Is It Time to Change Jobs?

According to The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/business/economy/in-a-sign-of-labor-recovery-more-workers-are-quitting.html?_r=1&hp there are now a larger number of us quitting jobs to take what appear to be better opportunities than at any time since our current recession (yes, I definitely believe this is still a recession) began a little over 3 years ago. The number of layoffs per month has also dropped off.

The biggest upside to this is an indication that employers are showing signs of filling holes they have left empty for several years which is a very good thing. One item missing from this article is a breakdown of industries and regions that are thriving. In the Northeastern U.S., we seem to be dragging our feet in the recovery process. Large organizations like Johnson and Johnson, Alcatel-Lucent, and The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, to name a few, are definitely still reducing their numbers and many Wall Street companies appear to be struggling to maintain their footings right now.

Getting back to the main point of this Times report, why are people changing jobs? Are they getting more money, better benefits plans, more vacation time, a chance to grow their careers or are they giving up on their chosen fields and heading off in new directions? It still seems to me that you should stay put if you are not under pressure to move on. The risk of being the new kid on the block in extremely unstable times is a big one to take. Be certain to weigh the advantages of quitting against the possibilities of putting your career in jeopardy before making a move. If you still think it is a good time to switch, go forward but always keep your eyes and ears open!

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!

Job Training Shortcomings

Everyone needs to read the article in today's New York Times about government funded job training for displaced workers. Over $800 Mil is being spent to train people who previously earned in excess of $75K for jobs that barely surpass minimum wage and are in fields that are terribly overcrowded already. The end result for many is that they are replacing their unemployment earnings with welfare checks and we are all paying for this through taxes. Please note that I did vote for President Obama so I am not tossing out some sour grapes but I am very disturbed by the results.

As a former Career Services Director for a proprietary trade school, I witnessed individuals who were pigeon holed by unemployment counselors into accepting training they never wanted because they knew it was a poor fit for them. Usually, the unemployment counselor has a menu of a few available programs and you must select from what is out there, not what is good for you. It appears that the Obama administration simply fed money into this worn out program instead of creating something that would best match the student with the right career move. Again, try to read this article and draw your own conclusions.

PS: If you participated in one of these courses, i would love to hear how you made out!