Surfing (F)un-employment

I've been wanting to tackle this topic for quite a while, but with much apprehension. One of the hallmark of bad bosses is you don't want to speak ill of the defunct, lest it affect your career. Nobody wants to be the whiner. And especially in this economy, unless you're in horrific conditions and subject to daily abuse you want to keep your job until you can flip to something better. Tons of horrible boss lists exist , imploring supervisors to dial back that narcissism just a bit, please. Other articles warn jobseekers about managerial red flags . But sometimes you just have a bad boss and you didn't recognize it at first because you were so desperate for the job. Or maybe you are the boss and don't realize how callous you are to your employees. Are you a bad boss? Do you: Require inhumane amounts of unpaid overtime Treat interns like slave labor to prop up your (dying) business Scream at/around underlings; making them your personal psychiatrists Belitt...

One of the challenges of job searching is becoming frustrated and exhausted. The idea of a conventional vacation seems out of reach because of lack of funds, necessity for being on hand for calls and interviews, and the odd twinge of workaholic guilt. Loose thy chains, people! I'm a fan of Chris Guillebeau , author of "The Art of Non-Conformity." Beside his trenchant commentary on living one's life without needing to submit to the normal 9-5 grind, I've enjoyed his section on t ravel hacking . Back to loosing thy chains. You can take a vacation for very little money. Sometimes you need a break from your circumstances and job hunting. Here are some ideas to get you on your way to feeling refreshed: 1. Become a tourist in your own town. Some museums offer free days - take advantage of these! 2. I love  Airbnb . I recently went on a week's vacation and stayed in a nice apartment for about $18 a night. It was cheaper and much more comfortable than a host...

One of my favorite parts about working for the county newspaper in college was getting to interview many different kinds of people. Whether it was making a rural borough council member sweat with rapid-fire questions about millage rates, or profiling an Iraq War vet documenting his experiences, each interview spawned more stories than from the interviewee alone. So it is with job interviews: I've come to value interviewers who step out of the "where do you see yourself in five years" line of questioning. The better candidate also needs to offer more than just generic questions. For me, it helps to think like a journalist. What questions would help draw out a good story? Of course, we can't have all good interviewers and interviewees, but that's why these comics from The Oatmeal exist. They're old posts, but classic. My favorite bad interviewee is the mute, only because I like nachos. What's the best question you've asked/have been asked in an i...

I've enjoyed reading Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 . The authors divide their massive job-hunting treasure map/survival guide/pep rally into four parts. Each section is packed with advice, cajoling and "Guerrilla Intelligence" sub-sections that detail self-marketing strategies. Levinson and Perry's contention is that the job market is so competitive that ordinary job-hunting strategies are defunct. Therefore, guerrilla tactics -- effective marketing principles and tech savvy -- are de rigeur . The book, published in 2009, reflects the U.S. economic climate and pessimism of the time.  Unfortunately, at least for Part I,  the publishing date also showcases some passe technologies and applications. For example, Alta Vista is listed as a top news search engine. This may be still be true, but they didn't even appear in this article . (To be fair, the article counts both news search engines and individual news outlets as "news sites.") Personally, ...