Recently, one of our recruiters (Jake Norris) entered his dog Samson in a “Cutest Dog” contest. Please help Samson by voting for him!
Click here to vote: http://bit.ly/KYBcN
16
Oct
09
Samson – Cutest Dog in Denver
22
Jun
09
Busy June
Things seem to definitely be picking up a little. June saw some increased activity- several placements and a few new job reqs. We’re looking forward to a good Q3, which we think should easily be the best quarter of the year to date, but then again, in this economy, the previous quarters shouldn’t be hard to beat!
What is everyone else seeing out there? Are you seeing an up-tick in job openings?
By Stan Schroeder | Mashable.com | June 15th, 2009
At one point in history, job boards were the thing to do if you wanted to somehow monetize your site without having a clear business model.
So, pretty much every major (and minor) site started a job board. Although the trend has somewhat subsided, from what I hear it’s still not a bad idea; sometimes it works great, sometimes mediocre, but it can’t hurt to try.
That’s probably what the folks at Reddit were thinking when they started Reddit Jobs, a Reddit job board. Although Reddit is more of a place to relax and read some funny comments than to go about job hunting, the Reddit community is young and smart, meaning they might be inclined to actually do real work at some date. It has also often been keen on changing the world for the better, doing the right thing and connecting the right people. Perhaps the job board will help great people find great jobs.
The actual job board is simple and gives you the ability to search for jobs, companies, or post jobs for a fee of $300, which will keep your listing on the site for 30 days.
By Deirdre Gregg | Puget Sound Business Journal | June 3rd, 2009
Hold onto your hats, this post contains good news about the local economy.
Washington could start adding jobs as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, according to Andrew Gledhill, economist with Moody’s Economy.com. In fact, Washington is one of five states — including Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and Texas — expected to lead the way in job growth.
Read the complete article: http://tinyurl.com/q4klto
Denver Business Journal – by Barton Eckert Washington Business Journal
The annual Talent Shortage Survey from Manpower Inc. shows talent shortages continue despite the economic downturn.
The employment services company (NYSE: MAN) says 30 percent of employers worldwide are struggling to find qualified job candidates especially skilled tradespeople, sales representatives and technicians. Manpower surveyed nearly 39,000 employers across 33 countries and territories to gauge employers’ ability to find the talent they need.
The 10 hardest jobs to fill, as reported by U.S. employers in 2009, are:
- Engineers
- Nurses
- Skilled/manual trades
- Teachers
- Sales representatives
- Technicians
- Drivers
- Information technology staff
- Laborers
- Machinist/machine operators
Even with unemployment at or near record levels in many communities, Manpower’s research highlights the problem many employers are having finding individuals with the right combination of job-specific skills, experience, training and soft skills.
“In the four years we have performed this research, the same positions appear on the list again and again,” said Jonas Prising, Manpower’s president of the Americas. “Despite the current economic instability and high unemployment, there are still skills that the U.S. workforce seems to lack.”
The U.S. findings are part of a Manpower global study that surveyed more than 39,000 employers across 33 countries and territories in January 2009. Positions in the skilled trades, sales, technical work and engineering remain the most difficult for employers to fill globally. Manpower surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. employers in the fourth annual survey to determine which positions employers are having difficulty filling this year.
Leadership, Communication and Personal Skills Critical for IT Managers at Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
By Marketwire | May 19th, 2009
WARWICK, RI — (Marketwire) — 05/19/09 — Hiring the right information technology manager is crucial for business success, IT expert Charles Nault says in his new book, “Risk-Free Technology: How Small to Medium Businesses Can Stem Huge Losses From Poorly Performing IT Systems.”
Unfortunately, in a typical company, the IT department “doesn’t understand your business, thinks it is doing a better job than everyone else in your company thinks it is doing, does not like to communicate with you and when it does it tends to talk in language you can’t understand — and then tends to make you feel inferior for not understanding,” he writes.
Good planning and hiring can prevent that.
Look for an IT manager who has a passionate desire and ability to understand your business, your strategy, and your value to your customers; an understanding of the economic engine that drives the profitability of your business; humility; integrity; vision; and an ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, he advises.
“It is no accident that the majority of these attributes have a lot more to do with non-technical skills than with technical skills,” Nault says. “The most effective companies have the most effective IT led by the most effective managers.”
Complete Story Here: Hiring the Right IT Manager is Crucial for Business Success
13
May
09
Many Companies Hire as They Fire
Boeing Co. cut more than 3,000 jobs in the first four months of 2009, most from its commercial-airplanes unit as airlines deferred orders. But the aviation giant added 106 employees in its defense arm, and is looking for hundreds more.
As layoffs mount, many of the same employers also are hiring — in other business units, in other places, or for other skills. Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp., AT&T Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc. are among the companies shedding some workers, while adding others.
![[Hiring while making layoffs]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-DA782_lewins_D_20090129190247.jpg)
The simultaneous hiring and firing highlights the dynamism of the economy and shows how employers are trying to adapt to changing needs. It also offers hints on how the recession is changing the work force, with some employers placing more emphasis on worker skills.
“It’s not just routine turnover,” says Lori Kletzer, an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “Quite often the people being laid off don’t have the requisite set of skills or experience to move into the growth areas.”
The U.S. Labor Department Friday said employers eliminated 539,000 jobs in April, slightly fewer than in preceding months. But that bottom-line figure masks considerable turnover. In February, the most recent figure available, the government estimates that employers hired roughly 4.4 million workers; the total number of jobs shrank in February because more people quit jobs or were let go.
Some experts say the churn also shows changes in workplace policies. In past decades, many employers retrained and relocated underused workers, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Now they’ve discovered that you can restructure even faster by laying off and hiring.”
Boeing, for instance, plans to cut roughly 10,000 jobs in 2009, including 4,500 from the commercial-airplanes unit. Those affected include thousands of contingent, administrative and support staff, as well as hundreds of hourly manufacturing workers. In mid-2010, Boeing will slow production of its large 777 airplanes, which could prompt more layoffs.
At the same time, Boeing has more than 1,500 current and anticipated job openings — in various stages of recruitment — most for mechanical, electrical, software and other engineers. Many of those hires will join Boeing’s defense unit, a large maker of military aircraft, which last quarter made more money than the commercial airplanes unit. The company is hosting a recruiting event May 21 for software engineers for defense projects.
Executives who are both hiring and firing often say they need different types of employees, who can do different things. National Public Radio has cut more than 70 jobs and two programs since December, but is hiring for its Web site, including bloggers and online news editors.
Click here for the complete story on WSJ.com: Many Companies Hire as They Fire
As an Account Executive with a staffing agency, I hear the same thing so much that I can pretty much anticipate it with each call or visit I make. That phrase is “I don’t need to use an agency because there are so many candidates on the market.”
That’s true, but that is why companies need agencies now just as much as they did when talent was scarce. With so many unemployed job seekers on the market, companies are getting flooded with resumes. The problem with this is that many of the candidates are not even close to being qualified for the position they are applying for. The internet makes it so easy to submit a resume that many people either take a “shot in the dark” and submit their resume in the hope that the employer is desperate (not likely in this economy) or they find a few jobs to apply to in order to meet the quota set forth by the government so they can continue to collect unemployment. As long as they show that they have been applying to jobs, that’s all the proof Uncle Sam needs to keep the money flowing.
I also hear that there are a lot of talented people looking for work. This may be true, but how many resumes do you really want to sift through to find that one solid candidate. This may not be a huge deal for larger companies who employ a team of recruiters, but for small and medium sized businesses this can be a problem. In a time when employees are tasked with more work to make up for those who have been laid off, the last thing a VP or CFO needs to be doing is recruiting- or at least reading the hundreds of resumes that clog up their inbox each day.
In this situation, it makes sense to hire an agency to come in, evaluate your needs, get a clear understanding of your work environment and the type of person that is needed and begin sifting through resumes as well as trying to find the absolute best fit that may still be employed.
Just because there are a lot of solid candidates looking for work doesn’t mean that the best ones will be landing in your inbox. As harsh as it may sound, many companies have used the current economy as an excuse to get rid of unproductive employees. The best ones are not going to be let go- regardless of the balance sheet.
Do you only want to see candidates that your competitors or other companies thought were unproductive? I would hope that you answer that with an “absolutely not.” If that’s the case, how much time does your VP or CFO or Director have to dig through LinkedIn and call people at your competitors. I’m sure they would be thrilled with that and, in all likelihood, would then begin courting your best and brightest employees.
So, as you can see, just because the economy is sputtering and unemployment is at record highs, it doesn’t mean that your company can post a job, sit back and wait for ‘golden’ candidates to start arriving in your inbox.
By CARI TUNA | The Wall Street Journal – Careers | April 3rd, 2009
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Inc. received 19,000 applicants for 100 jobs at a new hospital near Phoenix, opened in December — six times as many as when it last opened a facility, in 2006.
Applicants included administrators, physicians and nutritionists — both unemployed and employed. Chief Executive Steve Bonner was so overwhelmed that he is considering hiring additional employees long before he needs them, likely in 2011. “I’m asking myself: where are my weak spots, and is this an opportunity to plug one?”
Like Mr. Bonner, some employers are seizing the recession as an opportunity to strengthen their talent pool, poach stars from rivals or rebuild after layoffs. Every opening attracts dozens of qualified, and overqualified, applicants. Unemployment is 8.1% (since raised to 8.5% as of the Friday, April 3, unemployment report), the highest since 1983, and 12.5 million Americans are out of work. Yet the Labor Department says there were fewer than three million job openings in January, the fewest since it began tracking the data in 2000.
Strategically hiring skilled, productive employees can help employers boost efficiency and save money, says DeLynn Senna, executive director of permanent placement services for North America for Robert Half International Inc., a professional staffing firm. Good hiring decisions now may allow companies to best competitors when the economy rebounds, she says.
Many of the employers that are hiring are in sectors such as healthcare, government or utilities, which are still adding jobs. The U.S. Census Bureau is staffing ahead of next year’s population count. The Los Angeles regional office has received more than 80,000 applicants for an initial 10,000 jobs, from field workers to office staff. Applicants include PhD and MBA holders “who would not typically apply for temporary positions with the Census Bureau,” says Celeste Jimenez, an assistant regional manager.
Read the Complete Article Here: Some Employers See Hiring Opportunity
Sarah Evans is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She also authors a PR and social media blog
and is the founder of #journchat.
Tough economic times call for innovative approaches. An estimated 51 million people internationally are expected to lose their jobs in 2009, and with the unemployment rate on the rise, how does one find career opportunities fast? One great option is Twitter.
Twitter is evolving as another resource, in addition to traditional methods, for both job searching and recruiting.
Get the most out of your page
• Make your Twitter presence “employer-friendly”
o Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters)
o Use a professional looking avatar
o Tweet about your job search
• Utilize your Twitter background. There’s lots of space you can use to promote yourself. Don’t know how to create a professional-looking Twitter background? Use this free template to design your own.
• Include a link to an online CV or resume in your bio. Use a tool like VisualCV. (For more information on building an online resume, see Dan Schawbel’s post HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume)
• Establish yourself as an expert in your field on Twitter. It’s important to note that you should not misrepresent yourself. If you’re not a medical doctor, don’t play one on Twitter. As those on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you’ll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience.
Read the complete article: HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter.
