• Do I feel satisfied or challenged in my current job?
• What kind of future do I have at my current job?
• Do I like the way my company does business?
• Do I feel stressed when it’s time to go back to work?
• Am I satisfied with what I am making?

If your answers don’t satisfy you, you may want to consider a career change. A down economy may not seem like a great time to look for a new job, but there are satisfying, financially rewarding jobs out there.

According to USNews.com, “Job seekers may be having a tough time landing a position these days, but don’t assume they’re willing to take anything they can get. According to a recent survey by job search engine SimplyHired.com, today’s job hunters have pretty specific ideas about what they’re looking for in their careers and in prospective employers. More than 80 percent of those polled by the site said they’d rather have a job they love than one that pays well.”

Some companies actively seek to recruit Gen Xers. For example, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) has found Gen Xers a good fit with its entrepreneurial business model of independent sales. With the rise of former startups like Amazon, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn that have become megacompanies in less than a generation, Gen Xers have been called the most entrepreneurial generation America has ever seen.

Gen Xers want to deploy their strong in-person and social media networking abilities and expect cutting-edge technology in the workplace. Careers that allow them to take control of their lives are highly valued. Rather than viewing entrepreneurship as a Darwinian path to wealth, Gen Xers are embracing Joseph Campbell’s advice: “Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Many of these entrepreneurial Gen Xers may wind up in the insurance field. For example, Guardian expects to increase its sales force by 5 percent, adding over 800 new members to its national distribution team in 80 agencies across the U.S. Life insurance industry experience is not the only desirable background, and the company hopes to fill many of those positions with Gen Xers looking for new opportunities.

For more information, visit http://www.GuardianLife.com.

Repetitive stress injuries (RSI) stem from prolonged, repetitive, forceful or awkward movements. If you thought that clicking your mouse or typing at a computer keyboard were harmless activities, think again. RSI can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful nerve injury. Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include tingling or numbness in the hands and fingers, pain that radiates from the hand up the forearm, weakness in the affected side and sometimes the tendency to drop objects. Left untreated, carpal tunnel syndrome sufferers often resort to surgery, which is successful in about 50 percent of cases.

These injuries have lead to increased absenteeism, but companies have found ways to reduce that by studying ergonomics, which looks at how people use the tools crucial to their jobs. Employers have done that for good reason: According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, RSI is the nation’s most common and costly occupational health problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of American workers, and costing more than $20 billion a year in workers’ compensation.

If you are suffering from this type of injury, it can be detrimental to your ability to work.  Additionally, during an uncertain economy, people become anxious about taking time off to properly recover. Fortunately, there are things you can do to prevent RSI.

Make sure you are sitting properly at your desk. Short of getting an ergonomically correct chair for your desk, there are things you can do without spending a lot of money. The best sitting posture brings your knees at or above hip level. Add a foot rest to your desk setup to help accomplish this.

Add support for your wrists. Adding a wrist cushion for your mouse can help your hand stay at an appropriate angle when maneuvering your mouse.

Change your keyboard. It may look funny, but the keyboards that are split in the middle are most effective to keeping your wrists at the correct angle when typing. When you add a keyboard wrist cushion, you can make sure you stay ahead of any potential problems from carpal tunnel or RSI. One company, IMAK, makes mouse and keyboard cushions using ergoBeads, which can massage your wrists while typing or using your mouse. The design conforms to your keyboard and mouse, while completely supporting your wrist and forearm in an ergonomically correct position. This reduces stress in your hands, wrists and arms.

Move your computer screen. If you find yourself lurching to see your monitor, move it forward. Make sure your screen is at eye-level – a stand or phonebook underneath can add needed height.

Lower your keyboard. Most likely, your desk is at a good height for writing, but not necessarily optimal for typing. Add a keyboard tray under your desk to place your keyboard in an ergonomically appropriate place.

With a few easy steps, you can make your workspace ergonomically correct to solve potentially debilitating and costly injuries.

Consistent with trends typically seen at the tail end of the calendar, employers anticipate a moderate slowdown in hiring. Twenty-one percent of hiring managers reported that they plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in Q4, down from Q3, but on par with 2010.

The tempered plans for Q4 follow a slightly softer recruitment picture in Q3. In terms of actual hiring, 26 percent of employers reported they added full-time, permanent headcount in Q3. While better than the same period in 2010, this is down three percentage points from Q2 2011 – reflecting a more hesitant hiring environment in the face of rising commodity prices, a volatile stock market, concerns over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and other global issues.

“While hiring is historically slower in the fourth quarter, recent world events and a structurally impaired U.S. economy are causing employers to be a little more guarded,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “Job creation levels are not yet high enough to drive down the unemployment rate, but the hiring trends we’ve seen through our surveys and on our job site still indicate an overall positive sentiment among employers. For eight consecutive quarters, 20 percent or more of employers reported adding new jobs and the same is expected for Q4.”

Education and Skills Gap
When looking for talent, companies are still having a difficult time filling certain positions despite the stiff competition for jobs. Two-thirds of employers (67 percent) expressed concern over the education and skills gap in the U.S. and corresponding deficit in talent for specialized positions. The top areas employers identified as having a significant skills gap include engineering (37 percent) and information technology (33 percent).

Hiring in Q3
More than one-in-four hiring managers (26 percent) reported they hired full-time, permanent staff in the third quarter, up slightly from 25 percent last year, but down from 29 percent in Q2. While staff reductions slightly improved year-over-year – 11 percent reporting a decrease in headcount in Q3 2011 compared to 12 percent in 2010 – it was unchanged sequentially. Sixty-two percent of employers reported their staff levels stayed the same in Q3 while 1 percent were unsure.

Hiring in Q4
Looking forward, 21 percent of employers expect to increase their number of full-time, permanent employees in Q4. Ten percent expect to downsize staffs while 64 percent anticipate no change and 5 percent are undecided.

Temporary Hiring in Q3 and Q4
To supplement staffs, 32 percent of employers turned to temporary help in Q3. Twenty-seven percent plan to hire temporary or contract workers in Q4 with 17 percent of employers expecting to transition some of these employees into permanent staff.

Hiring By Region
Regional data presents a mixed picture. While the West leads the U.S. regions in the number of employers expecting to hire full-time, permanent employees in Q4 (23 percent), it also houses the highest number of companies planning to downsize by year end (12 percent) – showing a blend of both optimism and uncertainty seen across regions.

Twenty-one percent of employers in the Midwest and South and 19 percent in the Northeast plan to add staff in Q4. Ten percent of employers in the Northeast and 9 percent in the Midwest and South expect to decrease headcount.

Hiring By Company Size
Comparing company sizes, small businesses continue to lag larger organizations in hiring activity, but are also less likely to reduce staff levels.

Companies with 500 or fewer employees – 17 percent plan to increase full-time, permanent headcount in Q4; 8 percent expect to reduce staff levels. Of those with 50 or fewer employees, 12 percent plan to add new employees while 8 percent expect to reduce staff levels.

Companies with more than 500 employees – 27 percent plan to hire full-time, permanent staff in Q4; 11 percent plan to decrease headcount.

Compensation
Forty-one percent of employers anticipate no change in salary levels in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year. Thirty-eight percent expect there will be an increase of 3 percent or less. Twelve percent expect their average changes will be between 4 and 10 percent and 1 percent predict an increase of 11 percent or more. Four percent anticipate a decrease in salaries.

Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding.

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,696 hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between August 16 and September 8, 2011. CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions. CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

A challenge many small and middle market-business (SMB) owners face is that they recognize the need to grow—whether it’s products or services—yet their funds are in short supply.

Managed Services
One option that owners can consider is managed services, where a third party provides support ranging anywhere from the procurement and installation of IT equipment and hardware, all the way to network management and monitoring.

Unfortunately, value added resellers (VARs) who sell services to SMBs estimate that more than 60 percent of SMBs don’t understand the benefits of managed services, according to a Technology Channel Outlook study conducted by CIT in association with Forbes Insights.

This study suggests that SMBs could benefit by asking more questions about managed services—what the various components are and how they apply to their particular business.

The Benefits
Some of the benefits that managed services offer include:

• Access to the latest technology
• Lower costs
• Increased available resources
• Reduced IT head count.

Managed services could potentially turn a fixed expense into a variable expense and allow an SMB to redeploy expense savings into the business for future growth.

Another Way To Save
Given the current uncertainty in the global economy, many businesses—especially SMBs—are greatly concerned about capital expenditures on equipment. Leasing is an option that can help address these concerns. Leasing equipment, point out the experts at CIT, not only provides a way to procure the equipment and pay for it over time, but also the flexibility to upgrade it, which is particularly important in the technology sector, where life cycles are often shorter than for some other types of equipment.

Free Report
For more information or to download the full study for free, go to http://www.cit.com/managed-services.

Meeting the goals established by Congress for producing biofuels requires new crops that add to the corn and soybeans currently being used. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has identified a number of potential sources, including:

• Native prairie grasses, such as switchgrass, big bluestem, Illinois bundleflower and purple prairie clover
• Hybrids, such as perennial Miscanthus giganteus (giant Miscanthus)
• Oil seeds, such as camelina
• Woody biomass, such as fast-growing hybrid poplar trees.
• Other potential biomass crops include algae, jatropha (an oil seed), and energy cane (a form of sugarcane).

The USDA, at the end of last year, finalized rules and began implementing the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) and the Biorefinery Assistance Program (BAP), to help farmers and bioenergy producers grow and refine such sources of energy, but the House of Representatives recently proposed cutting the money for these programs from the 2012 budget.

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program, which gives financial assistance to farmers planting new bioenergy crops, is expected to create an estimated $88.5 billion in economic activity and 700,000 jobs by 2023.

BCAP project areas have been established in 10 states—Arkansas, California, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The Biorefinery Assistance Program, which helps companies secure private loans to finance construction of biorefineries, is helping companies to build new biofuel facilities in rural areas. This year, under this program, the USDA announced loan guarantees to three biorefineries in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, expected to generate 1,000 jobs. The announcement of four to five additional loan guarantees is expected. BAP’s estimated cost in next year’s budget will be $150 million.

“Renewable, homegrown, clean energy from American producers is vital to our country’s energy future because it reduces our reliance on foreign oil and creates good-paying production jobs that cannot be exported,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Vilsack expects that such clean energy will make a significant contribution to rural America and create new jobs, demonstrating the great economic potential that the production of renewable energy holds for our rural communities.

You can contact your congressional representatives and let them know how you feel about this or any other issue.

The vast majority of Americans (77 percent) are stressed by at least one thing at work, finds the Harris Interactive-Everest College Work Stress Survey. The most common issues are: low pay, commuting, unreasonable workload and concern over being fired or laid off. But these are not the only issues American workers are facing – annoying coworkers also made the list, followed by difficulty with a boss, poor work-life balance and lack of opportunity for advancement.

“We’ve seen numerous surveys that confirm workplace stress has increased during the last several years,” says Wendy Cullen, vice president of employer development for Everest College.

Concerns over low pay and job security are consistently one of the top stressors for Americans. In most regions of the U.S., 16 percent of Americans listed low pay as their top stressor, and concerns over job security were a close second. For example, 13 percent of college graduates ranked losing their job as the biggest stressor, which is in line with Americans without college degrees.

“One change we are seeing is that more and more Americans are pursuing careers in industries like health care, which offers more long-term stability.” Switching careers or going back to school to gain access to a more secure or better paying career is one technique that many individuals use to deal with insecurity in the workplace.

How to deal with stress
“The impact of stress cannot be overstated,” says Davis Brimberg, a Los Angeles-based psychologist who focuses on workplace issues. “Almost all psychological problems are worsened by stress. People of all occupations and income levels are greatly affected,” he says. Workplace stress can have negative consequences on your performance at work, and your life.

There are a number of techniques for dealing with workplace stress. First, learn to recognize the symptoms – you may feel a constant sense of nervousness, which can often lead to feeling withdrawn, irritable or apathetic. Stress is also associated with physical problems, such as fatigue and muscle tension.

Physical exercise is also shown to help with stress management. Aerobic exercises have been shown to release mood-raising endorphins, so getting 30 minutes of exercise a day can actually help decrease your stress levels. It is also important to get enough sleep, which can help your body deal with the effects of stress throughout the day, and makes you better able to manage emotional swings.

There are also important strategies in your workplace that can help you deal with stress. Do not over-commit to non-essential tasks. Prioritize important tasks, and learn to delegate non-essential ones. Also, you can schedule regular breaks into your daily routine to allow yourself to get away from your workstation or office.

Additionally, Brimsburg suggests that getting help can be effective. “Counseling can be very helpful in relieving signs and symptoms of stress-related issues.”

The survey results suggested an impact of shift work on people’s work productivity, with one in three shift workers reporting having missed work altogether at least once in the past year because they were too tired. And three in 10 surveyed (29 percent) said that they have dozed off at work in the past month, most of them multiple times, with another 37 percent saying they’ve come close. Still, more people surveyed are worried about job security than their own safety.

In terms of emotional impact, more than half surveyed reported feeling frustrated and drained in the last week, with many others reporting irritability (42 percent), anxiety (36 percent) and anger (32 percent).  Survey respondents also report daily concern for their energy level (47 percent), weight (43 percent), ability to get enough sleep (39 percent) and their sex lives (30 percent). The average shift worker has not had a meal with their family in two weeks or exercised in 24 days.

“While the physical and emotional toll that shift workers are reporting is certainly of great concern, to me the most alarming finding of the survey is that a great majority of shift worker respondents (72 percent) seem to think that being tired is ‘just a part of the job’ and do not consider speaking with their physician about their symptoms,” says Jean J.E. Bonhomme, MD, MPH, spokesperson for Men’s Health Network and Cephalon. “What we know is that people who work nontraditional hours may be suffering from a real medical condition called shift work disorder that can be diagnosed and treated by a doctor, if only they mention their work schedule during physician visits.”

Shift work disorder is a recognized medical condition that occurs when an individual’s internal sleep-wake clock is not in sync with their work schedule. Because of this disruption to the body’s natural rhythm, people with shift work disorder may struggle to stay awake during their working hours, known as excessive sleepiness, or have trouble sleeping during their sleeping hours, known as insomnia.

“It is easy to ignore the overall health impact of our work schedules, but it’s so important that people experiencing excessive sleepiness and/or insomnia take the time to see a doctor and mention that they work nontraditional shifts,” says Dr. Bonhomme. “Very often shift work disorder goes undiagnosed because either the physician or the patient is not making the connections between the symptoms, work schedule and condition.”

For more information about shift work disorder, please visit http://www.TheWakeUpSquad.com.

by Paul Yarossi

The results of failing to invest in an outdated transportation network and maintain a state of good repair are threatening America’s resilience, security, economic performance and ability to compete globally.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, America needs to make a $2 trillion infrastructure investment during the next five years.

Yet, to make real progress, the American people and Congress need to know why they should invest. What is the public being asked to pay for? We don’t have a comprehensive national transportation plan that includes an integrated strategy for all modes of transportation, so it’s not clear to many people where their hard-earned dollars are going.

This can be an opportunity, on the other hand, to create the transportation network this country needs and create jobs to turn around the economy. It can ensure infrastructure strength and capacity to support growth in international trade. It can shore up security and safety for all citizens and significantly affect the quality of life in many metropolitan areas.

If we don’t find common ground, we will continue to lag behind competitors such as China and India. We will face ever-increasing municipal and individual debt, as we attempt to fund infrastructure replacements with piecemeal funding strategies.

The answer lies in a coordinated, strategic, national infrastructure program that covers all types of transportation, explained in a way the American people can understand and support—what’s in it for them?

The plan has to leverage both public funding and private investment—a source that we’ve failed to fully mine.

Three key hurdles to consider if we are to make real progress are:

• The public needs to know what it’s paying for.
• The transportation industry must work together to affect policy.
• American voters must elect strong leadership. Persistent misinformation, mistrust and a lack of vision could threaten the transportation sector.

Action Steps
HNTB is working hand in hand with clients and industry partners to explore options for improvement. The public can provide input too by:

• Continuing the dialogue across transportation modes and advocating for change.
• Calling, visiting and sending letters to policymakers urging a new approach and working together to create a well-balanced, well-funded transportation network.
• Working to elect leaders who share a positive vision for the country’s infrastructure, understand the urgency and are willing to take the lead.

Learn more at http://ARTBA.org, http://ACEC.org, http://uschamber.com/lra and http://www.HNTB.com.

Everyone recognizes a Post Office.

There are lots of Post Offices—about 32,000. But there are even more other places to get U.S. Postal Service stamps, products and shipping services-more than twice as many. Altogether, there are over 100,000 locations—banks, ATMs, grocery stores, drugstores and other retailers. Service may be closer than you think. There is no need for a special trip to the Post Office. Many are open in the evening and on the weekend.

“We’re teaming up with hundreds of new stores so customers can do postal business at places where they already shop,” explains Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. “Americans have more to do and less time to do it. We know simpler is better—online, on your mobile device, on your way, with an expertise that you can count on.”

You can use your mobile device. The U.S. Postal Service has one of the top 10 free business applications, on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch mobile devices, that lets customers track packages, locate Post Offices and calculate postage prices anywhere. A new Android app has also just come out.

You can also shop online at http://www.usps.com, print postage from your computer, and your letter carrier will pick up packages at your home or office without extra charge.

Adds Donahoe, “We’re everywhere so you can be anywhere.”

To find the nearest U.S. Postal Service retail location go to http://www.uspseverywhere.com and type in the ZIP Code or city and state.