February 26, 2004

And you thought you had a long commute
Posted by Jason Butler at 2:05 PM

So you think you have a long communte to work, eh? Guess again. A report by the U.S. Census Bureau on commuting habits ranks New York City (38.4 minutes avg. daily) as having the longest, followed by Chicago (32.7) and Philidelphia (30.3). Boston comes in at a speedy 28.2 minutes on average. Of course they don't account for all the crazy road ragers, pothole-strewn roads, and general idiot maneuvers each of us encounter each day on our ride to the daily grind.

Thanks to Jen at Gothamist for pointing this one out.
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Retire at 65? Try 67, 68, 69, or 70.
Posted by at 1:10 PM

It hasn't grabbed much attention as of yet, but, Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, stepped into the social security debate yesterday. He is suggesting that the government should Trim Social Security in order to counteract the soaring budget deficit.

With a good percentage of the current workforce entering the retirement age over the next five years, it raises the question of what happens when the baby boomers start to retire in mass? What happens to those vacated positions and what happens when people are having to work later in life? This is an important issue not just for the people facing a rapidly approaching retirement but, for everyone else in the workforce (both employed and unemployed) as well.

There have been many articles written lately about retirees having to go back into or staying in the workforce see: Recognizing seniors' desire to combine work, retirement, Out in the Field: Report: Americans postpone retirement, and 'Retirement' a dirty word for many older workers. If the feds cut back on the social security benefits and/or raise the age at which people qualify for receiving benefits, working beyond the age of 65 may be the reality for everyone... especially for those whose retirement is in the distant future (Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers).

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February 25, 2004

Tom Peters on offshoring
Posted by Jason Butler at 12:31 PM

Tom Peters gives his thoughts on offshoring.

18.  Workers have the ultimate stake. And thus the ultimate personal responsibility. (Think: Emerson, self-reliance.) "Workers"/we/all must "re-imagine" ourselves -- take the initiative to create useful global skills, not imagine that large employers or powerful nations will protect us from the current (and future!) labor market upheavals.

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Election issue: Is your job going abroad?
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:17 AM

Regular readers of the Job Blog know that one of our most closely-watched stories here at BostonWorks is the growing outsourcing of jobs beyond US borders (including Jason's blog, immediately below, on Alan Greenspan's take on the subject). Now heavyweight TIME magazine throws its hat in the ring with this week's cover story on the outsourcing issue and its importance in a presidential election year:

As the debate about exporting work from America dominates the presidential campaign, voters need to separate myth from reality. A TIME guide to how we got here—and why short-term pain might translate into long-term gain.

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Alan Greenspan agrees with McKinsey
Posted by Jason Butler at 5:55 AM

Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan on offshoring.

The issue [of offshoring] is both important and sensitive, dealing as it does with the longer-term wealth of our nation and with the immediate welfare of so many individuals and communities. In the debate that has ensued, a large gulf is often perceived between the arguments of economists, who almost always point to the considerable benefits offered over the long term by exposure to free and open trade, and the obvious stress felt by those caught on the downside of turbulence created by that exposure. It is crucial that this gulf be bridged.

As history clearly shows, our economy is best served by full and vigorous engagement in the global economy.

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February 24, 2004

The interview: The Donald
Posted by at 10:03 AM

For all you Apprentice-obsessed types out there, Newsweek recently did an interview with the pompadour-toting CEO.
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A blurring picture
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:36 AM

OK, it's not about Boston, but it's a story close to my heart. If you grew up in Rochester, NY, as I did, you were always aware that the Great Yellow Father - Eastman Kodak - dominated the business and community landscape. But times, technologies, and consumer habits change, and now the venerable, paternalistic, 125-year old company is struggling to get focused in a digital world:

Kodak is trying to make a comeback from being the world's largest producer of a product that's quickly becoming obsolete: film. The city of Rochester, N.Y., where Kodak dominates the local job market, is also coming to grips with the reality that the advent of digital photography and other advances in imaging technology may have left Kodak behind. In the early 1980s, Kodak employed about 60,000 in Rochester. That number could plunge below 15,000 in three years.

It makes you wonder about any business and its vulnerability, not just the dot-com's but the seemingly stable, staple, and unassailable, such as Gillette. One lesson made clear by this audio segment from PRI's Marketplace radio show (scroll down to the link entitled "Kodak's hometown struggles to avoid obsolescence"): you can't leave your career management in the hands of your employer anymore. You are master of your own fate and need to make certain that you have the transferrable - and up-to-date - skills that will keep you employable in an ever-evolving workplace.
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February 23, 2004

Changes on horizon for nation's workforce
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:47 PM

From our weekly update of employment stats and trends, Out in the Field, in the BostonWorks section of the Boston Sunday Globe, a report from the US Department of Labor on the changing composition of the US workforce (hit link and scroll down):

The nation's future workforce will be smaller, more diverse, more mobile, and more vulnerable to global competition, according to a study conducted for the Labor Department.

Shifting demographics, advances in technology, and increases in global trade are the strongest forces shaping the world of work, with big changes on the horizon for workers and employers, said the study by Rand Corp., a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.

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February 20, 2004

Employer good will = Employee happiness = Employee retention
Posted by at 8:00 PM

As the job market turns around (however slowly), many employed workers will be examining their job situations and their current work environment. One thing that employees will be looking at is how happy they are in their current position and company. In Inc Magazine's February issue, there is an article which examines how Happiness Pays at one company.

PaeTec Communications is fiercely dedicated to two things: worker contentment and inexorable growth. The company's relentlessly focused CEO takes personal responsibility for both....

Its dramatic growth is the product, in part, of a corporate culture that has remained the same from day one. Everything at PaeTec revolves around respect for the employee. The word customer may be a little more prominent in the mission statement, but PaeTec puts employees first--and then watches them voluntarily put customers before themselves....

If you put in a day, or a week, or a month, at PaeTec, you begin to realize what people are actually trying to keep alive here. You can list off all the elements of the company's success, but the intangible assets are the ones that matter most to people here. Everyone knows that, in some way, the company is still in its infancy, unspoiled, a small and fertile garden. They tread lightly through it. It isn't just the financial ownership that drives this care. It's the sense nearly everyone has that he or she is working in a place with an unusual kind of goodwill that flows down from the top and then rises back up from the bottom. You have the sense that each employee is doing everything possible, going to any length, not to spoil that goodwill.

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February 17, 2004

White House under fire for outsourcing proposal
Posted by Jason Butler at 11:18 AM

Christopher Ryan sends in a pointer to this article from Fox News discussing the proposed Jobs for America Act.

Under new legislation introduced by a group of Senate Democrats on Thursday, American employers would be required to warn their employees and affected communities before moving any jobs overseas.

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Should you check yourself out?
Posted by Jason Butler at 11:15 AM

Dean sent over an article this morning discussing services which allow you to do your own reference and background check, finding out what your prospective employer will find.

As more employers check the backgrounds of job candidates, a new service lets job seekers take a peek at what potential bosses can find out about them.

I'm not sure how much I like this idea, but it may be worth $25 to see what the world is saying about you.
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February 13, 2004

Where the jobs are: 2002-2012
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:13 PM

Service, education, health, professional and business services top the list of where the jobs will be over the next decade, in a recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics study. The study is a precursor to the BLS's bi-annual Occupational Outlook Handbook due out at the end of February.

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Ten creative places to find the hidden jobs
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:14 AM

The economy may be picking up and job creation on the rebound (lucky for you, George), but there is still a lot of competition out there. You need to use your wits and all the means at your disposal to find the best next job for you. Sherrie Gong Taguchi, writing on the the San Digeo Union-Tribune's job site, provides ten tips on how to unlock the hidden job market. Here's a sample, tip #4:

4. Go back to the future. Embrace your past. Go back to it and draw on it to move you forward in your future. Who were the managers, the colleagues, the executives in your past work experiences who really impressed you? Were there some you thought were really cool or those you truly enjoyed being around/working with? Did someone wow you so much that you tried to emulate them? Reconnect with those people. Many will have moved to different organizations. This is a good thing, because it means a broader network of connections.

Taguchi is the co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Getting the Career You Want (And What to Do Once You Have It) .
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February 11, 2004

Do you need a life coach?
Posted by at 5:13 PM

Life out of balance? Work driving you mad? Business 2.0 asks Could You Use a Life Coach?

Five telltale signs that some professional advice, and maybe a gentle shove or two, is just what you (and your career) need.

1. YOU'RE STUCK. Can't seem to reach a long-term goal, like making more money or getting a promotion? You may need help to break bad work habits or confront a boss who takes credit for your accomplishments.
2. YOU CAN'T MANAGE THE CLOCK. You can pull out your hair while sloppily juggling 10 tasks at once or learn to thoroughly execute one job at a time.
3. YOUR LIFE IS OUT OF BALANCE. Yes, you're efficient -- and still putting in marathon hours at the office. But work doesn't have to come at the expense of seeing your kids or regularly taking vacations.
4. YOU'RE READY FOR A CAREER CHANGE. Those skills that you honed while managing financials at a software company? They can help you launch an import business or run that restaurant you've always dreamed of opening.
5. YOU'VE LOST ALL PATIENCE WITH THE WORKING WORLD. Don't pack your belongings for Baja. Yet. A life coach's program can turn around an attitude -- and a work situation -- in mere weeks.

A reader recently asked how one go about finding a life coach. Life coaches tend to fall under the category of professional mental health therapists, counselors and practitioners. For starters, I would suggest checking your local yellow pages under those areas. Ask your doctor or if you already have a therapist, for their recommendations. You may also find some via a keyword search, or in a browse directory using the keywords "life coach" or try a local resource such as the Cambridge Center for Adult Education where a family member recently found one via a one-day seminar.
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Let there be jobs
Posted by at 3:20 PM

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his semi-annual testimony today before the House Financial Services Committee, said the central bank expects strong economic growth, eventually leading to more jobs, in 2004.

Sustained economic growth at that level -- driven by low interest rates, higher corporate profits, improving household balance sheets and stimulative fiscal policy, among other things -- should help jobs grow faster than they did last year, he said. "In all likelihood, employment will begin to grow more quickly before long as output continues to expand," he said in prepared remarks.

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Outlook for hiring brightens in Mass.
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 8:54 AM

Some nice news to wake up to this morning in the Globe:

The Massachusetts economy is firmly into a recovery while the prospects for a job market rebound are brightening, according to three indexes released yesterday.

The indexes, which measure consumer and business confidence, and the state's economic growth, are all on the rise, with Associated Industries of Massachusetts reporting business confidence at its highest level since November 2000 and Mass Insight Corp. reporting consumer confidence at its best since July 2002.

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February 10, 2004

Like a horse & carriage
Posted by at 2:11 PM

No we're not talking about love and marriage here. More like work and hanky-panky. A new survey indicates that more than two-thirds of British employees find romance at the office.

Rather than focusing on the photocopying, three in ten people said they had "enjoyed physical intimacy" in their workplace, citing the elevator and stairwell as the most expedient locations.

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Your boss may always chew you out...
Posted by Jason Butler at 1:16 PM

But, at least you weren't fed to the lions.

[South Africa's] Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana was "shocked and angry" at the reports, a departmental spokesman said.

"Why should employers feed troublesome farmworkers to the lions?" said spokesman Snuki Zikalala.

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Confessions of a car salesman
Posted by Jason Butler at 1:10 PM

Ever want to go undercover in the country's most reviled profession?

We invite you to read the following account of Phillips' day-to-day experience on the car lots. Doing so will broaden your understanding of the dealership sales process. It will also cast a new light on the role of the car salesman. And, finally, it will help you get a better deal -- and avoid hidden charges -- the next time you go to buy or lease a new car.

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If you got it, flaunt it
Posted by at 11:01 AM

Here's a shocker: In the reality show turned business school case study, turned sociological workplace experiment, "The Apprentice" highlights yet another mind-blowing truism: Sex sells.
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February 9, 2004

Got languages?
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:27 AM

Over a decade ago, "diversity" started out as a fancy catchword in HR offices, and diversity programs were the politically correct thing to do. These days, however, almost five years into the new millennium, in addition to being a fact of life in the workplace, diversity is also a reality in the marketplace. The customer set that most firms deal with - especially in consumer businesses - is diverse in as many ways as one can imagine, including multicultural and multilingual.

It is therefore not suprising that, as reported in yesterday's BostonWorks in the Sunday Globe, there is a growing demand for multilingual workers:

Some area companies are accenting efforts to hire workers fluent in more than one language as they grapple with the challenges of dealing with customers from widely different cultures.

The corporate demand for workers with language skills other than English is driven by a variety of trends including the globalization of business and the growth of immigrant communities in states like Massachusetts, which gained more than 200,000 foreign-born residents between 1995 and 2000.

This phenomenon affects industries from high-tech and financial services to healthcare, retailing, and real estate.

So if English is your second language, or even if it's your first and you are fluent in more than one language, be sure to accent that on your resume and in your next interview. Even use it to inform your job search strategy. Who knows, it may make the crucial difference.
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Job seekers get inside view of firms
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:10 AM

BostonWorks in the Sunday Globe reported yesterday on a new web-based service that provides job seekers with an inside look at companies as part of their research:

Ever wonder what's really going on behind closed doors at the office? You might find a clue at a new website.

Called InternalMemos.com, the website posts company memos for public view. The documents are sent by anonymous employees who, as of Jan. 30, had e-mailed more than 2,000 memos to the site, according to founder Philip Kaplan.

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February 6, 2004

Calling all silver foxes
Posted by at 11:17 AM

Atlanta-based Home Depot has teamed up with the AARP to recruit, train and employ people older than 50. A company spokesman said the company has about 35,000 jobs opening up at its 175 new stores in 2004.

"What Home Depot has said to mature workers is: We respect mature workers, and we want to hire them," AARP's Jim Seith said.

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February 5, 2004

Jack Welch strikes again
Posted by at 5:36 PM

Taking a page from the I-make-ridiculous-sums-of-money-without-batting-an-eye handbook, The New York Times today is reporting that Jack Welch, former CEO and chairman of General Electric, has brokered a $4 million book deal with Harper Collins to write Winning, a how-to business manual.

"Winning" grew out of Mr. Welch's extensive post-retirement experience on the lecture circuit, he said. "I've been talking to armies of people," Mr. Welch said in a telephone interview from his home in Boston. "And I realized that I had answers to questions about managing that people at lower levels could really use."

Thanks Jack, but please keep my copy. What I could really use is a $4 million check made payable to...
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Our do-it-yourself economy
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 3:01 PM

Ellen Goodman, one of the Boston Globe's op ed page columnists, wrote yesterday about an underlying trend in the economy that has an impact on the workforce: the gradual and largely ignored movement from a paid to an unpaid self-service economy:

Companies are coming back to life without inviting employees back to work for one simple reason: They are outsourcing the jobs to us. You and I, my fellow Americans, have become the unpaid laborers of a do-it-yourself economy.

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The end of stock options?
Posted by Jason Butler at 6:42 AM

Although the current market rise has helped many technology workers holding options, Wired magazine reports that the party may be over. Changes to the tax law will make stock options a perquisite of the past.

But as the fizz on the champagne settles, compensation experts say rank-and-file employees would be well-advised to celebrate while they still can. After this year, they say, the stock-option party may be drawing to a close.

The party pooper is an accounting standard change slated to take effect in 2005. The controversial rule, proposed by the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, the standards-setting body for the profession, requires firms to record a charge on earnings statements to reflect the cost of employee stock-option grants.

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February 4, 2004

Should you create a video resume?
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:07 AM

The New York Times writes about job-seeker successes with video resumes.

Video resumes are starting to emerge as a new weapon for job hunters. The videos range from 20-second presentations of a job applicant candidate directly addressing the camera to four-minute mini-movies replete with graphics and photo montages. Some job seekers spend pennies to make simple home videos; a higher-quality video can cost several thousand dollars.

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February 3, 2004

If you choose to accept this mission...
Posted by at 10:05 AM

As the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, points out in her book Nickel and Dimed, ''this is not a story of some death-defying 'undercover' adventure." Ehrenreich, who has a dozen books behind her dealing with the social and political hallmarks of our economic system, went undercover presenting herself as an unskilled worker and homemaker needing to earn a living after divorce. Her general goal was to open a window into the world of the working poor.

What does she conclude? No surprises here. Even for a worker holding two jobs, wages are too low, housing costs too high for minimally decent survival.

''Most civilized nations,'' Ehrenreich writes, ''compensate for the inadequacy of wages by providing relatively generous public services such as health insurance, free or subsidized child care, subsidized housing and effective public transportation.'' So what should we think about the fact that in America we are sending the poor out to make it on their own on little more than a quarter of a living wage? Shame, Ehrenreich suggests, might be an appropriate response.

Here's the full write-up in The New York Times here courtesy of Metafilter.
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From teller to torch singer
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:44 AM

From Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace, one of my favorite radio programs, comes a segment in their series entitled "Starting Over," which profiles individuals who undertake career transitions:

Many people dream about ditching their day jobs and going off to paint, dance or sing -- and get paid for it. Rene Marie, a former bank teller lived that dream by becoming a jazz singer. While working at the First Union Bank, the singer in her couldn't be contained.

To hear the segment, visit the Marketplace page for February 2nd, scroll down to the "Starting Over" link, and launch the piece.

Inspirational stuff. Have you got an inner Billie Holiday, or John Steinbeck, or YoYo Ma, waiting to break out of you?
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February 2, 2004

How to reach the corner office
Posted by at 11:42 AM

ABCNews.com has a quick list of tips on how to "Climb the Ladder" by the author of "GRAY MATTERS: The Workplace Survival Guide," Bob Rosner.

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The most personal of questions
Posted by at 11:08 AM

Jen over at Gothamist is pointing out a NY Daily News story that asked various New Yorkers What do you make? Here are some of the findings:

Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor (and Medford native), $1

Sammy Swale, dog-walker, $50,000

NYC bus driver, $49,046

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