This will be a fairly quick post, as posts of mine go. As of late, I've been 
* May foreclosures were the third highest on record . . . but, oh happy day, they weren't as bad as they could have been.
* Unemployment is now at 9.4%. Except, umm, the absolute worst-case scenario under the banks' so-called "stress tests"? An inconceivable 10.3% -- that wouldn't, couldn't possibly occur until the end of 2010. Still, May's figures were better than expected . . .
But even the government is now acknowledging, finally, that the stress test numbers were based on a lot less "stress" than what we're now experiencing. Said Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressionally appointed TARP board, "We've already blown past the worst-case scenario on unemployment."
* California is, according to its State Controller, fifty days away from a total meltdown. (Losses in local services were a concern of mine back in December; plunging property values mean plunging tax revenues).* And in a nod to my faithful lawyer mom readers: Cravath, Swaine, a major white-shoe law firm, is asking new hires to stay away for a year in exchange for $80k. Summer clerks who accept Cravath offers will be required to take a year-long furlough . . .
But in all of this lush greenery, a little lightness can still be found.
Job-seekers are resorting to novel resume tricks. These eye-catching moves include:
* enclosing a shoe with your resume. You know, so you can "get a foot 
* washing company cars in the company parking lot, gratis.
* getting a haircut from the barber patronized by the company's CEO. After all, barbers make great references.
* sending a cake in the shape of a business card with your picture on it. Who can argue with the old adage that the way to a CEO's heart is through his stomach?
* handing out personalized coffee mugs.
* refusing to budge in the lobby of the company where you want to work, until you get an interview. Like an "unemployed sit-in" . . . of sorts.
And who can blame these folks? After all, remember the unemployed financial banker who paraded up and down 5th Avenue in a sandwich board blaring "Will Kill Bernie for Food." He got a job, didn't he?
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22 comments:
I do sort of love the cake business card.
hi there- it's so unique the way you set your entries up. i like it. the news about the economy..not so much.
I live in California.
I'll admit it: I'm nervous.
Since I can't bake (if it didn't burn to a crisp, it'd come out cinderblock consistency), I'd have to pay to have it done to make it look like something edible and non-comedic.
Assuming I'm unemployed enough to resort to this, I'd run my reserve out long before I got a call from a prospective employer.
And with my luck, the prospective would call to tell me "I hate that kind of cake, next time, make it spice". Which I hate.
I better stay employed LOL...
Great - we're spending summer in CA. Isn't it sad watching the trends and not being able to do anything about it? But you can't look away, either.
Well, we're gonna have to dig our way out of this mess via inflation, since that's what you get when you print money. And the Fed's been doing plenty of that.
My husband has been out of work since September.
It SUCKS.
Plunging property values only mean plunging tax revenues if the city actually lowers the estimated value of the property.
Something Harris county doesn't appear to be doing.
Lucky us.
I don't think the unemployment figures include any of the self-employed. Think of how many Realtors are unemployed throughout the nation, with no insurance. This is the 3rd post today that I have read regarding how depressing it is getting. If we are on the upswing, I haven't seen it yet.
I'm glad someone else is feeling the undercurrent because I was beginning to feel like a conspiracy theorist. Unemployment is way into double digits here in Michigan and all the UAW workers who thought voting as the union urged them to would bring their salvation are walking around looking very post traumatic stressed-out. Scary thing is the "numbers" don't include the people who have already exhausted their benefits or occupations like realtors.
I went on two disappointing job interviews last week. If only I had thought to bring cake!
Because it is slimy?
Umm, yeah, I'm with you, Shoozie.
My title was a horrific nonsequitur. I should have said "If these are green shoots, I'm color-blind" or "if these are green shoots, I need a drink" or "if these are green shoots, shoot me" or . . .
; )
And this is why I am awake instead of asleep.
It freaks me out. Not just our debt or our country's spending but everything. So much that I want to revolt and create a new country. Want to join?
Oh God, I have to do crap like that to get noticed? Are you kidding? I thought someone would just call me or stop by....ugh!
I love the business card cake... a case of trying to have your cake and eat it?
I'm with Vered. I live in Cali also. I'm very nervous.
I'm also with Vodka Mom. My husband is still unemployed. It sucks.
These suggestions for getting attention in the job market are fabulous. I sent out an email to over 100 people in my area asking for an inside connection for my husband at a local company where he had spied an open position. I figured it couldn't hurt. He got 3 references, 2 phone interviews and a face to face this Thursday.
I've decided that as a SAHM all I can do is work my network like a hula-hoop and drink a lot. Hahahaha.
I am glad that if you are creative it could give you an edge in the job market. That could be a silver lining of a crappy situation. :)
It is pretty depressing. Having your savings tied up in Muni Bond Funds doesn't sound like a real great idea now either with the very real possibility of default. It SHOULDN'T be material but these days who knows!
I am seriously convinced part of this is media and culture driven. I'm in real estate which is a very hard-hit industry and yet I've got buyers, I've got lenders who want to lend money and... wait for it... no sellers! They are all convinced there are no buyers or that they will have to sell their house cheaper than they want. So, there are SOME problems happening in the economy for really wacky reasons that are mostly related to people being freaked completely out.
Okay, now tell all those California people to get out of there and move east. I'm waiting for them.
It's horrible here in SW FL. We had a mayor in one town step down because he was forced to take a cut in pay from his over $100k paycheck to around a $50k paycheck. We have idiots on our own city council wanted to spend what we don't have or can give... They cut the indians but keep all the chiefs (yes aware that statement isn't politically correct to use) We now have to pay a seperate tax for our police and fire. And last night they are talking of adding more to our property taxes. Our school board is at odds with the one man with money saving ideas and the rest of them including the super indentent hasn't brought one idea to the table and they had quite a long time to brainstorm. My personal sales are down, and now so many others who are out of work are now mowing lawns, and working foreclosure cleanouts and rental clean outs that the pay for those job has dropped making it less than minimum wage when hours and wage are calculated. I brushed the dust off my resume trying to impress someone with my Upper Echelon Leadership skills as an Executive Assistant but no one wants me~ not even a call for one interview... it's so sad. There are builders actually praying for a hurricane. I'm not one of them. Homes continue to empty out on the 1st and 15th of every month. (Thanks Mozilo- I think the tanning bed lights fried his little brain-I know lots about that little CA Rasin-but that's a different rant...) We are getting very close to being considered a ghost town. Our gas is outragous at $2.79 gal. Watched Bloomberg yesterday and some dork in a suit is telling everyone that the recession will be coming to an end soon- How? Is money going to just start flying out of his behind or something? Or is this when he predicts we will be at the peek of our rebuilding stage after the small fat Korean tyrant Nukes Us?
I used to be that "thick skinned" gal that nothing bothered. But now? I'm starting to get really scared of the unknown.
hidingonanisland
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