As a result of the recession, college seniors and grads are not only vying with their classmates for employment, but also with career-changers who possess much more professional experience. The difficulty of today’s job hunt is further compounded by hiring freezes and slashed budgets. Even in light of President-Elect Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus plan, the outplacement consultant firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas forecasts another one million layoffs in 2009, and some economists expect unemployment to soar as high as nine percent before the job market begins to rebound. Now more than ever, it’s essential for job-seekers to distinguish themselves from the crowd.

In light of this, Gradspot.com has launched “30 in 30,” a series that will feature one insider job-hunting tip (developed with the help of career experts and people who have successfully found employment) each day, for the next 30 days. We know that finding a job can be an aggravating process—by providing hunters with these essential tips and tricks over the next 30 days, we plan to get hunters started on the right foot, and to save them from the humiliation of sitting alone in their underwear uploading resumes to Monster.com for six months. Topics include: “Five Recession Proof Industries,” “Online Career Networking,” “Informational Interviews,” “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”, and more…

In addition to all of this great stuff, once the 30 days are over there will be additional links added to the site from users and previous contributors. I’ve arranged to have a brief entry added to the collection which will focus on the language you want to use in your resume. I’m looking forward to writing it and I think that you’ll enjoy reading it…plus, as a JerseySmarts.com reader you’ll get a first look at my entry as it’ll posted here first!

Enjoy the Insider’s Guide to Job-Hunting in ’09!

Landlords in Monmouth County are weird.

And now we have an absentee landlord who lives in Kentucky. Fine, whatever. Like any other American, he has the right to live where he wants and own what he can afford – even if that means he owns a property thousands of miles from where he lives. Whatever – good for him. He’s not a good “people person” as he is one of those rich guys who never really listens to what you say, but rather just talks over you. Also, he is quite condescending and thinks that my roommates and I are just a bunch of “kids.” Bear in mind, I’ll be 28 years old in a few months and both of my roommates and I have Masters Degrees and we’ve been working professionals for the last 2+ years (we’ve all actually held jobs for much longer). But, like all Monmouth County landlords, this guy is just weird.

My roommates and I sent him August’s rent on July 21st. Talk about sending the rent early, huh? We try to be good tenants and we wanted to start the relationship with the new landlord on the right foot. Get this – the landlord doesn’t cash any of our checks until August 22nd. That’s 32 days later! In the interim, he complains that we sent three checks (one from each of us) and he demands that he gets one check from me from now on. I told him that he wouldn’t have to worry about this in the future as we’ll be sending a money order or cashier’s check.

Why a money order or cashier’s check? Well, my roommates and I have any number of monthly expenses that we each pay – cell phone, car insurance, utilities, rent, car loans, student loans, etc, etc. Every single one of our bills can either be paid instantly online or we can send a check that is cashed within a week. None of us (and I would assume none of you) EVER pay one of your monthly bills and have to wait 32 days for your checks to be cashed! Why a money order? Because I live my life within a tight budget and in the real world! With all of the bullshit that I have to deal with in my financial life, I don’t have the time or effort to let a check sit out there for over a month.

I write this because the landlord has now recommended that we do NOT send money orders to pay the rent. I don’t know what his angle is, but it’s not going to work. I’m sending these money orders as certified mail with return receipts. He mentioned something in an e-mail about “what if they get lost in the mail?” Ugh…

There are enough fail-safes in the money order system in the year 2008 to track where these money orders are and who is cashing them. Plus, they are sent as certified mail to HIS OWN ADDRESS!

Folks, this is an unnecessary complication in my life. I do not want to talk with my landlord or have an adversarial relationship with the guy. I want to pay my rent on time, take care of my apartment, and I want him to cash my checks in a reasonable time frame. Why must this process be any more complicated, damn it?