Are you one of the many displaced Americans who have left the workforce temporarily ... or
permanently? We know the statistics -- now more than 75 million of us now do not work for
a paycheck.
Who are these folks? The Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath recently identified
four groups of labor-force drop-outs:
Early Retirees. More than a millions people aged 25-54 identify themselves as retired,
up sharply from the roughly 330,000 from the same age group in a similar study from 1991.
Black Women. Almost two of every five African-American women do not participate in the
workforce, and the decline has been especially notable for the more highly educated.
Disabled Workers. More disabled, especially disabled women, are leaving the labor
market due to disability.
Older Students. College grads that have been downsized for returning to school for more
education and training, but not necessarily more advanced degrees... leaving them out of
the workforce.
What's one of the best ways to find a job? Identifying prospective employers and using their career site and/or getting a
referral from a current employer -- at least according to the gurus behind CareerXroads.
In Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler's recently released third annual
Source
of Hire study, the percentage of hires resulting from employee referrals has increased from
23.3% in 2001 to 28.5% in 2003. At the same time, hires resulting from a company's online career center increased
even more dramatically, from 20.5% in 2001 to 31.8% in 2003.
Based on this data (collected between December 15, 2003 and January 9, 2004 covering the year 2003), Crispin and Mehler offer this
recommendation to job seekers: "Your primary strategy is to a) apply through the Website of the firms you targeted
regardless of where you found the lead and, b) track down an employee who can refer you in every single firm you
apply to, for every single job you apply for."
How many different resumes do you have? Resume formatting is like so many other things -- get
20 experts and hiring managers in a room and they will all want something different on your resume.
So, what can a job-seeker do? Have multiple versions! At the minimum, you should have a formatted
chronological resume and an electronic resume for pasting into e-mails and job boards. You may also
want one version with a career/job objective and one without. And if you are a recent college graduate
or career changer, you may want a functional resume as well.
Use the many tools -- tutorials, articles, samples -- we provide at Quintessential Careers to
add to your job-hunting arsenal. Go to: Resume
and CV Resources.
February 20, 2004
Some good news for college seniors regarding the job market and potential job offers. A new
report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) shows upward movement
in starting salary offers to new college graduates. NACE's Winter 2004 Salary Survey report provides
"positive signs in the job market for new college graduates," says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive
director. "It's important to recognize that the job market isn't booming, but we are seeing improvement.
For example, in our latest Salary Survey, more disciplines report starting salary increases than was the
case last year at this time. And, last year at this time, nearly half the disciplines we track were
experiencing decreases in their average starting salaries. In contrast, in the Winter 2004
Salary Survey, just under a third saw average offers drop."
Salary Survey is a quarterly report of starting salary offers to new college graduates in 70 disciplines at the bachelor's degree level.
More information can be found in this
NACE press release.
February 18, 2004
There's good news and bad news from the U.S. Department of Labor's
Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding expected
growth in various industries and occupations over the next ten years.
Over the 2002-12 decade, total employment is projected to increase by 21.3 million jobs, or 15 percent,
with growth concentrated in the service-providing sector of the economy. That's the good news.
The bad news is that most of the growth is expected in lower-wage jobs that require on-the-job training
or an associates degree, at most.Only two of the occupations on the top-10 list of total job growth require
at least a bachelor's degree.
For further analysis, check out this article from
Business
Week.
February 16, 2004
It's an odd scenario where we have more and more older job-seekers -- especially with that massive cohort
of the baby boomers in their 40s and 50s -- facing a tough job market where some are labeled
TFO (for Too F***ing Old).
According to a survey of senior executives, more than four out of five respondents consider age
bias a "serious problem" in today's executive job market, up from 78 percent in 2001. A whopping 94 percent
said that they believed their age had resulted in their being cut as a potential candidate for a
particular job.
More distressing analysis about the employment picture. Paul Krugman, a New York Times columnist, writes
that since the economic recovery began in November 2001, employment has actually fallen by half
a percentage point -- all the while the working-age population has increased by more than 2 percent...
Thus, by this analysis, jobs are getting scarcer.
And length of unemployment is still an issue. For example, more than 40 percent of
unemployed workers have been out of work for more than 15 weeks... further documenting
the lack of jobs available, as well as the need to be prepared for a potentially
long job-search.
The lone piece of good news is that because of the current employment situation, many
more job-seekers are attempting to work for themselves as independent contractors and
freelancers.
February 11, 2004
According to a recently released survey of technology workers, there's good news in terms of
salaries. Overall, tech salaries recovered in 2003 to the highest level since 2000, with the average salary increasing
2% from $67,900 in 2002 to $69,400 in 2003.
According to the Dice 2003 Annual Salary Survey of more than 21,000 technology professionals, there's also good news
relative to the gender gap. For the first time since Dice began conducting the salary survey in 2000,
the gender gap decreased -- narrowing to 11% -- as women's salaries increased 5% to $62,800
and men's increased only 2%.
How are you applying for job openings? The trend, according to a recent study, appears to be online.
More than half of all resumes received are now submitted by e-mail, according to a national poll of
senior executives from human resources, finance, and marketing -- conducted by Accountemps.
The mean response was 56 percent when asked, "what percentage of resumes that you receive are sent via e-mail?"
Three years ago, in a similar study, the mean response to the same question was 34 percent.
Good news, as expected, from the U.S. Department of Labor, as it released
January's employment figures showing that 112,000 new jobs were created
during the month, the most monthly growth since December 2000.
The increase in jobs pushed the employment rate down to 5.6 percent.
While the news was good, it was not as good as some economists had hoped
for -- many had expected at least an increase of 150,000 jobs.
New job creation in the range of 300,000 a month is a sign of a sustained
economy and job market.
Hiring by retailers and construction companies accounted for much of the overall
increase in jobs. The nation's factories continued losing jobs, though at a slower
pace than in previous months.
Approximately 8.3 million people remained unemployed in the United States last month.
February 7, 2004
A new study of job-seekers reports that job-seekers using the Web for job-hunting purposes view
employer Websites more useful for obtaining interviews than Internet job boards. The job-seekers
surveyed also consider the employer sites as better sources of information and more instrumental for
actually obtaining an interview than Internet job boards.
As reported in Recruiting Trends, the study by
Transformation Systems Inc. also reports that survey respondents view employer sites more positively
than Internet job boards with regards to privacy and trust perceptions and consider Internet job
boards the most likely source of spam derived from job search activity.
You can find company Websites by using a search engine such as
Google and typing in the company name in the search box ...
or for a links going directly to more than 500 company career
centers, use The Quintessential Directory
of Company Career Centers.
February 6, 2004
A national financial expert predicts the three-year decline in U.S. employment should end as businesses
are expected to add as many as 1.8 million jobs in 2004.
Knight Kiplinger, editor of the Kiplinger Letter, included the jobs forecast as one of the
last signs of a strong economic recovery, stating that because of the strong growth in sales, businesses
will need to add jobs to continue supplying the demand.
February 5, 2004
The services industry is booming in the U.S., but certainly not hiring -- yet.
According to the Institute for Supply Management's monthly services poll, from December to
January, demand for new orders rose (going from an index of 59.5 to 64.9) while employment
shrank (from an index of 54.0 to 53.4).
The services industry, which includes businesses ranging from hotels and restaurants to
travel agencies and chain stores, accounts for roughly four-fifths of the U.S. economy.
February 4, 2004
Several recent studies revealed the continuing importance of writing thank-you notes or e-mails after
job interviews. In fact, one study showed that employers now prefer the e-mailed version over the
mailed version. Regardless of your delivery method, the key thing to remember is to get the correct
spelling of each person (and his/her job title) who interviews you -- and the easiest way is to
simply ask for each person's business card -- and send off a short note expressing your thanks ...
and again demonstrating your fit with the position and your interest in the organization.
Job Stuff, A Blog for Your Career, from Stephen Harris.
Stephen's blog is a great resource for those job-seekers who find yourselves in transition, searching for guidance
and reassurance.
The Occupational Adventure Blog, from
Curt Rosengren, a Passion Catalyst. Curt's blog is great for finding encouraging ideas (and resources) for moving forward with your career... a career
that lights your fire.
TrueCareers Career Blog, from the career and job site
dedicated to professional and college-educated job-seekers... where they say you get the real scoop on how to get the job you want faster --
with insider tips and more.
