By David Galland, Casey Research

US politicians make a great show of concerning themselves with the level of unemployment. And so they bluster about the need for this new program or that new program – in fact, about any new idea except for the one that will actually be effective. Namely, stop the meddling.

Recently there have been some interesting developments that merely confirm the government’s intentions are to continue doing exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.

For starters, we had the news that President Obama announced his administration was going to block the Keystone XL pipeline, blaming the decision on the Republicans and foisting responsibility for the call onto the back of Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

The story has received quite a bit of coverage, so I won’t repeat it here. However, I will mention a Reuters column by John Kemp, titled Keystone symbolizes what is wrong with US policy. As he points out, the initial permit application for Keystone XL was filed in 2008 – and yet here we are, going on four years later, and the president is complaining about the “rushed and arbitrary deadline” imposed by the Republicans as part of the latest round of budget theatrics.

The actual fact of the matter is that the United States is becoming increasingly unfriendly toward businesses that actually produce anything tangible, despite our politicians constantly carping about the evil capitalists sending American jobs overseas.

On that front, there’s a great series that Bloomberg has just kicked off, titled America‘s Dirty War Against Manufacturing, on why US manufacturing is expatriating itself. Here’s a relevant quote:

Those industries left the U.S. in search not of cheaper workers, but of more supportive governments. If the U.S. lost manufacturing due to high wages (or unions, labor laws, regulation – the other commonly cited villains), how do you explain the manufacturing success of Germany and Japan? Germany, the world’s pre-eminent high-end manufacturing economy, has higher wages, stronger unions and stricter labor laws than the U.S. Japan, too, is a high-wage competitor, yet Toyota Motor Corp. still makes 60 percent of its vehicles there. General Motors Co. makes only about 30 percent in North America.

So if wages aren’t to blame, what is?

Policy. But is US government policy really hostile to manufacturing?

Sadly, yes.

While the government may make life hard for the manufacturing sector, it positively detests the extractive industries – the Keystone XL pipeline being just one of many recent examples. This week, for instance, the outlook for new mineral exploration and mining in the geological treasure-chest state of Nevada was cast into doubt by new regulations related to protecting the habitat of the sage grouse.

I have nothing against the sage grouse personally, or any other bird, for that matter. I am simply trying to make the point that if you are trying to attract capital investment, create jobs and reduce dependence on foreign producers of the tangibles our economy relies on, surprising businesses with ever more regulations is not helpful.

But the story my friend Porter Stansberry sent me takes the cake – it is a proposal to establish a “Reasonable Profits Board” whose sole purpose will be to control how much companies in the oil and gas business will be able to earn going forward.

A relevant quote from the article:

The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a “windfall profit tax” as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding “a reasonable profit.” It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress.

The bill would also seem to exclude industry representatives from the board, as it says members “shall have no financial interests in any of the businesses for which reasonable profits are determined by the Board.”

Dan Ferris, the editor of Stansberry’s Extreme Value newsletter, was on the same email string and on reading the article wrote back the following note, which I thought worth sharing.

So… just to recap, then…

Selling gasoline is a crap, low (if any) margin business. If you don’t attach a convenience store to it, you make nothing. Refining gasoline has a margin between something like 1% and negative infinity, except every now and then when it almost looks like it’s not another crappy business.

And Congress says they make too much money. If they could guarantee a reasonable profit, they’d be subsidizing it, not taxing it.

People who lend out your deposits (ten times over) and forbid Walmart from entering their business because Walmart’s model would only benefit customers, not cronies, aren’t making too much money.

People who get money from the government to keep the price of sugar double the global price aren’t making too much money.

People who get money from government to grow corn so they can do the most expensive possible thing with it – turn it into ethanol – aren’t making too much money.

Al Gore’s carbon credit trading operation isn’t making too much money.

College professors who don’t teach, who drink fine wine, live in Tudor McMansions and drive Volvos while writing papers on the oppression of women in the workforce aren’t making too much money.

But people who sell gasoline… one of the skinniest margins on Earth… a product without which life as we know it comes to a grinding halt… they’re making too much money.

This is what you get when you vote, people trying to make good sound bites for ignoramuses who vote, as if the political process had all the depth and meaning of a Disney movie trailer. “Coming soon: Hope, Change and Reasonable Profits!”

And, finally, to put this all in perspective, the following is a quote that Reason magazine ran from Eric Schmidt of Google.

Q: You recently testified before Congress in an antitrust hearing about Google. What are your reflections on the experience? Were the leaders there asking the right questions?

Eric Schmidt: So we get hauled in front of the Congress for developing a product that’s free, that serves a billion people. Okay? I mean, I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I mean, it’s fine. It’s their job. But it’s not like we raised prices. We could lower prices from free to… lower than free? You see what I’m saying?

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again here – if you want to fix the economy, stop government meddling!

[Persistently high unemployment is just one thread in the American debt crisis tapestry. Yet there are ways you can protect yourself – and even profit – during these troubling times.]

Millions of consumers suffered job loss and unemployment after the recent economic meltdown in the US. The way you manage your financial situation will determine whether a job loss and unemployment is a temporary set back or it is a potentially life-changing disaster. The decisions you make now might have an immense impact on your financial future. Therefore, if you are unemployed then you should start looking for a way out to make money so that you do not incur overwhelming debt and enroll in a debt relief program.

When you are unemployed, you still have to pay rent, utilities, as well as health costs and to top it all somehow afford groceries. Unemployment benefits will not last for long, so there’s little cushion.

There are ways for the unemployed to pick up some additional money and avoid complicating their financial situation. Here are a few financial strategies to help you stay afloat and maintain your pride:

1. The first step, when you become unemployed is formulating a stringent budget plan. Budgeting helps to curb your habit of overspending so you can stay within your means. You can save a substantial amount of money each month by looking at your current expenditures and cutting them to the bone. Look especially at recurring charges like cable bills, gym memberships, etc. Perhaps eliminate your landline phone or replace it with Skype or MagicJack. Since you will have more time, prepare more home-cooked meals and avoid restaurants and fast-food. While you are preparing your meals avoid processed foods and do the preparation yourself and you will save even more. In the state of unemployment you must save as much money money as possible so that you can use it for other necessary things.
2. Your next step should be to file for unemployment with your local unemployment office. Remember that the unemployment benefit might vary from state to state. Your unemployment benefit is based on the the amount you were earning from your previous job. The entire process of collecting unemployment can be tedious. Remember that unemployment benefits last for 26 weeks. If the state jobless rate is high then those benefits may be extended for an additional 13 to 20 weeks.
3. You can sell your clutter, everything from used books to unused gift cards. There are many people who might be eager to buy these things. Ebay is a great place to raise cash from things you no longer use. Books can be sold on Amazon as well as purchased by simply creating an account.
4. If you have your own blog then you can use it for earning money. You can place Google Adsense in your blog so that you can get a commission from the ads when the visitors of your site click on it. But make sure that you have high traffic in your blog otherwise the Google Adsense will not be beneficial for making money. Try to spend more time on your blog or website to increase the traffic as it will help you reap profit from Google Adsense.
5. Start your own consultation business if you have an expert knowledge in a specific field. After the economic depression there are many companies that require consultants to manage their downturn situation effectively. The consultants usually charge more money per hour than a salaried worker. If you can promote your services properly it will be one of the easiest means to make money.

Author resource box:
This is a guest post by Marie Nelson who is a financial writer. He has helped lots of people with free counseling and advice on finance related topics and enjoys helping people solve their debt problems.

Wages varied by race, gender, age group and profession. As would be expected, persons employed full time in management, professional, and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings with men earning $1,274 and women earning $946. Men and women employed in service jobs earned the least, $578 and $440, respectively.

Education also played a part in the median wages. Full-time workers age 25 and over without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $444, compared with $641 for high school graduates (no college) and $1,158 for those holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

Wages also varied by age with the highest wages going to those in the oldest age group. Among men, those age 55 to 64 had the highest median weekly earnings at $1,029. While those slightly younger ,45 to 54 had the second highest at $993.

Earnings by race are also tracked, with Asians having the highest median wages at $880, Whites at $786, Blacks at $621, and Hispanics at $534. These numbers do not take into consideration education, language abilities or occupation.  Women had  median weekly earnings of $688, or 81.6 percent of the $843 median for men. White women earned 81.4 percent as much as their male counterparts,  black women earned 91.1 percent as much as their male counterparts, Asian women earned 80.3 percent as much as their male counterparts and Hispanic women women earned 90.4 percent as much as their male counterparts. Interestingly if you take 80.3% of the Asian male wage you get $706 for Asian women which is more than the $621 for Black men.

The BLS uses the “Mean” rather than the average. A “Mean” determines the amount the middle person in a group makes. So if you have five people earning $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 and $50,000 the mean would be $30,000.  In this example the average would also be $30,000. But the reason the BLS uses the mean is because it eliminates the effects of high income wage earners. For instance if you have five different wage earners earning $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 and then you have Mitt Romney earning $21 Million. The mean is still $30,000 but the average is $4,220,000.

“Localities have chopped 535,000 positions since September 2008…”
USA Today (10/18)

Cuts in government services became conspicuous after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The first edition of Robert Prechter’s Conquer the Crash saw this coming, even though the book published nearly a decade ago:

“Don’t expect government services to remain at their current levels…The tax receipts that pay for roads, police and jails, fire departments, trash pickup, emergency (911) monitoring, water systems and so on will fall to such low levels that services will be restricted.” (p. 257)

Households throughout Massachusetts know exactly what Prechter is talking about.

In a boston.com article (12/7), the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association said this about the state’s municipalities: “Revenues have been virtually flat, while their costs have grown, which has meant cuts in schools, public safety, and other basic services for most cities and towns.’’

The same article reports that “Worcester has cut about 450 municipal jobs, including approximately 60 police officers, 60 firefighters, and 100 public works employees…”

Detroit’s WWJ-TV reports (12/6) “Budget deficits and declining personnel are the major forces behind the Detroit Police Department’s decision to end free funeral escorts.”

November 9 saw the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, when officials in Jefferson County, Alabama voted to file for Chapter 9. Reuters said the county’s debt exceeded $5 billion; Jefferson County is home to Birmingham, the state’s biggest city and economic hub.

Financial troubles are also leading to federal cut backs. The U.S. Postal Service has decided to close about half of its 487 mail processing centers:

“The post office had bad news on Monday for all those who like to pop a check into the mail to pay a bill due the next day: don’t count on it.

“The United States Postal Service said it planned to largely eliminate next-day delivery for first-class mail as part of its push to cut costs and reduce its budget deficit. Currently, more than 40 percent of first-class mail is delivered in one day.”

New York Times (12/5)

The pace of the deteriorating economic trend appears to be accelerating. Our analysis suggests that it’s part of a larger deflationary trend that has a long way to go.

See what we’re seeing so you can prepare and protect yourselfDiscover Robert Prechter’s views on the unfolding deflationary trend by reading the 90-page report, The Guide to Understanding Deflation. This guide will help you survive a major deflationary trend, and even equip you to prosper. Plan and prepare for your financial future. Download Your Free 90-Page Deflation Survival Guide eBook.

Let’s look at the wage levels in various countries

One of the major components of labor costs in Europe are the high cost of government mandated Social insurance (like Social security). In this chart we can see the total  level of benefits paid by each country. We can also see the breakdown between Social Insurance and Directly paid benefits like leave time, bonuses and payments in kind.

 

Benefit components of hourly compensation costs

Notable by their absence are the countries of China and India. The data was a incomplete for these two countries so they were tracked separately.

The full data release is available from the US bureau of Labor Statistics

As we can see from the chart above, obviously the unemployment rate is the highest for those with the least education… as we would expect. Logically if you were an employer you would lay off the least educated employees first because they are more readily replaceable. We can even tell by the numbers the actual difference a high school education makes. The average unemployment rate for the period from 1992 through October 2011 for High School graduates was 5.5% while the average for those who didn’t graduate from High School was 9.2%. So simply by getting a High School education you decreased your odds of being unemployed drastically with the actual difference being 3.7%.  But if you look at the chart you will see that a High School education was even more valuable than that. The real benefit of being able to get a job is when jobs are scarce, so even though the average difference was 3.7% during bad times, i.e. when the overall unemployment rate is higher the difference climbs even more.

First let’s look at the difference just a high School education makes.

As we can see the differential is relatively low when times are good such as January 2007. At that point the overall unemployment rate was 4.6% and the differential between having a HS diploma and not was only about 1%. But as times got tougher and the overall unemployment rate climbed to 10% the differential climbed as well peaking at just under 6%. So when the unemployment rate for those without a HS diploma was over 16% those with one were at just over 10%.

Next lets ook at the benefit of taking the next step up and getting a Bachelor’s degree.

From this chart we can see that taking the step from a HS diploma to a Bachelor’s degree improved your odds of having a job from roughly 1.5% to over 7%. And once again the benefit was most pronounced when it was needed most i.e. during period of high unemployment. If you look closely the benefit of having a college degree appears about the same as that of a High School degree. Meaning that it was approximately another equal step upward. So when the unemployment rate was 16.5% for those with no education and 10.7% for those with only High School the unemployment rate for those with a four year degree was only 4.5% or roughly the same as the overall unemployment rate during boom times.

Finally let’s look at how those with just a little college compare.

As we can see from the chart above even just a little college helped. During normal times the differential may have been 1% or less but during the really bad times the differential could climb to over 3% giving those with even a little college a competitive advantage.

Billions of oil dollars are flowing into the state and job hunters are following. As for the oil itself, it comes from the Bakken rock formation a huge shale oil formation that up until recently has been totally untapped not because it was unknown but because the technology to tap it didn’t exist. The Bakken formation spans 14,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana and Canada.

According to Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, ”North Dakota has a lot of untapped shale oil, and developing that field may have attracted a lot of investment and a lot of employment into the state.” This has driven the unemployment rate in the small towns that lie along the Bakken oil formation, like Williston, Watford City and Belfield, down to just 1.5%.

But all is not perfect. The oil boom has created some problems as well. Since the oil boom began in western North Dakota, finding a place to live anywhere nearby has become a challenge. Cities near and far from the oil fields are rushing to provide support services and meet the growing demand for housing. This has helped to drive unemployment in the entire state down as well.  Single family home construction in Bismarck has increased almost 30% from this time last year.

If projections are any indicator, oil production and all its spinoffs will be major components of North Dakota’s economy for decades. There are already  5,000 oil wells producing approximately 440,000 barrels of oil per day. Some projections say that production could reach 700,000 barrels a day. Other projections indicate triple that amount. Currently, there are over 350 oil service companies doing business in Williston alone.

Oil production has doubled in North Dakota in the last three years. Forecasts indicate that soon North Dakota will jump ahead of both California  and Alaska, allowing it to rank second only to Texas in oil production. And according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, North Dakota had the highest income and job growth over the last decade of any state in the country.

People struggling to get by elsewhere have flocked to North Dakota to “Play catch-up” with their finances. Many are amazed. Saying things like, “When I came here, I thought I was on Mars. It’s just so crazy that the rest of the country has no jobs, and here’s this one place that doesn’t have enough people to fill all the jobs.” Families are flocking from all over the country to North Dakota because even low level jobs like McDonald’s have felt the boom in jobs.  Entry level jobs like restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and local banks pay a minimum of $12 per hour, according to the McKenzie County Job Development Authority.  In Williston, even McDonalds pays $15 an hour just to attract employees. Higher skill jobs like truck drivers can make an average of $70,000 to $80,000 a year.

But all the rapid growth hasn’t come without a price, among the inconveniences the boom has caused include:

1. A higher cost of living
2. More traffic
3. Higher employee turnover rates among businesses as employees leave for the oilfields
4. A huge housing shortage.

Recently Governor Dalrymple said. “Unlike most of the nation, North Dakota is creating jobs, increasing wages, growing the economy and providing tax relief. Our focus on aggressive economic development and common-sense fiscal responsibility is paying off in big ways and is setting North Dakota apart from the rest of the nation.”

But it’s not just the oil sector that’s booming. Oil represents 25 percent of the state’s revenues. But the other 75 percent is just as vital to North Dakota’s sustainable economic health. Believe it or not, North Dakota jobs are also growing rapidly in a variety of other fields from biotechnology to high technology.

Recent figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the governor’s office show non-Oil Patch jobs and business activity are expanding twice as fast as every other state in the nation. Overall growth – oil and all other sectors – has been running at a 7 percent – easily more than twice the growth rate of the rest of the nation.

Some examples of the unexpected industries in North Dakota:

• Microsoft’s Fargo campus has expanded and employs 1,500 direct workers, vendors and contingent staff.
• Amazon added a 30,000-square-foot building in in Grand Forks, ND and will add 200 full-time jobs plus additional seasonal jobs.
• Caterpillar has begun a $50 million project that will generate 250 new jobs over the next three years, doubling the company’s workforce.

The state currently has 16,000 job openings, two-thirds of which are outside oil-producing counties. Over the last 10 years, North Dakota, has added nearly 50,000 new jobs (most of them outside the Oil Patch) while the rest of the country has lost jobs. So if you are looking for a job you might consider North Dakota… but be sure to make arrangements for housing before you go. Many are bringing campers because the housing supply is so tight.

As many of us are only too aware, we spend a lot of time at work. According to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, the average Brit spends 1,530 hours a year working, while the average American spends even longer – a back-breaking, finger-hurting 1,896 hours every year.

Things are not going to get better either, according to Paul Macro of the actuaries Watson Wyatt. ‘For a long time, it was a common belief that rising prosperity would allow each generation to retire earlier than their parents,’ he says. But reality has now bitten. It means saving more or working longer.

With these sobering thoughts in mind, perhaps it’s time that we started considering how we make all those years of slog a little more interesting. Do a little digging, and it’s easy to discover some unusual, if not downright bizarre, employment opportunities.

Banana gasser

Not quite as Nazi as it appears, banana gassing is a process to help ripen the fruit ready for sale. After being picked, bananas are shipped while they are still green to help reduce the potential for bruising. On arrival, they are taken to hermetically sealed chambers where they are surrounded with an ethylene gas to encourage their ripening. The process can take three to eight days, with the gasser using a computer program to determine the volume and amount of exposure needed.

Ice-cream taster

Good for those with a sweet tooth, hell for those without. The job involves sampling ingredients and developing new flavours. Candidates will have a well-developed palette for appreciating how differing amounts of air or sugar in ice-cream can change a flavour. The best time for taste test is mid-morning and things to look out for are the immediate flavours and the amount of time they last. Colour and texture are also important factors. If this sounds like just the ticket, Häagen-Dazs are currently looking for a new taster – applications close on Thursday 24 November 2011.

Smokejumper

Smokejumpers are fire-fighters who parachute into remote areas to combat wildfires. A well-developed training program that has been more than seven decades in the making ensures that fatalities are rare. Smokejumpers reach wildfires shortly after ignition, when they are still small and relatively easy to extinguish. Employment opportunities for smokejumpers exist in the US, Russia, Canada and Mongolia – or anywhere else where there are large swathes of forest.

Wrinkle chaser

Not someone who prefers an older man/woman, a wrinkle chaser is, in fact, concerned with the wrinkles in shoes. More accurately, they are tasked with removing said wrinkles. Wrinkle chasers use special heated irons and inspect the inside and outside of shoes to find suitable subjects to use them on.

Ravenmaster

An admittedly difficult job to snag, the Ravenmaster looks after Tower of London’s ravens. A royal decree issued by Charles II stated that there must always be six ravens at the Tower. The Yeoman Warder Ravenmaster is tasked with ensuring the decree is obeyed. To even be considered as a Yeoman Warder, candidates must have at least 22 years experience in the Armed Forces, with a good conduct record. They must also have reached the rank of warrant officer. An additional bonus would be sufficient public liability insurance as the ravens aren’t especially tame.

Snake milker

Snake milkers have the unenviable task of obtaining venom from the fangs of live snakes. They do this by forcing the snake to bite into a membrane placed over a collecting vessel. The venom can then be used to develop antivenin to help people who have been bitten by one of the 600 species of poisonous snake. Perhaps unsurprisingly, employment opportunities are highest in Australia, the home of most venomous snakes.

Foley Artist

‘Foley’ sound effects aim to replicate the natural, everyday sounds that we hear during daily life. Obvious examples are footsteps or the rustling of clothes. Foley artists work in the film industry and produce the background noises that make scenes feel realistic. The job takes its name from ‘Jack Foley’, who began working with Universal Studios in 1914. Modern foley artists require high levels of technical ability in electronics and increasingly in computers. While experience in sound operation is a good start, a HND, BS or even Graduate degree or its equivalent in electronics will help but an apprenticeship may prove far more useful in opening doors.

Although these positions may not be your cup of tea you can still take control of your own life. See: Take Control of Your Life

There’s no question that it’s a buyer’s market out there. Close to 10% of the population is unemployed and who knows how many more under-employed. How can you stand out from the hundreds, sometimes thousands, other job seekers?

Here are 8 steps most job seekers miss to make you stand out against the competition.

1. Do Your Research
Always do your research and find out as much as you can about the company you’ll be interviewing with, the role you’re interviewing for and the interviewer.

As they say, “knowledge is power” and it’s never truer than in this case.

Research is important because it will allow you to laser target all your preparations to that particular employer. For example, most people have one resume that they send out to 100 employers. It’s generic – and therefore weak. Is it any wonder that they don’t hear a reply?

Savvy job seekers tailor their resume for one job and they incorporate their research into it. They include experience that works to their advantage but leave out those that do not. This is crucial because you want resumes to be short and sweet but also deliver everything you want to say.

2. Dress For The Role
What kind of company are you looking to work for? Your research should tell you that. Is it a start-up with 5 people who report to work with t-shirts and sandals? Or is it a bank where everyone wear no less than suits?

Despite what the older generation might tell you, wearing a suit is not always the best way to dress. Always dress for the job, not below or you’ll seem disrespectful nor above or you’ll seem snobby.

Plus, people like others who are like them. Dressing like them is one way you can show your potential employer that you’ll fit in.

 3. Provide Value First
Most job seekers go into interviews with a hand extended asking for a job for nothing in return. When the economy soars, that maybe just fine. But that kind of attitude is not enough today.

Savvy job seekers actively find out what the role is – and what kind of problems they are expected to solve. These job seekers then go home,work on some of these problems and generate a solution to them – before they are even hired!

When it comes to hiring someone, which would the employer hire, those who are proactive or those who are passive?

4. Ask Great Questions
At the end of every interview there’s bound to be a couple of minutes of Q&A session. This is where you can really stand out.

If you have ever been in the employer side of the table, you’d know that most interviewees ask pretty much the same questions. They get these questions from Googling “Questions to ask in an interview”. Not only are those questions boring, they also show that you’re not actively thinking about the job.

To really stand out, ask a question no one has ever asked. This is where your research comes in and no one can give you a list of “unique” questions.

5. Appear Confident
Studies have shown that confident people are better-liked and they get paid more. If you’re an introvert or just shy, the good news is it’s easy to appear as confident. All you have to do is find a partner and practice. The longer, the better.

Give a firm hand shake, look the person in eye and smile. Simple… but not easy. To be frank, you’ll probably fail a couple of times in this point. But remember, practice makes perfect and confidence is not the silver bullet.

6. Ask For Reference
Everyone likes to blow their own trumpets. Can you blame the interviewer to be skeptical of your glowing resume?

Most job seekers make the mistake of assuming employers would ask them for a reference if they want one. The reality is employers are often so skeptical, they don’t even bother to ask for a reference. They just assume some of the things you claim you did are not true.

This is why it’s crucial to actively give the details of your references at the end of an interview, even if they didn’t ask for it. And don’t use your family as references! You won’t believe how often this happens.

Instead, get one from someone famous in your industry – even if you have to freelance or work for free.

7. Zag When Everyone Zigs
Since most employers are, by default, skeptical of your accomplishments, this is why it’s crucial that you also include your weaknesses. A real weakness! Not, “I work too much.”

People who dare to admit their weaknesses are viewed as more credible. Whatever claims you make thereafter and more likely to be believed.

8. Prepare a Portfolio
A picture is worth a thousand words. If so, a portfolio is worth a million.

A portfolio is like a taste test – it allows your potential employer to take a look “under the hood” before committing to the purchase. This is also where your research comes in. Tailor your portfolio according to what the role is and the company you are interviewing with.

If you are interviewing for a job that does not usually require a portfolio, create case studies and use that as a portfolio. The case study should detail how you were involved in the project and how you helped achieve business goals.

Ally is part of the team that manages personal finance sites in Sydney, Australia, which feature personal finance topics such as how to save money fast. Before joining the team, she was a Media Planner in McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.