Beating Recession Depression
Tired of all the depressing financial news? Dana Joseph is, too, and in her blog Not Made of Money, she gives some advice on how to overcome the dread and stay positive. “Focus on what you can control. You can’t do a thing about the rising and falling of the stock market. You can, however, control how much you spend or save. Instead of worrying about the things you can’t change, give yourself a feeling of empowerment by taking charge of things that are within your control.”

Tips on how to improve customer retention in your business
These are times of belt tightening, but Your Business Store posits that there’s one thing that can make your patrons stay loyal: top notch customer service. “Customers want to be patrons of businesses where the employees are friendly and helpful. Therefore, it is your job as the business owner and/or manager to ensure that those who work for you are doing their job to their utmost potential. Treat your customers as you like to be treated when you go to another store or use the services of another company.”

9 Recession-proof careers
In Reader’s Digest, Cathie Gandel and Hilary Sterne list the median salaries of jobs that are still in demand, as well as the educational background required to qualify for them. “Corporations, consulting firms, nonprofits, and even governments are going after global markets. People with international expertise, foreign-language skills, or a willingness to move abroad will be in demand. “The global economy is only going to grow,” says John Challenger. “U.S. involvement will expand, short and long term.”

Don’t try to dodge recession with grad school
Ever blunt, Penelope Trunk challenges the usual downturn trend of enrolling in graduate school, citing her reasons in Brazen Careerist. “The more desperate you are for a job, the more likely you are to take a job that doesn’t teach you what you want to learn. And then you get to that job and you think, “Grad school could solve this problem.” But in fact, grad school creates larger, and more insurmountable problems. And some the problems you’re trying to solve with grad school might not be problems at all.”

Indeed’s new industry trends point to where the jobs are
Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch features some findings on where the job openings are, with a focus on the IT sector. “Tech layoffs may have hit 300,000 since the financial crisis began, but there are at least 395,629 job openings in information technology, enough to re-employ all of those now out of work. Job search engine Indeed this morning launched a new Industry Trends page filled with stats on job openings in the U.S. across major industries.”

Who’s hiring in tech? 2009 numbers so far
In a similar report, ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick shares Jobwire stats, with plenty of charts on the current job market. “We last covered aggregate stats in the middle of December and the new numbers are similar to what we saw then. IT and software companies are hiring more than anyone else, but marketing firms are now hiring more than publishing and social media companies, a switch since our last report.”

How to Jump to a New Career with a Killer Resume and Plan
For the recently unemployed or those who want to jump ship, Lifehacker’s Kevin Purdy put together a good resource for jumpstarting new career. “Have realistic expectations: Even if you’re lucky enough to finally get and hold a job in your dream career, there’s no such thing as the perfect work situation; dream job doesn’t mean “cushy” job. As your mom always told you, anything worth having in this world requires some effort. There will be some days you feel like shutting the alarm off and going back to sleep, especially if you’re being made to do grunt work at first, but many more ahead where you feel more energized by the prospect of work than you ever thought possible!”

Innovate out of the economic downturn
In his blog, Scott McArthur points out the positive effects of a downturn, such as fostering efficiency and innovation, and how organizations can help support these initiatives in order to survive. “New funds should be provided to fill the gap in any serious downfall in private investment in strategic science and technology (S&T) including areas areas such as disruptive technology, nanotechnology, alternative energy, health and life sciences.”