• Automatically uploads photos and videos in the background using Wi-Fi or data plan
• 500MB of free space on first photo uploaded automatically
• Upload files of any size (no more 180 MB limit!)
• Support for resuming file uploads when there are network issues
• Various performance improvements & bug fixes

According to a Dropbox post on their forum site,

“During this beta period, we are also offering additional free space to test automatic uploading of photos and videos. For every 500MB of photos and videos automatically uploaded, you’ll receive another 500MB space bonus, up to 5GB total (including the initial 500MB space).”

[Update: this space is not separate from 5GB given for uploading on our desktop clients. Uploading from either desktop clients or Android app will count towards the same 5GB free space.] If you haven’t tried this, the APK can be downloaded directly from here: http://db.tt/4ZL2gCdt or you can also scan this QR code: Personally, I have already received 500MB. And I look forward to the 5GB additional space.

In a freelancer’s perspective, information on trends such as; what are the most sought after skills, highest number of hires, highest paid jobs, the most number of opportunities can help us better position ourselves in landing a job. If we are educated about competition in a certain niche, we can avoid ending up charging too low just because competition is stiff. A Joblance article also described how you can benefit from trends by helping you shift to more profitable fields.

Even if you are not so sound technically or have no technical background, you can learn new technology with ease. For example, there is widespread demand for programmers with knowledge of Dreamweaver, WordPress, Joomla, PHP, etc. Now, you can take up an online course to learn these, or you can also surf YouTube and search for the related topic. You will find tens of hundreds of videos that will teach you the course for free.

If you are a provider in Elance, there is a also a very informative data that was posted regarding the second quarter Online Employment Report. Some of the highlights of the report include the following information:

Also, one of the most important data included in the report is the top 100 skills which outlines the most in-demand skills in Elance. Check out the list below and see if your current skills orientation is among the top 100.

Conclusion:

Trend information is important and is a vital data in decision making, whether you are a job seeker or an entrepreneur. Trends help us understand the overall picture of our employment sector and it provides us a direction, both for the current and future outlook. How we are going to act on this information will be the turning point of how well we can cope up with what the trend dictates. On the other hand, trends are not the all in all of our decision. It is also imperative, that while we consider the trends in applying for jobs, we must not forget to consider that job satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment in what we do is still of utmost importance. Trends should not be the sole basis of our decisions but should give us a sense of balance from a personal and general standpoint.

Image: Top 100 Skills in Elance

Whether you agree or not with the above statement by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), let’s face it, finding a job is not as easy as you think it is. And getting an education doesn’t even guarantee a job for you in the future. It’s really difficult to pinpoint the main culprit in this case because there is a myriad of reasons and a million other factors why people are unemployed or have a hard time getting employed. But there are three things that I have noted about this problem. First thing that I have noted; skills, then education, then business needs. But the main gist boils down to: “Are your skills and education fit for the current business need?” As simple as that.

The fact is, even if you have finished a degree with flying colors if I’m in need of a Chef for my food business, your IT education and the skill you have acquired is futile (at least for my need). It’s difficult to put a square peg in a round hole. That’s what it is. Will you then have to get another education, just to suit my needs? I don’t think that would be wise. First of all, it will take you time. By the time you get the skill that I need, I may no longer require what you can offer me.

This is becoming a common problem in our society these days. You can see this scenario in almost every college or university. You will find students enrolled in courses that are the current need of most companies. Unfortunately, before they complete their 4 or 5 year study, it would already be filled and thus, are no longer in demand like when they first heard about it. 

Supply and Demand

The labor market as with any other market that we know abides by the basic principle of supply and demand. If the supply is low and demand is high, price goes up and if the demand is low but supply is high, the price goes down. The case of nursing graduates in the Philippines is a concrete example of how the law supply and demand affects our employment climate. Many student nurses have actually focused their goals on works abroad because there is an increasing need for medical workers (demand). Thus many have looked into it as an opportunity. And every year we have been producing thousands upon thousands of nurses. But the country’s demand could not measure up to the supply. There’s just too many of them. Even if there is a good demand outside, it’s still an uphill climb to many graduates considering the financial aspect of applying abroad.

Melting Pots

The BPO industry have become a melting pot to many skills and talents that was not absorbed by the current businesses that is more specific with its talent requirement. Thus, when you work in a call center you’ll be surprised to see how diverse the pool of people are in terms of the college degrees that they have attained. You will find graduates of education course, medical related courses and other unusual degrees  that you expect to find in a specific niche. It’s not bad to see them there of course. It’s good, because at least, they are being productive. But it is also disturbing because they are not where they are supposed to be. It’s good to have a hand, but if your hand is on your forehead, then that’s a different story. The same thing goes with our labor market. It is disturbing, in a sense that people who should be teaching are not in the schools (unless they are in the training departments), and nurses who should be taking care of patients are up on their toes with headsets.

These people are working in the call center, not because they lack the education. You can see them in these areas because that is where opportunities are available. Who could have known or even imagined that they will be working as call center agents? I bet not one of them thought about that when they first enrolled for college. The only thing that I can surmise is that, they are all excited in being a nurse because in 4 or 5 years time, they are hopeful that they will be getting their dream job. They will be landing on high paying job.

Government Solution
A recent labor market study by the Department of Labor and Employment called Project JobsFit: The DOLE 2020 Vision aims to solve the problem of skills mismatch and prepare the labor force to job opportunities that are expected to have a good demand for manpower.

The result of the study highlights the in-demand and hard-to-fill occupations of the key industries that are projected to be the main source of employment growth in the country for the next ten years. This study will impact the incoming college students as this will help them choose the right course that will give them a greater chance of landing a job once they graduate.

If you are about to make the big decision that will impact your future career and employability, why not spend a few minutes and see whether some of these suggested fields will fit you.

Get a glimpse of their findings and weigh out if the agency really pinned down the 108 in-demand and hard to fill occupations. You can also download the complete list here:
Image credit: Bureau of Local Employment
Thumbnail: GenXFinance

For one, there is now a slide gallery of recent posts that were made, a bar with tabs where you can give a thumbs up, comment, like, pass or flag for a post. Plus a Hootsuite/Facebook like status update console where you can attach a link and provide more detail to your post.

This may not be a major update but I think LinkedIn is slowly evolving and adapting to the style of social media giant Facebook. And I won’t be surprise if one day, one of them will get swallowed by the other. Whether it’s Facebook taking over LinkedIn, that’s something worth tuning in.

So how does it affect LinkedIn members experience?

The new design definitely has it’s great advantages. It makes it a lot easier to interact with fellow group members. And creating a discussion is no longer a hide and seek.

Now it’s your turn. Tell us what you think about this new update. Would you prefer the new interface, or would you opt to stick with the old one? How will it affect your activity in LinkedIn?

Here’s what LinkedIn members has to say:

Ashish Mishra • Hi,

Thats a good question and here is the answer as per my experience-
Its hard to find out work on a regular basis
Less value of your work
and extreme competition

Dmytro Kharchenko • It’s harder to find quality personel at fair price at the time when you need it. FL forces you to be fast and keep yourself constantly open to changes.

Donna Bentley • My biggest problem has been my most recent client. I had to quit the job because my client was so hostile. My client had spent over $1,000 on pages to a website, landing page, and sales page. She decided to scrap everything and do a complete new money making campaign with all new designs and felt I owed the new work to her for free because she had already spent money on pages she would not use. It was tense to say the least. I am glad I quit but I did not do so without leaving a complete website for my client. I did the entire site because of my professional attitude not because I felt I owed it to her. We did agree on a small flat rate for the new site and I was paid 1/2 and needed to get out of the project. I can live without the other 1/2 payment knowing that I did finish what I started. I did not leave the new site undone. I provided a complete site for the client.

George Beltzhoover • One of the most difficult parts of freelancing is finding steady work from clients who seem to only use internet-based freelance job boards to find the lowest price.

Patrick McCarthy • “…She decided to scrap everything…” When I worked in the corporate world I was amazed by how many projects were completed, delivered, accepted, paid for and never implemented. Management could have saved a lot of development money by knowing what they were buying BEFORE they bought it.

Mehdi Boutiti • Hello, I’m a new Freelancer from Tunisia. I think that the biggest problem between freelancers and clients is the language; some freelancers who have very good skills from other countries can find many obstacles when communicating with clients. What do you think?

Myra Rose Ilisan • Biggest challenge…oooh wow, does impossible deadlines count?
And somehow that feeling that you are like walking on eggshells, probably wondering when the project ends that would mean you need to look for another job assignment.

George Bang • I have used freelancers from Chandigarh India for three years now. I have found that the easiest way to communicate is via instant messenger. I have some colleagues with whom I have never had a voice to voice. I find that there is much benefit in having an exact transcript, as there can be no doubt as to what has been discussed and agreed upon.
As for you freelancers: I have a piece of advice for you: learn to use the word NO! A good client will be grateful when you tell him that what he is asking for is impossible, impractical or just plain stupid. I think if may be a cultural thing, but I found many freelancers in India could not bring themselves to utter the word no, and it caused much wasted time and resources. A good client LIKES to hear the word no, and if he is NOT a good client, you don’t need him.

Donna Bentley • This type of job advertising:

Web 2.0 Web and graphic DESIGNER needed
$3-5/Hr need a freelancer
all work will be monitored by teamviewer, remote screen sharing, REQUIRED

SKILLS NEEDED SLice pages ,and HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS
I NEED A PERSON THAT CAN DO GRAPHICS, ICONS , VECTOR , TEXTURES
$3-5 an hour?? This is a US based company…exploiting the designers outside the US who are skilled and good at what they do. Reality this company would never find a person in the US to do this work for $3-5/hr. That is not even Fed. min. wage.

Daniel DiRico • I’m sure the quality of a $3-5 / hour job isn’t that great. As I’m on both ends of oDesk (buyer and a freelancer) it does seem that the buyer end has the greater advantage since there is just so much talent available out there now.

As the economy improves, this will change. So hang in there.

George Beltzhoover • The amount of money some buyers are willing to pay is really insulting! I don’t know how a skilled person can work for that small amount of money. Would the buyer work for that amount? I think not!

Vincent McCune • I have been trying to use ODesk but I have not had much success. I charge between $75 and $95 all day long here in Tampa, Florida. I often do find rediculous prices from buyers and it seems that this is more and more a site for US buyers to find offshore vendors. I mean no offense to anyone but I find it hard to believe any North American consultants do work for $5 – $10 per hour.

Another issue I have is the large number of jobs that seem to be “Fishing Expeditions” I have applied for around 12 jobs so far and I believe 8 of them were cancelled with no work being done.

Kartik Goyal • Clients keep changes/adding their requirements, they normally says they will come to know more about things when the site will get developed. Somewhere, to an extent, I am agree with them, as they are developing their website first time. But they normally does not ready to pay for that extra work

All of what they’ve mentioned are true and there are more to that. Do you have other challenges you want to add? Feel free to share your thoughts. We’d like to hear about them and learn how you have overcome them.