In Puerto Rico. Contribute Your Thoughts.
Fri 31 Jul 2009 – 14.50
Yesterday’s post wasn’t entire a whisper thought of the season, it’s timed to my vacation to Puerto Rico. Those who know me will note the irony that I, who has been famously out-of-work for the better part of 3.5 years in running this blog, is taking time “off” from whatever it is I do.
I’m heading to visit my family, and to see my parents who live there during summers. Also, this will be the first time in 5 years that both my sisters and I will all be on the island at the same time. We’re also hoping to stay in a hotel at least for a little while, which will serve as a sort of vacation from our vacation. (trust me, after a few days at my parents house, you begin to miss the comforts of home … like hot water, reliable electricity, internet, and not having roosters crowing ALL FRIGGIN DAY right in my ear.)
But I’m also hoping to sit down with my laptop for a while. Not to surf the web, as usual, and poke around with podcasts, but to write out the first draft of an e-book I’ve been planning to a while. I’m going to write a sort of manifest for the 21st century workforce — things to be aware of, things to be angry about, ways to improve your work life, etc. etc., but I could use your help.
If you have any opinions on work — the good, the bad, or the ugly, please shout it out. If you work in a remote office, or you’re crammed into a cubicle just like your father and his father, let me know. Is your job awesome? Is it terrible outdated and backwards? Do you hate big stupid corporations or do you love how often you’re allowed to use the word “synergy” on a typical day? Let me know your thoughts.
Write your opinions and thoughts in the comments. Tell me what you’d like to see addressed, what tips you wish you had, what tone and manner you’d most enjoy reading. If you don’t want your comments to be public, send it over to twentyhood@gmail.com
Thanks in advance for the input.
posted by Scott in careers,life.
Thu 30 Jul 2009 – 14.50
It’s a fair assumption that as twentysomethings, we still remember our school days. We may still be friends with our school chums, we may still have our old school clothes, and chances are, we miss our summer holidays.
Obviously, summer is a good time to be outdoors. We love the sun, the heat, wearing shorts, running around, playing with dogs and children (since those lucky bastards are off from school). There’s outdoor movies and concerts, you can sit at sidewalk cafes, and the sunlight lasts all night. Too bad you’re stuck inside.
There is a dreadful cycle of guilt and pleasure that comes from skipping out on work duties to go outside, only to return and realise how much work you’ve got to do. Generally speaking, the two are mutually exclusive — you can’t bring your office to the park, and even with a laptop, you’re only half working. If only I could knock down the entire wall of my office and work at my desk, while enjoying the outdoors.
Working holidays are tempting, but somehow end up as a fiction. When you arrive at your summer destination, the last thing you want to think about is work. And then somehow you suffer the same summer guilt for not getting things done while you’re still on vacation. Not exactly relaxing.
Plus there’s that whole unspoken competition of who has a better tan. When did that become a measure of one’s worth?
We’re hard-wired from all those years of education to view summer as play time. This is especially troubling for freelancers and those who are less-than-traditionally-employed, who are forced to be their own time-managers. Looking for work, following up with clients, managing projects, and otherwise not slacking off can be Herculean labours when placed into the arena of a July heatwave. Plus when friends start calling planning trips and weekends, it’s all the more tempting to shove work aside.
So how do we break the cycle? How do we enjoy the summers while still fulfilling the duties of our life and careers? Is summer simply a lost season, where we should expect to get nothing done, or is it an opportunity to take the lead over the other slackers who are off sunning and prancing?
posted by Scott in careers,education,health & fitness,life.
Ten Interview Tricks to Get the Job
Wed 29 Jul 2009 – 9.40
Ok, we’ve heard this all before — tips like “be on time”, and “iron your clothes” are standard for any advice listing for the would-be job seeker. But today I’ve uncovered a list of slightly more candid and subliminal tips on how to get the job. Maybe a bit of social engineering is just the trick to put you over the top.
- Wear glasses
- Lose 10 pounds
- Cover the tattoos
- Get tall
- Try a little sweet talk
- Get a conservative-looking watch
- Mirror, mirror
- Shut up
- Lose the shoes
- Answer the illegal question
Check out the full article from The Huffington Post »
I’ve been on several interviews recently and have to testify that I often screw it up by talking too much. (#8) Does anyone else have this problem? Not that I get too touchy-feely about my past jobs, or reveal something inappropriate, but I do try to express my passion and professionalism, even if it means I’ll raise a point of controversy or some hot-button issue.
Incidentally, this is the same ill-tactic that screws up many a first date. Maybe I should keep my love of Shakespeare and Pokémon to myself, at least for the first few hours.
posted by Scott in careers.
Mon 27 Jul 2009 – 20.48
via Pictures for Sad Children »
posted by Scott in life.
Congress Offers Relief to Student Debtors
Mon 06 Jul 2009 – 20.10
If you’re like me, and the millions of others who are burdened with many thousands of dollars of student debt, then here is a bit of good news: the US government will take action to make loan repayments proportional to earned income, and will forgive loans after 25 years of faithful repayments.
The terms are highlighted in an article from The New York Times dated last week.
… the interest rate on new federal Stafford loans, the most widely used federally guaranteed student loan, will drop to 5.6 percent, from 6 percent. By 2012, the rate will fall to 3.4 percent, under a schedule mandated by Congress.
… The extended payment program, called “income-based repayment,” limits what borrowers have to pay to 15 percent of the difference between their gross income and 150 percent of federal poverty guidelines. After borrowers make payments on loans for 25 years, the balance is forgiven. (The Education Department already offered an “income-contingent” repayment plan, which was similar, but less generous.)
There’s a ton of charts and numbers to comb through, so if you’re interested, definitely check out the Times article, and poke around the links.
This scheme appears to be similar to one that is offered in Britain, where students aren’t obliged to repay loans until they are earning at least £10,000 per year. That isn’t a great sum, about $18,000, but it implies that if you’re properly unemployed, or only working part-time at the local pub, you aren’t going to be burdened with a monthly payment for that expensive education you’re not “using.” Then again, in Britain tuition fees top out around £2500 per year for UK students, so I don’t feel too sorry for them.
Is this finally a chink in the armour of the American college capitalist system? Is the government inching slowly toward the European-style socialism that our population so desperately craves (whether we know it or not)? Will this new plan help prevent education from being the next bubble to burst?
Your thoughts:
posted by Scott in education,personal finance.
Is Higher Education the Next Bubble to Burst?
Wed 01 Jul 2009 – 10.33
It’s almost a taboo to speak of colleges and universities as businesses. The decisions they makes aren’t based on profits, they’re based on academics, right? Well, sort of. Higher education is a business, where the “products” are the graduates, and the effort is to sell those graduates to the world with the goal of getting more raw materials, students. And money. And prestige. It’s tricky.
But in America, as well as other nations, higher education carries with it a massive pricetag; attending is a sure-fire way to start your young adult life in debt. While most parents and economists alike will tell us that it’s an “investment” in our future — one that will increase the earning potential over our lives as a whole — the upfront costs are painful enough to warrant some evaluation. After all, the most basic laws of capitalism show us that if the the price of goods and services gets too high, people will stop buying! This even applies to supposéd critical purchases like gasoline, clothing, food, and now education.
I read recently, for the first time, the notion of higher education as a bubble that will soon burst. An over-inflated industry taking risks on its own future, which is now less-than-certain. The main point here is about the ever-rising costs of tuition and fees, making education unaffordable for all but the super-rich. Here’s a sobering statistic:
According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, over the past 25 years, average college tuition and fees have risen by 440 percent — more than four times the rate of inflation and almost twice the rate of medical care.
posted by Scott in careers,education,personal finance.