Chandlee’s first article was posted this week, New Jobs, Rocket Science, and Lessons Learned, and in it Chandlee shared her background, including her first jobs and the take-away’s from those experiences.

Chandlee has a passion for helping new grads getting off to great starts in their careers, appropriate for someone with such a strong background in working with new grads, including several years working as a career counselor or Director of Career Services at the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College.

Currently, Chandlee is the President and Founder of Best Fit Forward, a Manhattan based boutique consulting firm providing career management services to individuals and organizations. She is also one of the co-authors of the Twitter Job Search Guide (JIST 2010) and has over a dozen years of experience in connecting job seekers and entry-level employees.

According to the annual Holiday Jobs Survey conducted by Experience, Inc., four out of five college students and young graduates say they are seeking jobs or internships during the holidays, but the tumbling economy is making this task harder than usual.

While 79 percent of Generation Y respondents reported they plan to work during the upcoming winter break, according to an article by the Cleveland Examiner, only 22 percent confirmed they have landed a part-time or full-time job. Of those still looking for work, more than half, or 53 percent, don’t think they’ll find a position in time.

“With the number of Gen Y candidates looking for jobs at an all-time high, it is extremely important for students and young grads to differentiate themselves from the pack,” Jennifer Floren, founder and CEO of Experience, said in the article. “While it may be challenging to secure an ideal job right now, students should be thinking of different ways to gain experience so they can present themselves as the best candidate when that job becomes available.”

While many industries are having trouble, some industries are continuing to thrive. The recent Jobfox Top 25 Most Recession-Proof U.S. Job Candidates: October 2008 report stated the following positions are still in demand:

If you’re having trouble finding an internship or job, don’t think about lying on your resume. Instead, students and recent graduates should continue to do other things that keep them informed and marketable.

Recent research conducted by EmployeescreenIQ found that about 10 percent of candidates falsified information about their education during the second quarter of 2008. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 45 percent of all resumes contain at least one major fabrication.

“False information about ones’ educational history is the third most common discrepancy we uncover while conducting verifications for our clients,” Kevin Bachman, vice president of quality service at employeescreenIQ, said in the article. “Due to the tightening of the job market, we are predicting a rise in the number of individuals that ‘fluff’ their resume, including their educational history.”