Bloggers and career experts jump on the crisis on Wall Street to offer great
pieces of job-search advice for all job-seekers.
Let's be upfront -- the job market has been bad for many months and employers have
been laying off workers in much greater numbers than they have been hiring for all
of this year -- but it took the recent Wall Street meltdown to push more career bloggers
to take action to help job-seekers.
For example, our friend of QuintCareers, Lindsey Pollak, an author and career expert
on Gen Y and recent college grads,
started a blog post titled, "A collection of the best career advice for Lehman and Merrill
employees (and anyone else worried your job on Wall Street)" -- and encouraged other career
experts to add their advice. The result is a nice collection of tips for people who have
lost their jobs or are concerned they may soon lose their jobs.
Read all the current advice and tips now.
Then there is a workplace blogger -- Anita Bruzzese -- who posted a blog entry titled,
"How to Survive When Your Company's Ship Sinks.
Read her tips now.
Of course, our advice is already published on QuintCareers. We believe in any job
market, folks should be tracking accomplishments, keeping a current resume, actively
networking (staying in touch with contacts), and building your personal brand. In a weaker
economy, you should take those actions up at least a notch while building your value within
the organization.
To reinforce this advice... here are two great sources of more information on QuintCareers.com,
depending on your situation:
Just a final note as we continue our 2008 tour through Washington state... we see the effects of the
weak economy and the daily struggle of many people -- workers and people laid off from their
jobs. The struggle is real and our hope is that our elected politicians will come together --
not to bail out Wall Street, but to bail out the American people... and American economy.
September 16, 2008
The keys to finding and landing a new job come down to one simple truth --
job-seekers must develop and follow a detailed job-search plan.
That was part of the message QuintCareers.com founder Dr. Randall Hansen delivered
to interested students and other guests at a QuintCareers workshop at Missouri Western
State University (MWSU) yesterday. Both Dr. Hansen and Dr. Katharine Hansen addressed some of the
fundamental truths of job-hunting, as discussed in our Job-Search 101 Tutorial.
Whether you're new to job-hunting, seeking an internship, or re-entering the job
market, you'll find some valuable pointers in our tutorial that will lead you to more success.
Go to: Job-Search 101, where you'll
find information on resumes, networking, interviewing, and salary negotiation, as well
as planning for career fairs, using the Internet for job-hunting, and following-up.
The visit to MWSU is part of the Fall 2008 QuintCareers.com/EmpoweringSites.com Tour.
In other news, besides on the on-going meltdown on Wall Street and financial and insurance
firms feeling the pinch, Hewlett-Packard announced it plans to cut almost 25,000
jobs over the next three years, nearly 8 percent of its work force, as it combines
operations with Electronic Data Systems Corp.
September 12, 2008
Seeking even more career and job-search news? Check out all the headlines
from these other career blogs.
We just discovered this cool blog that provides visitors with top career headlines
from other career and job-search blogs... so you can always be skimming the
latest posts from a variety of career bloggers.
A total of 84,000 jobs in the U.S. were lost in August, significantly more than
expected, pushing the unemployment rate to a five-year high of more than 6 percent.
The Labor Department announced today that employers not only cut jobs for the
eight month in a row, but cut more jobs than analysts
were expecting -- a total of 84,000 versus the 75,000 predicted. Furthermore,
the Labor Department also announced worse revisions for June and July
job losses. July's job losses were revised up to 60,000 while June's
losses jumped to 100,000.
The trend of job cuts in August continued as 61,000 manufacturing jobs were lost,
8,000 more construction jobs were cut, 53,000 jobs were eliminated in professional
and business services, 20,000 retailing jobs were cut, and 4,000 jobs lost in
leisure and hospitality industries.
The net job loss -- job losses at all private employers not including government
—- rose to 101,000 in August.
The only real bright spots in the report were in government services and education and healthcare.
Government payrolls increased by 17,000 while education and health services businesses
added another 55,000 employees.
The 6.1 percent unemployment rate -- also a much higher increase than expected --
is at the highest point since December 2003.
It's amazing that the economy -- and especially job creation -- is not getting more
attention on the political front, especially in such a major election year. Workers
are continuing to take the punches of an economy in recession. And even those lucky
enough to have jobs still face worries about the economic health of their employers
and limited abilities to change jobs or careers.
And in related news, more employers have announced plans for more "payroll reductions"
over the coming weeks, so the timetable for a stronger job market continues to get
pushed back.
September 1, 2008
Poll: American workers express anxiety about their ability to find a new job, while one-third
say they don't make enough money to make ends meet.
Almost two-thirds of workers feel it is a bad time to find a quality job -- matching
the lack of confidence of workers last seen during the 2001 recession -- according
to a study released by the Rutgers University's John J. Heldrich Center for
Workforce Development.
The survey also found that one-third of workers say they often do not have enough money
to make ends meet, while another one-third reported that the amount they owe on their
credit cards exceeds their retirement savings. Only half of the 1,000 respondents
said they are working the number of weekly hours they want to work.
The study also found that about one-quarter of workers are dissatisfied with their health benefits.
Quintessential Resume & Cover Letter Tips Blog,
a blog from another part of the QuintCareers Network, with new resume and cover letter tips daily. A must-see for any active job-seeker.
The Career Doctor Blog,
a blog from another part of the QuintCareers Network, where each day our own Career Doctor Randall Hansen answers one career, job, college, or workplace question.
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.
Blue Sky Resumes Blog, from career
expert Louise Fletcher, a general career and job-search blog that covers all aspects of the job-hunt.
That was part of the message QuintCareers.com founder Dr. Randall Hansen delivered
to interested students and other guests at a QuintCareers workshop at Missouri Western
State University (MWSU) yesterday. Both Dr. Hansen and Dr. Katharine Hansen addressed some of the
fundamental truths of job-hunting, as discussed in our Job-Search 101 Tutorial.
Go to: 
