So I’m watching “Tropic Thunder” last night and it got me thinking about what’s happening right now in workplaces across the country.

Tropic Thunder is a funny and twisted spoof on fake war with some of my favorite stars, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Ben Stiller. It depicts five prima donna Hollywood actors who are in a Vietnam war movie and throws them into a real life war, in this case a drug war.

Suddenly these bozos have to use their fake guns and grenades to help save each others lives, even though they really didn’t know each other that well and really didn’t like each other either.

Maybe some of you a scratching your heads thinking “Did Eve not get enough sleep last night?”

Well, maybe not — rarely get enough sleep these days. But I do have a point to make.

Lately I’ve been getting lots of emails from readers worried that they could be laid off at any moment. Most of you want to know how you can keep your head off the chopping block, and I’ve written a couple of MSNBC.com columns recently to address this issue. (Check this one and this one.)

But one thing I’ve noticed is that people are feeling more and more isolated. There is a hunker-down mentality out there and instead of turning to your colleagues for help, everyone is keeping to themselves and viewing coworkers almost as competition. Others don’t want to get too chummy right now because you never know who’ll be pink slipped next and then you’ll have to deal with the poor sap.

I’m hearing more and more stories of how workplaces are taking on this war-like atmosphere and everyone is afraid of getting shot down, aka fired.

Well, in war there will be casualties, but if you alienate those around you there’s a higher likelihood you’ll blow up your own career with a Oozie. You need your coworkers to help you in the trenches and you should be helping them as well.

“It’s about having camaraderie to get through the tough times,” says Wendy Kaufman, president of Balancing Life’s Issues Inc., a work-life balance training company.

Fear, she adds, is the greatest demotivater and the way you alleviate it is by talking about it. And what better person to talk to about it than someone who’s going through what you’re going through — your coworker.

And reaching out to those around you during tough times is the right thing to do, Kaufman maintains. “The people that do the right thing have less stress.”

Avoiding office or factory friendships because you look at colleagues as merely competition for your job is paranoid, she stresses. “If you’re proud of who we are, done the best you can do, you’re going to feel secure.”

Studies support the fact that a well-balanced life is one filled with friends, she adds, and what better place to build those friendship but at work.

I know, it’s getting hard now to have socialization opportunities with coworkers. Your company may have already canceled the holiday party and maybe team building sessions have also been dropped. Not to mention our own tight wallets, which probably means fewer lunches or martinis after work.

But Wendy advises workers still find ways to connect. It might be a good time to meet up with coworkers to talk about strategies just in case layoffs do come down. Bring your resume and give each other feed back. Maybe a cup of coffee or a potluck dinner is a more cost-effective get together.

“Misery loves company,” she says, but means that in the best of ways. “Together you can learn to laugh about it and say, ‘we don’t know what’s going to happen.’”

You also can’t diminish the importance of how friendships today can also turn into networking opportunities tomorrow. Your friends will remember you and help out when the ax falls and you should be prepared to reciprocate.

In Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr., who plays a convincing old black man, comes back to save Ben Stiller because that’s what friends do. It also made for a perfect “Platoon” spoof moment.

Stiller collapses, arms stretched out like Willem Defoe in Platoon, as shots ring out behind him and Downey Jr., reluctantly at first, comes to his rescue.

The not-fake, fake war movie ends, and life goes on for all the fake soldiers.

Now go out there and invite a buddy to a war strategy meeting and laugh a little. You could also rent Tropic Thunder.

Do white coats make you stupid?

When I go into my doctor’s office with an ailment, for some reason I lose almost all my reporter’s sense. I sit there like a lump on a log, listening to everything she says and rarely asking good probing questions. Typically when I return home I regret not having asked more about a medicine she prescribed or a plan for treatment.

I call this “I-put-my-life-in-your-hands” syndrome, and this very thing often happens to workers when they’re in a boss’ office, offered a job by a hiring manager, or sitting down with a human resource employee.

You guys go into stun mode and sometimes just go along with things these people say. Why? You want to keep your job, land a job, or get the severance you were promised. So you do things like sign forms put in front of you without really reading or thinking about the ramifications.

Stop! Take the mass of papers you’re given and read them. Please.

My column this week is on noncompete agreements. Workers are often asked to sign these and most employees blindly provide their John Hancock because they’re so happy to have been offered a gig. But folks, if you get laid off a non-compete agreement can tie your hands when it comes to working for a competitor in town or starting a similar business. The laws vary depending on where you live. Florida for example is tough on employees who sign these agreements, but California doesn’t enforce them. But, if you are in a state where these accords are upheld you’re going to be in a lot of trouble if you leave your job.

Here are some things to think about before you sign a noncompete:

It’s a good idea to contact your local labor department to find out if noncompete clauses are applicable in your state. If they are, Daniel Levine, an employment attorney with Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Gora in Boca Raton, Fla., advises employees to spend some time reading the document and maybe even have a lawyer take a look so you fully understand what you’re agreeing to.

If you decide not to sign a noncompete agreement, an employer can decide not to hire you. That is within their legal rights, he says.

If you’re laid off, he adds, you could try and negotiate a severance package so that you’re not in financial dire straits during the period you’re not allowed to compete.

You also have to take into consideration the scope of the agreement is. In many cases if a noncompete clause is too broad it won’t hold up in court, legal experts say.

And nothing precludes you from altering the noncompete agreement before you sign it. An employer may not accept it, but what do you have to lose?

Another form that workers are often asked to sign, and I’ve been getting emails about this more lately, is a “I-won’t-sue-you” document.

Here’s a letter I just got from Diane who lives in California:

I am being laid off at the end of this year. I was notified in June that I had 60 days (in compliance with the WARN Act) to work and that if I continued my employment for the next 60 days in good standing my company would reward me with an extra 30 days pay. I was later notified that my termination date had been extended until December 31, 2008, but the same conditions would apply. The extra 30 days pay is in addition to what I will have earned by working and my earned, but unused Paid Time Off (PTO). The extra 30 days pay comes with a string attached: the string is, that I must sign a ‘waiver’ that states I give up my right to sue my company and if I do not sign, they do not release the 30 days pay to me.

I am very suspicious of ‘waiving’ or giving up any of my rights. This feels like a couple of things: first, a bribe and second, that the company may be doing something illegal for which they could be sued if the waiver is not signed. However, without a job and the current economic climate, I do need the extra pay, so I do not feel that not signing is an option.

Is this legal in the state of California? Can I sign, noting ‘signed under duress’, and if so, are they then obligated to release my extra 30 days pay to me, since they do actually have my signature?

Again, do not rush to sign anything. I’m not big on giving up my rights to anything. But just asking workers to sign such a waiver doesn’t mean they are hiding skeletons in their business closet.

First off, the WARN Act has nothing to do with whether you sign a lawsuit waiver. The Act only applies to employers giving workers 60 day notice before they implement mass layoffs. You don’t have to sign a waiver in order to get the notice.

Before you sign anything it’s a good idea to get some legal help, says Barbara Poole, CEO of Employaid, an online resource for employees and HR executives.

She suggests you “contact an employee rights attorney who offers free consultation. Another resource are online legal services such as Law Guru to research and/or ask her question. Still another resource are the wonderful folks at Nolo, the peoples’ law resource for many years. As a California company, their concentration is heavily in CA employee rights.”

Having another person in the room as a witness such as another employee or an HR representative, she adds, when holding pay or layoff provision talks may also be an option.

But bottomline, many of these lawsuit-waiver forms are standards, she notes.

She is being asked to sign a General Release and Waiver Agreement which is standard practice when awarding any kind of extension of pay benefits (severance) subsequent to a layoff. It is a legal document put together by the company’s internal or external legal team. In essence it says, ‘in exchange for this additional payment…..we want you to waive and release any known or unknown causes of action, claims or liabilities of any kind……arising out of or related to your employment’. So, it’s purpose is to give her something (in this case, 30 days pay) in exchange for her promise not to file a law suit related to…discrimination, wrongful termination charges, mental anguish charges, violation of personnel policies/handbooks by the company (you name it).

If she doesn’t feel she has anything to take them to court on, then no point in not signing it. If she does feel she has any kind of a case, then she shouldn’t sign it. The important point here is company isn’t making her do anything–they are just extending additional pay for a waiver and it is legal as it is her choice. Signing ‘under duress won’t be acceptable and defeats whole purpose of company presenting the doc. Under law, she has a certain amount of time to sign and can have her attorney look at the doc which would help eliminate her suspicions.

So, it’s all about being cautious and thinking before you sign any employment form. You don’t want it coming back to haunt you, especially in this economy.

And by the way, I’m getting better at asking my doctor questions. Now I bring a list with me.

VS

Maybe if Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had been a former CEO of General Motors instead of a former CEO of financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs, this tale of two bailouts would be playing out differently.

There seems to be little sympathy in this country for the U.S. auto industry right now.

“Let the sick patient die already,” seems to be the refrain among politicians, pundits and economists. The big three automakers want bailout money just like their banking counterparts but the bar seems to have been set way higher for the Motor City than it was for Wall Street.

“They’re a dinosaur,” Richard Shelby, senator from Alabama, told Tom Brokaw on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, about why the auto industry should be allowed to fail. And an analysis in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday titled “Just Say No to Detroit” by renowned economist David Yermack suggests: “We would do better to set this money on fire rather than using it to keep these dying firms on life support.”

Strong words for an industry that has in many ways created the middle class in this country.

Clearly, the auto industry has made some bad mistakes in the past 20 years, most notably, not moving fast enough to compete with foreign auto makers who made better cars.

But the banking sector — that almost everyone acknowledges created its own disaster because of greed that led to the subprime mess the whole country is now suffering from — got better treatment when it put its hand out for billions of dollars in taxpayer money.

When the $700 billion bailout was proposed, few went after the fat paychecks or retirement plans of the mortgage brokers or financial traders who helped navigate the mess. And CEOs — well they had to keep the millions they already pocketed and get the money they were promised because they had contracts with the companies they ran.

On the flip side, it seems to be open season on the compensation of middle class auto workers, with many suggesting union contracts should be renogotiated and payments slashed for existing workers if a bailout were to happen.

To that, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, told a Detroit TV station over the weekend:

“Let’s go to AIG, Bear Stearns, active and retired workers: Did anybody go in and ask them to give back wages and benefit levels? What about the bond traders? Did anybody ask them? What about the cleaners in the building? Why would the UAW be any different?”

“We made an agreement, and we made major concessions,” he said. “So how can you blame the autoworkers?”

It’s an interesting question.

What do you all think? No matter where you stand on whether we should be bailing out corporations at all, do you think there is a double standard here?

Adding insult to injury, in his Wall Street Journal piece, Yermack — a finance professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business — actually suggests the government should just cut a $10,000 check to the workers instead of trying to bailout GM, Ford and Chrysler.

I’m not sure if Yermack has checked lately but veteran assembly line workers make about $1,200 a week and many own their own homes and are able to send their kids to college. While newer workers entering the industry will make less than that, there are few places in our economy where these people will be able to find equivalent paychecks.

Someone should inform Yermack that his generous $10,000 offer would mean little if these men and women lose their well-paying manufacturing jobs, jobs that are already few and far between in this country.

It blows my mind that no one thought it would be difficult for large financial institutions to quickly merge with other large financial institutions.

There’s been hardly any government oversight of the merger mania going on in banking. And the head honchos at these financial firms have pretty much thrown due diligence out the window in their scramble to gobble up as many ailing banks as possible.

Merger sense is in the toilet. What once took months, even years to figure out, now happens hastily, sometimes over a weekend. And few questions are asked about whether a merger is really a good idea.

Well, in most cases, mergers are not good ideas, and the people that get hurt are not just shareholders but employees as well.

The statistics on success rates for mergers are dismal.

Sales growth post merger actually declines for both entities, according to a Federal Trade Commission report, “The Effects of Mergers and Post-Merger Integration.” And one of the major reasons mergers sputter is a failure to successfully combine the two work groups.

Most top executives underestimate how difficult it will be to integrate two different workforce cultures. And that’s when they have time to think about a merger and its after effects.

Not surprisingly, an article in the Wall Street Journal today talks about the employee “Culture Clash” following the merger of “the Wal-Mart of banking” Bank of America and financial fancy pants Merrill Lynch.

The culture clash may be most pronounced with Merrill’s “thundering herd” of nearly 17,000 stockbrokers, a group with a fierce independent streak that isn’t afraid to gripe to extract better terms from an employer.

For the denizens of the 94-year-old Merrill Lynch, which long prided itself on its fleet of top-producing brokers, it has been hard stomaching the new edicts from the Charlotte, North Carolina, bank. BofA prides itself on a Main Street approach, having expanded via $US110 billion ($167 billion) worth of acquisitions over the past five years, making it the nation’s largest bank by assets.

Merrill staffers joke nervously that Bank of America employees are recognisable in the elevators by their less expensive attire and American-flag lapel pins.

Ouch!

Merrill employees may be looking down on their new owners, but the reality is most of these joksters have little choice right now but to stay with Bank of America. Jobs are few and far between on Wall Street. Some of the Merrill crew were offered bonuses and to date, according to the WSJ, about 90 percent of the brokers have signed up with Bank of America.

Now comes the hard part. How the heck will all these employees be able to play nice in the banking sandbox? And how will workers there ensure their careers will not sputter at the new combined entity, or keep from being pink-slipped?

For Merrill brokers, they are in a good position because the company obviously values them enough to offer bonuses in a crummy market. But that doesn’t mean any of you should be sitting on your hands. Most of the banking experts I’ve spoken with say Bank of America is just starting to look closely at all its new operations and will do what it can to create a lean, mean, streamlined banking machine. Right now you may be on the star list, but tomorrow you could end up on that other “S” list.

And for you Bank of America veterans, just being employed by the last company standing doesn’t guarantee your job, according to most post-merger statistics. While you have a better chance than your counterparts at the other firm, today’s economic environment means managers will be more ruthless when it comes to keeping those workers who have the most customers, are most productive, and bring in the most business.

So, here are some things to keep in mind that I’ve boiled down from a recent MSNBC column I wrote on surviving and thriving a merger:

* The management at the acquiring firm often relies on the leaders of major divisions at the company they’ve bought to tell them who should stay and who should go. If you’re the top banana at a profitable division within a company, often the new managers will want to keep things intact at that unit, even if they do impose their own manager to oversee the operation. For everyone else, it’s time to do more than just your job.

* Paula Kosin, career consultant for Career Vision, advises employees to “put your CEO hat on” and figure out what the top leaders would want from a business standpoint. “They want to make the merger a success and they are not looking to rape and pillage and destroy things. They want to make sure what is going well in the acquired company continues, but they are also looking at what they can do as far as creating efficiencies.”

* Go to every meeting you’re invited to. You need to start connecting with the new management and get your name out there so you can snag a seat at the integration table.

* You can even make calls or send e-mails to key officials when you have an appropriate opening so you can get to know them — and they can get to know you. Talk about what your unit is doing and outline your responsibilities. And offer suggestions on how to make things better, or how to compliment an existing project, or how to grow a division, experts say. But do this all with real information about the new company and its business strategies and goals.

It may also be a good time to start building your personal brand as well. While I don’t think everyone should have their own blog or be endlessly updating their Facebook page, there are some positions that can benefit from doing more to build your brand in your industry. Some customers will definitely feel more confident if their money gal or guy writes an authoritative blog, or has a well-done LinkedIn page with hundreds of contacts and recommendations.

I’m always a big fan of mentoring folks. Almost every CEO I’ve interviewed had a mentor at some point in their careers; and following a merger, the insights of someone with a bigger title than you will only help.

And keep the doom and gloom, and snide remarks at home. Everyone probably bitched about the merger right after it happened and each side probably thinks they’re better than the other, but now is the time to start concentrating on work and not how much things blow. One high level executive I talked to recently told me when she was deciding who to keep and who to fire, a positive attitude was always one of the top traits she looked for in an employee.

I know, it sucks that things are moving so quickly today that you might get lost in the shuffle even though you’re one of the best at your job. But this is the reality we all have to live in. Let’s stop licking our wounds.

In closing, I want to offer all you corner-office dudes some merger words of wisdom about why you should all think long and hard about culture integration.

A while ago I did a story for Workforce Management magazine about the US Airways and America West merger, and a merger expert I talked to then summed it up well.

Mitchell Marks, president of Joining Force.org and author “Joining Forces: Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers and Acquisitions” said under managing the melding of cultures can lead to discontent among the employees, a loss of productivity and retention issues as employees wonder what the future holds. “In mergers,” he added, “culture is a lot like breathing. You don’t have to think about breathing until something threatens your ability to breath. That’s the same thing with cultures in a merger.”

“At least I can get a job at McDonald’s.” That’s something I’ve often said when I’ve gotten mad at editors I’ve worked for and pondered quitting, or I had a feeling my job was going to be downsized.

It’s not that I wanted to work at Mickey D’s — not that there’s anything wrong with that — but having this fast-food backup plan helped quell my anxiety that I’d end up in financial ruin if I lost my job.

Well, the McDonald’s backup plan isn’t so secure anymore.

Retail jobs, everything from fast food joints to departments stores, are not as plentiful as they once were thanks to the economy.

Every day we hear about yet another retailer cutting back or filing for bankruptcy. Circuit City and Linen N Things are two recent examples. Total employment in retail has actually dropped about 2 percent this year, according to the Department of Labor. And that’s bad news for so many of you who see retail as a great temporary, or long-term alternative to an office gig that doesn’t work out, or you just can land.

And with the expected-to-be dismal holiday shopping season, don’t expect a flood of merchants begging workers to do some ho, ho, hoing at stores this season. Seriously folks, even Santa’s hours at the mall are being cut back.

I had a feeling there would be a retail crunch when I recently noticed tons of people filling out applications at my local Target. I blogged about that recently. And it’s not just kids looking for part time work. Many displaced corporate workers are looking for ways to make ends meet until the economy turns around.

While most career writers spend their time writing about strategies for getting ahead in Corporate America, I think it’s a good time to offer some words of wisdom on landing, what is becoming, a coveted retail job.

Here’s some advice from retail guru, SnagAJob.com’s Shawn Boyer:

* Bring a positive attitude – both to the interview and the job itself. SnagAJob.com has done several studies of hourly hiring managers, and they have said the No. 1 thing they look for in an applicant is a positive attitude.
* Apply online and in person. Get in contact with hiring managers every way possible, applying online and by walking into a store or location.
* Have a flexible schedule. Emphasize exactly when you can work, including nights, weekends or early mornings. You want to demonstrate exactly when you are available to work, being more flexible than the applicant walking in the door behind you.
* Be prepared to talk about why you want the job and why you’re a good candidate. You may enter a store or location thinking that you’re only going to fill out an application, but it is possible that you may have an on-the-spot interview with a manager.
* If you’ve had a part-time job in the last couple of years and you left in good standing, go back to that location and employer and see if they’re hiring. You will likely have a leg up on other applicants because you can get up to speed quickly and you have proven yourself.
* Apply where you are a consumer. If you are knowledgeable about a product and have a genuine enthusiasm for it, hiring managers will see that that energy will be shared with shoppers.

“This is one of those years when there are many more applicants than there are seasonal openings.,” says Randall Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of career development website Quintessential Careers.

Here’s some of his advice:

Because the competition will be so much tougher, it’s even more important for job-seekers to customize their resumes and applications to show fit with the retailers — they can do this by going to the company’s Website and using some of the same lingo that company uses to describe itself. For example, if the company talk about making every shopping experience a thrill for consumers, the job-seeker can talk about his/her philosophy (or past experience) making customers thrilled with their purchases.

Job-seekers are also going to need to spend more time and effort to land one of these jobs. So, besides sharpening their resumes, they should also prepare for interviews in which they can demonstrate their fit.

Finally, job-seekers should use their network to see if they have any connections to retailers — because a recommendation from inside the company is going to give a job-seeker an edge over someone unknown.

It’s a good idea to call the retail store before you head in. Try to get the store manager on the phone and tell him or her you’re interested in a job. They will probably tell you to come in and fill out an application but the advance call may have them looking for you if you say you’ll be there at a specific time.

So do you really need a resume to land a job at McDonald’s? Probably not if you’re just out of school but for mid-level career folks it can only help.

I figured I’d talk to a former McDonald’s executive to find out what it really takes to start selling Big Macs. (My favorite junk food, by the way.)

“You have to differentiate yourself from the run of the mill,” says Paul Facella, CEO of consulting firm Inside Management and author of “Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s.”

Facella started out at McDonald’s at age 16 as a “crew member,” aka counter guy, and ended up a regional vice president.

Here’s his take on what it takes to get a job at the burger mecca:

Every retailer wants the very best person in customer service. They want people who have a passion for the job and a passion for the consumer.

And first impressions are the most important so you have to be dressed well and neatly. If someone comes in sloppy they are going to go to the bottom of the pack.

I always looked form someone who could look me straight in the eye and had a nice manner about them. Someone you’d want to sit across form and have a casual conversation.
If you come in with an attitude you’re not going to get the job.

At end of day, employers wants an employee to be engaged in work, passionate about what they do, come in on time, do their work, and ask for more things to do. They want someone who stands out. That’s who they want on their team.

He also suggests that workers who are interested in advancement bring up the topic of upward mobility. But don’t let that be the first thing out of your mouth if you’re applying for an entry level job, he stresses. “In the course of a half an hour interview you can casually mention that you’re interested in finding out about chances for promotions from within. That signals to me that a person may aspire to do more. That’s a good thing,” he maintains.

Yes, there are opportunities to climb the ladder of success in retail.

Facella pointed out that 40 percent of the mid management and above, and 30 percent of the owner operators at McDonald’s started as crew members.

“So many people enter retail, like myself, not thinking it can be a career,” he says, “then suddenly you think, ‘I like this place.’”

It amazes me that people still think you can upload your resume to a jobs site and instantly land a job.

You have the credentials, the experience, so why the heck wouldn’t the Internet gods just bestow you with a coveted job after your resume hits cyber space?

It’s not a magic resume folks.

My column this week on MSNBC.com looks at how you can go about getting a job working for Barack Obama at any level.

I talked about how important it was to figure out who you know that’s connected to the Obama campaign. While Obama’s team has already set up a website where you can post your resume, Change.gov, and there are other sites that will also post government jobs, including USAJOBS, I stressed that job seekers would have to pull out all the networking stops if they were going to realistically have a chance at working for the President elect because a flood of applicants are expected to pour in.

Maybe you volunteered for the President elect in your home town, or know someone who knows someone on Obama’s transition team. It’s a smart move to reach out to these people and get your resume in the right hands.

Makes sense no? Not to everyone.

I was shocked to see some of the responses to the piece on Newsvine.

The comments went something like this:

WOW Obama really does bring change… want a government job… what contacts or “good ‘ole boys” do you know? Oh no one… send a resume but, by the way, make sure it is longer than necessary so already chosen team can spend extra time reading it and point to your explicit experience just in case you fail, their asses will be covered.

YEP the Obama administration will sure bring a change to the white house and politics! I can see that.

and

Are you the best qualified person for that position??? To bad you are not getting that job. Sorry you do not know the “right people” maybe if you hob nobbed in the right (or is that left) circles you could be interviewed. What you were to busy working.. Well then if you are making at least 250,000 a year you will help us anyway, even if you do not want to. Thanks for your upcoming financial support. Your a friend of Bill Ayers?? In that case we should definitely be able to interview you at least. Thanks for applying. Obama administration a somewhat equal employment opportunity.

I know there’s a tinge of political anger out there, especially if you voted for the other guy. (I’ve already gotten a few “Eve-you’re-Godless” emails.) But the cold reality is, especially in this tough economy, you need every advantage you can get when applying for jobs. The Obama administration will be no different.

And today it’s easier than ever to figure out if you’re connected to someone thanks to the Internet.

Pick any one of Obama’s transition team and research their background by Googling them, going to Facebook or LinkedIn. You can figure out where they went to school, and you can also see all of their connections and their connections’ connections.

There was a story in my local Delaware newspaper a week ago about some bigwig in the Obama campaign that grew up in the tiny state. I’m sure there are a lot of Delawareans who went to high school with the guy. Look him up. Why not?

You need a leg up people in almost every job you apply for today.

Is it fair? I can see why some of you would think it sucks. Our work, our merit, our education, our experience should speak for itself. That would be nice. And sometimes that happens when your resume lands in just the right hands and it ends up on just the right desk.

But let’s be realistic. Hundreds, thousands and even millions of resumes are now electronically heading for automatically-monitored jobs sites throughout Corporate America and the government, and your resume is just another needle in this cyber haystack. If no one sees it, it’s like you were never there.

There is a harsh reality for veterans when they leave the military and go out into the civilian workforce — many employers don’t value military service.

It’s just the way it is folks. I’ve heard this from hiring managers. It’s not that they’re prejudice against veterans it’s just that many are dumb about what you guys do beyond marching and carrying guns.

A survey released yesterday by CareerBuilder.com found that one in five vets think their biggest hurdle to landing a job “is employers’ inability to understand how military skills can fulfill qualifications for civilian positions.”

So who do you think is going to educate these folks about what veterans have done? I’ve written about the topic and always tout the experience to HR managers, but I’m not there with you guys and gals at the interview table, or when you’re crafting your cover letter.

That means veterans have to step up to the plate and show everybody how great they are, and how their experience would fit a particular job.

I know, this is easier said than done, but just practicing a mock interview with a spouse, or buddy will help you immensely. One veteran I interviewed a while back told me he took a basic job coaching class that included interview skills training and it paid off with a good job. You can hire someone to do this or you can connect with a host of veterans assistance agencies in the U.S. and get help for free.

There are government run sites to help ex military personnel find jobs and there are also independent sites for networking and job postings. Here are a few to check out: www.military.com; www.weservetoether.com; www.togetherweserved.com; www.m4l.com; vetfriends.com; gijobs.net. Also use any help the government provides. Most bases offer transition services for ex G.I.s, so go back to Uncle Sam and find out what you’re eligible for.

While I stress the importance of showing a hiring manager the merits of your service, that doesn’t mean you should show up for an interview with your uniform on and saluting everyone in sight.

You have to learn how to strike a balance.

Here are some general tips that may help:

* Get rid of the military jargon on your resume and try to keep it to one page long. Don’t include every job you held before the military and every post you had while serving. Pick out four or five key jobs and leave the rest out. When detailing the jobs you held in the military try to use words a civilian can understand. Just saying you were a Chief Petty Officer is going to go right over the head of most folks. Detail what that job included, administrative duties, project management, etc.

* Try to keep the “Yes Sirs” at bay during the interview. You’re just a regular guy or gal now and hiring managers are going to want to know you can make the transition from war to the workplace easily.

* Use your contacts in the military until you’ve exhausted them. Many of your fellow soldiers or commanders may now be in the civilian workforce and there’s nothing wrong with sending them an email or calling them if they work for a company you’d like to consider, or could just act as mentors as you navigate the job-seeking process.

* You have to make sure the hiring manager understands the skills you can bring to the job. Talk about a specific assignment that shows how you were able to map out a plan and then execute it. Keep code names for military operations, or model numbers of helicopters or tanks to yourself.

* Ex-military folks may have to pay some dues before they find just the right job. Many men and women go into service without getting a college degree and without substantial job experience, so just like everyone else, you may have to make some job concessions. That means possibly taking a short-term internship to learn the ropes. Also consider making a deal with an employer who is interested in you but just isn’t quite sure you’ll be able to make the transition into the regular workforce, advises Brian Drum, a consultant who also writes a monthly career column for military.com. Offer to do the job for a few months with no strings attached, and put it in writing if the hiring manager is more comfortable with that, he adds.

* He also suggests going through a temporary staffing agency. Many companies often hire temps as full time employee, he adds, when they see an individual can get the job done.

It’s all about staying positive and realizing that you face a tough battle ahead finding a job in this economy. But it will happen, I promise. Don’t give up and lock up negativity in your foot locker for good.

And for all of you hiring managers, bosses and employees out there in the civilian work world, it’s time to give the men and women who fought for this country a break and realize they have just as much to bring to the table as their non-military counterparts.

My husband may not appreciate this post, but I have strong feelings for another man.

I was watching Barack Obama’s first press conference where he was flanked by a medley of economic experts but because there were twenty people standing up on the stage, the experts on the far sides were not in view on television.

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal had a panoramic photograph of the conference including all the economic brains and I shouted out in glee when I saw Robert Reich, the diminutive, former labor secretary under the Clinton administration.

Remember him? He was the guy who implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act.

I’m not one of those women who has crushes on movie stars. Brad Pitt doesn’t do much for me, but Reich, man, he’s the cat’s pajamas.

Reich has long known that the American economy was heading for a big brick wall. He has been warning all of us for years that the gap between rich and poor, consumerism, and deregulation were a toxic brew that would come back to haunt us.

In March of 2007, he told us to watch out from government officials powwowing with Wall Street about giving the securities sector even more freedom to do what they want:

Top Bushies, including Cheney and Treasury Secretary Paulson, are talking with Wall Street honchos this week about how to make life easier for the securities industry by getting rid of some post-Enron regulations and shielding the industry from liability from shareholder lawsuits. The thinly-veiled rationale for this mutual kiss-up is that American securities markets are supposedly becoming less competitive in world markets.

In an NPR commentary from November 2005, he predicted an impending end to the debt-laden American spending party:

American families have exhausted all the coping mechanisms we’ve been using for years to spend more.

The first coping mechanism, which began decades ago when mens’ hourly wages first began dropping, was for spouses to go into paid work. But now that most adult women are on payrolls – including even the mothers of toddlers – this strategy has generated just about all the cash it can.

How else to pay for more spending? The second coping mechanism has been to work longer hours. This past year, the typical working American put in two full weeks more at the office or factory than was the case two decades ago. Americans are now working harder than even the notoriously industrious Japanese. But we’ve reached the limit. I mean, we have to sleep.

Which brings us to the third coping mechanism – taking equity out of our homes. Last year alone, Americans pulled out $600 billion through refinancing. But this cash machine is also about depleted because housing values have leveled off and mortgage rates are rising.

Where else to find the money? The final coping mechanism is to go deeper into debt. For five years now, American households have spent more money than they’ve earned – pushing their debt to a record high. But we’ve hit the wall here, too, folks. Interest payments on all that debt are exploding.

On top of that, there are tens of millions of baby boomers within sight of retirement. They have to start saving, or else their twilight years will be spent in darkness.

Put it all together and you see why we’re running on empty. We’re busted. We’ve exhausted all the coping mechanisms for spending more. Our buying binge has to come to an end.

His book, “Supercapitalism,” makes a case for how our desire for cheap stuff has put us at odds with what most of us needed for financial viability — jobs in America that paid a fair wage.

And his blog has been a great place to get a reality check on economic news in this country.

Today’s post is titled, “The Mini Depression and the Maximum-Strength Remedy,” examines what needs to be done to help us out of this economic mess:

The hawks will argue that the nation can’t afford giant deficits, especially when baby boomers are only a few years away from retiring and claiming Social Security and Medicare.

They’re wrong. Government spending that puts people back to work and invests in the future productivity of the nation is exactly what the economy needs right now. Deficit numbers themselves have no significance. The pertinent issue is how much underutilized capacity exists in the economy. When there’s lots of idle capacity, deficit spending is entirely appropriate, as John Maynard Keynes taught us. Moving the economy to fuller capacity will of itself shrink future deficits.

Now you see why I’m ga-ga over this man, and why I was excited to see he has Obama’s ear.

If only I could get Reich to whisper a few economic sweet nothings into my ear. (Only kidding Andy.)

Barack Obama is speaking to the nation for the first time as President elect, saying the U.S. faces “the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime.”

Behind him are his Transition Economic Advisory Board.

The team are an eclectic mix: Lawrence Summers, who is rumored to become Treasury secretary, a post he held in the Clinton administration; Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, battered auto industry hub; the CEOs of Time Warner, Google, Xerox, Hyatt Hotels, among others; and the former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Some of his opening speech:

“This morning, we woke to more sobering news about the state of our economy. The 240,000 jobs lost in October marks the 10th consecutive month that our economy has shed jobs. In total, we’ve lost nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, and more than 10 million Americans are now unemployed. Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes.

First of all, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provide relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear.

A particularly urgent priority is a further extension of unemployment insurance benefits for workers who cannot find work in the increasingly weak economy.

A fiscal stimulus plan that will jump-start economic growth is long overdue. I’ve talked about it throughout this — the last few months of the campaign. We should get it done.”

I predict, a new word will enter our lexicon thanks to the recent election finger pointing by Republicans — Palin-ed.

When something goes wrong at work and every one blames you even though you had little to do with the problem, your friends will now say, “Oh man, you’ve been Palined.”

The scapegoating of Sarah Palin is like a runaway bus right now. Even Fox News, her one-time biggest defender, is throwing her under that bus.

“She didn’t know Africa was a continent,” the reporter says about what McCain staffers secretly told him during the campaign. “She was hard to control emotionally.”

Oh, I’ve never heard that said about a woman before.

Come on folks. Again people are looking to pass blame and what better way than using Sarah Palin as a big fat scapegoat.

I’m surprised no one has blamed her for Wall Street’s implosion yet.

No matter where you stand on the presidential campaign. No matter how much you may dislike Palin, scapegoating is a dumb tactic that hurts everyone involved.

I got an email from a reader that says she was the victim of scapegoating at work and its wreaking havoc.

I have been in the same job for 6 years now. Our office had a manager who discriminated and had “favorites”. If a person was a “favorite”, all they had to do was complain or backstab an unpopular employee, and the “favorite’s” career would advance. It was really bad and resulted in certain “un-favorite” employees to become the office scapegoats. Due to EEO complaints, this manager has decided to retire, yet, her “favorites” continue to backstab and sabotage the same employees whom have been unwilling scapegoats for years now. I just want a fresh start with the new manager, but don’t see how this is possible with so much going on behind my back. Help! I’m so afraid that no matter how hard I work, I will always be seen as a target. Any advise?

Emails like this are not unusual lately. With the economy sputtering there’s a lot of hell going on in the nation’s workplace and with it the urge to scapegoat. Someone’s got to be to blame no? And it’s not me.

“If scapegoating is happening more now than before, the most likely explanation is probably the simple fact that companies are running into more problems now than they were before,” says Paul Harvey, assistant professor in the management department, Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. “We’re pretty obsessed with assigning blame in this culture. Whenever something goes wrong, like a major hurricane or bridge collapse, the first order of business is usually pointing fingers. In the workplace, there are usually more challenges and failures during tough economic times and because of self-serving attributional biases, it’s common to want to make sure the blame is on someone else.”

He calls it an “ego defense mechanism” and it “helps people feel good about themselves, but can have obvious consequences for whoever is being scapegoated.”

So, he adds, “this can help explain why people are being unfairly blamed for problems they didn’t cause (I think your Sarah Palin example is a perfect illustration of this). You have to look at the other side of the equation too though. People who feel they are being scapegoated may also be trying to deflect blame for problems they did in fact help create through the same self-serving bias.”

This self-serving bias can spell doom for some workers.

Harvey offers some advise for victims of scapegoating at work:

Once you are being scapegoated it can be hard to fix the situation. The goal is to adjust the attributions others are making for the problem by explaining the real cause of the problem and how it was either not in your ability to stop it or not in your area of responsibility. The problem is that once you have been blamed for a problem, these explanations often come across as desperate excuses or (ironically) scapegoating attempts. It can also be a bit awkward to correct the person scapegoating you if it’s your boss. When that happens people usually have to stand their ground and hope that over time the facts help to vindicate them. The better approach is to avoid being scapegoated in the first place by proactively making sure everyone knows your responsibilities and structural limitations beforehand when you see a problem developing. For example, FEMA probably could have avoided some criticism if, before hurricane Katrina, they had said “we’re going to do our best once this thing hits, but we’ve got a city that technically should already be underwater and there’s only so much we can do.”

And some advice for people that perpetuate scapegoating in the workplace:

Scapegoating falls under a category of leadership behaviors called abusive supervision, which includes things like spreading rumors about employees, insulting them, withholding information, pretty much everything short of actual physical abuse. There have been a number of recent studies on abusive supervision, including one I published in Leadership Quarterly that linked behaviors such as scapegoating to a number of undesirable outcomes. These include emotional stress and strain for employees, reduced performance levels, and a higher likelihood of employees quitting. So, managers (and employees) risk harming the entire organization when they scapegoat others. Not the best way to protect your ego!

Yes, egos were indeed bruised during this election. But that’s no reason to keep hitting the Sarah Palin punching bag. I know, there’s more juicy dirt expected to come out about her divaness — expensive clothing, prima donna behavior, etc.

Doesn’t this make some of you a bit uncomfortable. I can’t help but think Palin is getting a bit of a bum rap because she’s a woman. I haven’t heard anyone talk about the emotional state or wardrobe of the guys involved in the presidential campaign.

After Obama was elected my mom called me and we discussed how great it was that America finally elected a black president. But at the end of the conversation my mother pondered if a woman would ever be president in her lifetime. She said, half jokingly: “I guess American’s hate women more than they hate blacks.”