Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to reCareered readers.
Hoping 2010 brings your the best personally and in your job search!

Getting Your Cover Letter Noticed: Republished from TheLadders

Earlier this month, I was interviewed for a second article for TheLadders, discussing cover letters. This article gives both sides...for cover letters, and against.

For information on the research I refer to in this interview, see Is Your Cover Letter An Ineffective And Obsolete Tradition?

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Job Seekers New Year’s Resolutions

Especially when searching for a job, the New Year can be a time for introspection and evaluation of personal change. Many people resolve to get in shape, eat healthier, or improve relationships. Still others resolve to meet personal, financial or business goals.

I suspect that many readers of this blog have New Years’ resolutions that include finding a new or better job.

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Who's Hiring – Top employers week of 12-28-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 12/28/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:

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Now that I’m Linked, Who do I Link TO?

A "Best of" reCareered post...

You’re on Linkedin …What do you do next? You filled out a profile, put excerpts from your resume, got a few recommendations, linked to your close contacts.

So then what?

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Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from reCareered!

A Job Seekers Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good candidate this year…but you would already know that, wouldn’t you? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I got kind of short changed last Christmas, with a variety of bad sweaters, regifts, and Aunt Martha’s ten ton fruitcake.

Here’s what I’d like this year:

1. A killer “fishing resume”, complete with a personal branding statement, employer value statements, keywords, and a skills inventory

Read More ...

David Letterman's Top 10 Reasons Your Job Search Is Frustrating

Well, ‘ya know, this is a little disturbing…

The category tonight, Top 10 Reasons Your Job Search Is Frustrating…’ya know, we talked about this a few times a little earlier this year, and recently a job seeker from Georgia, ‘ya know this is exactly what I was talkin’ about, he was telling me about how he had been searching for a new job, and he just wasn’t seein’ any progress. And this sort of thing is happening to people all across America…

So now, ladies and gentlemen …Express from the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska.

OK, here we go , the Top 10 Reasons Your Job Search Is Frustrating…

#10 – You can’t find any jobs that fit your skills on the job boards

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Whos Hiring – Top employers week of 12-21-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 12/21/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

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Whos Firing – Layoffs week ended 12-18-09

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 12/18/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

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3 Things Your Next Employer Will Search For On Your Resume

Ever submit a resume and wondered why you didn’t even get a call, when you felt that you were ideal for the job? Ever felt that your resume was buried in a database and not even getting seen?

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Manuscript vs. Machine: republished from TheLadders

I was recently interviewed for this article published in TheLadders on 12/15/09, and wanted to republish here for reCareered's readers:

Manuscript vs. Machine: Thoughts and notes on cover letter submission from TheLadders’ editor-in-chief.
December 15, 2009
By Matthew Rothenberg


Over the past year, TheLadders’ editorial team has done extensive research into what exactly happens to your resume once you submit it.

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What Job Candidates Can Learn From Tiger Woods

Candidates, like celebrities have no privacy.

While few job seekers would be the subject of TMZ or E!, candidates have similar reputation issues as celebrities. Candidates generally aren’t as careful as celebrities about keeping a clean image, and most candidates don’t have millions in hush money to keep personal dirt private.

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Who's Hiring – Top employers week of 12-14-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 12/14/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Read more ... 

Who's Firing - Layoffs week ended 12-11-09

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 12/11/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

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Career Change Advice: Be a Subject Matter Expert

I'm reposting the following article that I wrote for TheLadders, originally published 11/24/09:

Career Change Advice: Be a Subject-Matter Expert
It’s not impossible to compete with industry vets, even if you’re coming from a different trade
November 24, 2009
By Phil Rosenberg

Are you thinking about making a move from your traditional field? Branding yourself as a subject-matter expert can give you an edge.

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What Can You Do When Nothing's Working in Your Job Search?

What can you do if nothing’s working in your job search? Change your search….

I talked to a candidate today who was frustrated. He’d been job searching for about a year, and he was getting nowhere. He’d sent 1,000 resumes, and had gotten just five face-to-face interviews….a response rate of ½%

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Networking Wedding Crashers – Be the Only One Like You in the Room

What do you think is a more effective networking strategy? Going to an industry event with others in your same profession? Or going to an event in a totally different industry?

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Who's Hiring – Top employers week of 12-07-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 12/7/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Read more ...

Whos Firing – Layoffs for weeks ended 11-27-09 and 12-04-09

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the weeks ended 11/27/09 and 12/4/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Top layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Retail, Defense, Tobacco, Manufacturing, Government, and Health Care sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as some from the same sectors appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 11/30/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past two months.

Retail companies announced significant layoffs this week, led by Penn Traffic announcing closures of grocery stores throughout upper New York State.

Defense cut jobs as the US Air Force, Lockheed Martin, and US Marine Corps Logistics Base announced layoffs, though Lockheed Martin has also been on the top hiring lists for the past month or more.

A number of manufacturing companies were laying off such as International Paper, Harley-Davidson, Cummins Engine, Peterbilt, and Engineered Plastic Components. Health Care companies including Sanofi-Aventis, UniCare, Pfizer, and Catholic Health System (CHS) St. Francis of Buffalo also cut staff, tough the Health Care vertical has been one of the most active in hiring for more than the past two months.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs for weeks ended 11/27/09 and 12/4/09:

Penn Traffic Company, Upstate NY (4000+)
Air Force, Worldwide (3,700)
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem NC (1,800)
International Paper, Albany OR, Pineville LA, Franklin VA (1,600)
Sanofi-Aventis, Various (up to 1,500)
Harley-Davidson, York PA (950)
Riverside County CA (800-1500)
Lockheed Martin, Cleveland OH (600)
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Services (600)
UniCare, Chicago IL (500+)
Pfizer, Albany NY (414)
Sunoco, Westville NJ (400+)
Energy Conversion Devices, Rochester Hills MI (400)
Cummins Engine, Busti NY (400)
Marine Corps Logistic Base, Barstow CA (395)
Peterbilt, Madison TN (390)
City of Cincinnati (315)
Engineered Plastic Components (EPC), Mattawan MI (310)
Integrys Energy Group Inc, Brown County and De Pere WI (300-350)
Exelon Corp, Suburban Philadelphia PA (280)
StarTek, Victoria TX (269)
US Airways, LaGuardia NY (260)
Thomson Reuters Corp, Various (240)
Progress Software, Bedford MA (225+)
Talisman Energy, Various US & Canada (220)
La-Z-Boy, Rhea County TN (216)
Catholic Health System (CHS) St. Francis of Buffalo (200+)
Pfizer, Pearl River NY, (200)
Touchstone Wireless Repair and Logistics, Ft. Worth TX (200)
Dassault Falcon, Little Rock AR (200)
Sara Lee Corporation, Greenville SC (200)
Visteon, Indianapolis IN (187)
Lincoln Foodservice Products Inc, Ft. Wayne IN (190)
Montgomery County, Dayton OH (171)
FPL, Indiantown FL (170)
Southern Oklahoma Resource Center, Pauls Valley OK (163)
Trinity Rail Car, Longview TX (160)
Georgia Pacific, Green Bay WI (158)
Teleperformance USA, Dublin OH (151)
Port Authority of NY and NJ, NYC (150)
Owens, Inc, Shawano WI (150)
Washington Times, Washington DC (148)
CSAA (aka AAA), Walnut Creek CA (146)
MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals Inc, Westlake TX and Various US (145)
Gamesa USA, Ebensburg PA (141)
Sollano County, CA (135)
Deere Inc., Cary NC (134)
CNH, Grand Island NE (128)
Kindred Hospital, Modesto CA (127)
City of Fresno, Fresno CA (125)
Con-Agra, FT. Worth TX (121)
Avid Technology Inc, Tewksbury MA (120)
Solano County, CA (118)
Hyosung, Scottsville VA (106)
Adidas/American Classic Outfitters, Perry NY (100+)
Blumenthal Mills Inc, Marion SC (100+)
Missouri DOT (100)
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, Las Vegas NV (100)
Chicago Park District, Chicago IL (up to 100)
CalPortland Co, Colton CA (94)
Ogilvy & Mather, NYC (90)
United Solar Ovonics, Greenville MI (90)
BlackRock Inc, San Francisco CA (89)
FirstCare Health, Amarillo, Harlingen, & Lubbock TX (88)
Forest Laboratories Inc, Commack NY (84)
City of Bossier, LA (83)
Abbott Laboratories, Temecula CA (80)
GTECH Corp, Providence RI & various (80)
Denver, CO (80)
Goodrich, Foley AL (78)
Western Dairy Transport, Portales NM (75)
Neiman Marcus Inc, Dallas TX (75)
Terex Load King, Elk Point SD (73)
City of River Rouge, MI (66)
City of Bossier, LA (60)
State of New Mexico (59)
Wyoming MI Public Schools (57)
City of Naperville, IL (up to 57)
City of Des Moines, IA (55)
ZymoGenetics, Seattle WA (52)
Shop Rite, Warminster PA (50)
Vulcan, Seattle WA (50)

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Networking Mistakes - Don't be THAT GUY at your holiday party

Now that we’ve entered December, we’re starting the month of holiday parties. Many job seekers utilize holiday parties as ways to build or renew networking contacts. Unfortunately, many candidates can do themselves more harm than good.

Here’s how to avoid some common networking no-no’s, just in time for the holidays…

1. Know the difference between a holiday party and an interview: Too often job seekers use the opportunity of a holiday party to launch right into their elevator pitch – Bad Move. Instead, use the time to build or renew your relationship. Follow up with a call and schedule a time to learn more about their company. If the other person asks you about your job search, suggest you contact them to set up a time to talk about it further…not at the party.


2. Spend twice as much time listening than talking: Many candidates (especially when alcohol is added to the festivities) talk when they could gain more value from listening. Ask questions, learn about the other persons’ interests…and shut up. You’ll build a better relationship and find more ways to help if you let the other person do the talking.


3. Instead of asking for help find ways to help: Find ways to help the other person, rather than ask for help. Find out about charities, social causes, interests, hobbies, the other person’s business – think of ways to help. Don’t give suggestions, names, or connection information at the party – they get lost and you want a reason to schedule time other than asking for help. If you are successful in helping someone, they usually feel they should help you in return.


4. Don’t be a hanger: Rather than hang on one person or group all night, talk to many. Once you’ve asked the other person enough questions, listened to them, found out how you can help…move on. There’s a bathroom or more food calling your name.


5. Talk to people outside your industry: If you’re in tech, find non-technology people to talk to. This helps you differentiate yourself more effectively than if you only spend your time with people in your industry. Best yet - talk to people you don't already know...meet someone new.


6. Never, Never, Never bring your resume to a holiday party. You’re at a party not an interview, paper resumes get lost, and most companies want digital resumes.


7. Don’t wait to take notes: As soon as you leave the party, either in your car or right when you get home, write down who you talked to what you talked about, interests, and how you can help. Enter these into whatever personal contact manager you use.


8. Don’t forget to send a follow up: Even if it’s just an email saying nice to meet you, nice to see you again, make contact. Don’t tell the story of your job search in your email. Instead, in your signature block, include a link to your Linkedin profile, online resume, Resublog, or online portfolio.


9. Don't be a bore: make the other person laugh


10. Don't dump your job search on the world: Be Positive!

Even though it’s not an interview, behave yourself like it is one, because you are forming impressions. People won’t refer you if they feel it will reflect poorly on themselves, and spilling the mostaccioli on your shirt probably isn’t the impression you want to make.

Readers – If you have other suggestions for holiday party networking ideas, please list them in the comments.

Happy Holidays and Happy Networking!

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Is your Cover Letter an Ineffective and Obsolete Tradition?

Another career author asked me to share thoughts on cover letters, and how Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS – the dreaded HR database) use them. I thought readers would find my responses helpful.

I've done some interesting research on cover letters, demonstrating them to be an obsolete and ineffective tradition in today's job search.

Here's some interesting statistics of what happens to your cover letter:

1. Based on interviews with hundreds of HR Managers & recruiters: Many HR staffs don't forward cover letters to hiring managers. Most HR departments scan resumes, but don’t scan cover letters into ATSes.
2. It's a well published statistic that hiring managers spend an average 15 seconds spends making an interview/non interview decision. You can't read both a resume and a cover letter in 15 seconds. Based on interviews with hundreds of executive-level hiring managers: 90% read the resume first, 66% don't even get cover letters.
3. According to a Linkedin poll I ran of hiring managers, HR staff & recruiters: 80% read the resume first. So it looks like Recruiters and HR staff don’t read cover letters often, but maybe a little more often than hiring managers.
4. Based on interviews with hundreds of executive-level hiring managers: No one has ever told me that they would deny an interview to a candidate whose resume met their hiring criteria, but did not submit a cover letter.
5. Based on interviews with hundreds of executive-level hiring managers: Most hiring managers related that they have denied interviews to candidates qualified by their resume, but disqualified by information on their cover letter.
6. Based on interviews with CEOs and VPs of the Top 10 job boards: Job Boards don't keyword search cover letters, only resumes.
…Would it surprise you that:
7. Based on a Linkedin poll I ran, 96% of candidates either customize a cover letter sent with a virtually static resume, or don't customize anything at all. Only 4% send a customized resume.

There are some exceptions - really small companies that don't have an HR department and can't afford recruiters (typically less than 10 employees). The really small company Hiring Manager goes through these resumes and cover letters manually, and the percentages skew a bit more towards considering cover letters when outside an ATS. However, hiring managers that look at cover letters tell me that cover letters are more likely to be disqualifiers...and no one has ever related that the lack of a cover letter is a disqualifier in itself.

I started researching this when I managed recruiting practices. Even though my recruiters advertised asking for cover letters, they never got them through the ATS, only if a candidate sent directly to them through networking or a referral. Cover letters were blocked, in a sense, digitally discarded by corporate decision - it was viewed that the recruiter was more efficient in finding candidates doing keyword searches on resumes.

I found that most of my clients’ HR departments handled cover letters in the same way (see The Secret of Search Efficiency). This practice happened during a time of candidate shortages when unemployment was near 4%. Imagine now, where there are 6 times more unemployed than advertised jobs.

Since my recruiting days, I’ve interviewed well over a thousand HR Managers, recruiters, and Hiring Managers. I’ve interviewed the top brass at the largest job boards, and I’ve interviewed Managers and VPs of top Applicant Tracking Systems (see What I Learned at SHRM).

They all give the same consistent message – Cover Letters are an obsolete tradition, and work against the candidate (see Are You Buying The Mac and Cheese of Job Search?).

However, candidates obviously don’t realize this. 96% put the majority of their customization (if any) in their application in a cover letter, using a largely static resume. They hope that the words on their resume magically match the keywords a company's HR department or recruiters search for in their prescreening process...and the odds stink, generating candidate response rates that typically range between 0-5%, even in better hiring years (most average less than 2% today for active candidates).

When I talk to former VPs and Directors of HR, I ask them how their former company systems manage applicants. I hear amazing responses when they realize the application processes that they managed in their own former companies would leave them buried in the very database that they managed….even if referred into a company by a friend.

Conclusions: In effect, cover letters are rarely part of the decision - but when considered, they work against the candidate more often than for the candidate. The cover letter effectively decreases candidates’ interview chances. Candidates can increase their chances by spending time heavily customizing their resumes, and ignoring cover letters.

What do you think is happening to your cover letters?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

Related Articles:
Stop Writing Cover Letters and You’ll Get MORE Interviews
3 Things Your Next Employer Will Search For

For access to more information:
Become a fan of reCareered on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/reCareered/21126045429
Join Career Change Central on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1800872

Why use Social Branding to search for a job when you’ve already got a job?

Searching for a job while you’re employed is the best time to job search. Even though the job market is tough, there are great opportunities out there for people who can help companies solve their problems.

Sure the economy stinks, and the job market is even worse. Why search now?

During rough economic times, more companies have problems. In good times, companies are more likely to continue with current strategies, adopting a “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. Not so when times are tough. Companies are more likely to shake up management and staff when underperforming, in order to apply new strategies and acquire new skill sets to implement changed strategies.

Candidates who search for a new position while currently employed allow themselves time to find the “right” opportunity, greater resources, less workload/travel/commute, better upside, and acquisition of new skills/experiences. Employed candidates have the ability to take their time in a search, as they can compare jobs to their opportunity cost – staying put.

There’s also a bias in employer psychology…there is often an employer preference towards candidates who are currently employed (yes, there’s exceptions to this).

So why isn’t everyone searching? Maybe they are….according to certain news reports, the majority of US workers are searching or at least open to a new position.

Many candidates are nervous today, that they might get discovered by their employer, that job search might take away from their current position, that they don’t have time to search due to increased work or family demands. So while current research reports show increased worker dissatisfaction (based on a Harris Interactive Q3 poll), many people just don’t take the time to search, hoping things will improve in their current position.

Typically, the employed workers who do search, do so passively, having recruiters look for them or spending a few hours per week scouring job boards. These methods aren’t all that successful when there are 6 times more unemployed than advertised positions, per recent BLS reports. Most currently employed candidates have to be careful accessing their network, as rumors back to their employer or clients can create unacceptable career or deal risk. There’s a better way.

How can currently employed candidates effectively search for a new position, while protecting their existing position and business deals?

Use Social Branding to create a “Pull Campaign”:

Traditional job search methods of sending resumes, applying for posted positions and using recruiters are all “Push Campaigns”, where you’re asking specific audiences to consider you for a job. A Pull Campaign builds an inbound opportunity pipeline of business leaders and managers who seek your expertise to solve their problem. Successful Pull Campaigns encourage employers to seek out your expertise, rather than you searching for a job or going through a recruiter (Push Campaign).

In one great way to run a Pull Campaign, the candidate brands him/herself as expert in solving a specific business problem. One very effective way is “Social Branding”, branding as a subject matter expert online - in demonstrating how you solve a defined problem or exploit a specific business opportunity, business leaders find you.

When today’s business leaders have a new problem, they first do their own due diligence…online, using search engines. Even before asking their peers, their teams, their paid advisors, business leaders due their own quick research to understand thought leaders’ views, understand terminology, understand what questions to ask. Failure to do due diligence today risks looking unprepared and few managers or leaders will risk setting such a bad impression.

A successful Social Branding strategy depicts the candidate as a thought leader via a first page Google ranking, someone whose opinion should be sought for a specific business problem or opportunity. Successfully branded Subject Matter Experts and thought leaders can build an inbound stream of emails (Pull Channel) from business leaders and managers who seek help with their problems and opportunities – those specific problems and opportunities that the candidate has the unique ability to solve.

Candidates…if you’re searching for a new position, especially if you’re a passive candidate…aren’t these the conversations you want to have?

There have never been more options available to build Pull Campaigns and Social Branding strategies. There are hundreds of free online tools to help. Linkedin and Facebook are the first step of many that include social networks, blogs, groups, forums, comments, questions, answers….and marketing all of the above to increase exposure and Google ranking in the same way businesses do.

While this has never been more possible, unless a candidate has an incredibly unique Subject Matter Expertise, it takes time and resources. The more general your SME, the greater the time and resources it should take to brand yourself online. Savvy candidates find a good balance to create a Social Brand broad enough to find an audience, yet narrow enough to provide a cost effective ROI. For example, branding yourself as “Developer” is broad enough to reach a wide audience, but too expensive to gain traction on Google rankings…many companies have invested millions to own first page results.

Currently employed candidates…how can you brand yourself to reach the right audience, yet be cost effective?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Hiring - Top employers week of 11-30-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 11/30/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Hospitality, Shipping, Business Services, Telecommunications, Retail, and Health Care verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Seasonal shipping hiring continued strong, in preparation to send all those holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx making the top employers list. Sears, Kmart, Blockbuster, Macy’s and Food Lion lead seasonal Retail hiring.

Telecommunications continued strong hiring, with AT&T, and Verizon advertising heavily for employees. Health care hiring had a second strong comeback week, led by UnitedHealth, Gentiva Health, HCR Manorcare, and Amedisys Home Health among the top hiring companies.

Business Service firms, IBM, Booz Allen, Accenture, Deloitte, CSC, and SAIC continue to be in the top hiring firms, partially largely supporting federal government and DOD contracts.

Hospitality hiring made the move to the top, and has been consistently moving up the top hiring company lists during November, with Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Marriott, and Hilton all hiring.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

1. Pizza Hut
2. United Parcel Service
3. McDonald's Corporation
4. IBM
5. AT&T
6. Sears, Roebuck and Co.
7. UnitedHealth Group
8. Raytheon
9. Kmart
10. JPMorgan Chase
11. BAE Systems
12. General Dynamics
13. Blockbuster
14. Booz Allen
15. Gentiva Health
16. Accenture
17. Deloitte
18. Macy's
19. U.S. Army
20. HCR Manorcare
21. Liberty Mutual
22. Wells Fargo
23. FedEx
24. Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
25. Snap-on Tools
26. Marriott
27. Food Lion
28. SAIC
29. Aflac
30. Amedisys Home Health
31. Genesis Healthcare
32. Hgi Healthcare
33. Quest Diagnostics
34. Verizon Wireless
35. Wells Fargo
36. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
37. Columbia University
38. Allstate
39. Hilton Hotels
40. Fifth Third Bank

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Business Services, Shipping, Retail, Telecommunications, Defense, and Health Care verticals are the top industries with new job ads based on a survey of recent advertisements from the nations’ top job boards added during the past seven days.

Business Services made a strong comeback this week, led by IBM, SAIC, Booz Allen, Accenture, and Deloitte. AT&T continued to hire in the Telcom vertical, though Verizon dropped off this week.

Shipping companies continued to hire heavily for additional Santa’s helpers to deliver holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx adding many ads this week. They will be delivering gifts purchased from Blockbuster, Sears, JC Penny, Kmart, Radio Shack, and Target.

Defense continued heavy hiring with US Army, BAE, and Raytheon all included in the top new employment advertisers this week. Health Care companies continue to expand with HCR Manorcare, UnitedHealth, Amedisys Home Health, and Quest Diagnostics as top hiring health care firms.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

1. IBM
2. UPS
3. Blockbuster
4. AT&T
5. Sears, Roebuck and Co.
6. SAIC
7. JCPenney
8. U.S. Army
9. Booz Allen Hamilton
10. HCR ManorCare
11. BAE Systems
12. Raytheon
13. Kmart Corporation
14. UnitedHealth Group
15. RadioShack Corporation
16. Accenture
17. Target
18. JPMorgan Chase
19. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
20. Deloitte
21. Snap-on Tools
22. Food Lion
23. Aflac
24. Wells Fargo
25. Amedisys Home Health
26. Quest Diagnostics
27. Liberty Mutual
28. Marriott
29. Allstate
30. FedEx
31. Pizza Hut
32. Fifth Third Bank
33. Kindred Healthcare
34. Sava Senior Care
35. Aegis Therapies
36. Bed Bath and Beyond Inc.
37. Combined Insurance
38. Wachovia Bank
39. Columbia University
40. Genesis Healthcare


Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Some Thanks on Thanksgiving

Thank you to the readers and fans of reCareered for helping me to help you this year. I’m thankful for your encouragement and support, for your engagement. I’m even thankful for your criticisms ,which keeps me on my toes, always striving to deliver better content.

Even though some of you face difficult times with the job market, I wish each and every one of you finds something to be thankful for.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Phil Rosenberg

Guerrilla Job Search Tactics

When the Department of Labor reports there are 6 times more unemployed workers than advertised jobs, you’ve got to approach job search differently than your competitors in order to get noticed.

Most candidates spend the majority of their job search efforts replying to ads, company websites, and calling/emailing their contacts, asking about available jobs, or to pass a resume along.

These tactics have an unfortunately low response rate, yet the majority of candidates use them as primary search tools. Why? Because it’s what they know…it’s in their comfort level. Plus it’s simple – it may not be effective, but it’s easy to execute.

What if there was a more effective way? Would you incorporate more effective tactics, even if they weren’t as simple?

One way is to adopt a guerrilla job hunting approach. In your job search, Information Is Power. Yet most job seekers don’t invest the time to gain an advantage by gaining better information.

Most candidates, if they do much research at all prior to applying for a job, find out little information other than what they might find in a job ad. Candidates who spend a little more time might review a company’s website … or if they’re investing a LOT of time, might search Google or business portals like Yahoo Finance. Do you think that information gives you much of an edge over other candidates? Doubtful – when your competitors can find the same information, how can it give you an advantage?

Why won’t job seekers go beyond basic publicly available information in their search? Going farther is difficult, time consuming, and outside most job seekers’ comfort zones.

Becoming a Job Search Guerrilla

Job search is a war, and you have thousands of competitors. Your primary weapons are marketing materials, contacts, and information. Guerillas don’t play by the standard rules…Guerrillas push the envelope to gain an advantage over their competition.

Many candidates focus just on marketing materials – something tangible that they can see. Marketing materials are important, but contacts and information are just as important to gain an edge.

Your best way to push the envelope is to gain an information advantage over your competitors. But how can you gain an information advantage? The same information is available to everyone on a company’s website, on Yahoo Finance, on Google.

How to become a Job Search Guerrilla:

1) Find other sources of information - Your most valuable information about a target company will come from non-public sources. How could you gain insight about what’s going on within a company beyond company websites, Google, Yahoo Finance, and the business press?

2) Maximize use of contacts – Most candidates misuse their contacts by spamming their resume, asking them for work, or to keep an eye out for openings. Using your contacts insight just as a resume conduit creates a huge missed opportunity and may result in undermining your relationship.

Instead, ask for insight and gather data. Your contacts have a wealth of information of what’s going on within your target companies. Why not learn from them? Ask what their department is working on, what business opportunities their company is focused on, how they interface with the department you’re interested in, what are the top corporate initiatives, and company concerns/risks? Ask what bothers your contact about their company, what’s bugging their boss?
If your contact can’t or won’t answer these questions, talk to someone else in the company. It doesn’t have to be the CEO, but a Mail room clerk might not be so helpful either (unless you’re looking for a job in the mail room). Of course, the closer your contact is to your desired department and hiring manager, the better.

3) Build intelligence – Evaluate the data you’ve gotten from a number of sources within the company. What does it tell you about the issues that affect your target department and it’s manager? Is the company cutting costs? Is it expanding products or locations? Is it focused on customer retention, developing new customers, or lowering the cost per customer?

How does this information translate to pain? Do you have a track record solving any of this pain? (If you don’t have experience solving your target company’s identified pain, keep looking or choose a different target).

4) Gather more data to find more pain – Hang out at the water cooler. Since you may not be able to loiter inside the company or hide behind potted plants, do the next best thing. Hang out where employees have lunch or go to a nearby happy hour. Make it a point to spend a few early Friday evenings at the closest bars around your target company and make some new friends. You’ll be amazed at the information you can gather and the additional informational assistance you can gain just by buying a few drinks.

5) Be selective – Guerrilla job search takes time. You can’t scatter-shot this strategy. Pick a small handful of your top targets for Guerrilla tactics.

This is exactly how the folks on Wall Street make extraordinary returns – it's legal to use use inside information to gain an unfair advantage in the job market and an incredibly effective strategy. Just don’t buy investments from this information.

One of the best times to gather this information is during the holiday season. How will you use the next 6 weeks to advance your job search?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

Related Articles:
Networking Wedding Crashers – Be the Only One Like You in the Room
What Can You Do When Nothing's Working in Your Job Search?

For access to more information:
Become a fan of reCareered on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/reCareered/21126045429
Join Career Change Central on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1800872

Whos Hiring – Week of 11-23-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 11/23/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Hospitality, Shipping, Defense, Retail, Business Services, and Health Care verticals remain the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Seasonal shipping hiring continued strong, in preparation to send all those holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx making the top employers list. Sears, Kmart, Macy’s, Food Lion, Target and Bed Bath & Beyond lead seasonal Retail hiring. Seasonal hiring also affected H&R Block as continued advertising to staff, preparing for tax season.

Health care hiring made a strong comeback this week, led by Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth, Tenet Healthcare, HGI Healthcare, and Amedisys Home Health among the top hiring companies.

Business Service firms, SAIC, IBM, Accenture, and CSC Deloitte and continue to be in the top hiring firms, partially largely supporting federal government and DOD contracts. Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, US Army, and General Dynamics led Defense hiring.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

Pizza Hut
UPS Packaging
McDonald's Corporation
Northrop Grumman
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
H&R Block
SAIC
Kmart Corporation
AT&T
Kaiser Permanente
Raytheon
UnitedHealth Group
Tenet Healthcare Corporation
IBM
Accenture
U.S. Army
Liberty Mutual
Wells Fargo
FedEx
Macy's
Food Lion
Snap-on Tools
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
General Dynamics
Aflac
Sun Microsystems
Verizon Wireless
Hgi Healthcare
Amedisys Home Health
Woodforest Bank
Quest Diagnostics
DaVita
Allstate
Hilton Hotels
Kindred Healthcare
Combined Insurance
Target
Sava Senior Care
Fifth Third Bank
Bed Bath and Beyond Inc.


Job Openings Added This Week:

The Hospitality, Shipping, Retail, Telecommunications, Health Care, and Defense verticals are the top industries with new job ads based on a survey of recent advertisements from the nations’ top job boards added during the past seven days.

After Hospitality, Shipping companies continued to lead hiring firms, hiring additional Santa’s helpers to deliver holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx adding many ads this week. They will be delivering gifts purchased from Sears, Kmart, Radio Shack, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Defense continued heavy hiring with Army National Guard, US Army, Raytheon, BAE and General Dynamics all included in the top new employment advertisers this week. Consulting firms companies continue to expand with SAIC, Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, and Booz Allen as top hiring business service firms.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

Pizza Hut
UPS Packaging
Sears, Roebuck and Co
AT&T
UnitedHealth Group
Kmart
Army National Guard
U.S. Army
SAIC
Raytheon
Pilot Travel Centers
BAE Systems, North America
RadioShack
Accenture (Corp.)
Deloitte
Wells Fargo
General Dynamics
Verizon Wireless
JPMorganChase
Kindred Health Services
IBM
Booz Allen Hamilton
Food Lion
Liberty Mutual
Wachovia Bank
Apex Systems
Snap-on Tools
HCR Manorcare
Discover Higher Education
TD Bank
Amedisys Home Health
Combined Insurance
Quest Diagnostics
Farmers Insurance
UTMB
McGraw-Hill
Bed Bath and Beyond Inc.
Hilton Hotels
Fifth Third Bank
Ameriprise Financial

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Whos Firing - Layoffs week ended 11-20-09

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 11/20/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Top layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Technology, Health Care, Telecommunications, Transportation, Energy, and Government sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as some from the same sectors appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 11/16/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past month.

Technology companies announced significant layoffs this week, including AOL, Dell, and Pandemic Studios/EA.

Telecommunications companies cut jobs as Verizon, and Sony Ericsson, Teleperformance, Windstream Communications, announced layoffs, even though Verizon has been on the top hiring lists for the past 6 weeks or more.

While many Healthcare organizations made the top hiring company lists, a number of Healthcare companies were laying off such as Aetna, Boston Scientific, and Mountainside Hospital. Energy companies including Valero Energy and Devon Energy announced staff cuts.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 11/20/09:

AOL, Various (2,500)
Boston Scientific, Doral FL (1,400)
Aetna, Hartford CT & other locations (1,225)
Verizon Communications, Washington, D.C., Maryland, & Virginia (1,000)
Dell Corporation, Forsyth County NC (600)
YRC Worldwide Inc, Richfield OH (600 additional)
Valero Energy, Delaware City FL (550)
Fulton County, GA (500)
Sony Ericsson, Raleigh NC, Seattle WA, Miami FL, San Diego CA, & International (425)
W.C. Wood Company, Ottawa OH (425)
New Era Cap Co, Demopolis AL & Derby NY (322)
State of Pennsylvania (319)
Teleperformance USA, Akron OH (303)
ConAgra Foods, Garner NC (up to 300)
Mountainside Hospital, Montclair NJ (300)
NHS Woodhaven/Philadelphia, Erdenheim PA (290)
Devon Energy Corp, Houston TX (275)
The Brown Co. of Waverly, Waverly OH (264)
One Source Landscape & Golf Services, Williamsburg VA & Tampa FL (253)
Boeing Corp, San Antonio TX (250)
Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco CA (250)
Alcoa Howmet, Hampton VA (250)
Windstream Communications - D&E Communications, Ephrata PA (239)
Deluxe Corp, Colorado Springs CO (225)
US Food Service, Virginia Beach VA (up to 206)
Pandemic Studios/EA, Los Angeles CA (200)
Garland USA – Manitowoc, Freeland PA (200)
Midwest Stamping, LLC, Edgerton OH (198)
Beam Global Spirits and Wine, Carthage OH (184)
Catterton Partners' Farley's and Sathers Candy Company, Round Lake MN (175)
Johnson & Johnson, Spring House PA (174)
Dairyland Greyhound Park, Kenosha WI (174)
Marine Corps Logistic Base, Yermo CA (170)
Oklahoma Department of Human Service, Enid & Paul Valley OK (162)
Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis MN (150-200)
BusinessWeek, Various (125)
Society's Assets (Wisconsin Telecommunication Relay Service), Middleton WI (120)
Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix AZ (115)
California Sports Service, Dodgertown CA (112)
Invista, Waynesboro VA (110)
Petermann, Cincinnati OH (110)
Target, Bedford OH (109)
Fairfax County Public Libraries, Fairfax VA (107)
Business Week (100)
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier), Chicago IL (100)
Oklahoma Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (100)
Quail Lodge Hotel and Spa, Carmel CA (100)
Amway Corp, ADA MI (93)
Sears, Birmingham AL (92)
Murray Energy, Brilliant OH (91)
Associated Press, various (90)
iPass Inc, Redwood City CA & International (80)
Harsco Metals, Coatesville PA (77)
Simon & Schuster, Bristol PA (72)
BART, San Francisco CA (70 – 80)
Target – Brownsville, Brownsville TX (70)
Maryland’s Board of Public Works, Baltimore MD (70)
City of Dayton OH (66)
Guardian Automotive Products, Upper Sandusky OH (59)
State Industrial Products, Cleveland OH (58)
Nielsen Co., Oldsmar FL (57)
Nortel Networks Richardson TX (56)
Steel of West Virginia, Huntington WV (53)
Dillard's Inc., Cincinnati OH (50)
Qwest Communication, Denver CO (Unknown)
Wake County Schools, Raliegh NC (Unknown)
Alabama A&M, Huntsville AL (Unknown)
City of Fresno CA (Unknown)

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

It's Almost Thanksgiving Do You Know Where Your Next Job Is?

Thanksgiving is next week. Job seekers and career changers – Where’s your next job? If you can’t answer that question definitively right now, there’s slim chance that you’ll have that answer before 2010.

If you can’t answer that question, what can you do to help your job search during the holidays?

In November - December, executives and managers often create headcount budgets for the next year, and ask finance departments to approve positions. Most job seekers wait until this process is over, when positions are approved and advertised (see Have You Been Affected by The Holiday Effect?).

Savvy job seekers know that the best time to be considered for a job is before it’s advertised. It’s an industry statistic that 80% of the job market is unadvertised, and there’s very little competition for unadvertised positions.

Unfortunately, most job seekers have a poor strategy for learning about unadvertised positions. Most spam their network with their resume, or worse, spam thousands with resumes, letters, sell sheets, and other poorly designed push marketing communications that end up being forwarded to an HR database, deleted, or ignored. It’s not their fault…most job seekers don’t search for a job very often, so it’s not surprising that most job seekers employ less effective methods.

How can you learn about unadvertised positions?

First, realize that candidates rarely hear about unadvertised positions by sending a resume, or spamming their network. Letting your network know that you’re in the market, may have worked in 2005, but it’s ineffective during the toughest job market in your lifetime.

Spamming your network drastically underutilizes your network’s effectiveness. It risks alienating the people who want to help you, and rarely provides the information you need to help yourself.

Most candidates will tell me their networking goal is to find a job, which is why few candidates network effectively. It’s the wrong goal (See Will You Stop Looking for a Job Already?). A more effective goal is to find problems and information.

Use networking to start conversations. You’ll find more success in learning about unadvertised positions if you have answers to problems the company or hiring manager currently has…by branding yourself as someone who’s providing help, rather than asking for help. Yet, most candidates will tell me they always bring a resume to these conversations. Bring a resume to this meeting and you brand yourself as someone who wants something (a job) and your resume will usually be sent to HR.

Answers and solutions are how unadvertised positions are created and filled. Find pain and solve it before it becomes an approved position, and suddenly you have little competition. Wait until it’s advertised, and you’re joined by thousands.

Discovering problems isn’t as easy as it sounds, because people you’ve just met seldom will open up to a stranger quickly. Ask someone you just met…what are your biggest problems and you’re not likely to get much meaningful information.

Before your meeting, gain an understanding of the company’s goals and problems from its Quarterly reports, analyst reports, industry reports, and articles. These can lead to great discussion starters such as:

• ”I notice that your company is focused on cutting costs next year to increase profitability…how does this affect the marketing department’s goals?”
• “You can only slash headcount so much, what other ways are you’re implementing technology to creatively cut costs?”
• “I see that XYZ company is turning itself around through international expansion….how do global customers affect your finance department?”
• “The Business Week article on your competitor describes how it’s revamping products, marketing, and sales to take market share away from you…How does that affect your sales force at ABC Inc?”

The holidays are a great time for these types of meetings. Hiring managers typically travel a little less (esp if travel budgets have been cut) and are often more available. The day before and after (if the hiring manager is working) a holiday can be the best days to get a hiring manager’s time - they’re often light days with room for appointments.

The holidays are a great time to look for problems that you are uniquely qualified to solve. Hiring managers are making plans on how to attack next year’s problems, and meet next year’s goals. What a perfect time to find out about next year’s challenges and goals…when hiring managers are concentrating on them.

What are your plans to advance your job search over the holidays?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Can Linkedin Company Pages Help You Find Unadvertised Positions?

Many job seekers can find Linkedin company pages to be a useful tool in their search. This often overlooked Linkedin feature allows the savvy candidate to gain an edge with companies they target. Remember, 80% of the available jobs are unadvertised…it’s a widely known industry statistic. Yet, most job seekers target the 20% of the jobs easily seen on job boards.

What can Linkedin Company Pages do for me?

Linkedin Company Pages provide information and views that’s helpful when targeting smaller companies as well as mammoth ones. For larger companies, Company Pages shows divisions and subsidiaries. For example, one of the companies that’s been consistently near the top of reCareered’s Who’s Hiring articles is IBM. IBM is many companies under a single brand…many non-techies think of IBM as a mainframe manufacturer (they sold off their PC division years ago).

Let’s use IBM as an example that can be applied to many different companies and industries. A look at IBM’s Linkedin Company Page gives a more in depth perspective:

If you’re in Finance or Sales, for instance, you’ll find many places and locations within IBM that need financial and sales talent…beyond just the mainframe folks.

You may remember that IBM purchased PriceWaterhouseCooper’s consulting division, and now competes with companies like Accenture & BearingPoint. Consultants know that IBM is one of the largest firms in ERP implementation, Supply Chain, and Government contracting. Looking at IBM’s listing of divisions and subsidiaries, you’ll also find enterprise software companies who create financial and operational software for large companies. These divisions need financial and operational talent.

You can see typical companies where IBM employees worked before IBM. This can be helpful, especially if you came from those companies or have a close contacts within those companies (IBM hires most often from PWC & HP). You can also see where IBM alums are likely go next (Microsoft & Oracle)…do you have any contacts at these companies who can introduce you to IBM’ers? Could you research Microsoft’s & Oracle’s new hires looking for people who just left IBM…could these represent unadvertised positions?

People:

With over 50M people now on Linkedin, Company Pages is like an internal phone directory (sorry, no direct extensions, but many email addresses). In prior years, recruiters would sell their soul (be nice, candidates) for this kind of information…now it’s available to candidates, for free. Search Company Pages by division and/or location to hone in on the people who are most likely to get you to a hiring manager. If I search IBM’s company page for Chicago area employees, I get over 3,000 people. I can narrow that list by keyword, specialty or division.

A separate section lists former employees…could former employees help you find the right hiring manager in a company as large as IBM?

New Hires & Recent Promotions/Changes:

Do new managers ever hire their own staff to build their own teams? Even companies that are laying off may hire new staff as well, as they change focus, strategy, or just get new blood into the company. New managers often come into a company to bring about change, and change often means new people. Recently promoted officer and managers may also have new challenges, or take over additional areas and want to staff their own teams.

Newly hired and promoted managers also give you the opportunity of communicating something other than “can I have a job?” Instead of spamming this contact with an uninvited resume, could it be valuable to congratulate your target on their promotion or hire?

Other information:

Company pages list specialties. As a candidate, why is this important? Could clicking on these specialties give you insight into other companies in the space…maybe small competitors not on your radar screen? Could specialties give you some guesses into keywords that a company might use to search Linkedin profiles and resumes?

Company pages list recent articles about the company, stock price graphs, links to Business Week articles, major locations (Does IBM have many employees where you live, in Nashville? ), demographics (maybe not a great place for women to work, as only 27% of their workforce is female, nor a great place for the guys to start an office romance)

Why is this feature hidden?

It’s not hidden, but it’s not exactly apparent to the casual Linkedin user. The easiest place to find Linkedin Companies is just to the left of the search bar. Most Linkedin users use the search bar to find for specific people. Click the drop down menu to the left of the search bar, select company, and search for companies on your target list.

Can you come up with other ideas of how Linkedin Company Pages can change your search methods?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Have You Been Affected by the Holiday Effect?

Have you ever heard of the Holiday Effect in hiring? Perhaps you’ve heard that companies usually don’t hire during the holidays, from Thanksgiving until after the New Year.

When I originally heard about the Holiday Effect, I pictured that hiring managers were just too busy with holiday parties, cookie exchanges, pot luck lunches, and Secret Santas to spend their time with the more mundane tasks, like hiring staff. It was strange that I never enjoyed the nearly daily brouhaha that the Holiday Effect must bring out. I ruled out it was just accountants being anti-party, as none of my friends had these daily festivities in their offices either – not even the folks in advertising.

So where were all these people dancing on their desks?

Could it be that whole departments, even entire companies take the 6 weeks off between Thanksgiving and New Years? Of course companies couldn’t hire until after New Year’s…everyone was in Cancun or Aspen until January.

After I got involved in recruiting, I learned that the holiday effect has nothing to do with endless holiday parties or December-long vacations. In fact, it’s got nothing to do with the holidays at all, other than coincidentally being at the same time.

The Holiday Effect’s got everything to do with third quarter numbers. Most public companies finalize their third quarter numbers by 11/1 each year, and private companies a few weeks later. So what’s the big deal about third quarter numbers?

It’s not such a big deal when the company is having a good year. For example, during strong hiring years like 2005 recruiters are especially busy with work during the holidays. In good years, hiring managers often press to get all their positions filled before the end of the year, out of concern that an unfilled position may not get approved in next year’s budget. In good years, the end of the year is “use it or lose it” time.

In not so good years, like say 2009 for instance, CFO’s see bad numbers and freak. It’s their job to manage expenses to assure the company is managed profitably. When third quarter numbers are in the red, or even barely profitable, it’s time for the finance department to earn its keep.

In many companies, payroll is the largest expense, and the most controllable. In bad years, CFO’s regularly slow hiring until after the New Year, or even enact fourth quarter hiring freezes so they can keep expenses as low as possible. Managing payroll typically has a much greater impact than a paper clip recycling policy.

So what does this mean for a candidate? Often one of two things:

1) If you’re a candidate for a position with a company that’s not doing so well this year…expect hiring decisions and start dates to be pushed off until the start of next year.

or

2) If you’re a candidate for a position with a company that’s going gangbusters…you might not want to book that Cancun trip for December.

Realistically, this year most companies fall into category #1. Many job seekers give up their search efforts during the holidays, assuming it’s hopeless since no one’s hiring. It’s a mistake.

Companies may delay pulling the trigger during the holidays but they make decisions about who they want to hire during November and December. Even during bad years, hiring managers prepare for first quarter when finance departments start to approve headcounts again. I advise my clients to keep a high level of activity, as the work they do now builds a pipeline of opportunities for the first and second quarter of next year.

While it’s easier for candidates to think of it as the holiday effect than the 4th Quarter effect, the November and December timeframe can be a great time for candidates to concentrate on their job search. The candidates who use the holidays to work on their search, may well find themselves entering the new year with a strong pipeline of opportunities.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Whos Hiring – Top employers week of 11-16-09

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 11/16/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Shipping, Business Services, Restaurant, Retail, Defense, and Telecommunications verticals remain the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Seasonal shipping hiring continued strong, in preparation to send all those holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx making the top employers list. Blockbuster, Sears, Macy’s, Kmart, and Food Lion lead seasonal Retail hiring. Seasonal hiring also affected H&R Block as continued advertising to staff, preparing for tax season.

Business Service firms IBM, SAIC, Deloitte and CSC continue to be in the top hiring firms, partially largely supporting federal government and DOD contracts. Army National Guard, Northrop Grumman, US Army Medical Service Corps, Raytheon, and General Dynamics led Defense hiring.

Other interesting top hiring companies included HP, Sun Microsystems, JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, Aflac and Combined Insurance.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

UPS
IBM
McDonald's Corporation
Blockbuster
Army National Guard
H&R Block
Northrop Grumman
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
AT&T
SAIC
Macys
U.S. Army Medical Service Corps
Pizza Hut
Raytheon
JPMorgan Chase
Kmart Corporation
UnitedHealth Group
Verizon Wireless
General Dynamics
Gentiva Health Services
Deloitte & Touche
Food Lion
HCA Healthcare
Liberty Mutual
FedEx
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
Marriott
Snap-on Tools
HP
Avon
Kaiser Permanente
Aflac
Combined Insurance
Sun Microsystems
Quest Diagnostics

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Shipping, Defense, Business Services, Telecommunication, Retail, and Restaurant verticals are the top industries with new job ads based on a survey of recent advertisements from the nations’ top job boards added during the past seven days.

Shipping companies led hiring firms, hiring additional Santa’s helpers to deliver holiday gifts, with UPS and FedEx adding many ads this week. They will be delivering gifts purchased from Toys “R” Us, Sears, Macy’s, Radio Shack, Kmart and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Defense continued heavy hiring with Northrop Grumman, Army National Guard, US Air Force, Raytheon, US Army, and General Dynamics all included in the top new employment advertisers this week. Consulting firms companies continue to expand with IBM, SAIC, and Deloitte continuing to hire, joined by CSC.

It’s interesting to also see these companies began heavy job advertisements this week: Toys ”R” Us, Kaiser Permanente, Bank of America, Wachovia Bank, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

UPS Packaging
Northrop Grumman
IBM
Army National Guard
AT&T
SAIC
Toys "R" Us
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Pizza Hut
BAE Systems, North America
Kaiser Permanente
Food Lion
US Air Force
Raytheon
Macy's
U.S. Army
HCA Healthcare
RadioShack
Liberty Mutual
Deloitte
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
General Dynamics
UnitedHealth Group
Chase
Kmart Corporation
FedEx
Bank of America
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
HCR Manorcare
Aflac
Hewlett Packard
Apex Systems
Wachovia Bank
Bed Bath and Beyond
Snap-on Tools

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

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