Where Are All the Great Entry-Level Jobs Hiding ?

By Jessica Stillman | March 14, 2011
Source: bnet.com

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A few signs may point to a pick up in entry-level hiring for college grads, but there’s also plenty of anecdotal evidence supporting hiring pessimists, with most of us knowing a well-educated 20-something or two who has been fruitlessly combing job listings for months or even years after graduation.

These frustrated grads have skills, and the experts say there are a few jobs out there, so what’s the problem? According to Willy Franzen, founder of start-up entry-level jobs site One Day, One Job, most of these grads are taking the wrong approach — obsessing about positions posted on job boards rather than bettering themselves as candidates and targeting the companies they actually want to work for. Recently Franzen talked to Entry-Level Rebel about why he feels his approach is the right one and what grads should do to find that elusive dream job:

How did you get started with One Day, One Job?

When I started job searching after I graduated, I just found the process very frustrating, especially for people who don’t have a clear idea of what they want to do. I graduated from Cornell in 2006 and majored in industrial and labor relations. My background is in human resources and labor economics, so I interned in HR for two summers but I realized HR just wasn’t really a good fit for me. I had been headed on a pretty defined track and once I changed my mind I didn’t know what was available for me. I didn’t know what options were out there and that became really frustrating.

Then about six months into the job search I started One Day, One Job and a little before that I really started looking at the online recruitment process, how companies recruit online and how the field is changing. I just got real interested in how people use the internet to find jobs, so I came up with this idea of one job every day. I started working on it in May 2007 and launched the site in May 2007. It’s gone from there.

How do select the companies you profile each day on One Day, One Job?

I’m always looking for interesting ideas. One of my favorite resources is the Inc. 5000, which is a list of the country’s fastest growing privately held companies. It’s just a fantastic resource. It has a really good cross-section across a lot of industries, so when they release that every year I just pour over it looking for cool companies that might have opportunities for recent grads.

I’m really focused on a company-based approach. I like looking for interesting companies that are doing interesting things. I’m not as concerned about what opportunities they have available because I know that if it’s a cool company that’s growing, they’re going to have entry-level jobs. They’re going to have internships. A lot of times if you, as the job seeker, just reach out to them you can convince them to hire you or you can get them to notify you when something comes up. It’s a much better opportunity, I find, than a job board.

I want to show job seekers that this is something you can do. When I started this as a new grad, I didn’t have any extraordinary connections or skills. You can find cool companies on your own. You can find cool jobs on your own. You just have to have the initiative.

What advice would you give grads to improve their job hunt?

So many college grads are misguided. They don’t have a full understanding of employers. So I think one of the biggest things that job seekers can learn to improve their job search is empathy. It’s being able to put yourself in an employer’s shoes. Think about the hiring manager. What do they need? What is going to get them to hire you? How are you going to make their life easier? I think so many people fail to do that. They think, “oh, I’m entitled to a job. I have these great credentials. I have a college degree. Someone should just give me a job because I’m really impressive.” And it doesn’t work that way.

What are some other common mistakes you see entry-level job seekers making?

Spending time on your job search is typically a really bad idea. I’ve seen so many job seekers who are six months or a year and a half out of college, and they haven’t had any success. And the biggest problem with that is they’ve spent that time looking for jobs. They haven’t made themselves any better over that time. They might have made their resume better. They might have made their cover letter better. But them, as a candidate, is the same exact candidate that came onto the market six months or a year ago.

So first of all, you have this signal that no one wanted to hire you as you were. Second, you’re stagnating. You’re showing people that you don’t have the initiative to invest in yourself. So I am really pushing students now to start working on a project. Find something, whether it’s volunteering, doing something on your own, starting a website. Whatever it is, create a project, do it, get real life work experience for yourself and use that to get a job as opposed to using all your time on the job search.

And another thing I’ve already mentioned is don’t worry about jobs. Focus on the companies and the jobs will work themselves out. It doesn’t always work, but if you find a company you really want to work for and you target them hard and you network, even if they don’t have a job posted for you, if you’re a good fit, things can work out and you can get a job

What words of wisdom do you have for readers who are thinking of taking your approach after graduation and starting their own business?

Finding a way to get started is really important. In September of 2007 I snuck into the Cornell career fair as an alum — I didn’t realize that I was more than welcome to come — and I pitched all the employers who had empty booths. I said, “hey, I have this great site. I’d like to have you post jobs on it. Would you be interested in working with me?” Everyone was really excited about it, and I followed up with them, emailed them, and I got no responses.

It was completely unsuccessful, so I realized I am not going to get people to use my site if I don’t have jobs, and I am not going to find jobs unless I have people on my site. I need to do something different. And that’s when I made the decision to go editorial. It got me started. Instead of spending six more months refining the site and trying to sell it, I just started. I put something up. I got it out there.

Now the site is generating revenue, it’s profitable and it’s all because I was able to get started by hacking it and figuring out a way to make it work without creating excuses and waiting for something to happen. So that’s a really big thing — get started, just do something and you can always change what you’re doing and find a way to make it work.

It’s so easy to learn stuff — a little bit of programming, marketing, search engine optimization. You really can get out and start whatever you what and go after it. The biggest roadblock I see is entrepreneurs who think they don’t have the skills, it’s too risky, or they keep finding excuses not to start. The internet can really help you overcome all that. I’ve learned almost everything that drives my business online. It’s amazing how far you can get with very little when you start.

Job-Market Strategies for Graduates

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Later this month, Mary Beth Lease will graduate from Iowa State University with a stellar academic record. But when it comes to securing a job, she's afraid she'll receive a failing grade due to the slumping economy.

"I've had lots of interviews and I still don't have a job," says the marketing major, who boasts a 3.7 grade-point average and is president of her school's chapter of the Society of Human Resource Professionals.

Ms. Lease, 22, has good reason to worry. April was the fourth straight month that nonfarm employment was down from a year earlier, the Labor Department announced Friday, although the decline was smaller than in March. But there are smart strategies that can pay off for spring grads -- as well as for already-employed twentysomethings hoping to hang onto their positions and even move up in this shaky business climate.

Don't Insist on 'Ideal'

A good start for job seekers is to set pragmatic goals, says Alexandra Levit, author of "How'd You Score That Gig."

"College graduates today have very high expectations of their first job," she explains. But in a sour economy, "you might have to settle for a situation that's not 100% ideal."

Broaden your search to lesser-known firms and less glamorous roles. "Just because you're not going to fall in love with a job doesn't mean you can't learn something and make some money, too," Ms. Levit says.

To identify career opportunities beyond what's advertised on Internet job boards, networking is critical. But don't just tap the usual suspects, such as professors, relatives and friends, says Melanie McConnell, an associate director of career services at Rice University.

Also reach out to executives and hiring managers through professional-networking Web sites such as LinkedIn.com and Ryze.com -- even if you already belong to social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. And make sure all of your networking profiles are employer-friendly, as recruiters often look at social as well as professional ones, she adds.

Another way to make connections -- whether you are employed or still looking -- is to join business associations and attend their chapter meetings, conferences and seminars, says Ms. McConnell. While many groups charge membership fees, they typically offer student discounts.

Eugene Clark says he made scores of professional connections earlier this year through groups including the National Black MBA Association and the Project Management Institute. Several people tipped him off to job openings and sent his résumé to managers at their firms and others, says the M.B.A. student at Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business. He subsequently landed six job offers, including the information-technology position he'll start this summer at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Customize Your Approach

To boost your odds of landing job interviews, take the time to customize cover letters for every employer you target -- and show you know more about a firm than what's on its Web site, recommends D.A. Hayden, a partner at Hayden-Wilder, a Boston-based provider of counseling services to first-time job applicants. For example, you might mention a recent news story about the firm or its competitors or comment on something in the company's annual report, she suggests.

Similarly, you'll help yourself stand out by tailoring your résumé for every job you pursue. "The one-résumé approach does not work," Ms. Levit says. "You have to go after openings in a very specific way so recruiters can see within five seconds how you are the perfect candidate for the job."

Ben Matranga, 25, a master's degree student at New York University, says he sent five different résumés to employers earlier this year, varying the order of the information listed depending on the opportunity. The finance and public-policy major has so far received five job offers.

If you're like most recent graduates and have a short job history, show employers in your résumé how your college experience is transferable to the work force, says Ms. Hayden. For example, you might illustrate your ability to lead a project by describing a sorority function you organized.

Whether you are seeking a first job or looking to move up, volunteer work can beef up your résumé. "If you just graduated with an accounting degree, volunteer to do the books for one of your favorite nonprofits," recommends Steven Rothberg, president and founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, an entry-level-job site.

Recession-Proof Your Job

If you're already employed but concerned about your job security, now is the time to roll up your sleeves and work your hardest, says Dale Winston, chief executive of Battalia Winston International, an executive-search firm in New York. "Put 20% more effort in," she says. "When things are tough, you have to try harder."

Offer to take on unpopular tasks that need to get done, adds Gary Rich, president of Rich Leadership, an executive-advisory firm in Pound Ridge, N.Y. "Demonstrate you're flexible enough to play different positions," he says.

Meanwhile, update your résumé now in case you need to launch a job hunt on the fly, advises Shawn Graham, author of "Courting Your Career: Match Yourself With the Perfect Job." And make sure your networking efforts include professionals where you currently work. "By meeting people in other areas of the company, that might open doors for you in a different department," he says.

Finally, if a prolonged job hunt has you down, remember that getting hired in a sour economy often takes more time and effort than during robust times, says Ms. Hayden. "Don't give up just because you've had 10 interviews and didn't get an offer," she says. "The more at bats you get, the better your chances of getting a hit."

Difficult Job Market Still Exists for Soon-to-be Grads

Even with signs pointing toward an economic recovery, 2010 college graduates still face a tough job market. The working world may be headed in the right direction, but a job shortage remains a reality. For recent grads, the job prospects will stay about the same or slightly better than last year's gloomy outlook, according to a survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a global outplacement agency that questioned 100 human resource professionals.

The lack of positions in the entry-level job field may cause new grads to seek lower-paying jobs. Or soon-to-be graduates might have to settle for no compensation with volunteer opportunities or unpaid internships, meaning they will most likely need to move home with mom and dad. Of course it is difficult to not receive a paycheck, but volunteer positions and internships can provide helpful experience for resumes. Some grads might give up on the job search and choose to go back to school or travel.

When looking at last year's job economy, this year appears to produce a little more optimism. About half of the respondents feel the 2010 job outlook is similar to last year, while 28 percent of respondents say the economic outlook appears slightly better this year. To bring a little sunshine to this situation, less than 10 percent of HR executives think the 2010 job market will be worse for recent grads than in 2009.

"Last year was an extremely tight job market for entry-level candidates," says John A. Challenger, chief executive officer. "Even if this year is slightly better, the competition for available jobs will remain fierce. In fact, some of this year's graduates may very well compete with some of last year's graduates for positions.

"They will also be competing with other young people, who received their diplomas within the last five years, had jobs, and found themselves back in the labor pool once the recession hit.
These recent job-seekers could prove to be the toughest competition for this year's graduates, as they are likely to accept entry-level wages yet bring some on-the-job experience to the table."

On-campus job fairs haven't been a great help to college seniors. It seems that campus recruiting has only improved a little in recent months. With a decrease in available entry-level positions, it makes sense that companies aren't actively pursuing students on campuses. Without these job fairs, recent grads will need to actively search for open positions. It will take more effort than looking at a few job-search websites.

"This is not to say that soon-to-be graduates should give up hope," says Challenger. "There are opportunities out there, but entry-level job-seekers will have to dig for them. They may have to look outside of the industry or career path they envisioned pursuing immediately out of college."

Certain industries will provide a better chance for college grads to get their foot in the door at a company. Health care (nursing, physical therapy, medical technician, etc.) seems to be the top field for grads to find positions. The industries that follow health care include: business administration, computer science, accounting/finance, engineering, marketing, liberal arts, education and journalism/communication.

"As the job market continues to improve over the next couple of years, those who can show some work experience are going to be in a better position than those who abandoned the job market entirely," says Challenger. "For those who feel that opportunities are nonexistent, the best option may be a return to school. However, for many this is not an option financially, and they may simply return to live with their parents until steady income can be achieved."

For more information, visit www.challengergray.com.

To find out more about Amy Winter and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Highest paying jobs in America

If you want to land one of the country's best jobs, check out the education and training that can get you there.

By Tony Moton

If you're in the market for a new career - and willing to do a little training to get there - you might want to look to Money and PayScale's 2010 "Best Jobs in America" list.

The annual list features 100 top careers that score high in areas such as earning potential, employment outlook, and flexibility.

But what does it take to actually qualify for one of these jobs?

We took a look at the top 100 and spotlighted seven jobs that almost anyone can work toward. To help you figure out which - if any - of these "Best Jobs" is right for you, check out the list below...

SALES DIRECTOR

Best Jobs Rank: No. 8

Average Salary: $142,000

Sales Directors scored their jobs high for flexibility and personal satisfaction in the "Best Jobs" survey. While Sales Directors are at the top of the heap, starting out in sales is a great way to work toward this top job.

The Job: Good sales skills can be used in almost any industry - from tech to manufacturing to biomedical to consumer products. Many sales jobs are paid partially on commission, so your performance directly affects your pay. This can mean pressure, but also big rewards in a relatively short period of time.

Education and Training: A bachelor's degree in business administration is a great way to get a firm grounding in business principles. Studying marketing can also give you the tools you need to understand customers and how to talk to them.

Related Degrees:

Associate's degree in business

Master's degree in business administration (MBA)

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT (CPA)

Best Jobs Rank: No. 9

Average Salary: $73,000

Job flexibility and job growth scored big with CPAs who responded to questions about the quality-of-life aspects of their job for the "Best Jobs in America" list. [Train for your Accounting career at a top school]

The Job: CPAs can work for accounting firms or branch out on their own and work independently. One of the hottest careers in this field is forensic accounting, which involves uncovering and tracking white-collar crimes in today's high-tech world. A very cool job if you're into number crunching.

Education and Training: Start by earning your bachelor's degree in accounting. From there, you will need to pass a national exam and meet the standards of the state where you practice in order to qualify as a full-fledged CPA. Others with two-year degrees and proven experience have opportunities to land junior accounting positions.

Related Degrees:

Associate's degree in accounting

Bachelor's degree in finance

HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR

Best Jobs Rank: No. 36

Average Salary: $98,000

This job ranked high due to a combination of high pay, future job growth, and personal satisfaction.

The Job: Hospital administrators play a big role in directing health care and medical services. They can work in hospitals, nursing care facilities, managed care facilities, or other related organizations.

Education and Training: Running a health care facility requires you to have expertise in both the medical and business fields. To enter this worthwhile career as an entry-level or assistant administrator, consider earning a bachelor's degree in health administration. On-the-job experience and a master's degree in health administration can help you move up the ranks.

Related Degrees:

Bachelor's degree in business administration

Master's degree in business administration (MBA)

HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTANT

Best Jobs Rank: No. 43

Average Salary: $92,000

Personal satisfaction topped the quality-of-life ratings among human resources (HR) consultants surveyed for the "Best Jobs in America."

The Job: HR consultants do everything from training employees to managing labor relations, making them extremely important to the financial success and well-being of their clients.

Education and Training: Plenty of educational options can prepare you for consulting work in this field, including a bachelor's degree in business. In this case, you can take courses covering human resources or get a concentration to augment your degree work.

Related Degrees:

Bachelor's degree in human resources

Master's in business administration (MBA)

INTENSIVE CARE UNIT NURSE

Best Jobs Rank: No. 59

Average Salary: $77,000

Nurses polled for the "Best Jobs in America" list rated personal satisfaction as one of the more appealing aspects of this career.

The Job: Registered nurses (RNs) who work in the area of critical care provide crucial services for patients afflicted with serious or acute injuries. These services include the close monitoring of patients who require extensive medication and therapy.

Education and Training: An associate's degree in nursing takes two to three years to complete, and it sets you up for a career with many options. Most RNs start out as staff nurses before choosing to work in specialized areas such as intensive care.

Related Degrees:

Diploma in nursing

Bachelor's degree in nursing

WEB DEVELOPER

Best Jobs Rank: No. 67

Average Salary: $76,000

Our reliance on the Internet means web developers are likely to be in demand for the long haul. In fact, web developers rated job growth as one of the most attractive quality-of-life aspects of this job in the "Best Jobs" survey.

The Job: Skilled web developers fuse information and technology as they supply the code for Web sites. It's a demanding but rewarding occupation that also got good marks for personal satisfaction and job flexibility.

Education and Training: An associate's degree in computer science is a great way to prepare for entry level work as a web developer. Combined with practical experience, a degree can further elevate your chances of landing job opportunities.

Related Degrees:

Associate's degree in IT & information systems

Associate's degree in graphic design

Bachelor's degree in computer programming

PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR

Best Jobs Rank: No. 84

Average Salary: $85,000

Are you a good communicator and leader with a creative side? Well, listen up. A supervisory job in public relations (PR) gives you a chance put your persona to work every day. That's the reason PR directors gave their job excellent marks for personal satisfaction in the "Best Jobs" survey.

The Job: PR directors - who are responsible for everything from press releases to full-blown campaigns - ultimately determine what kind of impression their employers project to the world.

Education and Training: Earning a bachelor's degree in communications puts you right in line for openings in this high-energy field. As marketing and promotions increasingly rely on online savvy, you'll be helped by an ability to work in an Internet environment.

Related Degrees:

Bachelor's degree in marketing

Bachelor's degree in business

Bachelor's degree in finance

*Average salary represents median pay for experienced worker with at least two to seven years in the field. All salary data is from PayScale.com.

Less job opportunities for new nurses

Economy slows jobs for new nurses

Hiring for entry-level nursing jobs is slow, but graduates still see long-term job security.

By Sarah Bruyn Jones

Josh Tucker graduated from Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke with an associate degree in nursing Friday morning.

Next week he begins a job in the critical care unit at Martinsville Memorial Hospital.

"I'm jumping right in," said Tucker, 25, of Horse Pasture. "I consider myself lucky to have a job when I finished school. It's tough this year."

Students who have flocked to nursing school with the promise of jobs are finding that the economy has made landing a position immediately after graduating this spring more challenging. Still, while the number of entry-level jobs for nursing school graduates is limited, projections of a nursing shortage still exist, boosting the long-term prospects for job security.

"This is the first year that I taught that students didn't have jobs when they left the college," said Rebecca Greer, director of the associate degree program at Jefferson. "In previous years, the majority of students had jobs at graduation. ... It's a reflection of the economy."

Greer said that the tighter job market is something that all nursing graduates are facing, including those who graduated from Jefferson with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. This year is the last that Jefferson will graduate students from the two-year associate degree program.

Other area nursing school graduates have had similar experiences.

During an annual pinning ceremony for nursing graduates at Radford University, students typically say where they are going to work, said Kim Carter, director of Radford's School of Nursing.

"A year ago, 98 percent of the class could say where they were going to work," she said. Last week only one-third of the 84 graduates who earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing had a job.

Similarly at Virginia Western Community College's associate degree in nursing program, the 43 students who graduated Friday night have also had a tougher time finding work.

"There are some graduates who already have jobs," said Shirl Lamanca, dean of Virginia Western's School of Science, Mathematics & Health Professions. "But we're finding that a lot of nurses are keeping their jobs for longer rather than retiring, and I think the job market definitely is going to be impacted by that."

Earlier this year the Virginia Department of Health Professions Healthcare Workforce Data Center released its first report surveying the state's nursing work force. The finding suggested that the economic downturn and recession had led many nurses to continue working longer than initially anticipated. In some instances older nurses are delaying retirement.

The result has been to delay the long-anticipated nursing shortage. The report found that, "If they delay retirement by as few as two years, Virginia is more likely to meet 2013-2015 demand for licensed nurses."

At Carilion Clinic, the Roanoke region's largest employer, nursing jobs are still available, but the economy has slowed the turnover of nursing positions, spokesman Eric Earnhart said.

Lamanca, Carter and Greer all said despite the current situation, the long-term job prospects for nursing graduates are strong.

"We're predicting what's going to happen once the economy improves, they will then go on and retire or go have babies as they had planned, or whatever in their life ... and then people will get hired," Carter said. "We're anticipating that this is a little slump."

It's that long-term job security that had many nursing graduates at Jefferson indicating that they aren't concerned about the current situation.

"I don't think we have to worry about getting a job," said Travis Moore, 23. "There is always going to be a need for us."

Instead of worry, most students said they were going to study and take the licensing board exam. Passing the exam gives them one more thing to add to their resumes.

"A lot of the responses I've gotten have been to call back after I pass the boards," said Kim Brittingham, 28.

While most nurses are employed by hospitals, nursing graduates are being advised to keep their options open in looking for a job.

"Maybe to get a job, it will not be the perfect job the first time," Lamanca said. "A lot of institutions will hire new graduates and then over the years they move into that perfect job situation that they are looking for. ... We tell them to look around to shop for different job opportunities."
Original article>>>

Search for work can be full-time job

As the unemployment rate rises, it's taking Hoosiers longer to find a spot in a fiercely competitive market
By Dana Hunsinger
Posted: September 1, 2008Read Comments(10)Recommend E-mail Print Share Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Yahoo Google A A This Labor Day, some Hoosiers aren't so happy to have the day off.

That's because an increasing number of them don't have jobs.

Reeling from layoffs and downsizing as companies combat a volatile economy, more than 200,000 Indiana residents are unemployed, up 40 percent from a year ago, when 143,000 were jobless.

Those Hoosiers who are out of work are staying on unemployment longer because it's becoming more difficult to find new work quickly, economists and job recruiters said.

For the first three months of this year, the average length of time on unemployment in Indiana was 13.2 weeks, compared with 12.9 weeks a year ago, according to the most recent information available from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Forty states reported longer stints.

Consequently, the job market is becoming increasingly more competitive.

"You can't rely on your resume posted on a job board," said Randy Haubner, Westfield, who is in his fifth week of searching for a sales or marketing job after being laid off. "Networking is the way to go. You have to have that connection."

In Indiana, the average stint on unemployment now has probably lengthened to 15 or 16 weeks, said Michael Hicks, director of the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University.

But Hicks said times aren't that bad, especially if you look back to the 1982 recession, when the unemployment rate hit 10 percent nationally. In July, the national seasonally adjusted rate was 5.7 percent, the highest in more than four years.

"From a historical basis, we're still in good standing," he said. "Yes, we've lost jobs, and it's taking longer to find jobs, but put that in perspective, and I wouldn't say this is something we should lose sleep over."

That's little solace to 200,000 jobless Hoosiers, including Haubner, who was the victim of downsizing at a local publishing company this summer.

"It's happening to a lot of people," said Haubner, 46, who was a vice president of marketing.

Since his layoff, he has made job hunting a full-time career, working from morning until night, sending out resumes and researching companies.

He can show measurable results to prove his skills. But he's finding it takes a bit extra to get hired in today's market.

Last week, Haubner had an interview for a sales position at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel on Rockville Road. He's had several phone and in-person interviews in recent weeks. He's hoping to be officially employed by the end of September.

That may be easier said than done, even for outstanding job candidates. Employees and employers don't seem to be connecting.

On a scale of 1 to 5, workers rate the level of challenge in finding a job at 3.56, while employers rate finding qualified candidates at 3.47, according to a study done for staffing and consulting firm Robert Half International and job search Web site CareerBuilder .com.

"A dual hiring environment seems to be taking shape," said Max Messmer, chairman and chief executive of Robert Half International. "Job seekers in some fields are competing aggressively for open positions, giving employers the edge in those segments of the hiring market."

Job seekers on the rise
Although the number of job seekers is increasing, local companies say they are having a tough time finding qualified candidates.

"We do often talk about how bad the resumes are around here," said Bill Johnson, president of LeadJen, a sales and marketing company. "You'll get 500 resumes, and 490 list selling through the Burger King drive-through as their experience."

But Johnson, who recently hired a couple of new additions to his team, isn't suffering for candidates. In the past six months, he's noticed much more job networking taking place.

"I've had a lot more people call me and say: 'I have a friend looking for a job, I have a cousin, I have a friend of a friend,' " he said. "It really has been a big influx. It's probably doubled from a year ago. Why? Because the economy is a little tighter and a little tougher."

Indiana's adjusted unemployment rate in July hit 6.3 percent, topping the national rate.

Gary Abell, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said the state was struck by extended seasonal temporary layoffs.

Many companies in the automotive and RV industries shut down for two or three weeks around the Fourth of July holiday. This year, many extended that a week or two, Abell said.

Deluged by resumes
The job-search deluge has been particularly noticeable at Columbus-based Cummins. In the past seven months, Cummins received 30,708 resumes, or 4,387 per month.

"(It) actually took me a bit by surprise," said Andy Pajakowski, Cummins' director of college recruiting and interim director for U.S. recruiting.

But he's not completely shocked. As other companies lay off workers, Cummins often sees those displaced employees migrating to Cummins for work, Pajakowski said.

For example, Michigan-based Delphi announced plans to lay off more than 10 percent of its salaried employees in Kokomo last month after a 32 percent drop in second-quarter U.S. sales. It affected about 300 workers, and Cummins watched the resumes pour in.

That puts Pajakowski in the driver's seat, with his pick of just the right candidate.

And he has some advice for workers on the job hunt. Be passionate about the job, know the company you are applying for and, if possible, get a referral.

It always helps to have your name recommended by someone at the company who is willing to stick their neck out for you.

"Instead of being one in a pile of 300 resumes, you are now one in a pile of 20," said Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University in Boston. "Networking is the most underutilized tool in the job search."

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What are the best and worst jobs ?

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
JANUARY 5, 2011, 8:50 A.M. ET
By JOE LIGHT

Software engineer Jesse Severe says he can pretty much throw a dart on a map and find a job. The 41-year-old from San Diego says he's contacted by headhunters at least once a month, at times has been able to work from home for half his workweek and makes a comfortable living.

All those factors and others landed software engineer in the No. 1 spot on a newly-released study of the 200 best and worst jobs by CareerCast.com, a career website owned by Adicio Inc. (Until last year, Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. held a minority stake in Adicio.)

CareerCast rated 200 jobs based on income, working environment, stress, physical demands and job outlook, based on data from the Labor Dept. and U.S. Census and researchers' own expertise.

Software engineer overtook last year's top job, actuary, which fell to number 3, behind mathematician. The rise was mainly due to a robust hiring outlook, attributable in part to the rising popularity of social media and mobile applications, said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast and JobsRated.com. Last year, software engineer placed second.

Mr. Severe, who helps design flight-training software at ProFlight LLC, started out in the 1990s as a graphic designer, but moved into software design after seeing how much money his computer programming colleagues made.

"My job's flexible, pays well and gives [me] a lot of job satisfaction," he says.

Mr. Severe says his salary is in line with what most software engineers at his level earn. Most earn a typical mid-level income of about $87,000 and top out at $132,000, according to the study, putting them in the top 25 of all professions by income.

The highest-paid job was surgeon, with a typical midlevel income of $365,000 and a top-level salary of $440,000. The lowest paid were bartenders, waiters, cashiers and dishwashers, all of which make about $18,000 per year at mid-level.

In addition to the typical rewards of a high salary at a stable company, some software engineers dream of hitting it big with their own company. Del Stewart, 49, of Escondido, Calif. founded his own software company, OCI Retail Computer Sciences, in 1984 and is now starting a new company webCommuniti.com, a social networking website, that he's bringing online this month. Revenue at OCI, which helps video rental companies manage sales and inventory, topped out at about $2 million, per year in the mid-1990s, but has petered out with that industry, Mr. Stewart says.

Founding a new company "is a challenge, but that's why entrepreneurs do it. It's like asking a boxer if he's happy getting himself beat to death. It's stressful, but it's also fulfilling," he says.

Some software engineers say it can be difficult to stay current on all the computer languages companies want employees to know. "You can't think that you'll learn a skill now and that it will still be relevant in six months," says Mr. Severe.

The job can also be lonely. Many software engineers are able to work from home and have flexible hours, but that can mean they spend long hours without interacting with colleagues, he says. "The isolation and being chained to your desk can get to you a bit," he says.

Software engineer was the 15th-least stressful job in the study, based on factors such as deadlines, quotas and required precision.

The least stressful job, according to the study, was that of a bookbinder--though not all bookbinders would agree.

Jack Fitterer, 58, a bookbinder in Indian Lake, N.Y., says he's able to manage the challenges of his work by making sure he never embarks on a project he can't perform.

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Mr. Fitterer, who specializes in restoration, says his days typically involve rebuilding the deteriorated bindings of old books, some of which date back to the 15th century. That means if he makes a mistake, the work could be lost forever, he says.

"That is real stressful," says his wife, Taff, who also works in the business. "Every move you make is like 'Oh my God, I might destroy this.'" The Fitterers haven't made a mistake yet that they couldn't correct, they say.

The job won't make you rich. According to the study, the midlevel income of bookbinders is about $31,000. But Mr. Fitterer says he's never at a loss for work.

For the second year in a row, roustabout was CareerCast's lowest-rated job. Roustabouts typically do entry-level work on oil rigs and pipelines, performing tasks like general maintenance and loading and unloading trucks in an environment that can often be dangerous. On average, roustabouts make about $32,000 a year, performing one of the study's most physically demanding jobs with one of the worst career outlooks, according to CareerCast.

Still, it's not a job that most roustabouts plan to spend their whole career in, notes 23-year-old roustabout Charles Walters of Shreveport, La. After spending three years doing roustabout work, Mr. Walters plans to go back to college in the fall to complete a degree in geology. "I see it as a way to break into the oil field," he says.

And while Mr. Walters's last job was at an oil company in Louisiana, he says that if he's able to find work on an offshore oil rig, he can make three to four times the $2,000 per month he made at his last job. Mr. Walters said he's not discouraged from the job by the Deepwater Horizon explosion, but that before he accepts a new job he'll look up the company's safety record to make sure they're not getting poor reviews.

"When you go near oil, it's going to be dangerous, but we know what we're getting into," he says.

Rutgers University's Job Fair

Keywords: Rutger's job fair

Source: nj.com

Jostling for jobs: new and old grads mix at Rutgers fair

Published: Sunday, January 09, 2011

By Eliot Caroom/The Star-Ledger

Students in line Thursday at the annual collegiate job fair at Rutgers had disconcerting company: recent graduates from colleges across the state who are still in the hunt and older job seekers jolted out of work by the recession.

“Everybody’s hiring, but not for full-time entry-level positions,” said Jorge Alfonso, 22, of Nutley, who graduated from Ramapo College in May and is currently working part time. “Part time, internships, temporary, seasonal, stuff like that.”

At least Alfonso has some work. Although the recession officially ended in 2009, unemployment in the state and nation still topped 9 percent at the end of last year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of employers at the twice-yearly job fair has ebbed and flowed with the unemployment rate over the years, and this January’s fair saw 135 employers, down by about 30 from a year ago.

“More recent graduates are coming year after year,” said Richard White, director of career services for Rutgers. “Particularly the last two years have been tough years to graduate. (Both) 2009 and 2010 were particularly difficult years where a number of students didn’t get a full-time job or got a full-time job way out of their interest area.”

The number of students reporting job offers at the time of graduation dropped from about 40 percent in good times to about 25 percent over the past several years, White said.

“There’s a deep bench of qualified people stacking up there waiting for those jobs,” said Carl Van Horn, director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. “The young people that are graduating this spring, they’re up against people who still didn’t get a job who graduated in 2010 and 2009, plus they’re competing against older people who have been laid off.”

Some of those older job seekers were at the fair, like Ray Snyder, a Randolph man who preferred not to give his age, but graduated from Ursinus College near Philadelphia in 1982.

Snyder, a marketing manager, became unemployed in August 2007 and was surprised by the brutal job market.

“I find a lot of times I’m seeing entry-level positions, and that’s just not acceptable to me,” Snyder said. “It’s not been pleasant to try to find full-time employment.”

The bleak market has forced some recent college graduates to change their career paths before even landing a first job.

Jean Cineas, 26, of Summit graduated from Kean University in 2008 with a degree in criminal justice but couldn’t find work.

“There was pretty much nothing out there, really,” Cineas said.

So he went back to Kean and will graduate this May with a degree in accounting.

“Everybody needs an accountant,” Cineas said.

Many of the companies that were at Rutgers said they intend to hire in the coming year.

“We’re looking for two specific positions,” said Ryan Laughlin, who was recruiting for Horiba Scientific, an Edison-based spectroscope manufacturer. “The first person who walked up seems perfect for one of the positions.”

Both computer programming and marketing jobs were available at the booth for SaaShr.com, a Branchburg payroll and human resources software company.

Mark Fortin, a project manager, said the small company has tripled in size since he was hired in 2007.

He invited Lamar Murray, 21, a senior at Rutgers double-majoring in computer science and information technology, to Branchburg for a technical evaluation, which Fortin said could lead to an interview and maybe a job.

“In the computer science field, the development field, it’s always growing,” Murray said after he talked to Fortin.

While technical skills like programming and accounting were sought after by many employers at the fair, jobs are harder to come by for traditional liberal arts majors, according to college officials and recent graduates.

“It’s a little insane,” said Nicole Chapla, 24, a senior majoring in communications at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania who has attended three job fairs in recent months. “Definitely if you’re a graduate with a bachelor’s of arts, it’s a lot more difficult to find a job.”

A crowd of mostly liberal arts majors swarmed the table for the Peace Corps at the fair.

“I’m exhausted,” said Peace Corps staffer Ciara Johnson. “The line went around the corner.”

Among those at her table was Katie Marinello, 22, of Montville, an English major who said she didn’t regret her major.

“I think you can do anything with an English major,” said Marinello, who attends at Trinity College in Connecticut. “It’s what I wanted to do. Honestly, I’m supposed to be scared, but I’m not that nervous yet.”

Even with intense competition for jobs, many at the Rutgers fair still had hope ­— or at least their game faces on.

That included Valentina Petrenko, 22, of Fair Lawn, who graduated from Rutgers in May 2010 with a degree in public health.

After her first six months of job hunting, she remains optimistic.

“When you look, eventually you find something,” Petrenko said. “I’m not disheartened.”

Eliot Caroom: (973) 392-7919 or ecaroom@starledger.com

Rising tide of unemployed graduates try to market skills

Source: USA Today
By Christine Dugas, USA TODAY

Graduates are finding out that a college degree is no longer the ticket to the American Dream and that they must quickly learn how to promote themselves in the competitive job market.

When Kevin Holt, 23, graduated from California Lutheran University this year, he thought that he had done everything right and had a good shot at getting a job. He had worked hard in college and graduated with honors.

Six months after Holt had received a bachelors degree in communication, he is still looking for work. "It's daunting," he says. "You feel like you're going after everything and soon there are no more opportunities to even look for." Holt, who lives in Thousand Oaks, Calif., hasn't given up, though he is considering moving to Iowa or Minnesota, where family members live, to find a job.

He's one of a growing number of frustrated job hunters sporting newly minted degrees. The unemployment rate of Americans aged 20 to 24, has climbed from 8.5% in 2007 to 15% this year at a time the overall unemployment rate hovers just below 10%, according to BLS. And adding to the pressure to get a job, graduates on average are starting out with $24,000 in student loan debt, according to a new report about 2009 from The Project on Student Debt.

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That's why experts say it's important now more than ever for graduates to learn the best job hunting skills and avoid the mistakes as they compete with the many experienced workers who are also unemployed. Some tips:

•Attend career fairs and networking meetings. Don't just rely on online job applications or a single mentor.

Applying for jobs online is very time consuming with little payoff. "Graduates send out hundreds, if not thousands of resumes online and they rarely get a response to any of them," says Lesley Mitler, president of Priority Candidates, which helps prepare graduates for the job hunt. "It leads to a lot of discouragement and depression."

Dina Wulinsky, a career counselor at Penn State York, says networking is how roughly 70% of jobs are found. Graduates should develop a list of people to talk to — from friends, family, and neighbors to workers they met during an internship program, teachers and professional online resources. LinkedIn is an online networking tool that helps graduates make connections to other people, she says.

•Take advantage of the campus career services office or resources. "Our campus has a specific job search tool for students and alumni and other schools might have that as well," says Wulinsky.

You also can hire a coach to provide skills. After Kim Bodson, 24, graduated from Boston College in 2008 her father decided to hire Priority Candidates as a graduation gift for her. While meeting with them, Bodson revamped her resume, practiced mock interviews, and focused on networking. After a networking meeting, she landed a job in October and started working for a magazine as an advertising assistant.

•Make your resume stand out and don't just crank out the standard fare. "It becomes a perfunctory part of the job process," says David Pinkley, founder of The Resume Sage, a job-search coach. Often graduates just rely on a friend or colleague's resume as a model.

Instead, take time to be introspective, Pinkley says. Even if you don't have much of a job history to include, you can mention summer jobs, internships, and leadership in extra-curricular activities and anything that highlights strengths.

You should write a cover letter for different types of job openings and try to tweak your resume to show you are a good fit, Pinkley says.

•Do plenty of research. Majoring in the field you're targeting isn't enough. "Few graduates even pick up a newspaper," Mitler says. "They should be reading newspapers, periodicals, relevant books and watching cable TV shows that address issues in areas of their interest." Being on top of current events in the business can show that you have a passion for the industry.

•Consider doing an internship — even if you've already graduated. If you have applied to hundred of jobs with no success, consider applying for an internship. Not all are just available to college students. Holt, who had an internship with a marketing director for a nutraceutical company when he was a student, now is applying for another one while he looks for work.

"Recent graduates are looking for internships to break into an industry and start their career," says Carolyn C. Wise, senior education editor at Vault.com, a career information firm. "There are thousands of internships across the country and they are so diverse."

•Consider relocating. Different parts of the nation can offer more entry level jobs. For example, there has been a rebound in the Midwest.

"They've been down for awhile and so they are coming off a low bottom, especially Michigan and Ohio," says Phil Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.

•And finally, be realistic. During the dot-com boom salaries got out of control but now pay is being adjusted downward, Gardner says.

Thomas Casey, 23, who graduated from Penn State University in December, applied for more than 400 job applications until he was recently hired by Scottrade as a portfolio technician. ?I had to settle with a lower salary than what I want,? Casey says. ?But it?s a good start and I?m happy to be within my field.?

MBA Job Outlook Improving

By Alison Damas

Recruiters are skittish and the job market is more competitive than ever, but career services directors say this year may be the year of the turnaround

This year's class of MBAs arrived on campus in September expecting a challenging fall recruiting season and now many are bracing themselves for an even tougher spring ahead. One of them is Aashini Shah, an MBA student looking for a job in the entertainment industry, who is feeling the pressure because most movie studios and entertainment companies don't hire until the spring. To get an edge, she's spent every spare moment she has networking with alumni, going on informational interviews, and keeping in touch with the contacts she made last summer, she says.

"It is slightly nerve-wracking now in the sense that there are only going to be so many positions available and that there are many people from the class of '09 that are still unemployed," says Shah, 29, a second-year student at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business (Marshall Full-Time MBA Profile), who interned at Disney (DIS) last summer. "Not only will you be vying with your own classmates, but you are vying with the class behind you for the same job."

With uncertainty about the economic recovery looming, students trying to secure full-time offers are entering a job climate that looks eerily similar to last year's brutal MBA job market, career services officers say. Compounding the problem, fewer second-year students came back this fall with full-time job offers from their internships, they say, making an already tight job market even more competitive. This fall, recruiters continued to shy away from campus and many are being cautious about hiring, according to a recent survey of 78 business schools by the MBA Career Services Council (MBA CSC), the umbrella group for business school career placement officers. Recruiting remains down, with 79% of schools reporting a decline in on-campus recruiting for full-time MBA jobs in the fall of 2009, the same number as the previous year. To assist students, career services officers are using many of the same tactics they used last year to dig up jobs. They're cold-calling recruiters, adding executives in residence to counsel MBAs, and tapping into alumni networks. Meanwhile, they're preparing students to seize on what they believe could be a last-minute flood of job opportunities that they expect will emerge closer to graduation.
Encouraging Signs

At the same time, there are a number of signs that the MBA job market could improve, albeit slightly, in the coming months and a growing sense of optimism prevails among career services officers, says Kip Harrell, president of the MBA CSC. According to his group's survey, full-time MBA job postings appear to be rebounding; 34% of schools reported an increase in full-time postings this fall. And, perhaps even more important, fewer schools are reporting declines, with 48% of schools seeing a reduction in full-time postings, as compared with 70% of schools last year.

The still-shaky job market is a bitter pill for many MBA students, who came to B-school 18 months ago in the hope that the recession would be long gone by graduation and are now finding that it isn't. The surge in B-school applications at the start of the downturn was one of the biggest on record, as many fled the uncertainty of the job market for what they viewed as a surefire career boost and six-figure salary. Today, that all seems like a cruel joke, but on campus a fragile optimism prevails. "We are seeing signs that the economy is turning around, so the mood at business schools now is that everyone is waiting with lots of hope," says Harrell.

Another bright spot is that internship opportunities for first-year students may be bouncing back. In the survey by the MBA CSC, 31% of career services officers say they expect internship recruiting activity to be down, while 33% expect it to be up and 36% expect it to be flat. Last year at this time, 62% of career services officers said they expected internship activity to be down.

"It is definitely an improvement over last year," says Harrell, vice-president for professional and career management at the Thunderbird School of Global Management (Thunderbird Full-Time MBA Profile). "We do expect the internship process to run longer than usual this year, with some just-in-time internships coming up going into the summer."

Many first-year students came into business school this fall anticipating that it would be difficult to land an internship, says Joyce Rothenberg, director of the Career Management Center at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management (Owen Full-Time MBA Profile). With fewer recruiters visiting campus, she encouraged her first-year students to attend national MBA conferences this fall, venues where they would get exposure to a larger cohort of companies. Some students decided to take her advice; she had a group of 25 first-year students go to the National Society of Hispanic MBAs Conference this fall, some of whom were able to secure job leads and internship offers, she says.

"I think my first-year students were expecting it to be tough, so they've been more creative about their internship searches," she says.
"Cautiously Optimistic"

On the full-time job front, career services officers say they are encouraged by small signs of progress. Michelle Antonio, director of MBA career management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (Wharton Full-Time MBA Profile), says she has seen double-digit growth in off-campus job postings on the school's job board, despite a slight decline in the number of employers that came to campus this fall. Another encouraging sign? More second-year students appear to have accepted full-time job offers now than last year at this time; of those, many have come from on-campus recruiting opportunities, she notes.

"I think it definitely looks and feels healthier than it did last year," she says. "I'm cautiously optimistic that come spring, things will look better than they did last year."

At the Marshall School, on-campus recruiting has been down about 15% to 20% so far this academic year, says Pete Giulioni, executive director of Marshall's Keenan MBA Career Resource Center. With tighter budgets, some recruiters are taking a different approach to finding talent, he says. For example, rather than come to campus, recruiters with openings are calling him directly and asking him to send them a package of student résumés.

"The spigot hasn't been turned off, so to speak, but employers are being much more cautious and very deliberate about their hiring and hiring patterns," he says.

Ken Keeley, executive director of the Career Opportunities Center at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business (Tepper Full-Time MBA Profile), has been keeping a close eye on the MBA hiring scene. He runs a program on his computer every Friday that tracks job and internship placement figures for students. As of Jan. 22, there were 71 companies that made full-time offers to second-year MBA students, the same number as last year, Keeley says. But of this year's second-year class, 44% have received job offers, down from 61% last year, said Keeley, noting that those numbers are slightly skewed because this year's graduating MBA class has 43 additional students.
"We've Hit the Employment Bottom"

Meanwhile, starting salaries are down slightly, with offers now averaging $103,382, down about $700 from last year. Says Keeley: "My take would be that we've hit the employment bottom, unless something dramatically changes in the next few months."

Like many career services officers, he's expecting that there will be more recruiters who will want to interview students come March and April. And he's aggressively taking steps to ensure that students get a chance to meet with them, organizing the school's first-ever spring break career fairs in New York and San Francisco this March.

"We're going to try to capture some of that just-in-time recruiting activity by going back to the New York and West Coast markets on our own," he says. "There will still be a lot of good students available in March, April, and May, so we are going to make it as easy as possible for companies that might want to recruit students."

Career services directors' hunches may not be so far off. Nearly 70% of MBA recruiters expect that their business will improve in 2010, according to a recent survey of 317 employers conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which administers the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Meanwhile, more than one-third of employers, 35%, said they plan to hire more recent MBA graduates in 2010 than they did in 2009, while 45% say they plan to hire the same number of MBAs this year and only 20% say they expect to reduce MBA hiring. A year ago, the estimates were far more downbeat, with only 19% of employers surveyed by GMAC predicting an increase in MBA hiring.
Busy Spring Expected

Recruiters say they are in the midst of finalizing their employment projections for the year, but many expect a busy spring hiring season ahead.

Susan Shald, director of talent sourcing for Gallup Inc.'s consulting division, says she expects her firm to continue to hire MBA students this spring, especially in key areas like business development. While the firm has cut back on some "less significant campus visits" in the last year, she says she's moving forward with plans to visit several schools this spring, including the Marshall School, the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business (Haas Full-Time MBA Profile) and the UCLA Anderson School of Management (Anderson Full-Time MBA Profile).

"I think the fall was a bit tighter, but I am seeing things pick up a bit. We are seeing an increase in need for our services and, as a result, we have more postings," she says.

Ann Nowak, director of recruiting for professional programs at Liberty Mutual Group Inc. (LMG), the policyholder-owned property and casualty insurer, says her company is also still hiring, but that the competition for the company's openings is stiff. Unlike some recruiters, Nowak says she has not cut back on her recruiting schedule at all this year. Rather, she has used this fall's quiet recruiting season as an opportunity to introduce more students to her company and, as a result, has done more work with the company's core schools.

"We have more opportunities, but the flip side is that we are seeing a tremendous uptick in the number of applications for positions," says Nowak, noting that her company is receiving about 1,000 résumés a day for job openings, up from 350 a day last year. "MBA students have always had to be really good, but now you have to be even better in how you approach the company."
Staying on Recruiters' Radar

That's advice that many MBA students still looking for jobs are taking seriously as they continue their job hunts. Christopher McFall, a second-year MBA student at the Wharton School, is looking for a job in the real estate industry, a sector that has been particularly hard-hit by the economic downturn. He was able to secure a paid internship at a real estate firm in New York last summer—most of his peers had to take unpaid ones—but did not receive a full-time offer after the internship.

Most real estate companies don't hire until the spring, so he has been trying to stay on recruiters' radar in the meantime, says McFall, co-president of Wharton's Real Estate Club. He typically goes to New York at least twice a month to meet with companies, and last week attended a real estate career fair on campus. There were about 40 to 50 recruiters at the fair, down from last year's 70. Many of the recruiters encouraged him to keep in touch, but told him they are not hiring yet; others said they were still not clear on their needs.

Despite the uncertainty, McFall says he is still determined to pursue his dream job—as an acquisition manager at a large property owner—even if it takes him a little longer than he'd like.

"I would say I have good days where I feel great about what I'm doing and I have bad days when I wake up and think about all my friends who have concrete plans for next year and panic a little bit," he says. "But the more I talk with people and the more meetings I have with professionals in my industry, the better I feel about waiting it out."

How a recent college graduate can go about getting a first job. By Lily Garcia

How can you get a job with a bachelor's degree when people won't hire you without experience? How can you get the experience if no one will hire you without it?

You ask, in essence, how you a recent college graduate can go about getting a first job. In good economic times and bad, the best answer to that question has always been the same: Start at the bottom.

Having invested at least four years of your life and paid or borrowed possibly tens of thousands of dollars, you have a right to expect a more encouraging answer than that. But I am only telling you the truth.

Sure, there are fortunate and capable recent college grads who manage to secure enviable first jobs through networking, perseverance, or even sheer luck. I don't think that you should rule out the possibility of finding a first job that fulfills your expectations by leveraging your professional network (which you do have, even if you are just starting out, in the form of friends, relatives, relatives of friends, alma mater alumnae, former mall job bosses, etc.) and diligently sending out applications.

If you don't have the luxury of time, however, I would suggest that you open your mind to the possibility of a job in which you had not necessarily envisioned yourself. My first job after college, for example, was as a part-time restaurant hostess. I humbly removed my crown of laurels and got to work because I had to. There were student loans to pay and, even though I was able to move back with my parents for a time, I could not afford to be picky about how I made money. Unexpectedly, that job led to a higher paying full-time job in the administrative office of the restaurant's operating company. Had I not left to go to graduate school, I could have easily leveraged that position into other opportunities working for more selective employers who might not have hired me without direct experience.

Every entry level job, blue collar or white, has a manager. And that manager probably has a manager who supervises other functions that might ultimately interest you. As you continue your job search, do not lose sight of your career goals, but shift your focus for the moment to finding the right employer rather than the right job. Once you are in, you will have the chance to prove yourself and later aspire to other jobs that better fit your self-image. Even if you are hired to unclog the toilets, I can guarantee you that your employer would sooner hire you ¿ a known quantity ¿ for that cool new position in the Marketing department than a complete stranger from a job board.

There are certainly many far more compelling professional success stories that mine. For inspiration, you might want to read the biographies of Oprah Winfrey, Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, J.K. Rowling, and others who have excelled remarkably against the odds. My point is just that you have to start somewhere and that the alchemy of hard work and time will eventually create for you the opportunities that you are now missing.

Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.
Original article>>>

Unemployment in Georgia

State strives to improve bleak picture

By By Laura Raines

On June 6, the Ball Metal Food & Household Products company in Tallapoosa began laying off workers. By year's end, the aerosol-can plant will shut down, and 250 employees will be out of work.

On June 12, Carolyn Barrett, an employment consultant with the Georgia Department of Labor, set up a transition center at the plant. As part of the state Labor Department's Rapid Response Team, she will be there to help workers file for unemployment compensation, search for jobs, and explore educational and retraining options, so that they can get back to work as quickly as possible.

"We're here to give them good information and hope. The purpose is to help them get back to where they want to be — to find another job, or, if it appears that their type of work is slowing down, to talk to them about retraining resources," Barrett said.

The Rapid Response Team partners with other organizations, such as the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Workforce Investment Board.

At first, workers have that "blank, don't-know-where-to-turn stare," but the response team will tell them what they need to know. "The next time I see them, they'll have lots of questions, because they'll have started to think about their future," she said.

"If you have to lose your job, Georgia is the best place to do it," said Michael L. Thurmond, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor. "While other states are getting out of the rapid response business, we're stepping up our efforts to give more assistance to job-seekers. We bundle resources and go in as a team with other agencies to help workers and communities."

Thurmond knows that, when a large plant closes in a small town, everyone is affected.

"We want people to know that there is a state agency there willing and able to help them, to give them a head start with the transition," he said.

Among the other tools that the Labor Department uses to help people find jobs are GeorgiaJobTV, a year-round television program that lists job openings and resources by region; an annual televised job fair on Georgia Public Broadcasting (today, 2 to 4 p.m.); and innovative training programs, like Georgia Works.

These approaches work. The national average time from job loss to a new job is 17.3 weeks; the Georgia average is 11.4 weeks. "We're a national leader in getting back to work quicker," Thurmond said.

North Georgia hit hard

The Labor Department plans to keep the Ball Metal transition center open until people stop coming. The department ran a transition center at the Mohawk Industries plant in Dahlonega until it closed on June 6. The 50-year-old plant employed 366 people to make fiber for carpets.

"We had taken unemployment forms for the workers to fill out on site; brought in a professional team to help them rewrite their résumés; and made them aware of local job postings. When we left Mohawk, I felt like there was nothing else we could have done," Barrett said.

"They even helped the community organize a job fair that brought in 45 to 50 employers," said Bruce Abraham, executive director of the Lumpkin County Development Authority.

Mohawk Industries had been the biggest private employer in Lumpkin County.

"Between 2004 and 2008, there have been 9,000 layoffs in the 25 counties of North Georgia, and most of those have been in manufacturing," Abraham said.

Previously, Lumpkin County had a strong employment base in manufacturing of about 17 percent. That figure has dropped closer to the state average of 11 percent.

Recently, North Georgia has seen some of the state's highest unemployment figures, Thurmond said. The area's woes mirror national and state losses. The nation's jobless rate rose to 5.5 percent in May (from 5 percent in April), the largest jump in seasonally adjusted unemployment in 33 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Georgia's unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in May, up from 5.3 percent in April. In Georgia, the total number of people receiving unemployment insurance benefits was up by 37.4 percent from last year — from 54,580 in May 2007 to 74,981 in May 2008.

"For the past three months, our unemployment rate has run at or above the national level, and we expect that trend to continue," Thurmond said. "Since I came in 1999, I have not seen a tougher economic period, and we've come through 9/11, the dot-com bust and [Hurricane] Katrina."

Coast isn't clear

Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, predicted that Georgia's jobless rate will rise to 6 percent, with the state losing 7,000 jobs this year. According to the Georgia Department of Labor Business Layoff/Closure Log, which lists mostly large layoffs or closures, 5,840 workers were laid off from Jan. 1 to June 10 this year.

Employers as well as job-seekers are struggling with a challenging job market, Thurmond said.

"When fixed costs [such as gas and transportation] go up, the only place for companies to find savings is with the work force. Employers are trying to squeeze out profits from a difficult economy," he said.

In May, Georgia lost 3,000 jobs in the accommodations and food services, retail trade, and construction sectors. Another 4,000 were shed from professional and technical administration, waste services, and temporary agencies. Wholesale trade, health care and social assistance services also lost jobs.

There were more than 10,000 employment insurance claims in manufacturing, with makers of household fixtures, such as carpet, especially affected.

Long-term unemployed

The Labor Department looks closely at the number of long-term unemployed — people still out of work after their six months of unemployment benefits run out.

"That's a critical number and provides greater insight into the job market than initial claims," Thurmond said. "We're seeing an increasingly larger number. There are 42,000 Georgians who have been unemployed more than 26 weeks."

Workers with more education and experience have a tougher challenge than entry-level workers. After being downsized from middle management or highly specialized jobs, they are looking for comparable jobs with the same high salaries and benefits.

"We're seeing a lot more job candidates," said Teela Jackson, a senior consultant with Talent Connections, an Atlanta recruiting firm. "In mid-January our call volume spiked tremendously from individuals who have been downsized — many from the residential building, mortgage or retail industries."

More candidates are competing for fewer job opportunities, and the hiring process is taking longer, she said. Experts call it a period of diminishing growth.

The bright side

"One of the good things about a down economy is that it provokes people to be creative. We're seeing a surge of entrepreneurial spirit," Jackson said.

More people are starting their own businesses, and development agencies have stepped up their job-creation efforts.

"We've had good luck lately recruiting auto manufacturer supply companies to Georgia," said Maggie Large, communications specialist with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

DongNam Tech, a South Korean manufacturer of carpeting and floor mats, plans to open a plant in Columbus that will add 350 jobs. Glovis, a top-tier supplier to Kia, plans to open a facility in West Point that will hire 600 workers. Suniva, Georgia's first solar-cell manufacturer, will add 100 jobs in Norcross.

To date, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has attracted 27 companies that will bring 3,000 new jobs to the state this year. It recently opened the Georgia Business Advisory Center Co. in China to attract Chinese companies and help Georgia companies export goods abroad.

Other bright spots around the state include growth in Columbus around the expansion of Fort Benning; plans for the Beltline around Atlanta; and Georgia's bustling port activity in Savannah and Brunswick, Thurmond said.

Lumpkin and four other North Georgia counties — Forsyth, Dawson, White and Union — have begun to think outside the box.

"We could keep chasing new manufacturers to replace those we're losing, but we don't really have the road or rail system up here to compete for large manufacturers," Abraham said.

Instead, the five counties have started an initiative to bring fiber-optic infrastructure to North Georgia.

"Atlanta is the most wired place in the state, but it stops around Windward Parkway," Abraham said. "The state has already funded an initial study to extend fiber-optic cable up Ga. 400 to the state line."

He believes that increased bandwidth can bring higher-paying jobs by attracting data communication and call centers and can enable boutique technology companies to settle in the mountains.

"We're betting that our area [university system and technical] colleges can provide the technology know-how for a new generation of jobs," he said.

In the meantime, the development authority has teamed with Windstream Cable Television to bring the GeorgiaJobTV program to the area, so residents will know about job openings and resources.

The Labor Department is doing its part to meet the need. For the first time in the televised job fair's 14-year history, a portion of today's program will be broadcast from Toccoa (WNEG-TV, Channel 12). Other parts will originate from Atlanta (GPB) and Albany (WALB-TV, Channel 10).

"We get thousands of callers to this job fair every year. Every caller gets a job-search packet and has a chance to talk with career experts on the phone or over the Internet," Thurmond said.

HOW DO YOU RATE UNEMPLOYMENT IN GEORGIA COMPARE TO OTHER PLACES IN THE NATION? Post your comment(s).

New graduates, students will be facing tough market for job-seekers

A resurgent stock market and an increase in the index of leading economic indicators have some analysts pointing to a rebounding economy. While these signs, along with reports that Illinois employers are beginning to hire, may be positive factors, job seekers in Southern Illinois continue to face a tight market with a few pockets of growth.

"Even though the job creation numbers are positive, they will have little effect on someone who may be unemployed right now," Greg Rivara, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security, said. "Even though we've had three consecutive months of job growth, we had nearly two years of losses leading up to it."

Rivara said while nothing short of a new job feels good to someone who hasn't worked in a while, things will get better. "The three months of growth is a positive sign, we just don't know how positive yet," he said. "In the grand scheme of things it will be good news."

The job market may tighten even more as spring brings students looking for summer jobs and new graduates-both high school and college-into the mix.

Toby Misner, guidance counselor at Marion High School, said students who are looking for summer work are not finding it.

"We think summer employment is going to be limited, so we're pushing students to be eager to take any job, even if they are jobs the kids weren't originally interested in, maybe mowing lawns, fast food and babysitting," he explained. "We're telling them that they need to look at those fields."

Misner said with high levels of unemployment, many students are competing for jobs not only with other teenagers, but also with adults.

"Right now, a job is a job both for students and for adults," he said.

It's not just seasonal employment that is tough to find. Misner said students choosing to enter a trade or work after graduation are struggling to find employment.

"We're not hearing of a lot of them already lining up jobs. We have a lot of kids hoping and praying for something," he added.

The situation is no better for college students. Rob Miller, a sophomore from Johnsburg studying public relations at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said he had hoped to find a part-time position in the area so he could enroll in summer classes. His inability to find summer work has caused him to change his plans.

"I applied at a bunch of places, but I didn't hear back from any of them," he said. "So, I'm not going to school this summer. Instead, I'm going home, and I'll look for something there," he said.

There are some bright spots, however. John A. Logan College placement director Lisa Hudgens said the phones are beginning to ring more often in her office with employers looking to hire - both for the summer and in permanent positions.

"It's picking up. We are seeing employers calling us with both part-time and full-time positions," she said.

Hudgens explained that growth seems to be in specialized areas. She said she's seeing opportunities in fields such as accounting, health care and dental assisting.

She said there also has been an upswing in calls from contractors and construction firms, but those increases may be seasonal in nature.

Other hiring professionals are also seeing some growth. Jill Lewis of Extra Help, a Marion staffing agency, said the number of opportunities is starting to improve.

"We believe the market is coming back," she explained. "We've had a steady increase and we think we are on the way to a recovery."

Lewis said growth is coming in a number of sectors including manufacturing, general labor and transportation. She added that many companies are hiring for full-time, temporary positions, especially clerical and light industrial jobs.

"Employers are being very careful with hiring," she said. "They do not want to hire people just to lay them off later."

However, she explained that the temporary hires can point to longer-term improvements in the job outlook.

"Typically, when you see the number of temporary employees go up, that's the first sign of an economic recovery," she said.

Recovery can be a slow process, said IDES' Rivara.

"Illinois typically follows the nation into a recession and we tend to follow the nation out of one, too," he said. "When a recovery really takes hold, it may cause confusion because the national media will be talking about it, even when we may not be feeling it here yet."

He added that the same holds true for Southern Illinois compared to the rest of the state.

"That means as we come out of the recession, we may see slower recovery in some places."

Thom Shadle of Murphysboro said he understands that an uptick in indicators for the state does not necessarily mean all across the state.

"Those numbers mean that Chicago's doing better," Shadle said. "Right now, there's not that many large employers adding staff here and the small employers are not ready to jump in yet and bring people on."

Shadle, who has more than seven years experience in marketing, was laid off from a customer service and sales position more than a year ago. He has been unable to find similar work since.

"Jobs seem to be virtually non-existent outside of the entry level," he added. "There's really just not a lot out there."

Rivara said one of the best barometers is to look at what the region's top industries are doing on the national level. Those trends may be an indicator of what is to come locally, he said. He pointed to industries such as health care, which continues to expand both on the national and regional levels.

"It's definitely a stable field," said Kristin King, employment coordinator with Southern Illinois Healthcare. "In health care right now, employment is on the rise."

That is good news for job-seekers. King said her organization has an average of 55 positions open each month. The downside is that SIH receives about 2,000 applications for those jobs.

"It's great for us to see that many people interested in health care, but it is disheartening at the same time," she said.

Regardless of the industry, Rivara said people looking for work have to be flexible.

"We encourage individuals not to look at what job they had, but rather their skills and see what other industries those fit into. It's a matter of thinking about things differently," he said.

Lewis gave an example. She shared the story of a former fast food sandwich maker who used those skills to land a job in manufacturing because of his assembly experience.

"People need to look at all of their skills and how they may fit into a completely different industry," she said.

She said it should not matter whether a job seeker is a high school senior, a new college graduate, a laid-off executive or a miner looking for a new job; everyone looking for work should apply the same approach.

"You have to broaden your outlook and see how you can apply your skills into other industries that you haven't thought about before. Limited experience in a particular field should not hold you back," she said.

Rivara said it's all a matter of approach.

"Job growth will return to all of Illinois and those individuals who have not done anything to enhance their job skills will not be in a position to re-enter the workforce when jobs are available. It's all about thinking differently."

- Les O'Dell lives in Carbondale and is a freelance writer. He regularly is published in SBJ, The Southern Illinoisan and SI Magazine.

Tweak your résumé to show employers that you're a perfect fit

By MONICA HATCHER

MARSHA HALPER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Employers are hiring, but South Florida Workforce has seen an increase in the surplus of workers seeking job placement assistance.

Rick Beasley is executive director of South Florida Workforce, an employment agency with a mission to provide "high-quality employment and training solutions to job seekers, workers, and employers to foster regional economic growth."
Audio | Interview with Rick Beasley
The economic downturn is putting a new spotlight on South Florida Workforce, one of 24 employment agencies that receives state and federal funding for training and placing workers. The agency covers Miami-Dade and Monroe counties with an operating budget of $60 million.

The implosion of Florida's once booming housing market is partly to blame, shedding thousands of jobs in construction, real estate and finance.

The state led the nation last month in the number of jobs lost, while its unemployment rate surged to 6.1 percent, its highest level since 1995, according to recent government statistics.

While the problems aren't quite as dire in South Florida -- the unemployment rate in Miami Dade County, adjusted seasonally, was 5.2 percent in July; in Broward, it was 5.8 percent -- Rick Beasley, executive director of the South Florida Workforce Investment Board told The Miami Herald he has seen an increase in the number of workers seeking job placement assistance through its 13 One Stop Career Centers.

Still, he said, there are plenty of jobs available to employees who know how to competitively market themselves within growth sectors.

Q: Florida led the nation in job losses the last three months. Has there been an influx of people to your career centers looking for work? How do your current job placement rates compare with last year's?

A: We've had a number of folks who have come in looking for employment, although we haven't had any numbers showing there was a 10 to 15 percent increase over the previous month or year.

Right now, in terms of our numbers, we don't go by rates, but by the number of placements. Compared to last year, we're down a little bit. Last year, we placed about 25,000 people. This year we're at about 23,000. That might be because of the number of jobs that are not available, or different factors.

Q: In what fields are you seeing the most employer demand for jobs? What kinds of jobs are workers demanding?

A: We put out a press release last week pointing out that in construction there were a number of job losses. However, you are still seeing that, in the areas of education and health services, jobs are still being added to the economy. In our job bank, we typically have jobs in the areas of education, health services, as well as hospitality. You are still going to see strong demand in those areas.

We're seeing more individuals in construction coming in as well as low-wage paying workers, some manufacturers that are laying off folks, but mainly from construction and manufacturing.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing employees looking for work? What challenges are employers facing?

A: If I were to give advice to folks looking for employment it is to ensure their résumé tells all the work history they have and tells the skills they have acquired on the job. Also, they should ensure they are work-ready and have the work readiness skills and the employability skills that are attractive to employers because employers are still hiring. There is more demand so more folks out there are competing for those jobs. Whereas before we had a shortage of workers, now we have a surplus of workers. Right now, what you want to be able to do is to indicate to an employer that you are a perfect fit for that company, that you can fit in to that culture, that you can fit in and be work ready and have the essential skills to help that employer be profitable.

Some of the challenges employers are looking at is finding employees who have work readiness skills. That has always been the biggest challenge and one of the things we continue to hear from employers is finding that person who can fit in into the employment culture of the organization, who can get along with others, who can show up for work, who can be a productive individual on the job. Those are the biggest challenges that we are hearing from employers.

Q: South Florida has one of the highest inflation rates in the country, adding pressure to employees who perhaps were already having a hard time making ends meet. Are people looking for second jobs or better paying jobs?

A: We are finding a whole range of people coming into the center. Typically, there is a stereotype that people coming to South Florida Career Centers or One-Stops are on welfare. That is not the case. Among people coming in are those who have [doctorate degrees] and are looking for better jobs, those who are still trying to find their first job, recent college graduates and even high school graduates. Plus, you are looking at those individuals who are looking for a second or third job because of the high cost of living here. You see a wide range of individuals, not just one market or individual profile.

Q: What does the region need to do from an employers standpoint to spur job growth?

A: I would love for employers to work with our agency to identify the essential skills [of their] employees. By allowing us to assist employers upgrade the skill sets of their existing workers, we can increase productivity.

Two, increasing the skills sets of incumbent workers affords the workers promotional opportunities and allows job seekers to come in at the entry level.

Three, working with not only government but not-for-profits allows the business community to take advantage of incentive programs to expand business growth. There are a number of programs we offer either using our Employed Worker Training [program] or [on-the-job-training program] to help employers hire more folks for jobs by reducing their labor costs.

There are several things employers can do at this time, even if they are laying folks off because of the economy. They can continue to work with our agency to help those workers find other employment. We had a wonderful event with an employer who utilized our R.E.A.C.T. [Reemployment and Emergency Assistance Coordination Team] program. I think they were laying off 60 individuals. We did a customized job fair for employers who were looking for those individuals and skill sets and on that one day got 26 of the 60 placed. Those are the services we offer. So, even if you are laying off, use our services to help those displaced workers find employment. It's good corporate citizenship.

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