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How to Make the Most of Your 401(k) Plan

Job Insider: Here are some tips to maximize your retirement savings: Consider a Roth 401(k) In a Roth 401(k), similar to a Roth IRA, you invest money that’s already been taxed. Then, when you retire and withdraw funds that money is not taxed. If you’re beginning your career, you’re probably in a lower tax bracket than you will be at retirement. So it might pay to suck it up and take the tax hit now, freeing you from headaches later. On the other hand, if you think your income will decline at retirement age, a regular 401(k) may make sense. If you can afford it, contribute to both...

Job Guru on June 10, 2010 0

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Firms Invest Big in Career Sites

Job Insider: Despite the cost-cutting and layoffs of the past two years, many companies have continued to beef up their career-opportunity websites in an attempt to keep their brands fresh in the eyes of younger would-be employees and to be ahead of the pack in attracting talent when hiring picks up. Some companies are investing in improving their online career portals, making their sites easier to use, adding more detailed company and job information and incorporating more social media. Job postings and text descriptions of corporate culture have been supplemented with YouTube videos and blogs from emp...

Job Guru on June 7, 2010 1

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Online Job Applications

Career Tools: Online Job Applications There are thousands of websites where you can post your resume online and complete an online job application. Applicants either apply online via a job board, like Monster.com, or apply online directly at the company's web site. In some cases, job seekers are required to register and to build an employment profile. Once you've built your profile, you can apply for jobs online and set up search agents to email you when new jobs are added to the system. Applicants can then apply online for specific positions at any time that is convenient for them...

Job Guru on May 19, 2010 3

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5 Ways to Pay for Your College Without Piling on Debt

Money Saver: While some medical careers are available with high school or undergraduate education, becoming a doctor or advanced practice nurse requires many years of post-secondary education. Other than student loans, which may take years to pay back, below are some additional resources for financing your undergraduate or medical schooling, which won’t bury you in debt. Scholarships - You don’t have to make top grades to get a scholarship, although there are more options for those who do. Scholarships are offered for a variet...

Job Guru on May 17, 2010 2

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5 High-Paying, Low-Stress Jobs

Job Insider: If you're like thousands of other job seekers, you may dream of earning the big bucks without having to deal with the extreme stress that goes hand-in-hand with top-paying jobs. Of course, a high-salary, low-stress job sounds too good to be true. Or is it? Believe it or not, you don't have to take on a heart-pounding career as a brain surgeon, airline pilot or stock broker to bring home some serious bacon. As a matter of fact, some of the highest-stress jobs pay surprisingly scanty salaries. Just think about police officers, firefighters and social workers. These folks have quite possibly t...

Job Guru on May 13, 2010 1

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9 Tax Free Employee Benefits

Job Insider: There is a constant power struggle between employers (wanting the best bang for their employee-related expenditures) and employees (wanting the best remuneration possible for their blood, sweat and tears). And in lean economic times as these, the gravity of this push-pull battle between employees and employers is multiplied. If this trend continues, we will have more jaded employees and less loyal employers. But all is not lost. There are many benefits employers can provide to rekindle employee morale, ensure loyalty, and increase productivity. And do it without increasing the employee's t...

Job Guru on May 11, 2010 7

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The Way to a Winning Resume

Career Advice: Your ideal position just opened up in another company, and you feel well-qualified for the job. If you can just get a sit-down with the employer, you know he will be blown away by your knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm. But to get that chance, you will need to make your résumé stand out from the hundreds human resources has been deluged with, by both snail mail and e-mail. Résumé isn't a science, and a tip-top one will never guarantee you an interview—let alone a job. But knowing the pitfalls that HR professionals see coming a mile away can mean the difference between getting a ca...

Job Guru on May 10, 2010 0

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Careers for the Next Decade

Job Insider: U.S. companies, saddled with increasingly onerous costs of employing people, are downsizing, cutting employees' hours, hiring temps, automating jobs and sending work offshore. Meanwhile, technology is redefining existing jobs and demanding new skills from an aging workforce, and new competition for jobs looms in the form of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants likely to get legalized in the years ahead. Perhaps most potent, the U.S. is experiencing the largest transfer of gross domestic product from the private sector to the government sector in history -- and shifting jobs along with it. In...

Job Guru on May 6, 2010 1

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Why Do Employers Care About Your Credit?

Best Companies: When you're looking for a job, you're probably not thinking about your credit score. But, you might want to start. Though many people argue that credit scores have nothing to do with their capabilities on the job, some employers say differently. Sixty percent of employers recently surveyed by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) said they run credit checks on all or some potential new hires. That's up from 43 percent in 2006 and 25 percent in 1998. Opinions on whether or not this is fair vary. Supporters of credit checks don't think it's any different than checking a candid...

Job Guru on May 6, 2010 1

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5 Tips for Job Hunting in the Twittersphere

Find Jobs: Gaining a great deal of support from career industry professionals, recruiters and human resource specialists worldwide, Twitter is revolutionizing how people hunt for jobs in today's economy. How? Susan Britton Whitcomb, co-author of "The Twitter Job Search Guide," explains: "In the past, you had to go through a maze of gatekeepers to get to the cloistered person in charge of hiring decisions. Now you can have access to them with the click of a Follow button. The ability to level the playing field -- placing you nearly peer-to-peer with influencers, leaders and hiring authorities -- is ex...

Job Guru on May 6, 2010 2

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6 Ways to Job Search Smarter Not Harder

Career Advice: You don't need a Ph.D. to conduct a successful job search. Achieving your career goals requires an organized strategy and disciplined approach. Below are six tips to help you search smarter, not harder. Sell your value. What makes you unique? How will your strengths, skills and accomplishments solve prospective employers' problems? Determine your "unique value proposition" and make it an integral part of your personal marketing plan. Consider every document (résumé, biography, business card) or face-to-face meeting (networking, interview) as an opportunity to communicate...

Job Guru on May 6, 2010 0

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Medical Assistants are in Great Demand

Job Insider: While most industries face cutbacks and layoffs as a result of the current economic climate, there is one career that is projected to grow steadily in the future: Medical Assistants. Experts predict that medical assistant jobs will grow as much as 35% by 2016, due mostly to the aging of the population and major advances in medical technology. The field of medical assisting offers many options and medical assistants can tailor their careers to their lifestyle. Medical assistants can be part-time, full-time, even work only evenings and weekends. Working conditions and benefits tend to be e...

Job Guru on May 4, 2010 1

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The Best Places for Business and Careers

Job Insider: Cities like Des Moines, Iowa; Provo, Utah; and Fort Collins, Colo.; lead our 12th annual list of areas with the most economic opportunity. The Great Recession ravaged almost every big city across the United States in 2009. Home prices were down in 182 of the 200 largest metro areas, while household incomes fell in 94% of these areas. The employment picture was even tougher: only four areas posted positive job growth with a paltry gain of just 4,300 positions created--combined. The other 196 metros together lost 3.5 million jobs last year. See full list below The wors...

Job Guru on May 4, 2010 0

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Seven Ways to Be Happier at Work

Best Companies: Let's face it: Many employers' efforts to inject fun into the workplace are feeble. Serve birthday cake. Allow workers to throw Frisbees. Keep the break room fridge stocked with soda. Although the following ideas may not turn your workplace into a barrel of laughs, they're more likely than the company picnic to make your worklife more pleasant. Telecommute. Sometimes a good way to find happiness is to just stay home. Would you enjoy playing tennis with friends during the day? Rolling on the floor with Fido? Watching daytime soaps or CNBC's stock ticker? Who cares as long...

Job Guru on May 3, 2010 0

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Tips on Career Advancement

Career Advice: Many career experts agree that the best time to look for a new job is while comfortably in your old one. If you're starting to feel unchallenged in your present position, you may be ready for a promotion to the next level. If there aren't many career advancement opportunities where you work, the best next job may be waiting for you elsewhere. Nowadays, it's up to you to take control of your professional future and make sure you are progressing wisely down the right career path. Here are 10 proven strategies to help you get started: 1. Talk to your boss. Sit down and have...

Job Guru on May 3, 2010 0

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10 Jobs With High Return On Investments

Job Insider: A college degree was once a kind of insurance against high tides of unemployment, but this downturn took plenty of white collar, degree-necessary jobs with it. What's more, it's no longer a given that an advanced degree will launch you into the upper echelon of earners. Consider that a student could invest in a master's degree in anthropology, reasonably expecting to make the median wage for an anthropologist, about $54,000. The middle 50 percent of anthropologists and archeologists earn between $39,200 and $70,980, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another student could invest i...

Job Guru on May 3, 2010 0

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What's a Degree Really Worth?

Job Insider: A college education may not be worth as much as you think. For years, higher education was touted as a safe path to professional and financial success. Easy money, in the form of student loans, flowed to help parents and students finance degrees, with the implication that in the long run, a bachelor's degree was a good bet. Graduates, it has long been argued, would be able to build solid careers that would earn them far more than their high-school educated counterparts. The numbers appeared to back it up. In recent years, the nonprofit College Board touted the difference in lifetime earn...

Job Guru on April 29, 2010 1

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America's Deadliest Jobs

Job Insider: You may have read news reports saying that America's Main Streeters want revenge on Wall Street for the financial meltdown and recession and mortgage foreclosures and lost life savings. That hardly makes fields like finance and insurance hazardous to be in, though. You're much, much likelier to get killed in other lines of work. Recently released Department of Labor data show that fishermen (and fisherwomen) and other workers in fishing-related professions were the most likely to die on the job in 2008. Of 39,000 fishing workers in the nation, 50 were killed, a rate of 128.9 per 100,000 ful...

Job Guru on April 28, 2010 0

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Online Job Search

Career Advice: If you're tired of working at that same old job, but still interested in staying in the same line of work, you can jump start your job search and go directly to applicable resources in your field of interest. Or, if you're looking for a new line of work, you'll find wide variety web sites which focus on a particular industry or career field. Start by searching the major jobs databases utilizing keywords which describe your preferred occupation, then move quickly to resources which target your specific interests. Start with the Search Engines Use the job...

Job Guru on January 14, 2010 0

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Even in a Recovery, Some Jobs Won't Return

Job Insider: Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don't exist anymore. ...

Job Guru on January 12, 2010 0

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