Why are people doing this and how do you make it work? Listen in on my conversation with Jenny Blake, who works full-time at Google and runs a coaching and blogging business, LifeAfterCollege.org, on the side.

Listen to the podcast on my MyPath.com “College to Career” show now!

I’m very glad this topic is still on the radar screens of major media reporters. I just wish the articles would include some helpful suggestions for young people who find themselves in the tough position of facing the longest recession period since the 1930s. The Comments section of the Times article certainly included a lot of — ahem — suggestions, but I’m not a big fan of snark. So, I thought I’d share my three cents on how college students and recent grads can still improve their resumes without a traditionally “good” summer job or internship.

Volunteer. In fairness, in addition to the snarky remarks, the Comments section of the Times piece was filled with the suggestion to volunteer, and that advice is spot-on. I’ve written many times about the value of volunteering and it’s even more important this summer.

Although future employers will understand why you might not have a superstar internship on your resume for the infamous summer of 2009, they won’t understand why you don’t have any volunteer experience during that time period. Volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a political candidate, a soup kitchen, a Little League team, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an animal shelter, anything. Search for thousands of opportunities at Idealist.org.

Take on a Project. I just finished reading the memoir Julie and Julia, which has been made into an upcoming movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The book is about a young woman with a boring temp job and dreams of becoming an actress who decides on a whim to spend a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing a blog about it. A little weird? Check. A challenging, unique project that takes commitment, determination, creativity and confidence? Also check. If I were a recruiter for a cookbook publisher, restaurant chain or the Food Network, I’d call Julie in for an interview.

Can you spend the summer taking on a project related to your area of career interest? A business major could read through every book on the summer’s Wall Street Journal business best seller list and review each book on Amazon.com. An aspiring film industry worker could watch every film on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best films of all time. An aspiring curator could tour every museum in a 200 mile radius. If you choose a worthwhile, valuable project, it could lead to a job (or a book deal).

Start a Small Business. My friends over at Gradspot.com just featured a great post outlining four businesses that are easy to start and manage, including dog walking, tutoring, computer programming and babysitting/nannying. These are all resume-worthy summer pursuits and can lead to great opportunities for networking, skill building and, of course, moneymaking. I’d add to this list jewelry making, graphic design, lawn mowing, gardening, house painting, social media consulting (you would not believe the number of people who ask me if I know of a college student who would teach them how to use Facebook or Twitter) and bartending (if you’re of legal age). Employers are often impressed by the hard work and leadership it takes to launch and run a business on your own, especially in hard times.

Do you have more suggestions for making the most of an jobless summer? Please share in the comments!

While some people decide to dive headfirst into entrepreneurship, others feel more comfortable dipping in a toe, then an ankle, then a knee before swimming solo.  The choice is very personal and depends on your experience, finances and overall comfort with risk.  But, if you’re thinking even just a little bit about starting your own business, it’s never too early to take actions that will set you up for taking the plunge when you’re ready.  Here are some suggestions for first steps to take if you’re thinking about starting your own small business or becoming a full-time freelancer:

Find Real and Virtual Mentors.  I guarantee you are not the first person to start a business in your industry. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, DowntownWomensClub.com, Make Mine a Million $ Business, Yahoo groups and other networking organizations and websites to make connections with people who have started similar-sized businesses (though not potential direct competitors  — as you can imagine, it makes me really cranky when someone asks me for advice on how to start a business exactly the same as mine!).  Ask people how they got started and what advice and recommended resources they might offer.  You can also use the web to research successful entrepreneurs.  What do their websites look like?  What experience is listed in their bios or LinkedIn profiles?  What professional credentials do they maintain?  Take notes!

Understand the Essentials.  It’s not the most exciting part of starting a business, but it’s crucial to research any licenses, taxes and insurance you’ll need to go solo, and I recommend doing this sooner rather than later.  Start a list or folder to keep track of everything, and don’t be afraid to ask experts for help, especially an accountant and a lawyer.  You can look to freelancers unions, entrepreneurial websites (my faves are StartupNation.com, FastCompany.com, Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com) and the Small Business Administration for free or low-cost help determining what “official” steps are required. Above all, be sure to find independent health insurance. Never take the risk of being uninsured.

Learn How to Market Yourself.  One of the most important requirements of entrepreneurship is the ability to sell yourself and your ideas.  Even before you launch your own venture, you can begin working on this aspect of self-employment: Join high-profile committees of industry organizations to make yourself visible to members (who may be future clients of your new business). Volunteer at a nonprofit organization related to the business you’d like to start. Take professional development classes online or at a community college to enhance your business skills and industry expertise. Start a blog on a topic related to your entrepreneurial interests. Start posting comments and articles on Twitter that establish your expertise in the area of your choice. Check out the Personal Branding Blog for ongoing tips on marketing yourself.

Read up. Many, many, many people have written great books on how to start and run businesses of all shapes and sizes. Here are some of my personal favorites.

Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

Getting Started in Consulting

Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money

The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

If you have more how-to-be-an-entrepreneur books you’ve liked, please share in the Comments section!

Each of the above activities will increase your leadership experience, expand your network and, perhaps most importantly, build your confidence that there is a world outside of full-time employment.  The plunge into entrepreneurship could even take place sooner than you thought possible.  Or, if you find yourself resisting these actions, it may be a sign that you’re not quite ready to leave the regular paycheck pool, even if it is hard to find a job right now. Either way, self-employment is an option that many people consider at some point in their careers, so it’s always worth a bit of exploration.

1. Be smarter, faster and better. I wish I could offer you a magic piece of advice about job hunting and working in a bad economy, a piece of wisdom that I’ve been saving for this type of situation. However, my best advice is to use all of the same job hunting and career management tips I always advise, but do them smarter, faster and better (which, by the way, is the title of a book I co-wrote with the fabulous executive coach Karlin Sloan).

Being smarter, faster and better means:

• Updating your resume to include examples of how you thrive in challenging times, how you excel at stretching a budget, how you can bring in new clients and new revenue right away.
• Making 5 calls a day to networking contacts, rather than making 5 a week.
• Attending one networking event a week, rather than one a month.
• Following up immediately after you meet someone or learn of an opportunity. Return calls right away, send a thank you email the same day you have an interview, send in a resume as soon as you learn of an opportunity.

In any situation, ask yourself, “What would be the smartest, fastest and best way to handle this situation?” and do just that.

2. Try new strategies. We all get into ruts — going to the same networking events, talking to the same people at our association meetings, setting up the same keywords on the same employment websites, writing the same phrases in every cover letter.

STOP!

The same old stuff will no longer cut it. As Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.To get a job in a bad economy, you have to cast a wider net and be more creative than ever. Try some new and different keyword searches as you look for jobs online. Challenge yourself to attend networking events in totally new industries, towns or social circles. Start looking in the newspaper if you’ve never done that before. Look for jobs at small companies if you’ve always worked for big corporations (and vice versa).

3. Find ways to make some extra money so you aren’t desperate and panicky. Potential employers can smell desperation and it isn’t attractive. If you are totally stressed out about paying the rent, you won’t be in the best frame of mind to conduct a proactive job search. One great way to make some extra cash without working fulltime is tutoring (for high school courses, college application essays, SATs, GMATs, etc. You can apply to tutor for Kaplan, Princeton Review or advertise your services on Craigslist). Bootstrapper has a list of 77 more ways to make money on the side so you can stay afloat while you look for your next career move.

4. Freelance full-time.  You may find that your “on-the-side” gig turns into a new career. That’s actually how I started my own business as a writer and speaker. It happened during the difficult economic period following 9/11. My dot-com job had disappeared and, while I was networking with former clients and colleagues, I started receiving offers to complete small projects for them. I said yes to anything and everything — I wrote marketing plans, nonfiction book proposals, nonprofit grant proposals, resumes, bios and newsletter articles for an hourly rate. I spoke to high school students, Girl Scouts, Rotary clubs and chambers of commerce. As the months went on, I eventually created business cards, a website, a portfolio and a one-pager about my services. That was in 2002 and I’ve never worked full-time again.

Freelancing, consulting and self-employment are not for everyone, but if you’ve been considering entrepreneurship, now might be the time to make the leap. My favorite “starter” books on this subject are Six-Figure Freelancing and Getting Started in Consulting.

5. Move to a city with jobs. If you’ve been thinking about relocating, you might want to consider a place that is thriving despite the economic downturn. BusinessWeek.com has a list of the best places in the U.S. to “ride out the recession.” I don’t necessarily advise uprooting yourself for the potential of a good job, but if you’ve been thinking about moving anyway or have some very strong leads in a thriving city, it could be a smart decision right now.

6. Move to an industry sector with jobs. If you don’t want to move to a new city, pay attention to the industries the BusinessWeek.com article highlights as growing: healthcare, education, law, energy and government. HRWorld offers its own list of top 25 careers to pursue in a recession and Career Hub shares a ranking of 72 recession-proof industries. Consider expanding your job search into one of these industries. For instance, if you’ve been applying to finance jobs on Wall Street, consider applying for finance jobs at a pharmaceutical company or a university. If you’re interested in management consulting, think about a firm that specializes in healthcare or energy consulting. If you’ve thought about teaching, do it!

p.s. If you own your own business or work for a small company, these recession-proof industry lists will help you determine where to pursue new clients and customers.

7. Help other people. Now is the time to be extra generous in helping other people with job leads, event invitations, networking contacts, advice and moral support. When you see a job listing that’s perfect for a friend, forward it with an encouraging note. Call up a fellow job seeker and invite him over for a cup of coffee and a chat. Barter your strengths (editing, public speaking, outfit coordination) with a friend who has strengths that you don’t. “Paying it forward” makes you feel good and it’s bound to come back to you in kind.

Check back for many more posts in the coming months on how to keep your career thriving in this difficult time. And if you have tips to share, please leave a comment!

Here are some interesting stories I recommend, with a little bit of personal commentary:

1. Articles about finding a job in the current economy:

The Personal Business page of this weekend’s New York Times features a follow-up to a recent article about online job hunting. Alina Tugend’s “When Job Hunting, Be Your Own Salesman” reminds readers to continue face-to-face networking in addition to online networking efforts.

Also in the Times, you’ll find a story about undergraduate finance and economics majors looking for post-college jobs. “Finance Students Keep Their Job Hopes Alive” suggests that students at top-tier schools aren’t too worried — they believe this downturn will pass and they’ll be just fine.

I’ve found this sentiment to be true in the Ivy League (and the article points out a related trend that I recently blogged about: one student in the article says, “[E]veryone I know is studying for the LSATs right now, people who a month ago had no intention of ever going to law school.” Ugh.). While it’s interesting to know that top students aren’t worried, what about students at the thousands of other colleges in the country? If you’re a job hunting student, please share your experience.

2. Articles about young entrepreneurs:

If you’d rather start your own business than get a job, there’s lots of good reading for you. BusinessWeek recently celebrated America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs 2008. Don’t miss the special feature on whether or not to hire your parents.

Inc. magazine weighs in with its current cover story, “Cool, Determined, Under 30,” celebrating 18 young (and, according to the photos, pretty hip) entrepreneurs.

Finally, StartupNation.com names its “Dorm-Based 20,” celebrating collegiate entrepreneurs.

I love all of this great coverage of young professionals NOT being portrayed as entitled, unmotivated slackers. But I have a complaint: While BusinessWeek and Inc. feature a good mix of genders, StartupNation.com features zero young women. I know for a fact that there are lots of college-aged women out there starting businesses — let’s give them some attention too! If you are a female college student with an entrepreneurial venture, please let me know. I’d love to interview you about your experiences.

3. Last but not least, another story about Facebook:

If you don’t want to find a job or start your own business, you may be looking into graduate school. If so, according to BusinessWeek.com, you may soon get friended by a grad school admissions officer. “The Admissions Office Finds Facebook” details the ways in which grad schools are trying to attract candidates through social networking.

I met Sharon totally virtually, by communicating with each other on Twitter.* Sharon introduced me to the concept of “new urbanism,” a term that refers to the development or re-development of communities that are more pedestrian friendly, eco-friendly and business friendly. Read more about the principles and benefits of new urbanism.

On the podcast, Sharon and I talk about my experience growing up with an entrepreneurial mom, tips for mothers who want to return to their careers and suggestions for anyone who wants to work for an environmentally friendly company. The interview is about 20 minutes long. Hope you’ll listen in!

*If you’d like to follow me on Twitter, I’m @lindseypollak.

I am so excited to announce that I will be leading a brand new program for Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources and business education for women entrepreneurs.

The program is called Make Our Daughters a Million (MODM). It’s a day-long program designed for high school and college-aged young women to receive fun, inspiring career and entrepreneurial training.

The event takes place Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ, as part of the Make Mine a Million $ Business Tri-State regional event, featuring keynote speakers Nely Galan (from The Celebrity Apprentice) and Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark.

Registration for MODM is FREE. (Be sure to use the code MODMNJ when you register here.)

Why am I so excited? One of the most common refrains from women entrepreneurs is, “I wish I’d started my business sooner.” It’s time to give young women the tools and community they need to launch businesses whenever they’re ready.

Here is the official information about the event, including some background on why I am leading this program and feel so passionately about it (hint: check out my mom!):

Make Our Daughters a Million (MODM) is building upon the movement begun by Count Me In founder Nell Merlino, who created Take Our Daughters to Work Day in 1993, by providing skills, inspiration and support of the Make Mine a Million $ Business community that high-school and college-age women need to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship.

MODM participants will attend a large portion of the regular programming of Make Mine a Million $ Business, including inspiring keynote speeches, panels and pitches by women business owners. In the afternoon, daughters will move to another room for the two-hour Make Our Daughters a Million program. Click here for a full schedule of the day’s events.

Make Our Daughters a Million will be led by Lindsey Pollak, who began her entrepreneurial career at age 12 by attending women’s business events with her mom, Jane Pollak. Lindsey is now a writer, speaker and blogger who is passionate about helping young women succeed.

Learn more and register now — use the code MODMNJ for free registration!

I hope to see you in Newark on June 3rd!

Don’t miss the additional reports on young entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe. Really fascinating stuff.

No doubt these stories will inspire you to start working on your own venture. Check out the tipsheet of recommended resources for guidance.

We are so thrilled to announce that In Good Company WorkPlaces is launching this September! The goal of our WorkPlace is to create opportunities for women business owners to WORK, MEET & LEARN. Our brand new shiny workplace is located at 16 W. 23rd Street, just off of 5th Avenue in New York City. The space is sunny with beautiful wood floors and exposed brick.

There are several ways that you can be part of our community. View membership options here.

***SPECIAL OFFER: A discounted price on our annual Community Membership of $200 (regular price $300). Just mention the Lindsey Pollak Blog.***

IGC will honor this discount until October 31st . To learn more and sign up, please fill out an application online(http://www.ingoodcmpny.com/) or email members@ingoodcmpny.com.

Best of luck to Amy and Adelaide on the new venture!

Diane writes:

Sometimes good entrepreneurial advice comes in unexpected places. Lindsey Pollak’s Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to do before you join the real world is a guide for new graduates. But, here are some topics she covered that I thought were great for entrepreneurs of all ages…

Read the rest of Diane’s post here, and be sure to check out Diane’s other book reviews!