Google is a Fortune top 5 company to work for, and by many accounts, is a company that will put your career on the fast path to success.

Heather Huhman Has 5 tips for Video Resumes: Heather thinks (and I agree) that we'll be seeing more and more of interviews on video over the web. Heather's advice for these include knowing when to smile, making sure your appearance is as proper as it would be in a face-to-face, and keeping the scene behind you clean and professional.

The Wall Street Journal Looks at the Hot Cities for the Young to Find Work: "Big cities dominate our panelists' forecasts. Where trendy smaller cities might have captivated youth in the past, today's recession-scarred young people are more pragmatic, placing "greater emphasis on where high-quality, high-paying jobs are created," says Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the nonprofit Milken Institute. Northeastern and West Coast cities are ascendant, eclipsing former Sunbelt favorites such as Atlanta." Click through for some city names.

TechCrunch Wants to Turn Universities in Businesses: "Researchers in university labs find vast numbers of breakthroughs which can better the world. Most of their work never sees the light of day. Hardly 0.1% of all funded basic science research results in a commercial venture. To boost our economy, we need to bridge this gap and improve the university research commercialization system." The author has some interesting suggestions for bridging that gap.

Forbes Advises on How to Capitalize Your Interest in the Arts: "Joseph Du Pont, the head of the career development office at Brandeis University, suggests you think in terms of two "buckets" of possible employment. One is all the possible careers associated with your own particular field of fine art. For an actor, that could mean working for a casting director or as a booking agent. For a visual artist, there is design work. All manner of artists also teach their skills."

Blue Skys Resume Blog Explains Why She Advocates Professional Resume Writers: Some people give professional resume writers a bad rap. Louise Fletcher doesn't get it. "I have 15 years of senior-level HR experience, so I’ve hired at all levels of companies across a number of industries. And I’ve always been good at taking a massive amount of information and seeing clear themes. That combination of skills makes me exceptionally good at what I do, and over the years I have helped thousands of people to find better jobs and make more money than they would have been able to do without me."

On most days we do our best at the ThinkTalk Career Blog to bring you advice on how to best further career. We provide interviews with successful individuals, career advisers, resume advice, cover letter advice and countless other ways to improve your odds in the search for a new job. And that's all great.

But some days - especially Friday's - we like to have a little more fun. On days like today, we want to show you what not to do when searching for that perfect job. And if that comes at the expense of those who have failed before us, well then, that's just the price that must be paid.

The brilliant and insightful Seth Godin recently linked to the hilarious hidden camera job interview blog How To Nail an Interview. The website installed a camera in an HR employee's office to capture some offending interviewees violating some basic rules of interview etiquette ... all for your benefit and enjoyment. Let's go to the video tape.

I love the interviewer's timing. Waiting a beat before incredulously asking "You stole office chairs?" Check out the website for the rest of the rules on how to properly conduct yourself and prepare for that big interview (and thanks for the enlightenment, Mr. Godin.)

For more advice on how TO score the big gig, we present The Links ...

George's Employment Blawg Offers: Advice on answering the always difficult interview questions "what are your weaknesses." Take my advice, the correct answer to this question is never "shots" (even if it's true!)

Brazen Careerist TalentEgg Incubator (what?) Suggests: some do's and do not's for the post-graduate internship. Maybe a job just isn't in the cards after graduation. A good way to keep getting experience is to take an internship. They are out there, you may just have to do some digging. This is a good list of things to do and things to avoid in your search.

Maggie Mistal: Provides some insight into how to score a job with the government. Maggie's Q & A with Stewart Liff, author of Managing Your Government Career, is a great way to learn about what to expect and how to set yourself apart when applying for government gigs.

Mashable Has: The 10 social networking sites that college students should be using. There are some great sites in here, beyond just the run of the mill Facebook or LinkedIn. My favorite is Cramster. "The Q&A board is pretty extensive, and is full of experts willing to help with any questions you might have 24/7. Users can also gain “karma points” by answering questions, which can be redeemed for prizes."

Sometimes your plans just don't work out. In the event of untimely termination, cutbacks or if things just don't work out it can help to have a back up plan. For instance, when ThinkTalk fires me, I plan to live off my baseball card collection and my assortment of rare, used novelty toys.

But some people crave a more "stable" backup plan. The Wall Street Journal catches up with Andrea and Ben Guajardo, Hot Dog Vendors.

Ms. Guajardo is a grant administrator for a health-care system. Her husband, Ben, is a pipeline operator. Theirs is the first hot-dog stand in Bandera, pop. 957, that anybody here can remember.

"It's a backup plan," says Ms. Guajardo, a mother of four. "No one knows what's going to happen with the economy, and I don't want to have to scrounge for a minimum-wage job."

Apparently these things can be fairly lucrative (well, lucrative is relative. I guess what I mean is, it's lucrative compared to sitting at home playing Fallout 3.) A cart runs around $2,000 new and a good earner can make around $400 per day.

This reminds me of that scene from the Graduate. So, if anyone comes up to you after graduation and asks you what you're going to do for your future just say one word: Hot Dogs.

If Hot Dogs aren't your cup of tea, maybe The Links will be the icing on your cake ... (great. Now I'm hungry.)

Gradspot Profiles: Financial industry expats in Hong Kong. Times are tough in financial center all over the world, not just New York. This Gradspot post has a Q & A with some recent grads and how they are faring over seas.

College Finance Offers: Advice on how to nail an interview. This post reminds us that interviewing is a tough process, but if you are prepared and are yourself you should do fine. Also, wearing a nice suit helps.

Forbes Finds: Government jobs that are hiring now. "The good news is that you don't have to be a policy wonk to be hired by the government. Many of these jobs are similar to those you'd find at any company. For instance, this week's jobs run the gamut from auditor to program analyst to safety and occupational health specialist." Check 'em out.

The Thin Pink Line Reminds Us: April is Financial Literacy Month. This makes sense, because every April, when my taxes are due, I am reminded of just how financially illiterate I am. Maybe this year will be different. Wait. What? Taxes are due in how many days? Uhhh, I gotta go ...

"NYC Hot Dog Cart" photo courtesy of rollingrck via Flickr Creative Commons.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Evolution argues that over time species continue to develop and change to best fit their habitat. Aside from life forms, this theory has proven to be true in society as well. Specifically businesses have found that to be successful they must adapt and change or face extinction.

Western Union came to prominence as a communications giant, operating the largest system of telegraphs in the United States. As the telephone rose to prominence and the telegraph diminished, Western Union changed and took on new areas of expertise. Throughout it's history Western Union has offered the first consumer charge card and introduced the first commercial satellite. Today there are over 350,000 Western Union agencies in over 240 countries specializing largely as a financial services company. This is an example of how a company has adapted to fit a changing environment over time.

I bring this up because it seems that today we may be seeing the evolution of the higher education system.

NASA, Google, and some of the foremost authorities in science and technology have teamed up to create a new school, dubbed Singularity University, that is looking to solve “humanity’s grand challenges”. The university is named after the idea of the singularity - an extremely rapid period of technological progress. And damn if it doesn’t sound like the coolest school ever.

This is an extraordinarily innovative idea. The school will is the brain child of Peter Diamandis - who is chairman of the X-Prize Foundation - and futurist Ray Kurzweil, whose book The Singularity is Near gave Diamandis the idea. Singularity University will begin classes this June with an initial enrollment of 30 students . . . with hopes to expand to about 100 soon. The program will offer a nine-week semester with subjects that are "a menu of the disciplines whose exponential advancement Kurzweil suggests will overturn the world as we know it - nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, energy, and more."

The idea of Singularity University is to assemble graduate students and those already working in various scientific fields, with the belief that advances come more easily when experts in different fields work together. A graduate student in nanotechnology, for instance, would receive expert briefings in future studies and forecasting; in biotechnology; in finance and entrepreneurship; in networks and computer systems—in 10 disciplines overall. Each of the students would then be looking from different angles at the same set of problems. "The magic of breakthroughs occurs when you have nontraditional thinking around a problem that is stuck," Diamandis said. "It's when a mathematician works on a biological problem, for example."

The development of this project is Diamandis answer to questions he has about traditional academic institutions slow-moving response to fast-changing technological developments. "But Mr. Diamandis said that he does not see his Singularity University as competing with traditional colleges. 'We’re supplementing those, not replacing them,' he said."

Let me just say that I have always been open to innovation and change. Just because one system has been effective for so long, that does not mean that there is no room for adjustment. The important thing to remember is that this is simply an alternative offer to education. The current education system isn't going anywhere. Personally, I cannot see how anything but good could come out of this experiment in the evolution of higher learning.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Mentors are important. This is non-negotiable. If you are a college student and you want a leg up on your competition for job placement, there are few resources as valuable as having a mentor.

What we advocate at ThinkTalk, perhaps more than any other idea, is that advice from proven professionals who have succeeded at a high level is indispensable. The type of advice and feedback you can receive from a mentor can be the deciding factor in how you build your resume, format your cover letter and operate in an interview.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that finding a mentor in this economy might not be so easy, but it is still possible - with some hard work.

[F]inding and developing a relationship with a career sage takes more legwork than it did during boom times. During economic upswings, managers feel positive and less hassled about taking on a mentee. You need to be more thoughtful and strategic when times are tough. First, take a personal inventory of your mentoring goals. What would you like to gain? Do you want to learn more about project management? Are you interested in learning about the people side of the business? Do you want help navigating corporate politics? Make a prioritized list of your goals.

The article's author, Toddi Gutner, also points to some resources for helping out your mentor search. These include looking within your current employer (if you currently have a job or internship), as 70% of Fortune 500 companies offer mentor programs. Also recognize that mentoring "is a two-way street." This means that you need to recognize the limitations and pressures that your mentor is under in this climate and attempt to offer something back. Play to your strengths, and consider "teaching a mentor how to use Twitter, setting up a page on Facebook or helping a manager figure out how to get the most out of a LinkedIn page."

For your mentor search, I would also add talking to your professors or college career center. Often, schools will have an alumni mentor program that you can utilize to connect with former students who had similar majors or are currently working in similar fields. However you go about finding a mentor, I cannot stress enough how important it is to actually do it. In this job market, a mentor could make all the difference.

Enough jibba jabba, on to The Links . . .

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Finding a job is hard work. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be a career choice called "finding people jobs." Isn't that what recruiters, career professionals, and others in this industry do? There is an entire career field built around helping people find a career field. I think I just blew my mind.