World News Gathered & Syndicated

By DIANA MIDDLETON

Business-school applicants have to juggle their real-world work and family commitments with GMAT-taking, tedious applications and dozens of essays. It can be difficult to figure out when to apply—and when to tell the boss you might be leaving. Here’s how to handle M.B.A. application season:

• Choose your application round carefully. Most schools have several windows in which applicants can apply. The deadlines start in November and can go as late as April. The key is to zero in on your top choice and work on that application before the others, says Stacy Blackman, founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting, which coaches individuals during the M.B.A. admissions process. But don’t wait until the third round to apply to a school you’re serious about. By that time, schools are looking for very specific types of people to round out the rest of the class, says Jennifer Hayes, senior associate director of admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

• Break the news to your employer. Applicants with letters of recommendation from a current employer are much stronger than those without. Ideally, you have discussed your long-term goals with your employer, so this won’t come as a surprise. Ms. Blackman recommends telling your supervisor about your ambitions two years before you apply. However, if you feel as if sharing your goal will endanger your employment, include an additional letter addressed to the admissions committee explaining your concerns.

• Work harder in the office. Truth is, not every applicant will get into their dream school. Scott Shrum, director of M.B.A. admissions research of Veritas Prep, an admissions firm in Malibu, Calif., suggests finding ways to make your candidacy even stronger while waiting for a final answer. If there’s a new workplace project that needs a leader, volunteer. It will give you more to talk about if you make it to the personal interview at your choice schools, says Mr. Shrum.

• Prepare for the interview. You should count on spending three weeks preparing for each interview, Mr. Shrum says. That includes checking online forums, such as those found on Accepted.com, to familiarize yourself with the specific questions each school tends to ask and studying the details of your application. Even if the interviewer has only a copy of your résumé, rest assured he or she is familiar with your application and will have questions regarding career changes or a spotty résumé.

• If you are wait-listed, don’t panic. Every school handles wait-listed students differently. You may be assigned a wait-list counselor who will keep tabs on your progress. Other schools will instruct you to submit information to supplement your application materials. If you suspect a mediocre GMAT score is a culprit, send transcripts of accounting or finance classes you took at a community college to boost your skills, for example. Make sure to inform the school of recent promotions or new work assignments.

• Plan your exit. When the acceptance letter comes, you have anywhere from four to six months to plan a departure. If your employer isn’t already aware of your plans, ask for a meeting to explain. Offer to finish any significant projects and to train your replacement, says Ms. Blackman. Work out a clear transition plan. This will leave your employer happier—and more likely to offer a positive reference. “Document all your work, make sure the files you leave behind are easily accessible,” she says. “This is still your network, and your former company is still important.”

Write to Diana Middleton at diana.middleton@wsj.com

By JANE PORTER

While starting a new job means learning the ropes at an unfamiliar place, for those faced with a sudden role shift within the same company, the move can be even trickier. But it’s happening more these days as companies downsize and responsibilities shift. Whether you are moving from one internal job to another or suddenly answering to a new boss Rick Brandon, author of “Survival of the Savvy,” says you need to take steps to avoid the pitfalls of office politics and work overload.

• Talk it out. When moving from one job to another or transitioning between bosses and departments you can easily get stuck with twice the work. You might be eager to start the new job, but Mr. Brandon advises sitting down with the old and new bosses together to reach an agreement about how the transition will be handled. Who will take over your old role? What will your new job responsibilities entail? “Negotiate time frames for the new job,” says Mr. Brandon. If you’re asked to take on work in addition to what you do now, ask for a priority list and find out who you will report to for the new responsibilities.

• Understand the new rules. Just because you are still in the same company, doesn’t mean you will be playing by the same rules. Take the time to learn how things operate in your new work situation. “It’s easy to think, ‘I know the company, I’ve been here for 20 years,’ ” says Erika Andersen, author of “Being Strategic,” and founder of New York-based organizational development firm, Proteus International Inc. “It’s really important not to assume that it’s the same.” While you handed in monthly reports and held monthly meetings in your old job, a new manager may expect you to report your progress weekly or meet more frequently. Be sure to ask about these details early on, says Ms. Andersen. And talk to colleagues about the particulars of the departmental culture.

• Stay open. Reorganization usually leads to angst and fear among employees, whether it’s a favorite co-worker whose place you’ll be taking or former peers who now report to you. You’ll be bringing whatever old baggage you have—and dealing with the worries of new colleagues, says Mr. Brandon. Don’t be surprised by initial push-back from co-workers who may see your new role as a threat. Be open with your colleagues about your role and how it fits into the group.

• Learn to let go. Consider in advance what might happen if you’re needed back in the old job or role—even temporarily—says Mr. Brandon. Will your new manager be on board with the idea? Can other colleagues or outside consultants help if a crisis hits and your hands are full? “Make sure you run interference for yourself,” says Mr. Brandon. “Plan for the unexpected.”

• Manage your relationships. While you may have a new set of colleagues, preserving relationships with old co-workers and managers is important, particularly in such a volatile work environment. Stop by to say hello or invite a former boss to coffee. “There’s so much reorganization,” says Mr. Brandon. “You might end up back with those people.”

Write to Jane Porter at jane.porter@wsj.com

By JUSTIN LAHART

Getty Images

Veterans and family members wait on line to attend a job fair Nov. 23, 2009, in New York City.

Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don’t exist anymore.

The downturn that started in December 2007 delivered a body blow to U.S. workers. In two years, the economy shed 7.2 million jobs, pushing the jobless rate from 5% to 10%, according to the Labor Department. The severity of the recession is reshaping the labor market. Some lost jobs will come back. But some are gone forever, going the way of typewriter repairmen and streetcar operators.

Many of the jobs created by the booms in the housing and credit markets, for example, have likely been permanently erased by the subsequent bust.

“The tremendous amount of economic activity associated with housing, I can’t see that coming back,” says Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz. “That was a very unhealthy part of the economy.”

Reshaping the Job Market

Read more profiles of workers in different industries.

Tim Winter

Tim Winters, Aspen, Colo. Age 39

Hotel Director Forced to Give Up Own Home

After getting laid off in March from his job as operations director at a small hotel, Tim Winters could no longer afford his $1,200 a month apartment. He has been living at family members’ homes, an ironic twist for someone who often used to stay for free at hotels when he traveled. “It takes a lot of understanding and time to get used to living with other people again,” says Mr. Winters, who started his career in hospitality in 1996. Mr. Winters says he has applied for approximately 170 hotel-management positions and has had 14 interviews, but no job offers yet.

Daryl Jones

Daryl Jones, Tulsa, Okla. Age 45

Economy Chips Away at Cabinet Maker’s Business

Daryl Jones misses the smiles that would appear on clients’ faces after receiving the one-of-a-kind cabinets, bedroom sets and other wood furniture he built by hand while running his home-based business. But sales plummeted in recent years, prompting the third-generation craftsman to take a job building cabinets for corporate jets to make ends meet. Still, Mr. Jones is optimistic that one day he will return to his custom woodworking full time. “Once the economy bounces back and people feel comfortable again spending money, then things will start picking back up.”

Jeff Walker

Jeff Walker Brighton, Mich. Age 53

Auto Industry Executive Goes Back to School

Jeff Walker, a former auto industry executive, doesn’t mind being among the oldest students at Eastern Michigan University. “I’m happier than just being unemployed and looking for a job,” he says. In April, Mr. Walker lost his job as a vice president of operations at a small auto equipment supplier in Brighton, Mich., where he had worked for 22 years. Mr. Walker is studying technology management in pursuit of the college degree he started but never finished after high school. Now, he says, he just wants to “get out of manufacturing.”

Duane Dittbrenner

Duane Dittbrenner, Cleburne, Texas Age 50

Veteran Trucker Worries About Paying the Bills

Duane Dittbrenner was laid off last month from his job at Arrow Trucking Co. He has been struggling to find another trucking job in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Where I live, most of it is hazmat and tankers,” says Mr. Dittbrenner, who has hauled big rigs for the past 20 years throughout the U.S. Mr. Dittbrenner says he is worried he won’t be able to pay next month’s bills if a new job doesn’t come along. “It’s just getting out there and pounding the pavement,” he says. “I’ll have one soon. All you can do is be optimistic.”

Michael Benabib

Debra Allicock, Brooklyn, N.Y. Age 42

Growing Demand, but Low Pay, for Home Health

Debra Allicock migrated to New York from Guyana in 2000 and took a job as a home-health aide, helping the elderly with errands, meals and light housekeeping. She says the relationships she gains are what motivates her to work 12-hour days despite low pay and no medical insurance. “You get to get very close and attached with them,” she says of her clients. Ms. Allicock says her services are in high demand. “Why go to a nursing home when you can stay in your home surrounded by everything you love?” she says. “Maybe one day someone is going to return that favor for me.”

Richard Hawthorne

Richard Hawthorne, Laguna Beach, Calif. Age 58

Real Estate Executive Tries a New Path

Richard Hawthorne has been out of work since June 2007, when he was laid off from a small commercial real estate investment firm where he was director of development. “In past downturns I’ve done well, but this downturn has me stumped,” he says. Mr. Hawthorne enjoyed his more than 30 years in commercial real estate. “There was something new and totally unpredictable each and every day to solve,” he says. But now, tired of being told he is overqualified for jobs in his field, he is launching a business advising financial institutions on how to eliminate investment property debt.

– Interviews by Sarah E. Needleman

Unhealthy but a boon for men without a college education. One in three jobs, or six million total, have been lost in the manufacturing sector since 1997, the last year the sector posted job gains. The upsurge in construction jobs accompanying the housing boom provided these workers in manufacturing with an opportunity to earn decent wages.

Now that door, too, has shut. With 1.6 million jobs lost over the last two years, the construction sector has accounted for more than a fifth of the jobs lost since the recession began.

For more highly educated workers, finance may no longer offer as many high-paying jobs as it has in the past. Thomas Philippon, an economist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, estimates that the financial sector’s share of the economy was nearly 20% larger than it should have been. Since the start of the recession, the financial sector has lost 548,000 jobs, or 6.6% of its work force. Mr. Philippon’s estimate suggests there will be further pressure on financial jobs.

In other areas of the labor market, the recession accelerated job losses that were probably coming anyway. In November, there were 36% fewer people working in record shops than two years earlier, according to the Labor Department. There were 23% fewer people working at directory and mailing list publishers, and 46% fewer at photofinishing establishments. Those are jobs that, with the advent of mp3 recordings, Google and digital photography, were likely disappearing anyway.

But as the recession hurt already ailing businesses, workers were forced into a sudden adjustment rather than the gradual one they would have otherwise faced. The recession also provided companies with an opportunity to cut jobs no longer as critical as they once were. That may be particularly true of the secretaries and mailroom clerks that advances in information technology have made less necessary. The ranks of people doing office and administrative work have fallen 10.1% since the recession began.

“Those are the production jobs of the information age, and they’re being to a substantial extent automated,” says Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist David Autor.

The permanent loss of many jobs may keep the labor market from fully recovering for a long time to come.

Prior to the 1990s, jobs rebounded quickly once recessions ended. Payrolls fell by nearly three million in the deep downturn that extended from July 1981 to November 1982. But by the start of 1983, the economy was creating jobs again, and by the end of 1983, the U.S. job count had exceeded its old peak.

That was because more of the job losses were essentially temporary, with manufacturers and the like letting workers go with the implicit expectation that they would be hiring them back once the worst was over.

But since the early 1990s, jobs have been slower to recover from recession. After the 2001 downturn ended, job losses continued for nearly two years. It wasn’t until 2005 that the job count returned to its prerecession high.

Productivity-enhancing technology and competition from low-wage countries like China made more job losses permanent. And it took time for new jobs to be created and for workers to acquire the skills needed to do them. In the wake of a far deeper recession, creating new jobs and retraining workers to do them could take even longer.

It is anyone’s guess what those jobs will be. The Labor Department has done little more than extrapolate from recent trends. It expects growth in areas like health care, which has been one of the few bright spots. Given the exigencies of an aging population, that seems a fair bet.

One could also make the case that the U.S. is shifting from a consumer nation to a nation of producers, and that will lead to a resurgence in technology and high-tech manufacturing jobs.

But Harvard’s Mr. Katz warns that past experience suggests such conjecture is likely fruitless. “One thing we’ve learned is that when we attempt to forecast jobs 10 or 15 years out, we don’t even get the categories right,” he says.

Write to Justin Lahart at justin.lahart@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A15

The joy of a private office—it’s something 89% of senior managers in the U.S. have celebrated. Soon after, though, there’s the realization that the space feels cut off from the action. At times, the four walls can feel like barriers to keeping in touch with colleagues.

What does the perfect office look like? Four design firms were given the same dimensions of a mid-executive office. Sue Shellenbarger explains what they did with the space.

Is there a way to make that same office a more inspiring, productive space that actually aids communication?

To that end, four design firms were challenged to configure a 15-foot by 15-foot space for a hypothetical midlevel executive. The office should look good, of course, but the firms were asked to envision a space that could inspire ideas and increase productivity.

Each firm came up with imaginative spaces—understandable when given a blank slate and unlimited budget. Yet the vastly different “perfect office” designs offer common themes.

All the designers created virtual fishbowls, building in two or more glass walls and even, in two cases, having one glass wall fold or slide open to create shared space. This openness allows the executive “to be seen by other people,” and to show leadership and earn trust, says Kursty Groves, a New York-based consultant to businesses on designing creative workplaces.

Each firm’s rendering highlights different work zones within the office to accommodate different tasks, from concentrating on a project to meeting with colleagues to sitting back to reflect. Also, most of the firms aimed to integrate the latest wireless technology and environmental controls into desktops or key pads, making them nearly undetectable to the eye.

What’s out, based on the firms’ concepts, are towering status-symbol executive desks and trophy-laden “ego walls.” Capacious drawers and closets for storage are mostly absent too, reflecting the paperless trend.

Of course, the definition of a perfect office depends on the occupant. With about 38% of office buildings redesigning or rebuilding office space last year, and 30% planning to expand in the next few years, according to the International Facility Management Association, it is something many will be attempting to create.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

The Five-Star Hotel, by Gensler

HQ: San Francisco

3,000 employees

Recent Clients: Proskauer, BASF, Ogilvy + Mather

A modern, polished metal-and-glass office plans aims for the ambience of a five-star hotel, while also sending a message that its occupant, a senior manager and working mother, wants her employees to be “more collaborative and less siloed,” says Mark Morton, a design principal.

The executive’s family photos are part of a changeable display on an interactive wall screen, and her personal items can be tucked out of sight behind blind wall panels. That permits her to erase her stamp on the office during 65% of the time she is out or on the road, opening up the space for use as a conference room. “This sets the tone that she is part of the team, and not above it. The space is both her office, and everyone’s,” says Johnathan Sandler, a workplace strategist.

•1. Ceiling light levels can be adjusted to vary intensity and conserve energy

• 2. Personal photos can be easily cleared so others can use the office when manager is away.

•3. Sliding glass door can be kept open to encourage collaboration, or closed for conference calls or meetings.

•4. Side walls are partly glass so managers can see each other.

•5. Personal items are stored behind blind panels to protect the manager’s privacy.

•6. Sound-masking system reduces noise and keeps conversations private.

•7. Underfloor air conditioning allows personal control of temperature.

•8. Interactive screen for teleconferencing and other displays.

•9. Wireless connectivity for computer, keypad and controls for custom lighting, air and music setting.

The Living Room, by PDR

HQ: Houston

63 Employees

Recent Clients: Exxon Mobil, Eaton, Accenture

An office envisioned for a middle manager at an energy or consulting company has a living-room feel. Personal photos and art can be displayed on paneled walls flanking a flat-screen TV monitor. The office has zones for concentration, contemplation and collaboration, the firm says. Both team meetings and solo work happen around a multipurpose “kitchen table” that adjusts to working either standing up or sitting down. In a corner reserved for “contemplation,” a lounge chair is protected by an acoustical dome that allows privacy while listening to music. To open up “the box,” an entire wall of foldable glass panels stands open most of the time, making the office “an open extension of the workplace,” says Joanne Taylor, president of PDR.

•1. ‘Kitchen table’ used for meetings and solo work, adjusting to standing or sitting height.

•2. Living-room zone with TV monitor, personal photos and storage is set apart by wood flooring.

•3. CEO Workstation

•4. Quiet area with lounge chairs for contemplation.

•5. Display screen for meetings, shared-laptop display and whiteboard.

•6. Suspended light box provides soft, adjustable light.

The Sunlit Sanctuary, by Studios Architecture

HQ: Washington, D.C.

225 employees

Recent Clients: News Corp., Grey Group, U.S. General Services Administration

Design by the firm’s New York office provides flexible seating and plenty of space for teamwork. Its occupant, the CEO of an international media company who is of Indian descent, travels heavily and wants her work space to feel like a sanctuary for catching up on email, planning and collaborative work. It is organized around principles of Vastu, an Indian method believed to align design with principles of nature. “There is a spiritual side” to the setup, says Studios CEO Todd DeGarmo. Erin Ruby, an associate principal, says it aims to “create some sense of calm in an world that is so chaotic.” Reducing carbon emissions is a major goal. Fresh air can flow through operable windows accented with succulent plants. Louvered shades maximize sunlight to cut electricity use.

•

•1. Light shelf and exterior louvered shade admit sunlight without glare.

•2. Antique Turkish rug adds warmth and color.

•3. Collaboration table incorporates CEO workspace in one corner.

•4. Succulent plants help remove toxins from the air.

•5. Perimeter bench adds flexible seating.

•6. Glass transom opens automatically to exhaust air when needed.

•7. Glass walls to neighboring CFO’s office and hallway can be opaque or clear.

The Idea Inspirer, by VOA Associates

HQ: Chicago

250 employees

Recent Clients: Paul Hastings, Adams Street Partners, XL Insurance

The futuristic design was envisioned for a CEO of a 150-employee fashion design company that aims to turn out a steady stream of creative new products, says Nick Luzietti, a design principal. Because this executive must juggle executive, operating and creative duties, her office has lots of moving parts. It is equipped to morph from a conventional business office with a desk and conference table to a team workroom for design projects. Each evening, the executive can fold all the furniture and equipment back into the walls or floor, creating a “clean slate” to help spark fresh thinking when she arrives the next morning, Mr. Luzietti says. In a “tongue-in-cheek” gesture, VOA made the conference table in a heart shape to symbolize the emotional center of the business, where employees must invest both personal and professiopnal energy to maintain their creative edge, he says.

•1.Interactive screen for display and videoconferencing.

•2. Desktops can be recessed into this wall.

•3. Panels conceal storage and surfaces on which personal items and photos are displayed.

•4. Touch-screen table surface activates desktops, racks, rods, and videoconferencing gear.

•5. Worktop serves as a conference table as well as an adjustable desk for use while sitting or standing.

•6. Door to glass interior wall can be kept open to encourage co-worker communication.

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Last year, employers filled more than half of job openings with existing employees, a new study to be released Friday shows.

Internal transfers and promotions accounted for an average of 51% of all full-time positions filled in 2009, up from 39% in 2008 and 34% in 2007, reports CareerXroads, a staffing-strategy consulting firm in Kendall Park, N.J. Survey respondents included 41 companies that employ a combined 1.8 million U.S. workers. Last year these firms collectively filled 176,420 positions.

For the 49% of jobs that were filled with external recruits, referrals accounted for the most hires — 27% — and about the same number as in 2008. On average, these yielded one hire for every 15 referrals received. Meanwhile, company Web sites and job boards accounted for 22% and 13% of external hires, respectively.

What the findings indicate, says Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads, is that networking is the most effective strategy for landing employment. “Job seekers should use job board and corporate sites to find information about openings, but they should use their network to apply,” says Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads.

Among the job boards that respondents credited for netting outside talent, CareerBuilder.com came out on top, accounting for 42%, however one respondent claimed a significant portion of these. Monster.com netted 12% of external hires, while aggregate job sites, which advertise openings from multiple job boards, hooked 10%. Classifieds provider Craigslist.org accounted for 2.8% of external hires.

Survey respondents also said outside talent was found via job boards that specialize in advertising open positions in specific categories. For example, Dice.com, a job board for the technology sector, netted 0.8% of external hires, as did TheLadders.com, which lists only positions paying salaries of $100,000 or more. All other niche job sites that employers identified were collectively credited with bringing in 27% of external recruits.

Going forward, the survey found that 48% of respondents expect to increase hiring in 2010 compared with last year, while just 11% predicted they’d reduce hiring. The remainder said they expect to make no changes to their head counts.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported Thursday that there were 2.5 million job openings on the last business day of December 2009. The seasonally adjusted job openings rate increased just slightly to 1.9% from 1.8% the month prior.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Laid off in the depths of the recession and unable to find another full-time job, writer Tamara Rice pieced together a new kind of workday for herself: three to five “mini-shifts” lasting one-and-1/2 to three hours each.

For more than a year, Ms. Rice shuttled back and forth as many as 10 times a day between writing and editing assignments and personal and family activities. Starting at 8 a.m. in her Yucaipa, Calif., home office and ending as late as 10:30 p.m., she struggled to keep all her mini-shifts straight. Sometimes, she says, she crashed into a mental wall, wondering, “OK, what am I doing now?”

Asaf Hanuka

Ms. Rice embodies a little-noticed effect of the recession: the incredible shrinking work shift. Cast off by mainstream employers or unable to find the job flexibility they need in a corporate setting, millions of workers are taking multiple part-time or freelance jobs, jumping back and forth repeatedly between work, other pursuits and more work. These weird workaday schedules are creating new time-management and other challenges.

The trend is reflected in federal jobs data. People in the “involuntary part-time” job category—those who would like to find a full-time job but can’t—surged during the recession to a high of about 6.6% of the work force last fall from about 2.2% in 2000. And the average workweek for private-sector, rank-and-file workers last October hit the lowest level since the government began keeping records in the 1960s, at 33 hours.

Fueling the mini-shift trend is an explosion in Web sites for freelancers, which enable skilled workers in a wide range of fields to sell their services easily in part-time chunks. On Elance, a freelance Web site, 700,000 workers list their services, nearly triple the 2006 number of 235,000. On another such site, oDesk, where Ms. Rice works, workers have soared to 480,000. And on FixYa.com, experts offering product troubleshooting and repair advice have risen in the past year to 250,000 from 100,000.

Some people work mini-shifts by necessity. Mike Lockier, a Eugene, Ore., programmer and broadcast engineer, hasn’t been able to find work as a programmer, and he was laid off from his broadcast engineer job. To create full-time work, he pieces together construction and repair jobs for clients he gets from Craigslist.org or referrals. Then he moonlights on FixYa.com, answering users’ email and instant messages in shifts ranging from two hours to all night. He would rather have a full-time job, he says, but patching together mini-shifts pays the bills.

Others work this way by choice. Ann Pechaver’s workweeks add up to about 35 hours, but they are intricately constructed in blocks of three, four or five hours. The Burlington, Vt., mother of two, a part-time college professor and consultant, divides her workdays into seven chunks, including three or four blocs devoted to work. She starts at 5 a.m. with a two-hour shift for one of several public-relations clients. After getting her two children, 7 and 9, off to school, she works another two to five hours, teaching, working with clients or serving as an elementary-school science-teaching volunteer. She spends evenings with her family, then finishes the day by working as late as midnight.

While some, including Ms. Pechaver, say working mini-shifts fosters cognitive agility, all the mental gear-shifting invariably creates hurdles for the human mind. “The hardest thing I do is transitioning, taking off one hat and putting the other on,” Ms. Pechaver says. Standing before a class of college seniors, her brain sometimes stalls while in a state better suited to her kids’ schools. She has addressed her students as “boys and girls,” she says, rather than her customary “ladies and gentlemen.”

“The brain just can’t toggle back and forth” indefinitely, says Julie Morgenstern, a New York corporate productivity consultant and author. So much task-switching can result in a kind of cognitive stall-out she calls “mental gear-stripping.”

To ward off that kind of brain freeze, Ms. Morgenstern says mini-shifters need to be “hyper-organized,” keeping track of all their commitments on one central calendar and planning work shifts as far as three days ahead, so they will be ready mentally to shift gears. She advises setting aside time both to prepare to resume an undertaking and to wrap up details at the end, taking notes if necessary so it’s easier to pick up the thread later.

Melissa Caouette, a Farmington, Conn., single mother, sometimes feels overwhelmed as she jumps back and forth among part-time jobs and volunteer positions. She has developed some tactics for avoiding a mental stall-out. To save time, she splices grocery shopping between her mornings at school as PTA treasurer and her midday part-time job as a waitress. She stashes the grocery bags in the restaurant cooler and puts the car keys right next to them. That way, she says, she can’t absent-mindedly drive away without her groceries.

A major pitfall of mini-shifting is the lack of “clear edges” between work and personal time, which can gradually erode R&R until “your life gets out of balance in a very significant way,” Ms. Morgenstern says. “You don’t know what to do with yourself other than work.” As a remedy, mini-shifters should “fill gaps with well-planned-out activities that re-charge you.”

Laura Wellington, a Ridgewood, N.J., entrepreneur, divides her day among four offices from which she runs three businesses—a computer-consulting company, a financial-systems business and a maker of a line of “Wumblers” toys and educational media. Her day starts and ends in her home office, often encompassing five mini-shifts of work lasting one to three hours. Between shifts she cares for her five children or commutes among the three other offices.

“Every two months or so, I find myself beginning to forget things. Sometimes I even break down crying,” Ms. Wellington, a widow and single mother, acknowledges. At such times, she will “pull back and fully recharge,” taking her children to the coast for a weekend.

Another risk is reduced output. “Almost any time we switch between doing different tasks, we will be less efficient than if we focused on a single task,” says Russell Poldrack, professor of psychology and neurobiology at the University of Texas, Austin, and an authority on multitasking. Ms. Pechaver estimates she loses about a half-hour a day of productive time from shifting back and forth.

To guard against inefficiency, Peggy Duncan, an Atlanta personal productivity consultant, advises setting quantitative objectives for your work and assessing your progress frequently.

In a year spent working mini-shifts, Ms. Rice, the California writer, says she hit many of these obstacles. And without many opportunities for deep thought about her work, she found herself lacking her usual long list of creative ideas for clients. “I was working in such short bursts I didn’t have time to process what I was doing,” she says.

This month, she is testing a return to a traditional workday. She has reduced her client load a bit and overhauled her schedule into one six-hour shift. For her, at least, this traditional approach seems so far to be working; she has become passionate about her work again.

Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

By GRACE L. WILLIAMS

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Daniel Mancini, 51, spent 25 years working in the apparel industry, before turning back to a childhood passion: meatballs.

He started his career with department-store jobs in New York City that eventually turned into management roles. A six-month executive training program after college led him to now-defunct Gimbels department store, where he also served as a manager. Mr. Mancini held posts at a variety of other stores, like now-defunct Alexander’s department store on 59th Street and Sasson Jeans before he was recruited to work in sales for a junior collection company that launched in 1986 called Ultra Pink, where he rose through the ranks to become president.

“I love the fact that it’s very creative and wherever I was I always had my hand in on design,” says Mr. Mancini of the fashion industry.

4 Elbows, LLC

‘Meatball Dan’ Mancini

But as his career played out, Mr. Mancini began to wonder what might be next. It was memories of cooking alongside his grandmother Anna Mancini that led to a second act.

Some of Mr. Mancini’s earliest memories involved helping his grandmother in the kitchen. As he grew up, he became Anna’s right hand, helping her shop for groceries and cook the recipes she had memorized. At 15, he asked her to teach him exactly how to cook her dishes. “I just felt that if I didn’t learn all the recipes, they’d be gone,” he says. None of the 25 recipes used exact measures and he never wrote them down either.

In 2008, long after Anna had died and he had made his name in the garment industry, Mr. Mancini was looking for a new challenge. He had often cooked his grandmother’s recipes for friends, earning the nickname “Meatball Dan.” It was after one such meal that he decided to create a business that brought the family dinners he had enjoyed as a child to people outside his social circle. In a nod to his favorite dish, the meatball, Mr. Mancini went into business with his grandmother’s recipe, creating what became “Meatballs and Sunday Sauce.”

At first, he wasn’t sure what to do with his idea. Mr. Mancini sent an email to a local New Jersey market called Eden Gourmet (a division of Garden of Eden) about his product and was invited to bring them by. Mr. Mancini cooked up a batch of his grandmother’s meatballs in his own kitchen and served them up to the manager. After serving the meatballs to Eden Gourmet management, Mr. Mancini knew he was on to something, but wasn’t ready to quit his day job without financial backing. Once he had a working recipe, Mr. Mancini approached Carl Wolf, who lived in the same central New Jersey town as he did and who is the former chief executive of Alpine Lace Co., a deli cheese company, with his idea for a product that he named “MamaMancini’s.”

“He came to us and said he had the world’s greatest meatball,” says Mr. Wolf. “And we said, ‘Oh sure.’ Sure enough, it was a really good product.”

He worked at perfecting the recipe—which took over 18 months and involved turning a small scale recipe into thousands of meatballs. Mr. Wolf then agreed to license the product from Mr. Mancini for about $1.5 million. Under terms of the agreement, the name MamaMancini’s as well as recipes Mr. Mancini created are owned by Mr. Wolf. Mr. Mancini says that in addition to the licensing agreement, he receives royalties.

“I knew that if this was going to work, I had to make a deal with someone who was an expert,” says Mr. Mancini.

After that deal was inked, Mr. Mancini quit the garment industry to focus on becoming the face of a meatball empire. He declines to disclose his salary, but says it is about half of what he made in the garment industry.

Production was moved to a 17,000 square foot factory in East Rutherford, N.J., and the meatballs started rolling. After selling the product locally in supermarkets in New York and New Jersey, in April 2009, Mr. Mancini got his chance to go national with his product when the Martha Stewart Show featured Mr. Mancini with his meatballs.

The attention boosted the brand enough to catch on and win distribution with well-known supermarket chains, including Whole Foods, which carries the products in 24 stores in the Northeast.

The fact that his career change also pays tribute to his grandmother makes his success twice as sweet. “When I made this change, I was scared to death,” he says. “I felt in my heart that if you do something that you love, it will be successful.”

Corrections & Amplifications

MamaMancini’s, a gourmet food start-up, received $1.5 million in capital investments from investors including Carl Wolf, former chief executive of Alpine Lace. Mr. Wolf, his partner Matt Brown and Daniel Mancini started MamaMancini’s by developing over 18 months a meatball recipe inspired by Mr. Mancini’s grandmother. This article incorrectly says that Mr. Mancini received $1.5 million as part of a licensing agreement and that Mr. Wolf was still CEO of Alpine Lace. The article also incorrectly gave the company’s name as Mama Mancini, incorrectly said that the recipe took Messrs. Mancini and Wolf two weeks to develop and failed to note Mr. Brown’s involvement.

By TODDI GUTNER
| Special to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Courtesy of IKEA

The head of IKEA North America, Pernille Spiers-Lopez

Full name: Pernille Spiers-Lopez
Age: 49
Hometown: Silkeborg, Denmark
Current position: President of IKEA North America
First job: Dishwasher at a hotel
Favorite job: IKEA store manager in Pittsburgh
Education: Danish School of Journalism in Denmark
Years in the industry: 23 years
How I got here in 10 words or less: Passionate about work, focus on today, know the direction you want to go

Pernille Spiers-Lopez’s path to the top spot at IKEA in North America is anything but typical. Born in Denmark and trained as journalist, Ms. Spiers-Lopez quickly discovered that it would take much longer than she anticipated to obtain a coveted feature writer position. During her years as a reporter, she learned how to think on her feet and get along well with people — two skills that have served her well in retail. Ms. Spiers-Lopez came to the U.S. in 1980 at age 23, leased a car and drove more than 60,000 miles in two years selling Danish furnishings out of her car. “Retail is a self-taught profession where you just get out there and figure it out,” says Ms. Spiers-Lopez. Flush with contacts in retailing, she quickly rose in the field, managing 24 Door Store furniture locations, and then opening two STOR home furnishings stores in California. They were later purchased by IKEA. The company recruited her in 1990 to be marketplace manager of its West Coast stores and she became president of IKEA North America in 2001. She has helped grow the chain from 15 stores in the Northeast and West Coast to 35 stores. Writer Toddi Gutner spoke with Spiers-Lopez about her career path. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: What does IKEA stand for?

A: It stands for name of the founder Ingvar Kampard, and Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, which is the town where he grew up. At 83 years old, he is still active in the company.

Q: What is your favorite IKEA product?

A: I love the IKEA kitchens. They look good and they’re designed and organized well for cooks who need to find things.

How You Can Get There, Too

Best advice: “Always follow your passion and live your values,” says Ms. Spiers-Lopez.

Skills you need: Strong leadership skills and an ability to understand yourself are key, says Ms. Spiers-Lopez. “Be a people person,” she adds. “(And) know the business.”

Degrees you should go for: Ms. Spiers-Lopez says a specific degree isn’t necessary, just “life and life experience.”

Where you should start: On the front line with the customer in the stores, she says. Try to build a career in retail from the bottom, up.

Professional organizations to contact: Professional retail associations

Salary range: Fits with IKEA as a low-cost company

Q: You joined IKEA in 1990 as a store manager and then became a human resources manager. How did you eventually move into an operational role with profit and loss responsibility?

A: Human resource managers can be their own worst enemies. With all the benefit rules and regulations, they often talk about what the business can’t do. As an HR manager, I took my role as a business partner to the company leaders (but) on the front line (in order) to make it possible for them to do what they needed to do. I became recognized as a business leader myself. In fact, many of the top jobs at IKEA come from the HR function. The country managers of Germany and the United Kingdom were both HR managers.

Q: How has being a foreigner in the U.S. running a foreign company helped or hindered your career?

A: I think it would have been much more difficult if I had come to IKEA from another retailer but I grew up with the company. Also, I think coming from Scandinavia myself, where the image is very positive, definitely made it easier as well. I am proud to say that I became at U.S. citizen in January of this year.

Q: How do you reconcile the European work ethic with America’s 24/7 workplace?

A: We take a different perspective that focuses on work-life balance. We think if you want to be a good manager and a good leader then it’s not healthy to work 80-hour weeks. IKEA employees like to work hard, but we also value time with our families and expect our employees to take their vacation time. When you’re tired, stressed and overworked, you can’t really be productive and make the right decisions. We want to attract very good people who stay a very long time.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you face in your job?

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A: There are so many things that come at you everyday, such that nothing is ever done. I have to work to make sure that I keep some distance and don’t absorb everything and let it eat me up. I do a lot of yoga, meditation and I read books.

Q: What does the coming year hold for you and IKEA?

A: Even though it is a tough economic environment, I feel very optimistic. IKEA is about great things at low prices. There seems to be a change happening in society where people respect value; they can do things themselves and they don’t need fancy furniture.

Q: Did you ever aspire to be a president of a company?

A: I have done more than I ever I expected I would do. I have a great exciting job. When you can work from a place of no fear, you’re much more relaxed. For me, it hasn’t been about what is next, but rather about enjoying what I have. Truth is, I am not afraid of being nobody; if I lost my job tomorrow, I would enjoy doing something totally different.

Write to CareerJournal at cjeditor@dowjones.com

By ALINA DIZIK

Productivity gurus have long stressed the need for virtual assistants that will do those online tasks you never seem to have time for—like getting a wedding gift or sorting out health-insurance claims. But sharing credit-card numbers or personal passwords with someone thousands of miles away can take some getting used to.

I tested four services (three based in India) that cater to personal requests like making customer-service calls or researching vacation details, or anything else that doesn’t need to be handled in person. Some even do wake-up calls.

After signing up, I could assign tasks almost right away via phone, website or email on a round-the-clock basis. Each assistant received several tasks, including an especially time-consuming one, from my to-do list. Monthly fees start at about $30 and are billed on a per-hour or per-request basis. All the sites offer a dedicated assistant option, where just one person will handle all your requests, for a higher fee.

Like with in-person assistants, there were some hits and misses. One assistant told me it was impossible to link the online credit-card accounts together (which wasn’t correct). But another called me with my health insurer on the line so I could validate a request without having to listen to a second of hold music.

Privacy was another concern, though all the services are aware of the potential dangers associated with personal information. At Chennai, India-based Habilis, owned by Amnet Systems Private Ltd., payment information is handled by senior assistants or through PayPal, while personal information is stored securely within the site, says Chief Executive Aashish Agarwaal. Still, I changed a password to a personal email account before giving it to an assistant because it’s a password I use frequently.

GetFriday, a Bangalore-based company owned by TTK Services Private Ltd. was the most involved of the four services and required a signed contract. After emailing it, a representative called the next day to talk about what I was looking for in an assistant (I wanted someone who would ask questions to clarify what needed to be done, and not be super formal). The next day, Anjali sent me an email to introduce herself as my dedicated assistant available during the weekdays (other assistants take over during off-peak hours). The first task assigned was to find a bed and breakfast in Maine for the Fourth of July weekend. Results came back via a detailed Excel chart including the distances and names of inn owners for each option. Another task was done with equal attention: She secured a New Yorker magazine subscription for $15 less than the rates I found online.

Next up was Red Butler Corp., a Beverly Hills, Calif., company that also offers concierge services, such as getting restaurant reservations and hotel discounts. I received a sleek membership card in the mail with a letter detailing how we can use the concierge part of the service including discounts on airfare and food. For a fairly involved task, I asked the service to email several friends and then combine their pictures from my wedding into one website. It took about four days to complete (typically completion time is within 24 hours, says a spokesperson). I was worried, though, when two concierges misspelled my last name in emails. However a request to find housecleaning services in New York that cost less than $25 an hour came back almost instantly with great recommendations. Chris Sterling, director of concierges, says many of the assistants have deep knowledge of specific cities in the U.S.

Habilis, which launched in the past year, provided the quickest response times. Clients are prompted to enter relevant information like health-insurance or frequent-flier accounts into a secure system and can choose to be called instead of emailed for a request update.

The first task was getting an explanation of how to import Gmail contacts to BlackBerry. Within an hour, I had clear instructions that weren’t simply copied from a Web site. Another request was a customer-service call to my health insurer to find out about coverage. To get around privacy concerns the assistant conferenced me in to authorize the insurer to release my information to the assistant. On some instances the website where we could submit our tasks was slow (Mr. Agarwaal says he is looking into this matter).

To log into AskSunday, a New York-based firm that uses India-based assistants, clients could use a Google or Facebook account. It offers a series of templates for specific requests and an upload function that lets you, for instance, attach a copy of a phone bill to a request for disputing a charge. The form for a food order, for example, prompts users for the delivery date and time, restaurant name and menu items, to help speed up the process.

The first request to combine two of my American Express cards into one online account came back with an answer that it wasn’t possible. However, when I set out to do the task myself, it took less than 10 minutes. Founder Avinash Samudrala says this isn’t typical, “We’ll take the call as far as we can and [then] we’ll conference in a customer.”

Another task, buying gifts off a friend’s Macy’s wedding registry for a specific dollar amount was really convenient, especially since I got to skip all the online forms to register at the site. I approved the purchase by viewing a PDF and then got a confirmation email once the task was complete.

At first it was hard to outsource chores, but after a while it became easier. As a matter of fact, I’ve already started another to-do list for my virtual assistant.

Write to Alina Dizik at alina.dizik@dowjones.com

By KAYLEEN SCHAEFER

In recent years, many workplaces have felt more like a fancy hotel than an office. There were the catered lunch meetings, concierge services and pricey cocktails at after-work gatherings — not to mention frequent cell phone upgrades and health-care co-pays for about what you spend on Thai takeout.

These days, though, many companies are scaling back. Management is scrutinizing anything but the barest of expense reports, and you might feel like your job hasn’t been the same since your lunch-order allowance—or, even more painful, your child-care reimbursements—got taken away.

But most of us aren’t motivated to go into the office every morning because of the free coffee or on-site gym. Psychologists say perks aren’t what push us to do our best work. “People get used to (perks) and take (them) for granted,” says Fred Mael, a psychologist and head of Baltimore organizational consulting firm Mael Consulting LLC. “They are not ongoing motivators, like bonuses. They are trappings.”

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So how come watching such comforts get rescinded makes us feel like our work has suddenly lost its luster? According to psychologists, watching perks get taken away produces fear — and fear can suck up some of the motivation you once had to excel in your job.

For example, one day you get an email that says a smaller portion of your cell phone bill will repaid. You start to panic and worry that your job—or the entire company—may be next to go. For the next few weeks, this fear will propel you to work harder, but soon after, you’ll end up staring slack-jawed at your RSS feed and ignoring your inbox, says John Weaver, a Waukesha, Wisc., psychologist and business consultant. He compares this fear at work to being chased by wolves. “At first, running really fast is a good thing,” he says. “But after a while it gets hard to keep on running. I think we’re seeing that to some degree on a lot of different levels.”

Mr. Weaver contends that “people are working so hard to keep it all together and survive the economic times.” The result is a tired work force that feels like there’s no end in sight, he says.

To better cope with the more austere workplace, first recognize that the things you thought your job was required to provide may not be essential—especially right now—even if they’re as important to you as a benefit like paid sick leave.

“This is kind of a pampered generation,” Mr. Mael says of the majority of the work force today. “People should not be interpreting that this is a backwards step in (their) career that we don’t have free this and free that. Everyone in their homes is making the same decisions now. They’re finding the things they thought were necessities aren’t necessities.”

However, if you’re the only one whose perks have shrunk or your group has been specifically targeted for cutbacks, it may be difficult for you to cope. The entire office, even the boss, should be trying to keep the company solvent by giving up what they once thought was indispensable, psychologists say. If you ask, “Is this happening just to me? To my group?” and the answer is yes, it’ll be very difficult for you to stay motivated.

“There has to be a sense of shared responsibility,” Mr. Mael says. “It needs to be, ‘We’re buckling down and we’re going to live through this together.’ It shouldn’t be a division between, ‘They took mine away and they didn’t take yours away.’ “

Then, if you know you’re all in this together, make sure you don’t isolate yourself as you’re going about your duties. You should still gather with your colleagues, even if it’s no longer on the company dime, because you want to feel like you’re working alongside others. “A cake and soda in the conference room might be a turnoff if you’re used to something else, but it still gets people in the room together,” Mr. Mael says. “It shows concern for each other.”

You might find that these staff gatherings get you as ready to face down the workday as celebratory breakfast spreads once did. “At the smartest companies,” Mr. Weaver says, “they make it necessary for people to talk about what they’re doing and how they’re feeling, and you see this change in energy. They realize they’re working alongside someone and they’re not in it by themselves.”

Finally, realize that you can be part of the solution. The company values what you do for it and wants you to help dig out of any hard times. Try to articulate what makes you feel accomplished or energized during your time at the office but that also doesn’t involve your expense account.

“Ask yourself, ‘What does my work offer that I can feel happy about?’ ” says J. William Townsend, an independent executive consultant in Memphis. ” ‘What was the last thing that went on at work that didn’t cost money that got me fired up?’ ” Your answer will be something you can use as an ongoing motivator—that, and looking forward to your next amenity-filled (albeit possibly unpaid) vacation.

Write to Kayleen Schaefer at cjeditor@dowjones.com and mention Work Therapy in the subject line of your email.

By KRISTEN MCNAMARA

After three rounds of interviews for a sales position with Prudential Insurance Co. of America, Patricia Rosa received a letter in February saying her job application was denied based on information from a background check she authorized the company to conduct. The only blemish on her record, she says: Poor credit that built up since she lost her job two years ago.

Unemployed and in debt, Ms. Rosa is among a growing number of job hunters who find their financial past interfering with their professional futures.

Concerned about rising rates of employee theft and fiduciary issues, more employers are conducting credit background checks on applicants for some positions. Companies say the financial information can offer insight into a candidate’s level of responsibility. But people whose previously solid credit has been damaged by the economic downturn say they are victims of circumstances beyond their control.

Ms. Rosa believes her credit woes lost her the opportunity at Prudential. A company spokeswoman said Prudential doesn’t comment on specific job applicants but that each candidate authorizes the company to conduct a background check, which may or may not include a credit check.

A 49-year-old single mother of three, Ms. Rosa fell behind on her mortgage and other bills a handful of months after losing her job as a New York City office manager for a mortgage company in early 2008. “My house is in foreclosure,” the Nyack, N.Y., resident says. Ms. Rosa is now searching for positions outside financial services, believing other industries will be more tolerant of her debt.

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act gives employers the right to conduct background checks on current and potential employees through third-party companies, with the individual’s approval. Some 47% of employers say they check the credit history of applicants for certain positions, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management of more than 430 organizations in late 2009. That’s up from 42% of employers in 2006. Just 25% of employers in 1998 said they regularly or sometimes checked applicants’ credit histories.

Companies typically look back over a period of years for patterns in applicants’ behavior, says Mike Aitken, the professional group’s director of government affairs. “It’s a longer-term snapshot to see if that’s indicative of fiscal responsibility,” he says.

The vast majority of employers who conduct credit background checks do so for jobs with fiduciary or financial responsibility, such as accounting, budgeting or those involving cash or sensitive credit-card information. Nearly half the respondents also consider the credit of candidates for senior executive positions.

Lawsuits or other judgments outstanding, or multiple accounts in debt collection, were the types of credit information most likely to keep an organization from extending a job offer, according to the survey.

Legend Financial Advisors Inc., which has about 20 full-time employees, conducts a background check that includes credit for all new job finalists, says Diane Pearson, a financial adviser at the firm.

The Pittsburgh wealth-management firm had its first encounter with a candidate’s poor credit last year, she says. A college student applying for a summer internship had a history of unpaid bills and bounced checks. The firm decided to bypass the candidate. If he had been a candidate for a full-time position, “we may have spent more time and energy” examining the circumstances, Ms. Pearson says.

Knowing what is on your credit report and offering an explanation for debt caused by a specific event could keep negative information from derailing your employment chances.

First, be sure you understand what employers can see on a credit check and make sure you understand your report so you can explain any problem areas. Employers receive a credit report, not credit score, from consumer reporting companies. A report includes debt, bill-paying history, number and types of accounts, how long you’ve had them, and whether you’ve been sued or have filed for bankruptcy, among other factors. Information can go back seven years—or 10 for bankruptcies. Credit scores, on the other hand, are used by lenders to help determine if you are financially worthy of a loan.

Certain factors that could hurt your credit score, such as a recently reduced credit-card limit, would be unlikely to hurt your job prospects. Employers focus on issues like collections and defaults, says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for Credit.com Inc.

You might be tempted not to sign a waiver allowing for a potential employer to conduct a background and credit check. But refusing is likely a deal breaker, career counselors say. Employers will assume you are hiding a serious problem, and in today’s job market, they won’t have trouble finding a more forthcoming candidate. Most employers don’t seek permission for a background check until they’ve narrowed down the pool of candidates to a group of finalists, or have made an offer contingent on such a check, the SHRM data show.

“You really need to explain your circumstances,” says Tammy Kabell, of Career Resume Consulting, based outside Kansas City, Mo.

Sandy Gross, founder of Pinetum Partners, an executive search firm in Greenwich, Conn., focused on financial services, also suggests explaining the circumstances surrounding the negative information that will turn up and the steps you took to address the situation before employers run a check. “No one likes a surprise,” Ms. Gross says.

Critics of the credit checks say they create a vicious cycle that prevents those who most need jobs from getting them. Lawmakers are pushing for change. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) has proposed a bill to prohibit the use of credit checks during the hiring or firing process, with certain exceptions. And some states have passed or proposed laws to restrict employers’ use of credit checks.

Consumers can request one free credit report each year from each of the three nationwide credit-reporting companies—Equifax

, Experian

and TransUnion—through AnnualCreditReport.com. You are also entitled to a free report in certain situations, including if you are unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days, or if a company says it didn’t hire you because of your credit history.

If you find mistakes, alert the credit-reporting bureaus and creditors in writing. The process takes time, so review your history at least a month or two before you expect employers, or lenders, to request it, says Experian vice president, Michele Bodda.

Write to Kristen McNamara at kristen.mcnamara@dowjones.com

By VICTORIA E. KNIGHT

Employers seeking to promote wellness in the workplace may have to rethink their rewards programs – or run the risk of breaking new federal rules protecting individuals’ genetic information.

The recently issued guidelines prohibit health plans and employers from offering any financial rewards to any worker for participating in a health risk assessment that requests information about their family medical history. The rules apply to group health insurance with plan years beginning on or after Dec. 7.

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HRAs are confidential surveys that include questions about employees’ habits and health, and are used to direct them into employer-sponsored wellness and disease management programs. Most include questions about family history. Many employers offer insurance premium discounts or cash bonuses, among other rewards, to workers who fill them out.

Regulators made clear that the new rules, issued on Oct. 7, apply to wellness programs that offer financial incentives for completing HRAs that request genetic information. The rules aren’t final yet: Employers and insurers have until Jan. 5 to submit comments, which means they could yet be revised.

Employers usually ask workers to complete HRAs during open enrollment, a three-month window generally between October and December, during which employees elect their health coverage for the next year.

“It’s pretty late in the game for these rules to be coming out, as most health plans and employers have already completed their materials for open enrollment,” says Gretchen Young, vice president of health policy at The Erisa Industry Committee, a trade organization representing about 100 of the largest U.S employers.

Employers whose health plans aren’t in compliance may face significant monetary penalties. Even for unintentional violations, employers can face fines of up to $500,000. They also risk discrimination lawsuits, according to Anne Waidmann, an employee benefits expert and director with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Washington.

Regulators say the new restrictions on the use of incentives are designed to bring HRAs into line with provisions in the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. It prohibits the collection of genetic information, which includes family medical history, for insurance underwriting purposes.

Young fears that, with fewer incentives, fewer employees will sign up for HRAs, which employers view as a key tool in taming rising medical expenses. About 64% of employers now offer incentives for completing HRAs, up from 57% last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of about 700 large employers.

Waidmann says there are ways employers can bring their HRAs into compliance: They can simply remove questions on family medical history from HRAs when a financial incentive is being offered, or they can split the questionnaire in two and only offer a reward for the part that doesn’t solicit family information. Under the rules, employers can only ask workers to voluntarily fill out the second section once they’ve enrolled in the health plan.

By ELIZABETH GARONE

Q: I worked as a manager of a major aerospace company that prohibits the release of employee references. The company will confirm dates of employment and, if the former employee approves, salary information, but that is it. Should I seek LinkedIn recommendations from former staff who worked for me? How widely are LinkedIn and other social media sites used in the hiring process? What is the minimum I should put online? After suffering credit-card identity theft, I am somewhat hesitant to put too much information on the Internet.

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Job seekers should use the privacy settings on networking sites to allow them to control who can access their information.

A: You’re not alone in trying to figure out how to navigate online for job searching and networking. It is still new for many people and therefore it can be a challenge deciding what to do — and not to do. But don’t let that stop you. Just tread carefully, say career experts.

“Social-networking sites are currently being used as both recruitment tools for new talent and as screening sites for potential employees,” says Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.” “In the future, your online brand will be included in the majority of hiring decisions made by companies because it’s easily accessible and it allows employers to get a better sense of who you are as a candidate. It will be as common as a drug test or resume submission.”

While not all companies are using the Internet in the hiring process, the numbers are growing. In a June 2009 survey, Careerbuilder.com found that 45% of companies were using social-networking sites to screen potential employees, up from 22% in 2008. Another 11% said that they plan on starting to use the sites. “Recruiters are definitely using the Internet to research candidates throughout the hiring process,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.

And it isn’t just technology companies taking advantage of the online resources available to them. “Companies across all industries…use LinkedIn to uncover employees,” says Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson.

Except in the case of bulk hiring positions, employers and recruiters are Googling candidates’ names as well as searching on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, according to Mr. Schawbel. “This is done primarily to ensure the integrity and behavior of candidates and to make their resume piles smaller,” he says.

Kate Ruddon, vice president of talent acquisition at Activision, says that she uses sites like LinkedIn early in the recruiting process. She and her staff use social-networking sites to obtain background on a candidate’s work experience, area of expertise and education. “We utilize a number of professional networking sites and search sites like Google for the purposes of conducting research on a particular candidate, like press information,” she says. “Has the candidate spoken at industry events? Have they received any awards or public recognition? Additionally, we conduct research from multiple sites on specific companies we are targeting to recruit from.”

In order for recruiters to find you in their searches, you’ll want to create at least a basic presence online. You can be selective with where you decide to post your information and how public you decide to make it. “My recommendation to job seekers is to utilize the privacy settings on whichever site they choose to use. Doing this will allow them to control who can access their information,” says Ms. Haefner.

While the most respected reference usually comes from a current supervisor or someone else at your employer, sometimes that isn’t possible. If that’s the case, find someone who will endorse you outside of the workplace and have him or her write a LinkedIn recommendation for you, says Mr. Schawbel. “Of course, the reference from your current workplace carries a lot of weight, but having some recommendations rather than none is important,” he says.

“You should list your information on Web sites for your area of expertise and sites like LinkedIn not just for job opportunities but to network with people in your industry,” says Ms. Ruddon. “Securing employment is all about networking, and you should spend time cultivating relationships that will benefit you in the future.”

Write to Career Q&A at cjeditor@dowjones.com. Please include Career Q&A in your subject line.

By RUTH MANTELL

Your workload has increased, so have your boss’s expectations. But scaling back could mean losing a job.

Talk about stress.

Paul Baard, an organizational and motivational psychologist at Fordham University’s graduate business school in New York, knows just how stressful a work environment can get. He has consulted with athletes in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of professional sports.

What secret has he passed along to those clients? When you are in a slump, you can still contribute by encouraging your teammates.

Rather than burdening a team with distracting self-doubt and pity, try to help others, he advises. “In order to remain self-motivated, research has found that the innate psychological need for competence must be satisfied,” Mr. Baard says. “This drive pertains not only to the ability to do a job but to achieve something through it—to have impact, to contribute. A way an employee can expand opportunities to satisfy this need is to help her team succeed by encouraging others, even if her direct contributions are limited.”

Age, occupation and family circumstances, among other factors, can all play a part in how workers respond to different stressors. But experts say there are steps that can help you take control of your happiness at work this year.

Find meaning in your tasks. Commitment to a goal beyond self-promotion can help a worker manage stress levels, says John Weaver, a psychologist at Psychology For Business, a Brookfield, Wis.-based employment consultancy.

Several years ago, Mr. Weaver consulted for a long-term-care facility in Wisconsin that had flooded. Because of the water damage, the residents and employees had been forced to move into an already occupied facility. Employees felt cramped and annoyed, he says, and pettiness abounded.

To help the workers regain a positive attitude, Mr. Weaver asked each person this question: Why do you do this work?

“People don’t work in nursing because it pays so much or it’s glamorous or it’s easy,” he says. “As they heard the question you could see their attitude change. They could see the reasons why they needed to work together, to put aside difficulties and compromise, and residents were treated better.”

Remembering why you are in a business can help you manage stress, Mr. Weaver says.

While working on his dissertation, Rick Best, now a health-services scientist for Lockheed Martin, researched stress among nurses who work with veterans, a group that faces high demands with low resources. One might have expected elevated levels of burnout. But there were high levels of satisfaction.

“The meaning they got from their job was high,” says Mr. Best. “They went into the profession of nursing to help people. As a consequence, they derived much meaning from what they were doing, and they were better able to handle stress.”

Reduce your expectations. Given how much energy employees devote to their job, there can be quite a few expectations wrapped up in work. Workers often look to employers for career, socialization, and personal and intellectual growth opportunities.

“With so many expectations, it’s no wonder that work can’t meet all of that. So we get disappointed, but I don’t know that work could fulfill all those things,” says Ken Pinnock, associate director of employee relations and services at the University of Denver.

Due to so many layoffs in the last few years, many have lost friends and colleagues, and have realized that job security, taken for granted at times, is gone. There have also been cuts when it comes to extras, such as educational opportunities, celebrations and room for career advancement.

There can be an element of loss when employees realize that the workplace has changed. However, personal and professional goals can still be pursued without an employer’s support.

“The way back from this is to try to gain perspective about work, realizing that we are still ultimately in charge of our careers and work, and we don’t have to turn to our employers to develop ourselves, or look to them to be responsible for us,” Mr. Pinnock says.

Look at “challenges,” not “problems.” Rather than perceiving problems at work, look at them as challenges.

“The people who approach work as an opportunity to learn are much more satisfied with their jobs and performance, and find themselves eager to take on new challenges,” Mr. Weaver says. “They aren’t trying to prove that they are the smartest. They are more likely to learn from their own experiences and mistakes.”

Setting intermediate goals can also help workers derive a sense of accomplishment, and keep pace with longer-term targets, Mr. Best says.

Write to Ruth Mantell at ruth.mantell@dowjones.com

Amid the economy’s many ailments, some good news has remained mostly off the radar: The at-home work force is growing, and it is encompassing new occupations ranging from radiology and nursing to auditing and teaching.

The bad news: Fierce competition means your odds of landing one of these jobs are poor. And if you succeed, you will probably take a pay cut.

For companies, home-based employees, independent contractors and freelancers are helping cut costs and improve customer service. Full-time, home-based freelancers and independent contractors in the U.S. are expected to increase by 200,000 workers to 11 million by the end of 2009, says Ray Boggs, a vice president of IDC, Framingham, Mass., a market-research firm; he sees another 200,000-worker increase in 2010.

While that is a mere blip on the radar in an economy that has been losing nearly that many jobs in a month, the trend means a lot to the individuals who are benefiting from it. They are avoiding dreaded commutes, doing volunteer work, pursuing college degrees or caring for family. And they are performing increasingly complex tasks from home, from reading MRIs to helping clients search for Bigfoot, the mythic wilderness monster.

“We are seeing a general broadening of the work-at-home landscape,” says Christine Durst, chief executive of a work-at-home Web site and co-author of a new guidebook on the topic.

Applicants are stacking up by the hundreds of thousands, however. Based on my survey of a dozen companies that use home workers, your odds of actually landing one of these positions range from about 25-to-1 to 300-to-1.

ARO Contact Center, Kansas City, Mo., which employs just 200 home auditors and sales and customer-service workers, gets 1,000 resumes a week, says Michael Amigoni, chief operating officer. West Corp., Omaha, with 14,000 active agents handling customer-service and other calls, hires only 0.5% to 1% of its 4,500 weekly applicants. And Alpine Access, Denver, with 2,800 home customer-service, sales and tech-support agents, hires about only 2% of the 100,000 people who apply each year.

“It takes a lot of luck to get these positions,” says Tammie Deweever, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a home customer-service agent for LiveOps, Santa Clara, Calif. “You have to be good at what you do.” Ms. Deweever has a college degree in marketing and worked as a mortgage broker before joining LiveOps last January. For her, job flexibility means being able to be home for her children, 17, 15 and 8; she often works split shifts around their needs, answering calls from TV viewers wanting to buy products from juicers to jeans.

Many skilled at-home professionals and managers earn less than a corporate salary. Less-skilled customer-service or sales work usually pays about $8 to $15 an hour, ranging as high as $25 or more with incentives or premiums. Some companies pay by the minute or hour spent on the phone, while others pay by the shift. The jobs vary by company from full-time employee positions with benefits to part-time independent contractor positions.

And applicants must be wary of scam artists. Ms. Durst, Woodstock, Conn., who screens work-at-home pitches for her Web site, RatRaceRebellion.com, says she is finding only one legitimate job among every 60 pitches she examines. In 2006, the odds weren’t quite as bad: She was finding one legitimate job for every 31 pitches vetted.

Many victims of work-at-home fraud have sent money, only to receive worthless products or leads, or nothing at all, in return; others who disclose too much personal information have fallen victim to theft from credit-card or checking accounts.

But those who win the work-at-home lottery reap diverse benefits. Intent on avoiding a long commute, Heather Hedden, a Raleigh, N.C., marketing specialist, spent a year looking for her current spot, as a home-based concierge for VIPdesk, Alexandria, Va. The position was worth the wait, she says. She enjoys using her research skills to help clients find theater or sports tickets, vintage wines or travel services. When a client asked for help looking for Bigfoot, she found an outfitter with a track record of taking like-minded customers on hikes through areas of reported sightings, she says.

After 19 years in private practice, radiologist Steven Brick, Potomac, Md., began working from home for Virtual Radiologic, Eden Prairie, Minn. The setup confers both the freedom to focus on his work, without distractions, and the flexibility to serve as a volunteer at the National Zoo answering visitors’ questions, he says. Virtual Radiologic’s radiologists, who work as independent contractors reading X-rays and other images for hospitals and other medical clients, have increased to 140 from 34 in 2004, a spokeswoman says.

Home-based work enables newlywed Stacey Anderson, 30, Ballston Spa, N.Y., to tackle numerous roles. Since landing a customer-service post last summer as a contractor for VIPdesk, Ms. Anderson has been able to bend her work hours around her husband’s rotating shifts on his job. In addition, she squeezes in a full-time course load as a college student.

Such intangible incentives are drawing skilled, experienced people. Mark Frei, a senior vice president of West, says 80% of West’s home agents have some college education, compared with 30% of those who work in office-based call centers.

Vanessa Torres, 35, San Antonio, Texas, had a bachelor’s degree in business and 16 years’ management experience before signing on last January as a home agent for West. She likes controlling her hours, and works only when her two young children are in school, she says.

Expansion of home-based work is likely to continue. Among the 12 companies I contacted, all were planning to recruit more home workers. Lionbridge Technologies, Waltham, Mass., a provider of multilingual services including translation and product testing, is taking on new freelancers to assess “search relevance”—that is, to ensure Internet searches yield items suitable to particular locales, a spokeswoman says.

Alpine Access, Denver, is recruiting 500 more home agents and expects to add 2,000 in 2010, says Chief Executive Christopher Carrington. LiveOps, with 20,000 home agents for retailing, insurance and other companies, added about 4,000 agents in the past two months. Arise Virtual Solutions, Miramar, Fla., with a home-agent pool of 9,800, is seeking 3,000 agents for the peak holiday and cruise seasons, a spokeswoman says. Michael DeSalles, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm, sees home agents growing by at least 30% a year.

Sites which link clients with skilled freelancers also are seeing a surge in demand for virtual workers with a widening range of professional and technical skills; oDesk.com‘s monthly postings, including graphic design, software, administrative and other projects, rose to 28,000 in the past 30 days, three times year-earlier levels. Monthly hiring on Elance.com is up more than 40% from a year ago.

As more companies allow people to work from anywhere via the Internet, says a spokeswoman for Lionbridge, “we are convinced that this is the new model of work.”

—E-mail sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com.