I recieved an article this week that spoke about being an optimist (I’ve included it below). My response to the person who sent it was that I thought it was timely as there seems to be a change in the atmosphere but until that actually becomes more concrete, many jobseekers will need to keep at it.

So why do I get this feeling? Partly, its what I do, but there are a couple of clues that I’ve picked up on, even if they are far from being able to bank on.

Firstly, I have a couple of tools that monitor websites, twitters, rss feeds, etc. and the tone has changed. Twitter is a great tool for getting the feel of a real time culture if you use the right tools and searches, especially if you take the time to research what real people are saying and don’t get caught in a corporate/professional information rut. Over the last few weeks there has been frustration all over the twitterverse around job searching but there seems to me, when I’ve been monitoring, to have been an increase in job offers and possibilties. It’s far from a complete turn around but it’s a good sign. Add that to some economic indicators such as the DOW’s upturn and there’s a hint that things might improve. We’re probably a long way off from anything remarkable good but its nice to be reminded that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

The websites that caught my interest or I found most valuable this week are:

A Primer for Pessimists – this is the article I refered to above. Worth a read.

7 deadly sins of the job search – From asking career coaches where their clients made mistakes, these apparently were the top 7.

6 Emerging Employment Trends – These are trends in employment, not necessarily in employing individuals, but interesting reading for those watching cultural or business trends.

100 Potential Interview Questions – Some are standard, some are out there but now its been published on Monster.com you know some employers will use it as they’re starter list and so its worth having.

The Books Barack Obama Reads – This was sent to me with the line, ‘Leaders are readers’ which I personally appreciate. A bibliophile has created this list from references made during speeches, interviews, etc.

For those of you reading this far…here’s some fun.

This week obviously had April Fools day and while I enjoyed stories of the invisible car designed to evade speed cameras, Bjork joining Led Zeppelin as their new lead singer, Microsoft unveiling a new yodeling game for the Xbox and Al Gore announcing a new line of vegan frozen meals – my favorite simply because it became more ridiculous as you continue to watch was the story of tiny base stations for mobile phones being implanted into pigeons. I’ve pasted it below for your enjoyment.

Photo by Sara Petagna