plus 2, Immigrants finding jobs quicker - Daily Oklahoman

Immigrants finding jobs quicker - Daily Oklahoman
Bill Belichick recalls his career in Cleveland - Boston Herald
Before you accept a job offer, consider what you might be getting into - St. Petersburg Times

Immigrants finding jobs quicker - Daily Oklahoman

Posted: 02 Nov 2010 09:45 PM PDT

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Bill Belichick recalls his career in Cleveland - Boston Herald

Posted: 06 Nov 2010 06:17 AM PDT

FOXBORO - The arena, mercifully, was replaced, as aging Municipal Stadium gave way to the comparatively gleaming Cleveland Browns Stadium.

None of the players are the same. In fact, the franchise moved to Baltimore and calls itself the Ravens.

"There's not a lot of carryover," Patriots [team stats] coach Bill Belichick said.

But when the Pats play the Browns tomorrow, Belichick will coach on the same plot of land where he stood wearing orange and brown in the early 1990s while attempting to guide a storied team past a period of mediocrity.

There will be more unfamiliarity than familiarity when he arrives in Cleveland, but Belichick didn't shy away from the significance of his return.

"It really all started there," Belichick said yesterday of the team that re-started its history with expansion in 1999. "(There were) a lot of positives in that experience. It helped me do some things better in my career later on."

The Browns head coach from 1991-95, Belichick exited the stage when they exited the state. He led the team to an 11-5 season and a playoff win in 1994 before it came apart in 1995, leaving him jobless and soul-searching.

Six years later, he led the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win.

"We didn't have a very good team when we got there," Belichick said. "We had a real good team by '94, 1995 was a bad year, but I don't think it was a bad team. I accept that. Could it have been better? Sure. Did I learn a lot? Yeah, I learned something every year."

As Pats coach, Belichick has returned to Cleveland twice. In 2000, his team lost, 19-11. In 2004, they smacked the Browns, 42-15.

Players said Belichick barely mentioned his past with the team this week, describing the Browns as a team with "new faces, new schemes."

That was true in 1991. It's just that the faces turned out to be famous ones. His staff included future successful college coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Fresno State's Pat Hill and Al Groh, the former Virginia coach. The personnel staff included future Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, future Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and the father of Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff.

While the wins did not come, the learning did.

"It's a long list of people who have done very well in various areas of professional and college football, really outstanding," Belichick said. "They did a great job for me and watching them coach and interacting with them, I learned a lot about the things that they were doing."

Belichick isn't the only one with Browns memories. Backup quarterback Brian Hoyer, a Cleveland native, was a 10-year-old when his beloved Browns played their last game at Municipal Stadium. He recalled fans ripping seats out and throwing them onto the field in anger. He joked that he still has Bernie Kosar jerseys in his closet. Hoyer also remembered seeing Belichick on the sidelines.

"It's surreal that the coach you went to go watch when you were a little kid is your coach," Hoyer said.

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Before you accept a job offer, consider what you might be getting into - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 06 Nov 2010 01:38 AM PDT

By Cindy Krischer Goodman, McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers
In Print: Sunday, November 7, 2010

Mary Young, left, heads the career center at the University of Miami. She advises people to do their homework on a company before accepting a job offer.
	[McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers]

After nine months of unemployment, Susan Sands took a job as an administrative assistant. Two weeks later, she wished she hadn't. • A single mom, she discovered her boss was a workaholic, that taking vacation was taboo and that the work day ended well after 7 p.m. She was headed for work/life disaster.

The job market is showing signs of life, but with U.S. unemployment nearly 10 percent, most workers feel fortunate just to land a position. In fact, they feel so fortunate they often ignore warning signs that the job doesn't fit with their life needs.

"What's happening is that people are enamored by a brand or a certain kind of profession and they take the offer without doing due diligence," said Mary Young, director of Ziff Graduate Career Services Center at University of Miami School of Business. "It's potentially disastrous for everyone."

For jobs filled in the past year, turnover is hard to track. James Pedderson, spokesman for global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, thinks most people who landed positions are hanging on to them, building their network of contacts, keeping their resumes updated and waiting for the economy to strengthen.

Before signing up for a dream job that might become a nightmare, you need to dig deeper into the company culture. In most companies, there is a range of benefits that, when packaged together, can really make a difference in a worker's life. Often that information is available on a company website.

"It's not a guarantee of a family-friendly workplace, but it's a start," said Judith Casey, director of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College Graduate School of Social Work.

Almost as important, she said, is learning if the benefits and policies can actually be used for the position you are considering without suffering a penalty. "Some organizations, for example, may allow flexibility for their supervisors but not for their line workers," Casey said.

When work/life problems crop up, they typically involve a worker's supervisor or the business owner. Benefits may be available, but if your supervisor isn't on board, you might as well work for an employer who doesn't offer them at all. Experts suggest you investigate the issue during the interview. Ask questions such as, "How long have you worked here?" "If I could talk to people who work for you, what would they say?"

Finding out why a position is open is important, too. You might ask: "Was the last person who had this role promoted?" Also ask about work hours. You may want to check out the parking lot in late evening and see how many workers stick around after standard hours.

The best sources of information on culture are insiders. At the office, people talk. When they leave a company, they talk. Consider a Google search to see what surfaces. Your social network might turn up a contact who has worked at this organization or, more specifically, in your future department. "In huge companies, one department might be great and another a sweatshop," said Catherine Jewell, career coach and author of New Resume New Career.

For someone looking for a family-friendly workplace, check out the various "best places to work" lists. For more work/life benefits, try pinpointing companies where women fill top positions and females are a larger proportion of the work force.

A Families and Work Institute study revealed that companies with women in half or more of their top executive positions are more likely to provide traditional flex time and day care. And companies with a larger proportion of female workers are more likely to provide family-oriented benefits. A company's website can be a treasure trove of information on what positions are held by women.

Employment attorney Frances Green suggests if an employer touts himself as family-friendly, ask for examples. "If the employer can point to such things as flex-time work for employees or job-sharing arrangements, such policies would suggest that the employer values a good work/life balance."

Whether you are a 20-something who wants time for a hobby at night or a 60-something who wants a reduced schedule, job interviews are about whether the position fits your needs, too.

Marcia McPherson, CEO of Employment Resources in Tamarac, said candidates mistakenly allow a job interview to be a one-way conversation. "Go in prepared with questions. You are trying to see if you are a match. If flexibility is important, go in prepared with that question."

[Last modified: Nov 05, 2010 05:59 PM]