Following its sale this week of The About Group, which includes the websites About.com, CalorieCount.com, and ConsumerSearch.com, The New York Times Company has announced it's selling off its minority stake in Indeed.com.  The Times is selling its share to the Japanese firm Recruit Co., which also bought Advantage Resources and Staffmark, two leading US staffing firms, at the end of last year.  

Ginni Frizzi wrote an article on switching careers that was just published in the Jobs section on PhillyBurbs.com.  The article, "Second Careers: How to Switch Your Playing Field Successfully", examines the things workers should consider before making a career change.  She asked me for my advice, and some of the things I discuss in the article are personal and workplace values, what you enjoy doing most, how the field is changing, and the physical demands of a job.  

Last week's disappointing jobs report has left a lot of people wondering what it means to them.  While the unemployment rate actually went down a little bit, that number is attributed to workers leaving the workforce.  The long-term unemployed still account for 40% of the total unemployment number.  This isn't really purely bad news - it could be much worse - though it's certainly not very encouraging.  As we head into what looks to be a nice, strong hiring season, job seekers need to be more competitive than ever.  Having strong experience or a great resume isn't enough - the job search needs to be aggressive and targeted.  There needs to be a balance between the amount of time a job seeker spends looking for work, interviewing