FAP761: Jobcast - How to find a job quickly Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + The 91 day T-Bill last night closed at 0.59% - a record low + If you have variable rate federal student loans from before July 1, 2006, this is good news for you - if T-Bills stay this low, your interest rates on those loans when they reset in May will be the lowest student loan rates ever. + Chronicle: Several months into a credit crunch that has led at least 20 lenders to leave the guaranteed-loan program or suspend their lending operations, lawmakers have begun to respond with a sense of urgency—even as they seek to reassure students and parents that a crisis is unlikely and that federal student loans will still be available this fall. In the end, though, there may be little that Congress can do to shore up the federal student-loan system, beyond pressuring other government entities, like the Education and Treasury Departments, to take action. + But it was not until Pheaa, the largest of the state-based nonprofit loan agencies, announced that it was temporarily withdrawing from the federal student-loan market that Congress’s Democratic leaders really took notice. Like many lenders that have exited the federally guaranteed loan program, Pheaa had relied on the asset-backed securities market to finance its loans. That market has dried up in recent months, leaving some lenders without enough money to continue making student loans. + Scott Miller: “If the Fed can bail out Bear Stearns, they can bail out student loans.” + Greentree Gazette: Only about 10 percent of all outstanding student loans are funded by bank deposits. Ninety percent are funded by U.S. capital markets. Paul Wozniak Managing Director, UBS Financial Services Inc. + The current liquidity shortage in the U.S. capital markets means there are no buyers for our securities. As a result, most lenders are receiving a negative return on their funds. Engaging the ‘lender of last resort’ mechanism will not solve the problem. Chuck Sanders Chief Operating Officer, South Carolina Student Loan Corporation Scholarship Update + AirDrive If Only You’d Heard It Coming Scholarship + AirDrives wants to hear your story of a blunder, mishap or near miss that happened because you had on earphones that blocked out your surroundings. Maybe you were almost hit by a car while jogging, didn’t hear the fire alarm going off, missed an important call, didn’t hear your boss behind you in the office or some other crazy mishap…the more entertaining the better! Submit a photo, video or blog telling AirDrives your tale and you could win an iPod Touch, the latest version of the iPod AirDrives interactive stereo earphones, plus a $500 scholarship or cash! No purchase necessary. Open to anyone who is a resident of the 50 United States, District of Columbia or Canada (excluding Quebec), has access to the Internet, and is 13 or older at the time of entry. + May 3 deadline + Details at our free college scholarship search site JobCast + What do you do if you’re caught short by surprise, unexpectedly out of a job? + Financially, immediately make cutbacks to discretionary spending + It’s super important to conserve cash; if you have stuff like extras on your cable package or cell phone plan, trim that back. Trim back dining out and other discretionary extras like Starbucks, etc. + If your resume is not up to date, obviously, get it tuned up + I like services like LinkedIn which let me solicit recommendations for work I’ve done + Recommendations also provide lots of great backup data for a future employer to check out + If you are staying in the same vertical, the same industry, now’s the time to crack open your rolodex and see who you know, who you’ve met + If you haven’t spent a lot of time networking in your industry and you want to remain in it, try to identify influencers in your industry and reach out to them + Industry specific mailing lists - especially email lists - can be invaluable for this + If you don’t have one already, get a “professional” email address that’s separate from your personal one - use that for outreach mailings + Services like GMail limit you to 500 emails a day - so be prepared to be a little selective + If you’re focusing more on geography than vertical, be sure to look at the paid job boards - Monster, Craigslist, etc. + A company that pays for a job ad is serious about hiring, and they may have other jobs that they have not paid for but are still open + Use Google to find email addresses of prominent employees - Crayonville example Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you . Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. 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