After a year of being unemployed, my brother started at a new job this week.  His unemployment has been tough on him and his family, but I feel certain they are on the road to recovery.  They downsized considerably when he lost his job and were able to stay afloatwhile not getting behind, not so for everyone.  I have several other friends unemployed or underemployed.  The recession rages on.

Trial By Fire

When we are tested or challenged, we come to see who we really are, who our real friends are, and who the real people are – those that mean what they say and say what they mean, say what they’ll do and do what they say.  Survival is usually not an option.

My friend Ray lives in Nebraska.  He lives a normal, quiet life, working hard to support his family, paying for college tuition, cars, insurance, and more.  Ray started his work life as a police officer and also had a turn at firefighting.  He has since left law enforcement, as well as firefighting, but those days left an indelible mark on him. One incident has been etched in his memory forever…

He had been called to a fire, one of his first, and was the second line into a burning building. He had never entered a burning building before – the heat was so intense and the men had to literally crawl into the building, blindly. Visibility was minimal and debris was falling everywhere. His natural instinct, his survivor instinct, was telling him to get out of that building and fast. The fire was above and all around them; they worked cohesively to knock it down, but the heat grew too great for Ray, as he was wearing a bullet proof vest under his bunker gear. He ran out, stripped off his gear, removed the vest, put his gear back on and returned to the flames as quickly as he possible, for now the fire wasn’t the only thing raging, “I was pissed at that fire…” Ray explained to me.

This is a picture of the actual fire Ray battled...

His team was able to control that fire and eventually put it out.  The crew was left completely exhausted and Ray’s face had been burned where skin had been exposed. When he returned to the building the next day, he noted the devastation, there was nothing left inside. If it hadn’t been for his burns, he would never have believed he had been in that building.

It was a remarkable experience in every way.

It changed who he was, it altered his outlook,
and removed any doubt that firefighting was not the career for him.

This is what a trial does for you. This is what a significant challenge can bring.  In your face responsibility. In your face realization of life or death. A severe recession, like what we have been experiencing for several years, is no different.  There have been many deaths, of sorts. Businesses have failed, families have fallen apart, jobs have been lost, insurances have been cancelled, homes have foreclosed,  luxuries taken away, and inevitable change has taken place.

How change is handled determines survival rates.

I, personally, have dusted myself off so many times that the only thing left to do is keep dusting. And stand up straight.  So, I guess being tough isn’t such a bad thing, if it keeps you standing.

Forged by fire.

Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology.  She is also a proud mother of four, happily engaged to Tom, residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a daily contributor for Blogging4Jobs.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.  

Independence VS. Dependence

I love George Carlin.  Posting a quote by him always makes me happy, because he says the things we think but usually don’t have the guts to say.  Given the current tumultuous state of the Republican US presidential primary and the vehemence with which many are speaking concerning the presidential election slated for this November, I find this particular quote most fitting.

“I do this real moron thing, it’s called thinking, and I’m not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.” ~George Carlin

Not following herd thinking or mob mentality has always been a stubborn trait of mine. I like to challenge ideals and believe in the virtue of rational thought and reasonable talk.  Usually severely lacking in a political or religious environment.

Freedom from Dependence on or Control by another person, organization, and state equals Independence. So, how many of us have gained independence over the last couple years, did you became free of the control by an organization? or person? It might be an interesting study to see how many are now working under their own banner / slate or have changed jobs or have simply changed outlooks…

A baby is completely dependent upon its mother and father or guardian for care and nourishment. Without the care a parental figure provides, a human baby would die. No ifs, ands, or buts. As simple as that. We learn the basics, those survival skills, over a lifetime. Hopefully, we become proficient at it. And to another end, not very many of us are born with an innate business sense, to understand perfectly the steps toward business success or financial freedom. Yes, it is unfortunate, but true.

So, how can we grow into being business professionals? Well, we can go to school or we can watch our parents, a school, in itself.  We can go to work when we are young and be lucky enough to find ourselves under the tutelage of a master businessman or we struggle along, learning what works and what not to do as we go. We can eventually move up the ranks, learning through personal trial and error or careful observation.  How we apply what we have learned and gained through those teachers will determine the kind of business professional we become.

Not all of us are cut out to be independent, as a matter of fact, most are not.  Having to fend for oneself: preparing for the hunt, the actual hunt, the kill, the dicing up of the kill, and then the distribution through and to the proper channels may be a little daunting for the majority.  Having a chief that direct the hunt may make it an easier go but then direction must be followed and, of course, not all “professionals” are cut out to take direction.

Figuring out where you belong in the circle doesn’t need to be difficult.  But it shouldn’t be taken lightly either nor decided upon haphazardly. Independence versus Dependence. Weigh the options.  Be realistic.  Know when to say when.  Know when to pull the plug or the trigger.  But recognize that good things do not come to those who wait.

Good things come to those who get out there and take them.

Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology.  She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs.  Connect with her on LinkedIn.  

Talent Management is changing and forward-thinking companies must begin preparing for the changing job market.  Over the last several weeks, the news publications and news networks have begun reporting positive changes in the economic markets.  The Globe and Mail reported last week, that as the economy improves, we will see a “W” shaped recovery.   A W shaped recovery has a large dip which we have already experienced, followed by a rise, and follow by another dip before we return to a stable and improving economic environment.  According to EconomyWatch there are almost as many alphabet letters as potential economic recovery scenarios from V, W, U, S, and L.  Being an optimist, a realist, and not an economist, I believe what we are currently experiencing is a V recovery although slow.  And based on my non-economic assumptions and research, my belief is that in Q2 of 2010 we will begin to see the job market drastically changing.

In this recession, employees were thrust into the job search as collateral damage from corporate cost cutting strategies.  Candidates were forced to take lesser positions resulting in lower salaries and benefits in order to feed their families and survive.  As the economy being to improve and positions are added, these job seekers will re-enter the marketplace often with short tenures at their previous companies in search of increased benefits, flexibility, and compensation.  Job hopping and gaps in employment won’t be near as important factors in considering candidates as previously.  As successful business leaders, we must consider the following to compete in the changing job market and consider employee retention and recruiting strategies in this new economy.

• Poll our employees. These high performing and under paid employees who either entered the workforce after being restructured or laid off will be in high demand.  Determining what is most important is extremely crucial to lessening and planning for increased turnover.  As American’s have spent less, what’s important has changed.  Do not assume that salary is most important, scheduling, benefits, and personal development are also motivating factors in ensuring employee retention.  SurveyMonkey offers a low cost way to survey your employees and determine their wants, needs, and desires for as little as $200 a year.
• Seek feedback. It’s one thing to survey current employees to determine what’s important.  It’s another to actually have a conversation either in a group setting or individually to dialogue and learn more.  Host meetings with your teams, be open, and allow them to speak freely about what’s important.  Employees who feel valued and empowered are much more productive than those that are managed by fear.  They are also less likely to leave their current company.
• Take action. All the meetings and surveys in the world can’t convince employees that you mean business.  Develop an action plan based on their input and over communicate your plans as well as your reasoning behind them.  In my experience, sometimes the smallest things can make a difference.  Be creative in your actions and make decisions with your employee demographic in mind.  Adding a $500 gaming system to your break room can be a difference maker to Gen Y employees while offering financial and newspaper magazine subscriptions can appeal to the Boomer and more traditionalist generations.
• Follow Up. Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more.  Follow up with your staff quarterly being open to recommended changes and feedback along the way.  Yes, following up takes work, but so does interviewing and training new employees.  How do you want to spend your time in 6 months after losing over half your staff to new opportunities?
• Build a Candidate Pipeline. Not every employee is motivated by gaming systems and magazine subscriptions.  Being reaching out and building relationships with performers in positions and industries you may be interested in recruiting over the next 6-12 months.  Develop a strategy to engage these potential candidates as a way to seek out referrals and develop a brand within your industry niche.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money to host a networking event, pick up the phone, or work with your local university.  As we have seen in the rise of social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and FaceBook, it’s the relationship that matters.

January’s jobs report was just released this morning with 598,000 job lost and unemployment at 7.6%. Most consider the silver lining to be the progress regarding the new economic stimulus package. For the unemployed or recently unemployed, here are the details on how it will affect your unemployment and benefits:

• Weekly Unemployment. This stands to increase by roughly $25 per week federally. Some states are pushing to supplement and increase their own unemployment benefits separately as well in the form of a state separate stimulus package.
• Extended Unemployment Benefits. Unemployment typically lasts 26 weeks. The proposal seeks to extend the ability for individuals to receive an additional 20 weeks of unemployment for those who file until Dec. 31, 2009 instead of the original March 31, 2009. The extended unemployment benefits are available to those that reside in states with unemployment percentages greater than 6% which includes 34 states as of Dec. 2008.
• Access to Subsidized Health Insurance. The average cost of COBRA is $1,000 per month. The bill would allow subsidized premiums of 65% for a year. The benefit would apply to those who lose their jobs between September 2008 and the end of 2009. Those who income is 200% the federal poverty guidelines could be eligible for Medicaid. The benefit, paid for by the federal government, would apply to those who lose their jobs between September 2008 and the end of 2010. Interested in what the Federal poverty lines are? Click Here.

Want to know more. Visit www.cnnmoney.com for the entire article and more information.

Number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits rises to a 26-year high of 586,000, according to Labor Department.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose to a 26-year high last week, according to a government report released Wednesday.

The Labor Department said that initial filings for state jobless benefits rose to 586,000 for the week ended Dec. 20. That was an increase of 30,000 from the 556,000 revised figure for the prior week, and up from a recent high of 575,000 claims reported earlier this month. Wednesday’s report revealed the highest number of jobless claims since Nov. 27, 1982 when initial filings hit 612,000. Economists were expecting jobless claims to rise to only 558,000, according to a poll by Briefing.com.

This week, the report was released a day early due to the Christmas holiday on Thursday.
The weekly jobless claims report can give economists one of the most up-to-the moment reads on the state of the U.S. economy. And the increasing number has some worried that consumers may further tighten their wallets.

“It’s likely to get worse before it gets better,” said Carl Riccadonna, senior U.S. economist with Deutsche Bank.

In fact, consumer spending fell for the fifth straight month in November, according to the Commerce Department.

“Without consumers turning around, the economy’s not going to turn around,” Riccadonna said.
Over the past four weeks, new unemployment claims have risen to an average of 558,000 a week, up 13,750 from the revised moving average of 544,250 reported last week.
The four-week moving average is designed to smooth out some of the week-by-week fluctuations in initial claims statistics, and give a broader view of the U.S. job market.
The number of people continuing to collect unemployment declined to 4.37 million in the week ended Dec. 13, the most recent data available. The measure was a decrease of 17,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4.39 million.

Over the previous four weeks the number of people on unemployment averaged 4.32 million a week, the government said.

The number of new jobless claims rose the most in Oklahoma, rising by 1,590, the Labor Department said.

North Carolina saw jobless claims fall the most, by 20,526, due to fewer layoffs in the construction, manufacturing and materials industries.

A weak economy causes companies to layoff workers, which causes people to tighten their spending, which weakens the economy even further.

It’s a “negative feedback loop,” said Riccadonna, and one of the only things that can get us out of it would be a “‘shock and awe’ fiscal stimulus package” from the federal government.

President-elect Barack Obama said last week his administration would try to generate 3 million jobs over the next two years as part of an economic stimulus plan that some economists estimate could cost as much as $800 billion.

–www.cnnmoney.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The economy shed 533,000 jobs in November, according to a government report Friday – bringing the year’s total job losses to 1.9 million.

November had the largest monthly job loss total since December 1974.

“This is a dismal jobs report,” said Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at a congressional hearing. “There’s very little in this report that’s positive. This is maybe one of the worst jobs reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics (founded in 1884) has ever produced.”

The just-under 1.9 million jobs lost in the current recession, which began in December 2007, surpasses the 1.6 million jobs lost in the 2001 recession. That’s noteworthy, because jobs were cut in droves in 2001 during the dot.com bust, which followed a white-hot employment market during the tech boom of the late 1990s.

But the job market expansion leading out of the previous recession was drawn out and tepid, so the jobs lost now are more at the core of the nation’s economy – a perilous sign.

According to the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, the unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October. Though lower than economists’ forecast of 6.8%, it was the highest unemployment rate since October 1993. The rate is compiled in a separate survey from the payroll number.

Revisions

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 325,000 jobs in the month.
Revisions to the two prior months brought more dismal news. October’s job loss was revised up to 320,000 from 240,000, and September was revised up to 403,000.

The revisions brought the 3-month job loss total to 1.3 million. That’s equal to two-thirds of this year’s total job losses and the third highest, three-month job loss total since World War II.
November’s report provided the first glimpse at employers’ reaction after the peak of the credit crisis, reached in mid-October. With credit largely unavailable and expensive, consumers scaled back their spending, dragging down manufacturing and construction businesses.

Travel has also been trimmed, with would-be vacationers opting to stay close to home.
Job losses were spread across a wide variety of industries: manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, construction and even, in the midst of the holiday shopping season, retail.
Also seeing sharp declines were professional and business services, a category seen by some economists as a proxy for overall economic activity, and financial services, at the heart of the current crisis.

Deeper cuts likely to come

With the economy in a recession and most economic indicators signaling even more difficult times ahead, economists say job losses will likely deepen and continue through at least the first half of 2009.

Citing weak economic conditions, a slew of large-scale job-cut announcements came this week. On Thursday alone, AT&T (T, Fortune 500), DuPont (DD, Fortune 500), Viacom (VIA), Credit Suisse (CS) and Avis (CAR, Fortune 500) announced cuts that totaled nearly 23,000 jobs lost, most of which will take place over the next several months.

According to a report by the outsourcing agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas, planned job cut announcements by U.S. employers soared to 181,671 last month, the second-highest total on record.

Temporary employment, including workers employed by temp agencies, fell by 100,700 jobs last month, the highest on records that go back to 1985. That could mean even more full-time payroll reductions to come, as employers often cut temporary workers before they begin cutting permanent staff.

Tig Gilliam, chief executive of placement agency Adecco, the nation’s third-largest employment agency, said employers are trying to position their companies to weather the ever intensifying economic storm.

“CEOs are trying to get their businesses better positioned for the start of the year so they’re not constantly chasing the slowdown” he said. “December will be another very tough month.”

In another sign of weakness, a growing number of workers were unable to find jobs with the amount of hours they want to work. Those working part-time jobs – because they couldn’t find full-time work, or their hours had been cut back due to slack conditions – jumped by 621,000 people to 7.3 million, the highest ever on records that date back to 1955.

Underemployment at 12.5%

The so-called under-employment rate, which counts those part-time workers, as well as those without jobs who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work, soared to 12.5% from from 11.8%, setting the all-time high for that measure since calculations for it began in January 1994.

But there was hiring in some economic sectors last month. Government hiring has stayed strong throughout the downturn, adding another 7,000 jobs in November. Education and health services also grew payrolls, which grew by 52,000 employees.

The average hourly work week fell to 33.5 hours last month. Economists expected the workweek to hold at October’s level of 33.6 hours. But with a modest 7-cent gain in the average hourly salary, the average weekly paycheck rose by 52 cents to $613.05.

Obama: Time for stimulus

With 2008 already the worst year for jobs since 1982 and on pace to become the worst since 1945 – and second worst on records that date back to 1939 – support for a second stimulus package to boost the job market has grown among economists and lawmakers.

The prior stimulus package, in the spring, sent tax rebate checks to millions of tax filers. It helped the economy grow in the second quarter, but it did little to stem the tide of job loss in the country.

But the proposed stimulus package, supported by President-elect Barack Obama, would focus on aid states and municipalities as well as consumers, adding millions of infrastructure jobs for Americans.

“Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years,” said Obama in a statement. “There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.”

Experts say a two-part stimulus package is the right way to stem the tide of mounting job losses.
“First, you have to get consumers to spend, since 70% of the GDP is tied to consumer spending, and then you need job stimulus like highway projects to maintain economic job growth,” said Gilliam. “This number is so bad that Obama will have to do something drastic soon.”
In the meantime, Bush administration officials say the priority remains restoring liquidity to the financial system.

“We have to get the job done that we can while we have time left in office, and that is restoring credit,” Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez told CNNMoney.com. “This is the key first step to restoring growth and restoring jobs.”

The White House echoed the Commerce secretary. “We need to focus on the causes of the economic downturn in order to reverse this trend in job creation, said Dana Perino, White House press secretary. “We intend to continue our aggressive efforts to restore health to our credit and housing markets.”

–www.cnnmoney.com