By Aron Heller, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Tue, 22 Mar, 2011 8:15 AM EDT
TEL AVIV, Israel - An Israeli court ordered former Israeli President Moshe Katsav to prison for seven years Tuesday following a rape conviction, rejecting his attorneys' request for leniency and making him the highest-ranking Israeli official ever sentenced to jail.
The silver-haired Katsav remained stoic throughout most of the reading, but he broke down in tears upon hearing his sentence and screamed at the judges: "You made a mistake! It is a lie! The girls know it is a lie!"
As he exited the courtroom, two of his grown sons scuffled with security guards. "I saw you! You hurt my boy!" Katsav screamed. His lawyers vowed to appeal.
In December, the Tel Aviv District Court convicted Katsav, 65, of raping a former employee and sexually harassing two other women who used to work for him. He also was convicted of indecent acts and obstruction of justice. The rape took place before Katsav became president in 2000, while other crimes occurred after he took office.
The three-judge panel, which ruled 2-1, said Katsav's record of public service would not be weighed in his favour, accusing him instead of exploiting his position to become a sexual offender. The court ordered him to report to prison on May 8, giving him time to prepare an appeal. He must also pay fines of about $25,000 and $7,000 to two of his victims.
"The defendant committed the acts like any other person, and he must bear the punishment like any other person," Judge George Kara read from a prepared verdict. "The message leaving this courtroom has to be sharp and clear."
Tuesday's sentencing capped a dramatic fall from grace for a man who rose from humble beginnings to become a symbol of success for Mizrahi Jews, or those of Middle Eastern descent, who for years were an underclass in Israel. The presidency is a largely ceremonial office, typically filled by a respected elder statesman who is capable of rising above politics and unifying the country.
The case has also been seen as a victory for the Israeli legal system and for women's rights in a decades-long struggle to chip away at the nation's macho culture, which once permitted political and military leaders great liberties. Outside the building, a group of women held signs with a message directed toward female victims of sex crimes, "You're not alone."
The case began nearly five years ago when Katsav suddenly complained that a female employee was trying to extort him. She went to police with her side of the story, and other women came forward with similar complaints of sexual assaults.
Katsav, Israel's eighth president, resigned under public pressure two weeks before his term was to end in 2007. The current president, Nobel winner Shimon Peres, succeeded him.
Katsav repeatedly denied all allegations against him, claiming he was a victim of a political witch hunt and suggesting he was targeted because of his ethnicity. Katsav was born in Iran and immigrated to Israel as a child.
The Israeli public has been riveted by the case's twists and salacious details.
In one memorably bizarre press conference Katsav lashed out angrily at prosecutors and the media for plotting his demise, shaking in anger, waving a computer disk that he said proved his innocence and screaming. Later, he rejected a plea bargain that would have allowed him to avoid jail time.
In December, the Tel Aviv court ruled that Katsav twice raped a woman who worked for him when he served as tourism minister in the 1990s, and assaulted and harassed two other women who worked for him when he was president, from 2000 to 2007. The scathing ruling called him "manipulative" and said his testimony was riddled with lies.
The conviction brought nearly unanimous scorn for Katsav and widespread praise for a legal system that proved itself egalitarian by bringing him to justice. Katsav's supporters, mostly people from his hometown of Kiryat Malachi, have demanded an explanation about why the court chose his victims' versions of events over the former president's.
At Tuesday's sentencing, Kara said Katsav's acts harmed the public's trust in its officials and carried moral turpitude. He acknowledged that the spectacle of a former president going off to jail would be difficult, but necessary to prove that no individual is above the law.
"We can't forget that the accused is not a victim but a victimizer," he said.
Katsav's attorneys have argued that their client did not receive a fair trial because of a hostile climate created by the media. In a minority opinion, Yehudit Shevach said these circumstances and the pain caused to the Katsav family influenced her to recommend a lesser sentence of four years behind bars.
Throughout the reading, the calls of protesters outside the courtroom were heard clearly inside.
A stone-faced Katsav entered the courtroom accompanied by his sons and confidantes and would not address the media. Neither his wife Gila nor his three accusers were present.
He refused to sit in the dock until the cameras left and then erupted in anger upon hearing his sentence.
"Just because someone is quiet doesn't mean he is guilty," he cried. "It's all lies. You have committed a great injustice."
Katsav's attorney, Zion Amir, said the court trampled his client's rights.
"There are those who think the sentencing is a celebration of democracy in Israel. I think it is a sad day, a day of mourning," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni each issued statements expressing sorrow for Katsav's fate but respect for the sentencing.
5 Jobs that Pay Over $50 K a Year Without College Degree
Source: Monster
By Mark Swartz
Monster Senior Contributing Writer
Keywords: making pretty good money, Commissioned Sales
Maybe you graduated from high school and didn’t have a chance to go to college or university. You’re looking around you and lots of those people who went on to higher education are now making pretty good money. Does your lack of a formal degree really leave you frozen out of higher paying positions?
Not if you’re willing to do some legwork and put your nose to the grindstone. There are more than a few occupations you could go after. Usually you have to learn a trade or study for some other credential, but not always.
Five $50K+ Careers To Consider
You may have been thinking that higher paying jobs only go to those who have a post-secondary diploma or university degree. In fact, just over half of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 65 have this type of education. Which means that a big chunk of our workforce doesn’t.
Here are just a few of the careers that can pay over $50k a year without college or university:
Mechanic, Electrician, Plumber and 200 Other Trades
According to the careersintrades.ca website, skilled trades in a few leading sectors account for more than 25% of the total Canadian labour market:
- Manufacturing Sector: employs over 2.3 million
- Construction Sector: employs approximately 775,000
- Automotive Repair and Service Sector: employs over 250,000
- Mining Sector and Petroleum Sector: employ approximately 500,000
For many of the skilled trades you’ll need to undergo an apprenticeship. This is a two to five year period in which you are paid to learn the ropes and earn your certification under the guiding hand of trained tradespeople.
There is an expected shortage of skilled tradespeople over the next decade as older workers retire in large numbers. Why not check out this option now?
Commissioned Sales
Do you love the idea of having unlimited earnings potential? Are you the kind of person that doesn’t shy away from closing a sale with people or organizations?
If so then commissioned sales might be a career path to explore. The great thing about this field is that you end up earning what you’re able to produce. You get paid a percentage of every sale you make, so the more you sell, the more money you make.
Jobs of this kind are found in just about every industry and sector you can think of. Real estate, automobiles, retail, computers...this barely scratches the surface of your opportunities.
One downside is that you have to keep meeting sales targets set by your manager. This can lead to high pressure and the temptation to push beyond ethical boundaries. On the other hand, if you can learn how to put yourself in the shoes of your customers, you can develop a reputation for being a helpful problem solver who earns his or her keep by consistently providing useful solutions.
Artist/Musician/Writer and Other Creative Pursuits
You play a mean guitar. Or you dance like an angel. Possibly you have the ability to create graphics, or written material, that others find interesting.
You might well be an artist in the making. That being the case, you have something to offer employers in a wide range of industries and sectors.
In the case of graphics, advertising agencies and marketing firms need people who can produce attractive images, be they hand drawn or computer generated. Meanwhile fashion houses need talented designers.
Writers can make a decent living doing technical writing, journalism, or Web columns for established sites. And musicians can do work for advertising agencies when a song or tune is needed in commercials, when they aren’t performing for live audiences at clubs and bars.
Entrepreneur/Self-Employed
Being self-employed begins with an idea you have, and moves forward with the energy you devote to making things happen.
Mary Kay Ash (Mary Kay Cosmetics), Simon Cowell (founder of American Idol), Walt Disney (Disney World), Bill Gates (Microsoft): all of these hugely successful entrepreneurs made their fortunes without a post secondary degree.
Between 12% to 18% of the Canadian workforce, based on how the economy is doing, makes its living through employment independence. You can join this group by becoming an entrepreneur who starts a business or not for profit, being a consultant who sells their expertise, or working as a “jobber” who represents a variety of products or services that other people have developed.
Truck or Taxi Driver
If you’re a trucker, the magic of an open roadway sends a shiver down your spine. Shifting gears and making turns that a typical car driver would be terrified of give you an adrenaline burst.
As a cabbie, you take pride in knowing local routes and being able to deliver your passengers safely and on time.
In either case your ability to drive is what sets you apart from others. No need to get an advanced degree here, though you’ll have to get an appropriate commercial license. Usually the more time you spend on the road, the higher your pay.
Open Yourself Up To Higher Paying Careers That Don’t Require Advanced Degrees
Every time you call a plumber, hail a cab, listen to a musical group that moves you, or buy something from a commissioned salesperson, it’s possible you’re dealing with a person who doesn’t have an advanced education degree.
This should tell you that the world of employment is broad and flexible. You too can earn a decent living without college or university. Work on an assembly line in a manufacturing plant. Control a trench digging vehicle. Artistically design a new clothing line or poster.
There are all sorts of jobs that pay $50k or more where you needn’t have an advanced degree. Take a look at your options and you too may be able to earn a wage beyond what you’d imagined.
Pepsi Cola no longer No. 2
Coca-Cola has top 2 spots in US soda market as Diet Coke unseats Pepsi as No. 2
The Associated Press, On Thursday March 17, 2011, 1:49 pm EDT
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Diet Coke has topped rival Pepsi-Cola for the first time to become the second-most popular soft drink in the U.S. behind Coca-Cola.
It marks a victory for Coca-Cola Co. as its sodas now hold the top two spots, beating out its longtime rival PepsiCo Inc.
Diet Coke's rise reflects a long-term trend toward diet sodas. Ten years ago, only two of the top 10 were diet sodas. Now, four are on the list: the diet versions of Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Dr Pepper.
Coca-Cola sold nearly 927 million cases of its diet soda in 2010, to Pepsi's 892 million, a report by trade publication Beverage Digest released Thursday said.
Regular Coke remains far and away the most popular soda, selling 1.6 billion cases.
Overall, U.S. soft-drink sales have fallen for six straight years as consumers switched to healthier alternatives such as juices and tea and cut back on spending in the recession.
While both Diet Coke and Pepsi sold less soda in 2010, the decline was more pronounced for Pepsi.
The downward trend in U.S. soda sales puts more pressure on the beverage companies to compete.
Coca-Cola has pumped up its traditional advertising, including online ads. PepsiCo, which has lost market share in recent years, maintained some traditional ads but also steered dollars toward it Pepsi Refresh Project, an online donation program meant to build brand awareness.
Though the Refresh Project has proven popular, some have questioned whether it actually drives soda sales.
Coca-Cola Co. sold 0.5 per cent less soda in 2010. For PepsiCo, the figure fell 2.6 per cent.
The top 10 sodas in the U.S., in order of popularity, are: Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Diet Pepsi, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr Pepper and Fanta.
The Associated Press, On Thursday March 17, 2011, 1:49 pm EDT
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Diet Coke has topped rival Pepsi-Cola for the first time to become the second-most popular soft drink in the U.S. behind Coca-Cola.
 |
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Diet Coke's rise reflects a long-term trend toward diet sodas. Ten years ago, only two of the top 10 were diet sodas. Now, four are on the list: the diet versions of Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Dr Pepper.
Coca-Cola sold nearly 927 million cases of its diet soda in 2010, to Pepsi's 892 million, a report by trade publication Beverage Digest released Thursday said.
Regular Coke remains far and away the most popular soda, selling 1.6 billion cases.
Overall, U.S. soft-drink sales have fallen for six straight years as consumers switched to healthier alternatives such as juices and tea and cut back on spending in the recession.
While both Diet Coke and Pepsi sold less soda in 2010, the decline was more pronounced for Pepsi.
The downward trend in U.S. soda sales puts more pressure on the beverage companies to compete.
Coca-Cola has pumped up its traditional advertising, including online ads. PepsiCo, which has lost market share in recent years, maintained some traditional ads but also steered dollars toward it Pepsi Refresh Project, an online donation program meant to build brand awareness.Though the Refresh Project has proven popular, some have questioned whether it actually drives soda sales.
Coca-Cola Co. sold 0.5 per cent less soda in 2010. For PepsiCo, the figure fell 2.6 per cent.
The top 10 sodas in the U.S., in order of popularity, are: Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Diet Pepsi, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr Pepper and Fanta.
Job outlook good despite stressed economy
Outside the Box
March 4, 2011, 1:48 p.m. EST
Source: Market Watch
Jobs news bright; economy still pressured
Commentary: Not enough economic activity to sustain growth
By Adam Hersh
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Economy watchers breathed a long-overdue sigh of relief Friday morning. The employment report from the U.S. Department of Labor brought the brightest economic news in a long time.
Not only did the U.S. economy add 192,000 jobs in February, but job growth in December and January was 58,000 jobs stronger than initially estimated, driving the unemployment rate below 9% for the first time in 21 months. Read MarketWatch coverage of the jobs report.
But we are still far from out of the woods. Extending this current three-month trend in jobs gains into the future means it would take the U.S. economy until 2033 to return to full employment, which economists generally believe is about a 5% unemployment rate. That’s why the positive indicators in Friday’s job numbers must be tempered with recognition of just how deep an economic hole we are still in. And that’s why House Republican plans to cut government spending are so dangerous — threatening our economy with a double-dip recession and risking the loss of nearly 1 million jobs.
The central problem crimping the living standards for working families is a lack of what economists call aggregate demand. There simply is not enough economic activity — investment and consumption by households, businesses, and government — to sustain sufficient employment growth. Back in 2007, the U.S. economy was running at near full capacity with only 5% unemployment. When the economy fell into recession in December 2007, activity slowed to 7.6% below potential, leaving a $1 trillion hole in demand.
The Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, along with Federal Reserve policies to keep interest rates low, helped to narrow the demand gap, with 1.5 million private-sector jobs added since January 2010, and millions more workers never receiving pink slips. Even still, today an $825 billion demand shortfall remains in the U.S. economy. We won’t get back to full employment until this hole is filled.
Spending by households, business, or government that brings us closer to full capacity creates jobs. So who today has the capacity to spend? Households are leveraged to the hilt. Despite improving modestly in recent years, household debt still stands at 118% of after-tax income. Credit-card defaults and foreclosures remain high, rising gas and food prices are pinching family budgets, and the still-weak labor market conditions means eroding middle-class living standards. In the most recent data, median household income stood at $49,777, its lowest level since 1997.
Some businesses are awash with cash. Corporations are sitting on a $2 trillion, and banks have nearly $1 trillion sitting idle at the Federal Reserve. Corporate profits have recovered to pre-recession levels, and corporate taxes paid are at near-historic lows.
But business investment is running at its slowest pace in any business cycle since the 1970s — not for lack of money but rather because of uncertainty about where sales growth will come from when demand from households is so fragile. In February, only 8% of small businesses thought it was a good time to expand; their dismal outlook is due to poor and uncertain economic conditions. Big businesses are more interested in using their resources for buying competitors through mergers and acquisitions than in making real job-creating investments, survey data from the Federal Reserve shows.
Which brings us to government spending. The $61 billion in funding cuts that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved by party line would slash federal programs that create jobs and economic growth now and in the future — such as K-12 education and critical infrastructure investments — as well as from programs that exist to help those hit hardest by the economic downturn, among them heating fuel assistance for low-income families. With 48 states eyeing fiscal contraction this year, Republican spending cuts just dig us deeper into the aggregate-demand hole.
The question is not whether these cuts will hurt the economy, but how badly. Private economist and former Sen. John McCain advisor Mark Zandi estimates that cuts will cost 700,000 jobs. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified this week that cuts may merely cost “hundreds of thousands” of jobs. And the Wall Street wizards at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 157.27, +1.52, +0.98%) estimate these cuts will slow economic growth by up to 2 percentage points, pushing our economy back to the brink of recession.
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None of these people are renowned bleeding hearts. But all agree that contracting aggregate demand now moves our economy in the wrong direction in terms of jobs and growth. Proponents of steep cuts argue that we can’t afford more spending, mistaken in the belief that cuts will boost growth.
The facts and more than 300 economists disagree.
Policymakers obviously need to focus on reining in the budget deficit in the long term, but not while the recovery and jobs still struggle to pick up speed. And certainly not by cutting investments in America’s future productivity and innovation.
Adam Hersh is an economist at the Center for American Progress.
March 4, 2011, 1:48 p.m. EST
Source: Market Watch
Jobs news bright; economy still pressured
Commentary: Not enough economic activity to sustain growth
By Adam Hersh
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Economy watchers breathed a long-overdue sigh of relief Friday morning. The employment report from the U.S. Department of Labor brought the brightest economic news in a long time.
|
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But we are still far from out of the woods. Extending this current three-month trend in jobs gains into the future means it would take the U.S. economy until 2033 to return to full employment, which economists generally believe is about a 5% unemployment rate. That’s why the positive indicators in Friday’s job numbers must be tempered with recognition of just how deep an economic hole we are still in. And that’s why House Republican plans to cut government spending are so dangerous — threatening our economy with a double-dip recession and risking the loss of nearly 1 million jobs.
The central problem crimping the living standards for working families is a lack of what economists call aggregate demand. There simply is not enough economic activity — investment and consumption by households, businesses, and government — to sustain sufficient employment growth. Back in 2007, the U.S. economy was running at near full capacity with only 5% unemployment. When the economy fell into recession in December 2007, activity slowed to 7.6% below potential, leaving a $1 trillion hole in demand.
The Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, along with Federal Reserve policies to keep interest rates low, helped to narrow the demand gap, with 1.5 million private-sector jobs added since January 2010, and millions more workers never receiving pink slips. Even still, today an $825 billion demand shortfall remains in the U.S. economy. We won’t get back to full employment until this hole is filled.
Spending by households, business, or government that brings us closer to full capacity creates jobs. So who today has the capacity to spend? Households are leveraged to the hilt. Despite improving modestly in recent years, household debt still stands at 118% of after-tax income. Credit-card defaults and foreclosures remain high, rising gas and food prices are pinching family budgets, and the still-weak labor market conditions means eroding middle-class living standards. In the most recent data, median household income stood at $49,777, its lowest level since 1997.Some businesses are awash with cash. Corporations are sitting on a $2 trillion, and banks have nearly $1 trillion sitting idle at the Federal Reserve. Corporate profits have recovered to pre-recession levels, and corporate taxes paid are at near-historic lows.
But business investment is running at its slowest pace in any business cycle since the 1970s — not for lack of money but rather because of uncertainty about where sales growth will come from when demand from households is so fragile. In February, only 8% of small businesses thought it was a good time to expand; their dismal outlook is due to poor and uncertain economic conditions. Big businesses are more interested in using their resources for buying competitors through mergers and acquisitions than in making real job-creating investments, survey data from the Federal Reserve shows.
Which brings us to government spending. The $61 billion in funding cuts that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved by party line would slash federal programs that create jobs and economic growth now and in the future — such as K-12 education and critical infrastructure investments — as well as from programs that exist to help those hit hardest by the economic downturn, among them heating fuel assistance for low-income families. With 48 states eyeing fiscal contraction this year, Republican spending cuts just dig us deeper into the aggregate-demand hole.The question is not whether these cuts will hurt the economy, but how badly. Private economist and former Sen. John McCain advisor Mark Zandi estimates that cuts will cost 700,000 jobs. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified this week that cuts may merely cost “hundreds of thousands” of jobs. And the Wall Street wizards at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 157.27, +1.52, +0.98%) estimate these cuts will slow economic growth by up to 2 percentage points, pushing our economy back to the brink of recession.
None of these people are renowned bleeding hearts. But all agree that contracting aggregate demand now moves our economy in the wrong direction in terms of jobs and growth. Proponents of steep cuts argue that we can’t afford more spending, mistaken in the belief that cuts will boost growth.
The facts and more than 300 economists disagree.
Policymakers obviously need to focus on reining in the budget deficit in the long term, but not while the recovery and jobs still struggle to pick up speed. And certainly not by cutting investments in America’s future productivity and innovation.
Adam Hersh is an economist at the Center for American Progress.
The Evolutionary Online MBA
Source: Campus Technology
SUNY Oswego has taken the gradual approach to building its recently launched MBA program. But behind its seemingly modest efforts, the university's ambitions lie in wait to see just how scalable the model is.
Deciding to go whole hog with an online master of business administration degree wasn't a giant step for SUNY Oswego, which launched the new MBA program in January. According to School of Business Dean Richard Skolnik, the university had been moving in that direction for years. More than half of the courses being delivered in its more traditional MBA programs were already being offered online. Once the online MBA degree was in formation, the university could focus on filling the gaps. Now the school is considering following that model to help sustain other graduate programs.
The 8,300-student Oswego, one of 13 university colleges in the 64-campus State University of New York system, has been delivering online courses for over a decade. Currently, that includes completely online undergraduate degrees in public justice and broadcasting, as well as vocational teacher preparation.
On the MBA front, the institution offers a traditional program where students meet on campus and another that's delivered during evenings at a Syracuse campus. The university also offers two five-year tracks, one for people who will pursue the certified public accountant credential and another for those pursuing a degree in psychology as well as the MBA. All of those programs offer some courses totally online or as a hybrid.
"It's not like we woke up one day and said, 'Let's do this,'" said Tammie Sullivan, director of MBA programs for the School of Business. "This has been a huge progression. I came on board a year and a half ago. We talked seriously about getting it approved and fully online then. We already had the classes built. They were being offered. Students were taking them. We just weren't formally offering [the full degree] as an online option."
So the latest iteration of MBA offering, she explained, simply has a "higher percent online." The addition will offer greater flexibility to all of Oswego's MBA students, she added, who tend to be made up of students who are holding down full-time jobs, have families, and have other commitments. Depending on a student's needs in any given semester, he or she may decide to take a mix of classes online and in the classroom. The approach, she said "is very student-centered."
In as many ways as possible, Sullivan said, Oswego wants the virtual version of its program to be exactly the same as the in-person edition. "The same classes, the same structure, the same student advisement," Sullivan said. "The only difference is the delivery of the courses."
Professional Networking
Oswego's use of technology for delivering the new program is far from cutting edge. The university is using the same course management system--Angel Learning Management System--that has been in place since 2007, and the same edition of that--version 7.4--that was released in April 2009. In May 2009 the LMS company was purchased by Blackboard. The institution has outsourced management of the LMS to the SUNY Learning Network. This is a partnership of SUNY schools that provides support for online programs in the areas of technology, user services, marketing, and pedagogy.
Without the services of the Network, said Greg Ketcham, Oswego's assistant director of distance learning and an instructional designer, getting a new online MBA program up and keeping it running would be near-impossible. "Through a subscription we've centralized IT services that give us the 'four nines' that we need for online learning," he explained. "These 'cloud' services really are a benefit that we derive from participating in the SUNY consortium." Those services include a help desk available to students seven days a week with extended hours; access to the Angel LMS; data center management by an IT organization at SUNY Buffalo; and business continuity through a mirrored site at SUNY Albany.
"We have class-one hosting facilities, which isn't something the typical college [of our size] on its own would decide to invest in," added Ketcham. "Through the consortium we can leverage resources to come up with that kind of facility and those kinds of resources."
The network also provides Ketcham and his team of instructional designers a forum for sharing knowledge and best practices with peers at other SUNY institutions, "which is a fantastic resource available to all of SUNY," he said.
There's also the marketing aspect of belonging to the network, but Oswego doesn't have control over those. Currently, the SUNY network includes references to three other online MBA programs in the system, two with specialties in IT and health services delivered by the Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome and one that's purely business-focused from Empire State College. The Oswego program will eventually be added to that roster, which makes it visible and available to anybody interested in attending a SUNY school for a degree. But even though the program has begun, it hasn't shown up on the Master Degree Programs roster yet.
Developing Faculty Online Skills
Preparing faculty to teach traditional classes online isn't something that can be handed off so easily, and that's a work-in-progress at Oswego. To start with, there are faculty who don't even use the LMS. Ketcham estimated that currently about 40 percent of "core" courses at his university tap into the functionality of Angel, and the number is growing at 20 percent year over year in face-to-face classes. That increase is important because familiarity with Angel is essential to being able to deliver online courses.
Ketcham said that while the Angel adoption among faculty has been helped along by making training sessions for the instructors available, two other factors are just as important: peer support and student demand. "We have experienced users who are happy to share their knowledge with their peers," he explained. "And when students walk into a class not using Angel, they're likely to speak up."
Besides Angel's use for its baseline functions--the sharing of course information, grades, and assignments; and allowing faculty to e-mail students individually and en masse--it has also become the de facto collaboration platform for campus committees to maintain documentation, for collection of resumes, and for student group activities and as a repository for accreditation-related materials.
Some of the more advanced instructors are also using Angel to monitor student engagement. "I can go on in a course and run a report that shows me when a student has logged in, for how long," explained Sullivan. "If a student says, 'I'm in class, I'm really struggling,' you could go in and see that they've only logged in once and they stayed online for 10 minutes. So we'd know there were other issues."
The Differences between Online and In-Person Classes
Even a decade into offering online classes, Oswego is putting a lot of attention on sorting out the unique aspects of those versus brick-and-mortar classes that somehow need to be moved online.
For example, one aspect is assessment of learning outcomes. As an example, noted Skolnik. "On written communication skills, there would probably be no change in assessing learning outcomes. But in oral communications or presentations, that has to change from presenting in person to a group to presenting in a Web environment."
In that particular case, Oswego MBA students are expected to record a presentation to share with others or do real-time Web-based presentations, such as a Webinar.
Another distinction between in-person and online courses: It's harder for an instructor to gauge audience interest and adjust the presentation on the fly. "If students are in front of you, you can read their body language," said Sullivan. "When you're online, you can only read their faces. You lose a little of that comfort."
To help faculty tweak their teaching styles, the instructional designers are working with individual instructors to help them learn how to manage their pace and add breaks in the instruction to check audience engagement.
For now presentations are primarily asynchronous, handled through threaded discussions. The instructors can set up real-time interaction with their students, handled through text-based chat. But the university is also exploring the use of products such as Blackboard's Elluminate and Skype's free video calling service to add face-time and voice-over-IP audio.
Ketcham said he is especially enthusiastic about Elluminate. "It's a really versatile platform. You can present materials in a shared whiteboard area, so you could share slides or a document; you can do real-time voice chat; you can have an IM thread running in parallel with the presentation."
The use of online video could also go a long way in helping online-only students gain a sense of a cohort. It's much tougher to feel a part of a group of people all weathering the same academic travails on their way to earning a degree if participants can't see the baggy eyes or tired expressions the morning after a major project needs to be finished. Video can communicate those aspects of the environment in a way that a threaded discussion just won't.
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But Ketcham said he also recognizes that the multi-modal aspects of the platform will present an obstacle for instructors who are still learning the basics. "Being able to manage multiple inputs of interaction with the students will be an emerging challenge overall," he said.
For that reason and others, taking on the teaching of online courses is purely voluntary for teachers at Oswego. "There are challenges of workload, challenges of wanting to connect with every single student in the online course, and realizing what that amount of data really amounts to if you try that," Ketcham observed. "Generally speaking, many faculty pass through that walking-on-fire moment. There's a level of uncertainty and doubt. But when they come through the other side in the middle or end of the semester, they have lessons learned that come into the next iteration of teaching that course again. That's really what it's all about."
"A lot of people think teaching online is easy. You don't have that interaction. You're not accessible as a faculty member," added Sullivan. "Actually I think it's just the opposite. In a traditional class, the professor is on for three hours and then done. When you're online, that professor is engaging with you 24x7."
That greater engagement is also applicable to the students. "When I was in a classroom and I had a faculty member lecturing, I wouldn't crack the book," Sullivan confessed. "I would absorb it through the lecture. Online you have to be an active learner. You're expected to do research and bring that into the discussions. You need to go out and find out what's going on in the real world and bring that in. In those ways it really engages the student on a higher level."
Ketcham concurred. "There's no place to hide in an online course. You can sit in a classroom course and not be fully present in terms of your engagement in a classroom discussion. When it moves online and there's a stated requirement--'All students must participate'--there's a leveling effect in terms of hearing the thoughts of every student and having every student actively engaged in that particular activity."
Expanding the Model
Momentum has built at Oswego for ramping up its online course offerings and developing additional online graduate degree offerings. "We recognize the opportunity and demand from adult learners," said Ketcham.
"Especially if there's a geographic dispersion of students," added Skolnik. "Then online makes a lot of sense."
In other words, going online with the traditional MBA is just the first step in offering additional online graduate degree programs in other subject areas. Skolnik said he's particularly interested to see if the online model can help build programs that need to go beyond Oswego's traditional recruitment reach, which tends to be regional.
Preliminary work for the new MBA program has examined how much time it would take for an instructional designer to support development of a new course and assisting faculty members new to online instruction. Ketcham declined to specify any particular amount of time because, as he pointed out, it's "highly situational," and depends on how complex the multimedia in the course is and how much support any given instructor needs from that instructional designer. But ultimately, he added, Oswego is quickly becoming familiar with what factors to consider and how wide to draw that sliding scale.
"The goal to build a scalable system that can react to demand," Ketcham concluded. "As we go through phases of creating new online programs as well as courses, we can create a roadmap in terms of planning and then source appropriately."
SUNY Oswego has taken the gradual approach to building its recently launched MBA program. But behind its seemingly modest efforts, the university's ambitions lie in wait to see just how scalable the model is.
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The 8,300-student Oswego, one of 13 university colleges in the 64-campus State University of New York system, has been delivering online courses for over a decade. Currently, that includes completely online undergraduate degrees in public justice and broadcasting, as well as vocational teacher preparation.
On the MBA front, the institution offers a traditional program where students meet on campus and another that's delivered during evenings at a Syracuse campus. The university also offers two five-year tracks, one for people who will pursue the certified public accountant credential and another for those pursuing a degree in psychology as well as the MBA. All of those programs offer some courses totally online or as a hybrid.
"It's not like we woke up one day and said, 'Let's do this,'" said Tammie Sullivan, director of MBA programs for the School of Business. "This has been a huge progression. I came on board a year and a half ago. We talked seriously about getting it approved and fully online then. We already had the classes built. They were being offered. Students were taking them. We just weren't formally offering [the full degree] as an online option."
So the latest iteration of MBA offering, she explained, simply has a "higher percent online." The addition will offer greater flexibility to all of Oswego's MBA students, she added, who tend to be made up of students who are holding down full-time jobs, have families, and have other commitments. Depending on a student's needs in any given semester, he or she may decide to take a mix of classes online and in the classroom. The approach, she said "is very student-centered."
In as many ways as possible, Sullivan said, Oswego wants the virtual version of its program to be exactly the same as the in-person edition. "The same classes, the same structure, the same student advisement," Sullivan said. "The only difference is the delivery of the courses."
Professional Networking
Oswego's use of technology for delivering the new program is far from cutting edge. The university is using the same course management system--Angel Learning Management System--that has been in place since 2007, and the same edition of that--version 7.4--that was released in April 2009. In May 2009 the LMS company was purchased by Blackboard. The institution has outsourced management of the LMS to the SUNY Learning Network. This is a partnership of SUNY schools that provides support for online programs in the areas of technology, user services, marketing, and pedagogy.
Without the services of the Network, said Greg Ketcham, Oswego's assistant director of distance learning and an instructional designer, getting a new online MBA program up and keeping it running would be near-impossible. "Through a subscription we've centralized IT services that give us the 'four nines' that we need for online learning," he explained. "These 'cloud' services really are a benefit that we derive from participating in the SUNY consortium." Those services include a help desk available to students seven days a week with extended hours; access to the Angel LMS; data center management by an IT organization at SUNY Buffalo; and business continuity through a mirrored site at SUNY Albany.
"We have class-one hosting facilities, which isn't something the typical college [of our size] on its own would decide to invest in," added Ketcham. "Through the consortium we can leverage resources to come up with that kind of facility and those kinds of resources."
The network also provides Ketcham and his team of instructional designers a forum for sharing knowledge and best practices with peers at other SUNY institutions, "which is a fantastic resource available to all of SUNY," he said.
There's also the marketing aspect of belonging to the network, but Oswego doesn't have control over those. Currently, the SUNY network includes references to three other online MBA programs in the system, two with specialties in IT and health services delivered by the Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome and one that's purely business-focused from Empire State College. The Oswego program will eventually be added to that roster, which makes it visible and available to anybody interested in attending a SUNY school for a degree. But even though the program has begun, it hasn't shown up on the Master Degree Programs roster yet.
Developing Faculty Online Skills
Preparing faculty to teach traditional classes online isn't something that can be handed off so easily, and that's a work-in-progress at Oswego. To start with, there are faculty who don't even use the LMS. Ketcham estimated that currently about 40 percent of "core" courses at his university tap into the functionality of Angel, and the number is growing at 20 percent year over year in face-to-face classes. That increase is important because familiarity with Angel is essential to being able to deliver online courses.
Ketcham said that while the Angel adoption among faculty has been helped along by making training sessions for the instructors available, two other factors are just as important: peer support and student demand. "We have experienced users who are happy to share their knowledge with their peers," he explained. "And when students walk into a class not using Angel, they're likely to speak up."Besides Angel's use for its baseline functions--the sharing of course information, grades, and assignments; and allowing faculty to e-mail students individually and en masse--it has also become the de facto collaboration platform for campus committees to maintain documentation, for collection of resumes, and for student group activities and as a repository for accreditation-related materials.
Some of the more advanced instructors are also using Angel to monitor student engagement. "I can go on in a course and run a report that shows me when a student has logged in, for how long," explained Sullivan. "If a student says, 'I'm in class, I'm really struggling,' you could go in and see that they've only logged in once and they stayed online for 10 minutes. So we'd know there were other issues."
The Differences between Online and In-Person Classes
Even a decade into offering online classes, Oswego is putting a lot of attention on sorting out the unique aspects of those versus brick-and-mortar classes that somehow need to be moved online.
For example, one aspect is assessment of learning outcomes. As an example, noted Skolnik. "On written communication skills, there would probably be no change in assessing learning outcomes. But in oral communications or presentations, that has to change from presenting in person to a group to presenting in a Web environment."
In that particular case, Oswego MBA students are expected to record a presentation to share with others or do real-time Web-based presentations, such as a Webinar.
Another distinction between in-person and online courses: It's harder for an instructor to gauge audience interest and adjust the presentation on the fly. "If students are in front of you, you can read their body language," said Sullivan. "When you're online, you can only read their faces. You lose a little of that comfort."
To help faculty tweak their teaching styles, the instructional designers are working with individual instructors to help them learn how to manage their pace and add breaks in the instruction to check audience engagement.
For now presentations are primarily asynchronous, handled through threaded discussions. The instructors can set up real-time interaction with their students, handled through text-based chat. But the university is also exploring the use of products such as Blackboard's Elluminate and Skype's free video calling service to add face-time and voice-over-IP audio.
Ketcham said he is especially enthusiastic about Elluminate. "It's a really versatile platform. You can present materials in a shared whiteboard area, so you could share slides or a document; you can do real-time voice chat; you can have an IM thread running in parallel with the presentation."
The use of online video could also go a long way in helping online-only students gain a sense of a cohort. It's much tougher to feel a part of a group of people all weathering the same academic travails on their way to earning a degree if participants can't see the baggy eyes or tired expressions the morning after a major project needs to be finished. Video can communicate those aspects of the environment in a way that a threaded discussion just won't.
But Ketcham said he also recognizes that the multi-modal aspects of the platform will present an obstacle for instructors who are still learning the basics. "Being able to manage multiple inputs of interaction with the students will be an emerging challenge overall," he said.
For that reason and others, taking on the teaching of online courses is purely voluntary for teachers at Oswego. "There are challenges of workload, challenges of wanting to connect with every single student in the online course, and realizing what that amount of data really amounts to if you try that," Ketcham observed. "Generally speaking, many faculty pass through that walking-on-fire moment. There's a level of uncertainty and doubt. But when they come through the other side in the middle or end of the semester, they have lessons learned that come into the next iteration of teaching that course again. That's really what it's all about."
"A lot of people think teaching online is easy. You don't have that interaction. You're not accessible as a faculty member," added Sullivan. "Actually I think it's just the opposite. In a traditional class, the professor is on for three hours and then done. When you're online, that professor is engaging with you 24x7."
That greater engagement is also applicable to the students. "When I was in a classroom and I had a faculty member lecturing, I wouldn't crack the book," Sullivan confessed. "I would absorb it through the lecture. Online you have to be an active learner. You're expected to do research and bring that into the discussions. You need to go out and find out what's going on in the real world and bring that in. In those ways it really engages the student on a higher level."
Ketcham concurred. "There's no place to hide in an online course. You can sit in a classroom course and not be fully present in terms of your engagement in a classroom discussion. When it moves online and there's a stated requirement--'All students must participate'--there's a leveling effect in terms of hearing the thoughts of every student and having every student actively engaged in that particular activity."
Expanding the Model
Momentum has built at Oswego for ramping up its online course offerings and developing additional online graduate degree offerings. "We recognize the opportunity and demand from adult learners," said Ketcham.
"Especially if there's a geographic dispersion of students," added Skolnik. "Then online makes a lot of sense."
In other words, going online with the traditional MBA is just the first step in offering additional online graduate degree programs in other subject areas. Skolnik said he's particularly interested to see if the online model can help build programs that need to go beyond Oswego's traditional recruitment reach, which tends to be regional.
Preliminary work for the new MBA program has examined how much time it would take for an instructional designer to support development of a new course and assisting faculty members new to online instruction. Ketcham declined to specify any particular amount of time because, as he pointed out, it's "highly situational," and depends on how complex the multimedia in the course is and how much support any given instructor needs from that instructional designer. But ultimately, he added, Oswego is quickly becoming familiar with what factors to consider and how wide to draw that sliding scale.
"The goal to build a scalable system that can react to demand," Ketcham concluded. "As we go through phases of creating new online programs as well as courses, we can create a roadmap in terms of planning and then source appropriately."
Why more than half of the world's population now lives in cities ?
Source: Wikipedia
Rural flight (or rural exodus) is a term used to describe the migratory patterns of peoples from rural areas into urban areas.
In modern times, it often occurs in a region following the industrialization of agriculture when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of agricultural output to market and related agricultural services and industries are consolidated. Rural flight is exacerbated when the population decline leads to the loss of rural services such as stores and schools, which then leads to greater loss of population.
The rationale being this phenomenon was first articulated through Ravenstein's Laws of migration in the 1880s, upon which modern theories are based.
The shift from mixed subsistence farming to commoditized crop and livestock began in the late 19th century. New capital market systems and the railroad network began the trend towards larger farms that employed fewer people per acre. These larger farms used more efficient technologies such as Deere plows, automatic reapers, and higher-yield seed stock, which reduced human input per unit of production.[2] During the Dust Bowl and Great Depression of the 1930s, large numbers of people fled rural areas of the Plains and Midwest because of depressed commodity prices, high debt load, and several years of drought and large dust storms.[3] Rural flight from the Great Plains has been depicted in literature, such as John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), in which a family from the Great Plains migrates to California during the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s.
Interior of a hog confinement barn Post-World War II rural flight has been caused primarily by the spread of industrialized agriculture. Small, labor-intensive family farms have grown into, or have been replaced by, heavily mechanized and specialized industrial farms. While a small family farm typically produced a wide range of crop, garden, and animal products, all requiring substantial labor, large industrial farms typically specialize in just a few crop or livestock varieties, using large machinery and high-density livestock containment systems that require a fraction of the labor per unit produced. For example, Iowa State University reports the number of hog farmers in Iowa dropped from 65,000 in 1980 to 10,000 in 2002, while the number of hogs per farm increased from 200 to 1,400.[4]
The consolidation of the feed, seed, processed grain, and livestock industries has meant that there are fewer small businesses in rural areas, and this decrease has in turn exacerbated the decreased demand for labor. Rural areas that used to be able to provide employment for all young adults willing to work in challenging conditions, increasingly provide fewer opportunities for young adults. The situation is made worse by the decrease in services such as schools, stores, and cultural opportunities that accompany the decline in population, and the increasing age of the remaining population further stresses the social service system of rural areas.[5]
The loss of population in rural areas leads to the abandonment of small towns, turning their once thriving downtowns into empty or underutilized storefronts.[5][6] The rise of corporate agricultural structures directly affects small rural communities, resulting in decreased populations, decreased incomes for some segments, increased income inequality, decreased community participation, fewer retailed outlets and less retail trade, and increased environmental pollution.[7]
Rural flight has been occurring to some degree in Germany since the 11th century. A corresponding principle of German law is Stadtluft macht frei ("city air makes you free"), in longer form Stadtluft macht frei nach Jahr und Tag ("city air makes you free after a year and a day"): by custom and, from 1231/32, by statute, a serf who had spent a year and a day in a city was free, and could not be reclaimed by their former master.
In 1870 the rural population of Germany constituted 64% of the population; by 1907 it had shrunk to 33%.[8] In 1900 alone, the Prussian provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Silesia, and Pomerania lost about 1,600,000 people to the cities,[9] where these former agricultural workers were absorbed into the rapidly growing factory labor class;[10] One of the causes of this mass-migration was the decrease in rural income compared to the rates of pay in the cities.[11]
Landflucht resulted in a major transformation of the German countryside and agriculture. Mechanized agriculture and migrant workers, particularly Poles from the east (Sachsenganger), became more common. This was especially true in the province of Posen that was gained by Prussia when Poland was partitioned.[11] The Polish population of eastern Germany was one of the justifications for the creation of the "Polish corridor" after World War I and the absorption of the land east of the Oder-Neisse line into Poland after World War II. Also, some labor-intensive enterprises were replaced by much less labor-intensive ones such as game preserves.[12]
The word landflucht has negative connotations in German, as it was coined by agricultural employers, often of the German aristocracy, who were lamenting their labor shortages.[10][13]
Rural flight (or rural exodus) is a term used to describe the migratory patterns of peoples from rural areas into urban areas.
In modern times, it often occurs in a region following the industrialization of agriculture when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of agricultural output to market and related agricultural services and industries are consolidated. Rural flight is exacerbated when the population decline leads to the loss of rural services such as stores and schools, which then leads to greater loss of population.
The rationale being this phenomenon was first articulated through Ravenstein's Laws of migration in the 1880s, upon which modern theories are based.
In the United States and Canada
The term is used in the United States and Canada to describe the flight of people from rural areas in the Great Plains and Midwest regions, and to a lesser extent rural areas of the northeast and southeast.Historical trends
Modern rural flight
The consolidation of the feed, seed, processed grain, and livestock industries has meant that there are fewer small businesses in rural areas, and this decrease has in turn exacerbated the decreased demand for labor. Rural areas that used to be able to provide employment for all young adults willing to work in challenging conditions, increasingly provide fewer opportunities for young adults. The situation is made worse by the decrease in services such as schools, stores, and cultural opportunities that accompany the decline in population, and the increasing age of the remaining population further stresses the social service system of rural areas.[5]
Abandonment of small towns
Germany
Middle ages
German Landflucht
Main article: Landflucht
In Germany Landflucht ("flight from the land") refers to the mass migration of peasants into the cities that occurred in Germany (and throughout most of Europe) in the late 19th century.In 1870 the rural population of Germany constituted 64% of the population; by 1907 it had shrunk to 33%.[8] In 1900 alone, the Prussian provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Silesia, and Pomerania lost about 1,600,000 people to the cities,[9] where these former agricultural workers were absorbed into the rapidly growing factory labor class;[10] One of the causes of this mass-migration was the decrease in rural income compared to the rates of pay in the cities.[11]
Landflucht resulted in a major transformation of the German countryside and agriculture. Mechanized agriculture and migrant workers, particularly Poles from the east (Sachsenganger), became more common. This was especially true in the province of Posen that was gained by Prussia when Poland was partitioned.[11] The Polish population of eastern Germany was one of the justifications for the creation of the "Polish corridor" after World War I and the absorption of the land east of the Oder-Neisse line into Poland after World War II. Also, some labor-intensive enterprises were replaced by much less labor-intensive ones such as game preserves.[12]
The word landflucht has negative connotations in German, as it was coined by agricultural employers, often of the German aristocracy, who were lamenting their labor shortages.[10][13]
Contemporary developing countries
Today the phenomenon of rural flight is also well-known in developing countries, where many people in the countryside live below the poverty line. They migrate to cities to find employment or education. In developing countries, rural exodus is a more recent and rapid process than it was in developed ones. Therefore, many of the most populated cities are now in developing countries.References
- ^ based on 2000 U.S. Census Data
- ^ Cronon, William (1991). Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: Norton.
- ^ Cooper, Michael L. (2004). Dust to eat: drought and depression in the 1930s. New York: Clarion.
- ^ "Living with Hogs in Rural Iowa". Iowa Ag Review. Iowa State University. 2003. http://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/summer_03/article1.aspx. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ^ a b Carr, Patrick; Maria Kefalas (2009). Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America. Beacon. ISBN 978-080704238-0. http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2107.
- ^ Bauer, Douglas (2008 (1979)). Prairie City, Iowa: Three Seasons at Home. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2008-fall/bauer.htm.
- ^ Changes in Iowa farm structure, University of Iowa Extension, http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/duffy/DuffyOct97.htm
- ^ Schapiro, Shotwell 1922, p. 300.
- ^ Kirk 1969, p. 139.
- ^ a b Mises 2006, p. 8.
- ^ a b Shafir 1996, p. 150.
- ^ Drage 1909, p. 77.
- ^ McLean, Kromkowski 1991, p. 56.
Sources
- Geoffrey Drage. Austria-Hungary (1909 ed.). J. Murray. - Total pages: 846
- D. Kirk. Europe's Population in the Interwar Years (1969 ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0677015607. - Total pages: 309
- George F. McLean, John Kromkowski. Urbanization and Values: Volume 5 of Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change (1991 ed.). Council for Research in Values and Philosophy. ISBN 1565180119. - Total pages: 380
- Ludwig von Mises. Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow (when ed.). Ludwig von Mises Institute. ISBN 1933550015. - Total pages: 108
- Jacob Salwyn Schapiro, James Thomson Shotwell. Modern and Contemporary European History (1815-1922) (1922 ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. - Total pages: 799
- Gershon Shafir. Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914 (1996 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 0520204018. - Total pages: 287
- Ravenstein, E. G. (1885): "The Laws of Migration", in London: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society - vol. 48, nº. June, 1885, pp. 167–227.
- Ravenstein, E. G. (1889): "The Laws of Migration", in London: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society - vol. 52, nº. June, 1889, pp. 241–301.
See also
College Seniors Face Lack of Entry-Level Jobs
Melanie Breault
Source: The Nation
Ithaca College senior Scott Steimer wants to be a research analyst after he graduates in May. But as the people who were laid off during the recession apply for more entry-level positions, Steimer may face more competition for his dream job -- or any job -- than he anticipated.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, from January 2007 through December 2009, 6.9 million workers were displaced from jobs they held for at least three years. Of these workers who had been permanently laid off or received a notice of layoff or termination, about half were re-employed in January 2010.
James Borbely, an economist with the current population survey of the Division of Labor Force Statistics, said the level of displaced workers during that three-year period outpaced any other three-year period. He said there’s some linkage between young people just out of college having more difficultly finding work because of the competition with older workers who are still trying to find jobs.
“It seems reasonable to assert that there probably is some additional competition, some additional pressure on the labor market because there are so many people without work still,” Borbely said.
Peter Perri, financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, also said entering the job market is tricky this year because of the competition with displaced workers.
“[Displaced workers] who were making six figure incomes three or four years ago are more than happy to take half of that at this point,” he said. “Unless a business thinks they can hire a recent college graduate for half of that half, then they’ll take the experienced person for half price.”
For Steimer, a finance and accounting major, he said the rehiring of these displaced workers is hindering his job search.
“Even the job postings that don’t explicitly say two to three years, they will say one-year experience preferred, master of business administration preferred,” he said. “If I apply to this job, they may consider me, but as soon as an MBA kid shows up, I’m out of the running.”
However, John Bradac, director of career services at Ithaca College, cited a report published last Thursday by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which said the hiring outlook for the class of 2011 is positive—53.3 percent of respondents anticipate an increase in their college hiring, up from less than 50 percent in the fall.
Bradac said graduates should not worry about displaced workers because there is always a market for entry-level professionals. He said searching for a job is a process that takes time, effort and energy.
Sherry Burford ’73, career coach with Horizons Career Coaching, said graduates from 2008 to 2010 faced a very difficult hiring environment, which could pose more competition for today’s graduates.
“For those graduates who have bailed out [of the job search], they have been waiting for things to improve,” she said. “Recent grads could be vying for the same jobs and that is largely due to the instability of the whole emerging job market.”
Burford said today’s graduates need to be prepared with a primary strategy, such as an ultimate career goal, but she also said they need to take responsibility to find employment throughout their lives.
Another Ithaca College senior Orhun Unsal, a finance and marketing major, said his dream job is to be an international environmental consultant for sustainable development. Unsal has applied for positions at several international development firms. Though he has the qualifications for particular positions, he said he does not have the new requirements many organizations now require.
“That’s really the route of the whole issue,” he said. “Why would a firm hire a new graduate when they can have a guy with five years experience instead?” Unsal said.
Source: The Nation
Ithaca College senior Scott Steimer wants to be a research analyst after he graduates in May. But as the people who were laid off during the recession apply for more entry-level positions, Steimer may face more competition for his dream job -- or any job -- than he anticipated.
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James Borbely, an economist with the current population survey of the Division of Labor Force Statistics, said the level of displaced workers during that three-year period outpaced any other three-year period. He said there’s some linkage between young people just out of college having more difficultly finding work because of the competition with older workers who are still trying to find jobs.
“It seems reasonable to assert that there probably is some additional competition, some additional pressure on the labor market because there are so many people without work still,” Borbely said.
Peter Perri, financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, also said entering the job market is tricky this year because of the competition with displaced workers.
“[Displaced workers] who were making six figure incomes three or four years ago are more than happy to take half of that at this point,” he said. “Unless a business thinks they can hire a recent college graduate for half of that half, then they’ll take the experienced person for half price.”
For Steimer, a finance and accounting major, he said the rehiring of these displaced workers is hindering his job search.
“Even the job postings that don’t explicitly say two to three years, they will say one-year experience preferred, master of business administration preferred,” he said. “If I apply to this job, they may consider me, but as soon as an MBA kid shows up, I’m out of the running.”
However, John Bradac, director of career services at Ithaca College, cited a report published last Thursday by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which said the hiring outlook for the class of 2011 is positive—53.3 percent of respondents anticipate an increase in their college hiring, up from less than 50 percent in the fall.
Bradac said graduates should not worry about displaced workers because there is always a market for entry-level professionals. He said searching for a job is a process that takes time, effort and energy.Sherry Burford ’73, career coach with Horizons Career Coaching, said graduates from 2008 to 2010 faced a very difficult hiring environment, which could pose more competition for today’s graduates.
“For those graduates who have bailed out [of the job search], they have been waiting for things to improve,” she said. “Recent grads could be vying for the same jobs and that is largely due to the instability of the whole emerging job market.”
Burford said today’s graduates need to be prepared with a primary strategy, such as an ultimate career goal, but she also said they need to take responsibility to find employment throughout their lives.
Another Ithaca College senior Orhun Unsal, a finance and marketing major, said his dream job is to be an international environmental consultant for sustainable development. Unsal has applied for positions at several international development firms. Though he has the qualifications for particular positions, he said he does not have the new requirements many organizations now require.
“That’s really the route of the whole issue,” he said. “Why would a firm hire a new graduate when they can have a guy with five years experience instead?” Unsal said.
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