How to Satisfy Uncle Sam

Twenty-five years ago, the Nashua Corporation, in New England, made an announcement that completely changed the world of work. Here's what they said: "We can no longer guarantee you a job for life." That's it! Shortly thereafter, Xerox said more or less the same thing, and then proceeded to lay of 20,000 people globally. This mantra rang true with a myriad of companies, who all eventually adopted the same opinion.

One of the most surprising facts about this is that even though "employees" and "employers" readily accept that there's no job for life, neither group has since changed their expectations of the other. In other words, Those who hire others refer to them as employees, and expect them to work as many hours as they did when before Nashua knocked over the first domino; and those who are hired expect almost as much job security as they had before the chain reaction began.

Relocating for a Job

The U.S. has a high unemployment rate right now, but there are some places that are doing better than others. You might want to think about uprooting and moving to find a better job in another state.

Before the economy turned so bleak, companies would have gladly paid your moving expenses to get the best talent for a particular job. But this is a different job market and it doesn't favor the job seeker. So companies are becoming less willing to pay for moving costs than they used to be. In fact, fewer than 30% are willing to pay a lump sum relocation payment. Almost all have at least cut down on the costs that they are willing to pay a new hire. Even ones that will pay have capped the costs at somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000.