If you are thinking about getting a second mortgage, you may discover that you just don’t qualify.

The Wells Fargo formulas for deciding whether you will be offered an increase in a home equity line of credit are making it more difficult for the average American.  Self employed business owners seem to be affected deeply.

If you were caught up in the economic problems that started in 2008, you may have lost your job and had to look for other work or make other plans. So maybe it wasn’t the end of the world for you, but it wasn’t fun either. So you try something new and decide to go into a new type of work or something totally different than you were used to doing. You end up building your own business and it doesn’t start off with a bang, but hey, it pays the bills. Good for you.  You helped yourself cope with a difficult situation.

So your business begins to grow and your 2009 income isn’t too bad.  In fact it’s rather decent so you want to do the best thing for your financial situation by consolidating your debt and getting rid of any credit card debt so that while you are working to pay off debts you are getting a lower interest rate and can use the interest you pay to lower your taxable income.  That would help you out.

Well, 2010 comes along and you’re business is really doing well. The best you could have ever hoped for and it’s growing. Congratulations! Great news. Life looks better in 2010 doesn’t it?

Not to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo uses this procedure to decide whether they can increase your home equity loan. They require that you send in two years of tax returns. Well, remember that in 2008 with your new business just starting, you may have made over $10,000  and had $4,000 in deductions. Now Wells Fargo says that well in that year, you get credit for making $6,000.  They won’t even count the rest of 2008 because it was in a different field. They then divide that by 12, because of course that is how many months there are in a year.

So they calculate that you are making $500 a month.  Do they consider the 2009 income at all?  Well sure they do, but because there is such a huge discrepancy, they have to go with the smaller amount of money that was made in 2008. But they will give you what they call a cap of 125%. They then multiply 125% times the $500 a month and come up with a $626.25 figure . That is the new figure of how much they think you make per month, regardless of what you made in 2009. Isn’t that smart?

Then they look at your current minimum payments for your mortgage, association fees and revolving credit and come up with your debt to income ratio. It doesn’t take a rocket scientists to figure out that most mortgages will exceed $626.25, so right there you’ve gone over 100% debt to income ratio and they come to the brilliant decision that they shouldn’t give you a loan, because well…your debt to income ratio is too high.

For people who have the guts to start their own business and pursue it, you are going to have to have to know that it is pretty useless to try to borrow any money until you’ve had a solid two years of income that they can wave their magic formulas on to predict what you will do in the coming years.

It’s a good thing that entrepreneurs have more insight and determination to grow a business than the banks have to risk lending their money to you.

Filing For Unemployment

To start with you will need to determine if you are eligible for unemployment. Getting unemployment compensation can help you pay your bills while you are searching for a job. Since each state has different requirements check with your state office. Sometimes you can file a claim online or over the phone. It’s not difficult to do.

Top 20 Sites To Help You Find A Job

Jobs are listed online and can be accessed through many sites. Some of these sites have been recommended by PC Magazine and other reliable sources. Spend some time seeing which site is going to help you the most.

1. Monster.com – Search jobs, post resumes, read advice
2. Job.com – Listings by top jobs in your area, estimate salaries, take a job match test
3. Hot Jobs – Yahoo service, pulls data from multiple feeds
4. Net Temps – Access to over 5000 professional recruiters
5. Indeed – 905,823 new jobs in the last week
6. CareerBuilder – Has 23 million visits a month
7. All Job Search – Links to other sites to search
8. Simply Hired – Uses Google search which provides relevant results
9. USA.gov – Federal government jobs
10. College Recruiter – Entry level jobs and internships
11. Craigslist – Classified job postings
12. Hound.com – Paid service for job hunters, but free for job listers, tens of thousands of dollars are spent on bandwidth just crawling sites for information for you
13. Execu-search.com – Search page provides multiple categories to do one search
15. Oodle.com – Searches the US, Canada, India, Ireland – Lists popular searches, Search jobs, cars, real estate, rentals, items for sale
16. MediaBistro.com – For media professionals
17. TweetMyJobs.com – A Twitter job board that provides instant notification of open positions
18. Job-Hunt.org – Lists job resources by state.
19. Fortune 500 Companies – Job-hunt.org searches Fortune 500 Companies
20. SnagaJob.com – Hourly jobs posted. Good for temporary work and teenage jobs

Career Planning Resources

If you are in the beginning phases of preparing yourself for a career then you may want to check out the best fields of study. You can ask around locally or you can check your newspaper, but the best way to find out what careers are flourishing, you need to search online. College majors that have good employment possibilities were reported by the collegiate employment research institute at Michigan State University. The majors included E-commerce, entrepreneurialism, environmental sciences, information science, information systems (management and computer), interactive computer design, statistics, nursing, and social work. If you have been pursuing one of those degrees you are on the right track.

The United States Department of Labor has compiled the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Occupational Outlook Handbook can be ordered online.

State Resources For the Unemployed

Each of the sites listed below will provide detailed information on occupations and labor markets within their states. Many of these sites can help you find companies that are hiring.

For example, if you use the Utah site link, you’ll find a resource center provides a lot of interesting information for people seeking jobs in Utah. This site reports that in March, 2010, unemployment in Utah hit an all time high that has not been seen in Utah for twenty six years.

On the brighter side, the site will give you interesting possibilities of places to look for work. Oracle Corporation, a business-software giant is building a $300 million data center in West Jordan, Utah. According to the City of West Jordan, the building may be completed as early as October 1. They anticipate hiring 100 people. The State of Utah provided the company with a $15 million dollar incentive to build in Utah.

Do some research for the resources available to you in your state.

Let us know what successes or failures you’ve had with them by leaving a comment here.

Alabama

Labor Market Information Division, Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, 649 Monroe St., Room 422, Montgomery, AL 36131Telephone:

(334) 242-8859

http://dir.alabama.gov

Alaska

Research and Analysis Section, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, P.O. Box 25501, Juneau, AK 99802-5501.

Telephone: (907) 465-4500

Internet: http://almis.labor.state.ak.us

Arizona

Arizona Department of Economic Security
P.O. Box 6123 SC 733A
Phoenix, AZ 85005-6123

Telephone: (602) 542-5984

Internet: https://www.azdes.gov

Arkansas

Labor Market Information, Department of Workforce Services, #2 Capital Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201.

Telephone: (501) 682-3198.

Internet:

California

State of California Employment Development Department, Labor Market Information Division, P.O. Box 826880, Sacramento, CA 94280-0001.

Telephone: (916) 262-2162.

Internet:http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov

Colorado

Labor Market Information, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 633 17th St., Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202-3660.

Telephone: (303) 318-8850.

Internet: http://lmigateway.coworkforce.com

Connecticut

Office of Research, Connecticut Department of Labor, 200 Folly Brook Blvd., Wethersfield, CT 06109-1114.

Telephone: (860) 263-6275.

Internet: http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi

Delaware

Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information, Department of Labor, 19 West Lea Blvd., Wilmington, DE 19802.

Telephone: (302) 761-8069.

Internet: http://www.delawareworks.com/oolmi/

District of Columbia

DC Department of Employment Services, 64 New York Ave. NE., Suite 3000, Washington, D.C. 20002.

Telephone: (202) 724-7000.

Internet: http://www.does.dc.gov/does

Florida

Labor Market Statistics, Agency for Workforce Innovation, 107 E. Madison St., MSC 110 – Caldwell Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399-4111.

Telephone: (850) 245-7105.

Internet: http://www.labormarketinfo.com

Georgia

Workforce Information and Analysis, Room 300, Department of Labor, 223 Courtland St., CWC Building, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Telephone: (404) 232-3875.

Internet: http://www.dol.state.ga.us/em/get_labor_market_information.htm

Guam

Guam Department of Labor, 504 D St., Tiyan, Guam 96910.

Telephone: (671) 475-0101.

Internet: http://guamdol.net

Hawaii

Research and Statistics Office, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, 830 Punchbowl St., Room 304, Honolulu, HI 96813.

Telephone: (808) 586-9013.

Internet: http://www.hiwi.org

Idaho

Research and Analysis Bureau, Department of Commerce and Labor, 317 West Main St., Boise, ID 83735-0670.

Telephone: (208) 332-3570.

Internet: http://lmi.idaho.gov

Illinois

Illinois Department of Employment Security, Economic Information and Analysis Division, 33 S. State St., 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603.

Telephone: (312) 793-6521.

Internet: http://lmi.ides.state.il.us

Indiana

Research and Analysis—Indiana Workforce Development, Indiana Government Center South, 10 North Senate Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46204.

Telephone: (800) 891-6499.

Internet: http://www.in.gov/dwd

Iowa

Policy and Information Division, Iowa Workforce Development, 1000 East Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50319-0209.

Telephone: (515) 281-5387.

Internet: http://www.iowaworkforce.org/lmi

Kansas

Kansas Department of Labor, Labor Market Information Services, 401 SW Topeka Blvd., Topeka, KS 66603-3182.

Telephone: (785) 296-5000.

Kentucky

Research and Statistics Branch, Office of Employment and Training, 275 East Main St., Frankfort, KY 40621.

Telephone: (502) 564-7976.

Internet: http://www.workforcekentucky.ky.gov

Louisiana

Research and Statistics Division, Department of Labor, 1001 North 23rd St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802-3338.

Telephone: (225) 342-3111.

Internet: http://www.laworks.net

Maine

Labor Market Information Services Division, Maine Department of Labor, 45 Commerce Dr., State House Station 118, Augusta, ME 04330.

Telephone: (207) 623-7900.

Internet: http://maine.gov/labor/lmis

Maryland

Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation, Office of Labor Market Analysis and Information, 1100 N. Eutaw, Baltimore, MD 21201.

Telephone: (410) 767-2250.

Internet: http://www.dllr.state.md.us/lmi/index.shtml

Massachusetts

Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Career Services, 19 Staniford St., Boston, MA 02114.

Telephone: (617) 626-5300.

Internet: http://www.detma.org/LMIdataprog.htm

Michigan

Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, Department of Labor and Economic Growth, 3032 West Grand Blvd., Suite 9-100, Detroit, MI 48202.

Telephone: (313) 456-3100.

Internet:

Minnesota

Department of Employment and Economic Development, Labor Market Information Office, 1st National Bank Building, 332 Minnesota St., Suite E200, St. Paul, MN 55101-1351.

Telephone: (888) 234-1114.

Internet: http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi

Mississippi

Labor Market Information Division, Mississippi Department of Employment Security, 1235 Echelon Pkwy., P.O. Box 1699, Jackson, MS 39215.

Telephone: (601) 321-6000.

Internet: http://mdes.ms.gov

Missouri

Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, P.O. Box 3150, Jefferson City, MO 65102-3150.

Telephone: (866) 225-8113.

Internet: http://www.missourieconomy.org

Montana

Research and Analysis Bureau, P.O. Box 1728, Helena, MT 59624.

Telephone: (800) 541-3904.

Internet:

Nebraska

Nebraska Workforce Development—Labor Market Information, Nebraska Department of Labor, 550 South 16th St., P.O. Box 94600, Lincoln, NE 68509.

Telephone: (402) 471-2600.

Internet: http://www.dol.nebraska.gov/nwd/center.cfm?PRICAT=3&SUBCAT=4Z0

Nevada

Research and Analysis, Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation, 500 East Third St., Carson City, NV 89713.

Telephone: (775) 684-0450.

Internet:

New Hampshire

Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau, New Hampshire Employment Security, 32 South Main St., Concord, NH 03301-4857.

Telephone: (603) 228-4124.

Internet: http://www.nh.gov/nhes/elmi

New Jersey

Division of Labor Market and Demographic Research, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, P.O. Box 388, Trenton, NJ 08625-0388.

Telephone: (609) 984-2593.

Internet: http://www.wnjpin.net

New Mexico

New Mexico Department of Labor , Economic Research and Analysis, 401 Broadway NE., Albuquerque, NM 87102.

Telephone: (505) 222-4683.

Internet: http://www.dws.state.nm.us/dws-lmi.html

New York

Research and Statistics, New York State Department of Labor, W. Averell Harriman State Office Campus, Building 12, Albany, NY 12240.

Telephone: (518) 457-9000.

Internet: http://www.labor.state.ny.us

North Carolina

Labor Market Information Division, Employment Security Commission, 700 Wade Ave., Raleigh, NC 27605.

Telephone: (919) 733-2936.

Internet: http://www.ncesc.com

North Dakota

Labor Market Information Manager, Job Service North Dakota, 1000 East Divide Ave., Bismarck, ND 58506.

Telephone: (800) 732-9787.

Internet: http://www.ndworkforceintelligence.com

Ohio

Bureau of Labor Market Information, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, 420 East 5th Ave., Columbus, OH 43219.

Telephone: (614) 752-9494.

Internet: http://ohiolmi.com

Oklahoma

Labor Market Information, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, P.O. Box 52003., Oklahoma City, OK 73152.

Telephone: (405) 557-7172.

Internet: http://www.ok.gov/oesc_web/Services/Find_Labor_Market_Statistics/index.html

Oregon

Oregon Employment Department, Research Division, 875 Union St. NE., Salem, OR 97311.

Telephone: (503) 947-1200.

Internet: http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/OlmisZine

Pennsylvania

Center for Workforce Information & Analysis, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, 220 Labor and Industry Building, Seventh and Forster Sts., Harrisburg, PA 17121.

Telephone: (877) 493-3282.

Internet: http://www.paworkstats.state.pa.us

Puerto Rico

Department of Work and Human Resources, Ave. Muñoz Rivera 505, Hato Rey, PR 00918.

Telephone: (787) 754-5353.

Internet: http://www.dtrh.gobierno.pr

Rhode Island

Labor Market Information, Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, 1511 Pontiac Ave., Cranston, RI 02920.

Telephone: (401) 462-8740.

Internet: http://www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi

South Carolina

Labor Market Information Department, South Carolina Employment Security Commission, 631 Hampton St., Columbia, SC 29202.

Telephone: (803) 737-2660.

Internet: http://www.sces.org/lmi/index.asp

South Dakota

Labor Market Information Center, Department of Labor, P.O. Box 4730, Aberdeen, SD 57402-4730.

Telephone: (605) 626-2314.

Internet: http://dol.sd.gov/lmic

Tennessee

Research and Statistics Division, Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 220 French Landing Dr., Nashville, TN 37245.

Telephone: (615) 741-1729.

Internet: http://www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/lmi.htm

Texas

Labor Market Information, Texas Workforce Commission, 9001 North IH-35, Suite 103A, Austin, TX 75753.

Telephone: (866) 938-4444.

Internet: http://www.tracer2.com

Utah

Director of Workforce Information, Utah Department of Workforce Services, P.O. Box 45249, Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0249.

Telephone: (801) 526-9675.

Internet: http://jobs.utah.gov/opencms/wi

Vermont

Economic and Labor Market Information, Vermont Department of Labor, P.O. Box 488, Montpelier, VT 05601-0488.

Telephone: (802) 828-4000.

Internet: http://www.vtlmi.info

Virgin Islands

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, 53A & 54AB Kronprindsens Gade, St Thomas, VI 00803-2608.

Telephone: (340) 776-3700.

Internet: http://www.vidol.gov

Virginia

Virginia Employment Commission, P.O. Box 1358, Richmond, VA 23218-1358.

Telephone: (800) 828-1140.

Internet: http://www.vec.virginia.gov/vecportal/index.cfm

Washington

Labor Market and Economic Analysis, Washington Employment Security Department, P.O. Box 9046, Olympia, WA 98507-9046.

Telephone: (360) 438-4833.

Internet: http://www.workforceexplorer.com

West Virginia

Workforce West Virginia, Research, Information and Analysis Division, 112 California Ave., Charleston, WV 25303-0112.

Telephone: (304) 558-2660.

Internet: http://workforcewv.org/lmi

Wisconsin

Bureau of Workforce Information, Department of Workforce Development, P.O. Box 7944, Madison, WI 53707-7944.

Telephone: (608) 266-7034.

Internet: http://worknet.wisconsin.gov/worknet

Wyoming

Research and Planning, Wyoming Department of Employment, 246 S. Center St., Casper, WY 82602.

Telephone: (307) 473-3807.

Internet: Wyoming Labor Markets

Management Recruiters is one of the world’s largest search and recruitment organizations. They provide services for small-to-mid-size firms as well as Fortune 500 companies in a number of specialized industry segments.

Some of the reasons that people like working for their company is that Dirk Cortell, president of Management Recruiters of Salt Lake City actually watches out for his employees and says that he hasn’t had to lay anyone off for eighteen years.

What makes this company fun to work for?

“Although we have a professional dress code, the men don’t wear ties, he says. We also have a workout facility, a kitchen stocked with many free items, and various office outings and incentive trips. In-fact 12 couples from the company just returned from a seven day Southern Carribean cruise with stops in St Thomas, St Maarten, Antigua, St Lucias and Barbados.

Advice for hiring new employees

Based on his nearly twenty years as a recognized expert in the area of hiring, Cotterell offers practical advice for hiring and retaining the right people:

• Look for people who have a recent successful track record, who are smart and who have stable personal lives.
• If you don’t connect with the candidates, don’t hire them.
• Determine upfront whether your opportunity aligns with the candidates’ ambitions.
• Once you’ve made the hire, strive to bond with your people.
• Provide a stable, ethical and professional environment, as well as the resources your people need for success.
• Assuming you hired right, don’t give up prematurely on people.

In a recent press release, the keys to Cotterell’s success were shared with everyone.

The effectiveness of Cotterell’s approach to hiring and retention was underscored recently by the selection of Management Recruiters of Salt Lake City as one of seventeen companies recognized by Utah Business Magazine as the best companies to work for in the state. In addition, the Mountain West Capital Network cited the company in the Fastest Growing Category of the Utah 100, a program that highlights the achievements of both emerging and mature businesses in Utah.

Management Recruiters of Salt Lake City was the only company in the state of Utah that achieved both awards in 2008. The company is also ranked number three in 2008 among the more than 1,000 offices within MRINetwork.

Look for more articles about the best places to work.

Where are your best places to work and why do you feel that way?

Here are some job search remedies for you.

Rent a Movie

Fun With Dick and Jane

You may be depressed about your job loss, but watching this movie will make you think about your situation in a new light.  Even if you aren’t a Jim Carrey fan, this movie will move you from the couch to the floor because you are laughing so hard.

Find someone else to write your resume

Avoid the pain of writing your resume by asking someone else to write it.  Of course you can pay someone to write it at Monster.com.  For $249 you can get a cover letter and resume written for you. Tackle the job of writing your resume as soon as possible.  If you put it off, you are losing months of time in getting that job.  Don’t sweat it too much though because there are websites that can actually give you ideas about writing your resume.

Job Search Websites

• LinkedIN provides you with search features for the zip code you live in and is a networking website of professional business people.
• Monster.com will allow you to build your resume online or upload your own.  They also offer professional resume writing for you.
• Indeed.com is actually a job search engine.  As of July 25, they had posted 141,178 new jobs in the past 7 days. It searches job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages.

When you are looking for a job, it is easy to get overwhelmed with advice. Try just a few of these ideas to see if they will remedy your job searching headaches.  Leave us some of your suggestions to add to this article.

When people lose their jobs, it’s a devastating experience no matter how tactfully they were told they were no longer needed. The life they once knew as financially and emotional secure has been ripped away.  According to many sources this loss is similar in intensity to a divorce or death.

Here are 10 quick tips for surviving a job loss. (Click on the dog to buy the cute doggie tee.)

1. Be grateful for at least one thing in your life on a daily basis. It’s so easy to get angry about situations beyond your control.  Gratitude helps immensely.

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. – Charles Swindoll, Minister/Author

2. Get dressed for the day as if you were going to an interview. You will feel more competent and better prepared for anything that may come up during the day.  Get out of those pajamas (unless you are looking for a job as a pajama model) and act as if you were going to be working soon!

3. Focus on getting face-to-face interviews. The chances of getting a job are increased with every face-to-face interview with a person who has the power to hire. It seems too obvious to point out, but the end goal of obtaining a job cannot be reached without face-to-face interviews.

4. Talk to everyone you know and let them know you are looking for work. If there was ever a time in your life that you felt more like crawling in a hole and covering yourself up with sand, this is it.  Let go of this feeling as quickly as possible. The more people that are aware you are job hunting, the higher your chances of getting interviews that lead to employment.

5. Become a sales person about the most important thing you will ever sell anybody – YOU! It is extremely difficult for some people to think of themselves as a product, but in a way that is what we are. If you could describe yourself as a product a buyer needs what would you say?

6. Control the job hunting process. Being laid off is a situation that is out of your control. In fact the only thing you have control of is the actual job hunting process. Plan out daily time periods where you will be on the phone inquiring about job openings and actually talking to possible employers.  Avoid doing anything else during this time.

7. Don’t overrate the value of a resume. What is going to get you hired with a new company is your interaction with the interviewer. Write a good resume, but don’t get stuck on spending hours doing it. Many employers are extremely busy and just want the answers to where your worked, how long you were working and what you did.

8. Avoid writing an objective on your resume. Employers care about what they want, not what you want. They want to know if you will fit the position they have in mind for you. As Tony Beshara states in his book, “The Job Search Solution,”

The clear message of an effective resume needs to be  “You need to interview ME because this is what I have done in the past FOR OTHERS and therefore THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU!

9.  Jobs are given to the people who sell themselves best. Don’t be afraid that the qualifications you have aren’t the absolute perfect fit for the jobs you apply for. Maybe someone else looks better than you on paper, but people get hired who are best at selling themselves.

10. Research, research, and more research. Find out about the company you are asking to work for.  Find out everything you can about them. Ask yourself if you would be happy working for that company. Talk to people who are already working there.

Many more tips and ideas can be found in Tony Beshara’s book, The Job Search Solution: The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now! (Job Search Solution)