This is an extremely enlightening article from The Washington Post about the need for global job growth to prevent jobless recovery worldwide:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/with-200m-out-of-work-worldwide-economists-remind-governments-that-recovery-must-create-jobs/2011/09/26/gIQANcKSzK_story_1.html
Monday, September 26, 2011
Never Throw in the Towel!
Job seekers approach me quite often sharing their frustrations over submitting dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes and receiving less than a 5% response rate. I am not talking about getting interviews, I am referring to not even an acknowledgement of receipt. Most of us take a lack of response as a lack of interest or perhaps that the job was already filled with a different candidate. Common sense would tend to have us come to this conclusion but I am here to tell you that common sense and logic do not necessarily apply to job searches!
One might think this is simply a function of the abysmal economy and glut of unemployed professionals out there but I wish to take you back about 15 years. I had recently joined a recruiting firm and was working late one evening when the phone rang. On the other end was a director from one of the nation's telecommunications giants. Very excitedly, he told me our office had just sent him a perfect resume for a project he was managing and he needed to contact the candidate immediately. He had no idea which recruiter from our office was involved because the HR staff sent him the resume and said they just received it. Having never heard of the candidate, I did some research and discovered the recruiter had left our firm over a year back and the resume was submitted almost 18 months ago. Apparently, it got buried in the Human Resources office's database and just reappeared!!
Upon locating the candidate, I discovered he had taken a 2 year assignment in Europe a few months earlier since no one in the U.S. showed interest in his areas of expertise. The hiring manager at the telecommunications giant got very angry with me until I pointed out that his internal colleagues were the culprits, not our firm.
My long winded point is that a resume is never totally dead even though it appears that way. The corresponding advice is to follow up as best you can on submittals, keep making new ones if a company posts new jobs, and do your best to find new places to send your credentials. Sadly, it could take hundreds of attempts to get just a handful of interviews but please never throw in the towel because you absolutely must stay in the game to have a chance to get off the bench!
One might think this is simply a function of the abysmal economy and glut of unemployed professionals out there but I wish to take you back about 15 years. I had recently joined a recruiting firm and was working late one evening when the phone rang. On the other end was a director from one of the nation's telecommunications giants. Very excitedly, he told me our office had just sent him a perfect resume for a project he was managing and he needed to contact the candidate immediately. He had no idea which recruiter from our office was involved because the HR staff sent him the resume and said they just received it. Having never heard of the candidate, I did some research and discovered the recruiter had left our firm over a year back and the resume was submitted almost 18 months ago. Apparently, it got buried in the Human Resources office's database and just reappeared!!
Upon locating the candidate, I discovered he had taken a 2 year assignment in Europe a few months earlier since no one in the U.S. showed interest in his areas of expertise. The hiring manager at the telecommunications giant got very angry with me until I pointed out that his internal colleagues were the culprits, not our firm.
My long winded point is that a resume is never totally dead even though it appears that way. The corresponding advice is to follow up as best you can on submittals, keep making new ones if a company posts new jobs, and do your best to find new places to send your credentials. Sadly, it could take hundreds of attempts to get just a handful of interviews but please never throw in the towel because you absolutely must stay in the game to have a chance to get off the bench!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Very Interesting Article About Retirement
I found this link on The Wall Street Journal and thought it might make good reading, especially for those in the final decades of their careers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903791504576584313139219254.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_editorsPicks_3
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Memories of FDR
The New York Times ran a very informative and interesting post about the Great Depression and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index.html?scp=3&sq=job%20market&st=cse
Mr. Roosevelt certainly made some bold promises during his campaign AND followed through on most of them even though there were some very painful measures involved. Desperate times (and yes I feel we are in such a state right now) call for gutsy leadership and decision making even if it involves stepping on toes and alienating certain constituencies like oil companies and insurance companies.
Certainly the WPA went a long way toward creating jobs and repairing our nation and we need something similar to pump some life into the economy. Of course the NY/NJ region had such a project until a very tenacious governor decided to end it and leave an unfinished rubble heap earlier this year. It was hard to get too upset with him, even though I believe such projects are much needed, because he could not find the funds needed to keep moving.
FDR was gutsy and really did not care if he won any popularity contests as long as he started repairing his nation step by step. We need new jobs established here, more manufacturing and commerce on U.S. soil, and support from all branches of government coupled with a commitment from our largest corporations to invest in our future and we need it now. Whoever has the guts to put some real protein into their platform will get my vote in 2012!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Shipping Coordinator Needed!
I am recruiting for a Shipping Coordinator for a client in Central NJ who must have 2-3 years merchandise distribution center experience, especially in routing and shipping procedures with knowledge of EDI and ASN. Computer literacy including MS Excel and Word are essential. Resumes by email only to harold@smartstaff. jobs for this first shift, temp-to-perm opportunity. Harold Levin, SmartStaff Personnel, 908-508-0300, ext. 205.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Not Much Has Changed
Almost exactly three years ago, I posted the following advice about not changing jobs if you were gainfully employed at that time:
Okay, here we are three years later and not much has changed which is why I am stunned at how many people with relatively secure, full-time work are whining about the need to make a change. Here is my honest opinion: if you are not unemployed, have been at your present job for one year or longer, receive some level of a benefits plan, are eligible for vacation time annually, and feel reasonably capable of executing the required skills with out a lot of issues; stay put and work extremely hard.
First, if you are gainfully employed, sit tight! I receive calls everyday from people who want to change employers or worse yet, they want to leave their field for something different. NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR DRASTIC CHANGES OF ANY KIND!!!!!! SIT STILL UNTIL THINGS STABILIZE!!!!
Okay, here we are three years later and not much has changed which is why I am stunned at how many people with relatively secure, full-time work are whining about the need to make a change. Here is my honest opinion: if you are not unemployed, have been at your present job for one year or longer, receive some level of a benefits plan, are eligible for vacation time annually, and feel reasonably capable of executing the required skills with out a lot of issues; stay put and work extremely hard.
Each week, the number of unemployed continues to grow. Rest assured, if you decide to move on, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of eager candidates ready to submit their resumes! Be happy where you are. Hopefully, three years from now, I will be writing about this era as if it were ancient history!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Job Creation vs. Environmental Law
Here is an interesting piece I found in the New York Times which i felt was worth sharing:
Friday, September 2, 2011
Bleak Start to September
Many people have told me I focus on negatives rather than looking for silver linings and I have made a strong effort to reverse this in the past few years. Unfortunately, the news that was released today, 9/2/11, is very disheartening and there is not much silver left in the lining.
The New York Times just reported zero job growth in the U.S. for the month of August with much of the blame placed on the poor performance by our government in dealing with the budget crisis plus a very low demand for manufactured goods. As a professional recruiter, I assure you very few people are hiring right now but here is a quote from an expert which verifies what I have been preaching: “Business confidence surveys have uniformly pointed to businesses who are not laying off workers, but who are holding off on hiring while they wait for a clearer outlook — an outlook that became much cloudier and more volatile” beginning with the debt-ceiling battle in July, said Ellen Zentner, the senior United States economist for Nomura Securities.
It is against all my beliefs to rant about politics in my blog entries but this updated news is really getting under my skin. We need to contact our elected officials at all levels and urge them to put the well being of our entire nation ahead of their absolutely pitiful in-fighting! Democrats are fighting with other Democrats and Republicans are fighting fellow party members plus no one is listening to anyone down in DC best I can see. The leaders of all sectors such as banking, real estate, manufacturing, insurance, health care, etc. must start leaning on our government to get its act in gear and work toward a gradual but steady economic recovery. Let's hope that Labor Day weekend will be the start of a better economy for all of us!
The New York Times just reported zero job growth in the U.S. for the month of August with much of the blame placed on the poor performance by our government in dealing with the budget crisis plus a very low demand for manufactured goods. As a professional recruiter, I assure you very few people are hiring right now but here is a quote from an expert which verifies what I have been preaching: “Business confidence surveys have uniformly pointed to businesses who are not laying off workers, but who are holding off on hiring while they wait for a clearer outlook — an outlook that became much cloudier and more volatile” beginning with the debt-ceiling battle in July, said Ellen Zentner, the senior United States economist for Nomura Securities.
It is against all my beliefs to rant about politics in my blog entries but this updated news is really getting under my skin. We need to contact our elected officials at all levels and urge them to put the well being of our entire nation ahead of their absolutely pitiful in-fighting! Democrats are fighting with other Democrats and Republicans are fighting fellow party members plus no one is listening to anyone down in DC best I can see. The leaders of all sectors such as banking, real estate, manufacturing, insurance, health care, etc. must start leaning on our government to get its act in gear and work toward a gradual but steady economic recovery. Let's hope that Labor Day weekend will be the start of a better economy for all of us!
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