Holiday Gifts for the Unemployed

A Way to Track All Those Blasted Job Leads

Remember how the last time you went job hunting you had a spreadsheet to track all the jobs you applied for, another to track all the contacts you tapped for job leads and a 6-inch stack of business cards you collected along the way?

This is the special kind of administrative hell your out-of-work chums now reside in, only with social networks like LinkedIn and the half-dozen job sites they're using thrown in. Enter JibberJobber, the Web tool that helps job seekers store all this info in one nice, neat spot, much like a spreadsheet on steroids.

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Your $10 a month gets your buddies the ability to store details on all the companies, contacts and job boards they want. If you're on a tighter budget, sign them up for (and show them how to use) a somewhat pared-down $5-per-month or free account.

A Way to Blow Off Steam

More than anything, your laid-off cronies need a way to vent that doesn't involve drunk dialing the board members of their former employers or slashing the tires of their ex-managers.

The stress release afforded by gag gifts like dart boards and voodoo dolls is far too fleeting. What your unemployed comrades need is to throw some punches and to work up a sweat in a kickboxing or Taekwondo class. At the very least, it gets them out of the house and out their bathrobe for a few hours.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Michelle Goodman is a freelance journalist, author and former cubicle dweller. Her books — "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube" and "My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire" (October 2008) -- offer an irreverent take on the traditional career guide. More tips on career change, flex work and the freelance life can be found on her blog, Anti9to5Guide.com.