Who turned out the lights? Whether it’s the bogeyman hiding under the bed or a recession lurking around the corner, the fear factor abounds. But is the world really as frightening as it first appears?

Getting into the workplace is hard enough without a faltering economy. Students can panic, but they shouldn’t, says Meredith Daw, co-director of careers and planning services at the University of Chicago. It’s far better to e-mail your university’s alumni network to ask for advice and contacts (don’t beg for a job) and to target smaller firms likely to offer hands-on experience. Students fret about finding the perfect job when a stepping stone will do, The Wall Street Journal (May 27) reports.

People are so scared of falling victim to cyber-spite that a number of firms are offering products and services promising to protect customers’ virtual reputations. One such, ClaimID, is a free service that allows users to collect, annotate and verify information that is written about them and by them. “You can think of it as an online link résumé,” Terrell Russell, one of its founders tells New Scientist (May 24). Now all you have to do is hope that people don’t want to read the juicy version on Google.

Entrepreneurs are supposed to be a devil-may-care, fearless lot, ready to embrace the breadline and the unknown. Or are they? The idea that entrepreneurs are risk-takers is a myth, Keith McFarland, an author, writes in Time (June 2). Plucky start-uppers don’t have a lot to lose because most have a funding pot of less than $100,000 (£50,000), he says. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that entrepreneurial leaders can lose their nerve as the stakes increase, affecting their long-term prospects for growth, he says.

Cinema pulls a career into focus

Anna Carrington tells why she started out as a clapper loader despite having a degree in cinematography

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Tattoos are no longer the mark of scary, on-the-fringe-of-society types, according to The Economist (May 24). You can get a tattoo-style cover for your BlackBerry and “tats” themselves have become gentrified thanks to the doctors, bankers and other professionals queueing up to go under the needle, says Karen Bettez Halnon, a sociologist at Penn State University.

And finally – for many reasons – death. Good news for scientists fearful of pushing up the daisies. Those who win a Nobel prize tend to live, on average, nearly two years more than those who are merely nominated. So work harder, a study in New Scientist suggests.

What else happened

Looking for a new job or an investment opportunity? Steer clear of anything involving wind farms, carbon trading or biofuels, says Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor, in Time (June 2). He predicts that all such activity is simply part of a green bubble that is about to make a loud popping sound at some point soon.

If the weather improves – don’t scoff, it might – women will soon be faced with the hot day office attire dilemma. Skip the flip-flops, which are unacceptable in 84 per cent of offices, according to a survey, but don’t rule out a low-cut top if your manager is a man aged 40-49: 60 per cent of them are quite happy to see a bit of cleavage at work. Who’d have thought it, eh?

If you fancy starting a small business and setting your own dress code it might pay to avoid Milton Keynes. Unsurprisingly, the capital is the most expensive place for entrepreneurs to set up shop, but the 40-year-old new town is still pricey. Retail property costs an average of £2,500 per square metre a year, reports Alliance & Leicester’s Business Costs Monitor.

You don’t become a millionaire by spending your days on the slopes – even if you’re on a skiing holiday. One Harvard student wondered why two of his classmates spent all their time working online in the hotel lobby rather than carving up snow; when they went on to launch Facebook it all made sense, says The Wall Street Journal (May 26).

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