Paul Nawrocki isn’t asking for your gold, but this former Lehman’s executive does need a job. With a sandwich board draped over his shoulders and a doomed economy looming over his head, Paul stands in the center of buzzing Midtown Manhattan handing out his resume to anyone willing to give him a chance. However, with 10.3 million unemployed and rising, Paul is merely a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, the recently laid off isn’t the only competition for the unemployed; It’s the “I can’t believe I lost my job” vs. the 1 million “I’ve never been but need to be employed” college graduates. And this is where the other problem begins.

The younger, healthier and tech-savvier twenty-something year olds are advanced multitaskers with fresh ideas and innovative strategies. While Paul Nawrocki’s intern (assuming he has/had one) simultaneously Blackberry messages her boyfriend, updates her Facebook status and Tweets about her last final, she’s also preparing for her post-graduation job search. However, to combat the onslaught of the 2009 graduating class, Paul has gone on the offensive.  [Read more]

We Buy Gold on Wall Street

It is official, we are in a recession. There are so many signs that this is true and has been for a while. This sign shouts recession. I found this man standing on Wall Street Monday afternoon. He was wearing a sandwich board for a Wall Street jewelry store stating, “we buy gold” and holding plastic bags to collect it right then and there. You can see The Bank of New York Melon and the New York Stock Exchange in the background. Is it really so bad that people are going to take off their bling in the middle of the street? What signs have you found that we are in a recession? Please leave your feedback in the comments.