Hunting for jobs

Try www.indeed.com, a website that simplifies your job search by listing jobs from other websites like hotjobs.com, monster.com, dice.com, and others. Indeed.com also lists jobs from recruiter websites and company career pages.

For salary research, try www.salary.com. The salary information is localized so the results are comparable to your local market.

To check company culture, you'll have to ask around and do some research. Companies that have high turnover rates tend to raise red flags in my mind. Also, when you interview at the company or if you go to trade shows, check and see whether the employees look happy. Happy employees can mean good management and good company culture.

Don't forget to check blogs and other web postings for disgruntled employee complaints. For example, in the biotech industry, you can check the Biotech Rumor Mill. A large number of complaining employees might indicate bad company management and culture.

Seeking legal help

Thanks to Nolo, legal help is accessible, affordable, and understandable for U.S. consumers and small businesses. Nolo is an organization of lawyers who produce plain-English do-it-yourself legal guides, covering everything from tenant-landlord rights, how to buy a house, estate planning, marriage and divorce, how to start your own business, employee rights, patent rights, and much more. You can check out the high-level information on their website. For detailed information, you can purchase their books from their website or from Amazon.com.

Stashing your cash

Many banks and brokerage firms are now offering higher savings rates that we have not seen in a few years. For example, Emigrant Direct offers a rate of 5% APY for savings accounts. They do not require a minimum balance and do not charge fees. This is better than a CD because your money is not tied up for a set number of months. Schwab and eTrade offer good rates for three- to six-month CDs. I'm sure other institutions are offering very good rates these days. These are just some of the ones I'm aware of.

Note: My favorite blogger, 2Million, has some complaints about eTrade. You might want to check into that and other complaints before you put your money there.

Getting started

Welcome to Consumer Notes. I hope to share what I'm learning about personal finance, various consumer products, and other useful information. I will add links to other blogs that are additional sources of information.