Pirates spoil Utley's return

Pirates spoil Utley's return - Chase Utley did everything to help the Philadelphia Phillies win except pitch middle relief.

Utley homered in his first at-bat of the season, but the Pittsburgh Pirates spoiled his return by connecting three times and beating the Phillies 11-7 Wednesday night.

Michael McKenry hit a three-run homer and Andrew McCutchen and Casey McGehee also went deep for Pittsburgh. The Pirates set season highs for runs and hits (14), all against the Phillies' maligned bullpen.

''It was a good first step, but obviously winning would've been ideal,'' Utley said.

Utley missed the first 76 games this year because of a chronic problem in both knees. He had three hits, but it wasn't enough on a night the Phillies got more encouraging news about their injured stars.

Former NL MVP Ryan Howard will start a rehab stint on Thursday night and two-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay is making progress and could throw off a bullpen mound next week.

Until they're all healthy, it won't be easy for the five-time defending NL East champions.

Pittsburgh Pirates' James McDonald throws a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen takes off his gloves after striking out against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Raul Valdez in the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

James McDonald (7-3) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. It was the first time in 15 starts this season he allowed more than three runs, and his ERA climbed from 2.19 to 2.44.

McKenry drove in a career-best four runs and the Pirates feasted on Philadelphia's pitching.

''I'm not trying to do too much and hit what they give me,'' McKenry said.

Reliever Raul Valdes (2-1) started for the Phillies, who were out of starters because of a doubleheader Sunday. He allowed three runs and two hits in two innings in his second career start. Joe Savery came in and gave up five runs in 2 2-3 innings. He was optioned to Triple-A after the game.

''There were doubts about our bullpen,'' Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. ''We felt like with what we had in the minors, this could give us more flexibility. But it backfired. We got lit up.''

The Phillies entered with a 4.41 bullpen ERA that was 25th in the majors.

''We have to get our bullpen straightened out,'' Manuel said.

Utley can't help in that department.

The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first when Utley and Carlos Ruiz hit back-to-back homers.

Utley drove a 2-2 pitch way out to right-center. He got his third standing ovation in a 15-minute span and came out for a curtain call after circling the bases and getting mobbed by teammates in dugout.

''It was pretty exciting,'' Utley said. ''The fans were awesome and it was nice to hit the ball hard my first at-bat.''

Ruiz then hit a drive to left for his 11th homer. That had another sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park buzzing.

It didn't last.

McKenry connected off Valdes in the second to put the Pirates ahead 3-2. McGehee homered off Savery in the fourth and McDonald helped himself with a two-out RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2.

Neil Walker, Jose Tabata and McKenry had RBI singles in the fifth to put the Pirates up 8-2.

But the Phillies rallied against McDonald in the sixth. Hunter Pence had an RBI double and Shane Victorino singled him in to cut it to 8-4.

Jimmy Rollins lined an RBI triple off Jared Hughes with no outs in the seventh. Tony Watson came in and Juan Pierre singled for his 500th career RBI. Utley followed with a single and Ruiz lined an RBI single to right field that Tabata appeared to lose in the lights, cutting the deficit to 8-7.

Brad Lincoln entered and preserved the lead. He struck out Pence, retired Victorino on a fly ball and fanned pinch-hitter Jim Thome.

McCutchen hit a two-run drive off Chad Qualls in the eighth, sending many fans home.

Utley sat out the first 46 games last year before returning to have the least productive season in his career. He batted .259 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs. The 33-year-old second baseman has a condition called bilateral chondromalacia that can't be fixed surgically.

Howard tore his left Achilles' tendon making the final out in the last game of 2011 against St. Louis in Game 5 of the NL division series.

Halladay has been out since May 29 because of a strained latissimus dorsi muscle on the right side of his back.

NOTES: The Phillies plan to call someone up Thursday to replace Savery. They used their entire bullpen except closer Jonathan Papelbon in this loss. ... Manuel said he won't start Utley on Thursday afternoon and plans to give him a day off every three games. ... INF Michael Martinez was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Utley. ... Phillies RHP Mike Stutes had shoulder surgery Tuesday and likely will miss the rest of the season. ... The Pirates won for just the third time in the last 19 games in Philadelphia. ... McCutchen leads the majors with a .456 average (31 for 68) against lefties. ... Phillies had their 260th straight sellout, counting postseason play. ... McKenry is 9 for 14 with two homers and six RBIs in this series. ... A.J. Burnett (8-2, 3.24) tries to win his eighth straight start for the Pirates on Thursday afternoon. Kyle Kendrick (2-7, 5.24) goes for the Phillies. ( The Associated Press )

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How an Atlanta Woman's Water Bill Ballooned from $500 to $9,000 in Less Than a Year

How an Atlanta Woman's Water Bill Ballooned from $500 to $9,000 in Less Than a Year -Atlanta, Ga.-based realtor Blayne Beacham knew something was wrong when her she opened up her water bill last July.

The bill was many times the usual amount, totaling $497. Figuring a leak was the a problem, she called a handyman over to her three-bedroom home to check things out.

While he fiddled with her bathroom toilets and replaced all the valves and handles (there was no leak to be found), she appealed the bill to the city's Department of Watershed Management and set up a $100/month payment plan to keep them off her back in the meantime.

But "they turned down my appeal," Beacham said in a blog post detailing her experience. "Basically they sent someone out to check my meter and said there was nothing wrong with the meter. On October 13, I got a notice in the mail saying that my entire balance––$384.26––was due that day or they would turn off my water."

She bit the bullet and paid, but by the time December rolled around, her bill had ballooned to $758.93.

 

Photo: Blayne Beacham"We called the water department and worked out an agreement where I would pay them $120 a month until I could get a court date," said Beacham, who lives alone. "That number was based on my neighbor down the street’s average monthly water bill." Her neighbor also has four children.

She even went so far as to tally up her water usage per month, keeping track of every flush, load of laundry, dishwasher cycle and shower she took over a 30-day period.

" I can’t think of any other time I use water unless I am drinking it or rinsing my dishes," she said. "(My dog) Sister gets one tiny bowl of water a day, and I am thinking of asking her to cut back."

The water department sent another representative to check her meter but nothing turned up out of the ordinary. A return visit from the handyman yielded no other clues and Beacham shelled out another $600 to the water company while awaiting her court date.

By spring, her bill totaled $1,430.00 worth of back charges plus another $1,155.82 that was left unpaid in April. When all was said and done, even with a certified plumber declaring her meter glitch-free, Beacham lost her appeal to the water department.

"I called back the public relations manager to see what I should do moving forward," she said. "This time she told me that after looking at my consumption history, they decided that I had a leak in the past and got it fixed. This is absolutely absurd. I have no way of proving I did not get a leak fixed, because I did not have a leak... I am at the end of my rope."

In mid-June, Beacham opened the mail to find she was in deeper than she thought: She owed $9,224.40: "$2,638.68 worth of past charges, and $6,705.72 worth of new charges," she said.

According to Watershed Management spokesperson Janet Ward, they're trying to get to the bottom of the issue.

"We did install a data logger, which measures hour-by-hour usage that can help us determine if there are any times of the day when usage seems out of kilter," Ward told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "So that means we can’t know anything until the middle of July," since the meter has to run for 30 days.

As of Wednesday, Beacham had wrapped up another round of meetings with the company but told Business Insider by phone that things are still up in the air.

"I've had meetings with them and the problem is just unresolved," she said. "They've given me a little more time to do some research."

DON'T MISS: This California couple retired on an Argentine vineyard for only $150,000 > ( Business Insider )

READ MORE - How an Atlanta Woman's Water Bill Ballooned from $500 to $9,000 in Less Than a Year

Debunking Fuel-Economy Myths - Get a reality check on 7 common fuel-saving misconceptions

Debunking Fuel-Economy Myths - Get a reality check on 7 common fuel-saving misconceptions. Like all drivers, you want to save gas and do what’s right for your car. But along with the tried-and-true advice, there are some well-intentioned—if off-the-mark—tips that can lead you astray. Below are several common myths about fuel use and gas mileage, and the real stories behind them.

A dirty air filter drops gas mileage

Our tests show that driving with a dirty air filter no longer has an impact on fuel economy, as it did with older engines. That's because modern engines use computers to precisely control the air/fuel ratio, depending on the amount of air coming in through the filter. Reducing airflow causes the engine to automatically reduce the amount of fuel being used. Fuel economy didn't change in the family sedan we tested, but it accelerated much more slowly with a dirty filter.

Warming up before driving is necessary

That was true back in the days of carburetors and chokes, but it isn’t the case with modern fuel-injected, electronically controlled drivetrains. Engines are most efficient when they’re at regular operating temperature, and the fastest way to reach that point is to drive right after starting the car.

Filling up when the air is cool gets you more gas

A common tip is to buy gasoline in the morning, when the air is cool, rather than in the heat of the day. The theory is that the cooler gasoline will be denser, so you will get more for your money. But most stations store the gasoline underground, so its temperature changes very little, if at all, during a 24-hour stretch. Any extra gas you get will be negligible.

No-name gas stations offer lower-quality fuel

Independent stations usually buy their fuel from larger, name-brand oil companies, so it’s not much different from what you’d get for a higher price down the road. Off-brand gasoline is sometimes formulated without additives designed to clean the engine, but your car should run fine on that gas.

Premium gas is always best

When it comes to regular, midgrade, and premium gasoline, oil corporations have worked overtime to drill the “good, better, best” concept into our collective driver psyche.

Premium gas has a higher octane rating, usually 91 or above, making it more resistant to pre­ignition, a condition in which fuel burns uncontrollably in the engine. Higher-performing engines are the most susceptible to preignition because they tend to run hotter, which is why premium is often recommended or required for sports and luxury vehicles.

Premium also helps maximize power in high-performance engines. With those engines, if you don't use premium, you might not get full power when, say, accelerating or climbing hills. Most drivers will probably never notice the difference.

The vast majority of cars are designed to run fine on regular. And premium won’t improve performance or fuel economy for those cars, but it will cost you about 20 cents more per gallon.

Our advice: The best gas for your car depends on the vehicle you drive. If the owner’s manual or the sticker on the fuel-filler door says that premium gas is recommended or uses similar wording, you can probably use regular. If it says premium is required, play it safe with the right octane.

Driving with windows open hurts fuel economy

Some people advise you not to run the air conditioner because it puts more of a load on the engine, which can decrease fuel economy. But others say that opening the windows at highway speeds can affect gas mileage even more by disrupting the vehicle's aerodynamics. In our tests of a Honda Accord, using air conditioning while driving at 65 mph reduced the vehicle's gas mileage by more than 3 mpg. The effect of opening the windows at 65 mph was not measurable.

Tires with low rolling resistance are always a smart choice

A lot of attention is paid to a tire’s rolling resistance, which is how much energy it takes to roll along. The lower the rolling resistance, the better your fuel economy will be. Maintaining the proper tire pressure will optimize the rolling resistance and real-world performance. Some tires gain low rolling resistance at the expense of wet-braking performance and tread life—a poor trade-off.

It’s better to look first for a tire that provides good all-around performance in important safety areas such as braking, handling, and hydroplaning resistance. Then use rolling resistance as the tiebreaker.

In our testing, we’ve found two all-season passenger-­car tires that deliver very good performance and low rolling resistance: the Continental ProContact EcoPlus+ and the Michelin Energy Saver A/S. ( Consumer Reports )

READ MORE - Debunking Fuel-Economy Myths - Get a reality check on 7 common fuel-saving misconceptions

Tips to make your next job interview a grand slam

Tips to make your next job interview a grand slam - Are you putting your best foot forward in an interview or striking out? Resumé consultant Kent Lee shares three tips to give you the competitive edge.

Be your own biggest fan

Go into your interview with a plan and a purpose. Be prepared to communicate the top three reasons why you are a great fit for the position.

Be a team player

Your interviewer shouldn't be the only one asking questions. Interviews give you an opportunity to differentiate yourself from other candidates by asking great questions. Don't be afraid to have a conversation.

Practice makes perfect

Train your interview muscles. Rehearse your responses with friends and family members to ensure perfect and seamless delivery at the big game.

Finally, Lee adds: "Make sure that you stay positive. If you use these tips, I promise, over time, it will happen for you." ( news.yahoo.com )

READ MORE - Tips to make your next job interview a grand slam

Washington and Hollywood Come Together to Celebrate Norman Lear's 90th Birthday

Washington and Hollywood Come Together to Celebrate Norman Lear's 90th Birthday – Hollywood and Washington joined forces Thursday night to celebrate the 90th birthday of TV producer and political activist Norman Lear. In a glittering union of entertainment and politics, Kathleen Turner, Jane Lynch and Doris Roberts mixed and mingled with members of Congress at the fete held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In his nearly nine decades, (his actual birthday is July 29), Lear has produced some of the small screen’s most popular — and controversial — programming, including All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons.

Lynch applauded Lear’s list of trailblazing sitcoms: “He was the first guy to have the toilet flush on TV,” the Glee actress said with a laugh before making a flushing sound.

“He dealt with things like homosexuality, and religious bigotry, racism, abortion… What he did that was groundbreaking back then, is still kind of groundbreaking today. “

Turner, who has known Lear for more than 20 years, recently caught a glimpse of a Maude episode from the 1970’s, in which Bea Arthur discusses whether or not to have an abortion.

“Do you believe there’s any network today who would run that show? Because I don’t. I mean cable might, but not a major network,” the Body Heat actress exclaimed.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) couldn’t hold back his excitement about meeting the birthday boy. Some of the congressman’s earliest memories include Archie Bunker and other classic characters from Lear’s programs: “I was born in 1963, so I grew up watching Norman Lear shows. It’s shaped our nation, improved attitudes around inclusion, and helped reveal some of our more prominent flaws as a nation.”

The birthday party for the legendary producer doubled as a political rallying cry of sorts for People for the American Way, the liberal organization the soon-to-be nonagenarian founded.

It’s been 31 years since Lear created the advocacy group, which pushes for civil liberties and First Amendment rights, amid the growing influence of the religious right.

During her introduction, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dubbed Lear a “magician producing one unimprovable masterpiece after another.”

Lear seemed to take all the adulation in stride, joking to a packed crowd, “Please don’t be concerned for a second that this is all too much for me.”

He was also quick to jest about the increasing number of candles on his birthday cake, cracking that at his age, “Just getting up and out of a chair I get applause.”

At nearly 90, Lear told THR the TV show ideas keep coming. He’s busy pitching networks on a new program called Guess Who Died?.

It’s about retirement-age folks. But, he laments, “Nobody wants anything to do with it because it’s about your parents’ generation and mine. Everything in television is [aimed towards people] 18 to 39.” ( The Hollywood Reporter )

READ MORE - Washington and Hollywood Come Together to Celebrate Norman Lear's 90th Birthday

Tax Tips To Consider After Losing Your Job

Tax Tips To Consider After Losing Your Job - Imagine that the unthinkable has just happened. After putting in 15 years with the same company, your job position is eliminated and you are let go. For many, this nightmare has become a reality as more and more companies look to cut costs in response to a souring national economy.

When you have just lost your job, taxes are probably the last thing that you want to think about. However, there are some important tax issues that are associated with the loss of a job that you need to know about.

Here are five important tax issues associated with losing your job.

Severance Pay And Unemployment Insurance Payments Are Taxable

If you receive a severance package from your employer, the full amount of the package will be taxed. The same goes for any money that you receive for unused vacation and sick time. You employer is supposed to withhold federal and state taxes from these payments and this should appear on your W-2. However, to avoid getting dinged at tax time, make sure that you confirm that these taxes have been taken out.

Unemployment insurance benefits that you receive from the state are also taxable. However, taxes are not automatically removed from these payments. You can avoid having to worry about this at tax time if you file a petition with your state to request that taxes are taken out before you receive your unemployment check. The appropriate form is called a W-4V.

Distributions From Your Retirement Plan Are Taxable, But Rollovers Are Not

If you decide to take a distribution from your 401k or IRA to help cover your living expenses until you find a new job, the money that you take out will be fully taxed unless you have a Roth 401k or a Roth IRA. Keep in mind that the standard rules about early withdrawals still apply. Expect to pay a 10 percent penalty if you take a distribution before you are 59 ½ years old.

Alternatively, you can roll your 401k from your previous employer into an IRA tax free as long as you don’t take any distributions.

You May Be Able To Deduct Some Of The Expenses Incurred While Looking For A New Job

The IRS will allow you to deduct certain expenses associated with finding a new job. For example, if you pay an employment agency a fee to place you in a new job, you can deduct the cost of that fee. You can do the same for costs associated with resume preparation and travel expenses for job searching and interviews.

Additionally, if you find a new job that requires you to move, you may be able to deduct the moving costs you incur. There are certain requirements pertaining to the distance moved and the timing of the move that you will have to meet in order to qualify for the deduction. You can reference IRS publication 521 for more information about deducting moving expenses.

You May Be Able To Sell Some Investments Without Paying Taxes On The Capital Gains

If you own investments that you want to sell to help cover your living expenses while you are unemployed, you might not have to pay taxes on the money you receive from the sold investment. If your taxable income is less than $34,500 or your joint taxable income is less than $69,000, you will not have to pay taxes on the money you earn from your sold investments.

You May Be Eligible For Certain Tax Credits

If your income drops significantly as a result of your job loss, you may be eligible for certain beneficial tax credits. Some of these include:

• The Earned Income Tax Credit: If your earned income falls below a predetermined amount, you can qualify for the earned income tax credit. This tax credit reduces the amount of taxes that you owe. If the credit is larger than your tax liability, you can receive a refund check from the federal government for the difference. Note that unemployment benefits do not count as part of your earned income so you do not have to include them in your calculation.
• Education Tax Credit: If you think that you need to go back to school to get a new job, you might be able to benefit from education tax credits that will help you reduce your education expenses. Credits such as the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit can help to ease the financial burden of college education. Keep in mind that there are income requirements that you must meet in order to benefit from these credits.

Losing your job is tough enough. Don’t make your situation worse by missing out on important tax benefits associated with job loss. Given the current state of the national economy, you will need all the help you can get. ( candofinance.com )

READ MORE - Tax Tips To Consider After Losing Your Job

Osama bin Laden didn’t win, but he was ‘enormously successful’

Osama bin Laden didn’t win, but he was ‘enormously successful’ - What he wanted to do was bankrupt U.S - Did Osama bin Laden win? No. Did he succeed? Well, America is still standing, and he isn’t. So why, when I called Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism expert who specializes in al-Qaeda, did he tell me that “bin Laden has been enormously successful”? There’s no caliphate. There’s no sweeping sharia law. Didn’t we win this one in a clean knockout?

Apparently not. Bin Laden, according to Gartenstein-Ross, had a strategy that we never bothered to understand, and thus that we never bothered to defend against. What he really wanted to do — and, more to the point, what he thought he could do — was bankrupt the United States of America. After all, he’d done the bankrupt-a-superpower thing before. And though it didn’t quite work out this time, it worked a lot better than most of us, in this exultant moment, are willing to admit.

Bin Laden’s transition from scion of a wealthy family to terrorist mastermind came in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union was trying to conquer Afghanistan. Bin Laden was part of the resistance, and the resistance was successful — not only in repelling the Soviet invasion, but in contributing to the Communist super-state’s collapse a few years later. “We, alongside the mujaheddin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt,” he later explained.

The campaign taught bin Laden a lot. For one thing, superpowers fall because their economies crumble, not because they’re beaten on the battlefield. For another, superpowers are so allergic to losing that they’ll bankrupt themselves trying to conquer a mass of rocks and sand. This was bin Laden’s plan for the United States, too.

“He has compared the United States to the Soviet Union on numerous occasions — and these comparisons have been explicitly economic,” Gartenstein-Ross argued in a Foreign Policy article. “For example, in October 2004 bin Laden said that just as the Arab fighters and Afghan mujaheddin had destroyed Russia economically, al Qaeda was now doing the same to the United States, ‘continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.’ ”

For bin Laden, in other words, success was not to be measured in body counts. It was to be measured in deficits, in borrowing costs, in investments we weren’t able to make in our country’s continued economic strength. And by those measures, bin Laden landed a lot of blows.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz estimates that the price tag on the Iraq War alone will surpass $3 trillion. Afghanistan likely amounts to another trillion or two. Add in the build-up in homeland security spending since 9/11 and you’re looking at another trillion. And don’t forget the indirect costs of all this turmoil: The Federal Reserve, worried about a fear-induced recession, slashed interest rates after the attack on the World Trade Center, and then kept them low to combat skyrocketing oil prices, a byproduct of the war in Iraq. That decade of loose monetary policy may well have contributed to the credit bubble that crashed the economy in 2007 and 2008.

Then there’s the post-9/11 slowdown in the economy, the time wasted in airports, the foregone returns on investments we didn’t make, the rise in oil prices as a result of the Iraq War, the cost of rebuilding Ground Zero, health care for the first responders and much, much more.

But it isn’t quite right to say bin Laden cost us all that money. We decided to spend more than a trillion dollars on homeland security measures to prevent another attack. We decided to invade Iraq as part of a grand, post-9/11 strategy of Middle Eastern transformation. We decided to pass hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts and add an unpaid-for prescription drug benefit in Medicare while we were involved in two wars. And now, partially though not entirely because of these actions, we are deep in debt. Bin Laden didn’t — couldn’t — bankrupt us. He could only provoke us into bankrupting ourselves. And he came pretty close.

It’s a smart play against a superpower. We didn’t need to respond to 9/11 by trying to reshape the entire Middle East, but we’re a superpower, and we think on that scale. We didn’t need to respond to failed attempts to smuggle bombs onto airplanes through shoes and shampoo bottles by screening all footwear and banning large shampoo bottles, but we’re a superpower, and our tolerance for risk is extremely low.

In the end, bin Laden was just another bag of meat and bones, hiding in a walled compound in Pakistan, so deeply afraid of death that he tried to use his wife as a shield when the special forces came for him. But he understood the psychology of the superpower well enough to use our capabilities against us. He may not have won, but he did succeed, at least partially.

But then, we can learn from our mistakes. He can’t. ( washingtonpost.com )

READ MORE - Osama bin Laden didn’t win, but he was ‘enormously successful’

One in five women are main or sole earners as more fathers stay at home

One in five women are main or sole earners as more fathers stay at home - A rise in stay-at-home fathers has led to one in five women becoming the family breadwinner, a survey has revealed.

And, marking a shift in social attitudes, 86 per cent of men said they were comfortable with the idea of their wife or girlfriend bringing home the bacon.

The poll of more than 1,000 Britons found that 22 per cent of women were now the main or sole earner in their home.

Fatherly love: More men are becoming stay-at-home dads meaning women are now main or sole earner

In the late 1960s just 4 per cent of women in a relationship brought home the higher salary.

The survey, for insurance firm Sheilas’ Wheels, also found that 44 per cent of men said they would happily stay at home to look after the family.

Sheilas’ Wheels spokesman Jacky Brown said: ‘There has been a definite shift in the amount of women who have returned to work or increased their working hours.

‘And with an estimated 200,000 domestic dads in the UK, it is great to see women stepping up and taking control.’

In July, official figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed the number of men who do not work because they are looking after their children has rocketed by 80 per cent in just 15 years.

In 1994, there were 120,000 men who told statisticians they were ‘looking after family/home’. Today, there are a record 214,000.

By comparison, the number of females in the same position has dropped from 2.7million to 2million.

It appears that women have also become increasingly ambitious, with more than a million saying they would choose success in the workplace over a relationship, the poll found.

And 11million employees in the UK now work for a female boss or superior, with 22 per cent of under-25s happy to do so compared with just 11 per cent of the over 55s.

Despite the huge changes revealed in the survey, official figures still show that women working full-time typically earn 25 per cent less than men.

According to the Office for National Statistics, on average a man is paid £531 a week before tax, but a woman receives only £426. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - One in five women are main or sole earners as more fathers stay at home

Turn a Temp Gig to a Full-Time Job

Turn a Temp Gig to a Full-Time Job. Just a few short years ago, Ryan started as a temp in a local office of a paper distribution company but today he's the VP of marketing for that same company. OK, so this happened on "The Office" and he's still referred to as "The Temp," but this happens in real life, too.

Paulette Beete has gone from temporary to permanent twice. "When I moved to Chicago in 1994, my first temp assignment was on the fixed-income desk at J.P. Morgan. I got the [permanent] job just a few weeks later, and I was there for five years." She's now a public affairs specialist for a federal grant-making agency in Washington, D.C.

Beete started temping while still in college. "[Temping] helped me to learn basic job skills and gain corporate work experience before I officially entered the job market," Beete says. "It taught me how to deal with a range of people -- from assistants to CEOs. And it taught me how to jump right in no matter what the job situation."

Two of Beete's friends at J.P. Morgan also started as temps and moved on to lasting positions. One is now a vice president in JPM's futures department; the other moved from temporary to permanent assistant to equities sales trader, which she now does at another firm, she said.

There are many reasons why you might seek a temporary job: You're testing the waters of a career change. You've been laid off and need income while you search for long-term employment. You want to keep your résumé gap-free. This tighter job market is not producing the jobs you're seeking.

But what about the reasons why you should seek short-term work? According to the American Staffing Association, 88 percent of staffing employees say temporary or project work made them more employable and 80 percent of staffing clients say staffing firms offer a good way to find people who can become long-term employees.

Project work frequently leads to full-time roles, says Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of "Human Resources Kit For Dummies" (John Wiley & Sons Inc.). "Increasingly, organizations are realizing the value of using temporary assignments as a means of evaluating candidates for full-time positions. This provides a low-risk opportunity for managers to determine how an individual will perform on the job."

Lest you think there isn't much project work out there, consider this: The American Staffing Association reports that staffing companies employ 2.96 million people each day and 11.4 million people over the course of a year.

So who are these staffing companies and what jobs are they looking to fill? Here are 10 staffing companies that hire and place temporary workers:

1. Accountemps

Specializes in: accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals.

2. Kelly Services

Specializes in: office services, accounting, engineering, information technology, law, science, marketing, light industrial, education, health care and home care

3. Labor Ready

Specializes in: construction, manufacturing, hospitality services, landscaping, warehousing, retail and more.

4. Manpower

Specializes in: office, light industrial or call center environment

5. NurseCore

Specializes in: nursing, allied and medical office professionals

6. Office Team

Specializes in: office services including executive and administrative assistants, office managers, project coordinators, Microsoft certified specialists, receptionists and data entry

7. Robert Half Legal

Specializes in: attorneys and legal support

8. Select Staffing

Specializes in: on-site services, risk management, human resources, training and employment law

9. The Creative Group

Specializes in: creative, advertising, marketing, Web and public relations

10. Volt

Specializes in: administrative, manufacturing, accounting, technical, professional, IT, engineering and human resources

Tips to make your temp job permanent

Act as if you are on a job interview. Some people think that just because it's temp work, they don't need to impress. When you meet the recruiter at the staffing company, treat it as an interview ... because it is. If you don't make a good impression with the recruiter, chances are you won't get as much consideration as the candidate who does.

Treat is as a "real" job. If you want to get a full-time position where you are temping -- whether in that position or another -- you need to be serious about it. Impress the boss and show your professionalism and competence. Dress professionally, arrive (and leave) on time and resist the urge to blow off a day.

Learn as much as you can on the job. Take every opportunity you can to learn new software or build skills. Not only will you add inventory to your résumé, it makes you more valuable to the employer.

Ask for the job. Talk about your intentions and desires with the placement company or hiring manager. Even if an opportunity doesn't exist today, you don't know what may happen down the road. ( msn.com )

READ MORE - Turn a Temp Gig to a Full-Time Job

Job Search Reality Check

Job Search Reality Check. A strong hiring environment may cause you to think that your job search will be a piece of cake. But the truth is that finding the right job can be hit or miss. It's important to have realistic expectations to keep your spirits high and limit frustration. So that you enter the process with your eyes open, here are some job-search perceptions you may have and the reality behind them:

Expectation: My job search will take no time at all.
Reality: There's no guarantee how long it will take to find a new position.

Finding the right opportunity is not always easy. The open positions you come across may not seem challenging enough, or certain details about a job, such as the salary or commute, may not be appealing. Along with searching classified ads and online job boards, you'll increase your chances of finding a job quickly by tapping your network of friends, former co-workers and industry contacts for leads.

In addition, hiring managers may take several weeks to respond to your application. After all, they have full-time jobs with demands of their own, and hundreds, if not thousands, of résumés to review. That said, don't be afraid to follow up with a prospective employer to help move the process along. Eighty-two percent of executives polled by Robert Half International said it's a good idea to do so within two weeks of submitting a résumé.

Expectation: I need to send out only a few résumés.
Reality: Finding a job is a numbers game.

As mentioned above, a hiring manager may receive countless résumés for an open position. That's why it pays to spread a wide net. And while you want to keep in mind your goals, it may be unwise to hold out for the "perfect" job, which you might not find -- or which might not even exist.

Also keep in mind that some of the résumés you distribute may not reach their destinations. If you e-mail your résumé, it could end up in the hiring manager's spam folder, depending on the words it contains. For instance, if you "won an award" for being a team player, your message could be seen by an e-mail filter as a sweepstakes or moneymaking promotion. "Received formal recognition" would work better.

Networking with members of your professional network is one way to save yourself some time and effort. Hiring managers give preference to personal recommendations and may move your résumé to the top of the pile if someone you know puts in a good word for you.

Expectation: My résumé and cover letter are terrific!
Reality: You could probably improve your application materials.

Take a close look at your résumé and cover letter. Do they sell your skills and qualifications? Make sure that, instead of simply listing your previous duties, you detail your accomplishments and contributions in previous roles. So rather than saying, "Wrote one high-tech column for company intranet each week," try, "Wrote weekly high-tech column for company intranet that increased readership by more than 200 percent and helped employees better utilize company systems." This will show a prospective employer exactly how your work improved the bottom line and why he should hire you.

Also make sure your materials are targeted. Research the company before responding to an ad to determine how your qualifications can meet its business needs. In addition, read through the job description and include specific terms from it in your résumé and cover letter. Doing so will demonstrate to a hiring manager that your skills are a good fit for the position as well as increase the likelihood that your documents will be flagged as promising by résumé-scanning software.

Expectation: My skills are top notch -- any company would want to hire me.
Reality: You may not be as marketable as you think.

A common mistake job seekers make is overestimating their marketability. Although you may think your skill set is solid, take an honest look at your qualifications to determine how in demand you really are. Keep in mind that your marketability depends on many things, including factors that may be out of your hands. For instance, you may live in a part of the country where many other individuals with similar experience are also looking for employment.

Of course, there are some factors you can control. For example, many firms seek employees with well-developed soft skills, such as communication and leadership abilities. Enrolling in a class or seminar can help you build these competencies. Industry publications, members of your professional network and recruiters can help you determine your weaknesses and identify ways of strengthening those areas to improve your marketability.

Finding a new position is difficult, and it's easy to fall prey to your frustrations. But by maintaining a realistic outlook, you'll be better able to overcome any hurdles and land a job quickly. ( msn.com )

READ MORE - Job Search Reality Check

Getting Out of Prison and Into a Job

Getting Out of Prison and Into a Job. Federal, local governments offering tax incentives to hire parolees. Clayton Smalls has come a long way since he was holding up tellers behind bank counters.

Today he works as a deli man behind the counter of a Fairway Market in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Smalls, 49, who got out of prison in October 2007 after serving 17 months for selling marijuana, has spent most of his life in and out of jail for everything from robbery to drug dealing.

But he's finally ready to change his life, and the job he landed -- thanks to help from America Works, an employment agency that trains and finds jobs for hard-to-place candidates like ex-cons and welfare recipients -- has gone a long way in motivating him.

"I get to work every day an hour early," he says proudly. "The store manager has high hopes for me. He's teaching me how to cut salmon."

"This job is the most important thing in my life," he adds.

There's a growing desire in this country to get ex-offenders jobs as a way to keep them out of jail. The federal government and some municipalities are doing what they can to help parolees get job training and offering employers incentives to hire former prisoners, spurred by skyrocketing incarceration costs and exploding prison populations.

"Acquiring employment is crucial," says Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill. "If they don't get employment, many of these individuals will be back on the corner hollering 'crack and blow.' "

That's part of the reason Davis co-sponsored the Second Chance Act, a bipartisan bill President Bush signed into law in May 2008 authorizing $165 million annually for a host of initiatives to curb recidivism, including money to train ex-offenders for jobs. (About 700,000 people are released from prisons every year, and about two-thirds of those are expected to be back in prison within three years, according to the Department of Justice.)

The federal government already offers employers a tax incentive of $2,400 to hire parolees, and some municipalities are following suit. Last month, the City of Philadelphia announced a program offering employers in the city a $10,000 tax incentive for every ex-offender they hire.

"We need employers to set up and give them an opportunity to show everyone they can be good employees," says Everett Gillison, Philadelphia's deputy mayor for public safety. "These people are trying to turn their lives around and stay crime-free."

It makes economic sense for the ex-cons and for the city that has seen its prison population hit an all time high of 9,250. "The best anti-crime package includes giving people a good job," Gillison adds.

Unfortunately, it's a daunting mission. Many parolees don't have the skills they need to land jobs, and ex-felons are restricted from a host of positions because of their criminal records. In addition, most employers just don't want to hire ex-cons. And forget about hiding your past in this Internet age, experts say, where hiring managers can find out everything about you in a quick Web search.

Take Megon Valencia, 32, who was released from prison in January of last year after serving four years for using a fake name to lease a car, which legally is viewed as stealing.

She got 60 college credits while in prison, and ended up getting an accountingbookkeeper for a wine distributor, but decided not to disclose her record because she figured she wouldn't be hired. certificate. When she got out she landed a great job as

"He did research on me after I started working and found out I was on parole. He flipped out and fired me," she says. "After that I thought no one would hire me."

There are generally few if any employment protections for ex-felons, says Dianna Johnston, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "Some courts have ruled that an employer that has a broad practice of excluding people from all jobs because they have had an arrest or conviction has a disparate impact on African-Americans," she explains. "A similar impact may apply to Hispanics."

But, for the most part, a hiring manager can legally toss your application in the trash bin if you've been incarcerated, and they do.

Devah Pager, an associate professor at Princeton University, has studied discrimination against ex-offenders and is currently doing field experiments looking at this issue. "I hire young men to pose as job applicants, applying to real entry-level jobs in Milwaukee and New York, to see how employers respond to their race and criminal background," she says. "Having a record reduces a job applicant's chances of getting a call back by half, [and] more if the applicant is black."

Happily, Valencia was lucky to find an employer open to hiring people who need a break.

She ended up landing a job as an administrator for Empowercom, a Denver-based telecommunications company where she makes $12 an hour, plus benefits, and handles bookkeeping and invoicing tasks.

"I'm trying to get my life back together," she maintains.

The company's founder, Terri Jackson, says the mission when the company started was to "hire the disadvantaged or people who ordinarily would not have the best opportunities to be employed, including those on welfare, at-risk youth, ex-offenders or non-English speaking citizens."

And when it comes to ex-cons, it's paid off.

"Of all the groups we targeted, ex-offenders turned out to be the best employees, in part because they usually have a desire to create a better life for themselves," she says. "They are often highly motivated and many have usable job skills that are desirable for an employer. They come to work every day and do not engage in the type of behaviors that will land them back in the penal system."

While many people may disregard the issue of jobs for ex-felons as something they don't have to worry about, we may all be forced to confront the issue sooner or later given the growing ranks of parolees.

"The number of ex-felons in the United States is at the highest level in our history," says Chris Uggen, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, who estimates there are about 12 million former felons living among us today. With an impending job shortage as baby boomers age, employers may be forced to start considering former prison inmates whether they like it or not, he surmises.

"Work is not a panacea, but a stable job and a good home situation really improves the odds that people will get out of criminal activity," he says, adding that a job does help keep ex-offenders out of jail, especially among older parolees.

So what should ex-felons do if they want to land a job and turn their lives around?

Peter Cove, the founder of America Works, suggests parolees move quickly to land a job, any job, right out of prison so they're not dragged into the criminal world yet again.

Experts suggest former inmates find an agency in their town that focuses on finding jobs for hard-to-place candidates and take advantage of whatever skills training they can get from the government, nonprofit groups and employment agencies with parolee experience.

The nationwide America Works locations can be found on its Web site.

Uggen also suggests checking out the following Web sites for help: The Sentencing Project, The Legal Action Center, and The Prisoner Reentry Institute.

The key to getting a job -- especially for an ex-con -- is references, experts say. To that end, some former inmates may have to take a low-level job, work their tails off and use that employer for recommendations for the next gig.

Networking also is important. In today's economy, where jobs are becoming more and more scarce, few people are able to land jobs without connections. There are many support groups for ex-inmates throughout the country that could be great resources.

Once parolees land a job interview, one of the hardest things is explaining their tainted pasts.

"Go: Getting On After Getting Out," a book on re-entry put out by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, offers some great guidelines on how to answer questions about a conviction.

Don't lie, give excuses or harp on the details of a conviction, the authors write. Instead, they recommend showing remorse and describing the efforts former inmates have made to improve themselves. The interviewer is ultimately looking for a future employee, so parolees could talk about how they're ready to move forward with life and how hard they're willing to work to get there.

READ MORE - Getting Out of Prison and Into a Job

Firms Putting Best Foot Forward in Cyberspace

Firms Putting Best Foot Forward in Cyberspace. Many companies turn to casual employee videos for recruiting. You may not have to wait for a job interview to find out what the people are like at companies you apply to.

How about meeting some employees virtually right now?

Just surf over to the Web site of your prospective employer and you may find a professionally produced but relatively unscripted video of an employee describing his or her workday or how the employee maintains work-life balance.

For job seekers wondering what it's like to work for accounting and consulting giant Ernst & Young, the firm hosts an online video from Anton, an assurance manager for the company, discussing the firm's gay and lesbian network. Or you can view a video of Sara Lo, a senior consultant in the transaction real-estate group, talking about her passion for surfing.

Employee testimonials are the latest online recruiting craze businesses are using to offer you a peek into their world.

It's a great development for job seekers. Now you don't have to don a blue suit for a job interview and waste time sitting down for an awkward meeting with potential managers and co-workers before you realize a company just isn't right for you.

"It's becoming a powerful recruitment tool," says Jeff Wittenburg, chief leadership officer with recruiting firm Kaye/Bassman International. "Human nature makes us all attracted to anything visual. It gives you a sense of what the people look like (who) work there, how they dress and how they sound."

With technological advances, the time and cost of producing such videos is declining, so more and more companies are beginning to embrace these online vignettes as a way to separate themselves from the competition.

The firms most likely to have employee online snapshots are those that are among the most tech savvy, and they are definitely in growing industries that are in hiring mode.

Ernst & Young hires about 5,500 college graduates every year in the United States and Canada.

"It's a very competitive recruiting environment," says Melissa Taylor, recruiting, branding and communication leader for the firm. "Top talent is very much in demand. We need to be on top of our game, speaking and interacting in way that is compelling and in touch with what students want."

Anne Lac, senior art director with Molecular, the Internet marketing agency that created the Ernst & Young testimonial campaign, says the casual, unscripted videos are what resonated with the students they surveyed. "They really responded to the more authentic portrayal," she adds.

Some employers, like Ernst & Young, see these videos as a way to attract the coveted Generation Y workers who feel comfortable doing everything online. But these testimonials give prospective employees of all ages an inside look at what a job is really like and can even diminish preconceived notions about certain professions.

MassMutual Financial Group is looking to grow its U.S. field work force by 1,500 people this year with jobs such as insurance agents and financial planners, and the employee videos are a key component in filling those positions, says Scott Capurso, director of net field force growth.

The company has a unique approach to its videos. The employees featured on its Web site are seen in something called "video walk-ons," where images of workers seemingly stand in the middle of the Web site talking about their experiences at the company.

The videos went live at the end of March, and already the company has seen a 300 percent spike in applications.

"I'm sure people have perceptions of what life insurance agents are like," Capurso says. Hearing from people who actually do the job, he adds, "in their own words, gets across the passion of this career, and dispels the myths about the career because you see a wide variety of different kinds of folks."

Insurance agent Mary Grate-Pyos takes on one myth head-on in her video, saying: "Why do you want to be a boring life insurance agent? Well, it's not boring at all."

She talks about a day in her life: "I could be speaking at a company, a corporation, a church, a women's group. It's multifaceted, it's fast-paced. I genuinely love what I do."

One employer, architecture and design firm McFarlane/Green/Biggar, takes a novel approach and shows the bottom half of its employees, perhaps on the theory that you can get a good idea about an individual's personality from the shoes he or she wears.

"When it came to reflecting the company's cool, dot-comesque culture and casual, style they came up with an out-of-the-box way to showcase their creativity and entice people to work for the firm," says company spokeswoman Katie Reiach.

It's nice to get this insiders' view of a job, feet and all. However, while these quirky images and videos can be a useful tool in your job search, don't base your career decisions solely on these brief employee snapshots.

"No job seekers should depend 100 percent on these video testimonials," says Joyce Gioia-Herman, president and CEO of business futurist firm The Herman Group and co-author of "How to Choose Your Next Employer."

She recommends doing your own research into a company and its culture, even asking people you meet in the parking lot about an organization.

You can always request informational interviews at firms you're interested in working for. And make sure to ask for time with workers at those firms -- time without managers around if possible. Remember, you're in the driver's seat, especially if the industry is growing and desperate to fill positions.

In addition, always get as many e-mail addresses as you can so you can follow up with the many questions you invariably forget during the high-pressure interview process.

And check out social networking sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn as well. Many employees at companies around the country have pages on these types of sites, as individuals or part of company groups. You can get a good feel for what these firms are like by researching employee profiles and the comments they post on their pages.

There are also tons of company blogs, written by employees, which will give you a taste of firms' inner workings.

Brazen Careerist, a career site aimed at Generation Y, gathers a host of employee blogs in one place. "It is clear that young people want to know about company culture before they apply for a job, and online media like blogging and video are effective tools for companies to show their culture," according to the company's CEO, Penelope Trunk.

But don't expect the whole workplace truth from blogs, social networking sites or videos. They do help you get a sampling of what goes on behind a company's walls, but you'll never really know what the day-to-day work life is like until you accept a job and head to the office or factory.

That's when you'll know it all, when workers who are paid by the companies that commission these videos finally let their guard down and you hear the real dirt at the water cooler. ( msn.com )

READ MORE - Firms Putting Best Foot Forward in Cyberspace

5 Factors to Consider Before Relocating

Five Factors to Consider Before Relocating. In an ideal job market, you would find the job of your dreams right under your nose. You'd have a hefty paycheck, great benefits and flexibility, and you'd wake up every day loving the work you do.

The reality is you'll probably spend several weeks -- even months -- scouring the Internet and chasing job leads just to find a few openings worth pursuing. Even after all of your efforts, the jobs you find may fall short of meeting all of the criteria to be the right opportunity for you.

People in such situations may never come across their dream job because they've limited themselves in the job market. They've narrowed their search to local job openings and have no idea that their dream job is actually in another city or state.

Many people, however, would be willing to pursue those opportunities if they were aware of them. According to a study from CareerBuilder.com and Apartments.com, conducted by Harris Interactive, 59 percent of employees say they'd be willing to relocate to another city for a new job and 44 percent say they'd be willing to relocate to another state, province or region for a new job.

"Depending on your career goals and where you live now, your best chance of finding work and achieving a rewarding career may be in another city or town," says Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin, co-authors of "Today's Hot Job Targets."

They warn, however, that relocating for a job isn't the best option for everyone. In their book, they encourage people to consider the following five factors before making the decision to relocate.

Continued growth

There are no guarantees in today's ever-changing job market. An occupation may experience booming growth one year and then come to a standstill or decline a few years later. For example, jobs in the finance, insurance and human service clusters are now expected to grow significantly faster than previously expected, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009, which is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, job projections are less optimistic than they were two years ago for occupations in the manufacturing, retail and wholesale sales, and service clusters.

To help determine whether relocating is worth the effort, Farr and Shatkin suggest researching a particular occupation and its field or industry first. They say, "Before moving to another area, investigate whether local economic trends are expected to remain favorable. You may be able to find projections of job openings at the Web site of the state department of labor or office of employment security."

Opportunities in your field

Many occupations flourish in some locations, but are rarely offered in others. For example, job seekers interested in the public relations field would have much more luck landing a job in densely populated areas like New York City than in areas populated by only a few thousand people.

Farr and Shatkin recommend visiting www.acinet.org to compare job opportunities in various cities. This resource shows people the state-specific economic trends for each occupation, followed by links that let them compare wages in different regions of the state; compare wages across states; or compare employment trends across states.

Networking

Having an intricate network of contacts is one of the biggest advantages people can have in their job search and careers. These contacts are excellent sources of job search advice, job leads and referrals. In most cases, a person's network is made up of contacts living in the same area. Although a change in location doesn't mean the contacts are no longer useful, it does mean people relocating will need to work hard to develop new contacts that can support them in their new location.

Farr and Shatkin suggest, "Investigate whether your targeted area offers opportunities for you to network quickly. Perhaps there are local branches of social, religious or hobby-centered organizations to which you now belong or where you would fit in readily."

Your résumé

Farr and Shatkin also warn that a person's résumé may not be as impressive in one location as in another. "Employers in many regions may not be as familiar with your previous employers or the school or college you attended."

They recommend that job seekers contact the job placement office of their school or college to find out whether or not other people have found employment in their target area. This strategy isn't as necessary for job seekers from schools with a national reputation or seeking jobs where on-the-job training is all that's required.

Culture shock

Before moving to a new location, people should be aware that there's a good chance the culture will be different than where they currently live and work. It's important for people to visit their target area before actually moving there to see if they feel comfortable there.

Farr and Shatkin remind job seekers that, "Given these concerns, the ideal strategy for relocating is to get hired for a job in the new location before you move -- but this can be very difficult to do. A compromise strategy would be to set up temporary, bare-bones living quarters in the new location, find employment there and then settle into your new location."( msn.com )

READ MORE - 5 Factors to Consider Before Relocating