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Employment

Hiring Managers Cite Military Experience As A Plus For Job Seekers

Posted: 12/21/2011

Hiring managers cite military experience as a plus for job seekers.

(NAPSI)—New research finds employers not only value military experience in job applicants, but the skills veterans develop during service may give them an edge.

The research is particularly timely, as the U.S. is committed to downgrading its military operations and an increasing number of war veterans are finding they need considerable career guidance and training when they return home.

To expand the limited research on success criteria for military personnel entering civilian careers, the University of Phoenix Research Institute surveyed hiring managers in diverse industries. The findings are published in the report “Hiring Heroes: Employer Perceptions, Preferences, and Hiring Practices Related to U.S. Military Personnel.”

Veterans have, of course, always faced barriers when competing for and transitioning into civilian jobs. In 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that reservists and National Guard members had much higher unemployment rates than civilians.

Today, however, many hiring managers are citing military experience as a plus, saying veterans possess skills and attributes that play well on the job. This is good news for veterans who face unique barriers including disabilities, poor transition assistance, concerns about calls to active duty, and misperceptions about their skills.

It is, in fact, military skills such as leadership and team building that employers say are highly valued and transferable to civilian jobs. The research finds 92 percent of respondents said employers have few reservations about hiring military personnel as long as they are qualified. Three- quarters of respondents said that employers have few concerns about hiring reservists or National Guard members, even though these employees might be called away from work.

The research was highlighted in a recent webinar, “From Enlisted to Employed: Educating Military Veterans for Civilian Careers,” presented by the University of Phoenix Research Institute and hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The webinar panel featured academic, industry and military experts who examined the challenges service members face when entering the current workforce. Panelists also discussed how educators can better meet service members’ needs and how service-people can best position themselves for civilian jobs.

Moderator Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice president and managing director of the University of Phoenix Research Institute, says, “Given our current economic climate, it is imperative that we not only help job seekers understand what employers need today, but also encourage partnerships between educators and industries to develop a strong employment pipeline for the future.”

For the full report and access to the webinar, visit www.phoenix.edu/institute.

Building Out Broadband Creates New Jobs

Posted: 12/21/2011

Efforts to expand broadband are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs.

(NAPSI)—The proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile means good news for the economy.

Together, AT&T and T-Mobile will build a network that will provide high-speed wireless Internet access to more than 97 percent of Americans, many in rural areas. Besides improving broadband availability and quality of service, the investment needed to build this network is expected to create as many as 96,000 new jobs.

“Broadband deployment is a powerful job creator and will meaningfully improve the quality of life for millions of Americans,” said former Congressman Rick Boucher, Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) honorary chairman. “There are very few steps that can be taken that would do more to help the American economy today than extending broadband service nationwide.”

According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), this additional infrastructure investment will result in:

• Direct jobs with the carriers;

• Supplier jobs with companies that provide products and services including network equipment, handset devices and software applications; and

• Induced jobs as a result of the general increase in economic activity.

As a result of the merger, an additional $8 billion will be invested in building out this network, resulting in 1 million more square miles of network coverage nationwide, including currently uncovered small towns and rural areas.

Better broadband access will also provide benefits to economic development—particularly small businesses, education and health care. Faster data speeds pave the way for innovation and growth. Small businesses will have the opportunity to grow their customer base, improve their day-to-day operations, create greater organizational efficiencies and increase their profits.

Additionally, network expansion will benefit local businesses by enabling them to link to markets across the country and around the world, competing in the global marketplace, no matter where they are located.

Increasing access to broadband will also allow students to benefit from opportunities, including advanced distance-learning applications and unique educational resources, whether from the library down the street or a university across the Atlantic Ocean.

With a wireless device such as a smartphone or laptop, a student can tap into a world of online education and better reach his or her full academic potential, even in settings outside traditional classroom walls.

Finally, increasing the availability of high-speed broadband Internet will give more Americans access to telemedicine, saving money and saving lives. Telemedicine helps increase patient access to primary and specialty care, allows for remote health monitoring and, especially in rural communities, helps patients cut down on long-distance travel to and from health care facilities.

Broadband expansion means better opportunities related to jobs, education and health care.

Free Agents Redefine The Workplace

Posted: 12/8/2011

A large percentage of free agents are highly skilled professionals with advanced degrees.

(NAPSI)—If you are searching for a job or looking for a career change, you may be surprised to discover that becoming a free agent is a growing trend. A new study by one of the nation’s leading staffing firms, Kelly Services®, finds that 44 percent of employees now classify themselves as free agents and the shift is growing across several generational groups. A free agent is someone who consults, performs temporary or freelance work, or has his or her own business.

Changes in the economy and the aging workforce played a big roll in the increase of free agents. However, the Kelly Services 2011 Free Agent Survey found that 73 percent of free agents voluntarily chose that lifestyle because they were looking for more freedom and flexibility in their careers. That could explain why 38 percent of Generation X, 49 percent of baby boomers and 66 percent of the Silent Generation have made the move to free agency.

How skilled is this new workforce? The survey found that compared to traditional employees, more free agents had technical and professional skills and over one-third had an advanced degree. Career partners like Kelly Services offer a wide range of services to help employees start, advance and change their career paths by helping them secure assignments and handle much of the paperwork associated with free agent work.

To learn more about the free agent workforce, download the report “Free Agents: How ‘Knowledge Workers’ Are Redefining the Workplace” at http://bit.ly/r9QccY or the eBook "10 Things You Need to Know About Free Agents” at http://bit.ly/ppSTqv, or visit www.kellyservices.us.

Navigating a Relationship With a Recruiter

Posted: 11/16/2011

Stand out in your field by cultivating a good relationship with a job recruiter.

(NewsUSA) - In a weak economy with fewer available employment opportunities, job seekers must employ advanced tactics to stand apart from their competitors. Professional third-party recruiters -- sometimes called "headhunters" -- can help job seekers find positions that match their skill set and circulate their resume among hiring managers.

Recruiters are experts hired by companies to identify the best candidates for available positions. Their relationship with job seekers is mutually beneficial; recruiters need job seekers to fill positions, while job seekers want access to employers. To maximize the potential of this relationship, job seekers must understand recruiters and their role in the employment process.

What can I learn from a recruiter?

Many third-party recruiters work for multiple companies, developing a deep roster of business contacts in a range of industries. They have insight into office culture and political drivers for filling positions, as well as access to valuable market knowledge. This useful perspective can give job seekers a leg up on their competition.

How can I find the right recruiter for me?

Research a recruiter's background and reputation before forming a relationship that could negatively influence your quest for a desired position.

"Study each recruiter's level of experience, area of expertise and client base to see if your interests align," said Annette R. Uncangco, MS, director of career services at DeVry University. "Recruiters should be willing to share their success rate with you. Ask for examples of positions they secured for candidates similar to you."

Remember to be pleasant and polite throughout this process. Recruiters are like gatekeepers; while they don't decide who gets hired, they can remove a candidate from consideration at any time.

Will a recruiter speed up my job search?

Recruiters work with many job seekers and companies simultaneously, so be patient. Continue to search independently, and periodically follow up to discuss job leads. Your honesty about personal skills, qualifications and career goals will make it easier for a recruiter to swiftly identify a successful employment match for you.

What should you do before and after interviews?

Recruiters may help you prepare for an interview they arranged, building their own reputation by strengthening your interview skills. An honest conversation with your recruiter following the interview will help you identify strengths and weaknesses. It may also help the recruiter obtain valuable insight into your candidacy.

Developing a relationship with a professional third-party recruiter can significantly improve your job search and increase the odds that you are a good fit for positions where you interview. With patience, understanding and respect for the role a recruiter plays in your employment, you can open the door to promising opportunities ahead.

Five Ways to Succeed as a Travel Writer

Posted: 11/16/2011

Traveling on a regular basis is key to becoming a successful travel writer.

(NewsUSA) - As the media landscape keeps changing around us, travel writers are following many paths to success. Some are book authors, some write primarily for magazines and others are earning a good income by blogging or running destination websites. Tim Leffel, author of "Travel Writing 2.0" (http://travelwriting2.com), offers these tips on making it as a travel writer, whether in print, e-books, travel apps or the next media we haven't seen yet.

1. Get the Basics Down First. There is far too much competition in this desirable field for sub-par writers to succeed. Read books on writing well, take a course at your local community college or attend workshops that include peer and teacher reviews. At a minimum, travel writers need to master the basics of reporting and writing engaging prose before blogging or getting hired by an editor.

2. Find Your Niche. Trying to be a generalist travel writer puts you into a bloody pool with incredible competition. It is far easier to make a name for yourself becoming the expert on one region or one style of travel.

3. Be Original. Ideas are your main currency as a travel writer. The ability to find good original story ideas for any destination is often more important than what you actually put on the page.

4. Be a Professional. The main complaint of editors is that so many writers are unprofessional. They send sloppy e-mails. They miss deadlines. They make promises they can't deliver. You can rise above the pack by reading publication guidelines carefully and not wasting editors' time.

5. Travel Every Chance You Get. It's difficult to succeed as a travel writer, even a part-time one, if you are not traveling on a regular basis. It can be in your own region, but you need to go find the stories nobody else is writing and get past the routine vacations that have been reported on a thousand times already.

Learn more about travel writing in the book "Travel Writing 2.0: Earning Money From Your Travels in the New Media Landscape" or by visiting http://travelwriting2.com.

Youth Program Aims to Curb Unemployment Among Young Adults

Posted: 11/16/2011

Youth programs can give young adults the skills they need to land a job in today's tough economy.

(NewsUSA) - The economic recession has hit America's youth particularly hard. Nearly 4 million of the unemployed are young people 25 and under. Many of them are not teenagers who need a minimum-wage job to earn pocket money to spend on weekends. They're young adults who need a job -- and job skills -- so that they can support themselves and, sometimes, their families.

More than 5 million young people ages 16-24 are disconnected from employment and education and living in high-poverty communities in this country. Some of them are lucky. Some live in areas that have jobs and education programs that target youth and help them complete their education, learn job skills and find jobs that allow them to advance and earn a livable wage.

The Campaign for Youth is a coalition of national organizations that support some 400 programs across the United States that have been successful in assisting disadvantaged and disconnected youth on their path to employment. The Campaign is currently working to encourage Congress to increase federal investment in youth through summer and year-round jobs programs and other efforts that will help young people succeed and reverse the impact of the highest youth unemployment rate in 60 years.

The Campaign has developed a national strategy to reconnect youth to school and work that includes creating a White House Office of Youth Policy to coordinate federal efforts, providing grants to state and local youth development councils and community institutions, and investing in promising programs and innovations that are already successfully serving youth.

"We appreciate President Obama's efforts to provide jobs for Americans affected by the recession, but we want to ensure that America's youth participate in the recovery," said Linda Harris, co-chair of the Campaign for Youth and Youth Policy Director at CLASP. "Too often, young people, especially males of color, are left behind in economic recoveries. Putting young people to work now and investing in upgrading their skills and education credentials is the best way to prepare them to compete for good jobs with good wages that allow them to support their families when the economy rebounds. This pool of young talent will be needed to fuel our future economy, and we can't afford to let them remain idle or slip through the cracks."

The full strategy for investment is available online at www.campaignforyouth.org.

Long Term Care Industry Ranks as Nation's 10th Largest Employer

Posted: 11/16/2011

Long term care facilities and nursing homes are an engine of economic growth.

(NewsUSA) - As Washington considers reworking Medicaid -- the healthcare program for the poor -- a crucial fact remains ignored: For every $45 billion spent in Medicaid every year by federal and state governments, long term care facilities are able to generate $529 billion in total economic activity, support and create over 5.4 million jobs, and return over $60 billion in taxes back to federal and state coffers.

"In this economic engine that is the American economy, long term care is one of the pistons, consistently firing even in the worst of hardships," stated Governor Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL).

According to a national economic impact analysis compiled by AHCA using Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) data software, the long term care profession ranks as the nation's 10th largest employer, above merchandise retail, food retail and both military and non-military federal government personnel. In 2010, these companies created 63,000 jobs while many other businesses struggled to stay afloat. Long term care facilities support industries and sectors statewide, from food services to private hospitals to insurance carriers.

The report underscores the important role nursing facilities play in the U.S. economy. Parkinson hopes the report will convince lawmakers to protect the funding streams that ensure these facilities can continue to play an important role in the national economy, saying, "If states cut Medicaid, that will have direct and drastic implications on not only our profession, but more importantly our ability to serve the greatest generation. The potential for increased job growth -- a priority of every lawmaker in this country -- is huge. Our profession must receive the appropriate funding needed for us to meet the demand of baby boomers in the coming years."

For more information, visit www.ahcancal.org.

Qualifications Look Good. But Are You T-Shaped?

Posted: 9/21/2011

Employers are increasingly looking to hire “T-shaped” people.

(NAPSI)—Congress is currently considering a (NAPSI)—To land or keep your dream job, you may need to change your “shape.”

Employers are increasingly looking to hire “T-shaped people,” according to an expert webinar on future work skills conducted by the University of Phoenix Research Institute.

To know if you are “T-shaped,” consider that the vertical line of the T represents depth and the horizontal bar, breadth. A T-shaped person has general knowledge in a variety of areas and deep competence in a specialty area.

So, for example, if you are a software engineer, you might benefit by developing related skills in graphic design, project management, marketing and even a foreign language. At the same time, you need to specialize in a specific area of software engineering.

Thought leaders from IBM, Manpower, Stanford University, the University of Phoenix Research Institute and the Institute for the Future recently comprised the expert webinar panel that discussed technical and societal shifts that will require new job skills in the next 10 years. The event, sponsored by the University of Phoenix Research Institute and hosted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, drew attention to skills for future workforce success.

To illustrate how businesses can apply these forecasts, panelist Jim Spohrer, director of IBM University Programs Worldwide, spoke about transdisciplinarity—the ability to work across multiple areas of expertise.

“At IBM, we talk a lot about hiring T-shaped people who are both deep problem solvers (experts) and broad communicators who can work well on teams of experts,” said Spohrer. “Transdisciplinarity also implies people who can learn and adapt more quickly, who are better lifelong learners.”

Panel moderator Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice president and managing director of the University of Phoenix Research Institute, says many of today’s problems are too complex to be solved with one discipline. For example, a typical job at a technology firm might require knowledge of technical, financial and human-relations aspects of the business.

“Based on multiple studies by the University of Phoenix Research Institute,” said Wilen-Daugenti, “today’s workforce may not fully understand the skills they will need to be employable in the future.”

By paying attention to the future work skills identified in the webinar, workers can start to position themselves as crossfunctional contributors to the workplace.

Read the full report at www.phoenix.edu/institute.

Closing A Tax Loophole That Limits Good Jobs

Posted: 9/21/2011

More jobs might be available if Congress passes a bill to help states collect taxes they’re owed.

(NAPSI)—Congress is currently considering a change in tax regulations that would support local businesses and create more jobs for people in the community.

The Problem

Technology seems to have gotten ahead of the country’s sales tax laws. Internet retailers say they’re exempt from collecting sales tax in states where they do not have a physical presence; states argue that sales taxes are already due on all sales and should be collected at the point of purchase.

This tax loophole puts traditional, brick—and-mortar businesses—the backbone of their communities-at a distinct competitive disadvantage to remote sellers who don’t collect sales tax. This can lead to stores shutting their doors for good and jobs being lost.

In the U.S., there are more than 12 million shopping center−related jobs. One out of every 11 U.S. jobs is shopping center−related and for every 100 individuals directly employed at regional shopping centers, an additional 20 to 30 are supported in the community. This means that a decrease in retail sales will have a ripple effect on other businesses that provide jobs, such as restaurants, movie theaters and gas stations.

Moreover, states are losing critical funding, at a time when it is needed more than ever, for schools, law enforcement, first responders, government services and the jobs they provide.

“While the Internet marketplace has rapidly expanded, tax collection for e-commerce sales lags woefully behind,” said William F. Fox, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. “We urgently need a new commonsense solution for both consumers and businesses.”

A Solution

That’s where the Main Street Fairness Act comes in. It is expected to create a viable and equitable solution for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Through the Act, Congress gives states the ability to require out-of-state vendors to collect and remit sales taxes. It grants that authority particularly to states that have simplified their tax codes through the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

Explained Michael Kercheval, president and CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers, “The Main Street Fairness Act will give retailers a level playing field, allowing them to continue creating jobs and protecting local economies.”

Learn More

For more information, visit www.icsc.org/mainstreetfairness or call (202) 626-1400.