Career Development

ndebted law grads and experienced lawyers who are out of work are moving into what we describe today as the "third tier" of the legal profession: working as temps, generally known as contract attorneys, performing document review work.

Do you think rude people appear more authoritative at work and tend to get ahead faster than polite colleagues? According to research from the University of Amsterdam published in the latest "Social Psychological and Personality Science," they do.

For a solid hour, Rick Rush repeatedly inserts a small piece of metal - the parking gear of a future pickup truck - into a slot, adds a spring and lowers hydraulic machines to bolt parts together and ensure they're properly placed. With 87 seconds to complete the tasks before each transmission casing glides by on a conveyor, the wiry 61-year-old toils with a purposeful hunch at a steady, brisk pace.

I'm thinking about a career change and would love to go on a few informational interviews to learn more about the fields I am considering. But I rarely hear anyone talk about informational interviews anymore. Are people still giving them or are they too worried about their own jobs to take the time? How would I go about setting one up? Who should I target? Are certain questions off limits?

Twitter may have cost former Congressman Anthony Weiner his career, but when used properly, social media and other Web tools can actually help you get a job. FINS spoke with Coleen Byrne, a former sales director at Yahoo, about the perils of not being on LinkedIn, reaching out to old friends and colleagues, and using the Web to network offline. Byrne is the co-author of The Web 2.0 Job Finder.

Twitter may have cost former Congressman Anthony Weiner his career, but when used properly, social media and other Web tools can actually help you get a job. FINS spoke with Coleen Byrne, a former sales director at Yahoo, about the perils of not being on LinkedIn, reaching out to old friends and colleagues, and using the Web to network offline. Byrne is the co-author of The Web 2.0 Job Finder.

Growing up on a ranch in Iowa, Jessica Utesch spent many a long afternoon mucking out manure. But she was surprised when she came home from college to take a summer job at the ranch-and her dad handed her a shovel.

How do you get kids ready to become entrepreneurs? Journal Report Read the complete Small Business report. The classic answer, of course, is the lemonade stand: Encourage your kids to start a homespun business instead of just bugging you for money. But entrepreneurs and educators say the real solution goes much deeper than that. There are crucial psychological traits an entrepreneur needs to succeed, they say, and parents should help kids develop them at every opportunity. Here's a look at those attributes-and how to foster them.

Last month, Brandi Greygor did the unthinkable for an entrepreneur just starting out: She took a weeklong vacation. "I needed one because I ran myself into the ground," says Ms. Greygor, a 35-year-old mother of two who also works part-time for a consulting firm from her home in Union, Ky.

The U.S. tech sector will lead the world in revenue and employment growth in the next year, according to a new survey from KPMG, the accounting and consulting firm. India and China will have the second and third most employment growth next year. Last year, the U.S. ranked third in revenue growth, and fourth in employment growth. KPMG surveyed 102 C-level and senior executives in the computing industry. The top drivers of revenue growth are cloud computing, mobile apps, and data analytics, the executives said. Mergers and acquisitions will continue to rise, as 68% of respondents said they would be involved as a buyer in the next two years. Despite the U.S.'s resurgence in tech employment growth, fewer of the executives surveyed say they plan to increase headcount. Last year, 72% said they would hire more, but this year it's only 49%. (KPMG)

While it might seem fun to work at a company where the average age is below thirty and everyone is on Facebook and Twitter, you're better off working with more seasoned colleagues, say experts. FINS readers agree. Of 654 respondents in FINS' informal online questionnaire Sign or Decline, 88% said they'd accept their dream job if their new coworkers would all be 20 years older than them. At some of the hottest employers, that's simply not possible. The median age of an employee at Facebook is 26, according to data from PayScale, a Seattle-based firm that gathers compensation data. Compare that with more traditional companies like IBM and Hewlett-Packard where the median age is 44, according to the same data.

Selling is all about building relationships. Focusing on the positive ones is imperative, according to Philip Styrlund, CEO of the Summit Group, a sales training firm. The same is true of your career.

Tamara Guion-Yagy was disappointed when Tetra Tech, an environmental engineering firm in Pasadena, Calif., hired somebody else for the job that she wanted. The 40-year-old graphic designer thought she was being tried out when the firm hired her as a temporary worker.

Obama will use his speech before a joint session of Congress tonight to marshal a sense of urgency behind his jobs agenda and to try to open a new phase in the fight over proposals to fix the economy.

"Book Review: A Job Search Manual for Counselors and Counselor Educators"

"Before Andree Bogaerts returned to work as an attorney last fall after nine years at home with her three children, she says, she took a little training first-"a crash course in Excel spreadsheets from my 12-year-old daughter." "

"Heather Logrippo says her employees didn't seem too enthusiastic at first when she handed out construction paper and crayons and told them to find a quiet place for 30 minutes."

"A new Conference Board study shows that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work -- the lowest level recorded in the 22 years this report has existed."

"NBC made two critical missteps six years ago when the network signed Mr. O'Brien to replace Mr. Leno in 2009, say management consultants. It's a bad idea to promise someone a promotion in order to retain him, they say, and so is naming a successor too far in advance. "

"With prospects for new jobs or promotions still looking grim, many workers are struggling to take their careers to the next level. Some, though, have found ways to cope and make themselves more marketable for when companies start hiring again."