The teen job market this summer was as dreary as a week of rain when you’re vacationing at the beach. The percent of young people, ages 16 to 24, who worked was the lowest level in 62 years and millions just decided it was too tough and didn’t even attempt to search for work, new government statistics show.
Only 48.9 percent of all youth held jobs – the lowest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping records in 1948. The jobless rate for young adults was 19.1 in July, almost double the level of 2007.
Despite all that many teens did land jobs, including a handful at our Mity Nice Italian Ice cart in Ann Arbor.  (Seven  part-time workers spent at least a few weeks hawking lemonade and Michigan-made mango and cherry ice from our shiny silver cart.)

Teens who land jobs even when the world economy is wickedly out of whack must be standouts and lucky. They have these characteristics:

-A positive attitude. More than enthusiasm and more than a million-dollar smile, this shows up as joy, energy, a can-do, willingness to tackle anything approach. Be friendly, engaged, cheerful, outgoing, curious and you will improve your chances of being hired – as well as your everyday life. Not everyone has this approach baked into their DNA, but most people can learn to muster it up and put it on like a work uniform or lipstick.

-Persistence. This may show up as determination and dedication to finding a job. It may show up as volunteering every week at a homeless shelter or a Girl Scout troupe. It may show up in finishing high school in five years after family or health troubles. But that dogged determination leads to success.  Albert Einstein once said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

-The 4Cs – communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These traits were identified by an American Management Association survey as increasingly important to employers. Most 17-year-olds will have developed one or two of these but may not yet have proficiency in three or four.  So be sure to highlight them in your resume and interview.

-Extras in their resume. One of my Mity Nice hires this summer was class president and ran a blood drive at school. Another had three jobs this summer to help pay for her gap year in South America.  Head cheerleader or president of the Honor Society or Key Club, these extracurricular activities demonstrate an ability to juggle multiple tasks – and leadership abilities.

-People who believe in them. We hire people based largely on recommendations and referrals at Mity Nice.  We want to hear that the youth is hard-working and smart from neighbors, teachers, members of their church or synagogue and coaches or mentors. Teens who have believers are going to be more confident and more capable. They’re also going to have contacts who will advise them and help open doors to opportunities.

So what if you’re among the one-fifth of teens who did not land a summer job but desperately wants one this winter or spring?  Now is the time to start developing yourself and your skills and your network of believers.  Now also may be the time to start thinking about a small business you could establish over the next year.  (More on that soon.)

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MORE INFORMATION:

For more on the teen employment picture, read the BLS report here.
For my blog post on creating a first resume (for teens), check out WorkingKind.com archive  and also my Washington Post piece .

What can you learn from summer interns? Read my Glassdoor.com blog post on the traits interns have that are coveted by employers.

Need help with your tone and approach to hiring managers? Read my Washington Post piece on striking the right tone.

I hope to add more resources for young job hunters in coming weeks and months. Feel free to recommend websites, books, articles for teens and work. – VLE

The reunion is over and the photos posted on online profiles. Now comes the really hard part – nurturing relationships with old friends and former co-workers that could benefit everyone.

To do that, you need to develop “progressive reciprocity.” This crucial approach from Gordon Curtis, author of Well Connected  (Wiley, $26.95, 230 pages). means giving the other person something of value before you expect their aid. It is especially important when so many people are job hunting and so much of the world has raised the bar on assisting others.

So “loosen up” the person so they genuinely feel motivated to help you, Curtis told me in an interview. This might have happened at the reunion – a great conversation where you really learned a lot about that person – or it may occur a week later in her office. There you’re going to provide information, connections or expertise, based on her profile, comments posted online or needs and interests gleaned earlier.

Even if you’ve been jobless for months, you must believe you can offer something – perhaps a referral to another unemployed person who exactly matches an opening they need to fill. Or perhaps an introduction to someone on a nonprofit board you’ve been on for years.

“We all suffer from some degree of I have nothing to offer syndrome,” Curtis said. Change your perspective to ” I’m making it my business to help as many people along the way” and you gain  a position of strength, he said.

Be creative and sincere in your offer of assistance and  “that reciprocity bar that people have to hold up so high these days is suddenly lowered a bit.”

Another post-reunion move could benefit your career: Write a handful of emails to people who couldn’t make the event and tell them a little about it.  Share funny moments or news about friends who were there. Give them inside information or a something relevant to their careers or lives. Tell only a tiny bit about yourself.

Use the reunion as a reason to re connect – and make the second reason build up their connection to you.

After my Newsday reunion (Facebook page here) I sent emails to a few friends who didn’t show up expressing my appreciation for their efforts when we worked together and my hope that they are thriving now. I also made it clear that I considered them a lifelong friend and would be glad to collaborate or assist them anytime. I’m still reaching out to a few people who I missed and am developing a list of those I want to see on my next visit to Long Island. It’s a long one!

If you really connected with a few people at the reunion but like me, didn’t bring along business cards, take time to send a follow-up email giving them your coordinates. Send along information and leads you promised promptly too, and your goodwill bank will be fuller than a Facebook page after a photographers reunion.

More information:

If you’re heading to your reunion soon, please check out my Glassdoor.com blog post for advice on preparing for it.

To learn more about Gordon Curtis and his book, Well Connected, check out this website.

Want to arrange a reunion for some college chums or your sorority sisters?  Queensland University of Technology has some suggestions.

END OF ITEM

You feel bombarded with information, in every medium available. Facebook, LinkedIn, Brazen Careerist, email, Twitter and text messages all deliver insights, information and materials worth reading.
I feel that way too, which is one reason I wrote “Why You Need a Career Curator” for Fortune magazine.Most people need help with the oceans of blogs, websites, newsletters and books coming at them.
The article in the July 5 issue of Fortune has some great suggestions on managing all that, mostly by making better choices and using technology – Google Reader, bookmarks and more.  (The article is not yet available online but it is on newsstands.)
“You can’t digest that much informtion – the human brain can take in only so much information,” said Mary Ellen Slayter, a former Washington Post writer who now edits SmartBrief e-letters including Your Careers and Leadership.
Here’s five other suggestions for keeping the flow of information focused and usable:
1. Seek blogs and information specific to your industry, your profession. Even in career advice, you may find blogs focused on finance careers or writing careers or many other niches, Slayter said. Look too at the growing targeted social media communities – some focus on a profession, others on a city. Before you sign up for another RSS feed, blog or e-letter, ask yourself: “What value will this bring me?” and “Why do I need this now?”

2.  Look for ideas and insights backed up by research. Seek accuracy and currency and some research-based writing, says Cuyahoga County Public Librarian Bonnie Easton. Ask yourself: “Where is their authority? Where are they getting information from?”

3. Use lists and tags to track different topics. These work on Twitter, on Google Reader and even in your email in box. Once you have different tags and lists set up you need to decide how often to review them. Some may require 10 minutes a day; others may be once a week quick run-through.

4. Just say no. Go through your e-mail inbox and look for e-letters and other regular materials that you seldom or never open. Those are the first to go. Then consider which ones feel like a chore and don’t deliver any “aha!” or “good idea” boosts. Unsubscribe from one or more of those. And then look at what else comes in regularly that could come out without much loss.

5.  Develop places and processes for saving. The valuable articles and insights could be parked someplace for later reading – perhaps  Google Documents, a Word file or a section of your blogs. Or create a system within your organization for stashing and sharing the best stuff. “That gave me a place to go back and find them,” said Erin Young, a user experience consultant in Austin, Texas. Then she left the company – and now she uses GoogleDocs.
“Occasionally you find a gem, and it’s easy to lose that gem,” she said.
Remember that you too could be part of the overload and career information clutter if you’re not careful. So use Twitter thoughtfully. Post responses when you have something valuable to add to the discussion, not just so your name shows up. Blog posts need to “create a unique contribution,” Young said.

And above all, Young and I both believe it’s important to use social media sites such as LinkedIn to nurture your in-person relationships, not to drown them.

As a business development tool, gratitude and thank you notes sound soft and unlikely — but may make a difference.
As a way to set yourself apart from the other job candidates, they certainly work.
As a way to encourage lasting relationships with clients or colleagues, they can be remarkably effective.
And as a way to cultivate a more positive attitude and gratitude, say thank you to the thank you notes you send.
My pile of thank you notes and appreciations brings me joy for years after I received them. They came from former interns, people I’ve profiled and staffers whose jobs I have saved or created.
So when I interviewed Heidi Kallett for the Washington Post Capital Business, her message of thank you notes as a tool to build your business immediately resonated with me. The article which is out this week explains much of her thinking and approach to them.
So I decided to look further at thank you notes, and what others say about them. On LinkedIn, I found many endorsements.
“The thank you note has more purposes than to simply show courtesy and professionalism, it extends the interview. I always tell my workshop attendees that the interview is not complete until you have sent the thank you note.,” Bob McIntosh wrote in a LinkedIn Answer recently. McIntosh is a career trainer for Career Center of Lowell, Mass., and points out thank yous allow you to  correct any miscomunications that might have crept in.
“Taking the time to send a Thank You shows a lot of class and consideration,” Jason Shinn wrote on LinkedIn. He’s a business and employment lawyer in metro Detroit and has invested in them. “There are plenty of opportunities where a little appreciation for someone’s time/assistance is warranted.”
Next I did an online search and found more fans at university career centers and career coaches. Many give many sample thank you notes, which are good for starters but shouldn’t become your de facto approach to sending appreciations.
Then I returned to Heidi Kallett, a past President of the Junior League of Northern Virginia
who writes more than 100 thank yous a year to her clients, vendors and others connected to the Dandelion Patch shops. She learned to write thank you notes from her mother and has been developing her skill for years. I asked her to share her best advice in developing a thank you note habit. She suggests:
1. Choose a pen that you enjoy writing with-- ballpoint or roller ball? Blue or black? Fine or Medium point? Everyone has a preference, so find yours -have it at the ready.
2. Come up with several collections of stationery. The glittered high-heels don’t work for interview follow-up, but would be greatly appreciated by your BFF when thanking her for your birthday gift. Typically professional correspondence is either soft white or white in color with a tasteful and simple design – or only your monogram.
3.Avoid the text tokens. When writing a professional thank you note, stay away from any smiley or frowning faces, the emoticons that pop up in text messages.
4. As a habit, try to find 5-10 minutes a week to write notes of gratitude. Keep a post-it note or journal with your list of friends, associates that you’d like to personally thank. Writ notes all at one sitting– trust me, it is easier to do them all at once than to write one a day.
5. Always keep a roll of stamps ready. You don’t want any excuses as to why these notes can’t make it into the mailbox.

Very helpful advice for getting motivated to send thank yous.

Finally, I came up with a few techniques of my own for making your thank you note memorable and enjoyable:

• Make it timely. Send a note within 48 hours of the event or the favor. Don’t wait longer than a week. That will make it easier to write and it will have more impact if it arrives promptly.
• Make it personal. Don’t try the “one size fits all” thank yous. Tailor it to the person you’re thanking or the occasion you’re noting. Include specifics from shared jokes to insights you picked up.
• Make it true to you. Your personality needs to shine through in the notecards and even the stamps. Some people will never send thank you notes with angels or flowers to their corporate clients. Yet I have – and will again. Some prefer the crisp pinstripes and sincerely signature that match their dress code and approach. Others will sign off with fondly or peace.  Make yours match your professional persona.
• Make it joyful. Consider how good it feels to receive something upbeat in the mail. Think about the good things that will grow from your connections. Think about your thank you note bringing smiles and good feelings for years to come, pinned up on a bulletin board or stashed away with memorable letters and card.

Feel the gratitude and joy of the thank you note as you write them. And then feel hopeful that they will be seeds well planted that will bear fruit for you or your business.

Work is work – even if it’s a paycheck from people who pushed you out the door  just months ago.

More workers are hearing “You’re rehired” these days, from employers eager to rebuild their ranks and bring in proven talent. So if you’re looking for your next gig you may want to look back at your last two gigs.

Among those laid off and back to work in the last six months, 57 percent boomeranged back to their former boss or workplace, CareerBuilder reports.

More than two-thirds of those still looking for jobs said they’re willing to be rehired by a former boss, though one in five say they’d return only if offered more money than before.

Despite such aspirations, not every employer will welcome back laid off staff with gusto – and some have policies or practices that prohibit their return. Others may bring back some staff, but others are less welcome, either because of their work history or the way they departed.

Because of lawyers and legal restrictions, some employers are unwilling to give a direct answer to the question – “Am I eligible for rehire?” said David Miles, managing partner of  The Miles Lehane Companies / OI Partners.  His firm offers career transition and coaching services from its headquarters in Leesburg, Va.

Still, the candidate must ask the question and  carefully watch the response. Enthusiasm means you’re more likely to see doors open while a “send us your information” or other basic reply that any candidate would receive may indicate you’re not eligible or not really welcome, Miles suggests.

If you’re intent on a return gig, here’s five tips for getting rehired from Miles and me:

1.  REVIEW YOUR REVIEW. Pull out your last performance appraisal and notes from your boss. They will give you a sense of how you were judged. You may have made lots of progress on arriving to work on time or shushing your sassy mouth since that review was written, but the record of it will still be reviewed. Even if your boss left the organization after you did, your employee file sleeps somewhere in Human Resources and someone will wake it up.

2.  STAY IN TOUCH. ” Chances of being rehired improve when the individual has maintained an ongoing but positive communications with the company,” Miles said. The best approach may be this: “sometime shortly after all the paperwork is signed off at termination, a person should write a a positive note to HR and/or their supervisor thanking them for the departure package and expressing a desire for rehire if the situation turns around.” Then touch base every month or so, inquiring about career possibilities and expressing a zeal to work there again.

3.  BUILD YOUR TALENTS. Ramp up  volunteering and educational opportunities – and if there are areas that you know your boss thought needed work, spend some time there. Consult. Mentor someone. Learn to tango or Twitter. Make sure you stay current in your field through a professional association, contract work or other ways. Said Miles: “This is a real big one.  If a rehire candidate can not speak to why are they viable today, they will have a problem returning to the position.”

4.  GROW YOUR NETWORK. Make yourself known to the new executives by a volunteer leadership role in a trade organization or by sending some market research or ideas for strengthening the brand. Take a short-term contract assignment at your former employer – especially if it puts you in front of new managers.

Show up at the happy hour your team frequents occasionally – but only arrive when you feel confident and upbeat about yourself. Check in with contractors, retirees who still consult with the organization and interns you hired.  If it seems appropriate, show up at company open houses or annual meetings – and call yourself a proud alumni. Introduce yourself to brass in other departments – often you may land a second chance in a different area than where you worked previously.

5.  EXPRESS EAGERNESS. ” Do verbalize your passion for what you do and how the absence focused you more on how much you enjoy your professional area,” said Miles, who has worked in career arena for decades.  Wear the company T-shirt to charity fundraisers or races. You may even want to develop an elevator pitch that is promote yourself as an adjunct member of the team or someone who’s sitting on the sidelines ready to be called back to the game.  Prepare for the  interview, addressing your reason for returning and what advancements you’ve made in the months you’ve been away. Express some empathy for the company and its managers who also suffered from the downsizings, Miles said. “This rehire interview is really critical, so practice for it.”

About half of all employers at least occasionally rehire former staffers, OI Partners research last fall shows. The main reasons for re-recruiting people let go: They have demonstrated skills and they know the organization’s culture. Many think it’s less risky than hiring new staff.

One-fifth of employers say they never rehire laid off crew, and 29 percent rarely do – among those unlikely to encourage boomeranging are government agencies and health care.

What won’t work for a return engagement?  If you expressed a lot of anger as you were laid off, that could taint your tracks back. This “depends on what level of anger and how abusive the language was,” Miles said. “Intensity matters here” as does the number of people who knew of your outburst of displeasure.

Other issues could sidetrack your return too, including questions about your ability to change and adapt to a new environment or a leaner, harder working approach.

If you want to check on your reputation and residue, quietly ask a couple of friends at the office if they will recommend you for a job – and what hesitations they have in doing so.  Be clear you want their candid feedback as well as their support in returning. Ask only those who you are certain have strong standing and careers themselves. It does no good to be endorsed by someone whose future or judgment is questionable.

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Read the CareerBuilder.com media release on returning to an old employer here.

ABC News’ columnist Michelle Goodman has a piece on going back to your former employer.

To learn more about David Miles and his company, check the corporate website here.

It’s 3:51 a.m. and I’m wide awake. I’ve answered two questions on LinkedIn and done some work on my Brazen Careerist profile. Now I’m ready to find another task to undertake.

Insomnia comes into my nights fairly regularly. So I’m starting to make use of the time – often two or three hours that always seem to start around 3 a.m.

This is the first time I’ve written a blog post, but I have written a lot of emails and provided some Answers on LinkedIn. As I hope you know, the Answers section is a great place to showcase your expertise and provide someone some insights, information, connections and well, answers.

If you’re actively managing your career, you  too can use this night time window of time to your advantage. Here’s seven ideas for insomniac career success:

1. Build your network. Send requests to connect to five former colleagues on LinkedIn or Facebook. (I’m actively building my LinkedIn profile and presence so if you already know me, please be in touch.)
2. Upload a new photo of yourself to your profiles. Your old one may not be professional enough, or give the vibe you want.
3. If you’re worried about something, do some research and reading so you feel more prepared. I’ve done this lately on my seasonal teen-jobs and Italian ice business Mity Nice, and I always feel better when I’ve done some due diligence.
4. Write a couple of Twitter posts. Send one and save a couple for tomorrow, when you’re tired and can’t think of anything worthwhile to say. Better yet, answer someone’s Twitter query with something helpful or funny.
5. Update your Success file with a few recent accomplishments, praise notes, etc.  If you don’t have one of these, it’s so worthwhile. It is similar to a resume but more eclectic: Use it to record and recall your successes – very useful when you’re asked to tell about yourself or need to boost your confidence.
6. Set up a Google alert on a career topic that’s crucial right now. And if you haven’t already, set up another to watch for any mentions of yourself. (If you have a common name, come up with a second or third term to make sure it’s not the woman across the country or in the next city who shares your name.)
7. Write a thank you note to two people who helped you recently. Yes, I mean pen to note card and while you’re at it, send your Mom or Aunt Lil a card telling them how much you love them.

And if you’re still not feeling ready to return to bed, read a chapter in a a career or self-help book. I like Adaptability by M.J. Ryan and just finished Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and appreciate his message of changing your life like you’d revise a manuscript or story. These books may not put you to sleep, but they will put you in a better frame of mind.

And yes, when the yawns come, give into the need for sleep. First though, set your alarm back 20 minutes, and add a few extra spoonfuls of coffee to your machine.

Turn it on today.  It’s Tuesday -  and it’s the most productive day of the week.

That’s the view from the executive suite, and a 2008 Accountemps survey of 150 top managers at major companies. Some 57 percent picked the third day of the week  – yes, that’s Tuesday — as the day staffers really work at peak performance.

Mondays don’t make it because of all the catch-up and meetings, though they used to rate higher on productivity measures.

Forget about Fridays – those are the days when weekends beckon and some staffers are already missing.

And the other weekdays garnered barely one in 10 productivity picks.

Tuesday also was named the most productive day in Accountemps surveys in 2002, 1998 and 1987. The reason officials give: Tuesday’s efforts establish momentum for the rest of the week.

At Ruby Tuesday’s on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, Tuesdays are one of the busiest days. “Tuesday is a day when they come out for lunch. Lunch is like the Wilson Bridge at the height of rush hour,” said assistant manager Mike Burke. “Everybody is trying to get into one space at one time.”

So staff move fast -  and customers mostly eat fast so they can get back to work and rev up their output.

If you’re looking to use your Tuesday wisely, consider the advice from Alicia Hicks, a B2B sales expert who writes SellingWoman. She suggests filling the day with “client meetings you are excited about, the kind where you have the best likelihood of leaving with a signed contract.”

Or consider the advice from Accountemps, when they proclaimed Tuesday’s importance:

• Sharpen your focus. Cluster tasks that require similar efforts or resources into one timeframe.
• Plan your day. Map out your desired accomplishments each morning.
• Don’t delay. Procrastination doesn’t work, so start chipping away at the chores.

My favorite productivity tool is a to do list – right there on a yellow pad I see everything I hope to accomplish for a day or two. And I’m also partial to a couple of productivity blogs, though too much time on them can eat into my productive Tuesdays or Thursdays. One I like is Stepcase’s LifeHack. Or check out a couple more Accountemps’  Tuesday  productivity tips here.

This posting was adapted and rewritten from a Working item I created for the Washington Post. I hold the copyright to these. In the interest of being more productive and thoughtful about reusing my writing, I am offering some of them on WorkingKind.

V

It’s easy to get discouraged when you’ve fallen off your career track and feel the weight of your misstep on your reputation and your resume.

Yet so many famous and successful people have been fired, screwed up their careers and otherwise needed to stage a comeback.  Harvey Mackay featured dozens of amazing people – from Michael Bloomberg to Larry King to tennis great Billie Jean King in his book “We Got Fired!…. And It’s the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Us!”  It came out a few years ago and I still refer to it as a powerful reminder that sudden departures can open doors.

My recent Washington Post article gave some advice oncareer comebacks.

One of the experts for the piece is John A. Sarkett, who compiled two books “Extraordinary Comebacks” and “Extraordinary Comebacks 2.”  He’s an marketing and public relations firm owner in the Chicago area who blogs about comebacks.

He believes the one essential trait of the 450 people in his two books is simple: “They never gave up.”

“Some forge ahead with great family support, others don’t have that, in fact they have instead the derision of their family (restaurateur and Food Network star Paula Deen).  Some of our comeback stories are genius visionaries, some are very ordinary people.  But they all have desire,” Sarkett told me.

As part of our email interviews, Sarkett provided these seven smart actions for making your way back:

1. PERSIST. Don’t quit.  It took Sir Edmund Hillary two attempts to climb Everest, Perry eight times to reach the North Pole, and various authors scores and sometimes hundreds of tries to get their works published. “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”  Sir Winston Churchill.
2. WORK HARD. Great “comebackers” use every hour in the day: Food Network star Paula Deen barbecued late at night; boxer George Foreman out-trained younger fighters to win the championship.  You may find your comeback  in the effort you make.
3. UNDERSTAND TRANSIENCE. Don’t extrapolate temporary setbacks into permanent defeat.  It won’t last. Lance Armstrong was given a tiny chance to survive cancer, yet he won seven Tour de Frances.   Churchill again:  “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
4. CHANGE DIRECTION. Sylvester Stallone was stymied as an actor, so he wrote Rocky after seeing the Wepner-Ali fight.  Quincy Jones was a talented trumpeter, but after a stroke, he had to quit. He transformed into a renowned music producer.
5. DEVELOP SUPPORT. Stay away from  nay-sayers, even if they’re famous or going to be. Hang out with friends who won’t let you quit.
6. STAY HUMBLE. Attitude  is everything.  When tennis master Andre Agassi fell from No. 1 to No. 141 as he abused drugs including crystal meth , he started over, back to the minor leagues, upped his training.  It set the stage for greater things.  Attitude – not image – is everything.
7. DREAM BIG. Your effort and ideas are worth many times what you may imagine.  Fred Smith wrote a college paper that got a “C,” as the story goes, then turned it into $40 billion FedEx.  J.K. Rowling wrote her ideas about a fictional boy.  Harry Potter sold 100 million copies, and $4 billion movie box office, and counting.  You too can more than you imagine.  Dream big.

These “to dos” were edited down from Sarkett’s original list and they are valuable even if all you can muster is following three of them.

Sarkett also thinks Tiger Wood’s fall from grace after an accident and disclosure of his string of affairs carries an important message for anyone who’s making it today. Woods showed up in Sarkett’s first book after rebuilding his golf swing. Now he has a bigger comeback to stage. The lesson: “No matter where you’re at, you’re not more than one day’s drive from a comedown and that life is nothing but a series of comebacks strung together.”

Skip lunches out or Starbucks on the way into the office to save some cash. The latest Harris Poll confirms it: More people are “brown bagging it” to cut costs.

The survey focuses on small ways Americans are saving money, by going to hair stylists or barber shops less frequently or buying refillable water bottles. The biggest way of saving: Almost two thirds of the 2,576 people surveyed say they’re buying more generic brand merchandise in the last six months.

One cutback though comes with substantial career concerns: We mean the 45 percent of Americans who stay in and eat peanut butter sandwiches or leftover spaghetti.  Make that 56 percent for Gen Xers, those ages 34-45. Clearly brown-bagging can bring real savings. If you spend even $5 or $6 a day for an affordable lunch out, you’re dropping $25 to $30 a week on meals. The adds up to $780 over six months on burgers and fries or veggie wraps and salads.

All that time, you may be insulated from important insights and information, as well as work friends. You could miss out on important gossip or details on changes coming in your department or organization. These are often shared outside the office – at lunch or over happy hours after work. Or you may miss out on new job possibilities, or start-ups or consulting gigs that could bring a second source of income.

So no matter how much we understand and embrace the new frugality, we also value camaraderie and celebrations – and those often happen over meals. Don’t risk damaging your reputation or developing one as a staid and unsociable sort over a few dollars.

In these tough times we cannot afford to become cut off from our work colleagues – both as a source of information and as supporters of our new projects, career goals or needs for personal development.

So if you’re one of the Americans who have been eating lunch at their desk – or sitting alone in a corner of the corporate cafeteria, a bit abashed by the boring brown bag, it’s time to break bread with your boss and coworkers.

Here’s five ways to be frugal and use food for professional fellowship:

• Plan an office party at your home. Come up with a reason for the gathering – sometimes a silly idea like your 1,000th day on the job or something serious like your best friend’s promotion or new baby. Then make sure you have all the food and drink organized before the event begins so you can concentrate on connecting with the crew.
• Get with the gang every other Friday. Your new scrimping and saving is laudable, but leave room for the occasional team gab fest in your favorite eatery or bar. Be smart and selective about when to show up – and make sure you have a sweet or smarmy answer to the “where have you been?” question.
• Create a souper star support group. This group is focused on frugality and career success. Heat up some soup – store bought or homemade – once a week or every other week and warm up your career prospects too. To take this beyond a chat and chew, look for career advancement articles or tools to share. Or ask each person to find one book that may be valuable to all and report on it. My current choice: The Power of Small / Why Little Things Make All the Difference by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval (Broadway Books, $17.95, 140 pages).
• Start a bagels and bargains group. This also could also be called bagels and bravery  or bagels and balance – depending on your focus and hopes. The point is: Build your network – and your reputation for creativity and community. Be sure to share career insights along with money-saving ideas. Make sure you rotate the bagel buying, and get buy-in from your HR Department and boss.
• Produce a monthly or quarterly office potluck. These can be great fun – and great for business. They strengthen the camaraderie and connections, and give workers a chance to show off their culinary talents too. One consulting firm even created a friendly competition for the best dish from the worker’s ethnic background – and then published a cookbook from their entries. Your office might not want to take it that far, but a quarterly shared meal may mean the folks in accounting are more likely to share their expertise with sweetness. A potluck can be a great way to stage a brainstorming session, a sales meeting or a meet the new staffers gathering. And if you organize this, you’re at the nexis of information and people – and you’re seen as someone who understands motivating staff and being frugal with corporate expense accounts, both pluses for your next performance review.

Of course, there’s other ways to stay attuned to the news and gossip besides noshing on noodles. Coffee, salads, dessert, wine and cheese or an ice cream social – something I used a few summers ago for my team.

So engage your creativity along with your appetite for career information and connections.

^^^^^^^

If you’re interested in reading more on Americans frugality, as documented by The Harris Poll, go here.

If you want some recipes for your first office potluck, I’ve appreciated several luscious dishes from Susan at  Farmgirl Fare . Or make the first one a recipe you received from Mom or Dad (even if they never posted anything on a blog, they feed us for years).

If you’re looking for some new places to look for work, look no further.

The U.S. Department of Labor has brought together 60 online career sites in one place. And the sites weren’t chosen by bureaucrats, but by individuals, employers and career experts and others who voted for their favorite tools in January.

The new suite is founded on the CareerOneStop page and includes everything from the obscure to the Monster. I wrote about this recently for the Washington Post, and am already using some of the resources myself.  Others are on my “to explore” list.

Besides jobs boards, you’ll find resources for planning your next career and information on scholarships, skills assessments and more.

Here’s one category — the Labor Department’s recommended Social Media Job Search sites:

Door64.com – (http://door64.com)

GreenJOBS.pro – (http://greenjobs.pro)

JibberJobber.com – (http://www.jibberjobber.com)

JobHunt.org Twitter – (http://twitter.com/jobhuntorg)

Jobs-Assistant – (http://www.jobs-assistant.net)

LinkedIn – (http://www.linkedin.com/)

Linkedin Jobs Group – (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1976445)

Susan Ireland’s YouTube Playlists – (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=326ccae042d03e86)

Susan P. Joyce’s Linkedin Group – (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1713867)

TweetMyJOBS.com – (http://www.tweetmyjobs.com)

My hope is that everyone – employed and unemployed alike – find at least one new resource here, and better yet three or 30. We all need a full toolbox to keep our careers running smoothly.