Recently in Employment Category

I go these tips in an email, and they seemed useful, this day and age.

Thanks to Ford R. Myers, a career coach and author of "Get the Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring," for sending.

1. Network, network, network. Continually increase your level of networking and keep expanding your contact database. There is no substitute for connecting with people one-on-one.
2. Seek help. Get career support from a professional. A qualified career coach can better prepare you to land your next position.
3. Read career books and attend career seminars. Being informed about business will keep you "fresh" as a candidate, and helps you consistently improve your career management and job-search skills.
4. Leverage technology. Utilize Web sites and online services to connect with your industry and to build greater visibility. Create a career Web site and reach out through social networking sites such as Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter.
5. Differentiate yourself. Position yourself as an expert by writing articles, giving presentations, or teaching a class. Get involved in professional organizations and assume leadership roles there.
6. Use your time off wisely. Pursue professional development by participating in classes, seminars, certifications and industry conferences.
7. Pursue a temporary, part-time, or contract position. Volunteer, provide pro bono work, take on a consulting contract, or complete an internship or apprenticeship. All these options provide excellent "bridge job" opportunities.
8. Act with speed and urgency. Demonstrate that you're more serious and more determined than the competition. Show up earlier. Arrive more prepared. Move quickly and efficiently. Make an impression by being more responsive and assertive than other candidates.
9. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise, and get plenty of rest. You'll need to be healthy and vital to maintain the pace of an active job search campaign.
10. Be flexible and adaptable. Consider shifting industries and/or being geographically mobile to open-up more career possibilities, even if you would not choose these options under normal circumstances.
11. Improve and enhance all the documents in your career portfolio. Craft a unified package that consistently conveys a highly professional image of yourself.  This will include a Resume, a one-page Professional Biography, a collection of powerful Accomplishment Stories, a series of compelling Cover Letters, a page of Professional References, a list of Target Companies, and a 15-second commercial (Positioning Statement).
12. Identify industries that will emerge stronger when the market improves. Research emerging opportunities and niches that will offer career growth, and position yourself to take advantage of these trends.
13. Practice interviewing and negotiation skills. Solicit the help of a partner to role-play with you, and switch roles as needed with the questions and answers. Practice with an audio-recording device, and listen to yourself as you continually improve your performance.
14. Be patient, but persistent. Be persistent, but don't be a pest, as you follow up consistently on every opportunity. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Instead, keep moving forward as you explore every appropriate opening you can find.
15. Focus on tangible results and practical solutions. The primary question in the employer's mind will be, "What can you do for me -- now?" This means that you should quickly identify the employer's most pressing needs and challenges -- and then explain exactly how your relevant accomplishments will allow you to successfully address those issues in the short term.
16. Work from a budget. Instead of going into a panic or worrying that you'll lose everything you've worked for, conduct a detailed analysis of your financial situation and develop a family budget. You may discover that you're in a better financial position than you had thought.
17. Be kind to yourself. There is no longer the same stigma there used to be about being unemployed, as almost every family in America has been touched by layoffs and downsizings. Forgive yourself, forgive your ex-employer, and forgive the world. Move on toward a better career future.
18. Pay extra attention to your personal image. First impressions count. Make a deliberate, consistent effort to present yourself in the best light. Now is the ideal time to take stock of your appearance, and make whatever changes you feel could improve your image -- and your job search results.
19. Watch your attitude. Maintain a positive attitude. Never state anything negative or act desperate. Spend some time each day focusing-in and recalibrating your internal attitude.
20. Be philosophical. Try to find the life lessons and new perspectives in this transition. Commit to yourself that, somehow, you will make this a rewarding and productive experience.

"Conducting a successful job search campaign takes energy, discipline, and career support. Despite the pressures many face in today's employment market, job seekers must stay focused on their goals and search smart," says Myers.

Reprinted by permission of Ford R. Myers, a nationally-known Career Coach and author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring." Download a Free Special Report, "10 Vital Strategies to Maximize Your Career Success" at http://www.careerpotential.com.

If you're looking for validation about that power lunch, check this out -- courtesy of this press release from Robert Half Management Resources....

THE VALUE MEAL
CFO Survey Shows It Pays to Take Your Client to Lunch  
 
MENLO PARK, CA-- Breaking bread with key contacts is good business, according to a recent survey of chief financial officers (CFOs). More than a third (36 percent) of executives surveyed said their most successful business meeting outside the office was conducted over a meal.
 
The survey was developed by Robert Half Management Resources, the world's premier provider of senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project and interim basis. It was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.
 
CFOs were asked, "Other than in the office, what was the location of your most successful business meeting ever?" Their responses:
 
Restaurant .....................................................    36%
Trade show or conference..................................    25%
Sporting event...................................................     4%
Golf course.......................................................     3%
In a car............................................................    1%
On a trip/plane..................................................     1%
Nowhere else, only in office................................    24%
Other/don't know/refused...................................     4%
(*Total does not equal 100% due to rounding)
 
"A well-chosen restaurant can offer a neutral, more relaxed environment than the office, often with fewer distractions," said Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources. "Sharing a meal with clients or colleagues puts all parties more at ease and helps to establish rapport."
 
McDonald offers the following tips to ensure a successful business meeting outside the office:
·         Choose the right location. If you're planning on a restaurant, select one that is quiet, easy-to-find and provides excellent food and service. Make sure the menu has enough variety to accommodate anyone with dietary restrictions.
·         Arrive early. Plan on getting to the meeting before your guests so you can select a comfortable spot and be there to greet them.
·         Stay on schedule. While you want to postpone talking shop until after you've ordered, don't let the meal go on too long if your client has told you he or she has limited time to meet. On the other hand, if things are going well, avoid rushing to get your bill.
·         Give them your undivided attention. Never take cell phone calls or check e-mail at the table. As the host, it's your job to make sure the meeting is productive and on topic.
Practice good manners. Always treat the restaurant or facility staff with courtesy and respect.

This is not the way life should be for Kathy Verlinden - or anyone.

This week she spent her time packing her bags at the $500-a-month Covina apartment she's on the verge of having to leave.

She spends moments now wondering what it's going to be like to have to live in a homeless shelter - the first time in her 56 years that she's ever had to face that prospect. That's because her unemployment check - the one she's depended on for the two years since she was laid off - hasn't come.

Instead of the regular Notice of Unemployment Insurance Claim that comes every two weeks - the one she has to fill out and send back to the Employment Development Department, before she gets her money -- she got a letter from the state.

She's eligible for 14 weeks of extended unemployment benefits recently approved by Congress.

Something to cheer about? You'd think.

But getting those benefits has become a problem - for now, the letter, dated Nov. 20, went on.

"EDD cannot file any of the new extended claims until we have the necessary programming in place," it said.

The "complexity" of the federal government's extension program is a "challenge" for the states to deliver, the letter said. While EDD is working on the "programming" problem as quickly as it can,  it make take several weeks before unemployed people, dependent on those checks, get their money, the letter said.

For the EDD, it comes down to a computer glitch. Its 25-to-30-year-old programs couldn't process the extension fast enough.

The department's most recent update said programming required to fix the problem is in place, and claim forms could be going out in the next two weeks - if testing goes well with the system.

For Verlinden and the 111,000 people in California who have run out of benefits, it's much more. Several weeks? Two days? For Verlinden, the bureaucratic delay in adjusting to the extension is one day too long for people on the verge of being evicted, who can't make a payment, who can't even afford the most basic of items.

She is one of them.

"It's embarrassing when you have to ask a friend to buy you toilet paper because you can't afford it," Verlinden said.

She's not the only one suffering.

She directed me to a website called www.unemployed-friends.com, a forum for people without jobs.

Many are desperately wondering what they'll do as a bureaucratic glitch threatens the roof over their head.

Bureaucratic glitches happen. And maybe this is even an honest one. But it doesn't excuse it. How could this happen in a state with over 12 percent unemployment, and in the San Gabriel Valley, where in some cities it's more than 15 percent? It seems this delay to update some state system could really mean the roof over someone's head.

I know Verlinden wants some answers from a state employment department that says its working around the clock (but of course is closed on the first three Fridays of every month) to solve the problem.

She's owed nearly $2,000 for money she'd been banking on since the federal extension.

Don't get Verlinden wrong. She'd rather not have to deal with claim forms and money from the government. It's something she never envisioned she would have to do back when she worked as a receptionist for a mortgage lender only two years ago.

She still has pride, and her dignity. Going to the government is not in her politics or her DNA.

She's made some calls... Rep. Judy Chu's office, Assemblyman Ed Hernandez. But she's still on the verge of a shelter.

It would be another body blow in a two-year span in which she's lost her car, her previous home and her health insurance.

Cynicism is sinking in. She wonders how much interest the government is drawing off unemployment money that it's holding. And so is a sense of injustice.

She smiles, sips a drink of a Carl's Jr. coffee...

"This just isn't right," she said. "Nobody should be going through this."

Now that some economists are saying our almost 2-year-old recession is over, I think it's time we name it something. You know, like we name hurricanes...Katrina, Andrew...Rita.

Maybe we should even have a national center that names them - like the National Hurricane Center names hurricanes -- we could have a National Recession Center to do the job.

Each year, the center could put out a list of names in alphabetical order. If that year has a recession, we just check a name off that list.

Students reading about economic history would have an easy way to remember the worst recession since the Great Depression. Government leaders, policy makers and businesses would have a ready made reference point to separate all the recessions we've had.

Psychologically, by putting a name on it, maybe it would be easier to box up and leave behind.

Turns out, there may be some value in that.

"(A name) would have a different meaning for each person," said Joann Moran, a cinical psychologist who teaches a class in San Marino with her husband on coping with the financial crisis.

People would rename it to be "less overwelming, where they can frame it in the context of something they have some power over."

And maybe the name could even have some accountability built into it, she said.

Some ideas come to mind.

Howabout Subprime Recession , after institutions that ran wild with adjustable rate and low-documentation loans that led to the housing meltdown, which in turn led to the fall of the financial system?

Howabout Recession Lehman - for the fall of Lehman Bros., the biggest bank failure in history?

Recession Greenspan?

Hmmm.

I don't know. I guess the name depends on who you are talking to.

What we do know is that this is the worst recession since the Great Depression.

That's why a lot of people are calling it the Great Recession, said Jack Kyser, founding economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

It's not quite a depression, but it's the worst of the recessions, he said.

That works for me. Only one problem...Nothing about 12.7 percent unemployment - over 15 percent in some valley areas - is particularly great...not great at all.

But anything, anything to look back during better times and to give the last two years a name.

It's not so much so that we can remember it. It's more about putting a name on something that has harmed us, so we can beat it back, punch it, beat it and hope to God we learn from it and never see anything like it again.

By the way, if you've got any ideas for a name, feel free to pass them along...just make sure they are something that we can publish in a family paper.

If you're looking for hope in dismal job numbers, here's a trickle of it, mixed in with unsettling numbers:

From the Associated Press:

"There are about 6.1 unemployed workers, on average, competing for each job opening, a Labor Department report shows. That's down slightly from 6.2 last month, the most since the department began tracking job openings nine years ago.
It's a sharp increase from only 1.7 workers per opening when the recession began in December 2007.
The department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey said employers advertised about 2.5 million job openings at the end of September, up slightly from the previous month. That's down from a peak of 4.8 million openings in June 2007."

I realize that's not the greatest news. But it's on the right track.

The hope is that businesses will have no choice but to start hiring again, once they've trimmed production and labor to the point that they can't be trimmed any more.

Monrovia-based company AeroVironment announced Wednesday that the government has extended the firm's contract to create a mechanical reconnaissance bird.
That's right ... a bird. Check out the project's early phases:

To the right of the screen, you might see this ad:

"The San Gabriel Valley Small Business Development Center offers classes, counseling and consulting for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The SBDC is a partnership between Mt. San Antonio College and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The San Gabriel Valley."

They'll have to take that off, as of today. In case you didn't know, the center is closing today because of lack of funding.

http://www.mtsacsbdc.com/web/

Erika Moldenado is one determined business owner.

We caught up recently, eight months after I did a story on her new business.

She told me how she was doing, and the economy's effect on sales. It hasn't been all pretty, but this is one determined business owner.

Back in November, she started Oasis Tropical Fruits & Juices in Whittier.

Faced with the question of how she was going to make a living for her and her young son, she sold her homemade assortments of fruit snacks on the street. She sold to anyone from attorneys to truckers to restaurants.

With some good luck selling, and nudging from her clientele, she opened her fruit bar in November.

Unfortunately, the young, single mother started her business in the thick of the economic downturn.

"It's been a rough seven months," she said. "I'm glad I'm still here. But the way the economy has been...it hasn't been good on sales."

It hasn't been great on neighboring business either. The small plaza her business is in has lost several businesses.

But like I said, she's determined.

She's gone back to selling her fruit on the streets of Whittier again, getting the word out.

On Friday, she'd just returned from selling.

But it was a little slow. Perhaps people weren't interested because they were so immersed in the Michael Jackson news, she thought

As it gets warmer, maybe sells will pick up, she said.

But even if they don't, I got the idea that this business owner is going to keep trying.

"I'm not going to fail," she said. "I'm going to ride this out.... I'm faithful. It's going to be good." 

After nearly 20 years, the San Gabriel Valley Small Business Center is closing on Tuesday, June 30th.

Workshops and counseling will no longer take place at the center, and its website will be taken down in July.

It's a sad victim of the economy -- as Mt. San Antonio College and other local sources -- plagued by their own finance issues --  could no longer support it.

http://www.mtsacsbdc.com/web/

If you're interested in an early version what various cities wanted from $787 billion in federal stimulus money, try out this site: http://www.stimuluswatch.org/

But a quick word of caution. Pasadena, for instance, is not going to get more than $88 million in federal money for its wish list of stimulus projects. What you'll see are early versions of what cities wanted late last year, before President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.