We thought getting the ax was tough enough via text message but getting the pink slip doled out over the phone doesn’t sit well with us either.

Somehow this story fell off our radar screen last week when it occurred so even though this post is belated, we can’t not take notice.

As originally reported on JimRomenesko, last week between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., 50 staffers at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer got the pink slip on the phone. At home. They were told to go to the newspaper’s production center 10 miles away to collect their severance materials.      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

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

Okay, we got excited when we first heard this news and then had to pause. Shouldn’t pay raise increases surpass the inflation rate anyway?  I suppose it’s all good but we needed to take a step back for a reality check. Yes, it should be an assumption but given the recession, it’s certainly a sign we’re getting back on track.

As per a survey conducted by WorldatWork (via Fortune), a human resources trade organization, the average salary increase this calendar year is 2.9 percent. The increase represents about 25 percent above the average 2.2 percent pay increase in 2009. Four years ago that number represented a rock bottom low since 1973, the first year WorldatWork launched their annual survey. 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

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

There’s a dose of good news to share. According to a CareerBuilder survey, employers revealed that temporary and contract hiring will increase by the end of this calendar year to the tune of 10 percent compared to last year. Technically temporary work made up 15 percent of hiring the past four years — not too shabby!

Plus, employers revealed that full-time permanent hiring through the end of December will match last year’s full-time hiring numbers. Read more

If you’ve ever been downsized, unfortunately you’ve been on the receiving end of the pink slip.

But what about the people who have to do make the difficult decision to downsize their company?

As per a piece on Inc.com, Cheezburger founder and CEO Ben Huh dished candidly about his most difficult week ever by reducing his company by one-third of its staff. Read more

As we await the government’s monthly jobs report this morning to reflect June hiring, we do know this: Earlier in the week ADP released their monthly National Employment Report and it’s looking good! ADP reported a general increase in hiring.

Private sector employment increased by 188,000 jobs from May to June. In addition, the number for May’s job’s gains were decreased to 134,00 from an initially reported 135,000. Read more

Don’t look now but according to a new survey announced on Monster, more than 50 percent of participants indicated they’re trying to switch career paths due to economic woes.

One-third of participants revealed they would possibly switch careers and 14 percent mentioned they were not impacted by the economy. Read more