Developing informal partnerships at work is an emerging trend. While managementmight advocate specific ones, it's possible for you to form them on your own.

Q: I have been fired from almost every job I have ever had. I'm 22 years old and have been working since I was 16. I see a pattern in my behavior but don't know how to change it. As soon as I'm comfortable in a job, my emotional needs take over, and I involve everyone in my issues. I seem to need a lot of attention.

New Modesto manufacturer SunOpta Inc. learned that if you advertise jobs, they will come -- and in droves. The soy milk production and packaging company recently placed an ad saying it was hiring for 30 jobs at its new plant. It received about 980 applications.

The Modesto Bee announced Monday night that it will lay off 11 newsroom employees after a vote by the union representing those workers to accept wage reductions.

Save Mart Supermarkets has eliminated close to 50 of its roughly 21,000 jobs, a move related to its 2007 purchase of the Albertsons chain.

If anything will keep workers safe from layoffs, it isn't these: a graduate degree, a government job, a high salary or even a new promotion.