Job Advice for Recessions

I came across these links via Life Hacker, and I thought I would pass them around. The advice is fairly intuitive, but you might come across some new information.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2008/01/21/maybe-there-will-be-a-recession-heres-what-to-do-just-in-case/
http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/01/21/recession-proof-your-career/

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Comments

cacharo

Good stuff,

Thanks for the links Dynamik

JDMurray

I'd love to try the Internet-based side-job, but I have no idea what I'd do. Simply buying and selling stuff is so tedious and uncreative.

dtlokee

I know somone who makes a good living off buying stuff at the local good will store and selling it on eBay. I kinda feel it isn't in the spirit of what the good will stores are all about but that's what she does.

c0d3_w0lf

My mom makes about $40,000 a year selling books she finds at thrift stores and library sales. She's looking to get out of it though, because it's super competitive (she's actually had some guy rip books right out of her hands...he's lucky I wasn't there, I woulda punched him so hard he would be seein' out the back of his head >.<), and there's a ton of people doing it now...but it's something.

(also gotta worry about taxes...when you're self-employed like that, you really get nailed hard)

silentc1015

c0d3_w0lf wrote:

My mom makes about $40,000 a year selling books she finds at thrift stores and library sales. She's looking to get out of it though, because it's super competitive (she's actually had some guy rip books right out of her hands...he's lucky I wasn't there, I woulda punched him so hard he would be seein' out the back of his head >.<), and there's a ton of people doing it now...but it's something.

(also gotta worry about taxes...when you're self-employed like that, you really get nailed hard)

How does she know what will sell well and what a good bargain is? That must be very difficult!

dynamik

silentc1015 wrote:

How does she know what will sell well and what a good bargain is? That must be very difficult!

Book collecting is a big deal. One of my uncle's in into it. He has a massive collection and can give you an approximate estimate of the value of pretty much any book. It's just like you giving computer advice to a relative. It's probably something trivial for you because you're an expert, but they're going to think you're a tech legend.

Anyway, I came back to this thread because Lifehacker added another article today. Here it is for anyone who is interested: http://scobleizer.com/2008/01/23/what-to-do-if-youre-laid-off-in-2008-recession/

dps

Good read and timing too.

Yesterday our company laid off around 7 employees. Thank God I'm not included. It's really hard seeing your fellow employees go but that's how it is. Our building seems empty now and a lot of people have dreary looks.

/sigh

c0d3_w0lf

How does she know what will sell well and what a good bargain is? That must be very difficult!

She actually has a scanner program that links up with Amazon.com. She scans the barcode on the book, or puts in the ISBN number, and she'll get a result telling her how much it's selling for and how fast the item is selling. It's not always spot on, but it's a good indicator. Occasionally she'll grab other things she sees that look interesting, and sometimes it really pays off. She found a version of Risk that sold for $140.

bighusker

Uhm, Penelope Trunk is a complete ditz. She used to be a columnist on Yahoo! Finance and got kicked off because the comments on all of her articles were so overwhelmingly negative. Among some of her greatest hits:

1.) Do yoga in a toilet stall to relieve job stress
2.) Don't ask for time off, just send an e-mail and take a vacation
3.) If you're a woman, date your coworkers and "show some flesh"
4.) Call your coworkers on the weekend about work related matters
5.) Invite the CEO of your company to be a friend on facebook.

She's a former volleyball player that has never had a real job in a real office, and somehow she thinks she's an expert on the 9-to-5 lifestyle. You'd be better off doing the exact opposite of everything she suggests than even considering her advice.

HeroPsycho

You'd be better off doing the exact opposite of everything she suggests than even considering her advice.

So you're suggesting we...

1. Generalize - after you have three to five years of experience, you should generalize your skills more and become a jack of more trades? Right now in IT, specialization is key. Those who know VMWare and SAN's are doing very well and will continue to do so.

2. Don't do something great that you can put on your resume - Granted, this is a bit stupid in that you should ALWAYS be doing this, but it at least does help remind people who might not be doing this. Having remarkable real accomplishments on your resume won't help you find another job should you get laid off?!

3. Don't consider graduate school/further education - she's writing more about all industries in general, but this could easily be translated within IT to get any kind of college degree, certification, etc. We shouldn't do that? (Granted, you should always be doing this.)

4. Don't improve your quality of work and find a mentor - are you saying we should not seek out people from whom we can learn, and do mediocre work? Granted, you should always be trying to improve your quality of work and seek out people from which you can learn.

Did you bother even reading the article before slamming her?

I'm not a fan or hater of the author of the article, but regardless of who she is and what she's said in the past, this is all good advice. My only criticism is this advice shouldn't be followed just in a recession.

bighusker

I've read enough of her articles to realize that she isn't an author worth reading. The only times she ever brings up valid points are when:

1.) She plagarizes the ideas from someone else and doesn't cite them

or

2.) She posts common sense fluff, and if you don't know it already, you're screwed. This article is a perfect example.

I do find it humorous that you took my, "do the exact opposite of everything she says" hyperbole and took it to the literal extreme, however.

HeroPsycho