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Internships Can Help

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As a student or someone with limited job experience internships can be a wonderful way to gain experience and get your foot in the door even if you initially work for free. In medieval times finding a job was easier. If your father had  a profession you were expected to take over the family business and go into that profession. However, if the family had too many sons or didn’t have a family profession the youngster (often at the age of 13 or younger) could become an apprentice to a professional in need of some help. The young apprentice would be given the most menial of tasks, starting with sweeping up the shop or doing other tasks that the “master” didn’t want to do. Then slowly he would be given increasing responsibilities until by the age of 18 he would be able to perform the vast majority of what the master could do. This system of training worked well and even Benjamin Franklin was an apprentice in a printing shop.

Today we send our children to school where hopefully they will learn to read and write and eventually get into college. Once they graduate they are on their own but depending on their major they may not have a single marketable skill. After all, how much demand is there for underwater basket weavers, or psychology majors?  Even if you major in a profession like engineering or drafting where there is a defined job path it is often difficult to break in to the profession without any experience. And that is where internships come in. [Read more…] about Internships Can Help

About Those US Jobs

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By David Galland, Casey Research

US politicians make a great show of concerning themselves with the level of unemployment. And so they bluster about the need for this new program or that new program – in fact, about any new idea except for the one that will actually be effective. Namely, stop the meddling.

Recently there have been some interesting developments that merely confirm the government’s intentions are to continue doing exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.

For starters, we had the news that President Obama announced his administration was going to block the Keystone XL pipeline, blaming the decision on the Republicans and foisting responsibility for the call onto the back of Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

The story has received quite a bit of coverage, so I won’t repeat it here. However, I will mention a Reuters column by John Kemp, titled Keystone symbolizes what is wrong with US policy. As he points out, the initial permit application for Keystone XL was filed in 2008 – and yet here we are, going on four years later, and the president is complaining about the “rushed and arbitrary deadline” imposed by the Republicans as part of the latest round of budget theatrics.

The actual fact of the matter is that the United States is becoming increasingly unfriendly toward businesses that actually produce anything tangible, despite our politicians constantly carping about the evil capitalists sending American jobs overseas. [Read more…] about About Those US Jobs

How DEEP Will Cuts in Government Services Go?

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Plus: The check is STILL in the mail.

“Localities have chopped 535,000 positions since September 2008…”
USA Today (10/18)

Cuts in government services became conspicuous after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The first edition of Robert Prechter’s Conquer the Crash saw this coming, even though the book published nearly a decade ago:

“Don’t expect government services to remain at their current levels…The tax receipts that pay for roads, police and jails, fire departments, trash pickup, emergency (911) monitoring, water systems and so on will fall to such low levels that services will be restricted.” (p. 257)

Households throughout Massachusetts know exactly what Prechter is talking about. [Read more…] about How DEEP Will Cuts in Government Services Go?

World-Wide Hourly Compensation Comparison

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The 2010 worldwide hourly compensation cost comparison is finally in. So we can see how the wages stack up between 34 different countries. Not surprisingly many European Countries have higher employment costs than the U.S. because of their massive social programs. This of course makes them less competitive in the world market. Surprisingly, in 2010 the U.K. actually had lower total employment costs than the U.S.  Of course when it comes to standard of living, Wages and Social programs are only half of the equation. The other half of course is the cost of living. A low cost of living country doesn’t need the same wages in order to have the same standard of living.

Let’s look at the wage levels in various countries [Read more…] about World-Wide Hourly Compensation Comparison

North Dakota Jobs Booming

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While the unemployment rate in most of the United States hovers around 9% an unlikely sounding state is booming. The current unemployment rate in North Dakota of all places is just 3.5% according the September report of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Nationwide, the rate is 9.1%). An oil boom has sprung up and immunized residents from the most severe recession in decades. Wages are up, and work is plentiful. It’s almost like being on a totally different planet. People are sending resumes and getting multiple job offers within a week. Why? [Read more…] about North Dakota Jobs Booming

World’s Most Weird and Wonderful Jobs

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By Isabella Woods

 

As many of us are only too aware, we spend a lot of time at work. According to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, the average Brit spends 1,530 hours a year working, while the average American spends even longer – a back-breaking, finger-hurting 1,896 hours every year.

Things are not going to get better either, according to Paul Macro of the actuaries Watson Wyatt. ‘For a long time, it was a common belief that rising prosperity would allow each generation to retire earlier than their parents,’ he says. But reality has now bitten. It means saving more or working longer.

With these sobering thoughts in mind, perhaps it’s time that we started considering how we make all those years of slog a little more interesting. Do a little digging, and it’s easy to discover some unusual, if not downright bizarre, employment opportunities.

Banana gasser

Not quite as Nazi as it appears, banana gassing is a process to help ripen the fruit ready for sale. After being picked, bananas are shipped while they are still green to help reduce the potential for bruising. On arrival, they are taken to hermetically sealed chambers where they are surrounded with an ethylene gas to encourage their ripening. The process can take three to eight days, with the gasser using a computer program to determine the volume and amount of exposure needed. [Read more…] about World’s Most Weird and Wonderful Jobs

8 Ways To Make An Impact On Your First Interview

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By Ally Tobias

 

There’s no question that it’s a buyer’s market out there. Close to 10% of the population is unemployed and who knows how many more under-employed. How can you stand out from the hundreds, sometimes thousands, other job seekers?

Here are 8 steps most job seekers miss to make you stand out against the competition.


1. Do Your Research
Always do your research and find out as much as you can about the company you’ll be interviewing with, the role you’re interviewing for and the interviewer.

As they say, “knowledge is power” and it’s never truer than in this case.

Research is important because it will allow you to laser target all your preparations to that particular employer. For example, most people have one resume that they send out to 100 employers. It’s generic – and therefore weak. Is it any wonder that they don’t hear a reply?

Savvy job seekers tailor their resume for one job and they incorporate their research into it. They include experience that works to their advantage but leave out those that do not. This is crucial because you want resumes to be short and sweet but also deliver everything you want to say. [Read more…] about 8 Ways To Make An Impact On Your First Interview

How to Bag your Dream Job

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With unemployment at a high, it’s tough out there in the job market. These days, employers are playing it cautious when it comes to advertising for jobs, and when they do decide to advertise, they’re looking for the cream of the crop in terms of potential employees, so it’s vital you’ve done your homework.

With that in mind, we’ve come up with a checklist of things you should do if you want to succeed at interview. Read on to discover what tips we think will stand you in good stead…

1. Know Your CV (Curriculum Vitae or Resume)

It might sound obvious, but for many people it isn’t. So your CV and cover letter has gotten you a job interview – great. But do you know your CV like the back of your hand?

If not, you should. It’s often the first thing employers ask you about in interviews. For instance, ‘Oh I see you worked at XXX – so what did that entail?’ It sounds like an easy question to answer but if it was a work placement that was a few years ago you’ll need to make sure you can remember what your role involved. ‘Um’s’ and ‘er’s’ don’t generally make for a convincing answer. [Read more…] about How to Bag your Dream Job

Compensation Costs Up in September 0.3 Percent

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the compensation costs for U. S. civilian workers on Friday October 28th. Wages and salaries are up 0.3% or roughly 1/3rd of 1% for the month.  This represents 70% of the total of the cost of maintaining employees. The remaining 30% of the cost comes from benefits and they rose 0.1% over the month.

On an annual basis, employment costs have risen 2.0% for the 12 months ending September 2011. This is compared to an annual inflation rate of 3.87% based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U. This is the most widely used measure of inflation. So even though costs rose almost 3.9% wages only rose 2% leaving the average wage earner 1.87% worse off than last year. This of course is not as bad as the nearly 10 of the working population that is currently unemployed.

 

Compensation Costs 9-11

10 Awesome Jobs You Can Do From Home

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Work From Home Jobs

One of the biggest changes taking place in the modern workforce is the number of people who now telecommute doing their job from home. We are fast reaching the stage where it is not necessary to travel to work and back each day just to sit at an office work station glued to a computer. Many organizations are realizing the benefits of not having to maintain expensive office space when the same work can be carried out online from anywhere in the country (or even the world). One of the benefits that could ultimately result from these changing work patterns is that worker stress levels drop and they become more efficient.

Although there are many employers who still hold onto the belief that you must have your workforce within sight to keep their work levels high, many are changing their attitudes as it is being proven that a worker’s productivity actually increases when they work from home and are able to take advantage of more flexible hours and with no traveling to worry about.

Working from home does not necessarily mean a person running their own online business anymore, as more and more company employees find much of their work can be done outside the office. Some of the jobs that can be done at home just as well as in an office environment include the following: [Read more…] about 10 Awesome Jobs You Can Do From Home