With high unemployment, severe regulatory introductions and with higher taxes looming ahead, investors are at least not going to be taken by surprise. This is aptly reflected in increased personal savings rate (frugal being the new hip) of 6.2% for the second quarter compared to 5.5% for the first quarter.  Understandably, the consumer, who accounts for two-thirds of the economy, remains cautious and will continue to be so until there is considerable improvement in the job market and foreclosures become progressively fewer.  

The first preliminary second quarter real GDP number was released last week and it shows the economy slowing to a 2.4% growth from a revised 3.7% in the first quarter.  To attempt to put things in perspective, here's an excerpt from The Wall Street Journal: "The GDP report may ease some fears that the U.S. is heading for a double-dip recession... But it also confirms widespread concerns about a sharp economic slowdown." No, this is not from last week, but from early February 2003! The growth in GDP at that time was running much slower than it is today. We know now that what followed in the second half of 2003 was not a sharp economic slowdown but a sharp unexpected acceleration. This is not to imply we will have a complete change of pace but to make a case that GDP is plagued with slow downs and speed ups, which many times turn out to be short lived but nevertheless are cause for many debates, predictions and of course, media speculation.

I found this article on Yahoo! and thought it worthwhile to share with you.   The content of the article has been edited due to space constraints. Please feel free to share with friends and family and with those who may find it helpful. You can find the entire article at http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110139-6047-4-five-mistakes-online-job-hunters-make?ywaad=ad0035

Five Mistakes Online Job Hunters Make

Elizabeth Garone
Monday, July 26, 2010

In a tight job market, building and maintaining an online presence is critical to networking and job hunting. Done right, it can be an important tool for present and future networking and useful for potential employers trying to get a sense of who you are, your talents and your experience. Done wrong, it can easily take you out of the running for most positions.

Here are five mistakes online job hunters make:

1. Forgetting Manners

If you use Twitter or you write a blog, you should assume that hiring managers and recruiters will read your updates and your posts. A December 2009 study by Microsoft Corp. found that 79% of hiring managers and job recruiters review online information about job applicants before making a hiring decision. Of those, 70% said that they have rejected candidates based on information that they found online. Top reasons listed? Concerns about lifestyle, inappropriate comments, and unsuitable photos and videos.

2. Overkill

Blanketing social media networks with half-done profiles accomplishes nothing except to annoy the exact people you want to impress: prospective employees trying to find out more about on you.

One online profile done well is far more effective than several unpolished and incomplete ones, says Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the three most popular social networking sites for human resources managers to use for recruiting, according to a survey released last month by JobVite, a maker of recruiting software.

3. Not Getting the Word Out

Changing this can be as simple as updating your status on LinkedIn and other social networking sites to let people know that you are open to new positions. If you're currently employed and don't want your boss to find out that you're looking, you'll need to be more subtle. One way to do this is to give prospective employers a sense of how you might fit in, says Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0" and founder of Millennial Branding. "I recommend a positioning, or personal brand statement that depicts who you are, what you do, and what audience you serve, so that people get a feeling for how you can benefit their company."

4. Quantity over Quality

Choose connections wisely; only add people you actually know or with whom you've done business. Whether it's on LinkedIn, Facebook or any other networking site, "it's much more of a quality game than a quantity game," says Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson. A recruiter may choose to contact one of your connections to ask about you; make sure that person is someone you know and trust.

5. Online Exclusivity

With the larger number of people currently unemployed (and under-employed), many employers are being inundated with huge numbers of applications for any positions they post. In order to limit the applicant pool, some have stopped posting positions on their websites and job boards, says Tim Schoonover, chairman of career consulting firm OI Partners.

Scouring the Web for a position and doing nothing else is rarely the best way to go. "When job-seekers choose to search for jobs exclusively online -- rather than also include in-person networking -- they may be missing out on 'hidden' opportunities," says Mr. Schoonover. "Higher-level jobs are not posted as often as lower-level jobs online. In-person networking may be needed to uncover these higher-level positions, which may be filled by executive recruiters."