I’m of the opinion that many working stiffs day dream of someday working for themselves, but just don’t know how to fund even the smallest new venture. It’s a real concern, especially in this economy when banks are being tightfisted when it comes to lending.

Yesterday a reader named JT asked if I could offer some ideas about funding a small business. He wrote:

I’d start my own company, but with the recession and economic meltdown, I lost everything and my credit took a tremendous hit (face it, it just plain sucks). I cannot qualify for any loans to help get started and my family is in no position to help in that respect. Eve, maybe you could write about alternative sources of funding for someone who wants to start their own small company.

There are indeed sources that aren’t the regular lending cast of characters, and I’ve written about one good alternative, micro-lending, in the past. It may be a good option to check out for people like JT. (more…)

Is your boss watching what you wear?

Should you care?

Check out my MSNBC.com column on how Corporate America is ratcheting up the fashion police.

There’s a growing backlash against credit history background checks in the hiring process.

At the head of the movement is Jacqueline Berrien, the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to labor experts I’ve been talking to in the months since she got the top post at the government agency in April, she doesn’t much like credit checks and has the practice in her crosshairs.

Yesterday, at a hearing to discuss the practice, she made her opinion pretty clear:

“High unemployment has forced an increasing number of people to enter or re-enter the job market. As a result, an ever increasing number of job applicants and workers are being exposed to employment screening tools, such as credit checks, that could unfairly exclude them from job opportunities.”

While checking an applicant’s financial history was standard practice when it came to jobs in banking, for example, hiring managers in many industries now see credit checks as a way to find out more about the people they are considering hiring. The issue for many worker advocates is the practice hits minorities and the jobless more than others and that’s not fair. (more…)

Yesterday I got an interesting survey ranking the top banks people want to work for. And I was surprised to see troubled and corrupt Goldman Sachs was at the top of the list.

In July, the investment bank agreed to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit for $550 million in connection with fraud claims that Goldman backed a mortgage investment it knew was bad. And that lawsuit wasn’t even about the bigger, more unsavory revelations about Goldman that came out of the housing bust. In emails, employees at the firm bragged about making obscene profits out of the collapsing housing market.

The firm, and it’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein, were torn apart in the press for months, but it did little to tarnish the glow of Goldman, according to a poll by Vault.com.

The survey was actually conducted when all the Goldman hubbub was going on and it polled more than 1,300 banking professionals at all levels.

“Despite all the negative press Goldman Sachs received during the past year, including a highly-publicized SEC lawsuit, Goldman remains the most highly sought after banking firm, according to professionals in the industry,” said Derek Loosvelt, Vault finance editor. “Employees at the firm also noted that, the media attacks aside, Goldman is still a great place to work, and that’s reflected in its No. 1 ranking.”

I’ve written extensively about how a company’s tarnished reputation can impact employee morale and how being a crummy company, and getting intense public scorn, will cause workers to want to flee, or at least not work as hard. I wrote a story about this in May, even mentioning Goldman among other troubled firms such as BP and Toyota. So, I had to ask, WTF is up with this survey? (more…)