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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