Getting fired

$4 Lattes. $8 Glasses of wine. $20 Lip gloss. $60 Video games. <br> <p>Whether you’re newly unemployed or still collecting a paycheck while your long-term-savings have been eviscerated, day-to-day life in our new economy can mean the same thing: your spending habits have been pushed to top-of-mind consciousness in a whole new way. Read More »

December&#39;s just-announced unemployment stats were so predictable that another month of whopping job loss across North America hardly raised an eyebrow. <br><p>However, buried in the Associated Press story yesterday I came across a stat that really did surprise me.</p><br> <p>In reporting the various industries that slashed jobs in December, leisure and hospitality were at the bottom of the list. Seriously? Read More »

<p>Earlier I wrote about employers increasingly checking out job candidates’ social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/money/can-facebook-hurt-your-job-prospects-338855/">Can Facebook Hurt Your Job Prospects?</a>).</p><br> <p>Based on the comments received, many believe this crosses the line and is a violation of presumed privacy in a social setting, or that it &quot;conflicts with freedom of speech and expression.&quot; However, some HR Managers entered the discussion, explaining they believe it gives them a “very good guide for the maturity and common sense test” and “gives real insight into an applicant&#39;s maturity level and…can raise valid concerns about their ethics.”</p><br> <p>I question the ethics of the practice itself, but based on this casual exchange, it certainly looks like one that will continue to grow.</p><br> <p>So what can you do if you’re taking a second look at some impulsively-posted images or quotes of yours floating around the net? Read More »

<p>Last week, a reader of my blog (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.firedfornow.com">firedfornow.com</a>) told her story about getting fired on New Year’s Day (see Layoff Stories). Talk about a warm welcome to 2009.</p> <p>She works in the restaurant industry and despite the general crimp in partiers’ wallets, she had a great night working on New Year’s Eve. As she described it, “We worked until midnight, made good money, and all went home happy.”</p> <p>However, the next day she returned for her New Year’s Day shift only to find the restaurant shuttered and closed down -- for good. I immediately felt the familiar surge of sympathy and outrage for a fellow warrior in the laid-off battlegrounds. Read More »

<p>You can’t finish up a year without 10-Best-Lists appearing everywhere, not to mention 10-Worst-Lists too. So it only figures that someone came up with the 10 Worst Employees of the Year. This one seems to have originated with CareerBuilder.com <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-1067-The-Workplace-10-Worst-Employees-of-2008/">(10 Worst Employees 2008)</a> and it’s proliferated like mosquitoes in a swamp across the media, both on and offline.</p> <p>On the other hand, the list naming the 10 Worst Corporations of 2008 hardly made a dent in the media rounds. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-weissman/#blogger_bio">(10 Worst Corporations of 2008)</a> Do we take more delight in the fall of the individual? Read More »