Category Archives: Workforce News

ManpowerGroup’s perspective on the BLS’ Employment Situation Report

Posted on August 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Weak Demand for Companies’ Core Products and Services Contributes to Slow Jobs Growth

ManpowerGroup Warns Skills are at Risk of Becoming Antiquated as Job Seekers Face Long-term Structural Unemployment

… slow demand for products and services coupled with ongoing talent mismatches are continuing to hamper the labor market, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed the overall July unemployment rate fell slightly to 9.1 percent and 117,000 private sector jobs were created during the month. “
 
Finding people with the right skills is extremely challenging, and employers are unwilling to compromise while demand remains sluggish,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO.

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Posted in BLS, Karen Miller, Manpower News, Unemployment, Workforce News, World of Work

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Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

Posted on June 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Strong Job Market Expected for Iowa 

June 14, 2011 - Employers inIowa expect to hire at a healthy pace during the third quarter of 2011, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

 From July to September, 23% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 8% expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 66% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 3% are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook* of 15%.

 ”The Quarter 3 2011 survey results point toward improved hiring plans compared to Quarter 2 2011 when the Net Employment Outlook was 10%,” said Manpower spokesperson Sunny Ackerman. “Compared to one year ago when the Net Employment Outlook was 19%, employers are less confident about their staffing plans.”

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in Construction, Durable and Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Information, Professional & Business Services, Leisure & Hospitality and Other Services. Employers in Financial Activities and Education & Health Services plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in Government is expected to remain unchanged.

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Results for the United States

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed in the United States, 20% anticipate an increase in staff levels in their Quarter 3 2011 hiring plans, while 8% expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +12%. When seasonally adjusted, the Net Employment Outlook becomes +8%. Sixty-nine percent of employers expect no change in their hiring plans. The remaining 3% of employers indicate they are undecided about their hiring intentions.

To view results for Metropolitan Statistical areas surveyed within Iowa, visit http://press.manpower.com.

The next Manpower Employment Outlook Survey will be released on September 13, 2011 to report hiring expectations for Quarter 4 2011.

About the Survey

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforces during the next quarter. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey’sUnited Statesresults are based on interviews with 18,000 employers located in the 50 states, theDistrict of ColumbiaandPuerto Rico, which includes the largest 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas based on number of business establishments. The mix of industries within the survey follows the North American Industry Classification System Supersectors and is structured to be representative of theU.S.economy. 

The complete results of the national Manpower Employment Outlook Survey can be found in the Press Room of our website at http://press.manpower.com. There you will also find the results for the 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas surveyed, the 50 states, theDistrict of ColumbiaandPuerto Rico. Questions can be directed to press@na.manpower.com.

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Posted in Employment, Manpower Inc., Manpower News, Workforce News, Workforce Statistics, World of Work

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Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

Posted on March 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mild Job Market Expected for Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA

March 8, 2011 - Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA employers expect to hire at a conservative pace during Quarter 2 2011, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. Among survey participants, the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA employment outlook is one of the weakest in the nation.

From April to June, 12% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 11% expects to cut staff. Another 76% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 1% are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook* of 1%.

“Employers are similarly confident about hiring plans for the second quarter of 2011 compared to Quarter 1 when the Net Employment Outlook was 2%,” said Manpower spokesperson Karen Miller. “Employers foresee weaker staffing plans compared with one year ago, when the Net Employment Outlook was 8%.

Summary of Results for Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA MSA

 

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, Information, Professional & Business Services, Leisure & Hospitality and Other Services. Employers in Construction, Durable Goods Manufacturing, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Education & Health Services and Government plan to reduce staffing levels, while Financial Activities employers report no change in hiring sentiment.

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Results for the United  States 

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed in the United States, 16% anticipate an increase in staff levels in their Quarter 2 2011 hiring plans, while 6% expect a decrease in payrolls, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +10%. When seasonally adjusted, the Net Employment Outlook becomes +8%. Seventy-four percent of employers expect no change in their hiring plans. The remaining 4% of employers indicate they are undecided about their hiring intentions.

The next Manpower Employment Outlook Survey will be released on June 14, 2011 to report hiring expectations for Quarter 3 2011.

 About the Survey

Manpower Inc., an innovative workforce solutions company, releases the global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey’s United States results are based on interviews with 18,000 employers located in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which includes the largest 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas based on number of business establishments. The mix of industries within the survey follows the North American Industry Classification System Supersectors and is structured to be representative of the U.S. economy.

The complete results of the national Manpower Employment Outlook Survey can be found in the Press Room of our website at http://press.manpower.com. There you will also find the results for the 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas surveyed, the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Questions can be directed to press@na.manpower.com. 

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Posted in Employment, Manpower News, Workforce News, Workforce Statistics

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University Study: Working Temp Pays Off

Posted on December 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

Temporary workers employed through agencies earn higher hourly wages, are better educated than traditionally employed workers and move quickly between temporary and traditional jobs, according to a study announced today by the University of Florida.

“There has been concern by some advocacy groups that the temporary help industry is creating an entire class of people who are churning through temporary-help jobs and can’t escape from that cycle,” Sarah Hamersma, University of Florida economist and lead author of the study, said in a press release. “We find no reason to believe that a large number of temp workers are ‘stuck’ in a secondary labor market.”

Hamersma and Carolyn Heinrich, a University of Wisconsin public affairs professor, studied occupational records, wages and earnings for 5,877 Wisconsin workers between 1995 and 2004.

Of 3,964 employees who held at least one temporary job, 3,947 held a permanent job at some time in those 10 years, according to Hamersma. In an analysis of a subsample over a four-month period, three-fourths of those in temporary jobs moved into traditional jobs and only 23% took another temporary job.

Temporary employees received about 15% more in pay per hour than traditional employees, according to Hamersma. However, quarterly earnings tend to be lower for temporary workers.

“We learned that the shorter duration of temporary jobs means the employees work fewer hours, which translates into lower quarterly earnings than for traditional employees, but they actually end up getting paid more for the hours that they do work,” she said.

The findings in the study were presented in November at the annual meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management in Washington DC.

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Video Games and the Affect on Performance

Posted on December 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

The types of video games you play may affect your performance at school, work, or other activities, according to Wheaton College psychology professor Rolf Nelson.   
  
Playing an adrenaline-pumping action game for an hour before doing your homework or tackling a task at work could help you finish the assignment quickly–but with lots of mistakes. Playing a strategy game, on the other hand, will yield more-accurate work, but at the cost of speed, observes Nelson.  
  
In his study, published with co-author Ian Strachan in the journal PERCEPTION, Nelson tested subjects playing either a fast-action video game (Unreal Tournament) or a puzzle-solving video game (Portal).   
  
“While there has been a great deal of [research] focused on performance differences between non-video-game players and avid video-game players, we were interested in looking at the effects of playing different types   
of video games,” Nelson says. “Results convincingly demonstrate a priming effect for two different types of video games.”   
  
Click here to see the full report.

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“Contractor” Employee Misclassification is Costing Companies – Again

Posted on October 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

contractor

As a cable-television installer in Massachusetts, Fritz Elienberg drove a van and wore a shirt emblazoned with “Comcast.” He installed equipment from Comcast Corp., and customers paid the cable provider for his work.

Mr. Elienberg wasn’t a Comcast employee, but a so-called independent contractor working for a separate company. This month, Mr. Elienberg sued both companies, for allegedly depriving him and other contractors of overtime pay and benefits by not considering them employees.

The case highlights a perennial issue for employers that is gaining new prominence during the recession. Lawyers say employers are trying to avoid hiring full-time employees by tapping contractors, as workers seeking better pay and benefits turn to the courts. Employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC has seen a 13% rise in misclassification claims this year, compared with the same period in 2008, attorneys estimate.

Meanwhile, revenue-strapped government agencies are cracking down, seeking unpaid taxes. Last month, the Internal Revenue Service said it will audit 6,000 random U.S. employers beginning in February, marking its first attempt since 1984 to quantify how many employers misclassify workers.

Employee, or Contractor?
The Internal Revenue Service considers three types of factors to determine if a worker is an employee or independent contractor:

  • Behavioral: Does the employer dictate how the work is done?
  • Financial: Does the employer provide tools? Does it pay by the job or the hour?
  • Relationship: Is the work ‘key’ to the employer’s business?

Source: Internal Revenue Service

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IT Jobs May Get Left Behind in Recovery

Posted on October 1, 2009 | 1 Comment

jobless recovery

Once IT spending begins again , companies in need of tech workers will likely turn first to consultants and outsourcing companies before they take on full-time staff. Whether this decision contributes to what’s often called a “jobless recovery” will depend on where the work is going — onshore or offshore.

This view is gleaned from surveys and analysts trying to understand what’s next for tech job market. In the hunt for clues about the future, some of the best evidence about what’s head may be with companies yhat are already doing well. Take Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., for instance.

It’s been a miserable year for many IT companies, but Cognizant, in its most recent quarter, reported a revenue gain of 13% to $776.6 million, boon growth for most companies. One reason for this can be explained by one of its customers, Emmaus, Penn.-based Rodale Inc., publisher of Prevention, Men’s Health, and Women’s Health magazines.

By hiring Cognizant, Rodale CIO Ken Citron was able to cut costs for infrastructure, hardware, help desks and networks by 15% on annual basis. The IT savings was achieved, in part, because Cognizant remotely manages some of the systems offshore.

About three quarters of Rodale’s IT infrastructure employees became Cognizant employees, and the remaining either received severance or moved into some other role . While Rodale didn’t want to disclose the number of employees affected by the change, Citron said the change is allowing the compay to focus on its core needs, especially its customer-facing applications and services.

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55 and Older have Gained the Most Jobs in this Recession

Posted on August 19, 2009 | 2 Comments

Golden Years

The Who famously sang they hoped they’d die before they got old. Clearly, they didn’t want a proper job.

So far in this recession, 6.6 million jobs have been lost on a seasonally adjusted basis. That wipes out six of 10 jobs created in the last, unusually jobless, economic upswing. Every age group has lost jobs.

Except, that is, the cohort aged 55 and over, which has gained nearly one million positions. What’s more, over-55s accounted for two-thirds of net jobs created in the upswing.

This has less to do with gray flair and more with a statistical wrinkle. The first of the postwar baby boomers hit official retirement age in 2011. That demographic bulge has been rolling through the age structure — in and out of the workplace — through this decade. According to Census Bureau estimates, the overall population age 55 to 64 grew by 9.4 million between July 2001 and July 2008. That isn’t dissimilar to the roughly eight million increase in the ranks of employed over-55s between November 2001 and now.

But the figures point to more than just a demographic change. Over the same time period, the proportion of over-55s in employment rose five percentage points, possibly reflecting a need to re-enter the job market after the bursting of a tech bubble and a housing bubble damaged their net worth.

Meanwhile, labor participation fell for every other age group. For those age 16 to 24, for example, the rate fell almost 10 percentage points, to under half, even as that population group expanded. A graying work force focusing on rebuilding its nest egg while the young struggle for entry doesn’t bode well for an economy dependent on sprightly consumers.

Original Source: Liam Denning

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Posted in Baby Boomer, Workforce News

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Economic Conditions Snapshot, June 2009: McKinsey Global Survey Results

Posted on July 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

mckinsey

Executives have become notably more optimistic about their companies’ and their countries’ economic prospects since mid-April—but the outlook was so poor then that optimism must be tempered.

Over the past six weeks, executives have become markedly more optimistic about current economic conditions and prospects for their national economies, a new McKinsey survey shows. Expectations started out so gloomy, however, that even now, fewer than a third expect an economic upturn this year, and two-thirds expect their nations’ GDPs to decrease in 2009.

Similarly, at the company level, more executives still expect to shed workers than to hire, but the share expecting to decrease the workforce has fallen below half for the first time since January. And a full third of respondents now expect profits to increase in 2009, up 8 percent in six weeks. Furthermore, even though respondents see fallout from the crisis in a variety of financial and nonfinancial measures such as employee morale and the pace of innovation, strong majorities expect those effects to be short-lived.

Click here for a PDF version of the study.

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Temp Execs Gaining Favor in a Troubled Economy

Posted on June 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

CB032828

Objectivity and the lack of a political agenda allow a temporary executive to make tough decisions like layoffs and cutbacks.

Many employers today are finding the need to shift course given the changing economy, but they don’t have the leadership they need to do so. In hard times, firms want executives who can make difficult decisions and not worry about relationships, experts say. And that’s why more employers are turning to temporary executives.  

Los Angeles-based Business Talent Group, which has more than 1,500 temporary executives and 100 clients, has seen its business grow 47 percent year over year since its inception 2½ years ago. “We hear a lot from companies that want to bring in an interim executive to deal with a turnaround or crisis and who can make tough calls and be the bad guy,” COO Amelia Warren Tyagi says. “And then the next person can come in and rebuild loyalty and culture.”

Workforce Management New York bureau chief Jessica Marquez recently spoke to three temporary executives who work with BTG—William Kuehn, who often temps as an interim CEO; Philip Deming, who temps as a head of HR; and Sydney Drell Reiner, who temps as a chief marketing officer—about their experiences.

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Manpower Chief looks to Virtual Growth

Posted on June 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

manpower_011

On Second Life, the virtual-reality website, Jeff Joerres is a barrel-chested bodybuilder with a mop of bright blonde hair.

In the flesh, the chief executive of Manpower is somewhat less muscle-bound and his hair is starting to thin. “What am I going to do, be a 90-year-old man?” he laughs. “It’s called Second Life for a reason.”

Aesthetic improvement is only one reason Mr Joerres is enthusiastic about Second Life. From his perspective at the top of one of the world’s biggest recruitment companies, Mr Joerres says that such virtual worlds and social networking websites are transforming the world of work. Increasingly, he says, “work will get done that way and people will find work that way”.

The economic downturn has accelerated this trend, Mr Joerres believes. He cites a new tie-up between Manpower and LinkedIn, the professional networking website, in which Manpower is offering career services to LinkedIn members – a collaboration prompted by a flood of requests to the networking website for career services in recent months.

Mr Joerres says he is becoming more optimistic about the employment scene in the US. Although he says the unemployment rate – a six-nine-month lagging indicator – will not recover until well into 2010, he sees signs the economy is becoming more stable.

At the start of the year, the Manpower chief said he would not be surprised if 2009 saw an average unemployment rate of 9 per cent , but now says that may have been too gloomy.

Mr Joerres is critical of how some companies slashed jobs during the downward cycle, a phenomenon he says they may pay for when growth returns. “There’s been a lot of blunt instruments out there, companies cutting 10 percent across the board. But what about cutting the right 10 percent?” he says.

“Companies that had the right type of workforce strategy had a better sense of what levers to pull when the downturn hit,” he observes. “But we’ve seen some really good companies panic and hit the trap door. That wasn’t necessarily wrong, but they now have a period to recover and if they don’t use this time carefully, they could find themselves losing market share, or spending more on training new staff.”

Manpower released a surprising global survey last week that underlined this conundrum: it showed that 30 percent of employers around the world are struggling to find the right people to fill jobs even though unemployment is at or near record levels in many countries.

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10 Rules for Hiring Unpaid Interns

Posted on May 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

intern

Unpaid summer internships can benefit businesses and students, but only if all parties follow the rules. 

Jay Zweig, partner and chairman of the employment group in the Phoenix office of global law firm Bryan Cave, is an expert on the Department of Labor’s rules governing unpaid internships.

 Here are his tips on how businesses can avoid legal problems when engaging a student for such positions:

1. Training received by the intern must be for his or her benefit
2. Training must be general, not for the immediate advantage of the business, and it may even slow normal operations
3. Interns can’t be used to replace paid employees.
4. Interns must be closely supervised or mentored.
5. Interns can do real work as long as they are closely supervised, are learning and aren’t necessarily creating a final product.
6. Both the intern and the business must agree that the internship will be unpaid.
7. Both parties must agree that no job is promised at the end of the internship.
8. High schools, technical schools and colleges can partner with businesses to set up compliant unpaid internships in which the student receives course credit. This lends credibility to the internship’s benefit for the student.
9. Decide beforehand if the business has the time and personnel to closely supervise and mentor an unpaid intern.
10. When in doubt, businesses can avoid legal problems by paying interns at least minimum wage.

Written by: Bridget Mintz Testa

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Job Report – April 2009

Posted on May 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

The April 2009 Jobs Report came out today and said that nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000 – it was negative 699,000 last month), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries. Overall, private sector employment fell by 611,000.

So is there any good news in any of these numbers? Yes there is. The chart below shows what is seemingly true, that we have hit bottom and are on our way back up. That said, the bottom we hit was so low that even improvements won’t look much like an improvement for awhile. Something else that cannot be ignored is that there will probably still continue to be some layoffs in certain sectors. 

I do believe though that there will start to be some uptick’s in manufacturing as companies begin to have depleted inventories. When the recession started, manufacturing took the biggest hit the fastest which means they will be a good indicator to watch for real evidence of economic turnaround and consumer confidence. Manufacturing also drives our GDP so for our economy to truly start growing again we need to be back making and assembling products to sell (and then you need to go out and buy them).

I never thought it would feel good to see better negative numbers.

Employment Situation April 2009

Click on picture to enlarge.

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February 2009 Employment News: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Posted on March 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

good-bad-ugly1

The good news:

A report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that planned layoffs at U.S. companies decreased by 23% from its peak in January. The report indicated that layoffs could remain particularly high in the automotive, manufacturing and financial sectors. Employers announced plans to cut 186,350 jobs in February, down from 241,749 in January.

The decline in job cuts last month offers some hope that January was the peak and we will now see layoffs begin to fall or at least stabilize,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, remarked in a statement.

…and the bad news:

The ADP Employment Report showed that 697,000 nonfarm jobs were lost in February as the U.S. recession continues, a wider decline than the 630,000 drop that economists had expected. It was the greatest number of monthly job losses on record.

…and the ugly tired analogy from yours truly:

So depending on your disposition this is good or bad news. If your glass is half empty then none of this is good news in any way. If your glass is half full, then planned February job cuts down 23% will have you dancing in the street to some degree. Or at the very least, a little Mamboing on your way to the kitchen.

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It Isn’t Always a Job Behind an Online Job Posting

Posted on March 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

house_of_cards

This is a great article about the ugly side of recruiting that is out there and preys on vulnerable people at the worst times. I am proud that neither Manpower nor Manpower Professional stoop to these levels to “harvest” candidates.

Article:

In October, Tom Greene was invited by email to interview for a vice president position he had applied for through CareerBuilder.com. Before accepting, the sales and marketing executive called the search firm that posted the ad to ensure it was indeed a job opportunity.

Mr. Greene didn’t want a repeat of two years ago, when he agreed to an interview in the same circumstances only to find there was no position available. Instead, he had received a pitch from a career-marketing service costing up to $10,000, starting with a $6,000 upfront fee.

This time, the 53-year-old was assured by phone that the job was real and he wouldn’t be asked to dig into his wallet. But after driving a half-hour from his home in Colonia, N.J., to meet the firm’s recruiters, he says he found himself once again listening to a pitch for a career service, without any prospect of a job.

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Engaging Employees Tops Leadership Priorities in Tough Times

Posted on February 26, 2009 | 2 Comments

engaged_2

Engaging employees to ensure organizational alignment and commitment is the most important leadership practice to achieve business goals in tough business times, according to more than half of senior leaders and human resource professionals surveyed by Right Management.

Right Management polled over 650 senior leaders and HR professionals in North America to gain insight into their most important leadership practices to achieve business goals in tough times. According to the survey, the most important leadership practices are:

  • 51% – Engaging employees to ensure organizational alignment and commitment
  • 21% – Clearly defining roles and expectations
  • 13% – Making efficient and informed personnel decisions
  • 15% – Developing current skill base and capabilities within organization

The weak economy and chaotic financial markets are hitting businesses hard and forcing them to make tough people decisions, said Owen Sullivan, CEO of Right Management. “It’s in times of hardship and uncertainty that leaders are investing more in engaging and aligning their employees to reap the utmost commitment, productivity and focus. Leaders know that it’s only the collective talent of their workforces that will pull them through.”

Sullivan notes that in tough times leaders are reconsidering their priorities to ensure the viability of their organizations. “Leaders are being forced to make very tough business decisions in order to not only survive, but to come out stronger. Leaders need to convey difficult messages that help their workforce understand the rationale for current actions while also instilling confidence and commitment so that objectives can be met.”

Click here to read more.

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Job Openings and Labor Turnover: December 2008

Posted on February 10, 2009 | 2 Comments

Well the December numbers just came out from the BLS for new hires and turnover for December 2008. As expected the news is fairly dismal. While I understand no one wants to hear any bad news, especially those looking for work it is at least good to be aware of the overall situation. Something to always keep in mind when looking at these types of numbers and charts is that not every area in America feels the recession in the same way. One spot of good news though is that the blue line which represents new hires is heading in the right direction. Hopefully that will continue (but keep in mind that this is for December).

What we see is that on the last business day of December, there were 2.7 million job openings in the United States, and the job openings rate was 1.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The job openings rate in December was the lowest point so far in the 8-year-old series. The hires rate was essentially unchanged in December at 2.9 percent and remains low. The total separations rate jumped to 3.7 percent, due to rising layoffs and discharges.

jan06-dec08-hire-turnover

The red line is seperations/discharges and the blue line is new hires. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

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10 Work at Home Companies that are Hiring

Posted on February 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

work-at-home

Can you imagine how simple your life would be if you never had to drive to work? If you have the self-discipline to work from home, the right opportunity could help you get back those commute hours and gain some extra time each day to do whatever you want.

Wondering where to start? Here are 10 companies hiring for work from home right now:

1. Alpine Access
Website: www.alpineaccess.com
Job Title: Customer care professional

This forward-thinking company plans to hire 1,200 new employees in the first three months of 2009. “We look for people who are self-motivated, self-reliant problem solvers who have a strong work ethic,” says Remi Killeen, Recruitment Manager at Alpine Access. Besides offering the flexibility to work from home, Alpine Access, a virtual call center, provides health-care benefits, 401K, flexible work schedules and opportunities to grow. Each worker is an actual company employee with regular work hours and assignments.

2. HireMyMom.com
Website: www.hiremymom.com
Job Titles: Virtual assistant, professional blogger

HireMyMom.com is a Web-based job service designed especially for professional working mothers. Founder and President Lesley Spencer Pyle says the two most popular positions HireMyMom.com fills are professional blogger and virtual assistant. Bloggers write about their employer’s company, products, or services, often in response to user inquiries or industry discussion. They use specific “keywords” in their responses to get favorable Web search engine rankings. A virtual assistant is a professional office administrative assistant who can work from anywhere.

3. Sylvan Online
Website: www.sylvan.com
Job Title: On-line certified teacher

Do you have experience teaching but aren’t interested in managing an entire classroom? Sylvan Online may work for you. It’s a Web-based tutoring service that seeks certified teachers to tutor various subjects and levels. Job requirements include a current teaching certificate, a Windows-based PC and high-speed Internet access. Sylvan offers paid training on-line and opportunities range from 8 to 29 hours per week.

4. National Shopping Service
Website: www.nationalshoppingservice.com
Job Title: Mystery shopper/researcher

Do you love to shop? Do you like to share your opinion? You can make money doing both. A mystery shopper earns perks or a paycheck for helping companies learn about their products and customer service. Paycheck amounts range from “$5.00 to $25.00 for a 15- to 60-minute engagement,” says Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service. “The vast majority of mystery shoppers do not mystery shop for a living, although we have had a few earning over $40,000 a year. It’s a great way to pick up a free pizza on your way to get the kids from soccer or get some free gasoline.”

5. oDesk
Website: www.oDesk.com
Job Title: Various professionals

If you have experience in software development, Web design, language translation and other computer-based careers, oDesk can help you get hired for work at home. Recently featured on “Good Morning America,” oDesk lets job seekers apply for contract jobs, large and small. Job seekers search job listings which include the job requirements, pay and estimated time commitments. “Our business has three components — hire, manage and pay,” says Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk. Plus, you don’t have to submit invoices for your contract work, which saves time.

6. Working Solutions
Website: www.workingsolutions.com
Job Title: Transcriptionist, customer service representative

Are you a speedy and accurate typist? You might be interested in a contract position as a transcriptionist, someone who types down information from a recording, live reading, or conversation. Established in 1996, Working Solutions hires independent contract agents for various transcription and customer service assignments. You can earn up to $30 an hour if you have the right skill-set and experience.

7. Language Lab
Website: www.languagelab.com
Job Title: Teacher, actor, customer service representative

The best way to learn a language is to go someplace where you can practice with native speakers. Why not travel via the World Wide Web? Using a computer and Internet connection, Language Lab lets at-home students visit “English Town,” a virtual city where teachers help them learn English as a second language. Language Lab is looking to hire more English teachers. Shiv Rajendran, director of operations at Language Lab, says, “Teachers need to be native English speakers, Celta or Delta certified with five years of teaching experience.” Celta and Delta certifications are not college degrees, but post-high school certifications. The company also plans to hire actors and part-time customer service reps.

8. 1-800-FLOWERS
Website: www.1800flowers.com
Job Title: Customer service representative

If you have a phone headset, a way with people and, hopefully, a love of flowers, consider working for the long-established 1-800-FLOWERS. The company expects to hire temporary, full-time customer service representatives this year. It even promises competitive hourly rates plus a bonus at the end of the temporary assignment.

9. Aetna
Website: www.aetna.com
Job Title: Account manager, negotiator, customer service representative, nurse and more

From nurses to contract negotiators to account managers, Aetna is a nationwide company with a variety of telework-friendly jobs to offer. Whether you are medically savvy or are simply good with people on the phone, you could find a position with this reputable company that offers benefits and a possibility of a bonus. Even better, Aetna has been ranked 48th by BusinessWeek in its 2008 “Best Places to Launch a Career.”

10. Elance
Website: www.elance.com
Job Title: Legal, Web design, engineering, admin, marketing or writing professional

Elance creates a space where skilled professionals and would-be employers can bargain, haggle and place competitive bids for all sorts of projects. Elance works well for people who can provide video production, Web design, software engineering and other home-office-friendly services. If you have a computer-based skill, get yourself onto Elance.com and let the opportunities start rolling in. Plus, Elance does its best to ensure that the employers on their site are trustworthy and pay on time. And, employers rate workers so, the better work you provide, the better your chance of getting more gigs.

Original Content: Payscale.com

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Independent Contractors are Growing at Twice the Rate of Traditional Employment

Posted on January 27, 2009 | Leave a comment

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According to new research announced today, the segment of the U.S. workforce that includes contract workers, such as independent contractors, is growing at more than twice the rate of traditional employment, requiring human resources and procurement professionals to collaborate in order to maximize investments and manage contract talent strategically.

The study, released today by global professional association and think tank Human Capital Institute (HCI), and leading industry research partners, closely examines the state of Contract Talent in U.S. organizations. Contract talent is defined as contractors, consultants, freelancers, temporary help, interim executives and others who are not part of an organization’s full-time or part-time workforce — a group that currently comprises almost one-third of the U.S. workforce.

More than 90 percent of organizations surveyed for the study, “The State of Contract Talent Management and the Role of HR,” reported that they use contract talent. Additionally, 34 percent said that their use of contract talent has increased or increased dramatically in the past three years, while fewer than 20 percent reported a decrease.

As for the future, a full 85 percent of respondents believe that their use of contractors will remain about the same or grow over the next three years. The composition of the contract workforce is also changing. More than half are skilled technicians, specialists and professionals engaged in core and critical work for organizations. Indeed, identifying high-quality contractors is the number one challenge cited by survey respondents.

I am curious to know if any of you are surprised by this trend?

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Where The Jobs Are

Posted on January 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

needle-in-a-haystack

Friends, let’s not sugarcoat it: This is an exceptionally lousy time to be looking for a job. We’ve all heard by now (repeatedly) that about 2 million of them vanished in 2008, more than 250,000 in the financial sector alone, and that hiring at most companies has slowed to a crawl or stopped altogether.

But don’t give up. If you happen to belong to the broad category of employees the Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies as “management, business, and financial occupations” – a group that includes white-collar folk whose titles range from office manager to CEO – there may well be a job opening out there somewhere with your name on it.

That’s partly because grim reports about mounting unemployment usually neglect to mention that job losses don’t fall equally across all categories of workers. The overall unemployment rate, now at 7.2%, includes people of all ages and occupations. But joblessness tends to be more widespread among very young workers, no matter what the economy is doing, points out Karen Kosanovich, an economist at the BLS. If you look only at Americans aged 25 or older, the rate is 6%. Narrow it to only people with four-year college degrees, and the unemployment rate is 3.3%. That’s much higher than it was in 2006 and 2007, when unemployment among college grads hovered around 2%, but it’s still far below the 7.2% national average.

(Conversely, unemployment rates among construction workers and factory employees are much higher than average, at 13% and 10% respectively.)

Moreover, notes Jonas Prising, president of staffing giant Manpower North America, “Some of the ‘job cuts’ announced in late 2008, especially by very large companies, included normal attrition like retirements, plus a certain amount of deciding simply to leave some unfilled positions open for now. So that widely cited figure of 2 million job losses is not all involuntary layoffs, which makes it far less scary than it sounds.”

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