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| Management Recruiters of Cherry Valley - News |
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BLS Employment Analysis
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According to the Labor Department, the U.S. economy added 120,000 jobs in the month of November while the unemployment rate fell from 9 percent to 8.6 percent, its lowest rate in more than two years. Employment growth was driven by retail, and food and beverage establishments hiring above seasonal averages. Government at all levels cut a total of 20,000 positions during the month.
The rapid drop in the unemployment rate was largely driven by a decrease in the workforce participation rate from 64.2 percent to 64 percent. While measures like the participation rate are seasonally adjusted, most of those calculations are based on seasonal trends that occurred when the employment situation was very different. While a decrease in the participation rate may be driven by declining job-seeker confidence, it is just as likely driven by people who are unemployed who looked at the uphill battle of the job hunt and choose to take a break and enjoy the holidays.
Nearly 50,000 positions were added by retailers in November, more than half by clothing and clothing accessory retailers. Food service and drinking establishments added 32,700 jobs over the same period. Both additions are significant gains compared to recent years and point to confidence in a better holiday season this year.
The unemployment rate for those in management, professional and related occupations fell year-over-year from 4.7 percent to 4.2 percent. The unemployment rate for those in sales and related occupations fell from 8.8 percent to 7.8 percent. The unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher remained flat at 4.4 percent between October and November while its participation rate actually increased. Total employment of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher rose by 94,000 positions during the month.
In the Labor Department’s November Employment Situation Report, every piece of positive news seems balanced by a negative piece. The unemployment rate is down, which is good, but it’s driven by a participation rate decline, which is not so good. Total employment is up, which is good, but it’s driven largely by retail and food and beverage establishments, which itself is both bad and good. Those jobs are almost certainly seasonal and will go away in January, but they are also an indicator of increased confidence by industries that are highly reactive to changes in the economy.
In net, the report paints the picture of an economy that is cautiously adding jobs and slowly improving. The 120,000 jobs added are on par with the 133,000 jobs added per month over the last 12 months and outpaces increases in the U.S. population. To see a meaningful decrease in unemployment, job creation will have to increase, but there is little indication that the U.S. employment market is slipping backward like the European Union.
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1/3/2012 4:33:14 PM
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Hiring Top Talent
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The recession and broader economic slowdown have given business leaders the cover they need to make sweeping changes to their business structures. For some, it has meant sending core processes overseas, for others, it has meant investing in technology that would automate tasks once carried out by humans. It’s why in the depths of the recession, economic output per hour worked actually skyrocketed, growing at over 5 percent for more than a year.
After a decade of lightning-speed technological advancements, the recession was a well-placed opportunity for businesses in almost every sector to look for ways to streamline their processes and improve efficiency. It allowed many companies to mitigate the impact of the recession on their bottom lines. Yet, the law of diminishing returns means these methods will only work for so long. Eventually, growth will need to come from growth.
“You would be hard pressed to find a company that has managed long-term growth without investment. That investment normally needs to begin with human capital. After a deep recession that affects people at every level, trying to expand through increasing workloads can be counterproductive as employees are pushed past their tipping point, leading to increased turnover.”
New hires intended for growth, however, can be some of the most difficult. As a company expands laterally, or even horizontally, new positions with unique qualifications become necessary. Existing in-house recruiting pipelines can often fall short of meeting the demand of new pools of candidates required.
When an organization creates a new position, it calls for a very different type of candidate than if the position was already in existence. Finding the types of candidates ready to take on such a task frequently, if not exclusively, requires reaching deep into the workforce of current and would-be competitors to find people who can not only do the job, but define the job.
The type of top talent you want to recruit aren’t going to answer the phone when a competitor calls them—much less be actively applying to job openings—automatically screening out some of the best new staff you could bring aboard. That exact same candidate though, will likely not only take a call from an industry recruiter; they may already be working with one.
Acting as a third party, an industry recruiter can work with hiring managers not only to create what the job description for a new role might look like, but also help them understand what types of candidates are already in the passive candidate market. They can map out a search strategy to identify, screen, and eventually recruit the correct person.
The most effective employees are almost by definition the most engaged. They are invested in their jobs and aren’t actively considering other employment. But it’s also not going to stop them from taking a look when an opportunity arises. In recessions and boom times, these passive candidates end up being the most consistently successful and effective hires a company can make.
For companies that have already made all the easy fixes to productivity, growth in a sluggish 2012 economy may only be found through investing in growing workforces and recruiting top passive candidates.
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1/3/2012 4:31:57 PM
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South American Growth
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As the world has undergone the worst global recession since at least the Great Depression, Latin America’s economy has moved almost in the opposite direction. This has really just been the extension of nearly two decades of improvement in the quality of life in the region.
Over the last few years, extraction of natural resources, including coal and precious metals, from throughout Central and South America has helped to fuel those economies while their North American and European trading partners entered recession.
Brazil alone has become a leading provider of iron ore, gold, and natural gas, selling much of its products to Asia. But the influx of cash into the Brazilian economy while the world was still in recession put Brazil on a dangerous path toward inflation. The Brazilian Central Bank tried to tighten available credit by raising its benchmark SELIC interest rate as high as 12.5 percent. While the bank states it would like to see a 4.5 percent rate of inflation, it is expected to end 2011 with a rate of nearly 6.5 percent.
Now, the economy has started to slow, and it is estimated to grow just 3.1 percent in 2012 while meeting its 4.5 percent inflation target. The slowing economy has caused the bank to reverse course in recent months, cutting the SELIC 100 basis points since August in the hope of giving the economy a “soft landing.” Other Latin American countries that had also been raising interest rates have stopped in recent months, and are now considering cuts as well.
Latin America has seen its fair share of hyperinflation over the last few decades. Should monetary policy continue to succeed as it appears to be, this could help to relieve many of the negative stereotypes about Latin American economies, allowing for more confident foreign investment.
Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru all saw hyperinflation in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. In 1990, Brazil’s annual rate of inflation rose more than 30,000 percent and didn’t reach a comparably tame 16 percent growth rate until 1996.
Latin America is well-positioned to become the economic powerhouse of the 21st century with a combined GDP of more than 6 trillion US dollars. If Latin America were a unified economy, it would be the fourth largest behind the U.S., the EU and China. But unlike China, Latin America remains mineral-rich, and unlike the EU, it has only two predominant languages.
Multiple Latin American countries have seen their currency risk hyperinflation, but a successful recovery will change the way companies look at doing business in Latin America. A more stable path going into the next decade will mean substantial rewards for companies who enter the marketplace and gain market share today.
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1/3/2012 4:30:02 PM
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Hot Niche Markets
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Foundational technology, military, biotech, alcohol; there are not many industries as fundamentally in demand as these—and all four have a growing presence in Washington State.
Seattle is the birthplace of modern computing as much as Silicon Valley ever was. But while Silicon Valley is most well-known for cranking out high-flying, consumer-facing technology, Seattle has a more subdued record of producing technology products that have deeply engrained customers.
Microsoft may not be around forever, but with 94 percent of new computers each year being shipped with the Windows operating system, the Redmond-based software behemoth isn’t going anywhere soon. Seattle’s own Amazon.com, which started as a simple online bookstore, has exploded as an online retailer of just about anything imaginable, and now provides the backbone for an immeasurable number of both retail and technology companies.
As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s plan, Washington became home to one of the first U.S. military bases under the joint jurisdiction of both the Army and the Air Force. Joint Base Lewis-McChord combines two once-neighboring bases and shares their resources. The joint base is able to find efficiencies, theoretically reducing its economic impact. Units, equipment, and personnel from nearby closed military bases have been relocating to Lewis-McChord, providing a strong economic boon to the region.
While the state’s biotechnology firms may be outshone to a degree by its consumer technology companies, that industry added more than $10 billion to the economy in 2010 and managed to grow its workforce nearly 9 percent from the beginning of the recession in 2007 to the first quarter of 2011.
Lingering questions over the state of healthcare legislation have recently put a damper on Washington’s enthusiastic biotechnology growth—specifically in the medical devices sector,” says Holmes, “Companies are being cautious about adding headcount as long as uncertainty remains.
Yet, such companies aren’t seeing their businesses shrink. In fact, they are holding onto cash that could fuel rapid growth once the industry’s future becomes clearer.
Rounding out the state’s economic diversity is a rapidly growing wine business. Over the last two decades, the total acreage devoted to wine making has grown from 11,100 acres to more than 40,000, while the number of wineries grew from less than 80 to more than 700. In fact, nearly 200 new wineries have opened in Washington State since the beginning of the recession.
There are some very bright spots in Washington’s economy right now, but overall I don’t think we are feeling that buzz yet. What we are seeing is a strong foundation of diverse sectors which are continuing to survive. Once the national economy picks up speed, they will be able to feed off of each other to start building again.
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1/3/2012 4:26:29 PM
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US Firms Prepare for 2012
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As the clock struck midnight on December 31, it marked the end of the first year since 2007 in which the U.S. unemployment rate had shrunk. Corporate profits have reached record highs and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for its second year in a row, mounting nearly an 80 per cent gain since its low in the spring of 2009. In fact, on an annual basis, almost every major economic indicator has either improved or outright rebounded.
Amid all these measures though, commentators are talking about new ones. There is the unemployment rate, and then there is the “real unemployment rate.” There is the performance of the economy, and there is the performance of the “real economy.” Rather than meaning that the traditional unemployment rate, or the traditional economy is unreal, this trend more accurately shows for disconnect for many people between the positive economic data and what they see in the real world.
We’re in a recovery phase coming out of a deep hole. Conditions are improving, but we still haven’t returned to where we were before the recession and if you entered the workforce after the early 1980’s, this likely isn’t a familiar feeling.
Companies have been forced to find ways to produce the same products or services with fewer staff. Now that cuts are made, though, demand will have to exceed pre-recession levels, before headcounts can surpass to their past peaks. If Federal Reserve estimates come to fruition, GDP will grow between 3 and 3.6 per cent by 2011’s fourth quarter but total U.S. unemployment may still remain over 9 per cent. Full employment, as was last seen in 2007, could still be years away.
A steady recovery over a period of years means that the growth, and the economy has a foundation to build upon. While the recovery might feel slow, especially for those who are unemployed, or whose friends and colleagues are, but considering the depth, we have actually seen better employment recovery than in recent downturns.
Understanding that heightened unemployment isn’t a short term situation, but that it will be here for a matter of years still offers businesses an opportunity. It means rather than staying in a holding pattern waiting for things to turn around, companies can build strategic plans with unemployment as an assumption.
Since the beginning of the recession, though, higher unemployment still hasn’t translated into easier to find top talent. That dichotomy will continue to be one of the most difficult challenges for workforce managers to balance in the coming years.
Job postings are receiving, at minimum dozens, if not hundreds of resumes for almost every position. Yet, managers aren’t seeing the quality and caliber they need. These more critical roles are where search professionals have always provided the most value and as much as the economy has been turned on its head, this is one place where things seem to have stayed the same.
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1/3/2012 4:23:08 PM
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SOCIAL MEDIA IS CRITICAL
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Until recently, job seekers benefited from posting a resume on a variety of general and specialized employment websites. The application would be visible to recruiters and companies looking to hire, and candidates were often called for an interview. Today, the rules of the game have changed and continue to evolve,
Social media sites have become increasingly important platforms for finding jobs by facilitating connections and demonstrating the achievements and interests of job seekers. But capturing the attention of prospective employers and recruiters – who have made the sites a routine part of their searches – has also become more difficult because of the overwhelming amount of information available.
We offer a number of useful tips to help job seekers adapt their messages so they are more likely to go viral:
Keep it simple. Trim your text to its core message and stick to the point. Leave no room for interpretation. Remove any superfluous or flowery language, and clever wordplay. Remember, too, that your audience may include many for whom English is a second language. We caution, however, that brevity should not come at the expense of clarity. Just be sure that people know what your message is, why it is important, why it affects them personally, and what they should do about it.
Tailor your message to your audience’s needs. You won’t get far if the people you want to reach cannot see what’s in it for them. Relate to them by tying your story to what drives them. Make it about them and what they should do about it. On a practical note, we suggest using pronouns like “you” and “your” and “our” and “ours.”
Consider your timing. If you find your message is being drowned out by noise, change the timing of your posts. If you’ve noticed, for example, that your target audience tends to check their online sources in the late afternoon, you’re probably posting at that time. But if it is a highly competitive timeslot, the like hood that your message will be forwarded, reposted, or even read could be lower. Even if fewer people are reading their online sources a bit earlier or later, your message may just spread wider during slightly less busy times. Test various windows to see how your particular audience reacts.
Be selective in choosing your channels. Although the three most popular channels are commonly accepted to be Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it is very likely that an influential segment of your audience is listening to other channels as well such as:
• Blogs: use blogsearch.google.com, technorati.com, twingly.com, and similar sites to find popular blogs that your target audience is likely to follow. Befriend key bloggers and arrange for some cross-posting.
• There are millions of groups. Just browse the categories and you’ll quickly arrive at popular ones you can join. It’s also helpful to find the right groups within Facebook and LinkedIn where you can post your message and develop a following.
Craft an interesting story. Fundamentally, people care about people. We all seek connections, so don’t just push a bunch of isolated facts. Craft a story and keep spinning it as you send out your messages. Not all your content has to be tied to one single thread, but weaving it into many of your posts will give readers continuity and help keep them coming back for more.
Push to get the word out. It is very hard to predict what will go viral and get noticed. To increase the probability of your message spreading widely, enlist the help of your friends, colleagues, and others in your network. Use every vehicle you can: Make your message into a blog post on your own blog, or if you don’t have one, ask other bloggers to post it or to publish a link to it on their blogs. Direct-message your Twitter followers and ask them to re-tweet it. Post it on your friends’ Facebook wall and ask them to share it with their friends. Post it on LinkedIn Groups and send a message to your LinkedIn network to post it as a status update.
We know how difficult it is for job seekers to capture the attention of the people who can help them the most. But if you plan your approach, focus your content, pick your medium, and involve your friends, you can significantly increase your chances of getting through the noise.”
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11/10/2011
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