Gift guides are taking over again — gift ideas for him, gift ideas for her, and suggestions for every ultra-specific person in between seem to be everywhere you look. But one thing that’s often left until the last minute? The beloved stocking stuffer.
Whether you’re gifting on a budget, have a spending limit within your gifting circle, or need a tiny-but-expensive gift to add as a surprise, small stocking stuffers are a necessity.
But let’s be clear: Just because stocking stuffers need to be small in size doesn’t mean they should be dinky and worthless. Fake poop or an emergency clown nose are technically cheap and technically fit in a stocking, but we doubt anyone was dying to open those. Sure, it’s funny for a minute and you’ll be the class clown for the day, but you know it’ll end up in their junk drawer. Your friends and family will appreciate a Bluetooth tracker or wine stain remover way more.
We’ve asked around and done some research to pull together 50 of the best *useful* stocking stuffers out there. Some will be limited by price, some will be pricey but small enough to fit in a stocking, and some will be a mixture of both — while all will be sure to please.

A mini Bluetooth speaker
For music obsessives, going even a few hours without their current favorite album is basically a layer of hell. They’ll love you forever if you gift them a portable Bluetooth speaker from Bose: This waterproof one works exceptionally well outdoors for camping or beach trips, cutting through external noise to give impressively booming bass for such a little speaker. With a 6-hour battery, 30-foot range, and Google Assistant, they won’t have to go anywhere without music.
How one ‘I lost my job’ LinkedIn status led to 20 interviews in 15 days
Being vulnerable isn’t our first instinct. We’re human after all, which means most of the time we’re shamelessly stubborn and independent in the hopes of appearing strong and put-together.
This is especially true when we’re in the throes of unemployment. The thing is—and you know this—when we let our pride go and admit we need help, we usually surprise ourselves with the outcome.
Take Farah Patel. Earlier this year, she was laid off from her sales position due to company downsizing. Because she’d relocated to San Diego for the role four months earlier, she found herself unemployed in a new city with no personal connections.
So, she turned to the one platform she knew would reach the people who mattered:
“I started using LinkedIn 10 years ago, when I first started as a recruiter in New York in 2007. I rarely posted updates on LinkedIn, but I had written a couple of articles and found it was a good way to keep in touch with business contacts. A few minutes after being laid off, I got into my car and posted a couple of sentences through the mobile app about my need for a new opportunity, and included my background.”
Image: Linkedin/screenshot
In response, she received an overwhelming number of comments. Some were from recruiters or hiring managers asking to meet with her, others were from contacts and friends recommending positions and tagging employers, and even more were personal stories and notes of encouragement from people who’d also been laid off in the past.
“I was surprised by how many people were genuinely supportive and willing to help a total stranger,” she told me when I reached out to learn more about her story. “I was so touched by the kindness of strangers that I responded to every single email I got.”
Farah received over 300 messages via LinkedIn and email, and at one point had 20 interviews over a period of just 15 days. For sales, she knew how important it was to work for a company and product she could stand behind, so one opportunity stuck out among the rest:
“I knew after my initial phone interview [with Vonage] that I wanted to keep moving forward in the interview process, and it only got better with each team member I spoke with. The possibilities of having a platform like [Vonage’s] are endless, and the culture was fresh and new and [full of] really smart, forward thinking people.”
Fast-forward through that interview process and she was able to post this:
Image: Linkedin/screenshot
There’s nothing wild and crazy about Farah’s job hunt—she didn’t craft an overly-designed cover letter, she wasn’t BFFs with the CEO, and she wasn’t breaking into a new field. What she did to land her job was simple: reach out to her network. And because of that, she’s now a Senior Cloud Solutions Sales Executive at Vonage.
If there’s anything you take away from this story, it’s that there’s nothingwrong with allowing yourself to be vulnerable and asking for help—in anything you do, but especially in your job search.
And it doesn’t have to be in a public place like LinkedIn. It can be as simple as reaching out to your network and telling them what’s going on. If one measly email can make your job search easier, why wouldn’t you send it?
- 5 Job Search Tips I’ve Learned from Helping Laid-Off Leaders Get Hired Again
- How to Fire Someone You Actually Care About
- 10 Cheap Classes That’ll Help You Break Into a Media, PR, or Marketing Role
- No, Really: It’s Never Too Early to Get Ready for Retirement
This article originally published at The Muse here
Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/09/22/lost-job-linkedin-status/
Banks have new sensors to track how often their bankers are at their desks
At his desk? Hmmm
Barclays has installed devices that track how often bankers are at their desks.
Managers were peppered with queries when investment bank staff in London discovered black boxes stuck to the underside of their desks in recent months, according to several Barclays employees who asked not to be identified speaking about their workplace. They turned out to be tracking devices called OccupEye, which use heat and motion sensors to record how long employees are spending at their posts.
There was a phased roll-out of the devices, and Barclays staff and the Unite union were notified before they were installed, although the bank did not send out a specific memo about them, according to spokesman Tom Hoskin. The Barclays employees said they dont remember being informed about the boxes, but spokespeople for the bank said there have been no official human-resources complaints.
The devices, made by Blackburn, U.K.-based Cad-Capture, are pitched as a way for companies to find out how they can reduce office space, providing a multicolored dashboard to show managers which workstations are unoccupied and analyze usage trends.
The sensors arent monitoring people or their productivity; they are assessing office space usage, the bank said in an emailed statement. This sort of analysis helps us to reduce costs, for example, managing energy consumption, or identifying opportunities to further adopt flexible work environments.
Shrinking Workplaces
Hot-desking may appeal as a cost-cutting strategy to Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, who has said there are tremendous savings to be made by reducing the banks real-estate footprint. In December, Barclays sublet office space in Londons Canary Wharf district to the government, saving about 35 million pounds ($45 million) a year.
Investment banks are increasingly using technology to keep tabs on how their staff spend their time. Barclays has introduced a computer system to track how much is earned from every client, allowing bosses to determine how much time traders, analysts and salespeople should spend with each customer.
We were given assurances that the boxes did not monitor individuals or their performance, Unite national officer Dominic Hook said in a statement. The union will keep a close eye on the situation to make sure that the sensors are never used to spy on staff or as a means to measure productivity.
Other Banks
Inquiries to ten other banks with operations in London found that Lloyds Banking Group Plc uses similar motion-tracking devices. OccupEye boxes have caused controversy elsewhere: the Daily Telegraph newspaper removed the devices the same day they installed them after complaints from staff and a journalists union about Big Brother-style surveillance.
Investment banks JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG do not currently use any kind of desk monitoring in London, according to people with knowledge of the banks practices, who asked not to be identified speaking about personnel matters. Spokespeople for the four firms declined to comment.
U.K. peers HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc also have no similar desk monitoring system, spokespeople for the lenders said. Standard Chartered Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lloyds, like Barclays, has been trimming its London space, aiming to save 100 million pounds a year. Its important to keep office and working space under regular review, Lloyds spokesman Ross Keany said in an email. While we use motion sensors in some of our sites, we also make sure to engage colleagues and seek their feedback on what would work best.
This article originally published at Bloomberg here
Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/08/18/barclays-bankers-sensors-desks/