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Job Seekers Newsletter
May 2008
Welcome Everyone!
The job market in the second quarter continues to indicate a slower growth period for jobs. We wish you the best of success for your job search! Our site and resources, plus the leadership of the job support groups, are here to help.
Comments About the U.S. Job Market
Comment from Christian Science Monitor, May 5, 2008:
"I don't expect this to be a recession of the type that we had in the 1970s," says Peter Rodriguez, an economist at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. "Employers have been judicious in making payroll cuts. That's more or less good news."
In the mid-1970s, a deep recession involved both rapid inflation in consumer prices and unemployment of about 9 percent.
Now, the United States again confronts worrisome inflation and a sharp economic slowdown. But some economists predict the jobless rate will rise, by next year, only a bit above 6 percent – about the level where it peaked after the relatively mild recession of 2001.
Economists say the forces at work include:
• Many employers were cautious before the recession. With lean staffs, businesses aren't inclined to jettison employees they worked hard to find and train.
• The US job market is flexible. When times get tight, many people end up working shorter hours or getting smaller raises, but avoiding pink slips in the process. "It does keep people in their jobs," Mr. Rodriguez says.
• Manufacturing is doing better than in most downturns. Factories have cut more jobs than they've added lately, but nothing like the full-scale retreat seen in most recessions. And with exports being helped by a weak dollar, the relative strength of manufacturing could persist.
"We have a manufacturing sector that is faring quite a bit better than it ever has before" in a down economy, says Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute in New York. Typically, he says, the swing in factory output and jobs accounts for about half of a recession's undertow.
This time around, Mr. Achuthan says, many employers restrained their hiring back in 2006 and 2007, as the fading boom in housing was becoming a focus of business news. Therefore, he says, "there's less cutting to be done."
This may help explain why the economy lost a smaller-than-expected 20,000 jobs in April, according to Labor Department numbers released on Friday.
The article continues and cited concerns about the value of the dollar, rising food and energy prices, and potential increases in taxes as issues in coming months that will likely affect the job market.
Comment: As noted, the cautious pace of hires over the past five years may be the underlying strengh of the job market today. Employers are not facing slowdowns in business that create large, surplus staff that can be released to get into alignment with business conditions. That's good news for employees and job seekers!
As we have noted in previous newsletters, 2008 is the so far, so good year for jobs!
Alliance Partners
We support the following resources in service to job seekers:
- HACEUSA, a professional Hispanic Association
- Jobkabob.com: sell your skills, not your work history.
- Career Concepts USA: Job Fair resource
Networking Tip Of The Month
All in a word...
The content of the resume is vital to the job seeker's efforts to get to the next steps of phone calls and interviews. Some thoughts:
- Update your terms: things change, and it is important to bring your resume current. Google your field, click on "news" and read articles about your profession, note current terms and, where appropriate, change your resume content. For example, Total Quality Management (TQM) is no longer in vogue. If you had assignments in TQM in the past, re-label it Continuous Improvement or Quality Initiatives to be more current.
- Check your titles: Some years ago, a job seeker was a Plant Manager and used the title in his resume. The more common title at that time and current practice today is the use of the title of Operations Manager. He changed the job title and was interviewed and hired within three weeks. A few weeks after his start, he went to the HR department and talked to the Administrative person who did the resume database searches. She stated that she passed over his resume five or six times because he was a Plant Manager and she was looking for Operations Managers.
- Gaming the system-adding key words : Words matter. Some job seekers are using the tactic of adding key words to the resume for the purpose of getting more hits on job boards. No harm if the words relate to the background. But it is a mistake to use words and phrases that are disconnected from the work experience. Gaming the system gives recruiters agita, resulting in rejection of the resume. Not a good idea to get recruiters questioning your integrity! Best of success!
Networking Group of the Month
Harvest Bible Chapel Job Networking Group
One year ago, we assisted Harvest Bible Chapel in the launching of their program to assist job seekers. As they enter their second year, we wish them continued success! For more information on their program please go to the Harvest Bible Chapel page.
Important Information
Leaders: please review your Job Support Group web page and see if all information is accurate and up-to-date. Please send any corrections to work@workministry.com.
Remember networkers: once you have landed your job, complete our landings survey.
Quote of the Month
"The makers of our constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness... They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of the rights and the right most valued by civilized men."
Justice Louis D Brandeis
A Prayer While You Are In Transition
The will of God for your life is simply that you submit yourself to Him each day and say, "Father, Your will for today is mine. Your pleasure for today is mine. Your work for today is mine. I trust You to be God. You lead me today and I will follow."
- Kay Arthur
We hope you have enjoyed this month's Newsletter!
The Work Ministry Team
Contact us at work@workministry.com
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