plus 3, If you can be concise, you can tweet your way into new a job, authors ... - Chicago Sun-Times

If you can be concise, you can tweet your way into new a job, authors ... - Chicago Sun-Times
DirectEmployers Association Working To Change Job Search Industry - Huffingtonpost.com
New approach to online job listings - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Feds slow on providing money for Florida's Back to Work program - St. Petersburg Times

If you can be concise, you can tweet your way into new a job, authors ... - Chicago Sun-Times

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 02:17 AM PST

If you keep your resume under 140 characters, you may be able to tweet your way into a new career, according to Susan Britton Whitcomb, Deb Dib and Chandlee Bryan, co-authors of the recently published book The Twitter Job Search Guide. The micro-blogging Web site is changing how people hunt for work, they said.

The authors give these tips for your short and sweet, real-time job search:

• Active participation is essential. Take the time to regularly expand your network and engage others. Building relationships online requires patience, but you should be able to enhance your reputation and develop a fan base using just 15 minutes a day.

• Be transparent when reaching out to a hiring manager or person with influence about a job, but make sure the relationship is give-and-take in some way. Don't just ask them to give you a position. Instead, give advice or demonstrate expertise on a subject that matters to them, and let them know you're looking for work.

• Be sure to post regular updates about your job search, and acknowledge those who are helping you along the way.

• Be specific when it comes to your career objectives, skills, interests and your brand. AP

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

DirectEmployers Association Working To Change Job Search Industry - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 07:48 AM PST

WASHINGTON — Bill Warren founded an early online job board in the 1990s, helped kick-start an industry and was president of Monster.com, one of the leading Internet career sites. But these days he's not very happy with the results.

So he's taking another crack at it, going after Monster, Career Builder and similar commercial job sites. Warren is starting a nonprofit job listing system that could lower the costs that employers pay to list positions and make the process easier and more fruitful for applicants.

He has the enthusiastic backing of hundreds of large companies, including IBM Corp., American Express, AT&T Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, the kinds of employers that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year searching for new talent.

"This is probably the most significant play that I've seen ... since the invention of the online job board," said Joshua Akers, vice president of RecruitingBlogs.com, a social networking site for human resources professionals.

The commercial rivals say they are ready for new competition. "We remain confident that we're one of the most cost-effective sources of hiring for recruiters today," said Monster spokesman Matt Henson.

Warren, 68, says that those commercial sites charge employers so much to list openings that the companies don't post all their jobs – leaving potential applicants unaware of opportunities. Warren also believes that the sites push too much advertising on jobseekers and include too many "work at home" scam jobs.

Meanwhile, employers want ways to have a direct relationship with jobseekers. Many say they prefer resumes that are tailored to the positions they're trying to fill, not a generic resume posted online. As the ranks of the unemployed have doubled to roughly 15 million, recruiters say the response to jobs they post on the boards has gotten overwhelming.

The solution that Warren hopes to launch next month is being hatched by the DirectEmployers Association, a group formed by more than 500 large companies. Warren is executive director.

The association's plan calls for companies to list jobs under the Internet's ".jobs" domain name – similar to ".com" or ".edu" – to better organize job listings on the Web. For instance, someone can visit ATT.jobs to see all the listings at that company.

DirectEmployers' software will automatically code such listings to make them easily searchable by city or occupation. The association also will sort the listings in as many as 30,000 regional ".job" Web addresses it hopes to begin rolling out in March, such as "atlanta.jobs." That will help people search for jobs in specific places. The group hopes to add thousands of occupational domain names, such as "engineer.jobs," later this year.

Companies that belong to the association pay a $15,000 annual membership fee and will receive prominent placement on the ".jobs" Web sites. Smaller companies can purchase a ".jobs" domain name for about $125 a year and then post jobs for free. They can also work through their state employment agencies, which post jobs online at no charge.

At those prices, the new ".jobs" system could be another online innovation that undercuts what currently exists – much as the invention of job boards themselves undermined newspaper help-wanted ads.

Monster.com's basic rate is $395 per job posting, though it offers volume discounts. Companies also pay to search the resumes that applicants have posted. (Jobseekers can access the sites for free.) Considering that some Fortune 500 companies hire thousands of workers a year, even in tough times, the cost of listing all their open jobs can approach $1 million.

One company planning to participate in Warren's new system is Newell Rubbermaid Inc. Mike Rickheim, vice president for global talent acquisition at the consumer products maker, still plans to use commercial job boards to post some positions, but that "will likely continue to trend downward" once the new system is running, he said.

Still, the commercial job boards say they are ready. Henson at Monster.com said the company's recent acquisition of Yahoo's HotJobs gives it the world's largest online jobs and resume databases. Monster has developed new search technology for its site that makes it easier and quicker for employers to sift through resumes and find the most relevant ones, he said.

Career Builder, which is owned by Microsoft Corp. and media companies Gannett Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co., didn't return several calls seeking comment. The company says it lists 1 million jobs and 31 million resumes. Monster wouldn't provide equivalent figures.

Warren started Online Career Center, the first online job board, in 1992. It was bought by TMP Worldwide in 1995, then combined with Monster.com in 1999. Warren says he left Monster that year after the then-chairman of the company set a goal of raising the price of an online help-wanted ad to $1,000.

"I just did not agree with that philosophy," he said. "I thought the Internet was more open than that and I thought the price of ads would be going down in the future and that's exactly what's happening," he said.

Still, Warren insists he isn't seeking revenge against Monster or any other company. "I wouldn't know anyone at Monster if I walked in the door today," he said.

Instead, he said, his goal to help more people get back to work faster.

That might be a stretch, according to David Autor, a labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Efficiently matching applicants and companies is only a small part of the problem when it comes to filling jobs. An employer still has to decide who is the best fit.

"The challenge for employers has not changed in the Internet age," he said. "It's hard to figure out who is the right person to hire."

Get HuffPost Business On Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz! Know something we don't? E-mail us at huffpostbiz@gmail.com

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

New approach to online job listings - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Posted: 25 Feb 2010 10:14 PM PST

Bill Warren founded an early online job board in the 1990s, helped kick-start an industry and was president of Monster.com, one of the leading Internet career sites. But these days he's not very happy with the results.

So he's taking another crack at it, going after Monster, Career Builder and similar sites. Warren is starting a nonprofit job listing system that could lower the costs that employers pay to list positions and make the process easier and more fruitful for applicants.

Warren, 68, says commercial sites charge employers so much to list openings that the companies don't post all their jobs — leaving applicants unaware of opportunities. Warren also believes the sites push too much advertising on jobseekers and include too many "work at home" scam jobs.

The solution that Warren hopes to launch next month is being hatched by the DirectEmployers Association, a group formed by more than 500 large companies. Warren is executive director.

The association's plan calls for companies to list jobs under the Internet's ".jobs" domain name — similar to ".com" or ".edu" — to better organize job listings on the Web. For instance, someone can visit ATT.jobs to see all the listings at that company.

DirectEmployers' software will automatically code such listings to make them easily searchable by city or occupation. The association also will sort the listings in as many as 30,000 regional ".job" Web addresses it hopes to begin rolling out in March, such as "atlanta.jobs." The group hopes to add thousands of occupational domain names, such as "engineer.jobs," later this year.

Companies that belong to the association pay a $15,000 annual membership fee and will receive prominent placement on the ".jobs" websites. Smaller companies can purchase a ".jobs" domain name for about $125 a year and then post jobs for free.

At those prices, the new ".jobs" system could be another online innovation that undercuts what currently exists — much as the invention of job boards themselves undermined newspaper help-wanted ads.

Warren started Online Career Center, the first online job board, in 1992. It was bought by TMP Worldwide in 1995, then combined with Monster.com in 1999. Warren says he left Monster that year after the then-chairman set a goal of raising the price of an ad to $1,000.

Still, Warren insists he isn't seeking revenge against Monster or any other company. Instead, he said, his goal to help more people get back to work faster.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Feds slow on providing money for Florida's Back to Work program - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 05:01 AM PST

By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, March 5, 2010

Florida's Back to Work Program was announced with great fanfare in December.

Using federal stimulus dollars, the government pledged to pay up to 95 percent of salary and training costs for lower-income workers that Florida employers agreed to hire and keep on at least through September.

Within three months, 900 projects were lined up to create nearly 10,600 jobs, more than half at small businesses — child care, restaurants, lawn services.

And the nearly $200 million the federal government promised to fund the program?

So far, it's a no-show.

The program was supposed to begin Feb. 1, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has yet to release any money beyond funds for a small, pilot program through Citrus and Levy counties.

"We don't comment on our timetable for when money is being distributed, but I do know everybody is working really hard on this," Jesse Moore, a spokesman for Health and Human Services said Thursday.

"We're trying to get money out as quickly as possible … to get people back to work as quickly as possible."

Robby Cunningham, spokesman for the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, said all the projects have been cleared by the state, so federal money is the final hurdle. "We're anticipating the funding coming from Health and Human Services any day," he said.

Ed Peachey, for one, isn't waiting.

Peachey runs Clearwater-based WorkNet Pinellas, one of 24 regional work force boards in Florida that are administering the program. As he waits for federal money to arrive, Peachey is prepared to dip into other funding sources in his budget so employers can start ramping up.

"This is our main priority" to help create jobs, he said. "It's huge."

When the program was unveiled late last year, Peachey scrambled over the holiday season to make December deadlines for submitting projects.

His push paid off: WorkNet lined up 18 employers promising to create 979 jobs in return for $21.3 million in federal subsidies. That's second only to Miami-Dade County in pledged job creation.

In contrast, the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance so far has gotten approval for 20 projects in Hillsborough County, creating just 70 jobs worth $1.5 million in subsidies, according to state documents.

Among the employers who have signed up through WorkNet Pinellas: Avantair, DRS Technologies, Goodwill, St. Petersburg College, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Sirata Beach Resort and VeriFone Inc.

Even WorkNet is tapping the subsidies to hire up to 25 people, some of whom will help run the very program paying their way.

By far, the biggest participant in Pinellas is BayCare Health Systems. The hospital network committed to hiring up to 586 workers, for which it could receive an estimated government subsidy up to $14 million. Its roster of available jobs runs the gamut: registered nurses and LPNs, surgical techs, patient care workers, a lab medical assistant, a speech therapist, a cook.

Nonprofits, like BayCare, and public entities are not required to pledge that they will keep the new hires past September.

Cunningham and others involved with the program said there is an "expectation" that private employers will keep the workers once the federal subsidy runs out in September. But there's no guarantee of long-term employment.

That short window makes it all the more urgent to fill jobs quickly, giving workers several months of on-the-job experience before the program expires. "It's always easier to find a job when you have one already, even if it's a temporary job," Peachey said.

According to HHS data, Florida so far has received only $1.7 million in subsidized employment funds, which went toward a pilot program that staffs a Department of Children and Families call center. In contrast, California has received $195 million and New York $191 million.

Getting federal funding isn't the only hold-up. There's also a concern of finding qualified candidates quickly.

Despite an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent in Pinellas and a stream of job seekers at one-stop career centers, WorkNet Pinellas so far is having trouble finding enough candidates matching the subsidized jobs.

Listings in major job sites, newspapers and WorkNet Pinellas' Web site have drawn a mild response. "I'm really surprised we haven't had more interest," Peachey said.

Jeff Harrington can be reached at jharrington@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8242.

How Back to Work works

Part of the federal stimulus program, the Back to Work Program offers government subsidies to employers who agree to hire short-term employees through Sept. 20. The government will subsidize 80 percent of salary costs. Add in additional government money to cover the cost of training and supervising the new workers, and up to 95 percent of employers' costs for bringing on the new employee may be covered.

The program targets Floridians who are currently receiving cash assistance or have family income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The state determines income level based on the applicant's prior 30 days income, so someone who recently lost a high-paying job and now has low family income and a minor child may qualify.

10,590 jobs in the works

So far, Florida's 24 work force boards have received state approval for a total of 900 Back to Work projects. Pending federal approval, they would receive $195.6 million in federal stimulus funds to subsidize a total of 10,590 newly created jobs with private employers. To receive the subsidy, employers must agree to keep the jobs at least through September. Here's a breakdown of approved projects in the Tampa Bay area:

Source: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation

[Last modified: Mar 04, 2010 11:25 PM]

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

JOB Career

Work at home

Gain financial independence

How it works?

Friday, March 5, 2010

plus 3, If you can be concise, you can tweet your way into new a job, authors ... - Chicago Sun-Times

plus 3, If you can be concise, you can tweet your way into new a job, authors ... - Chicago Sun-Times

No comments:

Post a Comment