Thankfully I’m part of the minority of unemployed who are actually getting phone and face-to-face interviews as a result of my efforts, but as yet I have not found a job that will truly satisfy me, though it’s certainly helping me to keep positive!

One job for which I recently interviewed would have required me to travel upwards of 60, even 70% of the time. To me, this is not conducive to a pleasurable working experience. I know many people are lovers of business travel, and I’ll of course do it to some extent – after all, I did love going to trade shows and such when I was with my former companies - but being away from home that often really doesn’t make for a great work-life balance, wouldn’t you think?

Similarly, I have received calls from companies that are over sixty miles from my house. I was, at my last job, what the U.S. Census Bureau calls an “extreme commuter.” By definition, that includes the 3% of Americans that drive more than ninety minutes each way to get to work. My commute was 152 miles round-trip, a three-hour journey that usually ended up being upwards of four to four-and-a-half hours each day due to construction, summer traffic, or accidents. It was, in all honesty, brutal. Do I think it affected the way I worked? Absolutely. I would have to get up exceptionally early to even make it to work on time, and by the time I got home at night, I had little to no time to focus on everyday things that needed to be done, such as household chores, much less any of my hobbies or personal activities.

And for those of you who wish to stress the concept of using public transport: don’t get me wrong, I would absolutely have done that. Except the job in question was in an area of New Jersey that would have required a train, then a bus, then a walk, which would have added an additional hour to my trip, so that was out of the question.

Let’s face it: according to Alois Stutzer of the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics at the University of Zurich, “Commuting is a stress that doesn’t pay off.” Let’s look at the drawbacks to a long commute:

• One must earn considerably more money to make up for the wear and tear on one’s car, not to mention the constantly escalating gas prices.
• The human body is susceptible to aches, pains, and trauma from sitting in the same position for a long period of time, including high blood pressure … and of course contributes to weight gain.
• Traveling for so long is tiring, and the commuting experience is rarely pleasurable for anyone, so employees arrive at work tired and/or irritable. Employee morale suffers, and when that is affected, so is productivity.

Was telecommuting an option? It was at first, for at least a day a week, but my contract was altered two weeks in to the job. The benefits of telecommuting are numerous to both employees and employers, but I will focus on that in a future post.

What are the other downfalls to a long commute? Are there any benefits? At what point would you say a commute is too long?

And yes!  For the first time since I’ve read one of these lists – and I read them often – they have gone beyond the standard engineer, nurse, financial analyst, etc., positions that always make it to the top five.  This time, a new one caught my eye:

Internet Marketer ($53,000) — from Internet Marketing Specialist ($43,000) to Internet Marketing Life Coach ($203,000)

Online marketers, also called eMarketers or Internet advertisers, work in a lively business sector that changes every day. One of those changes, according to the BLS 2008-09 Occupational Outlook Handbook, is continued growth. “Advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales manager jobs are highly coveted and will be sought … In particular, employers will seek those who have the computer skills to conduct advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales activities on the Internet.”

I’m happy just to know that my field (and passion!) finally made the cut.  After all, marketeers deserve recognition too!

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It’s one of the longest-lasting taboos in society today. From the cubicle to the dinner table, mentioning one’s salary, or even bringing up the subject, makes for awkward silences and a general sense that the speaker has never been taught manners.

For Generation Y, however, the lines have become blurred. The New York Times posted an article yesterday related to this precise issue. To our generation,

“salary information is now fair game, at least among friends. Many consider it crucial to prosper in an increasingly transient, winner-take-all workplace — regardless of the envy that full disclosure can raise. Besides, when the Internet already offers a cornucopia of personal information, it almost seems coy to keep personal income private.”

My parents raised me with the belief that one’s salary is an extremely private matter. To this day, I cannot tell you how much my parents make, though this would be a juicy bit of information to have. But I can tell you how much my sister and a number of close friends make, simply because, it seems, the closer one is to having graduated from college, the less closed-lipped one becomes about salary … at least with friends. Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer of Salary.com, is quoted in the Times article as saying, “This is a generation that is much more attuned to teamwork, collaboration and sharing information. Everything they do is a kind of group event. How do you know, when you get your first job offer, if $45,000 is a good offer, a bad offer or an O.K. offer? You go to your friends.”

The exception does still exist with regard to divulging such information to co-workers. A Money Magazine study found that 84 percent of people under the age of 35 believe that one should never reveal to work colleagues how much money he or she makes. Divulging one’s salary to co-workers at jobs I’ve had in the past could result in immediate termination; it ranked as a very serious offense.

Thankfully, for those who are curious, the Internet makes it very easy to figure out the salaries of other professionals at your level. Salary.com offers a one-click summary of the going rates for your job title in any specific zip code, and from what I’ve tested, this seems to be a fairly accurate record. Also, PayScale.com provides users with a full, in-depth, and totally free salary report that compares your total salary, benefits, and further compensation (bonuses, stock options, vacation time, etc.) within categories such as gender, experience, skill, age, location, and degree of study. In addition, you can view anonymous profiles of professionals in your area detailing all of the categories (see screenshot below). This is highly beneficial, some say, with regard to annual or semi-annual reviews, in which one can present the median or even a range of salaries to one’s manager in an effort to receive proper, or standard, compensation for one’s job responsibilities and experience.

However, as I get older and tack on more years under my employment belt, I’m finding myself less and less inclined to discuss salary with anyone but those with whom I have the most intimate relationships. I felt extremely awkward at one point a few months ago, when my girlfriend made a slight reference to my salary in front of some of my college friends … people with whom I would not have hesitated to discuss it just two years ago. My general response to something like that is, “Oh, I’m managing,” and a quick change of subject. But in review-like situations at work, salary discussion is fair play, and will continue to be a strong negotiation tool.