Each workday, he leaves his job at Himmelrich Public Relations in Baltimore at 5 p.m. to be with his family, and ...