Investment News: Money Morning » Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com Investment News Provider Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:52:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Unemployment Figures Increase Odds of Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/10/05/unemployment-rate-5/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/10/05/unemployment-rate-5/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:30:29 +0000 Don Miller http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=9233 By Don Miller
Associate Editor
Money Morning

The number of unemployed Americans jumped more than expected in September, raising the unemployment rate to 9.8%, the highest level since 1983.  The latest data suggest the odds are increasing that the economy may be suffering through its second “jobless recovery” in eight years.

U.S employers cut 263,000 jobs from payrolls in September the Labor Department said Friday, topping forecasts by most experts. A survey of 84 economists by Bloomberg News had projected a drop of 175,000 jobs for the month. Although the September unemployment rate matched the median projection, the number of actual job losses exceeded the highest projections.

The increase added fuel to fears that the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression may further chill consumer spending and economic growth in the months ahead as employers continue to delay hiring until signs of an economic recovery become more visible.

“You will see the economy pulling back,” Richard Yamarone, head of economic research at Argus Research Corp. in New York and most accurate forecaster surveyed, told Bloomberg in a television interview.  He added payrolls may not return to their previous peak for years to come.

The total number of jobs lost since the recession officially began in December 2007 now stands at about 7.6 million and the total number of unemployed workers rose to 15.1 million. That number is expected to climb substantially throughout the remainder of the year and well into 2010.

There were about twice as many unemployed workers as job openings during the last recession, in 2001, according to the Labor Department data. By the beginning of this year, the ratio reached four-to-one, and has been growing ever since.

Now, with only 2.4 million full-time permanent job openings and 15.1 million unemployed, job seekers outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000, according to an analysis of Labor Department numbers by The New York Times.

But while the decline in payrolls has moderated from the 700,000 job losses in January, companies are still not hiring on a wide scale.

“There’s too much uncertainty out there,” Thomas A. Kochan, a labor economist at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management, told The Times. “There’s not going to be an upsurge in job openings for quite a while, not until employers feel confident the economy is really growing.”

A Chicken & Egg Economy

The U.S. economy is powered by consumers, who account for 70% of economic activity.  Until 2007, consumers fueled the economy by enthusiastically borrowing against real estate and tapping escalating stock portfolios.  Now that the easy money has disappeared, consumers are pulling back on spending and increasing their savings.

Unemployment is the most important factor in limiting consumer spending.  Without consumers priming the pump, economic activity dries up, and that makes businesses that might otherwise hire and expand more inclined to hunker down.

It’s the classic chicken and egg riddle: The economy needs the consumer to increase spending to spark overall growth, but it won’t happen as long as unemployment remains high.

“Household balance sheets are shot,” Alan Ruskin, an economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE ADR: RBS) in Stamford, Conn. told The Times. As usual, increased spending “has to come from income, and income has to come from employment, and at this juncture it looks like employment will only improve very slowly.”

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Losses Hit Construction and Manufacturing Hard

Job losses are hitting all sectors except healthcare, which added 19,000 jobs in August, but the gains were swamped by losses elsewhere. The drop in construction jobs was especially large: 64,000. The sector has shed more than 1 million jobs in the past two years.

Despite a report last week from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showing that factory capacity is still expanding, the manufacturing sector lost 51,000 jobs in September.

Another important indicator, initial claims for unemployment benefits, rose 17,000 to 551,000, in the week ended Sept. 26, according to data released last week by the Labor Department, after falling for three straight weeks. Economists had been expecting claims to rise by only 1,000 to 531,000.

Meanwhile, the world’s largest economy is forecast to expand 1.5% next year, after contracting 2.7% in 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last week.

But that may not be enough to get unemployment down to acceptable levels.

“Unless the economy grows significantly faster than its longer-term growth rate,” which economists peg at about 3% annually, “it will be relatively slow in creating jobs over and above people coming into the labor force…therefore the unemployment rate would tend to come down quite slowly,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month.

That’s the problem facing U.S. President Barack Obama, who promised his stimulus program would create 3 million new jobs, and Bernanke, who’s responsible for returning the country to full employment.

Economy Needs 8 Million Jobs to Get Even

To do that, they would have to spur employers to replace the 7 million jobs already lost, and find jobs for 1 million people who enter the work force annually.  To get back to full employment, or below 5% unemployment, the economy will have to create 12 million to 14 million jobs.

“The problem here is that once the economy makes the turn, and once we’re not only out of recession but out of this period that feels like recession … even then the economy is not going to be growing fast enough consistently to bring down the unemployment rate,” Ken Goldstein, an economist with the Conference Board told McClatchy Newspapers.

In September, Jared Bernstein, the top economic adviser to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, credited the president’s $787 billion stimulus program for keeping things from getting even worse. He pointed out that more than two-thirds of the package has yet to be distributed.

“Our interventions have contributed to significant cuts in the rate of job loss,” Bernstein said. “We’re headed in the right direction, but we’re far from out of the woods. There are simply too many Americans seeking work.”

Even after companies decide to begin hiring again, they won’t be forced to bring people in off the street.   Most businesses have cut back on working hours for the ones fortunate enough to still be employed.  Many of these companies will be able to increase output simply by adding hours for existing employees.

“They have tons of room to increase work without hiring a single person,” Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute told The Times. “For people who are out of work, we do not see signs of light at the end of the tunnel.”

No Recovery Until 2015

The world should get used to the idea of a “jobless recovery”, with unemployment staying high and companies waiting a long time before hiring new staff, the IMF warned last week.

“It will take a recovery in automobiles and housing for the manufacturing sector to once again prosper,” Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee told The Kiplinger Letter.

And it’s unlikely those sectors will rebound until at least 2010, despite the government’s efforts to kick start the economy with giant stimulus programs.

Unless the economy grows more than predicted, the unemployment rate is likely to remain stubbornly high, at around 8% by the end of 2011, said Goldstein.

“It might be 2012 or 2013 before we’re back below 6%. We’re certainly not going to go back to 4. We may not see 5 again. But to be in the 5.5 range, we could be there by mid-decade,” he said.

If he’s right it will be 2015 before the job market returns to a semblance of normal and the economy gets back on firm footing.

And, based on their concern for Wall Street, many companies simply don’t have the incentive to begin hiring.

“I don’t think businesses will hire back anytime soon,” Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics Inc. told The Times. “Companies are rewarded by the stock markets for not hiring and keeping their costs down. We will see another jobless recovery.”

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/10/05/unemployment-rate-5/feed/ 8 Job Losses Slow but the U.S. Economy is Following the Script for a Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/09/08/jobless-recovery-5/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/09/08/jobless-recovery-5/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:00:33 +0000 Jason Simpkins http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8745 By Jason Simpkins
Managing Editor
Money Morning

The pace of U.S. job losses slowed in August, but the country will likely be saddled with a high unemployment rate throughout all of 2010, analysts say.

In short, even though the economy has improved, the odds of a “jobless recovery” continue to grow.

Employers shed 216,000 jobs in August, an improvement over the 276,000 positions eliminated in July. However, the unemployment rate still swelled to 9.7% – its highest level since June 1983. The total number of jobs lost since the recession officially began in December 2007 now stands at about 6.9 million.

The overall employment picture is even bleaker when part-time employees that would rather have a full-time job and discouraged workers who are no longer looking for a job, but who would take one if it were available. The unemployment rate actually rises to 16.8% when those individuals are taken into account.

It is believed that the total number of people unemployed in the United States is about 15 million, and that number is expected to climb substantially for the remainder of the year and well into 2010.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says unemployment will peak at 10.4% next year before receding to an average of 9.1% in 2011.

“High unemployment rates are going to be with us for quite a while,” Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), told The New York Times. “It’s going to be a long, long time before we see 6% or 7% unemployment.”

Worse yet, a record number of workers have been unemployed for six months or more, and many others are starting to use up their unemployment benefits, their extended benefits, and even emergency payments from the government.

More than 500,000 unemployed Americans will run out of their 20 weeks to 53 weeks of benefits by the end of September, according to the National Employment Law Project. A further 1.0 million people will see their benefits expire by the end of the year.

With such a dour outlook for the future, the possibility that the U.S. economy is headed for a jobless recovery – where companies make up for lost profits by keeping their headcounts low – is becoming a reality. And that’s if the economy actually recovers at all.

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“There’s no such thing as a jobless recovery – we need jobs to have a recovery,” Kevin Mahn, a managing director of Hennion & Walsh told SmartMoney. “Until we start seeing positive signs in consumer spending and in the jobs market, we won’t see a sustainable recovery. If, in fact, we don’t see the consumer coming back to the table, we’re going to see degradation in corporate earnings in the third and fourth quarter.”

Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy by some estimates, and so far the little consumer activity the economy has seen in recent months has been the direct result of government stimulus programs.

Retail purchases rose 0.2% in July, but that increase was largely the result of the government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), popularly known as “Cash for Clunkers,” which drove a 1.8% increase in durable goods spending. Sales of cars and light trucks rose to an annual pace of 11.2 million units in July – the most since September 2008.

Analysts anticipate a significant drop in sales now that the Cash for Clunkers program has run out of gas.

“The reality is that clunker cash is ultimately an unsustainable fuel source for consumer spending,” Richard Moody, chief economist with Forward Capital, wrote in a note to clients. “Restrained growth in consumer spending beyond [the third quarter] is one factor behind our forecast that what will be fairly rapid real GDP growth for [the third quarter] will not be sustained over subsequent quarters.”

Incomes remained flat in July after dropping 1.1% in June. That led to a 0.3% drop in purchases of non-durable goods. Consumer spending fell 1% in the second quarter.

And just as the Cash for Clunkers program bolstered consumer spending, the housing market was buttressed this summer by an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Existing home sales rose 7.2% to a 5.24 million annual rate in July – the most since August 2007.

However, the supposed “bottom” of the housing market might not have come so soon without the government tax credit, which is set to expire in November.

“I’m not seeing a tremendous amount of good news on the job or economic front, so I do think it’s important that the [tax] credit get extended,” Richard Dugas, chief executive officer of Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM), told The Associated Press.

To be sure, job losses are trending down, but the losses being sustained are still chipping away at the American consumer and the economy as a whole.

“The economy is no longer detonating, but we are still losing jobs,” David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. “It’s going to be a very tough environment for the consumer.”

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/09/08/jobless-recovery-5/feed/ 3 How to Take Control of a Job Interview and Make Yourself a Winning Candidate Every Time http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/08/14/preparing-for-a-job-interview/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/08/14/preparing-for-a-job-interview/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:07:23 +0000 Guest Editorial http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8418 [Editor's Note: This two-part story is the latest installment in an ongoing series that highlights unique career strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.  To read Part I, which appeared yesterday (Thursday), please click here.]

By Wayne Ellis
Contributing Writer
Money Morning

Thanks to your diligent preparation, you made the perfect first impression on your prospective new employer.

Now it’s time to close the deal.
Job

How will you do this? Simple. You’re going to close the deal with an outstanding interview. Then you’ll seal the deal with a post-interview follow-up call that will leave your prospective employer asking for more.
And that should provide you with exactly what you’re seeking – a job offer.

Let’s take a closer look at both these key objectives. And let’s start with the job interview.

Always keep in mind that, under our strategy, you’re not merely trying to persuade your interviewer that you are the right person for he job.

You’re trying to demonstrate that you you’re the best fit for the company. 

The easiest and most effective way you’ll do that is by turning the staid and often overly formal interview process into more of a relaxed “discussion” between two people who have the same goal – filling an open position.

Actually creating a “relationship” between you and the interviewer is probably much easier than you imagine.  All you’ll need to do is adopt a slightly different role during the interview itself – a role that bridges the gulf between you and that puts you and the interviewer on more or less equal footing. Achieving this is easy: Just encourage your interviewer to contribute as much to the conversation as you do by using personalized follow up questions throughout the entire interview.

In the following text, you’ll learn exactly how to phrase your follow up questions for maximum effectiveness, to engage your interviewer, and ultimately help you close the deal on the job.

How to Control a Job Interview Without Appearing to

In every interview, about 60% of the allotted time will be taken up by the same standard questions.  It’s up to you to “control” the other 40% of the time – and manage it to your ultimate advantage – by using the afore-mentioned follow-up questions to create more of personal dialogue with your interviewer.

But here’s a key caveat: Never try to anticipate the interview question or cut off the questioner.  Listen to the entire question, and then begin to answer.  That way, you’ll appear polite and focused – and won’t give away your strategy by being overly aggressive.

So let’s now take a look at the formalized interview questions – and at the “standard-fare” interview questions you can expect, and look at questions you can use to “manage” the interview process:

1.    Resume Questions:  Even though your resume got you into the interview, you may be asked to quickly review it for new people in attendance.  You need to be able to:

  • Summarize your resume/biography/life in three to five minutes. Prior to your interview, practice until you can do this. To stay focused and manage your time.
  • Include highlights of each position you’ve held, its responsibilities, how long you held it, and the accolades/awards you received.
  • Make sure you can explain any gaps in employment.
  • If there are gaps in employment, make sure you can explain them.
  • Take some time to ask the “Follow Up Questions” that will help you establish the rapport you’re seeking with your interviewer. Once you’ve answered the resume questions, turn the topic back on your interviewer by asking:
    •  
      • What did his or her resume look like prior to joining the company?
      • What is the most common background for people in the company?
      • How many others have backgrounds similar to yours?
  1. Strength & Weakness Questions:  You’ll almost always be asked to list your strengths and/or weaknesses.  Again, practice these so that you can answer quickly and succinctly.
  • For strengths, typical answers may include such descriptive labels as “strong multi-tasker, works well with others, self-motivated, quick-learner, thorough, and great eye for detail,” to list a few.
  • Don’t be afraid to toss in a lighthearted answer, if only to take the edge of the interview (you’ll be able to tell when it’s needed, and when it might be viewed as inappropriate. In my case, I might say that  “I call a mean game of ‘Simon Says’ at my children’s parties.” As I said, this will certainly set you apart from the crowd, and may lighten the mood of the interview, if that needs to happen.
  • Also include an example of a strength you’ve acquired from a previous job that will help you in this new position.  This shows the ability to learn.
  • For weaknesses, remember you may be giving the interviewer grounds for not hiring you. So, answer this question with care.  First, you can’t answer that you have no weaknesses; you’re not Superman or Wonder Woman; you’ll seem insincere. For those weaknesses you do share, also include the steps you’ve taken to turn them into strengths. For instance, you can recount how earlier in your career you had a propensity for taking on too much – but then you learned the benefits of delegating responsibility. Your work load became lighter, your subordinates felt “empowered” and overall department performance increased in a substantial way.
  • Follow Ups:  Turn the same questions back on those in attendance:
  •  
    •  
      • Which strengths/weaknesses do you consider most important for the job?
      • Which of my strengths do you perceive to be the biggest asset?
  1. Company/Business Questions:  The more you know about the company, its position within the industry, and its recent history, the more conversant you’ll be during the interview, and the more you’ll stand out.  Chances are, you’ll have more to ask about the company than the interviewer will, so make sure to ask about:
  • The company’s status:  Ask about the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (the always-handy “SWOT Analysis”).
  • And the company’s corporate culture:  What parts of the business are most valued? In other words, is it a sales-dominated, technology-dominated or finance-dominated culture? That question will demonstrate insight about the inner workings of companies in general, and will also allow you to determine your chances for high-level advancement, if that’s a personal goal.
  1. Questions About the Job Itself:  If you haven’t already done so, ask for a list of the most important qualities the person must have to succeed in the position you’re interviewing for. Then share how you’ve already demonstrated those qualities.This is probably also a good time to ask what sort of plans they have for the position, be it short term (in the next 90 to 180 days) or long term (three years down the road)? 
  • What’s the career track like, where does it end?
  • What are the compensation and benefits like for this position (it helps to have some numbers for reference: average compensation for your job in this same sector, as well as for the geographic area in which you work). If  there are discrepancies – such as the salary seems low – now’s the time to ask. 

Use the Final Part of the Interview to Seal the Deal

You’ve done well to this point – very well, in fact. Invariably, the interviewer will turn to you and ask what questions you may still have. If you’ve previously created a single sheet of all of the questions within this article, take it out, and see what’s left.  Chances are, you’ll have questions left to ask in the following areas: 

  1. The Interviewers Themselves:  As soon as you learned the name of your interviewer, you should have consulted Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked-In, or any other social network you could think of, for information on that person. 
  • Don’t miss out on chances to ask questions dealing with shared interests you discovered during that research. You’ll be surprised at how a person will brighten up when they discover you share an interest or hobby, hail from the same hometown or alma mater, or root for the same sports team.
  1. How Do You Stack Up?  Depending upon the situation, most interviewers are open to giving you an honest assessment of your candidacy.  If you sense reticence, don’t push it. Also, be careful how you phrase the question, in case the answer isn’t as positive as you hoped – you don’t want to end your candidacy before it’s even had a chance to take wing. It probably also doesn’t hurt to display some enthusiasm about the job – that’ll make the executive feel as if his or her time was worth the investment.

The End-of-Interview Action Plan

Once you’ve been given the cue that the interviewer is ready to end the session, make sure to ask that person what the next step is.  If the interviewer seems unsure, or hesitant, offer to take the lead.  For example, don’t hesitate to pose a question like: “Is there anything else that I can provide to you that will give you a better idea of what I can bring to the table?”

Find out when a decision is expected, and whether you should contact them or they’ll contact you.  Then, right before you’re ready to leave, offer a positive summary statement to end the meeting on an upbeat note.  For example:

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.  I know you all have busy days, but I hope you agree that this time together was well spent.  I’m confident that we discovered I’m an excellent fit for the position.  Good luck with the rest of your interviews.”

Post Interview:  Stay In the Decision Makers’ Minds

Even if you think the interview was a slam-dunk in your favor, don’t commit the typical faux paus of forgetting to thank the interviewers for their time. This also gives you the chance to remain fresh in their minds without seeming to bother them. Here’s a good strategy.

  • Immediately after the interview, send a “thank you” e-mail to your interviewer, or to the main contact person you dealt with. Express appreciation for their time and for the opportunity, and reiterate that you feel you’d be a great match for that company.
  • Within 48 hours, send a hand-written note via regular mail. This is a personal touch that is often ignored. And because it is so often forgotten, taking this step can go a long way toward showing you take the extra effort.
  • Make absolutely sure to follow up on the action steps established in the interview.  If you’ve been asked to provide additional information, do so on a timely basis. Failing to do so – even after a terrific interview – portrays you as someone who overlooks the details.
  • Finally, if you haven’t heard from the interviewer or the company after 72 hours, you can send a follow-up e-mail or place a call to the interviewer directly to get an update.

Here are a couple of other moves you can make to continue to set yourself apart from the rest of the candidate crowd. If you’ve also noticed an article about the company in the news, make mention of it in your e-mail or call to the interviewer.  This will lessen the impact of you contacting again.  For example:

“Hello Mr. Davis, It’s been a couple of days since we met, and while I was going through the paper this morning, I saw an article detailing how “your company” is undergoing “x.”  It reminded to give you a call to see if you’re any closer to a decision on the position yet.”

In the end, if you’ve used follow-up questions to create a natural connection with the interviewer and the appearance of a nice fit within the corporate culture, the last call you should receive from the company will be from human resources, offering you the position.

If that happens, the final step you need to take (after accepting the job, of course) is to celebrate. After having developed and then carefully followed through on you plan, you deserve it.

[Editor’s Note: Part I of this story – “The Sure-Fire Job Interview Strategy” – appeared yesterday (Thursday). To read that story, please click here. To read the sidebar to this story – “The 10 Secrets to a Winning Job Interview” – which appears elsewhere in today’s (Friday’s) issue of Money Morning, please click here.

Job-hunting is a challenge, and is even more difficult if you’ve been laid off. Even so, this isn’t the time to forget about your financial future. In fact, perhaps it’s time to seek out a guide – an investment guru who knows how to ferret out profit opportunities, but does so with the more-conservative, long-term view of a banker. The ideal guide is Martin Hutchinson, a Money Morning contributing editor who is also the editor of The Permanent Wealth Investor.

In his service, Hutchinson shows subscribers how to assemble high-yielding dividend stocks, profit plays on gold and specially designated "Alpha-Bulldog" stocks into high-income/high-return investment. Hutchinson's strategy is tailor-made for periods of market uncertainty, during which investors all too often go completely to cash - only to miss some of the biggest market returns in history when market sentiment turns positive.

But this strategy – which is also designed to minimize risk and volatility as much as possible – can work in virtually every type of market environment. To find out more about this strategy - or Hutchinson's new service, The Permanent Wealth Investor - please just click here.]

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/08/14/preparing-for-a-job-interview/feed/ 1 How to Stand Out in Cyberspace http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/online-job-search/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/online-job-search/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:00:40 +0000 Investment News Reports http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8214 Money Morning Staff Reports

Whether you have a job and are seeking a new one, or are out of work and need to find gainful employment again, the Internet provides some real advantages for those who know how to maximize its benefits.
Here are some key considerations:

  • Interviews Are the Second Impression: It used to be the job interview that was the “true” first impression. It’s really now the application process. So make it count. Cater your application to the job at hand, and to the culture of the company (if the company is identified). Eradicate minor-league miscues (such as typos or getting the contact person’s name wrong) or those miscues will eradicate you – from consideration for the job.
  • Follow Instructions: As a follow-on to the points above, make sure to follow directions in the online application process. After all, if you can’t follow the “simple” instructions on how to file your resume, why would the company think you’d be able to follow your new bosses edicts in a pressure-filled job?
  • “Action Verbs” Are Out, “Keywords” Are In: Before the Internet’s onset, action verbs made stellar resumes stand out over their more-mundane counterparts. Today, however, carefully chosen keywords are, well, key. Why? Because it’s quite likely that your resume — at least the one you e-mail or submit online — may never be read by a human. It’s often now a computer that processes your application information, placing it in a database in a neat bit of electronic screening. That means that it’s highly probable that the resume your e-mail into a company or submit online in response to a want ad never actually is read by a human being. Be sure to include a section atop your electronic resume that’s filled with 10-15 keywords related to the position you are seeking. If called for an interview, bring with you a more-conventional paper resume.
  • Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Yourself a Match: Use your resume, and the words that you choose to describe yourself, that you’re a perfect candidate match for the job opening. Make sure to very clearly articulate y our skills, experience and qualifications as they relate to the posted job description or profile.
  • Move Quickly: Respond to job postings as quickly as you’re able; when they’re able to hire, employers are making their hiring decisions a lot faster these days.
  • Avoid Culture Clash: While you may need a job, if you can only function in a structured and predictable environment and the employer needs someone who can “run and gun” and operate with flexibility and in a business environment that’s often ambiguous at best, might be best to keep looking.
  • Be Forthright: Make sure to be honest and specific about your career history. If you aren’t at the beginning, it will almost certainly come back to haunt you at the end – when you don’t get the job.
  • Be Professional – Always: It’s always best to start out by being overly formal, and then ratcheting downward to a more-familiar rapport as the relationship develops. By erring on the formal side you don’t miss out on what might be your only chance to make a good impression.

[Editor's Note: To read about the places to look - and strategies to employ - as part of your online job search, check out this story appearing elsewhere in today's issue of Money Morning. Please click here.]

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/online-job-search/feed/ 2 How to Use the Internet to Find a New Job http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/internet-job-search-tips/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/internet-job-search-tips/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:00:40 +0000 Guest Editorial http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8219 [Editor's Note: The latest in an occasional series that looks at unique career strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.]

By David Field
Contributing Writer
Money Morning

Most everyone’s probably heard the saying: “You can find anything you want on the Internet.”

We’re here to tell you that this bit of wisdom is true.

It even includes jobs.

But as is the case with pretty much everything else on the Net, you have to know where to look.

With U.S. unemployment at a 30-year high of 9.5% – and expected to go higher – the search for a new job is certain to become a tougher challenge. In 15 states, in fact, the jobless rate already exceeds 10%, including Michigan, where it’s 15% (22.5% if you include laid-off workers who have given up looking for jobs, or who have settled for part-time work).

Job-hunters are battling back by increasingly turning to the Web. In fact, about 40% of the Americans who use the Internet regularly use it to search for jobs and hiring information, concluded a mid-July study from the Pew Research Center. People are also looking at company Web sites for jobs and to research firms they want to work for; they’re also seeking more general information about the economy and just how bad it is.

That’s because one major function of the Web has been to replace the old classified section of the daily newspaper with online job boards and job portals. Such job-listing sites have been a major contribution of the Internet – and are shaping up as a major contributing cause-of-death for newspapers. Unlike the newspaper, though, the online job postings are not always local and are not always current.

Nevertheless, the Internet has changed the job-hunting game forever, raising the stakes while quickening the pace, one expert says.

“The Internet has made life faster for both candidate and employer,” Daryl A. Hulme, vice president of human resources for Yahoo Inc.’s HotJobs.com (Nasdaq: YHOO), an Internet job board, told Reader’s Digest in an interview. “Resumes once submitted through the mail are now submitted with a click. Candidates still relying on the mail stand a good chance of being beaten to the punch by candidates sending their resumes through cyberspace.”

Internet Job Search Dos and Don’ts

Most sites allow job-seekers to post a resume, but here a word of caution is in order: Read the confidentiality notice of each job board closely, especially if you’re still employed and don’t want your current boss to see that you’re looking for a job.

You may also want to consider this: Many job-posters now have computer programs that electronically “pre-screen” candidates by scanning resumes, looking for specific keywords to create a short-list of the candidates who presumably have the best qualifications. You have to know the keywords from their ad or their posting before you submit your resume.

You can, of course, update your resume on most of these sites, and some experts advise doing so every few days.

By the way, if anyone asks you to pay to post your resume, click away from their page, and do so quickly.

Compared to the old newspaper classified section, using Internet job boards is in fact a challenging proposition. A closer look at a few of the top sites illustrates the pitfalls.

Places to Pan for Internet Gold – a New Job

Let’s first consider the most accessible Web site of all: craigslist.  With individual sites for each major city/metropolitan area, craigslist is definitely local; it’s well-categorized, and it attracts a pretty wide range of employers because it is cheap to post jobs, and free to post “gigs” or small contract or one-time jobs.

Those are the good points. But here’s the downside: Because it’s so cheap and so accessible, craigslist is also a magnet for the slightly – and even outright – sleazy. You’ll sometimes find downright deceptive ads that, when you respond, send you an e-mail trying to set up a traditional scam – such as asking you to send money as a sign of good faith.

You’ll even find the old “work-at-home!” and multi-level-marketing scams disguised as legitimate job opportunities.

But craigslist is worth the effort if you’re looking for a job with a small local firm, a startup or a family-run venture. Just read each post carefully.

You can also post a resume on craisgslist, though here considerable caution is in order: Relatively few recruiters are actually going to look at resumes, and you’ll have to protect your privacy by editing out some of your personal details.

Two more sites –  Indeed  (”In one search. All jobs”) and SimplyHired (”Job Search Made Simple”) – offer searching by job type and by zip code. They are very similar. Indeed.com is an aggregator: It culls listings from various job-listing sites. So Indeed casts a wide net, but it also can run behind the deadlines various job postings have set.

Indeed can be searched by zip code, and lists jobs with a little ‘New’ logo, but closer examination reveals that applications are due on the next day or that the deadline has passed. Still, its very wide reach gives Indeed a strong advantage.

SimplyHired.com is very similar to Indeed.com, also culling from a variety of other Web sites. SimplyHired presents itself as a slightly hipper, younger destination than Indeed.com.

Three oldies but goodies – Monster , Careerbuilder and Hot Jobs – are among the oldest job-hunting sites in cyberspace, and are definitely worth the look. All three tend to gather openings from large companies, rather than from entrepreneurial hirers, and all three will try to sell you such “extras” as resume-writing services. But Monster sometimes suffers from geographic confusion, sending notices of openings in Texas and Oregon to job-seekers in Virginia.

The Ladders is a niche job site aimed at job-seekers in loftier salary ranges – chiefly $100k+ positions in sales, and in the executive suite. Its basic level is free but it charges on a graduated scale for longer periods of access. It specializes in human relations and marketing positions.

Snag A Job calls itself "the #1 job site for hourly employment and entry level opportunities," but it frequently lists jobs that are not actually available at the time. For instance, Snag A Job lists openings at Pizza Hut locations – where you’d think they’re hiring, but where in fact they do not currently need people.

Jobfox.com is more like a wolf in a fox’s clothing: This site seems largely to exist to try to sell people resume-writing services.

These are only a few of the bigger sites; you may also want to look at the national trade association for job sites for some smaller and niche sites. For high-tech jobs, two sites present a few strengths: Dice.com and noodleplace.com. Dice has a very broad sweep, covering everything from data-entry to programming to managerial positions, while Noodleplace offers a much-more-sophisticated approach and a more selective array of jobs. An online newsletter, Weddle’s, also provides specialized job hunting sites, as well as pointers for recruiters.

Social Networking and the Job-Seeker

Bear in mind that most job boards are like the old newspaper employment/classified ads section in still another way: They share its weaknesses, including the fact that they go in one direction at a time, from one point (the job seeker) to another (the hirer). That’s where social networking sites – sites that offer access to many points and many users – come into play. Kevin Wheeler, a human resources and hiring vet, tells the recruiting Web site Electronic Recruiting Exchange that social media, with its referral and recommendation abilities, will be the wave of the future and the "primary sourcing tool" for new hires.

Surprisingly, MySpace, Facebook Inc. and even Twitter Inc. play a role for job-seekers, especially younger ones, but the one site that a job-hunter is most likely to find of use is Linked In. Linked In is the nation’s largest business-networking site with 17 million active users, more than the population of The Netherlands. It has some four million visitors each month and adds 35,000 new members daily. Its average user is approximately 39 years old, and about 12% are in senior-management roles. About half of its users are interested in learning about new career opportunities.

Linked In’s basic model is a “by-invitation” model; you can get on without knowing someone that’s already linked up, but it helps to know someone who’s on the list. It has a jobs section and a jobs blog, and most of these jobs demand very specifically qualified people.

You’ll find, for instance, a marketing post deep within The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) or a similar opportunity tucked inside General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) that demand such specific skill sets that the job descriptions seem to have been written with someone specific in mind.

And that’s often the case. But here’s the important thing about Linked In: This very specific job may already have been filled by someone who knew someone who’s on Linked In, or who was recommended by someone on Linked In.

Its recommendations are a unique feature of the site, and carry the credibility that only a known factor – such as a known member – can provide. Job openings that Linked In members post contain a mention of the poster, and you can certainly apply blind, but if you can connect with the person who posted, you certainly have a leg up.

(There is a catch, of course: On Linked In, you can only connect with someone if both parties agree, and no one can see your personal profile or your network of connections unless they’re connected to someone who is connected to you. Thus, it’s who you know that counts.)

With Linked In, once you have a connection, you’re on your way to getting linked in. Remember that Linked In’s membership includes many executives with hiring responsibilities, as well as many other decision-makers; if you can approach one of them with a recommendation, you’re way ahead.

As for the other sites – Facebook, MySpace and Twitter – they’re potentially useful for twentysomethings who grew up (or didn’t) with social media, but they also contain pitfalls.

If you’re a twentysomething, you’ve probably done some twentysomething things involving ‘partying.’ This means excess, and the universal advice from recruiters is this: Don’t post pictures or descriptions of yourself doing things like parading around with a lampshade on your head, a bottle in your hand and nothing else on. Increasingly, employers are taking the time to check out the postings of people they’re considering hiring. Unless you’re applying for the position of frat house loudmouth, post with caution.

[Editor's Note:  For a sidebar containing tips on searching for a job in cyberspace that appears elsewhere in today's issue of Money Morning, please click here.

In today's uncertain global markets, having a safe and dependable income isn't enough - you have to maximize your savings while at the same time avoiding the kinds of risks that tripped up so many investors as part of the worldwide financial crisis. To avoid those dangers, it helps to have a guide. And the most reliable guide of all is The Money Map Report, the monthly investment newsletter that's a sister publication to Money Morning. In fact, a new offer from Money Morning is a two-way win for investors: Noted commentator Peter D. Schiff's new book - "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" - shows investors how to profit no matter which way the market moves, while our monthly newsletter, The Money Map Report, provides ongoing analysis of the global financial markets and some of the best profit plays you'll find anywhere - including such markets as Taiwan and China. To find out how to get both, check out our latest offer. ]

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/28/internet-job-search-tips/feed/ 6 How to Keep Your Job in a Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/15/keep-your-job/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/15/keep-your-job/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:00:46 +0000 Guest Editorial http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8072 [Editor's Note: The latest in an occasional series that looks at unique career strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.]

By David Field
Contributing Writer
Money Morning

These days, we’re all facing unemployment, whether or not we’re working.

That’s because as unemployment rises, as layoffs continue and as prospects for a “jobless recovery” escalate, losing a job is top-of-the mind, if not all-consuming and all-encompassing.

Even the top workplace performers see the statistics and government reports. Since the current U.S. recession began in December 2007, almost seven million jobs have been lost, more than 1.4 million of them among professionals. The Labor Department says total employment is now at its lowest level since August 2004.

All this leads to the question: What can I do to make my job more secure? What skills, attitudes, and attributes should I have to make it less likely that my name will be on my company’s next list of those to lay off?

Some of these survival tactics consist of so-called “soft” skills – attitudes and relationships – while some skills involve more-measurable tasks. Some of these soft skills may sound obvious, but for many workers, developing them will lead to real, meaningful personal change. The long-time worker who gets through the day with his head down and nose to the grindstone, just like the colleague who gets through the day with a constant stream of humor and jokes, will learn that they need to add new tactics to their personal skill-set arsenal.

That’s because a vital key to keeping your job in these down times is visibility – but only positive visibility, and especially positive visibility that has a tangible connection with measurable results.

Boosting Your Value By Boosting Your Profile

Raise your profile within the company by doing things you haven’t done, things that may seem peripheral to the business but are key to the office. Remember, the office is a social community that’s within the business, and it works, or doesn’t work, just like any other social grouping. It may not be fair, but the odd man – the worker who goes straight home rather than socializing with co-workers – may end up being the odd man out.

Because the office is a social entity, you’ll have to develop a unique standing within it to increase your chances of survival as the entity shrinks through layoffs. This entails building what experts are referring to as a “personal brand,” creating an array of strengths and attributes that are unique to you. This doesn’t mean that you should be the only one to wear a bow-tie or that you should wear a yellow dress every day; it does mean that you have enough to offer the bosses that you will be remembered when the time comes.

Workers can raise their profiles when they make the effort to join special committees or even help organize a company-wide social engagement. This can consist of doing something as simple as getting your department co-workers to all go out to lunch together to actually intramural athletic events.

“Conventional wisdom may say that you should keep your head down, especially during an economic downturn,” says Meredith Haberfeld, an executive coach who operates out of New York.

However, the reality is that visibility is all-important, she said. But only good visibility. The worst form of visibility – complaining and criticizing – is all but a guarantee of a bad personal outcome, Haberfeld said. Avoid gallows humor (quipping “you want fries with that?” to an executive), or out-loud cynicism (asking, tongue-in-cheek, “hey, boss, you here to fire me?”).

Almost any form of gossiping is poison, and the high-maintenance employee is the endangered employee, says employment counselor Susan Heathfield.

Author and career coach Alexandra Levit told Money magazine that you should avoid guilt by association, just as you should seek approval by association: Don’t hang out with the down crowd  (the “Debbie Downers,” she calls them), and do hang out with the people the bosses (genuinely) like.

The next step toward visibility is upward, rather than outward – making sure that your bosses actually know what you’re doing for the company. This, according to Haberfield, comes down – very simply – to blowing your own horn. After all, if you don’t do it, chances are that no one else will, and chances are very good that someone else will try and take credit for your successes.

If you had a successful sales campaign, let the bosses know. If you’ve been able to show how work now being done by expensive consultants could be done in-house – and for a lot less money – let them know.

“My suggestion is that you work your tail off to be visible about the results you’re producing” says Haberfeld.

And don’t just assume that the numbers speak for themselves. If you’ve developed a new technique in your last sales campaign, tell the bosses. And tell them in writing: a casual remark in the elevator really won’t do. The ‘invisible guy’ is the first guy to go, says Stephen Viscusi, author of ‘Bulletproof Your Job: Four Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out on Top at Work.’

Stepping across boundaries rather than building them is the right approach. If you’re in public relations, but you have a sales lead, share it with sales – and make sure they don’t take credit for it. If there’s a big project that you’ve managed to avoid every time it comes up, change that. Write this year’s annual “Year in Review,” even if you are certain that no one reads it.

Needed New Skills to Seek Out

Being the invaluable, irreplaceable employee no longer means hoarding expertise in just one area. Indeed, that’s just won’t work in today’s environment.

What will work is new skills. Here are some ways to develop them:

  • Mentor Your Way to Success: Seek a mentor within your organization. Or, better yet, be one. If you’re low down on the totem pole, seek the advice and counsel of someone higher up; and vice versa, Ana Dutra, chief executive officer of Korn/Ferry International’s (NYSE: KFY) Leadership Development Group, recently told The Harvard Business Review. Getting a mentor is an effective way to gain new skills – while also boosting your visibility to higher-ups: “How do I do this in Power Point?” soon leads to “Teach me how to do that neat thing you do, that Dreamweaver thing.” And that leads to a new skill set. All of these techniques come close to bootlicking; it all depends on how you do it. Some experts such as Viscusi advocate taking this a step farther by sharing your personal travails with the boss. This may seem like a risky strategy, and would depend on the personalities involved. But if you’re learning new skills from a company elder, you’re doing good for them as well as for yourself.
  • Embrace ‘Social Media’: Many companies have been slow to embrace the tools and services of MySpace.com, Facebook Inc., LinkedIn Corp., and the like, while their employees have jumped in. Become your company’s “go-to” for new media; even if it’s an unofficial position, it’ll increase your perceived importance within your organization, and if you handle it correctly it will also build your network of allies. (One key point: Whatever you do, don’t spend your office time on Facebook unless it’s officially sanctioned and everyone knows it!).
  • Stay Ahead of the Pack: Keep up with developments in your field. This is different than acquiring new skills; this is going to professional societies and finding out what will be happening in the next few months or years – and being ready for these new trends. In fact, you can even position yourself as the “informed source” inside your group by letting folks know just what’s beyond the horizon in your business – again, creating for yourself a position of perceived value.
  • Volunteering: Some experts recommend volunteering outside of the workplace as a job-preservation skill. It can expose you to new ways to use your skills. For instance, an executive from a communications firm volunteers and finds a new type of audience to write for and helps her firm expand into seeking non-profit clients. Volunteering can also be a way to increase public awareness of the company’s name and brand.
  • Seek Certifications: There are other technical skills that can (and should) be acquired formally, through a professional certification. Remember, you don’t need to go through a lengthy, costly certification process to learn important job skills such as becoming an Excel pro. You can learn through a mentor but you can also learn through expert user groups that meet regularly; you can even take a course at the local community college. Look, too, at low-cost seminars that many professional groups hold.

[Editor's Note: In future installments in this series, Money Morning will look at such jobless recovery topics as executing the perfect job interview, managing your finances, planning for retirement, and the most promising sectors for the future. The first installment outlined an entire career-survival plan for those who've lost their jobs. And a sidebar to this story, which appears elsewhere in today's issue of Money Morning, talks about how employees can use new certifications to bolster their value. To read that story, please click here.

In the meantime, don't forget your investments. But in a market as uncertain as the one investors face now, it helps to have a guide. And the ideal guide is The Money Map Report, the monthly investment newsletter that's a sister publication to Money Morning. In fact, a new offer from Money Morning is a two-way win for investors: Noted commentator Peter D. Schiff's new book - "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" - shows investors how to profit no matter which way the market moves, while our monthly newsletter, The Money Map Report, provides ongoing analysis of the global financial markets and some of the best profit plays you'll find anywhere - including such markets as Taiwan and China. To find out how to get both, check out our latest offer. ]

News and Related Story Links:

]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/15/keep-your-job/feed/ 4 How Seeking Certifications Can Serve as a Survival Strategy in a Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/14/jobless-recovery-4/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/14/jobless-recovery-4/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:19:59 +0000 Guest Editorial http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=8070 [Editor's Note: The latest in an occasional series that looks at unique strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.]

By David Field
Contributing Writer
Money Morning

Professional certification is one way to increase your value to your company at the same time that you’re developing a skill that you can help you do your job better.

Here are some of the top certifications, both in terms of earning power and in terms of portability:

  • Information Technology: When it comes to hands-on Information Technology, the list gets longer. ITIL, the IT Infrastructure Library, grants the certification to show expertise in service support and service delivery. Another high-paying certification is the Certified Information Systems Security Professional, or CISSP Certification, from ISC2. Other certifications are offered in company-specific skills such as products and technologies marketed by such firms as Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) or Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT).

These certifications can take time (eight weeks of study for project management is considered fast) and cost money ($500 just to take the exam at ISC), but most companies are still offering tuition assistance. And you have to ask: Isn’t the job (and the salary) worth the additional effort?

[Editor's Note: In future installments in this series, Money Morning will look at such jobless recovery topics as executing the perfect job interview, managing your finances, planning for retirement, and the most promising sectors for the future. The first installment outlined an entire career-survival plan for those who've lost their jobs. In today's issue of Money Morning, the newest series installment details steps workers can take to add to their workplace value and even protect their jobs. To read that story, please click here.

In the meantime, don't forget your investments. But in a market as uncertain as the one investors face now, it helps to have a guide. And the ideal guide is The Money Map Report, the monthly investment newsletter that's a sister publication to Money Morning. In fact, a new offer from Money Morning is a two-way win for investors: Noted commentator Peter D. Schiff's new book - "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" - shows investors how to profit no matter which way the market moves, while our monthly newsletter, The Money Map Report, provides ongoing analysis of the global financial markets and some of the best profit plays you'll find anywhere - including such markets as Taiwan and China. To find out how to get both, check out our latest offer. ]

News and Related Story Links:

]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/14/jobless-recovery-4/feed/ 4 Management Strategies For a Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/02/management-secrets-for-a-jobless-recovery/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/02/management-secrets-for-a-jobless-recovery/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:35 +0000 Guest Editorial http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=7901 [Editor's Note: The latest in an occasional series that looks at unique strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.]

By Dave Field
Contributing Writer
Money Morning

You’re a manager for a mid-sized U.S. company that’s been forced to slash its work force because of the global financial crisis. And you’ve just received a new assignment: You’re to take over a key department that was hit harder than most by the layoffs.

Morale and productivity have plummeted. Your mandate: Fix it.

It’s one of those assignments that can either be a career-maker – or a career-ender. You want to make sure it’s the former, not the latter, and need to make all the right moves.

What do you do?

In an economy in which the unemployment rate just hit a 25-year high of 9.4% – and is expected to go higher – and that’s seen 6 million workers lose their jobs since the U.S. recession started in December 2007, this situation is becoming more the norm than the exception. And with 14.5 million workers currently unemployed – and a “jobless recovery” in the offing – the population of U.S. managers who are asking the “what to do” question is going to spiral higher.

The report on the U.S. unemployment rate for June will be reported early today (Thursday).

No More “Business As Usual”

After a layoff, managers cannot go back to “business as usual” if they hope to have any control over workplace morale and productivity. In fact, managing for the survivors of layoffs should become a top priority for managers, personnel experts say.

Increasingly, “layoff-survivor syndrome” is becoming a common phrase, one that conveys the unpleasant reality that not being laid off is in some ways as tough as getting that pink slip, and that underscores that the people who remain on the job will have plenty of emotional challenges, much as do disaster survivors (”why him and not me?”).

First, there’s the guilt. As might be expected, a majority of workers said they had feelings of guilt, anger, and anxiety, according to a survey by Leadership IQ, a Washington-, D.C.-based research-and-training company.

But the guilt, anger and anxiety have a real effect on the company: Three-quarters of layoff survivors say their productivity has declined, while customer service has worsened, the survey found. It also found that 69% of the remaining workers believe the quality of their company’s products or services has declined since the layoffs. According to the survey, 64% of surviving workers say the productivity of their colleagues has also declined and 81% of surviving workers say there’s been a decline in the service the company’s customers are receiving.

“There is a great myth that, following a layoff, the surviving employees will be so grateful that they still have a job that they’ll work harder and be more productive,” says Mark Murphy, chairman of Leadership IQ. “But as this study shows, the opposite is usually true.”

Part of the problem is that – after the job cuts – employees face an implied “do-more-with-less” work edict. In other words, the survivors are being forced to be more productive as they find themselves having to do new tasks and duties. In a survey by CareerBuilder.com, 47% of workers reported they have taken on more responsibility because of a layoff within their organization, while 37% said they are handling the work of two people. What’s more, 30% are feeling burned out.

“Employees are feeling added pressure as they shoulder heavier workloads and strive to maintain productivity levels,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder LLC.

Robert Hosking, executive director of Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing firm OfficeTeam, a unit of Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI), says that the period following a major work-force reduction is a good time to make sure that employee workloads reflect company priorities.

Key Moves to Make

Constant communication is the first big step. Make sure to speak with those who remain, underscoring their value to the company, while also being candid about just what’s to come.

For instance, don’t tell people ‘no further layoffs are expected’ unless you’re sure that no one else will be laid off. Managers need to be in constant view of their front-line employees, and must be approachable. Employees need to be able to express their feelings – their concerns about the people who have been laid off, their concerns about their jobs and their concerns about the company’s future.

“The number one way to prevent guilt is [through solid] communication,” Jason P. Zickerman, president of The Alternative Board, a Denver-based executive-consulting firm, told BusinessWeek.

Leadership IQ’s Murphy counsels managers that how a layoff is conducted is important, but the aftermath needs even-more-careful management.

“Managers need to be highly visible to their staff, approachable even when they don’t have anything new to say, and candid about the state of things in order to build their trust and credibility,” he says. “If your company has to conduct a layoff, it is imperative that you train your managers how to both manage that process and deal with the highly debilitating aftermath. Otherwise, you will waste any potential cost savings from the layoff on lost productivity, quality problems, and service breakdowns.”

The discussion of the state of the business should include context about how that company’s overall industry or sector is doing, says Janet C. Barnard, a management consultant and former associate professor of management at the Rochester Institute of Technology College of Business.

Going forward, part of that communication has to include detailed discussion of goals and expectations – for the individual workers, for the entire department and for the company, Barnard says.

“Goals are very important, particularly in a period of uncertainty,” like the one U.S. workers face right now, Barnard says.

Goals give workers more of a feeling of control, allowing them to feel as if they have a role or say in their own destiny. That’s crucial, because as the feeling of control increases, it reduces the feelings of powerlessness, fear and uncertainty, Barnard says.

Goals should be specific, measurable and attainable. And there should be periodic reviews, with feedback, so that the workers understand how they are doing, she says. Those reviews should be “information rich,” meaning there should be context about how the company is doing overall – particularly if these efforts are propelling the department, or even the entire company, forward.

“If you give employees a feeling of some power [over their future], they feel less fearful,” which makes them much more productive, Barnard says.

When facing a jobless recovery, these can add up to a winning formula for you as a manager, and for your company.

[Editor's Note: In future installments in this series, Money Morning will look at such jobless-recovery topics as career-management, managing your finances, planning for retirement, and promising sectors for employment. The first installment outlined an entire career-survival plan for those who've lost their jobs. And a sidebar to this story, which appears elsewhere in today's issue of Money Morning, details tips managers can use to reinvigorate an organization afflicted with layoff-survivor syndrome. To read that story, please click here.

In the meantime, don't forget your investments. But in a market as uncertain as the one investors face now, it helps to have a guide. And the ideal guide is The Money Map Report, the monthly investment newsletter that's a sister publication to Money Morning. In fact, a new offer from Money Morning is a two-way win for investors: Noted commentator Peter D. Schiff's new book - "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" - shows investors how to profit no matter which way the market moves, while our monthly newsletter, The Money Map Report, provides ongoing analysis of the global financial markets and some of the best profit plays you'll find anywhere - including such markets as Taiwan and China. To find out how to get both, check out our latest offer. ]

News and Related Story Links:

]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/02/management-secrets-for-a-jobless-recovery/feed/ 4 After the Layoff: Seven Ways to Ensure Your Success http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/01/jobless-recovery-management-tips/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/01/jobless-recovery-management-tips/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:00:47 +0000 Investment News Reports http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=7895 [Editor's Note: The is part of an occasional series that looks at unique strategies for navigating the jobless recovery. For a related story in today's issue, please click here.]

Money Morning Staff Reports

You’ve been given the task of heading an organization that’s just suffered a layoff. Setting organizational goals is important. But it’s also important to manage yourself. Here are some key tips to remember about managing yourself – even as you help others navigate a very tough time:

  1. Go for the Goal: Managers know how important it is to have clear, measurable and attainable goals for their organization – but they sometimes forget to do the same for themselves. Establish personal goals that will feed into your objectives for the organization. Make sure to write them down (some experts say goals don’t be come “real” until they are “written”). Prioritize your goals. Mark them off as you attain them – and allow yourself to experience a deserved feeling of accomplishment or achievement. And make sure to create new goals as you cross off the old ones – or as new problems or objectives come to light.

  2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: More communication is better than less, especially during a period of intense uncertainty. Make sure you let your direct reports know what’s expected of them. And take the time to keep your supervisors or bosses informed. They’ll appreciate it and will begin to look at you as an integral part of the organization.

  3. Treat Your Time Like the Scarce Resource That it Actually is: Spend time on the tasks that matter, and avoid getting bogged down on those that don’t. Keep the “80/20 Rule” (also known as the “Pareto Principle“), which in its simplest form says that only about 20% of your work is related to essential or vital parts of the business, meaning that 80% of your tasks are trivial. Focus on the “essential few” and your odds of success will skyrocket.

  4. Don’t Be Afraid to Delegate: People want to be helpful. That’s a surprising realization for many managers, but it’s also a powerful epiphany to have. Ask the right way, make it clear it’s an offer to be included, and you’ll be both surprised and thrilled at the effort your request to “help out” will generate. That’s especially true during periods of uncertainty – instead of sitting around and worrying, most employees would much rather be busy, productive and contributing to the turnaround effort.

  5. Handle Paperwork Only Once: Whenever possible, follow this rule and you’ll eliminate clutter, will become more organized, and will end procrastination as a problem. MeadWestvaco Corp. (NYSE: MWV), maker of the popular personal planners, recommends having an assistant in charge of screening your mail. Whatever does hit your desk should then be acted upon immediately, kept in a reference file on your desk if it’s related to a crucial project, or filed away – but with a “discard date” that tells you when it can be tossed, thereby trimming desktop and file-cabinet clutter.

  6. Minimize Interruptions/Maximize Productivity: It’s almost a subset of Lesson No. 3, but interruptions are all too often related more to the “80%” than they are the “20%.” The average employee is interrupted an average of 48 times a day – or about once every nine minutes. It’s worse for managers. If the interruption is related to the “vital few,” whenever possible, handle it immediately, and be done with it (this also tends to contain the damage from a problem if its resolved quickly). If it’s unnecessary, delay, stop or avoid it entirely. If it’s somewhat important, but is inconvenient or untimely, schedule it for later or delegate it to someone who’s more directly involved.

  7. Take Care of Yourself: No one can do this but you. To make the best decisions, to operate at peak efficiency, and to be the best resource for the organization that you can be, you need to be healthy. Make sure to eat well, get rest, and exercise. Take the time to go for a walk at least once a day – even if it’s only around the building – so long as it gets you out from behind your desk. Use the time to think, or to walk around and be seen as the “leader” (not just the manager) that you’re striving to be in this turnaround situation.

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]]> http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/07/01/jobless-recovery-management-tips/feed/ 3 Where to Find Jobs in a Jobless Recovery http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/06/29/jobless-recovery-3/ http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/06/29/jobless-recovery-3/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:24:30 +0000 Jason Simpkins http://www.moneymorning.com/?p=7850 [Editor's Note: The latest installment of an occasional series that looks at finance and career strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.]

By Jason Simpkins
Managing Editor
Money Morning

There’s no question that the U.S. job market is tough across the board right now. But not all pain is created equal: There are regions of the country – and sectors of the U.S. economy – that haven’t been hit quite as hard as others.

Indeed, some regions – and some sectors – that are proving quite resilient.

So, if you’re in the market for a job, it might be a good idea to target those areas and sectors that have demonstrated flexibility over several decades and are best able adapt to 21st century trends.

For job-seekers, it all comes down to this: You have to know what’s hot – and what’s not.

The three graphs below – based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – show the number of people working in the 12 different sectors of the U.S. economy since 1939. The shaded areas represent periods of recession.

Virtually all of the sectors have grown consistently over the past 70 years. The one noticeable exception is manufacturing, which peaked in the late 1970s and has been in decline ever since.

Government jobs and jobs in education and healthcare – referred to as “Eds & Meds” in economic parlance – have provided the most consistent growth, even in the current recession, which has also been the most severe in the time period studied. However, the biggest supplier of jobs continues to be the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

In the current recession – which began in December 2007 – job losses were severe in the commercial and resident real estate business, but more recently have shown signs of stabilizing. Employment in construction decreased by 59,000 in May, compared with an average monthly job loss of 117,000 in the industry for the previous six months, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Job losses in professional and business services also moderated in May. The industry shed 51,000 jobs, compared with an average loss of 136,000 jobs per month in the prior six months.

Employment in the leisure-and-hospitality and government sectors was about flat, but the manufacturing sector continued to deteriorate— with employment falling by 156,000 for the month.

But the healthcare sector continued to display resilience, increasing by 24,000 jobs. That makes sense: Long term, as the U.S. population continues to “gray,” the healthcare sector figures to keep adding workers in order to keep pace.

Job Growth in the ‘Clean Energy Economy’

While healthcare and education, along with the government, continue to be the most consistent employers of the American public, increased environmental awareness and more government incentives have made the clean energy sector a viable option for steady employment.

In fact, from 1998 to 2007, the number of jobs in the “clean energy economy,” grew nearly two and a half times faster than the overall job market, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States.

Jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a rate of 9.1% during that time, compared to a rate of 3.7% for traditional jobs. By 2007, more than 68,200 clean energy businesses across the United States accounted for about 770,000 jobs.

The clean energy economy includes jobs in clean energy, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production, conservation and pollution mitigation, and training and support.

The report found that 65% of jobs in the clean energy economy are in the category of conservation and pollution mitigation. However, jobs in the categories of clean energy, energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly production are growing at the fastest rate.

California has more jobs in the clean-energy economy – more than 125,000 – than any other state, and that number has grown at an average annual rate of 0.9% between 1998 and 2007. Other states in the Pacific Northwest – Oregon and Washington – also have large and growing clean energy industries. Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Colorado are also notable for their large and growing clean energy industries.

The St. Louis Fed report notes that venture capital was a driving force behind clean energy before the global financial crisis struck. In 2008, investors directed $5.9 billion, or 15% of all global venture capital investments, into the clean energy economy, a 48% increase over 2007. Between 1998 and the end of 2008, a total of about $12.6 billion in venture capital money had been directed into the clean-energy economy.
Of course, venture capital investment has declined considerably since the collapse of the global economy. The Pew Center study found that during the first three months of 2009, investment in clean energy was down 48% compared to a year earlier. However, the report also found that investment in clean energy still outpaced such investment elsewhere. During the same time period, total venture capital investment decreased by 61%, and that trend is expected to continue.

“Analysts suspect that the green industry will weather the downturn better than other market segments, both because of stimulus and because the drivers for growth are still there,” Kil Huh, Project Director for the Pew Center on the States and a principal author of the study, told Social Funds.com. “Consumers continue to call for a viable alternative to traditional energy sources.”

Furthermore, increased government investment should help compensate for the dearth of venture capital. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides $85 billion in spending for energy and transportation, and includes $21 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy, as well as more than $30 billion for spending on a variety of clean energy programs.

Additionally, 29 states and the District of Columbia have established renewable portfolio standards, Social Funds reported. And 19 states have established Energy Efficiency Resource Standards that encourage a continual increase in energy savings on the part of utilities.

While venture capital was abundant in the years leading up to the financial crisis, government funding was absent. Huh believes this new wave of political support will continue to carry the industry until private sector investment rebounds.

“The growth happened with a lack of sustained government support, and we suspect that recent government actions will help job growth in the green economy significantly,” Huh said. “Federal proposals for a market-based system for climate control will help shape consumer demand. The legislation would move the entire industry in that direction of clean energy. The green energy economy seems poised for continued growth.”

Location, Location, Location

Just as some sectors have fared better than others, the financial crisis has had an unequal impact on various metro areas across the country. Parts of the country that had overly inflated property markets suffered greatly from the collapse of the housing market. Similarly, local economies in the Midwest were devastated by bankruptcies in the American auto industry.

On the other hand, metro areas with high concentrations of government jobs or jobs in health and education have been much better off.

The Brookings Institution’s MetroMonitor examined such economic indicators as employment, unemployment, wages, output, home prices and foreclosures throughout the first quarter of 2009.

“Economic pain is widespread in Midwestern metro areas that depend heavily on the auto industry and its supply chain,” the report said. “Most metro areas in Michigan and Ohio have experienced employment and output declines exceeding national averages. Several, including Dayton, Detroit, and Youngstown, began losing jobs two to three years earlier than the U.S. economy as a whole.”

These areas are likely to continue to struggle as both General Motors Corp. (OTC: GMGMQ) and Chrysler LLC engage in lengthy restructuring processes.

Additionally, large portions of the South and West – including such states as Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California – continue to suffer the fallout from the housing collapse.

However, the effects of the financial crisis have been far more muted in other parts of the country.

“Job losses have been more modest, and housing prices have risen slightly, in many Northeastern metro areas that have less auto-oriented manufacturing sectors (e.g., aerospace in Hartford [Connecticut], photonics in Rochester [Upstate New York], plastics in Scranton [Eastern Pennsylvania]),” according to the MetroMonitor. “Parts of the Southwest and Deep South—including metro areas in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana—have performed relatively well, experiencing less severe job losses, relatively large wage gains, and modest home price increases.”

The report attributes buoyancy in the Southwest – particularly Texas – to a strong specialization in energy. It also points out that large amounts of hurricane recovery funding for the Gulf Coast and smaller increases in housing prices in the earlier part of the decade could also be factors in that region’s resilience.

Predictably, city centers with large educational and medical labor forces performed better than the broader job market. Metro areas with specializations in education and healthcare saw employment drop by an average of 2% from the fourth quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009. That compares to a national employment decline of 3.7% over that same period.

Metro areas with a specialization in government/military employment – such as Washington D.C., El Paso, Texas, and Honolulu Hawaii – saw average job losses of 1.3%.

Some of the areas that were most susceptible to the housing collapse were also hit by a decline in tourism, as metro areas specializing in entertainment and recreation – such as Orlando, FL and Las Vegas, NV – experienced a 4% average drop in employment.

[Editor's Note: In future installments in this series, Money Morning will look at such jobless-recovery topics as career-management, managing your finances, planning for retirement, and promising sectors for the future.

In the meantime, don't forget your investments. But in a market as uncertain as the one investors face now, it helps to have a guide. And the ideal guide is The Money Map Report, the monthly investment newsletter that's a sister publication to Money Morning. In fact, a new offer from Money Morning is a two-way win for investors: Noted commentator Peter D. Schiff's new book - "The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets" - shows investors how to profit no matter which way the market moves, while our monthly newsletter, The Money Map Report, provides ongoing analysis of the global financial markets and some of the best profit plays you'll find anywhere - including such markets as Taiwan and China. To find out how to get both, check out our latest offer. ]

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