Mr. Miller, 23, is the founder of Heritage Lawn Mowing, a company that rents out sheep — yes, sheep — as a landscaping aid. For a small fee, Mr. Miller, whose official job title is “shepherd,” brings his ovine squad to the yards of area homeowners, where the sheep spend anywhere from three hours to several days grazing on grass, weeds and dandelions. The results, he said, are a win-win: the sheep eat free, saving him hundreds of dollars a month in food costs, and his clients get a freshly cut lawn, with none of the carbon emissions of a conventional gas-powered mower. (There are, of course, other emissions, which Mr. Miller said make for “all-natural fertilizer.”)…As an uncertain economy and a stagnant hiring climate continue to freeze people out of the traditional job market, a number of entrepreneurs like Mr. Miller, many of them in their 20s and 30s, are heading back to the land, starting small agricultural businesses. And in the process, they are discovering that modern homesteading offers more rewarding work, and possibly more security, than entering the white-collar fray. [NYT]
jobs
Mayor Bloomberg warned Friday there would be riots in the streets if Washington doesn’t get serious about generating jobs. “We have a lot of kids graduating college, can’t find jobs,” Bloomberg said on his weekly WOR radio show. “That’s what happened in Cairo. That’s what happened in Madrid. You don’t want those kinds of riots here.” Bloomberg’s unusually alarmist pronouncement came as President Obama has been pressuring reluctant Republicans to pass his proposed job creation plan. “The damage to a generation that can’t find jobs will go on for many, many years,” the normally-measured mayor said. Bloomberg gave Obama kudos for coming up with a jobs plan. “At least he’s got some ideas on the table, whether you like those or not,” he said. “Now everybody’s got to sit down and say we’re actually gonna do something and you have to do something on both the revenue and the expense side.” [NYDN]
As you may have heard, President Obama will unveil a jobs package tonight that expected total more than $300 billion. Some would say that’s a nice hefty number, one that indicates Obama is serious about getting the economy back on track. Others beg to differ. For example, Bill Gross. The PIMCO adviser is not impressed. “I don’t think $300 billion does it,” Gross said today in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Tom Keene. “I would like to see something bold.” Unfortunately, Gross didn’t detail what he would consider bold, leaving Obama to play mind reader. Continue reading »
“Philosophy, sociology and liberal arts agendas will no longer suffice.” Continue reading »
A message from the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Continue reading »
Have you been dying to work under Meredith Whitney but hadn’t heard of any openings at the firm? Now’s your chance! As you may have heard, Whitney is starting her own ratings agency and has applied to become a Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organization (NRSRO. Fortune‘s Katie Benner has some of the details, including a presentation of the biz submitted to the SEC. Apparently there are many opportunities for candidates– MW expects that she’ll hire 200 people in the first year and grow to 650 by year three. On dollars and cents, Whitney says she’ll pay analysts $225,000 a year (to top Moody’s $212,200). Inquire today. Continue reading »
“I will paraphrase the email with a Lil Wayne lyric which is ‘throw dirt on me and grow a wildflower’ but it also said some stuff about Credit Default Swaps”
By Bess LevinThis is a rambling, anonymous, first-person account of one guy talking his way out of a job at Morgan Stanley. It starts with him finding some MS chick’s cell in a cab, reading the text messages between her and her married boss (with whom she was having an affair), returning the phone, asking to send a resume, interviewing, not being patient enough to wait and hear he got the job, cursing the adulteress out over email and being told to seek professional help. It’s oddly hypnotic. If you’ve ever been in a similar situation, do share. [PRR]
“There are obviously very severe economic and social consequences from this level of unemployment,” Bernanke said at an event hosted by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. “So getting new jobs, getting unemployment down is of an incredible importance.” [Reuters]
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MBAs
MBA Candidates Still Into Wall Street, Have Plan Of Attack For Dealing With Haters
By Bess Levin
We get it, you have a cell phone.
Gang, I want you to meet Ben Bloomfield, a first-year at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Why is Ben so excited to be holding a phone to his face that presumably has no one on the other line? I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that Ben’s pretending his new colleague, Brian Moynihan, is on the other line, talkin’ deal-making, acquisitions, and lunch with Angelo Mozilo, cause Mr. Bloomfield? Just scored himself a summer internship at Bank of America. This is apparently not an isolated incident: Kwame Yankson, who last year had to settle working for an education nonprofit organization but come this June will be able to proudly tell people he’s a member of the Wells Fargo team. And they’re not alone.
With banks climbing out of the recession, more business students across the country are finding banking jobs and internships, enrolling in finance clubs and going on class trips to Wall Street, universities say. “The banks this year kept saying, ‘It’s a good year,’ ‘We just approved a lot of hiring,’ ‘The market is clearing up,’ ” Mr. Yankson said. “It was a completely different experience.”
Exciting! But how do these MBA’ers deal with their peasant friends who just don’t get it? Continue reading »
The gang.
A few months ago there was a tear-jerker of a story about unemployed Americans having difficulty finding new jobs. It highlighted two in particular, who’d been out of work for over a year, due to the shuttering of their company. Their names were Mark and Andy Madoff and they were having a real tough go of it lately. Nobody wanted to hire them out of fear they’d stink up the place with the smell of fish. And, you know, the taint of their former employer. It was depressing as shit, and Mark had taken to crying during interviews. Recently, Andy, along with his girlfriend Catherine Hooper, started a ‘disaster recovery firm,’ the goal of which is to help people get their affairs in order in the event of a crisis, be it natural or the kind that comes at the hands of a small dick, like losing everything to a Ponzi scheme (just a for instance!). Then there was Mark, who had all but given up asking people to keep him in mind for jobs on a trading desk or in trading technology. By this point even the fish were gently suggesting he pack it in– but the little Madoff that could would not be defeated. And finally, his persistence has been rewarded! Continue reading »
On the popularity Undercover Boss, wherein CEO’s of various companies “slip into the ranks” of their company alongside entry level employees to get a little taste of how the other half of their firm lives, Vikram Pandit has been nominated to appear on an episode of the show. Obviously, seeing Pandito pose as a first year analyst would be phenomenal, and a thrill for the bank’s junior rainmakers. There would be night-before jitters, of course, and it’d be hard to watch Uncle Vik sweat as he gets reamed out for screwing up his first pitch book, but clearly that’d be part of the fun. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that VP will accept the offer, unless he’s directed to do so by Prince Alwaleed as part the new mandate for 2010 (Operation Make This Thing Work). Rest assured we’re working on it, but in the event Vikram chooses to remain ensconced in his zen garden-less office, who would you like to see cast on the show? Lloyd Blankfein rank and filing with the mini-Squid? Stevie mixing it up with the back office and later, forced to make an important decision? Lenny Dykstra reporting for duty as a junior trader at Nails Investment Corp? Ken? Jamie? Cliff? And what do you want them to have to do once they’re when they’re down there? No wrong answers on this one.
