How networking helped my business (video)

5 minutes. Yes, just five minutes.

Good overview with practical examples of networking tips!



How many of these do you use?

What will you use next?



Thanks to Jason Jacobson for sharing this video

Report: Boston’s job outlook 5th best in nation

 

 

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Report: Boston’s job outlook 5th best in nation

via Boston Business News - Local Boston News | Boston Business Journal by Lisa van der Pool on 12/13/11

Boston's employment outlook for the first quarter of 2012 has been ranked the fifth best in the country, according to a new report from staffing company Manpower. Between January and March, 17 percent of the employers interviewed in the Boston-area plan to hire more employees, while 6 percent said they will reduce head count, according to Manpower's Q1 Outlook. About 68 percent of firms said they will maintain current workforce levels and 9 percent were not sure about their hiring plans. Overall, per Manpower's report, Boston's employment outlook for Q1 is stronger than Massachusetts as whole...

 

 

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Job-seekers ratio remains above 4-to-1 for 34th straight month

 

 

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Job-seekers ratio remains above 4-to-1 for 34th straight month

via Economic Policy Institute - Feed by Heidi Shierholz on 12/13/11

Today's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of job openings decreased by 110,000 in October to 3.3 million. The total number of unemployed workers in October was 13.9 million (unemployment is from the Current Population Survey). Therefore the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 4.3-to-1 in October, a deterioration from the revised September ratio of 4.1-to-1.

To put this figure in context, it's useful to note that the highest this ratio ever got in the early 2000s downturn was 2.8-to-1, and in December 2000, the month the JOLTS survey began, the ratio was 1.1-to-1. While the job-seekers ratio has been generally slowly improving since its peak of 6.9-to-1 in the summer of 2009, today's data release marks two years and 10 months—147 weeks—that the ratio has been above 4-to-1. A job-seekers ratio of more than 4-to-1 means that for more than three out of four unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. In October, there were 10.6 million more unemployed workers than job openings. Furthermore, the lack of job openings relative to unemployed workers is in no way limited to particular industries such as construction—unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings across the board, in every major industry.

The fact that we have had a job-seekers ratio above 4-to-1 for 147 weeks underscores the crucial need for extended unemployment insurance benefits, which last a maximum of 99 weeks. There are 5.7 million people in this country who have been unemployed for more than half a year, up from 1.2 million in 2007. Of course, the reason for this is not that these millions of workers have become lazy, unskilled, or unproductive; it is that there are not enough jobs available. This is no time to cut the number of weeks of benefits, as the House of Representatives appears ready to do. With the Congressional Budget Office projecting an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent at the end of next year, continuing federally funded unemployment insurance benefit extensions through 2012 would extend a lifeline to the families of millions of long-term unemployed workers, and generate spending that would support well over half a million jobs.

—with research assistance from Nicholas Finio

 

 

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Old dogs and new tricks

The teaser video:



Two teachers partnered with 4th through 8th grade students to learn new technology. Learning and collaboration followed.

There might be something here to apply to the job search. How can you use technology to collaborate and find your next real great opportunity?

The full video:




Additional presentation on the use of social media tools in the classroom can be found on the K12 Online website. There are lots of good ideas being put to use that you can re-use for your job search and personal development!

Feds: Boston ranked No. 2 in job growth in October

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Feds: Boston ranked No. 2 in job growth in October

via Boston Business News - Local Boston News | Boston Business Journal by Galen Moore on 12/5/11

Boston's jobs numbers grew by 1.9 percent, year over year, by the end of this October - more than any other major U.S. metropolitan area save Houston, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total nonfarm payroll in Boston, Cambridge and Quincy, Mass., was up 47,000, or 1.9 percent, from one year ago, as of the end of October, according to the BLS. The report surveyed 12 major metros, finding only two – Philadelphia and Atlanta – where jobs had actually dropped as of Oct...

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Hopkinton Networking Group: Fri, Dec 2 - Lydia Magill

Hello Everyone,

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Lydia Magill. The facilitator for this week will be Ralph Sabatino. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, starting at 11AM, Lydiawill speak about "The Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching” and have dialog and answer our questions.

Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching...and How to Regain Your Balance
Lydia Magill brings nearly 3 decades of wisdom and expertise to her career in Recruiting and Talent Acquisition, as well as the experience of speaking to over 500 career centered groups on a variety of buisness and career transition subjects. An adept Human Resources practitioner, Lydia enjoys working with adults in career transition and exploration, and has deep regard for individuals dealing with the uncharted course of a career search.

LydiaB. Magill
Talent Acquisition and Management
lbmhr@hotmail.com
617-515-1125
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiamagill214


Schedule for HNG Meetings:

December 16, 2011: Charlie Anderson - "Your Job Search from an HR Perspective"
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****
January 06, 2012: *
January 20, 2012: Clare Harlow "People Reading with DiSC"


General Information:
The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda items:
· Welcome
· Landings (with doughnuts)
· Announcements
· New member introductions
· Needs and Leads
· Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
· Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
· Name
· Skills and Value Statement
· Where have you been?
· Where are you going?
· Your title
· Your target companies
· Geography of search
· Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions: St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street , Hopkinton , MA 01748

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street , take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route.

Payroll Tax Cuts by the Numbers: State-by-State Analysis

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Payroll Tax Cuts by the Numbers: State-by-State Analysis

via Center for American Progress by CAP on 11/29/11

See also: The Importance of Extending Both the Payroll Tax Cut and Emergency Unemployment Benefits, No Time to End Unemployment Benefits by Heather Boushey, and Our Economy Needs Help Now by Heather Boushey

The Senate is expected to vote in early December on extending the payroll tax cut that boosted the paychecks of 160 million American workers at a critical time for our economy. Congress must act before the end of the year to prevent the 2 percent reduction in all workers' paychecks from disappearing in January, which will happen if the payroll tax cut now in effect is not extended.

The Senate bill, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, would both extend and expand the tax cut, cutting workers' share of the Social Security payroll tax in half, to 3.1 percent for 2012. The bill also provides payroll tax relief for employers, targeted toward small businesses and new hires.

The Middle Class Tax Cut Act will benefit every one of the approximately 160 American workers who pay payroll taxes. The map below shows how much it will add to the take-home income of a typical family in your state.

See also:

• The Importance of Extending Both the Payroll Tax Cut and Emergency Unemployment Benefits
• No Time to End Unemployment Benefits by Heather Boushey
  
• Our Economy Needs Help Now by Heather Boushey

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Extending unemployment benefits is critical

Currently, there are nearly five workers actively searching for work for every job available, compared to just one and a half job searchers per job opening before the Great Recession began. Allowing unemployment benefits to expire amid such a weak labor market would have serious implications for the unemployed, as well as every one of us who still has a job. 

The reason: An end to the benefits would threaten our economic recovery. Economists across the board agree that unemployment benefits are one of the most important countercyclical economic policies we have, helping those who do not have jobs with assistance that is immediately spent in the broader economy. Over the past few years, according to a detailed study by Wayne Vroman for the Department of Labor, benefits for the long-term unemployed led to the creation of about 700,000 new jobs each quarter.

Read the full post here

Contact your congressman to let them know of your interest in this matter!

Stop Looking For a Job, Start Looking for an Opportunity

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Stop Looking For a Job, Start Looking for an Opportunity

via Phil Gerbyshak by Phil Gerbyshak on 11/20/11

From Phil: What follows is a fantastic guest post from Darren Hardy, author of the new book The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success. Some good things to ponder as we head into the Thanksgiving break.

A lot of jobs that once were, aren't coming back. Ever. To look for what isn't there is a waste of time and an insult to your dignity.
If you haven't noticed, the world has changed — radically. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has imploded. The path to a high-paying job used to involve getting the highest academic degree you could obtain, along with specific technical job skills, to start climbing the ladder. Today, most of the ladders are decimated. If those jobs still exist, the needed knowledge and skills of those jobs have changed . . . and change again every day.
These are the greatest times of opportunity we have seen in human history — but only if you know how to seize them. To succeed you need to change with the way the world is working now. If you are unemployed, underemployed, or want to take control of your financial future, here are seven strategies to thrive in the new world.
1. Adapt to the new reality.
Over the last decade we have witnessed the death rattle of an era gone by. The corporate structure and monolithic systems of the industrial age have begun to crumble. We are returning to the way we started — as entrepreneurs. When America was founded, the majority of people had their own business, farm, market or trade. People used their skillsets and hobbies to make a living as entrepreneurs. Then the industrial age flipped the ratio and most people became employed by new systems of repetitive labor and mass production.  Technology recently wired all of us directly to each other, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels, giving every entrepreneur immediate and direct access to a global marketplace of opportunity, right from their fingertips . . . or laptop. This means competition doesn't just come from the business down the street, but also from every basement or second bedroom of every home in every city or suburb in every country of the world. You better become a continual learner and constantly improve your special skills.
2. Stop looking for a job and start looking for an opportunity.
Take the skills you have as an employee and turn those into a contract services business. You have an expertise, knowledge and experience in something that's unique to you. Your skillset might be so unique you don't even recognize it as personal expertise. What is your experience, knowledge or unique gifts? Ask a good friend, colleague or former employer to tell you. Once you discover your specialization, hire your expertise out, offer it to multiple businesses and entrepreneurs who need what you can deliver. More companies are hiring consultants and contractors for specific projects, specialized skills and services. Bartering services on the Internet are booming — sites like SwapASkil.com, UExchange.com, TradeAway.com and SwapThing.com.
3. What do you have?
What goods do you have that others might want? What goods do you have easy access to that most do not? What goods can you make that people would want? Answer one or more of those questions and take it to market through eBay or an automated Amazon.com store. You also can write about your area of skill or expertise. You can create a how-to information book and sell it through ClickBank, create a podcast or video blog series and distribute it through iTunes or other distributions channels. Follow through on a great idea. There are probably thousands of people who want to know what you know or how to do what you do. Plus, it has never been cheaper to build, outfit and market your business than it is today. Vendors are flexible and partnerships are open.
4. Who do you know?
If you want to calculate your potential for increased wealth, don't look at your current bank balance, cars or property inventory. Look at the inventory of your high caliber relationships. With the Industrial Age over, we are now in the Relationship Age. Unequivocally, the relationships you build will be your No. 1 asset in these expanding and fast-changing times. Your ability to network is the skill you want to hone, practice and master. Your ability to get to, connect with and establish relationships with important and purposeful people will be your gateway to any goal, destination or aspiration you have.
5. What problem can you solve?
The economic downturn has created a ton of new problems that need solving. Problems are food and oxygen for entrepreneurialism. Those who create solutions to our new problems will become the beneficiaries of these times. Remember, 90 percent of entrepreneurs started out at the bottom, broke or with little capital or savings. Today they are among the world's wealthiest.
6. Return to self-reliance and self-responsibility.
You make your choices; then your choices make you. Everything in your life exists because you made a choice about something. Choices are at the root of your results. Don't choose at all and you've made the choice to be the passive receiver of whatever comes your way. Most people think they take responsibility for their lives, but many people operate in the world of blaming, finger pointing and expecting someone else — or the government — to solve their problems. You can't count on anyone else for your       success but you.
7. Take control of your future!
Separate from everyone else by developing the mindset, habits, actions and persistence it's going to take for personal accountability and control of your future. Your soft skills can give you the leading edge. With the mind-blowing velocity of change and throng of competition, the skills needed for success today are less about academic, industrial, or technical training and more about soft skills — emotional intelligence, adaptability,  resiliency, relationship-building, accountability, productivity and leadership skills.
There are no secrets, shortcuts or quick fixes to success. It takes hard work, personal responsibility and positive choices. You already know all the information you need to succeed. You just need a new plan of action. Now is the time.
© 2011 Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success

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Forecast: Rhode Island grows weakly through 2015

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Forecast: Rhode Island grows weakly through 2015

via PBN.com - Latest Stories by document.write('');By Kimberley Donoghue PBN Web EditorTwitter: @kdonog on 11/18/11

Rhode Island faces three major challenges: creating jobs, solving the pension and budget problems, and streamlining its cumbersome regulatory system, two professors said.

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Hopkinton Networkers Group - Friday, Nov 18th

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our very own member, Sandra Cipriani. The facilitator for this week will be Marilyn Johnson. We are going to reverse the schedule this week and Sandra will lead a interactive discussion about

*Using Social Styles to Your Advantage*

It’s a myth that the most qualified candidates for a position get hired. There are other factors involved into making a hiring decision. The hiring manager may be asking him/herself: Will I be able to work with this candidate? Will this candidate be a good fit in my team? The only way hiring managers can see if you are a good fit is during the interview. Your challenge is to convince them that you have the right skills and that you will be a good fit for their team and the organization all in a couple of hours! Easy, right?

One tool to help you during your interview is to understand and be able to adapt to different social styles. In this session you will be able to:

• Identify your own social style
• Describe the other three social styles and their preferences
• Demonstrate how you would adapt your interview with a hiring manager who has a different social style 
• Be prepared for a interactive and fun session!

Sandra Cipriani is a Learning & Development leader with over 15 years experience in facilitation and designing curriculum for mid to large size financial organizations. She has a graduate degree in Adult and Organizational Learning from Suffolk University in Boston and has a passion for empowering and advancing employees through learning. She is also on the board of the Trainers’ Roundtable and the Hopkinton Networkers group.

For the second first hour, from 11 to 12 AM to the following agenda:
Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Introductions, and Needs & Leads.

Please note this week the Church is having an event, and we must vacate the hall by noon.
Please arrive early to network and to get started on time.


*Schedule for HNG Meetings**:*

December 2, 2011: Lydia Magill - Lydia Magill - Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching... and How to Regain Your Balance

December 16, 2011: Charlie Anderson - "Your Job Search from an HR Perspective"

*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****

January 06, 2012: *

January 20, 2012: Clare Harlow "People Reading with DiSC"



*General Information:*

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following *Agenda *items:

Welcome
Landings (with doughnuts)
Announcements
New member introductions
Needs and Leads
Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
Cleanup


For those *new members *who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
Name
Skills and Value Statement
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Your title
Your target companies
Geography of search
Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

*Directions: St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748 *

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route.

Evocative

Another in the series from Tom Asacker in his Opportunity Screams series. Worth the few minutes to watch!



How can you use this for your job search?

We are the 99%

Okay, so we are the 99%. What can we do about it? Create attention by protesting is one step.



What is the action plan from this? Where do we go from here?

One place is to the polling place and voting booth in November.

Another place would be to the local meetings of your Town Council, School Committee, Planning Board - being active there will force them to consider you.

If you are not there, you can easily be forgotten and ignored (intentionally or otherwise).

"Hey, what's wrong with me?"

Regular readers and participants of the Job Search Jam Session in September will recognize Hari Narayanan who is quoted in this article:

Cortes's colleague at the Milford center, business service representative Hari Narayanan, said local companies are willing to hire candidates - even unemployed ones - who show initiative. 

"It's more of what people have been doing while they're unemployed," he said. "Employers are looking for a skill-set. Their number one concern is finding the right people to come work for them." 

But some laid-off job hunters say it's not so easy to convince companies they're worth hiring - or even deserving of an interview. Lisa, a 44-year-old Framingham resident who withheld her last name so as not to hinder her job search, said her setbacks since losing her human resources job in May have made that task even more difficult by hurting her self-confidence.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1872805847/Job-seekers-fight-frustration-and-limited-opportunities-for-work#ixzz1bbTxghqF

There may be nothing wrong with you. Times are tough. Be confident in yourself. Layout a plan, set a target and start networking. The more you network, especially with information interviews, the better your chances will be of finding the right information and making the right connections to land where you want to be.

Hopkinton Networking Group: Hari Narayanan

Hello Everyone,

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Hari Narayanan. The facilitator for this week will be Jim Lane. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, strating at 11AM, Hari will speak about "The Job Ready List” and have dialog and answer our questions.

Speaker Topic: “The Job Ready List”

With the rush to land the right job, we at times fail or become disorganized in being truly “job ready”. Hari is an expert at coaching and teaching how to be “job ready”.

In this workshop, you will learn or just be “refreshed” on goal setting, all your KSA’s, finding the right job, re-identifying your own skills, being aware of key or winning words, talk about effective resumes and cover letters, your networking, your elevator speech, right ways to interview and how thank you letters can be effective.

About Hari Narayanan
Hari is the Career Coach and Business Service representative at the Milford, MA Workforce Central Career Center. Born in India, has a graduate degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University NY. Worked in Polaroid for 16 years spanning R&D, Engineering, Manufacturing, Customer focused product research & development until the company closed. Moved on to the other end of the spectrum to work with a private marketing company to create and establish eleven international markets for basic commodities companies. Moved on to work with a German Instrumentation company to expand their market in North America. Got laid off, again which gave him the motivation to start his own company while searching for his next career move. He is now working in Business Services for the State of Mass in the Division of Career Services. Married with two children in High School.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:
November 4, 2011 Anne Crawford "Is Your Elevator Speech Getting You to the Next Level"
November 18, 2011
December 2, 2011
December 16, 2011
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****
January 20, 2012 Clare Harlow " People Reading with DiSC"

General Information:
The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda items:
Welcome
Landings (with doughnuts)
Announcements
New member introductions
Needs and Leads
Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
Name
Skills and Value Statement
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Your title
Your target companies
Geography of search
Name and e-mail address
If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,

Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:
Jim Lane - JDlane58@hotmail.com
Sandra Cipriani - sandraopps@comcast.net
Steven Hakar - hakar4@hotmail.comm
Gil Krispien - g.krispien@verizon.net
Sandra Lowther - sandy_lowther@charter.net
Barbara McKee - barb6635@comcast.net
Ralph Sabatino - ralphsabatino@ymail.com
Salpi Sarafian - ssarafian@rcn.com
Marilyn Johnson

Hopkinton Networking Group: “Network Your Way into the Hidden Job Market”

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin. The facilitator for this week will be Ralph Sabatino. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, Joellyn will speak about "Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market".

Speaker Topic: “Network Your Way into the Hidden Job Market”

Landing an ideal career position in today’s competitive labor market requires more effort than chasing “openings” and “vacancies,” posting résumés on job boards, filling out online applications -- and waiting for responses that may never come.

In this seminar, you will learn how to break this dead-end “click and pray” cycle, by understanding what the hidden job market really is and how to effectively network your way into it. Even if you’ve attempted job-search networking without much success, this program will help you get back on track.

Material covered includes:

• The true definition of “the hidden job market;”
• The four stages of a job opening and the truths about job postings;
• What job-search networking is –- and what it isn’t;
• Common mistakes people make in job-search networking situations -- and how to avoid them;
• The importance of having a job-search plan in place before reaching out to your networking contacts;
• How to strategically build a contact list to reach hiring decision makers;

And much more!

About Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin

Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlinis a Certified Career Management Coach who runs a private career coaching practice serving executives, managers and professionals in career transition. Since 1991, Joellyn has helped countless clients find perfect career paths which are fun, fulfilling and financially-rewarding.

Joellyn has been an active contributor of sample resumes, cover letters, and career-related pieces which are featured in many publications, most recently: Gallery of Best Resumes, 5th Edition (2011); Cover Letters for Dummies (2009); and Job Search Bloopers (2008). She has also written articles for the Worcester Business Journal and has been quoted as a career expert in articles published in the d.b.a. (Worcester Telegram & Gazette supplement) and The Chicago Tribune.

Prior to her work as a career coach, Joellyn earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois, freelanced as a professional singer, and held administrative positions across multiple industry sectors, including nearly two years in the HR department of a social service agency.


Schedule for HNG Meetings:

October 21, 2011 Hari Narayanan "Check List for Being JOB READY"
November 4, 2011 Anne Crawford "Is Your Elevator Speech Getting You to the Next Level"
November 18, 2011
December 2, 2011
December 16, 2011
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****
January 20, 2012 Clare Harlow " People Reading with DiSC"



General Information:

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest/Google for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Green Jobs by the Numbers

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Green Jobs by the Numbers

via Center for American Progress by Susan Lyon on 10/2/11

There's one thing we know for certain about green jobs: They are real, well-paid, and growing. The jobs that make up the clean energy economy are on the rise when jobs in many other sectors are slipping away or moving overseas. With 14 million unemployed Americans, they are a sign of hope in an otherwise stagnant economy.

In terms of sheer growth, the clean tech sector glows especially brightly. The July 2011 report "Sizing the Clean Economy" from the Brookings Institution and Battelle's Technology Partnership Practice makes clear that emerging clean tech sectors saw explosive growth in recent years.

In particular, the clean economy sector focused on clean energy—especially wind, solar, fuel cell, smart grid, biofuel, and battery companies—grew far more quickly than the economy as a whole. The Brookings report slices and dices the data in a number of ways. But most striking is the major jobs growth in clean energy between 2003 and 2010: Solar thermal and wind grew by 18.4 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively.

This chart breaks down the top 10 of these specific clean technology industries in terms of their annual average percent change in jobs from 2003 to 2010:

Segments with initially very few jobs saw particularly dramatic change over time, though the total jobs in the segment may still be much smaller than in others with a larger baseline.
This chart breaks them down in terms of absolute change in jobs:

Some other facts and figures you should know about green jobs and the clean energy economy:

• There are currently 2.7 million jobs in the "clean economy," broadly defined to include both mature and emerging industries across the clean tech, transit, conservation, waste, agriculture, and other clean sectors.
• The clean economy as a whole—not just the clean tech sectors discussed above—grew by 8.3 percent from 2008 to 2009, in the depths of the recession. This was almost double what the overall economy grew during those years. This is in large part thanks to the Recovery Act.
• Median wages are 13 percent higher in green energy careers than the economy average.
• Three separate programs for energy efficiency retrofits employed almost 25,000 Americans in three months since earlier this year. The Weatherization Assistance Program, Energy Efficiency Block Grant Program, and State Energy Programs collectively upgraded over half a million buildings since they began to ramp up earlier this year. These programs mainly hired construction workers, a key point during a time of particularly heavy unemployment in the construction sector.

In sum, the clean economy has continued to grow even while industries across America have had to lay off workers or close up shop. Instead of dancing on the grave of those few clean energy companies that do not make it, we need to support the smart growth policies and investments that can create more green jobs while strengthening our greater economy.
Kate Gordon is Vice President for Energy Policy, Susan Lyon is Special Assistant for Energy Policy, and Matthew Kasper is an intern with the Energy team at American Progress.
See also:

• Top 10 Reasons Why Green Jobs Are Vital to Our Economy
• Climate Progress: Getting the Facts Straight on Green Jobs

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The Full Scope of America's Jobs Crisis in 17 Charts - The Atlantic

The Full Scope of America's Jobs Crisis in 17 Charts - The Atlantic

The series of charts here show the real scope of the job crisis we are in. Staggering!

Tuition Free tax preparation classes

Do you know of anyone who is looking for seasonal employment with the Tax system?

Last year folks working through our Tuition Free tax preparation classes (Book fees have to be paid separately) were subsequently hired on for the tax season.

The details and schedule for the 10 weeks of class for this can be found here
http://web.detma.org/JobQuest/JobDetails.aspx?jo=1153050

Thanks to Hari Narayanan
Business Service Representative
Workforce Central Career Center

"Emotional Challenges Resulting from a Lay Off"

Inviting Executives and Professionals to attend FREE workshop "Career Transitions of Greater Boston" Guest Speaker: Michael Parise, Tuesday, September 20; "Emotional Challenges Resulting from a Lay Off".

Tuesday September 20th 10 AM -12:30 PM, at the Burlington Public Library Michael Parise will be talking about the emotional challenges of a lay off. This is a workshop you won't want to miss! No matter the length of time you've been in transition, it's likely you have some head trash associated with it. This is open to all (and free!) please let others know about it! Here's more info:

"Loss and Gain on Main Street"

The loss of a job is listed among the primary stressors in life, along with the death of a loved one, moving to a new city, and serious illness. How do we deal emotionally with the loss of a job or the need to transition to a new career? What is to be gained in the transition? Why do we call grieving a "project"? Michael Parise, will guide us through the rough waters of job loss and how to best deal with the grief.

Michael Parise is a Life Coach and Counselor with over 25 years experience. He works with people from all walks of life who are in transition or who simply wish to discover their true life goals and the practical strategies that will empower them to move forward. Michael has recently made his own transition from 32 years of pastoral ministry to his new career as a coach, writer, and project assistant. His experience and skills have earned him a reputation as a compassionate listener and counselor.

Meetings are free and open to the public. No pre registration necessary. We encourage all professionals /executives to attend. Business casual attire. We cover a different topic every week:

Join our LinkedIn group "Career Transitions of Greater Boston" or Visit our website at http://CareerTransitionsofGreaterBoston.com or e-mail suzanne.gray@comcast.net for more info.


Suzanne Gray and Margie Pascetta co-facilitate these weekly workshops; they each own and operate independent offices of The Entrepreneur's Source, the leading self employment coaching organization in North America; they help their clients clarify their unique career and personal goals and vision. They educate clients about business ownership and help them to explore businesses that meet their specific criteria, using a step by step process.

Hopkinton Networking Group - Dan DeMaioNewton, Christal Dionne

Hello Everyone,
The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speakers, Dan DeMaioNewton and Christal Dionne. The facilitator for this week will be Sandra Lowther. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, Dan and Christal will talk about, "Dealing with the Afflictive Emotions of Job Seeking" .

NOTE: This is my last time writing the Agenda for a little while because I have landed a six-month contract position. One of the other coordinators will continue to write the Agenda.

Dealing with the Afflictive Emotions of Job Seeking

In this session you will participate in 2 exercises (An Exercise in Gratitude and The Most Important Thing) designed to help you prevent afflictive emotions associated with job search, unemployment, and underemployment. These exercises are designed to not only help you cope in the down times, but will also help prevent the job seeker's blues from showing up in the first place.

About Dan DeMaioNewton:

As Director of Strategy and Business Development for Monster Worldwide, Dan leads Monster's largest efforts to help get job seekers better jobs faster, employers obtain the best talent more efficiently, and transform work around the globe. Dan is a recognized human capital revolutionary helping reshape recruitment in the 21st century. Leading some of the nation's largest workforce transformations, Dan's work has helped millions of job seekers getting better jobs and hundreds of thousands of employers hiring the right talent faster. Dan served as the chief architect re-engineering USAJOBS - the award-winning official job site for the U.S. Federal government. Under his leadership, USAJOBS became the 5th most visited job site on the Internet, and changed the way every American looks at a career with the Federal government.
He has built, managed, and driven high performance in several of the most influential career sites in the industry, including:

a.. STEMPower - Helping drive success for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics for Central Massachusetts
b.. USAJOBS - The official job site for the US Federal Government
c.. BetterJobsFaster.org - The online community site for job seekers to find ways to help them get better jobs faster.
d.. StudentJobs - the official US Federal job site for Student Internships, Fellowships, Entry Level jobs with the US Federal Government.
e.. OhioMeansJobs - enabling every Ohio employer free access to 3.5M active job seekers through Monster.com's resume database
f.. Helmets to Hardhats - The Career Site for Veterans to obtain meaningful careers in construction. Strongly affiliated with the US Dept of Defense and all labor unions.
g.. Hurricane Relief - Monster partnered job site for those impacted by Hurricane Katrina for volunteer, survivor, and reconstruction workers.
h.. Democratic and Republican National Convention Volunteer Sites - coordinating the registration, background checks, training, and volunteer activities for the 2004 and 2008 conventions
i.. Extreme Hiring Makeover - Led year-long engagement to sustainably raise-the-bar for Federal government recruitment (www.extremehiringmakeover.org)
j.. Monster Evolutions - Chief Architect behind Monster's better outplacement solution to ease the departure and speed the arrival
k.. Kix.com - Kentucky Indiana Regional Exchange helping transform 26 counties and transform the regional economy.
l.. Pathways Out of Poverty - Helping develop new career opportunities for regions with a challenged workforce
Dan has 3 patents-pending relating to technologies that help job seekers get better jobs faster, and has introduced more than a dozen innovations into Monster.com to help it deliver greater value to employers and job seekers. His passionate work designing and building effective ways to help job seekers find, obtain, and advance their careers brings powerful insights and a unique perspective to help job seekers.

About Christal Dionne:

For nearly half a decade, Christal has been working to help job seekers across the US find jobs, get better jobs, and advance their careers. At Monster, she works with national, state, and local workforce development leaders and leading employers to improve their recruitment and hiring practices. She's been responsible for job seeker support services for USAJOBS, the award-winning career site for the US Federal government, Helmets to Hardhats - helping Veterans gain great careers in construction, and several other hiring programs. As a result of her work at Monster, with national customers, and with job seekers, Christal has a unique perspective on the changing labor market and how you can get an advantage to get hired.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:

October 7, 2011 Joellyn Schwerdlin "Network Your Way Into the Hidden Job Market"
October 21, 2011
November 4, 2011
November 18, 2011
December 2, 2011
December 16, 2011

General Information:

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following agenda items:
Welcome
Landings (with doughnuts)
Announcements
New member introductions
Needs and Leads
Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
Name
Skills and Value Statement
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Your title
Your target companies
Geography of search
Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,
Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:
Sandra Cipriani sandraopps@comcast.net
Gil Krispien g.krispien@verizon.net
Jim Lane jdlane58@hotmail.com
Sandra Lowther sandy_lowther@charter.net
Barbara McKee barb6635@comcast.net
Ralph Sabatino ralphsabatino@ymail.com
Salpi Sarafian ssarafian@rcn.com

Visualizing the Local Effects of Recovery Spending on Job Loss [Interactive ...

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Visualizing the Local Effects of Recovery Spending on Job Loss [Interactive Map]

via ReadWriteWeb by Curt Hopkins on 9/9/11

In the wake of U.S. President Obama's speech on jobs last night, we present this mapping of Recovery Act spending. Development Seed, the same folks who mapped the famine in the Horn of Africa, have turned their attention on America.

Development Seed has mapped Recovery Act spending on a county-by-county basis and compared it with county unemployment figures over the same time period. So, does government spending have a positive effect in job recovery? That would be telling and we're going to abide by the doctor's prescription not to tell when you can show. The map is after the jump.

Sponsor

The change in unemployment over the last year is reflected in the colors, with red indicating an increase and green indicating a lower unemployment rate, or job growth. Counties that received under $10 million in recovery funds show a white hash pattern. The counties with the most spending - about a third - are shown in solid colors.
Dave Cole discussed the results of the mapping on Development Seed's blog.

"Overall, it's impossible to tell for sure how much recovery spending improved the economic situation, because we just don't know how bad things could have been. It may be the case that without spending, this map would have a lot more red. Or maybe not. What's interesting here is the local impact and information we are able to see from processing a few sets of open data."

If you liked this, you may also be interested in the data visualization mapping Audrey Watters covers in her post for O'Reilly's Radar. That one maps U.S. job losses by location since 2004.
Discuss

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JSJS3 - Financial Report

The financial report for the recent Job Search Jam Sessions 3 is available for review.




If there are any questions, please feel free to ask.

The net proceeds and anonymous donation amount (total $127.83) will be sent to St John the Evangelist Church as promised. The parish center they allow us to use for this event is just the right size.

So do you want to share your job search story?

If you want to do more to explore social media tools, there is an opportunity to blog!

In the session on "Exploring Social Media Tools", the discussion was lively and wide ranging. Blogs provide an opportunity to position yourself with content creation. Twitter provides a link for Google with only 140 characters. LinkedIn is for professional networking. Facebook is used more for family and friends. Google+ is the new kid on the block with opportunities to make an impact. This is a quick summary that does not do full justice to the discussion. It does provide an indication of the give and take. Most in the room participated in one or more of the tools mentioned.

This site serves a dual purpose. One it provides a publication vehicle for my 'job search notes'. Two, it provides a central base point for the Job Search Jam Session events.

To further your own exploration of social media, if you want to do a guest post on your job search efforts, to share a tip or two on what you have found, this is one place you can do so. You can dip your toe into the water and see if you like it. The site is already established, you won't have to worry about setting it up or anything related to getting started. You can focus on creating the post.

Send me an email expressing your interest and we can take it from there. If the guest post works well for you, you can consider becoming a regular contributor here, or going off and establishing your own site. Either way, I'll be able to provide support and help.

So do you want to share your story?

Session: I'm on LinkedIn - now what?

The presentation copy I used for one of the two LinkedIn sessions I lead at the recent Job Search Jam Sessions

I'm On LinkedIn: Now What?

For the second session, I brought up LinkedIn and we went page to page to answer the questions being asked.

Joanne Dustin's Presentation

Joanne Dustin shares the presentation she used on Friday for our recent Job Search Jam Sessions:

Building Relationships the Key to Successful Interviewing Presentation 09012011


The Guide to Successful Interviewing:

Guide to Successful Interviewing


How to build and use a Contact List

How to Build and Use a Contact Network for Job Search

Thanks Joanne!

A total of 49 learned and shared

At the end of the Job Search Jam Sessions 3, this is what the schedule board looked like.



Yes, the sticky notes didn't want to stay on the shiny white board and even with masking tape, they had trouble staying in place.

49 people participated, 31 of the 35 who pre-registered showed up along with 18 walk-ins. Everyone seemed to get what they needed. The sessions were interactive.

I'll have the full financial accounting available later along with other reflections and take-aways!

Alert: USAJobs website going dark for 1 week

If you have used the USAJobs website, you should be aware that due to an upcoming upgrade, it will go dark for about one week. 

While USAJobs goes dark, between October 6^th and 12^th, no new federal job postings will be put online and OPM officials are currently working with federal agencies to extend application deadlines for jobs posted on the site. According to the Washington Post, the site currently costs about $6 million a year to operate with the agency planning to invest an additional $6 million in improvements over the next year. Visitors to the new and improved USAJobs can expect a more streamlined experience, with periodic updates of application statuses and the eliminating of users having to enter their personal and professional data multiple times.

Read the full posting here: 
http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2011/09/01/usajobs-will-go-offline-in-anticipation-of-october-relaunch.aspx




If you haven't visited USAJobs, you should! http://www.usajobs.com/

Final prep

Friday is almost here. You have registered for Job Search Jam Sessions. What will the day be like?

This will be your time to find out what others know, get your questions answered from those who can answer them, and get to network with others to build your listing of valuable connections.

How should I prepare?
Come to the event prepared to share something you have learned along the way. Come prepared for learn. Come prepared to network (bring business cards).

How should I dress?
Dress as you would for any other networking event, business casual or business comfortable. You still want to make a good first impression but a suit or tux is not required.

What does the facility look like?
Check out the brief video of the facility recorded during May 2010:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/2010/05/video-tour-of-job-search-jam-session.html

What will the schedule be?
Check out the overall schedule here:
http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/p/schedule.html

When do the doors open?
The registration/welcome desk will be open at 8:30 AM.
You can check in, pay at the door (if you elected to do that), and make a name tag.

Beginning at 9:00 AM (or thereabouts) we'll provide an overview of an unconference using the open space technology.

If you want to read up on the unconference format, you can find info here
http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?AboutOpenSpace
here
http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?WorkingInOpenSpace
and here:
http://podcamp.pbworks.com/ scroll down the page to view the section on how to "host a podcamp"

What is the registration fee being used for?
1 - We intentionally don't want to make money, we are all looking for work and recognize that funds are tight.
2 - We did want to charge something to ensure a reasonable headcount for planning purposes.

Hence, the $8 charge seems reasonable and allows us to plan a good event and to make a contribution to the church for the use of the facility.

Your registration fee ($8.00) paid via Eventbrite nets the organizing team approx. $6.50 (Eventbrite has a charge for processing the credit card).

From the $6.50 times however many people show up, we will plan for refreshments, lunch and will purchase accordingly.

All surplus funds will be donated to the St John the Evangelist Parish. The church has graciously allowed us use of the facility for free. A full accounting of the receipts and expenses will be provided to the attendees.

You can still talk about the event with your friends, neighbors and networked connections. Registrations will be taken at the door on Friday. You can share the event website http://jobsearchjamsessions.blogspot.com/

or have them go directly to the registration page http://jobsearchjamsessions2.eventbrite.com/


Thank you. See you soon!

The Job Search Jam Sessions organizing committee

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