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TOP 10 BEST CITIES FOR FINDING JOBS
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1. Houston, TX
2. Austin, TX
3. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
4. Raleigh, NC
5. Seattle, WA
6. San Antonio, TX
7. Charlotte, NC
8. Oklahoma City, OK
9. Durham, NC
10. Salt Lake City, UT
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TOP 10 WORST CITIES FOR FINDING JOBS
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1. Detroit, MI
2. Bradenton-Sarasota, FL
3. Providence, RI
4. Toledo, OH
5. Lansing, MI
6. Dayton, OH
7. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, CA
8. Cleveland, OH
9. Los Angeles, CA
10. Youngstown, OH
Profiles of Best and Worst Job Markets
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Jobs in Pods, the internet’s first ever audio recruitment platform.
Unlike the traditional job boards you are used to visiting, Jobs in Pods is a place to actually hear from the employers themselves through audio interviews with their HR managers/employees.
These “jobcasts” give you unique insight into different aspects of the company such as:
What it’s like to work there, the kinds of people they hire, the benefits they offer and what their ideal candidate is like.
At the end of each podcast you’ll be instructed on how and where to apply to the jobs you just heard about. Each podcast comes with a blog post which lists all the relevant links and information about the employer and their job listings.
You can search this site just like a job board. Each podcast is categorized by the types of jobs mentioned and their location. Visit the job categories to the right to browse the ‘jobcasts‘ and find the ones that interest you.
JobsinPods
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INTERNET RADIO CAREER ADVICE
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JobRadio.fm features audio content from Total Picture Radio, Secrets of the Job Hunt and Jobs in Pods. These “jobcasters” are at the forefront of career advice. Listen at work or at home. Right now about 10 hours of audio from these shows plays on a loop. Check the Current Playlists for whats playing. Every week, new content will be added to the rotation to keep it fresh and lively. This channel is a great resource for job seekers, recent grads, or anyone who wants to sharpen their job search skills. It can help you educate yourself on the art of job hunting.
Jobradio.fm
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159,000 JOBS SLASHED IN SEPTEMBER 2008 - HIGHEST IN 5 YEARS
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In September, 159,000 were slashed — more than double the cuts made one month before. It was the ninth straight month of job losses. For the first eight months of the year, the economy lost an average of about 75,000 jobs each month.
A staggering 760,000 jobs have been lost since January.
The Labor Department's report, released October 3, 2008, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, up sharply from 4.7 percent a year ago. Over the last year, the number of unemployed people has risen by 2.2 million to 9.5 million.
The government’s monthly snapshot of the labor market detailed a relentless assortment of woes afflicting American working families.
Job cuts in September:
- Manufacturing - 51,000 (442,000 lost in 2008; 4 million since 1999)
- Retailers - 35,000
- Construction - 35,000
- Transportation and warehousing - 16,000
- Financial Services - 17,000 (172,000 since employment peaked in that part of the economy in December 2006). And that was before the bankruptcy of the Wall Street titan, Lehman Brothers; the bailout of the mortgage financiers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the fire sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America; the near disintegration of the insurance giant American International Group; and the government takeover and sale of Washington Mutual.
The rare instances of job gains in September:
- Health Care - 17,000
- Mining - 8,000
The unemployment rate could hit 7 or 7.5 percent by late 2009. If that happens, it would mark the highest since after the 1990-91 recession. Some economists say the jobless rate could rise even more before the situation starts to get better.
Job Losses in September 2008
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BE CAREFUL OF PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU PLACE ON THE INTERNET
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One in five hiring managers say they use social networking sites to research candidates -- and 1/3 of them dimiss candidates after what they discover.
A survey by online job site CareerBuilder.com of 3,169 hiring managers found 22 percent of them screened potential staff via social networking profiles, up from 11 percent in 2006.
An additional 9 percent said they plan to start using social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace to screen potential employees.
The survey found that 34 percent of the managers who do screen candidates on the Internet found content that made them drop the candidate from any short list.
The top area for concern among the hiring managers were candidates posting:
- Information about drinking or using drugs
- Provocative or inappropriate photographs or information
Other areas of concern to arise from social network sites were:
- Poor communication skills
- Lying about qualifications
- Using discriminatory remarks related to race, gender or religion
- Having an unprofessional screen name
But the survey found hiring managers scouring social network pages was not all bad with 24 percent of these managers saying they found content to help them solidify their decision to hire that candidate.
Top factors that influenced their hiring decision included:
- Candidate's backgrounds supporting their qualifications for the job
- Proving they had good communications skills
- Having a site that conveyed a professional image with a wide range of interests
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WHERE THE JOBS ARE GROWING IN THE U.S.
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If you are interested in using your transferable skills in an industry that will be around a while, you might want to consider one of the following:
Many areas that used to manufacture goods that are now being produced in Mexico, Canada, India, and China are growing businesses and jobs in medical and new energy jobs.
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NEWSREADERS AND RSS NEWS FEEDS
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In the process of developing my blog, I discovered Google Newsreader and RSS feeds, which enable me to select information sources and receive new information daily from those sources at one web site (I use Google Reader). This saves a lot of time and is an easier method of gathering information.
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You sign up for Google Reader through the Google website
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Click on the orange and white RSS button on your favorite sites (like my blog), and indicate which reader you are using (Google, Yahoo, Newsgator, Netvibes, Pageflakes, etc.)
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Check Google Reader daily for the latest information from the sites selected
Some of the sites that you select could provide you with job finding information, like the one I recently added to my site from sustainablejobs.com. I receive new daily postings of sustainable energy jobs from that web site.
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NEW BUSINESS NETWORKING SITE TO RIVAL LINKEDIN.COM
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Forbes.com indicates that Talkbiznow.com, a website scheduled to launch on Monday, August 18th, will strongly rival Linkedin.com.
No matter what industry you are a part of, or what job function you are involved in, business networking is an effective element to your professional growth.
According to Talkbiznow.com, it "provides an unrivalled, professional, networking platform, enabling smart communication between you and new found contacts on both the national and international market place."
Talkbiznow was designed with the business professional in mind. Unlike many other networking websites, Talkbiznow is completely free, it is intuitive to use and will add value to the way that you work. Talkbiznow comes equipped with a suite of services that have been developed to help increase your business productivity.
With your personal profile, you can choose to publicize your current career position as well as an in depth career history. By building a rich personal profile, you are then able to search for likeminded business professionals and give them a glimpse of yourself before becoming business contacts.
Invite business colleagues to join you in a Talkbiznow network, host webinars and invite people to come and take part in business presentations.
Through Talkbiznow you can:
- Rapidly find and build relevant contacts
- Be found for business opportunities and new careers
- Build public and private networks
- Host and invite people to your webinar sessions
- Use our clean email system and stop unwanted mail
- Compose and send advertisements to your contacts
- Customize your entire experience
- Manage all of your appointments with your personal calendar
- Upload files and media to your personal store
Talkbiznow.com
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JOBS IN PODS - NEW JOB SITE
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Unlike the traditional job boards you are used to visiting, Jobs in Pods is a place to actually hear from the employers themselves through audio interviews with their HR managers/employees.
These “jobcasts” give you unique insight into different aspects of the company such as:What it’s like to work there, the kinds of people they hire, the benefits they offer and what their ideal candidate is like.At the end of each podcast you’ll be instructed on how and where to apply to the jobs you just heard about. Each podcast comes with a blog post which lists all the relevant links and information about the employer and their job listings.You can search this site just like a job board. Each podcast is categorized by the types of jobs mentioned and their location. Visit the job categories to the right to browse the ‘jobcasts‘ and find the ones that interest you.There are also a number of ways to stay updated on new podcasts by subscribing to our RSS feeds. Each job category also comes with its own feed so that you can subscribe to just the ones that interest you.You can also download the MP3 files to your computer or iPod.
Jobs in Pods
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TRAITS EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR IN HIRING EMPLOYEES
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What skills do company chiefs consider vital to their organizations? For 88% of 1,150 CEOs surveyed recently, the answer is a tie between:
- The ability to quickly adjust to internal and external changes
- Expertise in leading and developing others
Also highly valued are:
- Collaboration skills
- Creativity and innovativeness
- Proficiency in anticipating and managing risk
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an accounting firm headquartered in New York.
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NEW PHARMA RULES - HOW WILL THEY IMPACT PHARMACEUTICAL SALES JOBS
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Drug company sales representatives will have to stop giving coffee mugs and pens that push their products when they visit doctor's offices. But they can still sneak in the occasional free lunch.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America announced it has revised its conduct code for interacting with health care professionals. The updated guidelines ban the knicknacks bearing company and product logos.
Sales representatives are prohibited from providing restaurant meals and entertainment or recreation. But they can still provide the occasional, modest meal in a healthcare professional's office "in conjunction with informational presentations," according to a statement from PhRMA.
The updated code also emphasizes that drug companies should separate any funding they provide for continuing medical education from their sales and marketing departments. It notes that the funding should support education "on a full range of treatment options and not to promote a particular medicine."
PhRMA said meetings between sales representatives and doctors should be focused on informing health care professionals about products, sharing scientific and educational information and supporting research and education.
The new rules take effect Jan. 1.
How these new rules will impact pharma sales jobs is yet to be seen.
New Pharma Ethics Rules
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BEST AND WORST PLACES TO BUILD PERSONAL WEALTH
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According to a new report from Salary.com, a provider of compensation data, the best places to build personal wealth are:
- Plano, TX
- Aurora, CO
- Omaha, NE
- Minneapolis, MN
- Albuquerque, NM
The worst places are:
- New York, NY
- Washington, DC
- Los Angeles, CA
- Honolulu, HI
- San Francisco, CA
Results were based on salaries, cost of living, and employment rates in cities with 250,000 or more residents.
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ENTICE EMPLOYERS TO WANT TO MEET YOU
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Entice employers to want to meet you by:
Producing a well-written resume and cover letter on quality paper
Quantifying accomplishments using numbers and percentages
Never making your resume read like a job description
Illustrating your uniqueness - avoiding generic job descriptions
Using readable, business-like fonts
Following-up
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Businesses nationwide are expected to open their doors to employees' four-legged friends in honor of Take Your Dog to Work Day on Friday, June 20th, an event sponsored by Pet Sitters International, an educational association. Want to bring your pooch to the office every day? You can search for jobs at dog-friendly companies on sites such as SimplyHired.com and DogFriendly.com. See these office-etiquette tips for dogs from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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YOU STILL NEED HARD COPIES OF YOUR RESUME
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I repeatedly receive inquiries regarding my resume service from people who say they don't need hard copies of their resume. But it is still important to have hard copies to:
- Send after e-mailing your resume as an attachment to employers and recruiters
- Distribute to your contacts and at networking events
- Take to interviews (you should take 6 copies to interviews)
A recruiter friend of mine told me that she used to receive 30 hard copies a day, now she receives 3 and reads all of them. On Mondays, she receives so many e-mailed resumes that she deletes all of them.
Taking a little more time to send hard copies can give you an advantage over other candidates for the job.
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USE A PROFILE INSTEAD OF AN OBJECTIVE ON YOUR RESUME
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One of my clients recently sent me a copy of a résumé that they had started with an objective that read: "A challenging position where I can grow and ..." Employers and recruiters hate this and objectives in general are no longer being used.
It is much more effective to use a Profile, Highlights, or Summary statement. In most instances, your resume will be viewed for 8-30 seconds so the Profile section needs to grab the employer by showing skills, work accomplishments, traits, educational achievements, certifications, and language skills that appeal to the employer and entice him or her to want to learn more about you. Don't use fluff.
Speak in more general terms in the Profile and back it up with specific accomplishments in the Experience section of the resume.
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NETWORK WHEN YOU ARE EMPLOYED
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It is easy to let networking slip when you have a job, but keeping up relationships is of the utmost importance when you decide to make a career move. Many of the best jobs are filled by word of mouth without recruiters or online job ads. Make phone calls, send e-mails, and plan lunch dates to maintain and grow your network. And, be willing to help others. These efforts can be valuable when you decide to or need to change jobs.
Networking
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PROJECTING SELF-CONFIDENCE, NOT ARROGANCE AT INTERVIEWS
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- Talk teamwork
- Engage everyone
- Convey interest with questions
- Don't fixate on your job title
- Have realistic expectations
Interview Tips
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3 REASONS CANDIDATES CAN'T FIND JOBS
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- They don't know what they want
- They are afraid to make a change
- They don't want to network
Increase your chances of success by:
- Figuring out what you want and establishing goals
- Being flexible and open to change
- Networking, networking, networking
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A SIMPLE WAY TO STRENGTHEN RELATIONSHIPS
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| Personalized Thank You Notes |
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Strengthen relationships that are critical to your career success by taking the time to express sincere gratitude whenever you receive help, says Robert Thompson, author of "The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable" (Jossey-Bass, 2008). It's a simple way to garner your peers' respect and ensure their future support. For instance, if your colleague stays late to help you with an important presentation, say thanks in a handwritten note, he suggests.
Thank You Notes
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| Use the telephone |
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DON'T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME
ON THE INTERNET
Exploring job opportunities on Internet Job Boards is easier and less effective than networking your way into a job. Thousands of people are responding to jobs posted on the Internet. Instead of blasting your résumé to posted jobs, you can:
- Plan to make 3, 5, or 10 telephone calls a day to professional contacts, business associates, people who would be your immediate boss at companies that you are interested in and have researched on the Internet.
- Keep your résumé in front of you when you conduct your phone calls and be prepared with a 1 minute enticing description of yourself (including skills and abilities).
- Always speak in terms of what you can contribute to, not what you hope to get from an employer
- Send out 3-5 résumés a day (or a goal that works best for you) to the person who would be your immediate boss at targeted companies for which you believe that you are the perfect fit; don't send out hundreds of résumés blindly.
- When you can, send a hard copy of your résumé after you send an e-mailed Microsoft Word attachment, ASCII file, and / or PDF file.
- Follow-up with a phone call within a week after sending the résumé
- Send thank you notes to anyone who is or has helped you with your job search and ocassionally follow up with phone calls.
Getting a job is a job but if you put forth the effort you may achieve faster and better responses and gain the position you hope to secure more rapidly.
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TRY LINKEDIN JOBSINSIDER TO HELP
WITH YOUR JOB SEARCH
LinkedIN JobsInsider downloads into Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browsers. After you download it you can:
- Go to some of the top job boards, access a job, and find contacts from you LinkedIN network who work for the company
- Contact those people for informational interviews
- Find out more about the employer and the company culture
- Bypass the Human Resource Department
- Network your way to the hiring manager
You can find a link at the bottom of your LinkedIn home page that will provide you with the information needed to load the Insider widget into your browser.
The icon will be near your tool bar.
LinkedIN JobsInsider currently supports CareerBuilder, Monster, Hotjobs, Dice, CraigsList, SimplyHired, and Vault. When you go to these sites, a sidebar will open and any relevant connections will be viewed.
You are invited to join my network at http://www.linkedin.com/ or contact me at aresume@roadrunner.com and I will send you an invitation.
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JIBBERJOBBER: A GREAT WAY TO ORGANIZE YOUR JOB SEARCH
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Whenever you embark on a job search whether it is because you want to explore your options, to progress to a better position, or to find a position after a job loss, you need to be organized to avoid wasting time.
I used to believe in the old fashioned method of writing information in a spiral notebook. Recently, I discovered JibberJobber.com, a free online set of tools that enables you to organize and track:
- Industry and company information
- Where, when, and how you send your résumé
- Interview date, time, and results information
- Follow up (thank you note and telephone) information
- Networking numbers, contacts, and results
- Job-search expenses
- and more
"JibberJobber is a powerful tool that lets you manage your career, from job search to relationship management to target company management (and much more). Free for life with an optional upgrade."
This site can save you hours of work and prevent aggravation.
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