Most of us are not lucky enough to know what career we want to go into until quite late in the game. With everyone talking about a bad economy coming our way, that choice never seemed more important. Want to narrow down your choices based on the job market conditions? There are quite a few ways to do this.

Last time I posted about jobs, I mentioned the value of search optimizing your resume, and gave you an easy way to discover the most recruiter-searched resume keyword terms. I also discussed the reason many people end up hating their job, and how to avoid it.

Usually, people just wait to be promoted, or move to a higher position at a different company when they want to move up in their career. A few days ago, a friend of mine told me about his new (creative) attempt to move up the corporate ladder at his company. What he did was create a brand new job description for the job he wanted to do for the company. That’s right - he created his own title, essential job functions, listed the needed relevant skills, and made his own compensation figures. He then handed it right in to the boss.

Some industries have small consequences if you mess up.  A florist forgets to include one of the flowers in a display.  A painter uses the wrong color on a hallway. Other industries, such as law, consulting and insurance, potentially have much more severe consequences.  If you are in one of these industries, you would be wise to use a useful tool called a “Memo To File”.

A Memo To File is essentially a way to record important information and have it readily accessible if/when you need to remember it.

Usually when I discuss optimizing keywords I am referring to targeting search engines like Google, but what about the “niche” search engines that are mushrooming up all over?  Those search engines are often used not just by consumers, but also by job recruiters (among others).

I’ll take for example a site like Monster.com or Craigslist, both sites with tons of resumes posted on there.  How do you get your resume seen by as many recruiters as possible?

Mint, the web 2.0 online money management system, went live today.  Mint had been in development for quite some time, and I was excited to see how they planned to simplify personal finance.  I had a chance to take it for a test drive, and I have some good news - it is incredibly useful.  Best of all, it’s free!

What Can Mint Do?

Mint Transactions Screenshot

I’ve been hearing friends and family complain about dealing with their wireless providers for years, and I’m sure you have too (or maybe you were the complainer?).  This is not uncommon, since many of the policies of cellular providers are unethical and designed to trick you. This post will investigate their incentive structure, and how to turn it around for your benefit.

Some of the more common unethical practices by cellular providers:

I recently revisited one of the most influential movies of the last century, The Godfather.  In the movie, Don Corleone, the head of the crime family, is a shrewd businessman.  Through making “an offer he can’t refuse”, as well as understanding the dynamics of the business relationships, the Don managed to consolidate power and run all of the gambling operations in the country. 

This three part drama about the Corleone crime family is usually just seen as good entertainment, but I extracted several business lessons from it.  These lessons apply even if you are not in the line of mafia work.

Google has just come out with a free service called Google Paper (still in Beta), which allows you to “Archive” any email you want, and have Google mail it to you in an envelope.

An overview of some neat features:

- One click mail option
- Mail will arrive within 2-4 business days
- Attachments will also be printed and sent (excluding mp3s)
- Photos will be printed on high-quality glossy paper

I can tell you already, this is a major event in internet history.  This will bridge the gap for the non-internet literate folks out there who want to keep in touch with the internet crowd.

An interesting report came out recently which highlights the shift in where Americans are choosing to live.  For the first time, Americans are more likely to live in an apartment than in a house.  Reasons for this include the uncertainty in the housing market making home ownership less attractive, as well as the prohibitive cost of the purchase. 

In terms of life style, Americans are also less likely to be married than they used to be (there are more unmarried people than married people for the first time), and are living the “bachelor” life for longer.  I think shows like “Friends” displayed single, apartment life as glamorous, and therefore many people didn’t feel pressured to get married and “grow up”.

The folks over at FaxZero don’t think you should have to pay to send faxes, and offer free (ad supported) faxes from your computer in a one-page form.  Faxes can be sent to any U.S. phone number (Puerto Rico included).  FaxZero has sent over 100,000 faxes so far.

File Types

You can type in text to fax or you can attach a PDF file, Microsoft Word (.DOC) file, or Excel Spreadsheet (.XLS).

Limitations

The free version of FaxZero has a two fax per day limitation.  You can also pay $1.99 per fax that doesn’t have any ads on the cover page if you wish.