When the holidays roll around, your first instinct is to take a break from the job search. After all, everyone's thinking about family gatherings, vacations, parties and gift shopping.

But Aaron Crowe, WalletPop editor specializing in careers and the job search, and Duncan Mathison, coauthor of "Unlock the Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Succcesful Job Search When Times Are Tough" (FT Press), say don't stop. They offer tips on how to stand out from the crowd without being a holiday grump.

Top Chef finalist Carla Hall thinks the simplest dishes can give us the greatest pleasure. Here is the Washington D.C.-based caterer's take on a roasted chicken with tomato-olive relish and roasted potatoes. Not only is the recipe easy, it clocks in at about $15.

Butterflied Chicken

• 4-pound chicken
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 small onion, quartered

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Mitch Free, founder and CEO of MFG.com, a global online marketplace for manufacturing. A college dropout, Free started his career as a machinist. That background helped fuel his idea to create a Web-based market for manufacturing in 1999. He shares his story and what it took to make it.

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Amy Epstein Feldman and Robin Epstein about how to protect yourself and your bank account from lawsuits.

When it comes to work, employers have a lot of leeway on what they want their staff to say, dress and act, so read that manual, say Feldman and Epstein, co-authors of "So Sue Me, Jackass! Avoiding Legal Pitfalls That Can Come Back to Bite You at Work, at Home and at Play" (Plume). They also offer tips on how to protect your financial assets, health and home.

The recession may be over, but many families are still feeling the effects. Unemployment is at a record 10.2% and wages are flat. The cost of gas is taking a bigger bite out of paychecks, and home foreclosures were one fifth of home sales in September.

To help, WalletPop is launching an occasional series in which your personal financial questions will get answered by our experts. Leave your questions in the comments section below.

Question: As a single, self-employed mother of two, I need to buy life insurance. How much should I buy?
--Laurie W., 51, psychologist

Keeping your family well fed is becoming more of a challenge each day. Not only do you have to take into account what the kids will and won't eat, what's in season, and organic versus non-organic, there's the issue of cost. And according to the Agriculture Department, your grocery bill will climb even higher as the economy starts to recover.

To help, WalletPop will occasionally feature recipes from famous chefs and restaurateurs. The price tag: $15 or less to serve a family of four or more. To kick off the series, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck recommends this hearty but easy to make Southwestern Strata with sausage recipe.

With unemployment closing in on 10%, many Americans are taking the time -- perhaps unexpectedly -- to reassess their careers and future. For some, that has meant rethinking their choice of professions entirely since certain industries were hit hardest by the recession while others appear to be flourishing.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sectors that saw the biggest losses were areas like construction, retail and the government. Sectors that show enormous potential growth include health care related professions and technology oriented jobs.

In this monthly series, those who've made the decision to start over again share their stories with WalletPop.

Amy Berryhill: Writing her own a digital future

Amy Berryhill likes to take risks. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 with a degree in advertising, she briefly took a job at a company that specialized in the little known area of search engine marketing and search engine optimization. When she saw in 2008 people getting laid off at her current workplace, Conde Nast Digital, she started plotting her exit strategy.

Do you want to make a career change but don't know how? Listen to Aaron Crowe, WalletPop editor specializing in careers and the job search, and Libby Gill, author of "You UnStuck: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-Taking at Work and Life" (Travelers' Tales/Solas House), talk about the first steps to take to be on that new career path.

Don't be afraid to seek advice and mentors, urges Crowe. Sit down and figure out what you're good and the market will bear, says Gill.

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Neale S. Godfrey, founder of the Children's Financial Network and #1 New York Times bestselling author, about setting holiday budgets. Godfrey, who is also author of The Eco Effect, recommends holding a family meeting to talk about spending limits given these tough economic times and turning first to non-monetary gift ideas before getting that gift card.