If you’ve got a job it’s likely smart to hang onto it while you can. Not to be a downer, but according to a report this week at CNN Money, the unemployment rate charged upwards for the ninth straight month in June, climbing to 9.5% from 9.4%, and hitting another 26-year high.

Additionally this report notes that it’s predicted that unemployment rates will hit 9.6% before the year ends. But technically it could get even worse as Briefing.com predicted a June job loss of 365,000 but in reality numbers of jobs lost hit 467,000. It’s pretty darn abysmal. Looking for new work may not be the right choice at this time.

Now, I know this is not the jolliest of news to kick off the holiday weekend but there’s at least one good thing happening on the job front right now. If you are employed a raise might be on the horizon.

If you’ve currently been laid-off there are many good resources to browse that could help you to get back on your feet:

• From CNN Money; “Three out-of-work professionals get makeovers from a team of four top career experts. Result: One master plan for each, full of smart strategies to find a job in a tough market. Their advice can boost your prospects too.” Read it – Find a job in a tough economy
• An excellent piece at The Wall Street Journal: Explaining Your Layoff to a Job Recruiter
• Tips for Surviving Unemployment – Part 1
• Tips for Surviving Unemployment – Part 2

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Don’t ignore debt: It’s much better to call your lenders for car payments, phone bills, or credit, then to ignore the pile. Explain the situation. Everyone knows that times are tough and most companies will work out smaller payment plan details for you temporarily, especially if they hear you’re looking for work.

Don’t tap into retirement unless it’s absolutely necessary: One, you will likely end up with outrageous tax and penalty fees. Two, you’re going to need those funds later. Three in a worst case situation, your retirement fund is non-touchable by creditors. If you own a lot of money, it’s better to do a bankruptcy, deal with it, and keep your retirement fund in place.

Downsize: Downsize your car, cut cable, cut out texting on your phone, and look for other ways to save on each monthly bill.

Rent out a room: If you own a house, or even rent a place with an extra room, consider renting out space to someone. Right now is actually a good time to place ads, because kids heading off to college often look for off campus housing and tend to move in August.

Get emergency money help: Your local state and cities programs are made to help people in times of crisis. Your taxes when you were working helped to fund these programs, so don’t feel bad if you need the help. Here are some resources:

• National Food Stamp Program
• HUD low cost housing programs
• WIC nutrition program for pregnant women and parents of young children
• Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program
• Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration
• Head Start
• Medicaid Consumer Information
• Weatherization Assistance Programs
• National School Lunch Program
• Women’s health care programs
  

Contact your local Department of Human Services location for info on free and low-cost child care assistance, health care programs, and other programs you may be eligible for.  Type “YOUR STATE NAME DHS” into a search engine.

Consider college: It’s somewhat extreme, but if your resume is not landing you jobs, going to college and gaining some new workplace skills may work for you. Between grants, loans, and other free college money to be had, you can pretty much live off college – not well, but it’s manageable. Most colleges also offer low-cost child care and low-cost health car programs for students.

Get some cash NOW:

• Make quick cash off your castoffs
• Five ways to make some quick cash
• Hold a killer yard sale
• Sell your old books

Got any other ideas?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Stay calm: Not easy I know, but if you’re out of work you’re going to be searching and searching on top of being frazzled is going to make the situation worse.

Get organized: Get your job search organized well. For example…

• Look up old contacts (or current) who may have job leads. Send everyone a short email with your current contact info and let them know that you’re looking for work.
• Bookmark the best job boards both nationally and locally.
• Spend some time updating your resume and a general cover letter so it’s almost ready to go once you find a job.
• Get up early and act like looking for work is your job. Technically it is, so get up, get dressed, and start your hunt. If you’re unemployed, most of your day should be spent looking for jobs, sending out resumes, and calling companies. Treat looking for work like a professional job.

Apply for benefits NOW: If you put off applying for unemployment benefits, you’ll get that first check later rather than sooner. Unemployment benefits won’t affect your credit rating, it’s not welfare, and it won’t stop you from getting a new job, so you may as well take the benefits. Benefits usually last 26 weeks, although right now, there are extended benefits being offered. So long as you exhaust your current unemployment benefits Dec. 31, 2009 you’re eligible for extended benefits. In high unemployment areas, you may qualify for even further extended coverage (13 to 20 weeks). You need to check with your state’s employment office for details about how to apply for unemployment benefits. Your local office can also tell you how much you’ll likely be getting.

Keep your health care – if you can: Keeping your employment health care going can be spendy, but right now it’s worth looking into Extending your workplace health coverage because the new economic stimulus packages is giving some of us a little extra wiggle room on costs.

Kick your budgeting and saving habits into high gear: Now is not the time to flake on budgeting or saving money. You have less incoming cash, maybe none, so each and every penny counts. Read the following posts for tips on creating a good solid budget and for some money saving tips…

• Using an Envelope System for Budgeting
• Questions that save you money each day
• How to Make a Budget and Stick to It
• Learn to count EVERY penny
• Make Your Food Last Longer to Save Money
• ABC’s of Money Saving
• Save Money All the Time
• Teach Kids About Budgeting – if you’re a total newbie to budgeting, check out how kids (and you) can learn how to budget.
  

Coming up, more tips that can help you if you’re unemployed. Feel free to share your tips in the comments.

[image stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Wow, are you shocked by this news? It’s not a huge surprise is it?

According to comScore:

• The job search category has seen the number of visitors grow 51 percent to 18.8 million visitors in 2008.
• The final months of the year, which tend to experience low job searching behavior, were instead some of the most heavily trafficked months of 2008.

Stats:

“CareerBuilder.com Job Search led the category with 9.1 million visitors, up 78 percent versus year ago, followed by Yahoo! HotJobs Job Search with 5.6 million visitors (up 146 percent) and Indeed.com Job Search with 5.1 million visitors (up 88 percent). SimplyHired, Inc. had the strongest growth rate of the top ten sites in the category, growing 161 percent to 3.1 million visitors.”

Well, you know which sites to avoid if you hate competition anyhow. With all this in mind, here are some online job search tips…

• Top 10 Online Job Search Tips
• Tips to Safeguard Your Privacy During Online Job Hunts
• How to Use The Internet in Your Job Search

Have you been looking for work via the Internet? Is this easier for you say, then looking in newspapers or going through companies?

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

What can you do…

Be a gossip: It’s not all cakes and butterflies to start up gossip in the workplace, but when it comes to salary, you should try to sniff out details. This gives you the fuel you need to challenge the situation – like say, when you’re asking for a raise.

Do your homework: We talked about this before, in the post how to get a raise at work, which has plenty of tips that apply to this situation. If you don’t know what the average employee is worth, you lose chances to make as much as a guy. This post also covers the negotiation tactics you’ll need when asking for a raise.

Figure out what your company thinks you’re worth: Most mid-sized to larger companies keep a breakdown of wage categories in their human resource department. Your company may think your position is worth so and so amount, but be paying you 20% less. That bites – so aim for the above negotiations.

Know your legal rights: Women are actually entitled to the same pay as men. We just don’t get it. Learn about the law, and use it to your advantage. Contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if you think your workplace rights have been violated.

Know that women are worth it: I’ve actually heard women say things like, “Wow, I’m so lucky to have this job; in my company usually only men get this slot!” NO NO and NO. When we think like this, it’s no wonder we’re paid less. If you can do the job, you’re not ‘lucky’ you’re good. Believe in yourself. Further more, if others make sexist comments like this, be brave enough to say so – no one changes events or perspectives by just sitting around and taking it.

Take a larger stand: Visit NOW’s Women-Friendly Workplace Campaign to stay current on the latest issues, and learn how you can help the cause. It’s frustrating, yes, but women have made huge strides over the years. With hard work we can also change the wage gap issue.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Before hand: Visit Salary.com, check out similar pay for other same-type positions in your area, and look at the Department of Labor website. All of these can give you fair wage info about your particular position, which means you’re ready to present those figures and negotiate smartly.

Be a decent employee: If you’re a nice, happy, and valued employee 90% of the time, you’re far more likely to get a raise then some other guy who acts like a jerk most of the time. You don’t have to be Pollyanna, just be better than most of your co-workers. This means avoiding gossip, co-worker confrontations, and making sure you’re polite and get your work done.

Be willing: Offer to take on a special project or learn a new task that can help boost your worth to the company.

Use new employees: If your workplace hires on new folks, and you can find out their salary, you can use it to win a raise. Say you’ve been there a while doing the same work the new employee is doing, but you’re making very little more $, point this out.

Don’t: Threaten to quit; unless you mean it. Even if you don’t mean it, threatening to quit if you don’t get your ideal raise, sort of puts you in a bad position. If you get the raise, your supervisor will wonder about your commitment and negotiation tactics, which doesn’t exactly set you up with the company in a positive light. The only good way to pull this off is if you can somehow nicely and casually mention that you’ve been offered another position for more pay, but you just love your job so much you’d hate to leave.

Have you ever asked for a raise and got it? What did you do? 

Post from: Thrifty Mommy