Jobs & Career covers work and the money that comes with it — finding a job and getting hired, then the financial decisions that follow: reading a pay stub, understanding your benefits, comparing a salary to an hourly rate, knowing what taxes come out of your check, and knowing what to do if you lose your job. It also covers the job search itself — resumes, cover letters, interviews, and choosing a direction in the first place.
Whether you’re starting your first job, switching careers, or navigating a layoff, these guides explain your money in plain English.
Getting the Job
Before the paycheck comes the hiring process. These guides cover the resume, the cover letter, the search itself, and the interview — including what to ask back.
How to Write a Resume
What a resume is for, how applicant tracking systems read it, and the format and file type that actually get you through.
How to Write a Cover Letter
When a cover letter still matters, what to put in each paragraph, and the mistakes that get one skipped.
How to Start a Job Search
Where the openings actually are, how to organize applications, and how long a search realistically takes.
How to Prepare for a Job Interview
Research, practice, logistics, and what to bring — including how video interviews change the preparation.
Common Interview Questions
The questions that come up almost every time, how to structure an answer, and what to ask back.
The Thank-You Note After an Interview
Why it still moves the needle, when to send it, and what a good one says in four sentences.
Career Assessment Tests
What personality and aptitude tests actually measure, what they cannot tell you, and how to use the results.
Job Hunting After 50
Age discrimination is illegal and real. How to present decades of experience as an asset, not a liability.
Starting a Job
The first few weeks of a new job come with a stack of forms and decisions. Here’s what you need to know before you sign anything.
How to Read a Job Offer
Pay, benefits, PTO, retirement, and total compensation — what to check before you say yes.
What Are Employee Benefits?
Health insurance, 401(k), PTO, disability — how to understand and compare the full package.
First Job Money Checklist
W-4, direct deposit, benefits enrollment, and your first pay stub — a step-by-step setup guide.
Your Paycheck
Your paycheck is smaller than you expect. Here’s a clear explanation of exactly where the money goes.
How to Read a Pay Stub
A line-by-line guide to every section of your pay stub — gross pay, deductions, and net pay.
What Taxes Come Out of Your Paycheck?
Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and benefit deductions — explained simply.
Gross Pay vs. Net Pay
Why your take-home pay is always less than your salary, and how to budget from the right number.
What Is FICA on Your Paycheck?
Why Social Security and Medicare come out of every paycheck, and how much.
What Is Direct Deposit?
How to set it up, what info you need, and when your first paycheck will land.
What Is a W-2?
What every box on your W-2 means, and how it connects to your tax return.
Job Decisions
Comparing offers, choosing between salary and hourly, understanding W-2 vs. 1099 work, and asking for more money.
Hourly Pay vs. Salary
How to compare them fairly, including overtime, benefits, and predictability.
W-2 vs. 1099: What’s the Difference?
Employee vs. independent contractor — how taxes, benefits, and pay really differ.
How to Ask for a Raise
When to ask, how to make the case, and what to do if the answer is no.
Losing a Job
A job loss is stressful. These guides cover the financial steps to take first — benefits, unemployment, and stabilizing your money.
What to Do After Losing a Job
A step-by-step financial checklist — from filing for unemployment to cutting expenses and protecting benefits.
How Unemployment Benefits Work
Who qualifies, how much you receive, how to apply, and what to expect.
Save Money on a Tight Budget
Practical ways to cut expenses and stretch your money when income drops.
Choosing a Career Path
Picking a direction, changing direction, and figuring out what a field is actually like before you train for it.
How to Choose a Career
A practical way to narrow the field — interests, aptitude, pay, and what the day-to-day work is really like.
Finding Work You Actually Care About
Meaningful work is not the same as a passion project. How to find the overlap with paying the bills.
How to Find a Mentor
Who to ask, how to ask without being a burden, and what a mentoring relationship should look like.
Careers in Business and Management
Accounting, marketing, HR, operations, and management — what each does and what it takes to get in.
Careers With a Two-Year Degree
Skilled trades, health care, and technical fields that pay well without four years of tuition.
Careers in Journalism and Reporting
How the field actually works now, where the jobs are, and what the pay looks like.
Is Community College Worth It?
Cost per credit, transfer agreements, and when two years plus a transfer beats four years of tuition.
Career and Executive Coaching
What a coach does, what it costs, who it genuinely helps, and how to tell a good one from a bad one.
Succeeding at Work
The skills that decide how a job goes once you have it — working with a manager, communicating clearly, handling conflict, and knowing your rights.
Workplace Skills Employers Look For
The skills that show up in nearly every job posting — and how to build and demonstrate them.
How to Work With Your Boss
Managing up, getting clear expectations, and what to do when your manager is genuinely difficult.
Workplace Communication Skills
Email, meetings, and difficult conversations — how to be understood the first time.
How to Handle Conflict at Work
How to raise a problem directly, when to involve a manager or HR, and what to document.
Business Etiquette and Workplace Culture
The unwritten rules — and how to read a new workplace before you accidentally break one.
Time Management and Goal Setting
Prioritizing when everything is urgent, and setting goals your manager will actually credit you for.
Public Speaking and Presentations
How to build a presentation people follow, and how to manage nerves before you stand up.
How to Run a Business Meeting
Agendas, decisions, and follow-up — how to run a meeting that was worth everyone’s hour.
What to Do When You Hate Your Job
How to tell a fixable problem from a leave-now problem, and how to move without burning the bridge.
Adjusting to Change at Work
Reorganizations, new managers, and new systems — how to stay useful while the ground moves.
How to Plan Time Off Work
Requesting leave, coverage, and coming back to a manageable inbox rather than a crisis.
Sexual Harassment at Work
What the law covers, how to document it, where to report, and the EEOC filing deadlines that matter.
More Jobs & Career Guides
Six more guides covering what happens after you’re hired — from performance reviews and salary negotiation to understanding your time off, agreements you might sign, and how to leave professionally.
What Is a Performance Review?
A performance review is a structured conversation about your work. Learn what managers evaluate, how reviews connect to raises and promotions, and how to prepare and get the most out of yours.
How to Negotiate a Salary
Most employers expect negotiation. Learn how to research your market rate, what to say, how to handle pushback, and what else to negotiate beyond base salary.
What Are Paid Time Off and Sick Leave?
PTO is worth real money. Learn how vacation and sick leave accrue, rollover vs. use-it-or-lose-it policies, parental leave, and what happens to unused days when you leave.
What Is a Non-Compete Agreement?
A non-compete can limit your options after leaving a job. Learn what they cover, how enforceable they are by state, and what to do before signing one.
How to Write a Two-Week Notice
Leaving professionally protects your reputation and references. Learn what to include, what to leave out, how to deliver it, and what to expect after you give notice.
What Is a Background Check?
Most employers run one before finalizing a job offer. Learn what they look at, what they can’t look at, your rights under the FCRA, and how to prepare if something comes up.
Pay, Benefits & Retirement Terms
Vocabulary that shows up on a pay stub, an offer letter, or a benefits enrollment form.
What Is Overtime Pay?
Extra pay for hours beyond the standard workweek. Learn who qualifies, how the 1.5x rate works, and common exceptions.
What Is a Bonus?
Extra pay above your regular wages, often tied to performance or hitting goals. Learn the common types and how bonuses are taxed.
What Is Vesting?
How you gain full ownership of an employer 401(k) match or stock grant. Learn vesting schedules and what you lose by leaving early.
What Is a Stipend?
A fixed payment to support a person or cover expenses, not a wage for hours worked. Learn how stipends differ from a salary and whether they’re taxable.
What Is a Pay Period?
The recurring stretch of time your work is tracked for a single paycheck. Learn the common schedules and how they affect your budget.
What Is Base Salary?
Your fixed, guaranteed pay before bonuses, overtime, or benefits. Learn how it differs from total compensation.
What Is a Commission?
Pay based on the sales you make or results you produce. Learn common commission structures and how to budget on variable income.
What Is a Payroll Deduction?
Money taken out of your paycheck before you receive it. Learn the difference between mandatory and voluntary deductions.
What Is a Cost-of-Living Adjustment?
A pay or benefit increase meant to keep up with inflation. Learn how COLAs work and how they differ from a merit raise.
What Is a Living Wage?
The income needed to cover basic necessities where you live. Learn how it differs from the minimum wage.
How to Read Your W-2
Your W-2 reports annual wages and the taxes withheld from your paychecks. A box-by-box guide to reading it for tax season.
401(k) for Beginners
The most common employer retirement account. How it works, what a match is worth, and how to set your contribution.
IRA vs. 401(k): What’s the Difference?
Two tax-advantaged retirement accounts with different sponsors, contribution limits, and control. How to decide where to put your money.
Benefits & Retirement at Work
Benefits, retirement accounts, workplace leave, and the financial moves that matter most at work.
How to Read Your Employee Benefits Package
Health insurance, 401(k) match, PTO, FSA/HSA — your benefits package can be worth $10,000–$25,000 on top of your salary. How to read and compare it.
What Is a 401(k) Match and How Do You Get It?
Your employer adds money to your retirement account when you contribute. How matching works, what vesting means, and the minimum you need to contribute to get all of it.
What Is FMLA and When Can You Use It?
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. Who qualifies, what situations it covers, and how to request it.
How to Negotiate a Job Offer Beyond the Salary
Salary is one part of an offer. PTO, signing bonus, remote work, and review timelines are all negotiable — here’s how to approach the full package.
What to Know About Workplace Retirement Accounts
Not everyone has a 401(k). How 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, and pension plans work — and what to do when you change jobs.
How to Build an Emergency Fund on a Starting Salary
Start with $500, not six months. A realistic step-by-step approach to building your first financial cushion when money is tight.
Career Transitions & Workplace Money
What Is Workers’ Compensation?
Workers’ comp covers medical bills and lost wages if you’re hurt on the job. Who qualifies, what’s covered, and how to file a claim.
How to Use Your FSA Before It Expires
FSA money disappears at year-end if you don’t spend it. What qualifies, what doesn’t, and how to use every dollar before the deadline.
What Is a Severance Package?
What’s typically included, what you can negotiate, and what to do before you sign — including why you should never sign immediately.
How to Switch Jobs Without Losing Money
Vesting cliffs, health coverage gaps, 401(k) rollovers, and clawback clauses — the financial checklist for a job change that actually pays off.
Side Hustle Taxes: What You Owe
Side income is self-employment income — no withholding, plus 15.3% SE tax. How to estimate what you owe and make quarterly payments.
How to Earn More Money at Work
Ask clearly, build in-demand skills, and know when switching jobs beats waiting for a raise. A practical guide to growing your income.
Know Your Workplace Rights
Wage and hour basics, anti-discrimination law, how much workplace privacy you actually have, and the real rule on background and credit checks.
Advanced Pay, Benefits & Career Events
Gig income, equity compensation, layoff playbooks, and benefits most employees don’t fully use. Useful for anyone juggling W-2 work alongside side income, navigating stock-based pay (RSUs and ESPPs), starting a new job, or planning ahead for a layoff round.
Gig Economy Taxes
Self-employment tax, the mileage deduction, 1099-K vs 1099-NEC, and quarterly estimates for rideshare drivers, delivery couriers, and freelancers.
ESPPs Explained
How Employee Stock Purchase Plans work, what a “lookback” feature is worth, and why a quick-sale strategy usually beats holding employer stock.
RSUs: Restricted Stock Units
RSUs are taxed at vest as ordinary W-2 income — and default 22% withholding often falls short. The vest-tax-sale timeline, plus when to sell vs. hold.
Surviving a Layoff
The financial playbook before a possible layoff, the questions to ask in the meeting itself, and the moves that matter most in the first two weeks after.
First 401(k) Decisions
Enroll, capture the full match, choose traditional or Roth, set a contribution rate, and pick a sensible investment — usually a target-date fund.
Commuter Benefits (Pre-Tax)
Up to $325/month each for transit and parking, pre-tax. A 25-40% effective discount for a benefit most eligible workers never set up.
Latest Jobs & Career Articles
- Know Your Workplace RightsWage and hour basics, federal anti-discrimination protections, how much workplace privacy you actually have, and the real rule on employer background and credit checks.
- How to Run a Business Meeting Worth AttendingEight people for an hour is a full working day, and almost nobody accounts for meetings that way. How to decide whether to have one at all, and how to run it so it produces decisions instead of another meeting.
- Public Speaking and Presentations for WorkWhatever your job, at some point you have to stand up and talk. It is a learnable skill rather than a personality trait, and being unable to explain your work to a room is a common reason capable people get passed over.
- Time Management and Goal Setting at WorkTime management advice assumes you are disorganized. Often the real problem is more work than hours and no agreed way to decide what does not get done. The mechanics that help, plus the particular difficulty of working from home.
- Business Etiquette and Workplace CultureEvery workplace has a culture whether anyone planned one or not, and a set of manners nobody writes down and everybody notices. How to read a new culture, and the courtesies that shape how people judge you.
- How to Handle Conflict at WorkMost conflicts described as personality clashes are not. They are disagreements about facts, goals, method, or roles, and each has a different remedy. How to work out which one you have and have the conversation.
How to use this section
Jobs & Career focuses on the money side of work. If you’re new to working, start with First Job Money Checklist and How to Read a Job Offer. If you’re comparing jobs, see Hourly Pay vs. Salary and W-2 vs. 1099. If you lost a job, go straight to What to Do After Losing a Job.
For broader money skills, see Money Basics, Saving Money, and Taxes.