Show Me the Money

It's no secret that workers would love to know what their colleagues earn. Who's making more? Who's making less? How's her salary higher than mine when I've been here longer? Such questions boggle the minds of corporate workers. Others are more consumed by their market worth. Am I making enough money for the work I'm doing? What do workers in comparable positions at other companies earn? Thanks to PayScale, workers needn't spend hours gossiping around the watercooler to answer some of these questions. A simple visit to PayScale.com and some mysteries might be easily resolved.

Launched in 2000 by Joe Giordano amid the envious days of inflated salaries and options of the Internet bubble, "PayScale is used by tens of thousands of job seekers, employees, and hiring managers every day." PayScale is "highly interactive: The site collects real-time pay data directly from workers and spits out an analysis showing what an occupation is worth -- organized by a given city, industry, or company -- with the speed of an online stock quote. So far PayScale has collected the salaries of 5.5 million American workers." Are you one of them? [Business 2.0] [PayScale]

Read This Book: My Reality Check Bounced!

No, this isn't a book about Richard Hatch not claiming his earning off CBS's Survivor. Author Jason Ryan Dorsey's follow-up to his last work, Graduate to Your Perfect Job, provides advice for twentysomethings trying to jumpstart their careers. Peppered with real-life stories and motivating advice, Dorsey's latest book is a must read while on that hour-long train ride to work.

Quarterlife Crisis co-author Abby (Wilner) Miller says, "Dorsey offers irresistible inspiration for quarterlifers in crisis. His step-by-step strategies will get you moving in the right direction." My Reality Check Bounced! "reveals exactly how to break free of your real-world rut to find your authentic, meaningful path," says Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul. And, Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson says of Dorsey, "I've seen him help people our age make life-changing decisions for the better. He is a real inspiration for our generation."

Three ringing endorsements, plus another one from HATCH. So what are you waiting for? Go cash in on this book. [My Reality Check Bounced!]

Top Cities for Jobs

Think you need to live in New York, San Fran or LA to get on the ideal career path? Think again. Forbes' list of the "Best U.S. Cities For Jobs" has mighty NYC way down at No. 75. "Usually, 22-year-olds flock to cosmopolitan cities like New York and San Francisco, assuming that's where they'll find the most opportunities for work (and, let's be honest, a social life)," writes Hannah Clark. "But they might be heading in the wrong direction."

Forbes' scientific approach to creating the list included weighing five data points equally: job growth, income growth, unemployment rate, median household income and cost of living. Then they measured those stats in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas from 2003 to 2006. Enough with the scientific stuff. Who tops the list?

In order, the top 10 are: Raleigh-Cary, NC; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ; Jacksonville, FL; Orlando-Kissimmee, FL; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV; Salt Lake City, UT; Honolulu, HI; Las Vegas-Paradise, NV; Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL; and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC.

Also in the top 25 are Little Rock, Omaha Albuquerque, Oklahoma City and three more areas in Florida. Scenic Camden, New Jersey, comes in at No. 26.

So where are all the big cities? Chicago is No. 82. Boston is No. 83. San Francisco is No. 86. And LA is No. 88. Not surprisingly, Detroit is No. 100 out of 100. So, where do you live and work? [Forbes]

Jobster, Facebook Announce Partnership

Milk and cereal. Peanut butter and jelly. Jobster and Facebook? The two sites announced a partnership that would make Jobster the "exclusive job search partner" of Facebook. Plans are in the works to "launch a career center" on social-networking site Facebook this spring.

College students hoping to make it in the real world can only hope that Jobster provides some elaborate advice on creating a social-networking profile that's jobseeker friendly. Too many seemingly bright college students, grads and twentysomethings are losing out on internships and entry-level jobs on account of their profiles' risqué information available to the public. But then again, thanks to this foolish behavior, Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites conveniently narrow down job candidate pools for employers bombarded with countless resumes. An Ivy Leaguer with an MBA and photos of he and his friends doing kegstands on his Facebook page will have to get in line behind the squeaky clean community college grad. Survival of the fittest, brightest or the ones who choose not to share their social lives or tanlines online? [CNET News] [Facebook] [Jobster]

50 Jobs That Are Better Than Yours

Perhaps you've already created a list of 50 jobs that are better than your current one. Perhaps you've come up with a much longer list than that. Or, perhaps you're one of the lucky ones with a sweet job that made its way onto this list.

CareerBuilder's list doesn't necessarily go by the allure of the job title or the coolness of the work being performed. This list is comprised of "high-wage, high-growth occupations as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2006-2007 Occupational Outlook Handbook … The top 50 jobs that are both growing faster than the average for total employment and have annual earnings above median of $28,770." Happy jobspotting. [CareerBuilder's Top 50 Jobs in America]

Covert Tactics Needed on the Job Hunt

How can you find a new job without jeopardizing your current job? Even if you loathe your boss, hate your commute or can't pay the bills on account of your current salary, you still gotta love that you've got steady work. It beats unemployment checks. Sometimes. But you're ready to get out there on the job hunt. Trick is, you've gotta be sly like a ninja so your current employer doesn't find out you're planning to kick some ass on an interview elsewhere. It's a covert mission. Time to employ stealth tactics. To think like a spy. To be one step ahead of your suspicious employer. To… You get the point. Check out these eight tips for being a stealthy job hunter. [HotJobs]

What's Your Dream Job?

Is there such a thing as a dream job? When we were kids we dreamed about playing centerfield for a Major League Baseball team, skating to Olympic gold, flying to the moon, being a supermodel, quarterbacking the winning drive in the Super Bowl, rockin' in the free world, winning an Oscar, saving the rainforests or instilling world peace. Delusions of grandeur aside, some have discovered their dream job. Maybe not as a pro athlete, an astronaut, an entertainer or a world leader, but in a role that many do dream about, in a role some are jealous of and others place on a pedestal of perfection. No, we're not talking about online magazine editor positions (but we know some of you are salivating to be in our shoes). How about a restaurant critic (free food, fine dining, power); a winery owner (free drinks, grape stomping, prestige); or fashion merchandiser (free clothes, trendsetting, status). CeeBee chats with three folks in these roles to offer an awaking dose of reality about these mcdreamy jobs. [CeeBee]

Don't Blow the Interview

Careerbuilder offers up five tips to improve your chances on an interview. These include getting to the interview on time, dressing one level above the company's dress code policy, researching the company, avoiding rambling, and controlling body language.

Additional tips from HATCH include brushing your teeth thoroughly, wearing deodorant, avoiding spicy food before the interview, avoiding talking highly of the company's competitors, turning off your cell phone and other gadgets, limiting the use of the word "like," avoiding cursing and slang, avoiding the limp handshake, avoiding the bonecrusher handshake, avoiding staring at the interviewer, avoiding (usually) discussion about successes in high school, removing the Bluetooth from your ear, avoiding eating Cheez Doodles while waiting in the lobby, and bringing a spell-checked, typed copy of your resume. Hand-written resumes are sooo last millennium. [CareerBuilder]

The Company Did What?!

Check out these classy moves by some industry leaders:

Northwest Airlines lays off thousands of employees, issuing them a handy guide of "101 Ways to Save Money," including Dumpster diving.

RadioShack fires 400 workers through email: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Cablevision admits to granting stock options to a corpse.

Alarm One runs team-building exercises in which employers are forced to wear diapers, eat baby food, or submit to getting spanked on the booty. [Business 2.0]

Know When to Walk Away

The "Sunday Night Blues," that case of the Mondays, daydreaming about Friday. If these are all in a day's work, then it might be time to work out a plan to change jobs or shift career paths. Check out these ten tell-tale signs that say it's time to start searching the online job sites. [Yahoo! HotJobs Job-Change Checklist]

Will Work For Food

Television writing continues to suck for the most part. More and more movies are remakes of classics or classic TV Land shows. Can anyone write anymore? Perhaps it's time to team up clever, recently laid off twentysomethings and thirtysomethings with some big-shot producers. Some of these unemployed souls sure are writing gems. Seems necessity is the mother of invention, and with these folks in need of some cash, their creativity really shines. If the "unemployed cardboard sign holder turned Hollywood screenwriter" reality show doesn't fly, perhaps actual scriptwriters' salaries could be held in a high-yield account until after the movie is complete, and the interest earned could go to support some local shelters. Too nice of a gesture? Send us links to more "will work for food" signs. We'll post our favorites.

Best Companies To Work For

Fortune released its list of "100 Best Companies to Work For 2007." Google tops the list, followed by Genentech, Wegmans Food Markets, Container Store and Whole Foods Market. Surprisingly, Dunder-Mifflin did not make the cut. [Fortune]

Almost Famous

Don't fret about that dead-end job just yet. After all, Jon Stewart was a busboy, Alec Baldwin was a bouncer and Kanye West worked at the Gap. Hardly fame-worthy jobs, and now their celebrity has propelled them to the top of the list of people who speak out against George W. How did we know about these outspoken liberals' former roles? Thanks to hardlyFamous.com, we're learning a lot about how our favorite (and not-so-favorite) celebrities, athletes, politicians and other public figures got their start. A daily scouring of the site is sure to provide a laugh -- and some hope -- for those aspiring to be doing more with their careers. Sure makes us feel good. The editor of HATCH used to be the Good Humor man -- something Howard Stern knows a thing or two about. [hardlyFamous.com]

Read This Book: Delaying the Real World

This isn't a suggestion to TiVo your favorite hot tub scenes from MTV's cornerstone reality show. This is a book that ventures into the world of post-college adventure beyond the corporate jungle. "In this one-of-a-kind guide, author Colleen Kinder scouts out experiences that will not only satisfy your free spirit but also pay the bills, make the world a better place, and maybe even catapult you into a future career. Including stories from young adventurers and detailed information on making these dreams a reality, Delaying the Real World is a road map for the new graduate." So feel free to delay the real world. Just don't delay reading this book. [Delaying the Real World]