Leave of absence, anyone? Or maybe you just want to throw in the towel, give your two weeks notice and take time to get introspective and figure out your next career move.

According to this piece on Brazen Careerist, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Go ahead and take time off! But don’t do it to figure things out. The piece mentions people who had the best experiences during their ample time didn’t intentionally take the time off to figure things out and get clarity. In fact, it’s the opposite — they arrived at that zen moment by enjoying the journey. Truly. Read more

Our friends at CareerCloud are at it again! We just got word from Chris Russell, their CEO, about their new app and service, Jobs With Friends.

Tapping into your contacts for Facebook and LinkedIn per the new service seems like a no brainer. After all, according to JobVite, approximately 40 percent of all hires are attributed to employee referrals!

He dishes, ”We are moving to a world where recruiters are scouring the web (social media in particular) to discover new talent. And if you can’t be found, you can’t get hired.” Read more

Hashtags got you down? If you’re overwhelmed by looking for a job on Twitter, you’re not alone.

As pointed out by CBS News, Gozaik assists users in making sense of the 50,000+ jobs posted to Twitter on a daily basis. You can search and sort the tweets without having to follow specific companies. The site also lets users enter the location you’re seeing by searching for jobs within a radius.

We decided to give the free service a whirl: By entering the title of journalist for 50 miles within New York, N.Y., five job postings appeared on the screen. Wondering why more jobs didn’t appear, we noticed the fine print:  ”Gozaik contains jobs from selected US employers. Contact us at 855-6GOZAIK or info@gozaik.com to include your jobs.” Read more

If our recent Cubes episode giving you an insider’s look at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal made you think about working there, here’s your chance to find out how to make that happen.

Vicki Salemi, mediabistro’s very own career expert, author and editor sits down with Meredith Lubitz, vice president of Talent Acquisition at Dow Jones to hear what it takes to go from candidate to employee.

A couple of hints? Who you are outside the office is just as important as who you are inside. So tighten up that social media presence. They want to know what you’re saying to the world.

You can view our other MediabistroTV productions on our YouTube Channel.

If you’ve gone on an interview and shaken the hand of a potential boss who’s a little clammy, your expectations became set instantly, right? (Remember, as the job seeker you’re evaluating the employer as much as they’re evaluating you.)

Conversely, if you’re the hiring manager and shake a candidate’s hand with chipped nailpolish or multiple tattoos, you may think differently about their candidacy. According to a piece on ERE, there are a few ways to wipe out handshake bias. Read more

It’s not exactly news we want to hear soaring into a weekend but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation added 162,000 in July.

Is that completely bleak? No. Is it excellent news? Not really. It’s less than the 185,000 forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg.

As for slightly better news, the unemployment rate trickled down slightly from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent but that could be attributed to having fewer people in the workforce. Sigh. Read more

If you’re an experienced job seeker, unfortunately you may find yourself nodding in agreement to this piece.

As pointed out by MoneyWatch, a 55 year-old real estate paralegal dished about losing out on a potential job to a younger applicant. ”She said that because of my 20-plus years of experience, which put me at a much higher salary range, I was losing every job opportunity to someone fresh out of college who these firms could train while paying them half the amount.”

Despite the harsh reality, there are some things an experienced job seeker can do: Work it! Easier said than done and we’re not belittling the topic by any means but there are a few ways to put an upbeat spin to it. Read more

Here’s the cool thing about this piece we read on LinkedIn by Lou Adler, author of Hire With Your Head.

While it outlines several traits to spot in high achievers, its purpose is twofold. Managers can easily spot these traits to identify a high performer and if you’re an employee on the team, you can connect the dots and pursue the ideas below to become that go-to guy or gal.

1. You’ve been assigned difficult challenges ahead of your peers. In the piece Adler points out the best people on a team are assigned tasks that are typically given to the higher ups. If this happens frequently and during the first year of your employment, you get a gold star! This is certainly evidence of a high achiever and something to highlight on a job interview. Read more

According to two Federal Reserve economists, it should take about two more years before our labor market returns to the norm.

Keeping in mind we’re media folks and not necessarily economist-types who crunch numbers, we’ll share this update at a macro level.

As pointed out by ERE, they looked at 23 different labor market indicators and said change is above the average but hasn’t morphed into an equivalent rate of conversion to boost labor market conditions. Read more

Let’s face it: When you get that coveted job offer, salary is typically one of the most important items on your list.

“Show me the money!” you exclaim in your head as you hear the verbal offer being extended.

Well, there are several other things your employer can provide in addition to salary. If you focus on negotiating the salary as the numero uno priority and you’re not getting anywhere, there are other areas where employers may offer more flexibility.

Read more