Herbert Mines Associates Inc., a large recruiting firm based in New York, sorts its resumes and letters manually. 'I beg to differ that [the electronic mailbox] is a black hole,' says Connie Murray, director of research with Herbert Mines. 'I do look at every one that comes in.' Herbert Mines, which specializes in the retail and consumer-products industries, receives between 50 and 100 resumes electronically each day and keeps between 10 and 20 that pertain to its specialties, says Ms. Murray.

DHR International in Chicago receives about 1,000 resumes daily and sorts them by computer. It discards 'a lot' and sends the rest to a general database, says chairman David Hoffmann.

Korn/Ferry International, one of the largest search firms in the U.S., has one of the most visible electronic candidate-registration systems, called 'e-Korn/Ferry.' Executives complete an online registration process, and their profiles are reviewed for initial eligibility for active opportunities, then stored in a database, says Jim Saltmar, vice president of Internet services. The profile of each new registrant appears on an internal online bulletin board for five days, he says."

Check out this article from Careerjournal: E-Mailing Resumes to Recruiters Won't Generate a Big Response:

2:43 PM 0 comments

1. Write down what you love to do.
2. Find a corresponding need.
3. Put the two together...
4. Never underestimate what people will pay for.

For example, say you like dogs, but you are not a veterinarian and you don't like giving them baths. More or less you like to watch them as they scamper and play around the park. But is there money in that? The short answer is... yes.

2:36 PM 0 comments

But who is this guy?

When Atom Films gave him the ax in 2001, Todd Rosenberg spent his time watching TV, staring at the wall, fantasizing about how he would spend lottery winnings and taking 20-minute naps that tend to run long. He also tried to think up scams to make some money quick, but he hadn't come up with anything good. Or so he says.

Todd launched a flash-animated cartoon on the internet called "Laid Off: A Day In The Life" that has earned him cult status on the web. How successful is this irreverent look at being unemployed? He has a tv show debuting in 2005 on the Comedy Central Network.

Read how he started here.

And read where he is now.

2:27 PM 0 comments

Check out Offshoring, Import Competition, and the Jobless Recovery by Charles L. Schultze (not the "Snoopy" guy), Senior Fellow Emeritus: Economic Studies at The Brookings Institution.

The white paper he produced is 19 pages of interesting text.

12:22 PM 0 comments

All things considered, many employers are saying "you have to pay to play." However there are some companies that operate in the real world and reimburse mileage fairly. I suggest getting a copy of IRS Publication 463 for tips on how to deduct mileage for business use.

11:56 AM 0 comments

As a producer for Fox News in Atlanta, Hirsch often would get a late-night call telling him to hop on a plane to cover a breaking story in another city. He kept an overnight bag packed, ready to go.

Now he's more likely to pack a snack bag for a day in the park with his 2-year-old daughter, Eden. Read "Every day is father's day" for more information.

4:56 PM 0 comments

WHAT DO THEY DO?

Develop legislation on:hours of work, pay entitlement, public holidays, employment agency standards, individual employment rights, redundancy arrangements, employee consultation, trade unions and collective rights, negotiate and implement European employment directives, research, analyse and evaluate employment relations and labour markets (EMAR), promote workplace partnership and effective employment relations to improve the quality of working life and the competitiveness of UK organisations.

4:55 PM 0 comments

American, as well as Canadian and European churches, are sending Mass intentions, or requests for services like those to remember deceased relatives and thanksgiving prayers, to clergy in India. About 2 percent of India's more than one billion people are Christians, most of them Catholics.

3:49 PM 0 comments

I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. ("Q" from Star Trek Next Generation)

Yes, we have a dress code. You have to dress. (Scott McNealy)

ManagementSpeak: Individual Contributor. Translation: Employee who does real work. (Juergen Rudnick)

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly, I can!". Then get busy and find out how to do it. (Theodore Roosevelt)

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play. (John Cleese)

By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day. (Robert Frost)

Some folks can look so busy doing nothin' that they seem indispensable. (Kin Hubbard)

People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up. (Ogden Nash)

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself. (A H Weiler)

3:35 PM 0 comments

"According to the Recruiter Confidence Poll, published by career management service provider ExecuNet, 62 percent of recruiters are confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve in the six months ahead, nearly unchanged from 63 percent in April. The monthly survey, which polled 124 recruiters, also found that the executive search industry is expecting a 20 percent increase in the number of assignments they receive from clients during this time, up slightly from 18 percent last month. The short-term outlook for the executive employment market is improving, as 48 percent of search professionals are confident or very confident the market will get better in the three months ahead, up from 43 percent in April. 'The confidence recruiters have in the job market's recovery has not been shaken by interest rate fears and recent volatility overseas and in the stock market,' said Mark Anderson, president of ExecuNet. 'The consensus is that growth in the executive employment market is here to stay for the second half of the year.' Additionally, 36 percent of recruiters report that their firms have plans to hire additional staff in the next three months, down from 43 percent in April. During the last three months, 23 percent of search firms have added professional staff. " Source

11:32 AM 0 comments

"As more and more crime is committed on the Internet, there will be growth of these services," said Rich Mogull, research director for information security and risk at Gartner, a technology-market research firm in Stamford, Connecticut.

Click here for the whole story.

4:33 PM 0 comments

"The economy is recovering, and that's boosting corporate profits," said Joseph Stocke, who helps manage $600 million as chief investment officer of StoneRidge Investment Partners in Malvern, Pa. "Profits should drive the stock market."

Click here to read more

3:35 PM 0 comments

In an era when MANY people are holding out until something better comes along, SUN seems to be thinking ahead on how to keep who they have. Kudos SUN

9:57 AM 0 comments

The result: The temporary help industry is among the fastest-growing segments of the labor market. Employment in the sector has doubled since 1990, ballooning at a rate five times faster than national employment as a whole. By 2012, the Labor Department estimates, the sector will grow by another 50 percent and add some 1.8 million jobs -- nearly triple the projected increase in computer systems and design services.

In the big picture, this bodes well for the US economy, analysts say. The ability to quickly bring on workers when demand rises, and just as quickly let them go when it slips, makes the economy more efficient and productive, which in turn frees up resources for new investment, products, and industries. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has said in congressional testimony that the increased flexibility of the labor force helped make the recent US recession among the mildest since World War II.

But more flexibility means even less security for workers, already buffeted by globalization, automation, and the shifting of jobs overseas. Read more about "Permanent Temps" here

11:18 AM 0 comments

Listen to my interview with the writer of this article by clicking here.

3:21 PM 0 comments

The Annie E. Casey Foundation study, offering an annual measure of how children are faring, showed that nearly one in six young adults — 3.8 million Americans from 18 to 24 — was not in school or the workplace in 2002. Click here to read more about this.

Concerned? I am... I mean, I know statistically that there will be a surplus of jobs as baby boomers retire over the coming years. This will result in lots of open positions. However, will this next generation be equipped to take advantage of this? If not, what will happen? More outsourcing? More offshoring? I am not a psychologist. But I can imagine a day when psychologists are in high demand and demanding HUGE salaries, simply because there were not enough college students in 2002. What about the techies who manage the internet and all the computers we rely heavily on today? What about...? Well, you get the picture.

What do you think? Click the comment link below this post and give your opinion.

1:36 PM 0 comments

The payroll data are collected from employers' payroll records of about 400,000 individual worksites. This information is gathered by the BLS from a sample based on the unemployment insurance tax records. Both the household survey and payroll survey data are collected for the week of each month containing the 12th of that month. Click here for more info on employment stats.

8:54 AM 0 comments

Source: TAOnline.com: Career Employment, Placement & Recruiting for Military Service Members & Armed Forces Veterans

3:56 PM 0 comments

Let's put on our imagination cap for a minute and think of a horrific fire in a subdivision at the peak of rush-hour traffic. What is your immediate focus? The fire blazing bright? Sure... Are you concerned for the people in the subdivision? I hope so... "Now breathe deeply and concentrate," I say in my Yoda voice. "See more, you will, young Jedi." Could it be that you see smoke? Could it be that you hear a fire engine? Perhaps a helicopter with a reporter giving the TV viewers a scoop on what is happening? Perhaps there is another chopper for radio listeners? Perhaps in the distance are people who don't know about the fire yet and are honking their horns and cursing the 5 o'clock commute? Perhaps all of this and more and why are they all there? Well, duh... they are all there because of a fire.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "What does all that have to do with my getting a job?" "Everything," I say smugly.

Let's say that you are looking for a job as a network engineer. So what do you do? You look for Network Engineer jobs, which is a good start but not the finish. Consider the events and surroundings concerning your job and imagine what surrounds that job. Let's see... to network computers, there must be a group of unconnected computers somewhere. For a group of unconnected computers to be sitting somewhere, that would mean that some salesperson had to sell them to somebody else. So, who sells the computers that I am qualified to connect? Why "Computer Company A" sells the kind of computers I am qualified to connect. Why don't I call Computer Company A and ask for a friendly sales person? Perhaps with my powers of persuasion (and a little bribery of lunch), I can get him to tell me who his best customers are. I bet his best customers could use a network engineer to hook up all the machines they just bought.

You like that? Let's go deeper...

New computers being connected suggest new office space. If I was going to buy new office space, who would I go to? Maybe I can call the leasing office of some business complexes and ask who handles their leasing. Maybe they can refer me to someone? Maybe they lease their own space and will give me a tip on companies looking to move into their space. A possibility... Better yet, I could pick up a copy of "The Atlanta Business Chronicle" (assuming you are in Atlanta) and review their real estate announcements to see who bought what. Whoever is buying lots of office space is someone I would want to talk to.

Do I have your wheels rotating yet? The trick is not to look only for the fire (in this case, a network engineering job), but the smoke (those people who operate on the periphery of that job). Let me go a step even further. What happens after a fire has been put out? There is water damage, smoke damage, medical issues on occasion and so on. There has to be someone or some group of some ones to clean up the mess left behind. All that to say, as soon as one person gets hired somewhere, there is a possibility of an opening behind them. So, when you read in the paper about Company X has just signed on a new CIO formerly of Company Z, my advice is to call Company Z for a job. This is an especially good technique if you are an Executive, because many senior management types foster a "cult following" and bring other execs with them. (Happens all the time...) Does this go for executives only? No, this would be a good heads up for techies and marketing types as well. Why? New leadership means new processes and new processes often demand people to adapt or stand aside for new personnel who can.

"Now let's go deeper into the force," I say in a bad Darth Vader accent. And imagine that you cannot imagine other positions that are connected to the job you are qualified for. Imagine that you are just clueless on how to think along these lines. (Anybody can draw a blank…) For these folks I say, look for the recruiter jobs. If you see a company looking to hire Recruiters, Staffing Consultants, Internet Researchers (people who support recruiters by finding resumes online) or Online Sourcers (same thing as Internet Researcher), then that should sound like a cowbell at dinner time.

If you are thinking to yourself, "Why should I care about HR jobs? That's not my background." I suggest that you slap yourself. Why would a company hire recruiters? They hire recruiters because they are about to load up on new employees! What kind of employees? Well, look at the kind of recruiter they want! Are they hiring technical recruiters? Sales recruiters? Executive recruiters? Ahh... I see the light bulb has just flashed over your head, you're with me now. (Glad to meet you-wink).

There is an old joke by a comedian named Robin Harris that says, "If you cannot get to the man, get next to the man that is next to the man. And if you can't get him. Get next to the man that is next to the man that is next to the man and so on..." If you are feeling frustrated in your job-search, look beyond finding jobs that fit you, but rather seek out people connected to what you do. If you cannot connect with them, then connect with the person next to them and so on and so on and so on...

8:25 AM 1 comments

The best way to determine whether a grunt has these skill sets or not: gauge his "emotional intelligence," or EI. It's made up of four abilities, according to the Army: "the perception, management, expression, and utilization of emotion."

For more information, read Defense Tech: ARMY WANTS "WISE" G.I.S

My question after reading this is, "How long before something like this becomes part of a corporate job interview? My guess? Not long...

2:13 PM 0 comments

1. Fear of work.

Fear of work is commonplace in the West: fear of rapid change, fear of misinformation, of being passed over in promotional hierarchies, of backstabbing, of being fired, of interpersonal conflict, of sexual harassment, of failing in one's own or other's expectations, and in general, all the performance anxieties that go along with new jobs.

Get help here...

The 24 Hour Phobia Clinic

9:09 AM 1 comments

What red flags should candidates look for when seeking career-counseling services?

Be suspicious whenever you are asked to pay a large sum in advance for professional services. Be wary if you're contacted by someone you didn't seek out. Also be aware of salespeople who use pressure tactics. Question everyone's motives. Pay attention to your initial impressions. Don't believe everything they hand you.

I think it's important to do comparison-shopping and become informed consumers about the types of career firms and services in your area and the qualifications of their professionals.

You should get three to four personal references and run an Internet search about a potential service. Don't make impulsive decisions or respond quickly to pressured sales techniques. Ask lots of questions and write down the answers. Find out where the company got your name. The Internet is a free-for-all zone, and unscrupulous people can get access to materials you distribute that way. Consider a company's overhead and how it manages to keep the lights on. You can always hire a professional on an hourly basis rather than having to pay a large fee in advance.

Finally, share your situation and questions with people you know well, respect and can trust.

Read the full article here...

1:59 PM 0 comments

Sadly, the world has changed in so many ways - including the loyalty of corporations toward their workers. Further, in this era of downsizing, candidates are facing a steep path to finding new employment. Both of these facts will change the landscape of corporate employment - perhaps forever.

The job market is biased strongly toward the "buyers," in a dramatic shift from years past. However, in this market, the corporate attitude and compassion is clearly lacking as employees lose their livelihoods and candidates are inhumanely processed for the few jobs available. I am living this process and speak from experience, from being "restructured" out of a successful and growing company that felt obligated to meet Wall Street goals, rather than their own associates' needs.

For companies that are hiring, clearly they can take advantage of finding the most ideal candidate for their open positions. I don’t begrudge them this - as you would seek the best possible price for a new stereo or automobile. However, in the process, the candidate is put through lengthy interviews, requested to take tests or write position papers, called back on numerous occasions and then, often, wait literally weeks or months to learn the results. In some cases, they never learn the results, as the company does not see fit to call or send a rejection letter, or provide any feedback on why they did not select the candidate. Simple courtesy and decorum have gone out the window.

Recently I cut short an out-of-town visit to return for an important interview, costing me financially to make the flight change. I arrived at the appointment, early and prepared - and was greeted by a different associate who said the original agenda was changed. No problem, except the job specification also changed and I are no longer qualified. When did I learn of this change? During the interview! Couldn't this have been communicated even the day before? Other candidates for this same position were similarly affected. Where was the respect for our time?

In another interview, I paid for my own flight to come into town after a successful phone interview. When facing the hiring manager, he appeared distracted and uninterested, even when presented with a much thought-out diagram that outlined a possible solution to a problem he was facing. He was no longer interested in my candidacy; however, no reason was ever provided. If there was no interest, why allow me to pay for a flight and go through the paces, with neither explanation nor apology provided?

If you know people in the unemployment mode, I am sure you have heard similar war stories. However, what should be of concern to employers is what will happen when the economy and job market improves, as it will.

Clearly gone is the time when an employee was loyal to their company, working long hours and supporting the goals and objectives of the corporation. This recession and downsizing mentality, for the good of Wall Street, in many cases, has spawned a generation of "free agents". When the chips are down, more employees will be updating their resumes and re-igniting their network, rather than staying and helping save the ship. Many who helped try to "right-size" their corporate ship found themselves seeking unemployment payments after being personally right-sized by the same organization. When the economy improves, corporations will find that their current attitudes toward employees and candidates will cause them irreparable harm as free agency kicks in and loyalty becomes an antiquated term.

What can corporations do to alleviate this eventual backlash? Show common courtesy to employees and candidates. Treat the candidate, earnestly seeking a new opportunity, seeking to earn a salary to feed their family, with respect and dignity. Compassion shown can go a long way. For employers, seek alternative ways to “right size” the corporate ship before tossing your once-valued "employees of choice" overboard. Survivors and victims have long memories.

Further, top executives who guided the corporation into troubled waters should lead by example and reduce their salaries, eliminate their bonuses to demonstrate a willingness to save rank-and-file employees. Frankly, the excessive golden parachutes and buy-outs are obscene in light of the worker struggling to pay his or her mortgage. Corporate executives: Let's show some decency rather than capitalistic obscenity.

Simply put, companies need to rediscover what is important and remember those who ultimately help the organization succeed -- their associates. When they realize this, corporate profits and growth will be enhanced, to the delight of Wall Street and employees alike.

8:23 AM 0 comments