All Posts Tagged With: "recession"
Employers may treat candidates unfairly in these ways
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Dec 29 2009 | 0 Comments
In the recession, some employers are finding themselves in the position to leave a lot of candidates hanging when it comes to finding employees. Some employers are actually taking advantage of the desperation that many candidates are feeling and they are doing some things that they may not have done in the past. According to World News and Report here are a few things that employers have been doing recently that can be seen as a bit…unsavory.
When an employer has no sympathy for a potential candidate’s time it leads to frustration on the candidate’s part. Employers have been canceling interviews at the last minute with out a reason or an apology. Some are just wasting the candidate’s time by not paying attention during the interview and this is troubling because (and I should know) a candidate spends a lot of time preparing for an interview; this includes looking up the company and reading into the company’s philosophy and mission.
When an employer doesn’t share the company’s timeline to hire with the candidate it is also quite frustrating. A hiring manager always knows when they need someone. They know the time frame that they will be hiring in and not telling a candidate is annoying to all candidates.
Not sharing what kind of salary they pay is also really annoying, especially when they expect a candidate to give what they think they should be paid. There really isn’t any reason as to why a manger wouldn’t share this information. They really should give you some kind of range for you to expect to be paid and this would clear up the entire awkward situation that comes about when its time to talk money.
Finally, this one is the one that gets under my skin, when employers fail to notify a candidate that they are no longer up for consideration for the position. This is rude and extremely common. Many times a candidate sits by the phone (or in my case, shies away from a week vacation) to wait to hear from an employer. A simple email could do if the employer is no longer interested in the candidate.
Here’s one just from my own opinion book: If you’re an employer don’t tell a candidate to expect an interview and then don’t answer emails or the phone when the candidate calls. And give them an interview if you say you will.
Related posts:Acing your interview: Do’s and Do Not’s
Tags: preparing for an interview, recession, hiring manager
Top 4 best cities in America to find work
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Dec 25 2009 | 1 Comment
Unemployment has hit a nationwide average of just under 10% and it looks like a lot of places aren’t hiring, have implemented a hiring freeze, or are laying off a majority of its labor force. However, there are places all across the country where you can find work (usually) and you actually have a good chance of finding work in one of these cities.
1) Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, so much so that the population of the city is almost half of the total personal income for Alaska. The median age in the city is 33 and while the recession has hit the rest of the country pretty hard, in Anchorage the city marked it’s 20th year of job growth.
Twenty percent of the city’s jobs are in education, health services and government, all of which have increased the number of jobs for the past year. Big box retail stores are also starting to move into the city. Stores like Kohl’s and Best Buy have continued to open new stores in the city.
2) Arlington, Virginia. Arlington neighbors Washington D.C. and is home to the Pentagon as well as Arlington National Cemetery. The biggest employers in this city include the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the State Department. When there is a lot of government jobs in an area, the national unemployment rate has a much smaller effect on what is going on in the local employment rate.
Arlington also has several large private employers such as US Airways, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Marriott.
3) Columbus, Ohio. Columbus has a strong distribution industry as well as a strong transportation industry and this can likely be attributed to the city’s central location in not only the state, but as well as the country.
Columbus has a diverse economy for such a Mid-America kind of town. It boasts healthcare, manufacturing, technology, as well as hospitality services. The largest employers in the city include the biggest university in the state Ohio State, Nationwide Insurance, Bob Evans, JP Morgan Chase, and OhioHealth.
4) Houston, Texas. This Texas city, like much of the rest of the state, has come out fairly unscathed in this recession. Houston is one of the only cities in the country where people are actually finding work. Houses in Texas are affordable and jobs are plentiful. Thanks to the city’s large stake in the oil industry, this city has continued to fare well.
Related posts:Where to find work in the United States
iPhone reception isn’t great, even in large cities.
Tags: recession, national unemployment rate, jp morgan chase
Is now the time to start investing?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Dec 07 2009 | 2 Comments
The stock market has seemed to start leveling off and is back to near-normal. Other investors have started to work their way back into the market after receiving heavy losses. So, is now the time for you, or any other timid investor to start putting their money back into the market?
I will say yes. However, I would say that the time to get into the market was months ago while the stocks were down. Many people lost a lot of money and then got scared and pulled their money out before they rode out the worst of the recession. For the most part, if they would have just held their stocks their losses would be minimized.
Right now, it is important to track the stocks and funds that you want to invest in. You have to look at the big picture rather than the previous 12 months. The problem is the recession has changed the game so much that you have to look at everything rather than just the short term.
For example, in commodities, most things have always fallen in price as the weather turns cold. However, if you look at the cost of something like copper, you can see that because the recession has improved in the 3rd quarter 2009, the prices have gone up a bit since the weather has changed. In normal times, the price falls because construction tapers off for the winter. Right now, though, more houses are being built than were at the beginning of the summer.
If you are still timid about trading, try paper trading for awhile and see how you do. Once, I had heard about Citi and the rules regarding mark-to-market trading changing and knew that the stock was going to go up. Chris and I paper traded the stock (actually we did an option trade) and would have made a killing had we actually put money into the stock. Doing something like that makes you a bit less paranoid about putting money in the market.
Things to consider before you put your money in the market are things like how much risk are you willing to accept. Obviously, the more risk you can take on, the bigger the payoff or the greater the loss. You also have to realize how much you can put into the market and how to diversify.
Related posts:Tips To Start And Maintain A Small Business
Tags: recession, 12 months, big picture
5 things the recession put an end to
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Dec 02 2009 | 17 Comments
Everyone remembers before the recession how things were. There were people who would show how much money they could spend running rampant. Most of those people have been silenced by the recession as everyday average Americans have grown tired of extravagance.
So here are a few of the things that have gone almost extinct through the recession:
1. Unaccountability. People feel as though CEOs and high level executives have had a hand in the recession due to their lack of accountability. We never heard from them or made them accountable for actions they may have done. However, now, they end up being the most accountable and when a company does something wrong, the CEO is the first to blame and the first to go.
2. People flaunting their extravagance. The days of people owning things like Hummers, bling, and having their homes featured on shows like Cribs has come to an end (for now anyway). Even the once very public Paris Hilton has been fairly unseen recently. Hummer has been dropped from the GM lineup and people are cutting back wherever they can.
3. Outrageous Gas Prices. I’m sure this one will end up making a comeback eventually, but as of right now the average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is around $2.65. This is far from the record highs of $4.10 a gallon for the same grade of gasoline from last year. Many people welcome the difference due to lower income levels and higher unemployment.
4. Less junk mail. Before there was a credit crisis everyone was getting credit card offers, including children and cats. Now there aren’t as many credit card offers floating around and credit card companies are being a bit more careful about who they are sending pre-approved offers to.
5. Stores that sell stuff we don’t need. Stores like the Sharper Image have just simply disappeared in the last year because they sell stuff that people don’t need and typically can’t even create a need for.
Related posts:Credit is still affordable.
Even after a fire at a California refinery, gas still slipps below $2.50/gal.
Tags: credit card companies, junk mail, gas price
Should you stay close to home for college?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Nov 27 2009 | 1 Comment
Is it time for college students to be calling home?
When you’re going to college should you stay close to home or go away to a private school with ridiculous tuition, room and board?
Of course, I’m biased.
I am a product of public college education and think that I came out as well as another peer of mine who is Vanderbilt educated (even though I paid THOUSANDS less than she did overall).
Since the recession, many new students are opting to stay in their home states to attend college rather that go to other states to get their bachelor’s or master’s degrees.
Public universities are hurting for money. My business school’s professors are encouraged to not print syllabus among other necessary documents.
Over the past a small amount of years, the financial organization of public universities has changed radically. States no longer fund the accounts for the majority of a school’s budget. A school is lucky if the state supports 20% of a college’s overall budget. For example, William and Mary’s college for the 08-09 school year was only funded 18% by taxpayer dollars. In the 1970’s, taxpayers funded 43% of the school’s budget. “At this point, we’re a privately supported university that also gets some meaningful state aid,” says W. Taylor Reveley III, president of William & Mary.
To make up the divergence, public universities have got to rely on tuition and charges to pay for the majority of the budgetary requirements; because of this, many state schools work hard to be a magnet for out of state students, who will pay a premium, sometimes more than three times as much as residents, to attend.
“Given the way that states are cutting back on funds, to replace an in-state student with an out-of-state student, particularly if you can capture some of that revenue for your own purposes, is a good thing financially for schools,” says John Maguire, chairman and founder of Maguire Associates, a research-based consulting firm specializing in educational institutions.
So I suppose sometimes it comes down to whether you want to go in state or out of state and the cost you may incur.
If you live in Alabama, congratulations, you can go to Auburn. If you live in Mississippi you get to go to … Ole Miss.
Related posts:Cuts from the public school system that everyone will notice
Tags: vanderbilt, college education, divergence
