August 29, 2003

GDP, financial services hiring up
Posted by at 10:25 AM

The Globe reports today that the economy grew in the second quarter at its fastest pace in nine months underscoring mounting evidence of an accelerating recovery. Still, the write-up is careful to note that it's still not equating to more jobs. At least one of the weakest hiring sectors, financial services, is starting to see signs of improvement in terms of hiring and compensation.
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Let's hear it for EQ
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:23 AM

How'd you do on your SATs? Maybe not as well as you had hoped? Were you concerned about your egghead classmates toting 1400's and up heading off to the Ivy Leagues and golden futures? Take heart. From "Out in the Field," BostonWorks' weekly round-up of workplace stats and trends, a report that people skills - a realm the SATs don't even come close to touching - and critical thinking can take you a long way in business:

What skills are more likely to guarantee success at work?

If your first reaction was ''people skills and critical thinking,'' you're correct.

''One of the reasons people skills and critical thinking are prized so highly in the workplace is that they are not easily learned,'' reports The Gallup Organization, a New Jersey-based polling firm that tracks public attitudes.

To learn more, click here and scroll down to the second entry.
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Jewel, the management guru
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:25 AM

"Follow your heart, your intuition", croons songstress Jewel in her latest, determinedly-pop hit. But could her message be aimed at the nation's business managers as well as wayward adolescents? A piece by Euguene Raudsepp from the CareerJournal archives supports her claim pretty clearly:

Professor John Mihalasky and his associates at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark tested hundreds of business managers for intuitive ability. They are convinced that effective, superior decision making correlates highly with intuitive ability.

For one of their experiments, they chose 25 managers who had held top decision-making jobs for five years. . . .The results were remarkable: Of the 25 men selected, 12 had doubled their companies' profits in five years. Eleven of those 12 scored high on the intuitive test.

Read more, including a list of attributes of intuitive personality types and a list of occupations where intuition is highly valued. And if you're into Jewel, check out the complete lyrics.
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August 28, 2003

From snark to success
Posted by at 10:19 AM

Whenever you need a moment of sometimes un-PC levity you can always rely on The Onion for a laugh or three. But as this Business 2.0 - Magazine Article points out, the onion is no joke.

For seven years TheOnion.com has been calling out the absurdities of our world -- "Executive Quits Fast Track to Spend More Time With Possessions" -- and has built a fanatical readership of 1.3 million a month...the Onion in all its forms now generates $7 million a year in revenue and a small profit.

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Don't hate me because I'm beautiful
Posted by at 9:52 AM

OK guys, start studying your girlfriend/wife's Cosmopolitan magazines. The NYT's this morning reports that being beautiful pays off.

Economists have found that men with above-average looks are paid about 5 percent more than those with average appearance, while those who are below average in looks have wages 9 percent below the mean.

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August 27, 2003

Interviewing 101
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:00 AM

Today's Dilbert provides a good yuck on the topic of interviewing. Check it out today and every day from the BostonWorks.com home page - look for your favorite cubicle dweller on the lower right.
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August 26, 2003

Two trains leave the station...
Posted by at 10:40 AM

The good news is Microsoft plans to hire 5,000 employees this year. The not so great news is that they receive up to 60,000 applicants a month and if you're lucky enough to be invited to an interview, they're planning on throwing out those Algebra/SAT questions that you dreaded back in high school. Here's a sampling:

QUESTION 3: If you could remove any of the 50 states, which would it be? Be prepared to give specific reasons why you chose the state you did.

ANSWER: Popular answers: Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota

Bad answer: Washington

Worse answer: I’d remove all of them.

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Anatomy of a factory town
Posted by at 10:26 AM

NPR recently ran a follow-up to a on-going series examining the impact factory moves and closures have on workers and regional jobs.

Although the series focuses in on the small city of Scranton, Pa., and its efforts to right itself after 17 percent of the area's factory jobs disappeared two years ago as a result of the closures, the story can't help but remind me of Lawrence's Malden Mills ups and downs.
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Boston Fire Department's affirmative action policy successfully challenged.
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:49 AM

Today's Boston Globe reports that a federal judge has ordered hiring and back pay for four white men who challenged the Boston Fire Department's affirmative action policy. This is not necessarily a precedent-setting decision, though.

US District Judge Richard G. Stearns stressed that his order was limited to the four men who sued and wasn't intended to establish a precedent with respect to other white applicants who were also passed over in October 2000.

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Doctor's can't mock their patients in shorthand anymore
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:48 AM

The BBC reports on how the (occasionally offensive) shorthand doctors use to describe their patients may be losing favor.

Top medical acronyms:
CTD - Circling the Drain (A patient expected to die soon)
GLM - Good looking Mum
GPO - Good for Parts Only
TEETH - Tried Everything Else, Try Homeopathy
UBI - Unexplained Beer Injury

We software types have our own shorthand we use to describe system difficulties. I, of course, would never characterize a bug report as PEBCAK.
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Is China's currency causing U.S. job losses?
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:48 AM

Today's New York Times reports on how China's refusal to float the yuan affects the American job market.

The issue is the value of the yuan, which the Beijing government pegs to the dollar rather than allowing it to float in world currency markets. Critics say that keeps the yuan undervalued by as much as 40 percent, enabling Chinese manufacturers to flood the United States with products at prices that homegrown companies cannot match.

Though Chinese exports have been growing at the expense of American manufacturing jobs for years, the volume of the complaints has risen with the unemployment rate — and with the approach of national elections next year. And no matter what it does, the White House is on treacherous ground.

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August 25, 2003

Can the tech-job drain be stopped?
Posted by at 4:24 PM

A NewsFactor special report says that leadership may be the competitive differentiator between US tech workers and our New Delhi counterparts who can produce the same snippet of high-quality code for a fraction of the cost.

Leadership qualities, when combined with technical expertise, position job candidates much more strongly than techie skills alone, says Ray Schreyer, Internet recruiting manager for IBM.

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Former dotcommers are adjusting, painfully
Posted by Jason Butler at 3:22 PM

Yesterday's New York Times had a long article on the travails of the dot-com refugees.

"I thought companies would value the experiences that executives had in the dotcom world, like learning to live with thin capitalization and limited resources," said James M. Citrin, a partner at Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm. "Instead, many shunned the would-be returnees or treated them as though the entire dot-com experience was inconsequential."

Especially interesting are the "lessons learned" from the dotcom era, lessons now permeating the "real world."

Being a Luddite is bad, but being a technophile can be worse. ... There is a difference between red tape and necessary procedures. ... Speed can connote efficiency as well as recklessness.

As a veteran of dotcom companies both successful and not, I really identified with this article. I believe my experience was valuable, even though I'm now working in a more traditional workplace.
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August 22, 2003

Central => JFK/UMass soon more expensive
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:08 AM

I'm fairly unhappy with the whole commuting infrastructure right now.

First, they take down the exact change lanes on the Mass Pike, effectively tripling the amount of time I have to spend at my exit. Now, the MBTA wants to jack up their fares to make up the revenue loss attributed to declining ridership.

To cope with tight fiscal times, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority managers have said they want to raise fares by between 25 percent and 36 percent beginning Jan. 1. Subway fares would increase from $1 to $1.25 and bus fares would move from 75 cents to $1, with the full slate of higher fares on subways, buses, commuter railways, and ferries expected to generate $25 million annually.

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August 21, 2003

Another category needed... the 'discouraged'
Posted by at 10:16 AM

While the Feds and State are reporting that unemployment rates have dropped, they don't take into account the 'discouraged' unemployed. In today's Globe, the article, "The invisible jobless" tells of how many people "have resorted to 'involuntarily part-time' work, often giving up professional jobs for service ones...."

Even as the economy shows signs of new life, the number of discouraged workers has nearly doubled to half a million since 2000 -- helping to account for a drop in the nation's unemployment rate in July. If the government had added Lupaczyk and other discouraged workers to the total, the unemployment rate would have risen to 6.5 percent, instead of fallen to 6.2 percent.

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Some technology companies are still growing
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:59 AM

Here are the top-growing technology companies in Massachusetts according to a recent study.
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August 19, 2003

Will you be my job search buddy?
Posted by at 5:55 PM

While watching some early a.m. TV, I happened to catch a recent segment featuring Richard Bayer, Ph.D., an economist, ethicist, author on labor economics, sometimes guest on CNN and the TODAY Show, and CEO of The Five O'Clock Club, who had some interesting tips for surviving a prolonged job search.

Among them were some obvious ones: 1) Enjoy your time off. OK, granted that's sometimes tough to do if you've a mortgage hanging over your head, or wondering where your next meal is coming from; 2) Get out there and network. True, statistics tend to show that most hires come through personal referral 3) Expand your geographic search area, again, OK, sometimes not logistically possible etc. etc. But there was at least one I hadn't yet heard of: Get yourself a job search buddy.

The suggestion was to find at least one person in the same predicament who you can contact at least once a day to share progress, ideas or problems or leads. Almost as importantly, this person acts as a pillar of support against the increased isolation, rejection or depression that can easily occur if your job search is a particularly long, or difficult one. Here's the pretty good index of free articles from the Five O'Clock Club.

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August 18, 2003

Bay State jobless rate declines
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:00 AM

Saturday's Globe reported that the jobless rate is declining.

Massachusetts employers added jobs for the fourth consecutive month in July, driving down unemployment and providing the strongest evidence yet that an economic turnaround is at hand.

I'm not going to pull out the pom-poms just yet, but this is definitely a good sign.
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Bay State economy making gains
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:52 AM

Yesterday's Boston Sunday Globe reports that, at long last, Massachusetts' economy is starting to pick up again.

[A]fter nearly two years of stumbling and stalling, the recovery is finally gaining traction. Nationally, positive economic reports have come one after another in recent weeks: monthly retail sales up in July, productivity surging in the second quarter, and manufacturing and service sectors expanding.

In Massachusetts, the labor market is stabilizing and beginning to add jobs, according to recent state employment reports. ...

Among the brightest signs is a pick-up in temporary employment. Economists view temporary hiring as a leading indicator for the job market, since businesses tend to hire temps when conditions first improve and follow up with permanent hiring as they gain more confidence.

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August 15, 2003

I've found my dream job for the fall
Posted by Jason Butler at 2:39 PM

I want to be an apple picker.
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Fair and Balanced
Posted by Jason Butler at 12:15 PM

Happy Friday, from your fair and balanced Job Blog!
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Vacation time stresses employers
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:07 AM

Blinding flash of the obvious from USA Today: when people take vacation, they aren't at work.

"So, you mean that if we fire everyone but Joe, and then Joe goes on vacation, we might not get stuff done?"

With vacation season at its peak this month, employers already operating with lean staffs are grappling with how to keep businesses at full speed with so many workers gone at the same time.

Another example of the principle of "Management by Wishful Thinking."
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Friendlier workers are more productive
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:57 AM

A University of Michigan study reports that friendlier workers are more productive.

“An impersonal style tends to restrict the bandwidth of information a person attends to in the workplace,” he said.

“What is literally said will be followed closely but information about the context in which the information is conveyed — information often critical for task success and productivity — is lost,” he added.

“This type of miscommunication, like ships passing in the night, is further exacerbated in diverse organizations (domestically and internationally) because rarely are people with other cultural backgrounds as impersonal as mainstream Americans.”

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August 14, 2003

Squeeze on maternity leave
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:24 AM

The Chicago Tribune reports on how economic circumstances are making more and more mothers of newborns cut short their maternity leaves.

Taking maternity leave during a layoff binge can be "scary," as Schmidt puts it. Many women are feeling pressure to shorten their leaves, either because they can't afford to go without a salary or be away from a workplace that's already stretched thin by layoffs.

There are also some excellent tips in the article for adjusting to working with a baby at home.
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Flexible hiring in the Boston schools?
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:28 AM

Today's Boston Globe is reporting that Superintendent Thomas Payzant is looking to change the rules on hiring and firing in the schools.

"I've always believed that there should be more autonomy for schools when they are getting good results and less control from central administration," Payzant said. "Conversely, when the results are not there, more direction and more authority should be exercised by central [administration] until a school improves."

There are two sides to every story, though.

Boston Teachers' Union President Richard Stutman said the district is trying to rob teachers of critical job protections created years ago to guard against the favoritism, patronage, and discrimination that historically plagued Boston schools.

The teachers' contract expires at the end of the month.
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August 13, 2003

I think I'm going into real estate
Posted by Richard Cook at 2:41 PM

CNN: U.S. tech workers training their replacements

Scott Kirwin clung to his job at a large investment bank through several rounds of layoffs last year. Friends marveled at the computer programmer's ability to dodge pink slips during the worst technology downturn in a decade.

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Gotta love those hackers
Posted by at 12:02 PM

So, if you're like me and don't pay too much attention to your home computer and the patches and upgrades that Microsoft releases for said computer, you may have a problem. A worm problem. Specifically, the 'MSBlast' worm (aka: the Lovsan worm, the W32.Blaster.Worm, etc.).

Over the past 24 hours, many people, including me, discovered a nasty little problem with their computer. If you haven't updated your Windows operating system with a recent patch from Microsoft, your home computer may be vulnerable and may be causing you problems. It is very important that you remove this worm and/or update your system as you could send it to your friends and family or, potentially, to the HR person that you're trying to get a job from. (This can also affect your work computer if the systems at work aren't properly protected.)

More information about this worm/virus can be found on most anti-virus company websites (such as Symantec - makers of Norton Antivirus and McAfee). According to Symantec, the following operating systems should be ok: Linux, Macintosh, OS/2, UNIX, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me. Symantec provides more information and a virus finder/remover here. McAfee also has a section providing information on the worm and how to remove it. CNet's News.com has a 'special coverage' section dedicated to this trouble maker: 'MSBlast' echoes across the Net.
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Are you a great project manager?
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:13 AM

Johanna Rothman lists out the characteristics of great project managers.
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All IM and no talk makes Jason a dull boy
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:01 AM

Seattle Times: Too much technology diminishes work relationships.

Sanders came to define the condition as "New Economy Depression Syndrome," a state of work-related stress brought on by information overload, constant interruption by technology (think e-mail, instant messaging and cell phones) and the increasing personal isolation that technology affords us.

I need a hug.
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No more options. What's restricted stock?
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:57 AM

Fewer companies are offering stock options, with many changing to offer restricted stock instead. The Wall Street Journal explains restricted stock.

What is restricted stock?

The term refers to shares issued to employees that can be sold only in the future. Typically, employees forfeit their shares if they leave the company before the stock vests. At some companies, an employee forfeits the shares if certain financial targets aren't met.

Microsoft is using a mix of both approaches. The software maker's top 600 employees will receive a variant of restricted stock that is tied to the company's performance. Rank-and-file employees, on the other hand, will receive grants tied to how long they remain with the company.

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Labor confrontations on the rise
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:52 AM

Today's Boston Globe reports on the conflicts between union and non-union labor on local construction projects.

Ajax Construction, the nonunion steel erector whose workers were allegedly attacked, has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Local 7, one of Boston's most powerful and politically connected unions. From arrests of union business agents for trespassing on nonunion construction sites, to alleged acts of vandalism, to the rise in charges filed at the labor relations board, confrontations between the union and nonunion companies have climbed in the past two years, both union and nonunion workers say.

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Newsflash: Attitude Important
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:45 AM

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

"There's a strong correlation between job seekers who feel confident about their job search and the time it takes them to get one. It's usually a shorter period of time for those who are upbeat than for those who aren't," said Ellen Jackofsky, associate provost and associate professor of business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "And they often get a better financial package, too."

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Two sides to every story
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:21 AM

It's annoying and discouraging when you apply to a job and your resume seems to go into a black hole. The "good" news is that it's not fun from the other side of the table, either, and HR professionals realize that the situation is untenable.

Recruiters I have spoken with complain loudly about the hundreds, even thousands, of resumes they receive weekly from unqualified candidates. The most common comment I hear is, "I wish I could reply to every candidate, but if I did I would not be doing my job!"

Candidates, on the other side of the fence, feel that they rarely experience common courtesy from recruiters. They feel ignored, snubbed, forgotten, unappreciated, and unevaluated.

Here's an article from the perspective of the harried and overworked recruiters on how they can improve the situation.
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August 12, 2003

Money talk
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:52 PM

This week's BostonWorks' Job Doc says: "A question about salary is the equivalent of a root canal for a job seeker - extremely painful but occasionally unavoidable." Check out the tips offered by Job Doc Roni Noland on how to deal with this tricky but inevitable issue (scroll down to second entry).
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Summertime, and the livin' ain't easy
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:46 PM

In the latest installment of BostonWorks' job search diary, subject Brian McGrath finds that summer slows his pace but doesn't dull his anxiety:

Taking a vacation when one is unemployed isn't all that much fun. . . . ''It's good to be on vacation,'' [Brian] said. But, he admitted, ''My mind's elsewhere, definitely. You can't enjoy it 100 percent."

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GenXers, boomers bring mix of values, expectations to workplace
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:39 PM

From Sunday's BostonWorks in the Boston Globe, a piece on the generational challenges of today's workplace:

The workplace of 2003 includes people born before and after Watergate, the sexual revolution, and rock 'n' roll. More importantly, the workplace encompasses those who have experienced downsizing as a painful shock and those who accept it as a fact of life. Older workers may still cling to the possibility of lifetime employment with one company and its potential rewards. Younger workers tend to be largely dismissive of corporate promises, wary of commitments, and determined to forge their own long-term security.

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Should I spring for an Ivy League MBA?
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:19 AM

Fortune magazine on the advantages and drawbacks of the Ivy League MBA.

Of course, an MBA from somewhere like Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton certainly couldn't hurt anyone's career, and in some industries--investment banking and management consulting, for example--you're at a real disadvantage without one. But the price tag on an Ivy League MBA is a stunner, not only in tuition expense (which usually tops $100,000) but in "opportunity cost"

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Free Agent Boston
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:19 AM

Susan Kaup sent me an email this morning about Free Agent Boston, an organization which hosts events for freelancers, contractors, and others outside the normal corporate world. If that's you, you should check them out.
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Why moving to India won't help IT
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:18 AM

Robert Cringely wonders if offshoring programming jobs is really just age discrimination.

[Offshoring's] goal is to save a lot of money for the companies involved because India is a very cheap place to do business. And it will accomplish that objective for awhile. In the long run, though, IT is going to have the same problems in India that it has here. The only real result of all this job-shifting will be tens of thousands of older engineers in the U.S. who will find themselves working at Home Depot. You see, "offshoring" is another word for age discrimination.

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The life of a flight attendant
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:18 AM

The job of a flight attendant just keeps getting worse and worse.

You think your business travels have become more stressful? Put yourself in the shoes of flight attendants (and even they sometimes have to take them off for the security guards). The free time they are allotted in cities where they stay overnight has become shorter. The list of security measures they must take, from watching passengers' behavior to checking for unusual bags, has become longer. The travelers they serve have become surlier. And their financial prospects have become bleaker.

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The life of a PR person
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:18 AM

MediaBistro talks about life in public relations. Not all chocolate and nice shoes...

The truth? Sure, these stereotypical "PR girls" are the most visible members of the public-relations community, thanks in part to the antics of a certain "PR princess" and the predictable presence of the statuesque bookends that flank the entrance to every trendy press event. So it's understandable that one can imagine all of us sitting around our offices in halters and heels, with our blown-straight hair, eating sushi, and devising ways to keep you out of our next super-hot club opening.

But that really isn't most of us. I'm sitting here with bare feet, my hair anchored on the top of my head with a Bic pen, eating cold spaghetti, and finishing up some research on the latest trends in public companies going private so that a reporter writing a story on a client has the most up-to-date information—which is to say, most of us don't spend our days in Samantha Jones-style glamorous situations.

It's always interesting to see how those you work with see your role. In this case, she's trying to explain to media members that she's not evil, and that she's actually able to help them to their job better.
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August 11, 2003

New Fast Company weblog
Posted by Jason Butler at 11:56 AM

Business magazine Fast Company has a weblog now. It seems to be pretty interesting so far.
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Embracing the abyss
Posted by at 11:21 AM

If you've ever applied for a job online you've felt it: That momentary feeling of angst about what really happens to your resume once you've pressed submit. Into the void, right?

Not necessarily, says Sarah Ramer, a recent Harvard grad and Somerville resident, who discovered in her six month search that even an Ivy League pedigree didn't automatically guarantee employment in this tough job market. Ramer says understanding the technology that turns applicants into bits and bytes can help turn online labors into offers.

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Lose weight, get bonus
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:42 AM

Yesterday's New York Times reported on how, in response to the staggering costs of health insurance benefits, employers are offering incentives for workers to lose weight.

About 100 of VSM's 135 employees joined five-member teams, each with its own name, and competed to see which could lose the most weight. Weigh-ins were held every Monday morning, and the team that shed the most pounds collectively in three months -- the Five Fat Sensitive Men, as it turned out, at 113 pounds -- won $100 and a day off with pay for each team member.

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Temp agency reviews
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:36 AM

A reader sent me a link to Temp Agency Reviews, a site where temp workers can post and read reviews of temp agencies.
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August 8, 2003

Don't feed the monkeys
Posted by Jason Butler at 2:45 PM

Here is a blogger who's had a little too much experience with Human Resources.

REMEMBER - the only thing between you and your next job ... is Human Resources.

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August 7, 2003

Lodging no complaints
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 5:40 PM

And more Good News for those of you in the Greater Boston hospitality sector:

Worried that tighter bank lending has stalled momentum on a half-dozen planned hotels, city officials are moving to provide ''gap financing'' to speed up a few big lodging projects -- and boost the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in the process.

The city has set up a $40 million loan pool, tapping US Department of Housing and Urban Development funds earmarked for neighborhood economic projects. The loans will fill an approximately 10 percent financing gap for two or three hotel projects, enabling them to break ground within a year.

Read the piece from the Boston Globe, the top story in BostonWorks Hospitality channel.
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From retail to finance, service industries improve
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 5:31 PM

In the Good News Story of the Week department, the Institute for Supply Management's index of economic activity suggests things are heading in the right direction in the all-important service sector, which means good news for jobs:

US service industries, the largest part of the economy, staged the broadest expansion in six years and orders flowed in at an unprecedented rate, an industry report showed.
- - - - -
Fourteen of 17 industries expanded in July, led by construction, farming, finance and banking, and retail. A surge in new orders to a record 66.9 from 57.5 and the second straight expansion in an employment measure suggests hiring may be about to pick up, further boosting growth.

''It's a really good hint that by September or October employment will be taking off, because at some point these companies can't expand without more people,'' said Russell Sheldon, a senior economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in Toronto.

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From unemployment benefits being reduced to workloads being increased
Posted by at 1:58 PM

Here are a few articles worth calling attention to. The first, reported in The Boston Globe, is about Massachusetts unemployment benefits: Bay State is falling into (bottom) line

Until recently, only two states in the country paid jobless workers 30 weeks of unemployment benefits. One was Washington, the other was Massachusetts. The other states pay 26 weeks. In June, under intense pressure from the business community seeking lower costs, Washington changed its laws and joined the rest of the country at 26 weeks. Governor Mitt Romney hopes to make it a clean sweep. The governor filed a bill that would bring Massachusetts into line with everyone else.

The second is a Reuters article: Companies Squeeze More Out of Workers

The Labor Department said new jobless pay claims were below the crucial 400,000 level for a third week in a row during the Aug. 2 week at 390,000.

A separate Labor report said worker productivity accelerated steeply in the second quarter at an annual rate of 5.7 percent, more than double the first quarter's 2.1 percent gain.

Both sets of figures handily outstripped Wall Street economists' expectations and pointed to potential improvement in U.S. economic performance during the second half of the year. But analysts noted it did not necessarily imply job market prospects would brighten substantially.

"It is interesting that we got the one two punch: a report that shows very little rehiring, and a report that shows why -- companies don't need new labor when they can squeeze every last bit of productivity out of the operations they are already running," said economist Lara Rhame of Brown Bothers Harriman in New York.

What do these articles mean? Unemployment benefits in Massachusetts may have their lifespan shortened and those who have jobs are being worked harder than in the past. While the economy looks like it may be improving, that doesn't necessarily translate into less unemployed people... at least for the near future.
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The new job reality
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:00 AM

Want to know the bigger picture? Want to know what's really going on out there in the job market? The current issue of US News & World Report takes an in-depth look at the state of employment in the US today and points to evidence that we may not be in your garden-variety recession:

In ordinary recessions, companies typically lay off workers on a temporary basis, rehiring them when demand revives. But some economists say there's something else going on this time. The dearth of jobs stems from factors signaling a sea change in today's business world: namely, higher productivity, altered management and hiring practices, and the flight of both blue- and white-collar jobs overseas. Many of the changes in the labor market are structural, not cyclical. "It's similar to what we saw 50 years ago when people began to leave farms," says Greg Mankiw, the president's top economist. "One of the ways economies grow is people moving from one sector to another." In short, the message to the nation's 9.1 million unemployed is: Don't hold your breath. Your old job may never return.

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The despair of the jobless
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:29 AM

In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert rails against the administration and its "jobs policy".

Right now there is no plan, no strategy for turning this employment crisis around. There is not even a sense of urgency. At the end of July the Bush administration sent its secretaries of commerce, labor and treasury on a bus tour of Wisconsin and Minnesota to tell workers that better days are coming. But they offered no real remedies, and the president himself went on a monthlong vacation.

The simple truth is that the interests of the Bush administration's primary constituency, corporate America, do not coincide with the fundamental interests of workaday Americans. On the business side of this divide, increased profits are realized by showing the door to as many workers as possible, and squeezing the remainder to the bursting point. Productivity (based primarily on improvements in technology) is way up. Hiring, of course, is down. Part-time and temporary workers are in; full-time workers with benefits are out.

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Job listings via RSS
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:22 AM

First, an admission: I am a total RSS geek; I live in NetNewsWire.

That's why I'm extremely interested in RSSJobs, a meta-search application which allows you to set up search queries to run against some of our friendly competitors like Monster and Hotjobs, and then translates the results into an RSS feed. Phil Wolff has an interview with the creator.

Ideally, RSSJobs is for anyone looking for a job on the internet. It is well suited to individuals who have jobs, but want to keep their eyes open to other positions, and don't have the time to do an exhaustive search every day.

That being said, the average person out there doesn't know about RSS yet, and has a hard time understanding the benefits. It's a paradigm shift for most people, making adoption of RSS more difficult. Web browsers are comfortable, and people don't want to give them up, despite their limitations.

So at this point, I don't expect most job hunters out there to "get" the benefits of using RSSJobs, so I am not targeting them just yet. Right now I am focusing on those who are already using RSS. As RSS use becomes more widespread, the target audience will expand.

We're playing with RSS for our own job listings here. The format is simple enough that we could just slap something up; but we're figuring out how to do it so that a) it provides a good experience, both in the algorithms for picking the jobs and in the presentation, b) it scales to our level of traffic, and c) we can make a business case for investing in it.

I think the hardest part is going to be c), because I think we are ~18 months or so from this technology really hitting the early majority. I'm not sure there's a lot of money on the table there yet.

So, my inclination is to do it, but we'll see how the next few months shake out.

p.s., The RSS feed for this blog and the HR Blog have been broken since Blogger changed over to their new system. I'm still working with them to try to get this fixed. Grr.

p.p.s., You should subscribe to the feed for our weekly BostonWorks in the Boston Globe section. We get some great stuff out of the newsroom each week.
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The perils of the offsite
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:58 AM

Ever get sent to on offsite meeting? You may not make it back.

Cynthia McKay, CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Baskets Inc., decided to take her 13 employees to Lion's Head, a ski resort in Vail, Colo., a few winters ago. The only problem: Just one person knew how to ski. McKay planned ahead, and along with the chalet and limousine she rented, bought lessons for the staff. But after two lessons, some employees decided to hit the Black Diamond slopes. One fell and broke her leg. Another ran into a tree and broke her leg. Someone else fractured her arm, and a few others pulled tendons. "They got totally annihilated," McKay says. "People were accusing me of trying to kill my staff."

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Google news alerts
Posted by Jason Butler at 8:52 AM

Company and industry research has never been easier, thanks to yesterday's release of the Google News alerts system.

Basically, this works the same way as our job alerts, by Google running your search terms against the 4000+ news sources they continually index, then emailing you the results.

This is a great way to keep on top of your industry and really be prepared for those interviews.
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August 6, 2003

It's not me, it's you
Posted by at 2:44 PM

Focus on the company's needs and not your own -- At least that's the conventional wisdom you might want to follow if you're a technology worker and are still out there hunting. In other words, tell potential employers succintly and specifically, how you affected your last gig's bottom line productivity and revenue. You can always tell them where you want to be in five years, and how much you love kayaking, if you're fortunate enough to make it to the final round.

Candidates who want to be successful in the current tech-job market are cautioned to focus on an employer's needs and not their own. "Most important is the ability to communicate the accomplishments you've made for past employers," says Herb Rozoff, spokesman for placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

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Survey predicts sizable wage hikes for '04
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:20 PM

Good news for Massachusetts workers, as reported in today's Globe:

Massachusetts' largest industry group is predicting hourly wage and salary hikes of up to 4.5 percent at some member companies next year, almost a percentage point higher than this year's highest average increase.
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Some more good news: Fewer than 1 percent of the companies plan to freeze or cut wages and salaries in 2004. This year, by contrast, just over 18 percent of the respondents froze or cut salaries because of sluggish economic conditions.

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On the road with a syndicate sales rep
Posted by Jason Butler at 10:41 AM

It's a good habit to read the trade magazines for your industry. Not only can it keep you up-to-date, it's often a great source of job leads and information.

For us in the newspaper biz, one of the main trade journals is Editor & Publisher, which this week features an article about what it's like to be a syndicated content salesperson.

When the gothic-style Tribune Tower opened on North Michigan Avenue in 1925, syndicate salespeople were already roaming the country to pitch comics, columns, and other features to newspapers. Today, developments such as e-mail, tight feature budgets, and the scarcity of competitive newspaper markets would seemingly make these road reps as rare as a World Series game at Wrigley Field. But in the last decade, the number of salespeople traveling for America's largest syndicates has held steady at roughly 30, with about 20% of them now women.

What's your favorite trade magazine for job hints and advice? Drop me a line and let me know -- I'll add it to my circuit of sites.
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August 5, 2003

The eternal battle between the geeks and the suits
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:44 AM

Joel Spolsky on why software companies should be run by a former programmer.

When Pepsi-pusher John Sculley was developing the Apple Newton, he didn’t know something that every computer science major in the country knows: handwriting recognition is not possible. This was at the same time that Bill Gates was hauling programmers into meetings begging them to create a single rich text edit control that could be reused in all their products. Put Jim Manzi (the suit who let the MBAs take over Lotus) in that meeting and he would be staring blankly. “What’s a rich text edit control?” It never would have occurred to him to take technological leadership because he didn’t grok the technology; in fact, the very use of the word grok in that sentence would probably throw him off.

If you ask me, and I’m biased, no software company can succeed unless there is a programmer at the helm.

Note, this is different than having the company run *by* the programmers (something I've seen a few times over the past few years). Rather, in the same way that someone who runs an Ad Agency should have come up with some creative in his or her past, someone who runs a software firm should know how to crank out some code.
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The economic reality tour
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:40 AM

Recently downsized Minnesotan follows the president around commenting on the realities of his economic plan.

Last Thursday, July 24th I was "downsized" from my job of 3 years at a software company.

Later the same day I heard that President Bush's economic team would be doing a bus tour through Wisconsin and Minnesota this week touting Bush's tax cut and its prosperous economic effects.

"What a bunch of BS. I'd like to give their PR tour a dose of reality," is what I thought.

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August 4, 2003

Failed start-up need not affect resume
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:04 AM

A lesson in seeing the glass half full comes from the Job Doc this week. She gives advice to a job seeker whose resume entry shows they worked for an Internet start-up that subsequently went bust:

Your story has happened frequently enough to be recognizable by many in both the sales world and other fields naturally attracted to start-ups. Large numbers of talented people like yourself were drawn to the tantalizing Internet start-up opportunities that promised creative challenge, stock options, great titles, and a real chance to become wealthy. Fortunately, the career of someone who made that ''Internet boom'' switch is not nearly as negative as it feels to you now, and there are ways to address your situation in a resume and in conversation.

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Even employed should prepare for job search
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:49 AM

The old Boy Scout motto, "Be prepared," may have some truth to it for today's job market. According to a recent survey reported in the Sunday Globe's BostonWorks section, today's savvy employee stays aware and keeps his or her options open :

''Many workers have learned firsthand that layoffs can come suddenly and without warning,'' said Liz Hughes, vice president of OfficeTeam, a national staffing company. ''Employees cannot control the job market, but they can take proactive steps to get organized for their next research.''

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Amidst rejection, positive attitude makes the difference
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:38 AM

There is a lot of rejection going around in the job market these days. More than enough. How to cope when the door is repeatedly slammed in your face, or worse, when your dozens of entrees are met with silence, simply ignored? From the Boston Globe's BostonWorks section this Sunday:

. . .Even human resources managers are detecting edginess and anger among some job applicants. ''Many more people out there seem to be desperate,'' said Carl Lopes, vice president of employment for Staples, the Framingham office supply chain.

However, there are antidotes for overcoming rejection and getting back into the job hunt with confidence, career advisers and psychologists say.

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Mmmm, low-hanging fruit
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:40 AM

Witnessing people hiding behind jargon is one of my personal pet peeves. The Times writes about how business is ruining the language with meaningless word-like objects.

Business jargon may not be new, but it is more visible and more pervasive in corporate life than it used to be. Strategists and consultants bandy clichés like "coopetition," "low-hanging fruit" and "mission-critical," which repackage old concepts in shiny new shrinkwrap.

Human resources departments (Mencken would have loved that name) have appropriated the language of the human potential movement to smooth the edges of hierarchy and conflict — "Let's revisit that issue to align our end-state visions."

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August 1, 2003

Overtime's not good for your health
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:36 AM

Think you're cool 'cause you get in earlier and stay later than the guy in the next cube? Maybe it's time to think again, according to this commentary from PRI's "Marketplace" radio show:

Researchers at the University of Arkansas are set to report that the number of hours worked has a very small effect on life satisfaction, sick days and worker stress -- but don't try selling that to commentator Joe Robinson. He says that all these long hours at the office aren’t good for our health, or the health of our companies. “Trouble is, almost 40% of us, now, work more than 50 hours a week, the vast majority of it completely counterproductive,” says Robinson. “We actually work better when we’re rested, not fried…Long hours are a tragic failure of the knowledge economy.”

To hear the piece, hit this link, scroll down to the piece under Features entitled "Commentary: Overtime's not good for your health," and click on the link or speaker icon.
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