Here’s something that seems like a very plain vanilla job search trick, but it’s pretty useful if you don’t know how to do it.

When we print resumes on heavy resume paper for our clients, we will very often print on both sides of the paper. Thus, a 2-page resume can sit on one sheet of paper, front and back.

This weekend, I had a client ask if we used any sort of fancy printer to do it. She wanted to know if she could do this herself going forward. I said no. In fact, we use a very basic HP laser printer to do our printing, and I figure that a lot of modern printers can do what we do. So, if your printer is, say, less than 5 years old, you can print your resume on both sides of the paper as well.

Here’s how to do it:

How To Print Your Resume On Both Sides Of The Paper

Check and see if your printer handles “duplex printing.”

What is duplex printing? It’s the fancy term for… you guessed it… printing on both sides of the paper. If you have this feature, then the process is pretty straight forward and automated.

First, go to print. I’ll be assuming you’re using Microsoft Word.

Select print, but not “quick print.”

Next, you’re going to want to hit the Properties button.

Finally, you’re going to hit the Printing Shortcuts tab, and select Eco-print (Two-sided Printing)

And that’s it. Now when you hit OK to print, it will automatically print first on one side of the paper… then suck it back in and print on the other side.

By the way, you can click on any of the pictures above to enlarge them.

But What If My Printer Doesn’t Have Duplex Printing?

This is not a problem. Why? Because if you think about it, you can manually force any printer to print on both sides of the paper.

Simply print one page.

Then, take that page and manually feed it back into the printer, but being sure to turn it over. Now, print page 2. It should come out on the other side of the page you’ve just printed.

You might have to experiment a few times to get this right, as some printers feed upside down, head to foot, etc.

But if you just experiment a little with manually feeding the paper, absolutely any printer can print on both sides of the paper.

Simple tip, I know. But might be useful to some.

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If, like me, you were around in the dot com wild west days, the thing you coveted more than anything else (more than yoga classes or free lunches) was the Herman Miller Aeron chair. It’s pretty much gone down in history as the greatest office chair eva!

But now Gizmodo alerts us to a new challenger to the throne.

Behold, the Embody! Click through for more and bigger pictures.

This thing is $1600. Is it worth it? The Gizmodo crew thinks so.

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Starbucks. 81st and Broadway.

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Last week, Lifehacker wrapped up their annual coolest cubicle contest.

The workspace pictured to the left is not the winner of that contest, but this is the workspace I want.

This guy rigged up his workspace atop a treadmill.

Another guy did a similar thing.

The thing about this setup, is you don’t have to set it to run very fast to have an impact.

That picture below is little old me walking 1 mile per hour while blogging…at my desk. I’m there from 8:30am t 12:30pm, five day a week now. And, here’s the amazing thing…It doesn’t even feel like exercise! One mile per hour is the equivalent of a very slow walk. It’s slower than the pace I usually follow whenever I am on the phone (I have to move when I talk or feel like I’m gonna die). You don’t really get tired, you don’t sweat and, at my weight… By lunchtime, I’ve already burned around 600 friggin’ calories!

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From the department of How Come No One Has Ever Thought About This Before.

Just for storing pens alone, this is genius. It’s like those new trashbags with an elastic top so the bags stay in the trash can. This could change my life.

I hereby demand that all keyboard manufacturers include a storage box underneath all keyboards.

Full details at Gizmodo.

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I’m actually a big fan of using balloons as stress balls. I like having a stress ball I can destroy in the end.

But if you’re less destructive than I am, this cool post will give you step by step instructions to make your own homemade (or officemade) stress ball.

And if you think this is just a silly little timewaster, consider the fact that stress balls have actual, tangible health benefits.

Stress balls have been used for years for a wide range of medicinal reasons. Stress balls were used in ancient civilizations to relieve stress, improve coordination, prevent arthritis and rheumatism, stimulate blood circulation, help during physical therapy and assist with meditation. Stress balls may also help in the prevention or treatment of carpal-tunnel syndrome.

Make Your Very Own Stress Ball (Organic Health Blog)
h/t Lifehacker

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Wired continues it’s seemingly bi-monthly series of slideshows showing us either the best or the worst in cubicle living. In this case, it’s the best… 8 cubicles redesigned in creative ways. To quote Monty Python, where’s my medieval torture dungeon/philosophical salon-themed cube design?

h/t Lifehacker 

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In what is surely the product development equivalent of the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon, the web is abuzz today over the concept of the Pock-It.

Essentially, a post-it note with strategically placed adhesive, the Pock-It allows you to post a note and package something along with it.

The Pock-It is the brainchild of Taiwanese designer Pu Tai.

The first thing that strikes you is the, “Gee, why didn’t anyone think of that sooner?” factor. And then you begin to imagine all the ways you could utilize this cool little bugger in your office.

Here’s the rub: the Pock-It doesn’t exist yet. But there is already an online movement to petition 3M to begin production of the Pock-It ASAP.

You can add your own petition to 3M here or here.

h/t Buzzfeed.

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Did you hear the one about the in-house Masseuse at Google who is now cashing out her stock options and claiming a multi-million dollar windfall? Ahhh… reminds me of the late 90s all over again.

My favorite part is how she now has her own masseuse to give her weekly massages. Oh, and a 3,000 square foot house. And a charitable foundation.

The truth about these kind of stories

is that they’re very rare. It’s not every day that a company goes from a cool computer science research project to one of the top ten most valuable companies based on market cap in under 10 years. When you hitch a ride on a gravy train like that, even the janitors get real paid:

Nearly half of the 16,000 employees now at Google have been there for a year or less, and their options have an average exercise price of more than $500. But those who started at the company a year ago, or even three months ago, are seeing their options soar in value.

Google’s stock just touched $700, so a strike price of $500 is still decent.

I mean, on the one hand, we all react to stories like this with the fantasy: maybe someday someone will notice my true value, and even though I’m a lowly secretary, I’ll be a millionaire too. But in reality, this is just another lottery winner’s story. It just makes us jealous, and a little sad. I mean, look around your office right now. It’s not quite Google, is it?* Keep plugging away. As long as you’re maxing out a healthy 401k, you’re gonna be just fine.

*(Unless it is Google, in which case, congrats)

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I always GOT the character Milton from the movie Office Space. Sure, everyone thinks of him as a bit unhinged, but I think he’s actually quite rational. I mean, even if it’s just a stapler, it’s his stapler. It’s reliable, functional, never jams and it’s that color of red that reminds him of his boyhood Radio-Flyer. And yeah, it might seem a bit odd that he treats his stapler like a pet. But that’s only cause the workplace has stripped him of most of his humanity! In such a deadened, hopeless environment, aren’t we all likely to cling to the few tchotskis that remind us of a better world: our bobble head dolls; our pictures from when our kids were small and still liked us; our kitten calendars? So how could you dream of taking his stapler? How could you? You’ve already taken so much… taken his soul!

Well, it turns out there is academic research that explains Milton’s behavior. Well, maybe not explains, but furthers my claim that Milton’s not crazy. And he’s not alone.

Turns out there’s a subset of the population that fetishizes office tools.This news comes tucked into a research paper in Harvard Business Review that examines “aligning a product’s price with its perceived benefits.” The study focused on high-end staple maker Swingline in it’s efforts to “…assess how customers accord value to products and brands within a category.” Apparently, Swingline identified their dream demographic:

Swingline’s research identified a top segment of customers who were highly demanding and very much involved with paper tools. These “stapler aficionados” were willing, even eager, to pay a premium for a stapler that could handle constant heavy-duty use without ever breaking down.

This should make you think twice the next time you see someone staring longingly in the stapler aisle of Office Depot. At the very least, it should make you think twice about pilfering from the next cubicle over. No telling what these “stapler aficionado” sickos are capable of, if provoked.

Hat Tip again to Snakes and Ladders, second thing from them this week.

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