The gang from “Beverly Hills 90210” chilled at The Peach Pit when the going got tough. The ladies from “The Hills” crash at mommy and daddy’s million dollar vacation pads when money can’t buy happiness. And when President Bush gets bummed over his approval rating, he can golf, fish and play the Risk board game deep in the heart of his Crawford, Texas ranch.

Everyone needs somewhere to hang out and relax. To reflect and move forward. And now America’s hourly workers and job seekers have Off the Clock. Think of it as yoga for your paycheck. Sure, the beanbag chairs and the old school “Donkey Kong” arcade game haven’t arrived yet, but please make yourself comfortable.

Within the walls of Off the Clock – SnagAJob.com’s new community/hangout for hourly workers and job seekers – you’ll find a ton of resources for both your working life, as well as the hours before and after you punch the clock: Connect to our MySpace profile and accelerate your job search. Get personal finance tips, hourly job news and plenty of punch lines in SnagABlog.com, our job search advice blog. And even send us your job stories, read others and win prizes in our new Share & Win! section.

Have fun. Tell your friends. And be sure to check back often. Off the Clock is a work in progress and we’ll be adding cool new features in the near future. We welcome your ideas; if you have any, please send them here.

• Check out Off the Clock now.

Working Papers: A first-time job seeker’s B.F.F.

It seems that everything these days comes with instructions: toaster ovens, exercise equipment and – heck – even mac & cheese.

Well, almost everything. First jobs don’t come with a free helpful guide. Until now…

SnagAJob.com has written “Working Papers” with the goal of helping all those soon-to-be hourly workers who have tons of questions but no answers.

Whether you’re curious about how many hours you can legally work each week or you demand to know why the amount on your paycheck looks suspiciously small, we have all the answers – well, all the answers about first jobs. We can’t tell you if opossum is safe to cook in that new toaster oven. Sorry, check the instruction book.

• Read “Working Papers” – a guide for first time job seekers
• Read more tips for finding teen jobs, student jobs and summer jobs.

Can you lick stamps, stock shelves, count to 1,000, and bench press ottomans and donkey piñatas? Good. Can you do all four at once? Even better. As a warehouse and store receiver, you’ll be doing everything from unloading freight to shipping merchandise and a million other jobs we can’t think of here. Of course, you can’t be afraid of a little dust and some heavy lifting. Who thought combining work and your workout could be possible?

Think these manual labor-intensive jobs are all brawn and no brains? Not true! Sure, there will be some sweating and flexing in store aisles or back behind the scenes in the warehouse. But you’ll also be doing a fair amount of math and problem solving. For example, if wooden pallets are 3 feet wide and you have a 100-foot wall to stack them against –but you need about 6 inches in between each – how many can you fit in one row? Did that just blow your mind? (The answer is about 28 …we think.) Our heads hurt…

Learn more about Receivers and warehouse jobs. Also, start your summer job search today.

Back in the day, you could land a job as an ice cream truck driver by writing your name and number on your still chill popsicle stick and handing it to Skippy. That was the application. Heck, you didn’t even need a license. (OK, that’s a lie.)

But times have changed, and according to a recent SnagAJob.com survey, nearly half (49%) of traditional hourly hiring standbys, including retailers and restaurants, say they don’t plan on adding summer workers this year. Yikes!

Employers blame the crumby economy and their belief that teen workers aren’t bringing their ‘A’ game to the workplace. In other words, they’re calling you slackers. Now it’s time to prove them wrong. (Cue the motivational “Rocky” theme song…)

So if you haven’t hit the pavement (or the Internet) and started your summer job search, now is the time. A whopping 76 percent of the 1,000 hiring managers who were interviewed expect to fill their seasonal jobs by May. So you can’t wait until after you’ve cleaned out your locker to start handing in applications.

• Read more tips for finding summer jobs.

If you’re hanging out on our job blog – we’re cool with loitering – then there is a good chance you’ve applied to a job on SnagAJob.com. Or you soon will apply to a job. Or your friend’s barber’s dog acupuncturist referred you here. It happens.

Here’s our point: We’re always getting questions from job seekers looking for tips and secrets to increase their chances of landing a job through SnagAJob.com. And while we don’t have a job search dirty little secret or magic bullet, we do have expert tips, news and helpful strategies for getting the most out of our friendly job search website. This includes everything from answers to your most frequently asked questions to advice for writing a profile that will grab the attention of employers.

So saddle up on SnagAJob’s newest section, which is aptly named “Using SnagAJob.” Catchy title, right? It’s a great place to get your questions answered before you begin your search for summer jobs.

It’s bad karma to kick off the weekend with lousy news. So we’ll get right to the point: February marked the biggest job drop in five years, according to the U.S. Labor Department. In fact, the United States lost more than 60,000 jobs in 29 days – an impact that can be felt from booming metropolises to the tiny towns dotted across the country that John Cougar Mellencamp sings about in Chevy commercials. Stupid leap years…

Plus, as the job market tightens up, more down and out salaried employees will be seeking out hourly jobs, making the competition for good gigs even fiercer. But don’t worry – there is some good news (Let’s reverse that bad karma). By using SnagAJob.com (and SnagABlog.com), you’re exposed to an arsenal of free job advice that can help you with everything from interview skills to learning about new hourly industries. It separates you from your fellow job seekers - in a good way.

Plus, by taking your job search online and using our quick and easy tools, you’re a step (or a few miles) ahead of the competition, who are poking their heads in and out of stores looking for “Help Wanted” signs. And gassing up every 200 miles.

That’s no way to spend your weekend.

It’s estimated by archeological scholars like Indiana Jones that it took as many as 100,000 laborers to build Egypt’s Great Pyramid at Giza. [Inset dramatic whistling noise…] That’s a few more workers than it takes to construct your average Wendy’s.

Well, if the Pharaoh wanted to build 40 pyramids at the same time, and he advertised online – although slave laborers usually didn’t receive 401K benefits and hieroglyphics weren’t Web-friendly – it would total the four million job vacancies posted on the Net this past February, according to statistics from the Conference Board.

Yes, that was a really bad and really long comparison. But we had this neat clip art of a pyramid that we really wanted to use!

The point is this: With millions and millions of jobs available online – and 100,000 hourly jobs on SnagAJob.com alone – isn’t it time you took your hourly job search online? You’re already reading this blog, you might as well check out SnagAJob.com before you update your MySpace or Facebook profiles.

• Start your job search now.

People move. They get different phone numbers. They land new jobs. And they copy the hairstyles of the “Desperate Housewives” actresses.

Three of these four changes should find themselves into a résumé refresh.

Whether you plan on carrying a stack of résumés during your summer job search or you’re submitting an online profile through a website like SnagAJob.com, here are a few timely tips to make sure you don’t commit a major résumé boo-boo:

1. Spelling kounts: Don’t trust your computer’s spell checker to determine if you mistakenly used “their” instead of “there.” Read it over. Read it again. And give it to someone with a good eye for detail. After all, you don’t want potential employers reading about your volunteer work in a “soap kitchen.” That’s just weird.
2. Be PG: This may go without saying… However, we still come across the occasional job seeker whose email address lacks the necessary tact and professionalism. It’s kind of like wearing a tuxedo T-shirt to your best bud’s wedding. Remember: You can be unique and creative without making Snoop Dogg blush.
3. Update, update, update: Ensure your contact info. is accurate, add new employment and skills, and include any applicable outside interests and hobbies. (You probably want to omit your passion for “Guitar Hero.”)

• Read more job search tips and expert advice here.
• Find summer jobs now.

Do you know your way around the kitchen? Can you see yourself thriving in a fast-paced environment? Do you usually remember to wash your hands? If you answered “yes” to these questions, there could be a spot for you behind a deep fryer or perched over a cutting board. Just pay attention: Thumbs don’t grow back.

Cook jobs are great for teens looking for part-time jobs. And there are usually a good amount of openings in the kitchen this time of year during the peak shopping and returns season. That’s why we initiated the cook into JobBuddies, our ongoing educational job series focusing on hooking up teens with hot jobs.

Even better, we’re now inviting all job seekers to vote for which JobBuddy they’d like to see appearing next on SnagAJob.com. Vote today!

Bad job interview stories are fun to share over S’mores and campfires. Of course, you need a six-month grace period to get over the embarrassment, change your name and get a new haircut.

Even SnagABlogger - yes, that’s me - remembers being an earnest, bright-eyed 17-year-old and applying for a job at a hardware store. Under the watchful eye of a manager, I was asked to complete a series of timed, written exercises. Before the first question, directions in bold stated, “PLEASE READ ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE ANSWERING.”

Of course, I thought these directions were just for amateurs. I confidently smiled at the interviewer, and began scribbling madly, not sure how I would finish 20 questions in a mere five minutes. Finally, when I got to Question # 20, I dropped my pencil. The question stated:

“We hope you followed the directions and read all the questions before writing anything down. Now, only answer question No. 14 and leave all others blank.”

I flipped the pencil over, but there was no eraser. Doh.

As the interviewer smirked and said something about how following instructions was so important in his line of work, I slunk in my seat and left the room unemployed and embarrassed.

There’s actually a popular list of embarrassing shenanigans floating through the Internet thanks to some HR professionals.

Here a few of the highlights:

• “Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.”

• “Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.”

• “While I was on a long-distance phone call, the applicant took out a copy of Penthouse, and looked through the photos only, stopping longest at the centerfold.”

• “An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.”

• “… she threw-up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.”

As long as you learn from your mistakes, don’t sweat the gaffes that can occur in these high pressure situations. But if you forget to wear pants to more than two interviews, you might want to consider requesting a phone interview.

Check out SnagAJob.com job interview tips.