There's a new alert from the United States Postal Service about bogus job sites and e-mails offering jobs with their organization. This kind of thing happens every time we have a period of tougher unemployment. It even predates the Internet; back in 1991, people received faxes about supposed postal jobs. The Los Angeles Times reports that if you enter "US Postal Service now hiring" in Google, you will see endless listings of suspected postal job scams.

Not only is the USPS not hiring, but they have 160,000 too many employees. They hope to eliminate the excess with voluntary early retirements, not layoffs.

The same ploys are headed our way regarding federal employment, but there really are jobs coming in that arena. Visit USAjobs.gov for full details.

We will have higher unemployment probably into 2010, so you can expect more of the job offer scams in the future. If you feel like there are no job opportunities out there for you, realize that things are cyclical and those circumstances will change. Look for Clark's future discussion of how to seek employment when you need to get out of your native industry.

As Clark recently explained, workers are normally entitled to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. But a new federal law now extends that coverage through 39 weeks. If you've exhausted your 26 weeks and still haven't found work, contact your state's Department of Labor to apply for the extension. If you're already in the midst of your original 26-week benefits, you'll likely just be extended through 39 weeks.

Meanwhile, The Career Journal reports a number of people are going into altruistic jobs. Applications for the Peace Corps are up just under 20%. Teach for America applications are up 36%. Even the Jesuit Volunteer Corps is experiencing a surge in applicants.

People are using today's sluggish economy as an opportunity to take time out from their career and try something different. If you've hit a career roadblock, can you try moving forward in a new way?

Here's an odd one for the job seekers among you. There's a new website that pays you to go on interviews. So far only technology-geared companies are making use of NotchUp.com, which is in beta. Here's the scoop: It's very expensive for companies to use classifieds and online job sites to find new employees. NotchUp.com, however, is free to employers. They find it's cheaper to pay targeted candidates for their interview time than to go the traditional advertising route and have to sort through a ton of unqualified applicants. Will NotchUp.com be around a year from now? Who knows! But if you're seeking a new position, pursuing this opportunity can't hurt you. Meanwhile, Monster.com currently is combating negative publicity stemming from a recent security breach. So beware if you're contacted by an unsolicited "recruiter" seeking sensitive personal info. They may offer to run a background check with the promise of potential employment. But you may fall victim to ID theft if you let your guard down.

Many people want to do part-time work at home, especially when they have a newborn. But a lot of work-at-home offers are scams. One stat has it that for every legitimate offer you may see, you're going to come across 42 scams. So Clark wants you to be careful if you're looking to work at home. Be sure to avoid the ads in the back of women's magazines about envelope stuffing, doing medical office paperwork and the like. There is, however, one area that's proven legitimate over time: becoming a call center worker from your home. Employers like this option because they don't have to rent office space for you, so it costs them less than setting up a call center. Typical costs for a call-center employee could be $31, while it only costs a company $21 to set you up to do the same work at home. Bear in mind that these figures are not what you'll be earning; they represent what the company pays out of pocket to set you up as an independent contractor. Fortune magazine reports that there are now about 100,000 people involved in such work-at-home businesses. That number is expected to triple in the next 30 months. Be sure to check out Clark's list of legitimate vendors in this field. Not many people know it, but JetBlue was one of the pioneers in the home-based call center industry. Now companies like 1-800-Flowers and J. Crew are also getting in on the action.

The number of people getting degrees online is growing by leaps and bounds with about two-thirds of universities now offer some type of degree online. And statistics predict that one in 10 students will complete an online degree in the next few years. Online degrees are fine, but Clark wants you to know the risks. There are rogue outfits out there, claiming to offer degrees that are really just out to steal your money. They run the gamut from non-accredited schools that will earn you a useless diploma to criminal organizations that could be out to steal your identity. Congress legalized these “diploma mills” when it passed a provision allowing them to tap into the federal student loan program. So, you could enroll in what you think is a university and take classes online. When you try to transfer credits, they don’t count and you have lost your money. It was done entirely because of corruption in Washington involving for-profit schools. There are about a half a dozen accreditation bodies, so check with them before you enroll at a school. Just because a “school” can lend you money doesn’t mean they are accredited.

How often have you called in “sick” when really you weren’t ill at all? Well, it’s the time of year when it happens most often. Employees aren’t losing sleep over it though. Why? Because we feel entitled, according to the research group CCH. Only one in three days are people really sick when they bag out on work, the survey shows. That means that two out of three sick days the person isn’t sick at all. Clark has heard people use the term “mental health day.” But sick days are for when we’re sick. A number of employers have started offering generic “time off” instead specific sick days or vacation days. People can use the days for whatever they want.

More employers are doing background checks on applicants before hiring them. It’s a good thing, too, because 1 in 2 people lie about something on their resumes. According to Cox News Service, employers typically find something wrong with credit or some judgment against them. One in 20 have a criminal judgment against them. So, employers need to get ton the stick with this and start checking people out.

Clark has talked in the past about the mistreatment of school teachers. Teachers are usually offered very inferior retirement plans. And now there is a criminal element involved. Annuity salespeople are taking a massive chunk of teachers’ retirement savings and the teacher unions are letting it happen. Clark doesn’t understand why legislators allow teachers to have an inferior retirement plan to begin with. Now, like bees to honey, many offers available to teachers are corrupt, overpriced and unfair. Unfortunately, it’s up to teachers to provide for their own retirements. Teachers should go to tiaa-cref.org and set up a plan there. If you have your plan with another organization, transfer it to TIAA-CREF immediately. It’s safe and fair.

Clark gets lots of calls from people who would like to work from home because of their schedules and current situations. The problem is that people often get taken by work-at-home scams when they are in that situation. The good news is that the Federal Trade Commission has formed a multi-agency task force that plans to track down these criminal outfits and prosecute them. The FTC is working with the Justice Department and the Postal Service to go after 200 of these companies. The scams include envelope stuffing, refrigerator magnet sales, Web design, medical billing and vending machine businesses. Some people have been taken for $5,000 or more. But even if it’s a small amount – like $50 – don’t believe these scams. Any time someone asks for money up front to start a business, it’s a scam. Check out more at ftc.gov.

As you may know, there are fake universities operating around the U.S. that will issue you a phony degree if you send them enough money. A bachelor’s degree may cost you $200 or $300, while a doctoral degree costs up to $1,000. According to NBC, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General wanted to see how far he could take the hoax. So, he sent in his cat’s resume. That’s right, his cat Colby apparently earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Trinity Southern University. The school is supposedly in the Dallas suburb of Plano. Along with the diploma, Colby got a transcript of all the classes he supposedly took to receive his 3.8 GPA. You might find this funny. But if you’re an employer, it can be very damaging. People are “buying” degrees – even doctoral degrees – and passing them off as real because employers don’t check as intently as they should. Reference checking is more important than ever because it’s so easy to buy your education without doing any work.

If you’re a regular listener to the show, you know how important education is to Clark. He’s been a strong supporter of advanced degrees, including online degrees. But in the midst of it all, phony colleges have been popping up like bad weeds. There are hundreds of officials who used our tax dollars to purchase phony degrees that got them a higher salary. As a result, we the taxpayers got burned twice. One of the employees of the Homeland Security Department claimed she had a degree from Hamilton University in Wyoming, which doesn’t exist. It’s not just happening in the government. People in corporate America have bought phony degrees. You’ll get e-mails about it, and many people take advantage of it. If you’re an employer, check out your potential hires thoroughly. And, if you’re thinking of buying one of these degrees, you may want to think again. More and more companies are going after workers with phony degrees. You could lose your pride as well as your job.