by Kelsey Mesher
Mountain View Voice Staff
Mountain View resident Chad Bowling, 23, never thought he would fall a victim to the down economy.
As a chemical engineering student at Stanford University, "I assumed that I would not have a hard time finding a job," he said.
His plan was to work for a few years before applying to graduate programs in his field, a move often encouraged by professors to broaden a student's perspective. In the fall of his senior year, Bowling casually began his search.
"I never considered that a year or two break would be a hard ordeal," he said.
Fall passed, and winter and spring quarters rolled by. It was graduation time and Bowling still didn't have anything lined up.
By that time, he was "desperate," he said. He decided to widen the pool of jobs he would apply for, and continue his search from his parents' house in Kentucky, with the eventual goal of heading back to the Bay Area.
"I was sending out tons of e-mails every day," he said, "applying for everything I could online, e-mailing alumni -- anything I could do. But it was all so electronic and anonymous, and nothing came back."
"I decided I'd take the plunge and move out to California and just try my luck," he said.
'I felt guilty'
With the support of his family, Bowling began leasing a Mountain View apartment month-to-month in August. He kicked up his job search, but nothing came through, and unemployment began to take its toll.
"It was a really hard place to be in," he said. "It was a balancing act between convincing myself to a certain degree that it was just the state of the job market -- but I also had to keep up the other side of it in that it was my responsibility."
"The whole time when I was searching for a job I felt like I could not really enjoy all the things that I normally did," he said. "I felt guilty during all of my free time. I realized that I could work only so many hours without getting totally down on myself. You can only send so many e-mails a day."
In order to save money, he didn't do much of anything beyond applying for jobs, he said. "I ate a lot of bean burritos."
His relationships with peers changed, too. While friends wanted to check in with him, he said, it was a "sensitive subject."
"It's really hard to take advice from people because you're doing everything you can," he said. "All your friends, when they're talking to you, they want to help you."
"It's also a hard place to be in, looking around at everyone else who has a job and think, what did they do that I didn't do? How did I fall into this?"
Overqualified
Heading into winter with no prospects, Bowling began applying for more "immediate" positions. He took weekend babysitting gigs, and submitted his resume at restaurants or retailers with "now hiring" signs in their windows.
At one point he went through two rounds of interviews for a serving position at the Olive Garden. Despite having restaurant experience in the past, the manager said Bowling was overqualified -- he might leave the job if something better came up.
"The manager told me they had interviewed the broadest range of people they'd ever interviewed," he said. "People who had owned their own companies were coming in to work as waiters."
The irony, Bowling said, was his academic training made him too qualified for some jobs, but he didn't have enough experience for most science-related positions.
"It put me in a hard place because I really had to focus on entry level jobs which just weren't there," he said.
Two interviews
Finally, in March, Bowling landed an interview with Envia Systems, a Hayward start-up that makes lithium ion battery materials for electric cars. The company was looking to hire a Ph.D., but agreed to speak with him anyway on the recommendation of a professor.
Though he was unqualified for the open position, the company offered him a temporary job in their lab, with the potential for full employment in six months.
"It took a while to hit me, and it was also strange because I had numbed myself from getting too excited about job prospects," he said. "When I heard about it I didn't want to get too excited until I had signed the paperwork and sent in the signed job offer."
In the end, Bowling only interviewed with two companies during his time out of college. He said the quantity of applications he submitted and job-related e-mails he sent numbered well over a thousand.
Looking forward, Bowling said he would be more conservative about job changes, and about saving money.
"I'm just going to take everything as a positive right now," he said. "Even if I'm only at this job for a couple months it's going to be great experience and it's going to be a building block."
Report: Most Americans Still Live in Unclean Air. By SUE MANNING Associated Press Writer
Six in 10 Americans — about 175 million people — are living in places where air pollution often reaches dangerous levels, despite progress in reducing particle pollution, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday.
The Los Angeles area had the nation's worst ozone pollution.
The report examined fine particulate matter over 24-hour periods and as a year-round average. Bakersfield, Calif., had the worst short-term particle pollution, and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area of Arizona had the worst year-round particle pollution.
The U.S. cities with the cleanest air were Fargo, N.D., Wahpeton, N.D., and Lincoln, Neb.
The report, based on 2006-08 figures, credited cleaner diesel engines and controls on coal-fired power plants for decreasing pollution such as soot and dust. However, the report estimates that nearly 30 million people live in areas with chronic levels of pollution so that even when levels are relatively low, people can be exposed to particles that will increase the risk of asthma, lung damage and premature death.
About 24 million people live in 18 counties with unhealthy levels of ozone, short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution, the report said, adding that new research shows the risk of health problems from pollution may be worse than once thought, especially for infants and children.
The California Air Resources Board has tripled its estimates of premature deaths in California from particle pollution to 18,000 a year, the report said.
Freeways remain high-risk areas for everyone, the study said, increasing the risk of heart attack, allergies, premature births and infant deaths.
The two biggest air pollution threats in the United States are ozone and particle pollution, the Lung Association said. Others include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and a variety of toxic substances.
For the first time, the association included people living in poverty as one of its at-risk groups, reasoning that people with lower income levels face higher pollution risks.
The Los Angeles area had the nation's worst ozone pollution.
The report examined fine particulate matter over 24-hour periods and as a year-round average. Bakersfield, Calif., had the worst short-term particle pollution, and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area of Arizona had the worst year-round particle pollution.
The U.S. cities with the cleanest air were Fargo, N.D., Wahpeton, N.D., and Lincoln, Neb.
The report, based on 2006-08 figures, credited cleaner diesel engines and controls on coal-fired power plants for decreasing pollution such as soot and dust. However, the report estimates that nearly 30 million people live in areas with chronic levels of pollution so that even when levels are relatively low, people can be exposed to particles that will increase the risk of asthma, lung damage and premature death.
About 24 million people live in 18 counties with unhealthy levels of ozone, short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution, the report said, adding that new research shows the risk of health problems from pollution may be worse than once thought, especially for infants and children.
The California Air Resources Board has tripled its estimates of premature deaths in California from particle pollution to 18,000 a year, the report said.
Freeways remain high-risk areas for everyone, the study said, increasing the risk of heart attack, allergies, premature births and infant deaths.
The two biggest air pollution threats in the United States are ozone and particle pollution, the Lung Association said. Others include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and a variety of toxic substances.
For the first time, the association included people living in poverty as one of its at-risk groups, reasoning that people with lower income levels face higher pollution risks.
Could the UK face the same problems as Greece?
By Simon Atkinson Business reporter, BBC News
The increasingly perilous state of Greece's economy has at least provided the British press with the chance to indulge in some laboured puns.
Wednesday's Times newspaper led the way, with a gloomy banner across its front page proclaiming that we have reached "Acropolis Now".
But while the big news is Athens seeing its credit rating becoming the first in the eurozone to be slashed to junk status - the development is also prompting serious questions to be asked about whether the UK could be facing up to its own Greek tragedy.
The government has been playing down similarities, with Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissing Conservative comparisons between the two as "economic illiteracy".
And Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was adamant that the two were "very different economies", adding "Britain is not Greece. Greece is not Britain".
Rising anger
Continue reading the main story
Investors may worry a lot more about Britain's public finances than they did a few years ago. But they worry half as much about it as they worry about Greece
Stephanie Flanders Economics editor, BBC News Read Stephanie's blog
But on the face of it there are some strong similarities - most noticeably in the government deficits.
While EU rules say these must be limited to 3% of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the UK's is expected to hit 12.6% this year. Greece's stands at 13.6% according to the EU.
And there is also some scepticism about the measures both the UK and Greece will take to bring down their deficits.
In the UK, the Institute of Financial Studies this week suggested that none of the main political parties at the looming General Election had been explicit about their spending plans and the scale of future cuts.
Meanwhile there is scepticism that Athens can achieve the kind of cuts in public spending on which a bail-out from the EU and International Monetary Fund are contingent - especially given the rising anger of the country's people.
So why, when both economies clearly have severe financial difficulties - has the UK managed to hang on to its much-coveted Triple A credit rating?
"Clearly on the face of it we have a very similar deficit," says BBC economics editor, Stephanie Flanders. "However there are many things that are very different."
Market need
An obvious point is that Greece is still in recession with little sign of immediate improvements (its GDP is forecast to shrink by 3.5% in 2010).
The UK economy saw a return to growth in last three months of 2009 with initial figures showing this continued between January and March. The economy is forecast to continue to grow, albeit slowly.
Also, the UK's debt level, while high at more than 60% of GDP, is much lower than Greece's, which sits at about 115%.
And the type of debt is seen as significant too - with much of the UK debt not due for repayment for several years, unlike some other countries. It is predominantly made up of recently racked-up loans.
This means that it does not have to keep coming to the money markets to roll over the debt - in other words to refinance it.
"That's Greece's problem and other countries' too," our economics editor says. "They have to keep going to the markets. We're actually in a very strong position on that."
Continue reading the main story
There are reasons to be concerned about Britain's need to tackle its deficit but we have not yet reached a critical point
Jeremy Batstone-Carr Analyst, Charles Stanley stockbrokers
The UK's proven track record of increasing taxes and raising the money it says it is going to raise has also played in its favour, says Jeremy Batstone-Carr, research analyst at Charles Stanley.
"There are reasons to be concerned about Britain's need to tackle its deficit but we have not yet reached a critical point," he says.
"Credit rating agencies so far have given Britain the benefit of the doubt that we will enact the measures needed to bring down the deficit, however painful that will be."
'Line in sand'
Another advantage the UK has is that it controls its own currency - and so has a floating exchange rate.
"It could, if it wanted to, devalue its currency, and that would relieve some of the pressure," says Mr Batstone-Carr. While such an action can have negative consequences as well as benefits - it is at least an option.
Greece, which entered the eurozone in 2001, does not have the luxury to act independently.
And while there has been speculation that it might withdraw, or even be kicked out, of the euro, most think this is unlikely - not least because as its debt is euro-denominated, its exit from the currency would make refinancing even more expensive.
This lack of currency flexibility is partly why other economically struggling European nations are being seen as at greater risk than the UK - most notably Portugal, (which had its credit rating cut on Tuesday by Standard & Poor's), the Irish Republic and Spain which all use the euro.
And it is Spain whose fortunes should be watched most closely for signs of a major impact on the UK, Mr Batstone-Carr says.
"Spain is the key line in the sand, its economy is much bigger than Greece's and so it would take a far greater amount to bail it out," he says.
"If Spain can survive, then the markets will take the view that the whole sovereign debt crisis is containable.
"But if Spain were to fail it would turn into a major macro-economic event and that would threatened all indebted economies, including the UK and the US."
The increasingly perilous state of Greece's economy has at least provided the British press with the chance to indulge in some laboured puns.
Wednesday's Times newspaper led the way, with a gloomy banner across its front page proclaiming that we have reached "Acropolis Now".
But while the big news is Athens seeing its credit rating becoming the first in the eurozone to be slashed to junk status - the development is also prompting serious questions to be asked about whether the UK could be facing up to its own Greek tragedy.
The government has been playing down similarities, with Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissing Conservative comparisons between the two as "economic illiteracy".
And Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was adamant that the two were "very different economies", adding "Britain is not Greece. Greece is not Britain".
Rising anger
Continue reading the main story
Investors may worry a lot more about Britain's public finances than they did a few years ago. But they worry half as much about it as they worry about Greece
Stephanie Flanders Economics editor, BBC News Read Stephanie's blog
But on the face of it there are some strong similarities - most noticeably in the government deficits.
While EU rules say these must be limited to 3% of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the UK's is expected to hit 12.6% this year. Greece's stands at 13.6% according to the EU.
And there is also some scepticism about the measures both the UK and Greece will take to bring down their deficits.
In the UK, the Institute of Financial Studies this week suggested that none of the main political parties at the looming General Election had been explicit about their spending plans and the scale of future cuts.
Meanwhile there is scepticism that Athens can achieve the kind of cuts in public spending on which a bail-out from the EU and International Monetary Fund are contingent - especially given the rising anger of the country's people.
So why, when both economies clearly have severe financial difficulties - has the UK managed to hang on to its much-coveted Triple A credit rating?
"Clearly on the face of it we have a very similar deficit," says BBC economics editor, Stephanie Flanders. "However there are many things that are very different."
Market need
An obvious point is that Greece is still in recession with little sign of immediate improvements (its GDP is forecast to shrink by 3.5% in 2010).
The UK economy saw a return to growth in last three months of 2009 with initial figures showing this continued between January and March. The economy is forecast to continue to grow, albeit slowly.
Also, the UK's debt level, while high at more than 60% of GDP, is much lower than Greece's, which sits at about 115%.
And the type of debt is seen as significant too - with much of the UK debt not due for repayment for several years, unlike some other countries. It is predominantly made up of recently racked-up loans.
This means that it does not have to keep coming to the money markets to roll over the debt - in other words to refinance it.
"That's Greece's problem and other countries' too," our economics editor says. "They have to keep going to the markets. We're actually in a very strong position on that."
Continue reading the main story
There are reasons to be concerned about Britain's need to tackle its deficit but we have not yet reached a critical point
Jeremy Batstone-Carr Analyst, Charles Stanley stockbrokers
The UK's proven track record of increasing taxes and raising the money it says it is going to raise has also played in its favour, says Jeremy Batstone-Carr, research analyst at Charles Stanley.
"There are reasons to be concerned about Britain's need to tackle its deficit but we have not yet reached a critical point," he says.
"Credit rating agencies so far have given Britain the benefit of the doubt that we will enact the measures needed to bring down the deficit, however painful that will be."
'Line in sand'
Another advantage the UK has is that it controls its own currency - and so has a floating exchange rate.
"It could, if it wanted to, devalue its currency, and that would relieve some of the pressure," says Mr Batstone-Carr. While such an action can have negative consequences as well as benefits - it is at least an option.
Greece, which entered the eurozone in 2001, does not have the luxury to act independently.
And while there has been speculation that it might withdraw, or even be kicked out, of the euro, most think this is unlikely - not least because as its debt is euro-denominated, its exit from the currency would make refinancing even more expensive.
This lack of currency flexibility is partly why other economically struggling European nations are being seen as at greater risk than the UK - most notably Portugal, (which had its credit rating cut on Tuesday by Standard & Poor's), the Irish Republic and Spain which all use the euro.
And it is Spain whose fortunes should be watched most closely for signs of a major impact on the UK, Mr Batstone-Carr says.
"Spain is the key line in the sand, its economy is much bigger than Greece's and so it would take a far greater amount to bail it out," he says.
"If Spain can survive, then the markets will take the view that the whole sovereign debt crisis is containable.
"But if Spain were to fail it would turn into a major macro-economic event and that would threatened all indebted economies, including the UK and the US."
Difficult Job Market Still Exists for Soon-to-be Grads
Even with signs pointing toward an economic recovery, 2010 college graduates still face a tough job market. The working world may be headed in the right direction, but a job shortage remains a reality. For recent grads, the job prospects will stay about the same or slightly better than last year's gloomy outlook, according to a survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement agency that questioned 100 human resource professionals.
The lack of positions in the entry-level job field may cause new grads to seek lower-paying jobs. Or soon-to-be graduates might have to settle for no compensation with volunteer opportunities or unpaid internships, meaning they will most likely need to move home with mom and dad. Of course it is difficult to not receive a paycheck, but volunteer positions and internships can provide helpful experience for resumes. Some grads might give up on the job search and choose to go back to school or travel.
When looking at last year's job economy, this year appears to produce a little more optimism. About half of the respondents feel the 2010 job outlook is similar to last year, while 28 percent of respondents say the economic outlook appears slightly better this year. To bring a little sunshine to this situation, less than 10 percent of HR executives think the 2010 job market will be worse for recent grads than in 2009.
"Last year was an extremely tight job market for entry-level candidates," says John A. Challenger, chief executive officer. "Even if this year is slightly better, the competition for available jobs will remain fierce. In fact, some of this year's graduates may very well compete with some of last year's graduates for positions.
"They will also be competing with other young people, who received their diplomas within the last five years, had jobs, and found themselves back in the labor pool once the recession hit.
These recent job-seekers could prove to be the toughest competition for this year's graduates, as they are likely to accept entry-level wages yet bring some on-the-job experience to the table."
On-campus job fairs haven't been a great help to college seniors. It seems that campus recruiting has only improved a little in recent months. With a decrease in available entry-level positions, it makes sense that companies aren't actively pursuing students on campuses. Without these job fairs, recent grads will need to actively search for open positions. It will take more effort than looking at a few job-search websites.
"This is not to say that soon-to-be graduates should give up hope," says Challenger. "There are opportunities out there, but entry-level job-seekers will have to dig for them. They may have to look outside of the industry or career path they envisioned pursuing immediately out of college."
Certain industries will provide a better chance for college grads to get their foot in the door at a company. Health care (nursing, physical therapy, medical technician, etc.) seems to be the top field for grads to find positions. The industries that follow health care include: business administration, computer science, accounting/finance, engineering, marketing, liberal arts, education and journalism/communication.
"As the job market continues to improve over the next couple of years, those who can show some work experience are going to be in a better position than those who abandoned the job market entirely," says Challenger. "For those who feel that opportunities are nonexistent, the best option may be a return to school. However, for many this is not an option financially, and they may simply return to live with their parents until steady income can be achieved."
For more information, visit www.challengergray.com.
To find out more about Amy Winter and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
The lack of positions in the entry-level job field may cause new grads to seek lower-paying jobs. Or soon-to-be graduates might have to settle for no compensation with volunteer opportunities or unpaid internships, meaning they will most likely need to move home with mom and dad. Of course it is difficult to not receive a paycheck, but volunteer positions and internships can provide helpful experience for resumes. Some grads might give up on the job search and choose to go back to school or travel.
When looking at last year's job economy, this year appears to produce a little more optimism. About half of the respondents feel the 2010 job outlook is similar to last year, while 28 percent of respondents say the economic outlook appears slightly better this year. To bring a little sunshine to this situation, less than 10 percent of HR executives think the 2010 job market will be worse for recent grads than in 2009.
"Last year was an extremely tight job market for entry-level candidates," says John A. Challenger, chief executive officer. "Even if this year is slightly better, the competition for available jobs will remain fierce. In fact, some of this year's graduates may very well compete with some of last year's graduates for positions.
"They will also be competing with other young people, who received their diplomas within the last five years, had jobs, and found themselves back in the labor pool once the recession hit.
These recent job-seekers could prove to be the toughest competition for this year's graduates, as they are likely to accept entry-level wages yet bring some on-the-job experience to the table."
On-campus job fairs haven't been a great help to college seniors. It seems that campus recruiting has only improved a little in recent months. With a decrease in available entry-level positions, it makes sense that companies aren't actively pursuing students on campuses. Without these job fairs, recent grads will need to actively search for open positions. It will take more effort than looking at a few job-search websites.
"This is not to say that soon-to-be graduates should give up hope," says Challenger. "There are opportunities out there, but entry-level job-seekers will have to dig for them. They may have to look outside of the industry or career path they envisioned pursuing immediately out of college."
Certain industries will provide a better chance for college grads to get their foot in the door at a company. Health care (nursing, physical therapy, medical technician, etc.) seems to be the top field for grads to find positions. The industries that follow health care include: business administration, computer science, accounting/finance, engineering, marketing, liberal arts, education and journalism/communication.
"As the job market continues to improve over the next couple of years, those who can show some work experience are going to be in a better position than those who abandoned the job market entirely," says Challenger. "For those who feel that opportunities are nonexistent, the best option may be a return to school. However, for many this is not an option financially, and they may simply return to live with their parents until steady income can be achieved."
For more information, visit www.challengergray.com.
To find out more about Amy Winter and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Companies help employees who have financial stress
By Cindy Krischer Goodman
cgoodman@MiamiHerald.com
Dave Lewis tries to appear like a dedicated employee when he walks into work each morning, but his thoughts sometimes are on which creditor might hound him by lunchtime rather than what sale he might clinch. Lewis says he hides his financial troubles from his boss and admits he even has called in sick to avoid embarrassment.
With more Americans staving off foreclosures, considering bankruptcy and fretting over the balance in their retirement-savings or college-savings plans, financial stress has permeated almost every workplace.
As the economic downturn hit, employers shared their financial pain with employees, cutting paychecks and freezing matches in retirement-savings plan. Yet, they left them alone to figure out how to manage their shrinking budgets -- until now.
Topics that used to be taboo to discuss in the workplace are spilling into workshop offerings and company-wide webinars.
``Some employers are taking on heavy-duty stuff,'' said Kathie Lingle, executive director of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress. ``Companies are looking at financial fitness as seriously as health and wellness. We hadn't seen this before.''
As the economy struggles to recover, employers have begun to understand the effect their workers' financial woes have on the company's bottom line.
Almost two-thirds of employers believe that employees are less productive when they are worried about personal financial problems and 52 percent believe that absenteeism increases when employees are dealing with personal financial issues, MetLife's annual Employee Benefits Trends Study shows.
Howard Dvorkin, founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, says employers are naïve if they don't realize how much of the work day is devoted to personal financial concerns.
``The majority of people contact our offices while they are at work because people they owe money are contacting them at work. Our highest Internet traffic is at 10 a.m.'' Dvorkin says the message should be clear: ``When an employee is going through a financial problem and you give then information to resolve it, they will be more productive in their job.''
A NEW BUDGET
Earlier this month, Tonya White, manager of building design and construction at University of Miami, spent her lunch hour at two back-to-back workshops as part of UM's Financial Wellness Week. More than 500 attended.
``I've done a lot of things differently,'' White said about a week after the workshops. She has put a new budget into place. ``My husband had been planning for retirement but I realized I need to think about it, too, and take some steps to get ready.''
Bill Plough, an instructor with Consolidated Credit Counseling, says UM is just one employer who has brought him onsite to educate workers. ``Employees are going to human resources asking for advances, and advice because their house is going into foreclosure, or their car is about to be repossessed. HR people don't have a solution.''
`DISCIPLINE'
Meanwhile, some companies have looked inward to their own educational resources, tapping them to help staff.
Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust in Coral Gables realized its employees could benefit from the personal finance workshops it offers customers. More than 30 employees attended each of three sessions.
``We don't want our employees to be drowning in debt when we are a bank and have all these resources,'' said Elaine King, Gibraltar's director of wealth and well-being. The workshops were a hit, she says. ``Our employees needed to step up their own personal financial discipline if they are going to talk to our clients about it.''
Pepsi Beverages Co. took its financial-fitness program a step further. Not only does the company offer access to financial-management tools and programs, it also paired with PricewaterhouseCoopers to give its 33,000 employees free, unlimited access to financial advisors through a call center. Since the program's inception in 2008, 20,000 employees have participated, according to spokeswoman Kristine Hinck.
OTHER HELP
Even small businesses on a tight budget are finding ways to offer financial fitness, mostly by making information available on websites and allowing employees to participate in educational webinars on company time.
Two nonprofit websties are smartaboutmoney.org and mymoney.gov. ``An employer can say, I understand your hardship. Here are places to go to reevaluate your budget,'' says Paul Golden, a spokesperson for the National Endowment for Financial Education. ``Offering something like that can go a long way to benefit an employee.''
Cindy Krischer Goodman is CEO of BalanceGal LLC, a provider of news and advice on how to balance work and life. She can be reached at balancegal@gmail.com or read her columns and blogs at http://worklifebalancingact.com.
cgoodman@MiamiHerald.com
Dave Lewis tries to appear like a dedicated employee when he walks into work each morning, but his thoughts sometimes are on which creditor might hound him by lunchtime rather than what sale he might clinch. Lewis says he hides his financial troubles from his boss and admits he even has called in sick to avoid embarrassment.
With more Americans staving off foreclosures, considering bankruptcy and fretting over the balance in their retirement-savings or college-savings plans, financial stress has permeated almost every workplace.
As the economic downturn hit, employers shared their financial pain with employees, cutting paychecks and freezing matches in retirement-savings plan. Yet, they left them alone to figure out how to manage their shrinking budgets -- until now.
Topics that used to be taboo to discuss in the workplace are spilling into workshop offerings and company-wide webinars.
``Some employers are taking on heavy-duty stuff,'' said Kathie Lingle, executive director of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress. ``Companies are looking at financial fitness as seriously as health and wellness. We hadn't seen this before.''
As the economy struggles to recover, employers have begun to understand the effect their workers' financial woes have on the company's bottom line.
Almost two-thirds of employers believe that employees are less productive when they are worried about personal financial problems and 52 percent believe that absenteeism increases when employees are dealing with personal financial issues, MetLife's annual Employee Benefits Trends Study shows.
Howard Dvorkin, founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, says employers are naïve if they don't realize how much of the work day is devoted to personal financial concerns.
``The majority of people contact our offices while they are at work because people they owe money are contacting them at work. Our highest Internet traffic is at 10 a.m.'' Dvorkin says the message should be clear: ``When an employee is going through a financial problem and you give then information to resolve it, they will be more productive in their job.''
A NEW BUDGET
Earlier this month, Tonya White, manager of building design and construction at University of Miami, spent her lunch hour at two back-to-back workshops as part of UM's Financial Wellness Week. More than 500 attended.
``I've done a lot of things differently,'' White said about a week after the workshops. She has put a new budget into place. ``My husband had been planning for retirement but I realized I need to think about it, too, and take some steps to get ready.''
Bill Plough, an instructor with Consolidated Credit Counseling, says UM is just one employer who has brought him onsite to educate workers. ``Employees are going to human resources asking for advances, and advice because their house is going into foreclosure, or their car is about to be repossessed. HR people don't have a solution.''
`DISCIPLINE'
Meanwhile, some companies have looked inward to their own educational resources, tapping them to help staff.
Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust in Coral Gables realized its employees could benefit from the personal finance workshops it offers customers. More than 30 employees attended each of three sessions.
``We don't want our employees to be drowning in debt when we are a bank and have all these resources,'' said Elaine King, Gibraltar's director of wealth and well-being. The workshops were a hit, she says. ``Our employees needed to step up their own personal financial discipline if they are going to talk to our clients about it.''
Pepsi Beverages Co. took its financial-fitness program a step further. Not only does the company offer access to financial-management tools and programs, it also paired with PricewaterhouseCoopers to give its 33,000 employees free, unlimited access to financial advisors through a call center. Since the program's inception in 2008, 20,000 employees have participated, according to spokeswoman Kristine Hinck.
OTHER HELP
Even small businesses on a tight budget are finding ways to offer financial fitness, mostly by making information available on websites and allowing employees to participate in educational webinars on company time.
Two nonprofit websties are smartaboutmoney.org and mymoney.gov. ``An employer can say, I understand your hardship. Here are places to go to reevaluate your budget,'' says Paul Golden, a spokesperson for the National Endowment for Financial Education. ``Offering something like that can go a long way to benefit an employee.''
Cindy Krischer Goodman is CEO of BalanceGal LLC, a provider of news and advice on how to balance work and life. She can be reached at balancegal@gmail.com or read her columns and blogs at http://worklifebalancingact.com.
The cleanest countries in the world
By Christopher Helman, Forbes.com
Iceland is the cleanest country in the world. This may be hard to believe right now, what with the clouds of volcanic ash grounding flights across northern Europe, but according to researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, the Nordic island ranks first out of 163 countries on their Environmental Performance Index.
Researchers ranked countries based on 25 indicators, including water and air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of the environment on the health of the population. A score of 100 is excellent. Sierra Leone ranks at the bottom of the list with a score of 32. The U.S. ranks in the middle of the pack with 63.5. Similarly, Canada - which ranked 46 on the list - had a score of 66.4.
Iceland took top honors with a score of 93.5 thanks to ample clean water, lots of protected nature areas, good national health care and a plenitude of usually clean geothermal power.
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Will Eyjafjallajokull wreck Iceland's rating the next time the academics run the numbers in 2012? The answer is no. "We do not score natural disasters," says Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale who heads up the EPI and wrote the acclaimed book Green to Gold. The index is weighted to metrics that track how governments are performing relative to environmental policy goals, such as access to adequate sanitation and water, habitat protection and industrial emissions. The amount of sulfur dioxide released from fuel usage counts, not what's put out by volcanoes.
There are two paths that can take a country to the top of the EPI rankings. First, a country could be gifted with a rich endowment of clean water, diverse biology and not have sullied it with rampant industrialism. That's how Cuba, Colombia and Costa Rica placed so high.
Alternatively, a country could have industrialized and polluted its environment, but eventually gotten rich enough to start cleaning it up. That's the case with the European countries that make up more than half of the top 30.
"The richer you become, the more polluted you become, to a point. Then you become cleaner," says Christine Kim of Yale, research director for the EPI.
The U.S. is still on the upswing, says Esty. "Forty years ago the U.S would have had bad scores" like China (rank: 121st) and India (123rd). America, as it's matured, has made big strides in cleaning up lakes, rivers and streams, with clean drinking water available to practically the entire population. Air quality has gotten much better in places like Los Angeles. What's more, "no country is a better forest steward," says Esty. And despite the plague of pine bark beetles laying waste to millions of acres of forests across the west, "the U.S. is re-foresting at a rapid rate."
Sounds good, so why does the U.S. rank so much lower than those Europeans? "People in the U.S. are shocked the U.S. ranks so low. In Europe they're shocked the U.S. ranks so high," says Esty.
Trace the cognitive dissonance to greenhouse gas emissions, where the U.S. places very poorly because of our reliance on coal for 50% of power generation and our reliance on cars to traverse wide-open spaces. America's fully industrialized peers Japan (ranked 20th), Germany (17th) and the U.K. (14th) did far better. The best way for America to improve its score: make a big push toward generating power from nuclear and natural gas.
But could we ever place better than Cuba, which is ranked ninth? Well, Cuba's scant industrial base limits pollution, while socialized health care helps limit environmental-related illness. At least that's what the data claims.
"There's some made-up data out of Cuba," says Esty. They have problems with the veracity of China's data, too. The U.S. on the other hand has very high data quality because "we [in the U.S.] are able to get bad news published." Despite misgivings on Cuban data, "we don't use our judgment on data to push down countries' rankings."
Another unusual case is Belgium, which lags far behind its neighbors France, the Netherlands and Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Belgium is in 88th place, on par with Ukraine and lower than any other European country. The data on Belgium shows "incontrovertible systematic underperformance," says Esty. Less nuclear power, worse water quality and less protection of open spaces.
Esty cautions that it's more useful for policymakers to compare a country's results with those in its peer group. Desert countries will have trouble scoring high in the rankings because of their complete lack of emissions-free hydropower, and limited ecological diversity. Yet in the 2010 study, for the first time, the researchers decided to count sea water desalination as a renewable water source. This helps the oil-rich countries, which can afford to build desalination plants.
In an enviro-measurement quandry, those oil and gas-rich regimes like Saudi Arabia (99th place) and Qatar (122th), don't get docked for the environmental impact of their exported hydrocarbons.
Esty says that of the 75 nations to give feedback to his researchers on their EPI rankings, none has been more outraged than South Korea. Landing in 94th place, between Gabon and Nicaragua, South Koreans see this study as an insult unbefitting their status as a first-world developed nation. The South Korean ambassador filed a protest. A bureaucrat even called up research director Christine Kim's grandmother back home in South Korea to complain. The South Koreans' overly rosy environmental self-assessment might have something to do with the worse performance of neighboring China and North Korea (147th place). Esty says the data on low levels of biodiversity and significant air pollution aren't in doubt.
A bastion of hope and irony: the most biodiverse place on the Korean Peninsula is the demilitarized zone, says Esty. Yet some of the deer there, because of landmines, only have three legs.
Iceland is the cleanest country in the world. This may be hard to believe right now, what with the clouds of volcanic ash grounding flights across northern Europe, but according to researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, the Nordic island ranks first out of 163 countries on their Environmental Performance Index.
Researchers ranked countries based on 25 indicators, including water and air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of the environment on the health of the population. A score of 100 is excellent. Sierra Leone ranks at the bottom of the list with a score of 32. The U.S. ranks in the middle of the pack with 63.5. Similarly, Canada - which ranked 46 on the list - had a score of 66.4.
Iceland took top honors with a score of 93.5 thanks to ample clean water, lots of protected nature areas, good national health care and a plenitude of usually clean geothermal power.
Go to Forbes.com to view the slideshow
(Opens new window)
Will Eyjafjallajokull wreck Iceland's rating the next time the academics run the numbers in 2012? The answer is no. "We do not score natural disasters," says Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale who heads up the EPI and wrote the acclaimed book Green to Gold. The index is weighted to metrics that track how governments are performing relative to environmental policy goals, such as access to adequate sanitation and water, habitat protection and industrial emissions. The amount of sulfur dioxide released from fuel usage counts, not what's put out by volcanoes.
There are two paths that can take a country to the top of the EPI rankings. First, a country could be gifted with a rich endowment of clean water, diverse biology and not have sullied it with rampant industrialism. That's how Cuba, Colombia and Costa Rica placed so high.
Alternatively, a country could have industrialized and polluted its environment, but eventually gotten rich enough to start cleaning it up. That's the case with the European countries that make up more than half of the top 30.
"The richer you become, the more polluted you become, to a point. Then you become cleaner," says Christine Kim of Yale, research director for the EPI.
The U.S. is still on the upswing, says Esty. "Forty years ago the U.S would have had bad scores" like China (rank: 121st) and India (123rd). America, as it's matured, has made big strides in cleaning up lakes, rivers and streams, with clean drinking water available to practically the entire population. Air quality has gotten much better in places like Los Angeles. What's more, "no country is a better forest steward," says Esty. And despite the plague of pine bark beetles laying waste to millions of acres of forests across the west, "the U.S. is re-foresting at a rapid rate."
Sounds good, so why does the U.S. rank so much lower than those Europeans? "People in the U.S. are shocked the U.S. ranks so low. In Europe they're shocked the U.S. ranks so high," says Esty.
Trace the cognitive dissonance to greenhouse gas emissions, where the U.S. places very poorly because of our reliance on coal for 50% of power generation and our reliance on cars to traverse wide-open spaces. America's fully industrialized peers Japan (ranked 20th), Germany (17th) and the U.K. (14th) did far better. The best way for America to improve its score: make a big push toward generating power from nuclear and natural gas.
But could we ever place better than Cuba, which is ranked ninth? Well, Cuba's scant industrial base limits pollution, while socialized health care helps limit environmental-related illness. At least that's what the data claims.
"There's some made-up data out of Cuba," says Esty. They have problems with the veracity of China's data, too. The U.S. on the other hand has very high data quality because "we [in the U.S.] are able to get bad news published." Despite misgivings on Cuban data, "we don't use our judgment on data to push down countries' rankings."
Another unusual case is Belgium, which lags far behind its neighbors France, the Netherlands and Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Belgium is in 88th place, on par with Ukraine and lower than any other European country. The data on Belgium shows "incontrovertible systematic underperformance," says Esty. Less nuclear power, worse water quality and less protection of open spaces.
Esty cautions that it's more useful for policymakers to compare a country's results with those in its peer group. Desert countries will have trouble scoring high in the rankings because of their complete lack of emissions-free hydropower, and limited ecological diversity. Yet in the 2010 study, for the first time, the researchers decided to count sea water desalination as a renewable water source. This helps the oil-rich countries, which can afford to build desalination plants.
In an enviro-measurement quandry, those oil and gas-rich regimes like Saudi Arabia (99th place) and Qatar (122th), don't get docked for the environmental impact of their exported hydrocarbons.
Esty says that of the 75 nations to give feedback to his researchers on their EPI rankings, none has been more outraged than South Korea. Landing in 94th place, between Gabon and Nicaragua, South Koreans see this study as an insult unbefitting their status as a first-world developed nation. The South Korean ambassador filed a protest. A bureaucrat even called up research director Christine Kim's grandmother back home in South Korea to complain. The South Koreans' overly rosy environmental self-assessment might have something to do with the worse performance of neighboring China and North Korea (147th place). Esty says the data on low levels of biodiversity and significant air pollution aren't in doubt.
A bastion of hope and irony: the most biodiverse place on the Korean Peninsula is the demilitarized zone, says Esty. Yet some of the deer there, because of landmines, only have three legs.
Changing the World, One MBA at a Time. By Alison Damast
Groups like MBAs Without Borders give B-school graduates experience in the developing world, and just maybe a new career.
During the peak of the financial meltdown in November 2008, Tim Elliott did what many MBA graduates would have deemed unthinkable at the time, quitting his job as vice-president of finance and technology for Calidora Skin Clinic, a skin-care company headquartered in Seattle. Elliott, a 2004 graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management (Anderson Full-Time MBA Profile), had spent nearly 15 years working with startups and private equity firms and was itching for "a sabbatical from the corporate ladder," he says. He found just that when he stumbled on the Web page for MBAs Without Borders, a nonprofit that sends MBA graduates on assignments to developing nations for anywhere from two to six months. He soon found himself on a plane heading to Cambodia's Phnom Penh, where he would work for six months as a volunteer on a project to help deliver safe water to poor people in villages across Vietnam and Cambodia.
"At this point in my career, I started wondering if making rich people richer was really my mission in life," says Elliott, 36, who was sent to work as a consultant for the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH, a Seattle-based nonprofit that works to battle health challenges in poor nations. "Making them a bit more money at my old job wasn't going to change the world."
Elliott is part of a growing number of MBA graduates turning to organizations like MBAs Without Borders as a way to use their business skills to help nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and explore whether they want to pursue careers in the developing world. In many ways, it's the MBA version of the Peace Corps, offering graduates a chance to flex their business skills in supply-chain management, marketing, and financial analysis in far-flung regions that are as remote as business school students can get from Wall Street. Many business school graduates are finding these opportunities through CDC Development Solutions, a Washington (D.C.)-based nonprofit that operates both MBAs Without Borders, which was founded by Canadian MBA students in 2005 and acquired by CDC last year, and the MBA Enterprise Corps, which it has been running since 1990.
Emerging-Market Consultants
For both programs, CDC matches an MBA graduate—dubbed a "business advisor"—with a client in an emerging market, sending the person to consult with NGOs, microfinance institutions, government agencies, or small businesses. The program is not for everyone; to qualify, candidates must hold an MBA degree, have at least three years of work experience, have lived or worked overseas, and be proficient in a foreign language. Those who choose to do the Enterprise Corps are given longer-term assignments, ranging from a year to 15 months. The assignments are unpaid, but the organizations that sponsor the volunteers—typically groups like the Grassroots Business Fund, the World Bank, or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—help cover airfare and housing and give participants a living stipend.
The prospect of no salary for up to a year or more does not seem to be discouraging people from applying, even in today's tough economy. Interest in these programs is on the upswing, with applications doubling for both programs in the last year, CDC says. In 2008, there were 45 applicants for the MBA Enterprise Corps, a number that jumped to 89 in 2009. There is also "extremely high interest" in the MBAs Without Borders program, with an average of 100 applicants applying for each short-term assignment, says Kareem Mansour, MBA programs coordinator for CDC.
The escalating numbers come as more business schools than ever before are offering classes that expose students to topics like microfinance and sustainability. The percentage of business schools that require students to take an elective course focused on "business and society" issues continued to increase, rising from 63% in 2007 to 69% in 2009, according to the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, an alternative "green" MBA ranking. And of the schools surveyed, more are offering electives that contain social, environmental, and ethical content.
"In the last five years, B-school curriculums have changed and there is such a focus now on social issues and corporate responsibility that there is a lot more interest from people who would not have previously been interested in these programs," says Kate Ahern, CDC's director of business development. "Plus, a lot of people are realizing that international experience is really critical to getting a job now."
Experience Abroad
That is the case for Tiffany Urrechaga, 37, a current Enterprise Corps member and 2009 graduate of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (Kellogg Full-Time MBA Profile). She's currently working as a market researcher in Abuja, Nigeria, as part of a USAID project designed to increase farm productivity. Faced with the difficult MBA job market last spring, Urrechaga decided to apply to the Corps in the hopes of gaining experience abroad that would help her differentiate herself in the job market. She was also able to take advantage of a program at Kellogg that allows her to receive partial student-loan forgiveness for the year she's serving abroad, a perk that helped convince her to sign on.
"I feel like the experience I'm getting here is extraordinarily valuable and way beyond what you could hope to get in some more posh American job, so I have the full confidence that it will pay off in the long run," she says.
Urrechaga's mindset is becoming increasingly common at many business schools, as more students turn their sights to careers in emerging markets and corporate social responsibility, career services officers say. The Enterprise Corps is especially popular at schools like the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business, where a tough job market and a focus on sustainability have many students exploring careers outside of banking and consulting.At Moore, applications to the MBA Enterprise Corps have increased about 30% this year, says Jane Willis, managing director of the office of career management.Meanwhile, at the Thunderbird School of Global Management (Thunderbird Full-Time MBA Profile), about 15 students a year apply to the Corps, and interest continues to grow in both the Corps and MBAs Without Borders, says Mike Low, Thunderbird's director of employer relations.
"A lot of MBAs who are interested in being engaged in global developing economies find that it is very competitive and not easy to gain the experience and credentials you need in order to move easily in that space," says Low. "The Enterprise Corps is an experience that allows people to accelerate their development and trajectory in this field."
Career Opportunities
Indeed, many of the participants in the CDC programs end up finding jobs in the developing world after their stints abroad end, or return to the U.S. to work for nonprofits that focus on emerging markets, CDC says.
Chris Zintel, a 2007 Thunderbird graduate who worked for the U.S. African Development Foundation in Conakry, Guinea, for a year on a supply-chain project, says he is convinced his experience in the Enterprise Corps helped him land his current job. He is the technical program manager of the nonprofit Grameen Foundation's Technology Center in Seattle, a role he's held now for about two years, and will be working in Kenya for the next year or so helping develop a program that will let people use cell phones as mobile payment devices.
"I'd absolutely say I got this job because I was on the ground in Africa doing business development," Zintel says.
Meanwhile, Tim Elliott, the MBAs Without Borders volunteer in Cambodia, managed to turn his stint with the nonprofit PATH into a full-time gig, crafting a job proposal and convincing PATH to hire him. He's now helping the organization find investors for businesses in Vietnam, Cambodia, Kenya, and India. He'll also be giving back to the program that helped him launch a career in this new field, hiring what he calls a "tiger team" of MBAs Without Borders volunteers to help him on these projects and new initiatives in the coming year, he says.
"It was a bit of a risky career change, but it's worked out quite well," he says.
Damast is a reporter for Businessweek.com.
During the peak of the financial meltdown in November 2008, Tim Elliott did what many MBA graduates would have deemed unthinkable at the time, quitting his job as vice-president of finance and technology for Calidora Skin Clinic, a skin-care company headquartered in Seattle. Elliott, a 2004 graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management (Anderson Full-Time MBA Profile), had spent nearly 15 years working with startups and private equity firms and was itching for "a sabbatical from the corporate ladder," he says. He found just that when he stumbled on the Web page for MBAs Without Borders, a nonprofit that sends MBA graduates on assignments to developing nations for anywhere from two to six months. He soon found himself on a plane heading to Cambodia's Phnom Penh, where he would work for six months as a volunteer on a project to help deliver safe water to poor people in villages across Vietnam and Cambodia.
"At this point in my career, I started wondering if making rich people richer was really my mission in life," says Elliott, 36, who was sent to work as a consultant for the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH, a Seattle-based nonprofit that works to battle health challenges in poor nations. "Making them a bit more money at my old job wasn't going to change the world."
Elliott is part of a growing number of MBA graduates turning to organizations like MBAs Without Borders as a way to use their business skills to help nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and explore whether they want to pursue careers in the developing world. In many ways, it's the MBA version of the Peace Corps, offering graduates a chance to flex their business skills in supply-chain management, marketing, and financial analysis in far-flung regions that are as remote as business school students can get from Wall Street. Many business school graduates are finding these opportunities through CDC Development Solutions, a Washington (D.C.)-based nonprofit that operates both MBAs Without Borders, which was founded by Canadian MBA students in 2005 and acquired by CDC last year, and the MBA Enterprise Corps, which it has been running since 1990.
Emerging-Market Consultants
For both programs, CDC matches an MBA graduate—dubbed a "business advisor"—with a client in an emerging market, sending the person to consult with NGOs, microfinance institutions, government agencies, or small businesses. The program is not for everyone; to qualify, candidates must hold an MBA degree, have at least three years of work experience, have lived or worked overseas, and be proficient in a foreign language. Those who choose to do the Enterprise Corps are given longer-term assignments, ranging from a year to 15 months. The assignments are unpaid, but the organizations that sponsor the volunteers—typically groups like the Grassroots Business Fund, the World Bank, or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—help cover airfare and housing and give participants a living stipend.
The prospect of no salary for up to a year or more does not seem to be discouraging people from applying, even in today's tough economy. Interest in these programs is on the upswing, with applications doubling for both programs in the last year, CDC says. In 2008, there were 45 applicants for the MBA Enterprise Corps, a number that jumped to 89 in 2009. There is also "extremely high interest" in the MBAs Without Borders program, with an average of 100 applicants applying for each short-term assignment, says Kareem Mansour, MBA programs coordinator for CDC.
The escalating numbers come as more business schools than ever before are offering classes that expose students to topics like microfinance and sustainability. The percentage of business schools that require students to take an elective course focused on "business and society" issues continued to increase, rising from 63% in 2007 to 69% in 2009, according to the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey, an alternative "green" MBA ranking. And of the schools surveyed, more are offering electives that contain social, environmental, and ethical content.
"In the last five years, B-school curriculums have changed and there is such a focus now on social issues and corporate responsibility that there is a lot more interest from people who would not have previously been interested in these programs," says Kate Ahern, CDC's director of business development. "Plus, a lot of people are realizing that international experience is really critical to getting a job now."
Experience Abroad
That is the case for Tiffany Urrechaga, 37, a current Enterprise Corps member and 2009 graduate of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (Kellogg Full-Time MBA Profile). She's currently working as a market researcher in Abuja, Nigeria, as part of a USAID project designed to increase farm productivity. Faced with the difficult MBA job market last spring, Urrechaga decided to apply to the Corps in the hopes of gaining experience abroad that would help her differentiate herself in the job market. She was also able to take advantage of a program at Kellogg that allows her to receive partial student-loan forgiveness for the year she's serving abroad, a perk that helped convince her to sign on.
"I feel like the experience I'm getting here is extraordinarily valuable and way beyond what you could hope to get in some more posh American job, so I have the full confidence that it will pay off in the long run," she says.
Urrechaga's mindset is becoming increasingly common at many business schools, as more students turn their sights to careers in emerging markets and corporate social responsibility, career services officers say. The Enterprise Corps is especially popular at schools like the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business, where a tough job market and a focus on sustainability have many students exploring careers outside of banking and consulting.At Moore, applications to the MBA Enterprise Corps have increased about 30% this year, says Jane Willis, managing director of the office of career management.Meanwhile, at the Thunderbird School of Global Management (Thunderbird Full-Time MBA Profile), about 15 students a year apply to the Corps, and interest continues to grow in both the Corps and MBAs Without Borders, says Mike Low, Thunderbird's director of employer relations.
"A lot of MBAs who are interested in being engaged in global developing economies find that it is very competitive and not easy to gain the experience and credentials you need in order to move easily in that space," says Low. "The Enterprise Corps is an experience that allows people to accelerate their development and trajectory in this field."
Career Opportunities
Indeed, many of the participants in the CDC programs end up finding jobs in the developing world after their stints abroad end, or return to the U.S. to work for nonprofits that focus on emerging markets, CDC says.
Chris Zintel, a 2007 Thunderbird graduate who worked for the U.S. African Development Foundation in Conakry, Guinea, for a year on a supply-chain project, says he is convinced his experience in the Enterprise Corps helped him land his current job. He is the technical program manager of the nonprofit Grameen Foundation's Technology Center in Seattle, a role he's held now for about two years, and will be working in Kenya for the next year or so helping develop a program that will let people use cell phones as mobile payment devices.
"I'd absolutely say I got this job because I was on the ground in Africa doing business development," Zintel says.
Meanwhile, Tim Elliott, the MBAs Without Borders volunteer in Cambodia, managed to turn his stint with the nonprofit PATH into a full-time gig, crafting a job proposal and convincing PATH to hire him. He's now helping the organization find investors for businesses in Vietnam, Cambodia, Kenya, and India. He'll also be giving back to the program that helped him launch a career in this new field, hiring what he calls a "tiger team" of MBAs Without Borders volunteers to help him on these projects and new initiatives in the coming year, he says.
"It was a bit of a risky career change, but it's worked out quite well," he says.
Damast is a reporter for Businessweek.com.
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