Okay, so I just read a report titled “Unemployment and Jobs In International Perspective” by two distinguished professors for the United States Congress and it read “The United States has low unemployment rates and substantial job creation, while much of the rest of the industrialized world has high unemployment and little or no expansion in employment. Why?“
The in-depth report went on to show many descriptive statistics and simple econometric evidence to underscore why the U.S. did it better than the rest of the industrialized world due to its untiring attention to controlling labor costs. The report was written 10 years ago when the US economy was labeled the "Goldilocks economy" because things were going just right… not too hot and not too cold. Unemployment and inflation were both lowest they had been in 30 years and the stock market was booming with blossoming day traders all over the place. According to Business Week, the U.S. economy had entered a "new era" in which rapid technological change (especially information technology) will make it possible for the U.S. economy to continue to achieve both low unemployment and low inflation for the foreseeable future.
Oh what a difference a decade makes. Let’s fast forward to 2009 with the highest unemployment rates since the 80’s. Since December 2007 more than 5 million people filed for unemployment according to a recent report from the Department of Labor. The national unemployment rate hit 10.2% not since the 1980’s have we seen such a high rate. The manufacturing sector accounted for 36 percent of all initial unemployment filings during October 2009 compared to 2008’s number of 45 percent, reflecting a slight decrease.
Industries Hardest Hit in 2009:
1. Temporary help services
2. Motion picture and video production
3. Professional employer organizations
4. Automobile manufacturing
5. Construction machinery manufacturing
6. Highway, street, and bridge construction
7. Farm labor contractors and crew leaders
8. Food service contractors
9. Discount department stores
10. Hotels and motels, except casino hotels
States with the highest recorded unemployment rates for Aug, Sep & Oct 2009
1. California
2. Illinois
3. Florida
4. Wisconsin
5. Pennsylvania
6. Ohio
7. Michigan
8. Texas
9. New York
10. Indiana
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Shifting Home Balance
The Home Balance is Shifting – Men are being hit harder by the recession than women
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, men reported a higher unemployment rate than women for the Month of June with a 2.3 percentage-point difference. According to published statistics, men experienced a 10.6% unemployment rate and women a slightly less rate of 8.3%. Both numbers reflect the highest rates ever recorded since record keeping began in the 1940’s.
Much of this is due to the fact that industries typically dominated by men have been hit harder – construction, manufacturing, and auto.
Industries that appear to be showing some sign of gain are private sector – healthcare and education and those have a high concentration of women, typically more than 51%. The healthcare industry gained more than a half a million jobs and education more than 100,000 since the recession began in December 2007. Both sexes have been impacted by the recession and both nearly doubled since the beginning, in Jan 2008 women’s unemployment was 4.7% and men’s were just over 5%.
Has this affected your home balance?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Are Women Still Expected To Give Up Their Careers?
As a mother and wife I often feel that I am walking on a tight rope. Prior to getting married, I was a career minded and progression focused executive looking for her next challenge. However, the ability to be as tenacious as focused as I had spent the last 10 years doing so became harder to do once I became a mother and a wife.
I had no real clue of how tough a working mother had it. Constantly feeling torn between duties at work and duties at home. I also had no clue that sleeping for more than 5 hours would become a luxury and not a part of my daily life.
I started my company years back but since it was undercapitalized when I learned I was pregnant, I immediately ran to the idea of getting a steady job with benefits to cover the medical costs.
Since I started my new job while pregnant, I did not accrue enough sick and vacation time to go on maternity leave. I was forced to work while in the hospital and had three clients waiting for me upon my arrival home. While pregnant, I worked for my new employer while moonlighting and continuing my business - it was not the best situation but necessary. The strain from pregnancy and working two jobs had its toll on me though. After giving birth, I was absolutely exhausted but now I had no time to catch my breath.
I had always been a go-getter and did what I had to do. So, working 60 -80 hours per week had always been the norm for me. Besides, I am a New Yorker where no one works less than 50 hours per week. I thought I could do both, be a great mom and work a demanding schedule.
However, I was finding it harder and harder to get on a train, travel 1 hr and 45 minutes and begin my 60-80 hour work week after resting for only 2-3 hours. My son has a severe case of asthma and had been admitted into the hospital multiple times before he reached his first birthday. The pressures from a demanding job coupled with my son's health had become overwhelming. I often felt as though I was drowning.
My husband expected me to be "the mom" and stay at home with our son when he was sick or on the borderline of becoming ill, needed to go on an appointment, family trips, school trips, plays, volunteer activities, etc. Feeling extremely concerned for my son, I never challenged my husband's expectation. After all, I am the woman, right? I started to feel like I was drowning. The increasing pressure from work had its toll on me. Not to mention the growing demands of being a new mom and wife. I no longer craved the thrill of climbing the corporate ladder. My employer noticed it as well. So after 18 months of working I returned back to managing my business full time. By then the economy had grown worse and two weeks later my husband lost his job.
Upon returning to my business full-time after leaving it for three years, I quickly learned how much the market had changed during that time. I had to work 20 times as hard to catch up. And now with my husband being out of work, I definitely had to produce. I worked around the clock, starting my day at 3:30 in the morning ended it well into the night. I was able to grow the business and sustain the family.
My husband found a new job and a new attitude. I noticed that once he was back on his feet, his expectation of me doing the lion share of the home duties had significantly heightened offering little time for me to do focus on my growing business. Starting and running a successful business had been a life long dream of mine since I was 10 years old and worked with my Junior Achievement mentor.
So now, the question is... how do you balance all demands? What is fair?
Friday, June 12, 2009
5 Secrets to Securing A Job Offer
by http://www.countrysbestresumes.com/
Securing the right opportunity can be challenging especially during a tough job market. With an estimated 14 million people out of work, job seekers must distill value. Detailed below are tips to help job seekers land the job!
Sell Your Skills: List your major professional accomplishments, use those accomplishments to justify your ability and suitability. Remember this is a sales call, you must convince a company that you are a great investment.
Eagerness: Team work is important, don't just say it but provide solid, results driven examples. Employers need to know you'd be willing to take on whatever it takes to help the team survive and prosper. Highlight your good work ethic, the amount of awards you have received, promotions, etc.
Manageability: You must demonstrate that you can work effectively alone as well as part of a team and able to take direction and criticism. Companies are looking for workers who get along with others, whatever their individual opinions or beliefs. Do not talk negatively about your current or previous employers.
Understand Your Industry: It's not enough to tell an interviewer you have experience within an industry, you must illustrate proven knowledge backed by facts.
Solutions Oriented: We all solve problems: Problem solving is the most important part of any job description so identify and recall at interview typical problems you have tackled in past employment. Provide specific examples and measurable results.
Securing the right opportunity can be challenging especially during a tough job market. With an estimated 14 million people out of work, job seekers must distill value. Detailed below are tips to help job seekers land the job!
Sell Your Skills: List your major professional accomplishments, use those accomplishments to justify your ability and suitability. Remember this is a sales call, you must convince a company that you are a great investment.
Eagerness: Team work is important, don't just say it but provide solid, results driven examples. Employers need to know you'd be willing to take on whatever it takes to help the team survive and prosper. Highlight your good work ethic, the amount of awards you have received, promotions, etc.
Manageability: You must demonstrate that you can work effectively alone as well as part of a team and able to take direction and criticism. Companies are looking for workers who get along with others, whatever their individual opinions or beliefs. Do not talk negatively about your current or previous employers.
Understand Your Industry: It's not enough to tell an interviewer you have experience within an industry, you must illustrate proven knowledge backed by facts.
Solutions Oriented: We all solve problems: Problem solving is the most important part of any job description so identify and recall at interview typical problems you have tackled in past employment. Provide specific examples and measurable results.
Secret Tactics of Interviewers
By: www.Countrysbestresumes.com
One of the biggest mistakes many people make when interviewing for a job is they think all that is necessary to be successful at an interview is to show you have what it takes to do the work. However, according to many recruiters and hiring managers there is much more.
One of the biggest mistakes many people make when interviewing for a job is they think all that is necessary to be successful at an interview is to show you have what it takes to do the work. However, according to many recruiters and hiring managers there is much more.
- Trained Interviewers will most likely:
Ask open-ended questions - Encourage you to talk 70-80% of the time
- Give limited information about the position until qualifications are confirmed
- Maintain eye contact
- Be comfortable with silence
- Ask you to tell them why you are interested in the job
- Ask you about your knowledge of the company
- Ask you at least 10 questions
- Ask you why you left your last employment
Top States For Working Moms
By: www.TCBSolutions,net
In the United States more 60% of women who are married and have children under the age of 18 work as well as 73% of single women. With that being said, women must consider many factors that might affect their work life balance.
As a business owner and mom of a three year old, I had no idea that my life would be so hectic. Managing the pressures from balancing multiple priorities can at times be overwhelming. I was excited to view Smart Money's article that highlights states that take the demands of women into consideration.
According to Smart Money there are certain states that through policies and resources, help women balance the task of wearing multiple hats, including that of mom and employee. The report found 10 states that did extremely well in helping women. Factors reviewed included maternity leave time, cost of child care, salary, unemployment, and access to early childhood education among others. For the complete article, go to: http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Employment/10-Best-Places-to-Be-a-Working-Mom/
The top states include:
For a complete list http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Employment/10-Best-Places-to-Be-a-Working-Mom/
Source: http://www.countrysbestresumes.com/
In the United States more 60% of women who are married and have children under the age of 18 work as well as 73% of single women. With that being said, women must consider many factors that might affect their work life balance.
As a business owner and mom of a three year old, I had no idea that my life would be so hectic. Managing the pressures from balancing multiple priorities can at times be overwhelming. I was excited to view Smart Money's article that highlights states that take the demands of women into consideration.
According to Smart Money there are certain states that through policies and resources, help women balance the task of wearing multiple hats, including that of mom and employee. The report found 10 states that did extremely well in helping women. Factors reviewed included maternity leave time, cost of child care, salary, unemployment, and access to early childhood education among others. For the complete article, go to: http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Employment/10-Best-Places-to-Be-a-Working-Mom/
The top states include:
- California
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- New York
- Washington
For a complete list http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Employment/10-Best-Places-to-Be-a-Working-Mom/
Source: http://www.countrysbestresumes.com/
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I've Been Laid Off...Now What
HOW TO SURVIVE A LAYOFF
Guide for Surviving a Layoff in Complex and Uncertain Times
By Tawana Wood, www.CountrysBestResumes.com
Things you should do first:
1. Synchronize Your Records
2. Salary and Accrued Vacation Time
3. Unemployment and Healthcare
4. Important Tax Forms
5. Cash Flow
6. Moving On
FACT:
Each year millions of Americans lose their jobs unexpectedly.
On average, most of those who have lost their job will find a new one within five months. Unemployment is expected to climb through 2010.
Now that you have been laid off, you need to hurry up and find a new job,
right? Wrong. Before you exit the door, there are a few important things you must do, a few loose ends that need to be tied up between you and your ex-employer. Denise Cook, mother of four children and former administrative assistant who was laid off in January, says “I was shocked that I was laid off and really needed the time to figure out what I was doing with my life, what is important to me. With four children, work/life balance is critical, in my old job I worked 50 hours per week. I did not want the same situation for myself again.”
Before you go out looking for a new job, you must make a plan of action, map out what you are going to do next. Add these items to your to-do list for your first week out of work.
1. Synchronize Your Records
First, be sure that you and your former employer are on the same page regarding what you feel is owed to you. Work closely with your manager, employment benefits manager, union rep and/or HR manager to determine what is owed to you in terms of final pay, vacation time, unpaid expenses, etc.
Record the agreed upon date of your termination or the date you submitted your resignation letter. Also read over your company hand book very carefully, anything you don't understand call your former HR manager and have he or she explain it to you in simple terms.
Be sure to make a copy of project plans you spearheaded, designs you made, templates you created with no proprietary information included. These documents will come in handy as you interview and will also help to remind you of things you are good at, be sure to add your impressive documents to your portfolio. Be sure to check your handbook first to make sure you did not sign anything that states this might be a conflict.
2. Salary and Accrued Vacation Time
Make sure that you are not due any vacation time, if you received paid vacation then you are entitled to pay for time accrued. Call your state labor board and make sure you understand what the law mandates. Some states require that the employer pay you in full on your last day of work, others give the employer some time. Some states mandate payment for unused vested vacation time, others may not.
3. Unemployment and Healthcare
A major issue most people must deal with is providing for themselves and their families. Finding out if you qualify for unemployment compensation should be the next thing that is taken care of. There are certain criteria that must be met. Visit www.dol.gov to find your local labor office.
The next issue to deal with is healthcare insurance. In the U.S. more than 64 percent or 177 million of Americans receive some form of healthcare insurance through their employer. Usually when a job is lost so is the coverage. However, you may be entitled to COBRA benefits, your health plan must give you a notice stating your right to choose to continue benefits provided by COBRA. You financially contribute to this fund. You must respond in 60 days or you may lose your right to the benefits. There are additional benefits offered through the stimulus package, be sure to do your homework.
4. Important Tax Forms
Who has your W-2? If you haven't received your W-2 form by mid February, contact the IRS to request a substitute. You will be asked to produce your final paycheck for that tax year. Go to www.irs.gov for more info.
If you invested in special accounts that offer tax benefits be sure to consult with a tax accountant or financial planner. There are many firms that handle rollovers at no charge to you. Some firms also offer tax planning that will allow you to minimize the tax bit while still using as much cash as you need to carry you until you land your next job.
This might be a good time to start your own business or go back to school there are plenty of tax benefits offered to business owners, especially during their first year of business, where it is not uncommon to report a loss in revenues with no profit and reap the benefits of writing expenses off for taxes.
5. Cash Flow
Now that you have found yourself in the middle of a layoff, it can go without saying, you should take a conservative approach to your cash flow situation. Pool your resources, you have more money than you think. Here are some conservative avenues to take into consideration:
• Consolidating Credit Card Debt
• Defer Student Loan payments - Ask for a forbearance
• 401k rollover to a IRA or ROTH IRA (consult a financial advisor)
• Refinance Your home
• Consult your tax preparer about certain options
• Utilize your tax refund, have your accountant review previous returns for possible additional returns
• Re-assess your household spending
• Contact your creditors regarding reducing your interest rates
6. Moving On
Once we have come to terms with all matters emotional and practical, it is time to move on. We must decide where to go from here. First you must look at why you lost your job. Was the company downsizing? If so, is this a trend in the industry? How is the industry changing? Do you want to stay in the same field? Is a career change in order? If not, maybe this is a good time to spruce up some skills in order to make yourself more marketable. Take the time to make some changes - research different careers and industries, learn new skills (you must show value to a potential employer) and improve upon the ones you already have, or perhaps consider relocating. Look forward to your next opportunity.
Provided by www.CountrysBestResumes.com
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy"
Martin Luther King
Guide for Surviving a Layoff in Complex and Uncertain Times
By Tawana Wood, www.CountrysBestResumes.com
Things you should do first:
1. Synchronize Your Records
2. Salary and Accrued Vacation Time
3. Unemployment and Healthcare
4. Important Tax Forms
5. Cash Flow
6. Moving On
FACT:
Each year millions of Americans lose their jobs unexpectedly.
On average, most of those who have lost their job will find a new one within five months. Unemployment is expected to climb through 2010.
Now that you have been laid off, you need to hurry up and find a new job,
right? Wrong. Before you exit the door, there are a few important things you must do, a few loose ends that need to be tied up between you and your ex-employer. Denise Cook, mother of four children and former administrative assistant who was laid off in January, says “I was shocked that I was laid off and really needed the time to figure out what I was doing with my life, what is important to me. With four children, work/life balance is critical, in my old job I worked 50 hours per week. I did not want the same situation for myself again.”
Before you go out looking for a new job, you must make a plan of action, map out what you are going to do next. Add these items to your to-do list for your first week out of work.
1. Synchronize Your Records
First, be sure that you and your former employer are on the same page regarding what you feel is owed to you. Work closely with your manager, employment benefits manager, union rep and/or HR manager to determine what is owed to you in terms of final pay, vacation time, unpaid expenses, etc.
Record the agreed upon date of your termination or the date you submitted your resignation letter. Also read over your company hand book very carefully, anything you don't understand call your former HR manager and have he or she explain it to you in simple terms.
Be sure to make a copy of project plans you spearheaded, designs you made, templates you created with no proprietary information included. These documents will come in handy as you interview and will also help to remind you of things you are good at, be sure to add your impressive documents to your portfolio. Be sure to check your handbook first to make sure you did not sign anything that states this might be a conflict.
2. Salary and Accrued Vacation Time
Make sure that you are not due any vacation time, if you received paid vacation then you are entitled to pay for time accrued. Call your state labor board and make sure you understand what the law mandates. Some states require that the employer pay you in full on your last day of work, others give the employer some time. Some states mandate payment for unused vested vacation time, others may not.
3. Unemployment and Healthcare
A major issue most people must deal with is providing for themselves and their families. Finding out if you qualify for unemployment compensation should be the next thing that is taken care of. There are certain criteria that must be met. Visit www.dol.gov to find your local labor office.
The next issue to deal with is healthcare insurance. In the U.S. more than 64 percent or 177 million of Americans receive some form of healthcare insurance through their employer. Usually when a job is lost so is the coverage. However, you may be entitled to COBRA benefits, your health plan must give you a notice stating your right to choose to continue benefits provided by COBRA. You financially contribute to this fund. You must respond in 60 days or you may lose your right to the benefits. There are additional benefits offered through the stimulus package, be sure to do your homework.
4. Important Tax Forms
Who has your W-2? If you haven't received your W-2 form by mid February, contact the IRS to request a substitute. You will be asked to produce your final paycheck for that tax year. Go to www.irs.gov for more info.
If you invested in special accounts that offer tax benefits be sure to consult with a tax accountant or financial planner. There are many firms that handle rollovers at no charge to you. Some firms also offer tax planning that will allow you to minimize the tax bit while still using as much cash as you need to carry you until you land your next job.
This might be a good time to start your own business or go back to school there are plenty of tax benefits offered to business owners, especially during their first year of business, where it is not uncommon to report a loss in revenues with no profit and reap the benefits of writing expenses off for taxes.
5. Cash Flow
Now that you have found yourself in the middle of a layoff, it can go without saying, you should take a conservative approach to your cash flow situation. Pool your resources, you have more money than you think. Here are some conservative avenues to take into consideration:
• Consolidating Credit Card Debt
• Defer Student Loan payments - Ask for a forbearance
• 401k rollover to a IRA or ROTH IRA (consult a financial advisor)
• Refinance Your home
• Consult your tax preparer about certain options
• Utilize your tax refund, have your accountant review previous returns for possible additional returns
• Re-assess your household spending
• Contact your creditors regarding reducing your interest rates
6. Moving On
Once we have come to terms with all matters emotional and practical, it is time to move on. We must decide where to go from here. First you must look at why you lost your job. Was the company downsizing? If so, is this a trend in the industry? How is the industry changing? Do you want to stay in the same field? Is a career change in order? If not, maybe this is a good time to spruce up some skills in order to make yourself more marketable. Take the time to make some changes - research different careers and industries, learn new skills (you must show value to a potential employer) and improve upon the ones you already have, or perhaps consider relocating. Look forward to your next opportunity.
Provided by www.CountrysBestResumes.com
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy"
Martin Luther King
Keywords drive traffic to your resume
Getting Calls vs. Getting Ignored - It’s All About the Key Words
Keywords drive traffic to your resume
By Tawana Wood, www.CountrysBestResumes.com, A TCBSolutions.net Website
Optimizing your resume for today’s job market requires the right format, background, and key words.
If you are applying for jobs on-line chances are your resume will be read by an OCR Unit (Optical Character Recognition). An OCR unit is a computer scanner that is programmed to search for key terms in your resume. The difference between getting a call or getting ignored may be determined by the use of correct key words. Knowing the correct words to use in your resume is vital to your job search.
“Employers are looking for experts in the field and often request job candidates demonstrate knowledge about their industry and job. This is especially true in today’s tough job market” says Tawana Wood, Recruiter and Chief Resume Writer for CountrysBestResumes.com.
“A resume is a marketing document and must respond to what the market requests. That is why we thoroughly research our clients backgrounds, their employers, and more importantly, what it is that they want to do. Embedded in all of our resumes are industry and title specific keywords” says Ms. Wood.
CountrysBestResumes.com has been regarded as one of the nation’s leading resume writing firms. To date, they have written more than 10,000 resumes for top performing executives including heads of America’s leading companies, including: Verizon, Avon, JPMorgan Chase, CBS, MTV, Allstate, Halliburton, Prudential, The Conference Board, WNBA, NBA, NFL, Time Warner, CNET, Corcoran, Kraft, YMCA, Girl Scouts, Sony, Samsung, HP, IBM, CNN, FOX, Google, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, etc.
Tawana Wood is Chief Resume Writer for The CountrysBestResumes.com, she has personally written more than 7,000 resumes for today’s top executives worldwide.
http://www.CountrysBestResumes.com • New York, NY • 800.409.8979
Keywords drive traffic to your resume
By Tawana Wood, www.CountrysBestResumes.com, A TCBSolutions.net Website
Optimizing your resume for today’s job market requires the right format, background, and key words.
If you are applying for jobs on-line chances are your resume will be read by an OCR Unit (Optical Character Recognition). An OCR unit is a computer scanner that is programmed to search for key terms in your resume. The difference between getting a call or getting ignored may be determined by the use of correct key words. Knowing the correct words to use in your resume is vital to your job search.
“Employers are looking for experts in the field and often request job candidates demonstrate knowledge about their industry and job. This is especially true in today’s tough job market” says Tawana Wood, Recruiter and Chief Resume Writer for CountrysBestResumes.com.
“A resume is a marketing document and must respond to what the market requests. That is why we thoroughly research our clients backgrounds, their employers, and more importantly, what it is that they want to do. Embedded in all of our resumes are industry and title specific keywords” says Ms. Wood.
CountrysBestResumes.com has been regarded as one of the nation’s leading resume writing firms. To date, they have written more than 10,000 resumes for top performing executives including heads of America’s leading companies, including: Verizon, Avon, JPMorgan Chase, CBS, MTV, Allstate, Halliburton, Prudential, The Conference Board, WNBA, NBA, NFL, Time Warner, CNET, Corcoran, Kraft, YMCA, Girl Scouts, Sony, Samsung, HP, IBM, CNN, FOX, Google, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, etc.
Tawana Wood is Chief Resume Writer for The CountrysBestResumes.com, she has personally written more than 7,000 resumes for today’s top executives worldwide.
http://www.CountrysBestResumes.com • New York, NY • 800.409.8979
Monday, April 6, 2009
Secrets of a Mom and Entreprenuer
I started my business eight years ago and my family three years ago. I have to admit that this has been the hardest challenge of my life. I had no idea that running a business would require so much intense focus. Nor, did I ever imagine that a child would demand so much sacrifice.
I went from having a carefree life as a single woman living in one of the most electric cities on earth, to a married mom whose social calendar consists of family outings, client appointments and birthday parties. At one time in my life, I knew all of the hottest clubs and bars, traveled to fun and exciting places with friends, came home after kissing morning light. Now... I can barely stay up past 10pm.
Set aside from the partying side of life. I remember being able to put in a full 15-hours of productive work. Now, I have to set aside time for family and not just work. I created this blog to share for my own benefit and others what life is truly like when your priorities are no longer the center of your conversation.
Life and Career is a very delicate balance.
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