Job Search Jam Sessions

Hopkinton Networking Group - Fri, Feb 17

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Good Morning Acton Networkers!

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be facilitated by Vincent Rocheleau. The speaker will be Carl Harvey; he is the founder of Success & Self-Esteem. Carl is an accomplished and dynamic seminar leader and an award winning sales with more than 20 years of selling success to his credit.

Speaker Title: “What’s Stopping You? How to Risk and Succeed in the Job Search during a Down Economy”

Please arrive early so you can network. The meeting starts promptly at 10am with the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Introductions, and Needs & Leads; followed by our speaker.

General Information:

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda items:

· Welcome
· Landings (with doughnuts)
· Announcements
· New member introductions
· Needs and leads
· Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
· Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:

· Name
· Skills and Value Statement
· Where have you been?
· Where are you going?
· Your title
· Your target companies
· Geography of search
· Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions: St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use MapQuest for a more direct route.

Regards,

Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:

Sandra Cipriani - sandraopps@comcast.net
Barbara McKee - barb6635@comcast.net
Ralph Sabatino - ralphsabatino@ymail.com
Salpi Sarafian - ssarafian@rcn.com
Gil Krispien - g.krispien@verizon.net
Mark Sullivan - msullivan.email@gmail.com
Vincent Rocheleau - vrocheleau@hotmail.com

Did the Stimulus Work?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:30:00 +0000

In this analysis, the three measures shown seem to have had a positive effect.

What do you think?

From the Center for American Progress

Job-seekers to get expert career advice free on Feb. 15

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:21:00 +0000

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Job-seekers to get expert career advice free on Feb. 15

via Wicked Local Franklin News RSS by GateHouse Media, Inc. on 2/6/12

With such a wide range of job-hunting resources in print, online and elsewhere, it can be confusing for many unemployed and under-employed individuals in greater Boston to know what employment resources are trustworthy and whose advice is effective.

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Job growth at the best companies to work for

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:20:00 +0000

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Job growth at the best companies to work for

via FlowingData by Nathan Yau on 1/24/12

Nicolas Rapp and Anne Vandermey with a straightforward look at new jobs added at the top 100 companies to work for, according to Fortune.

Fat paychecks, sweet perks, fun colleagues, and over 70,000 jobs ready to be filled — these employers offer dream workplaces. Like Google, which reclaims the top spot this year to become a three-time champion. Meet this year's top 100, network with the winners on LinkedIn, and more.

Number of new jobs added or lost is on the horizontal, and number of employees at the start of the year on the vertical. Bubble size represents number of job applicants.
There were 7.6 million applicants to Starbucks last year. That's insane.
[Nicolas Rapp]

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People Reading: A Positive Edge

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Hello Acton Networkers,

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will feature our speaker Clare Harlow. The facilitator for this week will be Barb McKee. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Introductions, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can start on time. Our speaker will present in the second hour, starting at 11AM.

Speaker: Clare Harlow

Speaker Topic: People Reading: A Positive Edge

Do you ever wonder why people act the way they do or why it's so easy to communicate with some people and so difficult with others? In this workshop, we'll look at one of the most important elements of communication: people! Using the DiSC Personal Profile framework, participants will learn how to identify the four behavioral styles that are present in all of us. Tools for recognizing different behavioral styles, "people reading," will be given. Participants will have a chance to discuss how they might use these skills in daily communication with family members and co-workers, and in their job search.

About Clare Harlow

As a Career and Life Coach, Clare helps people discover what they really want to do and design work that matches their personality and lifestyle. With warmth and humor, she offers personal and group coaching as well as classes and workshops on Career and Life Planning, Communication Skills for Adults and Teens, Work Life Balance, and People Reading using the DiSC Personality Profile. Whether individually or in a group setting, Clare inspires and motivates her clients to take charge of their lives and define success on their own terms. Her motto is "It's Your Life, Make it Work!"

Schedule for HNG Meetings :

February 03, 2012: Mark Sullivan "Procrastination in the Job Search"

February 17, 2012: Carl Harvey "What is Stopping You? How to Risk and Succeed in the Job Search in a Down Economy"

General Information :

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda i tems:

· Welcome
· Landings (with doughnuts)
· Announcements
· New member introductions
· Needs and Leads
· Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
· Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions , this is what we would like to know:

· Name
· Skills and Value Statement
· Where have you been?
· Where are you going?
· Your title
· Your target companies
· Geography of search
· Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know. We could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions : St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route.

Regards,

Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators :

· Sandra Cipriani sandraopps@comcast.net
· Gil Krispien g.krispien@verizon.net
· Barbara McKee barb6635@comcast.net
· Ralph Sabatino ralphsabatino@ymail.com
· Salpi Sarafian ssarafian@rcn.com
· Marilyn Johnson marilyntjohnson10@gmail.com
· Vincent Rocheleau vrocheleau@hotmail.com

Current Schedule for HNG Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

The Hopkinton Networking Group continues to meet on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month at St John the Evangelist Parish Center. The current schedule of presentation topics is as follows:

January 20, 2012: Clare Harlow "People Reading with DiSC"

February 3, 2012: Mark Sullivan "Procrastination in the Job Search"

Febrary 17, 2012: Carl Harvey "What's Stopping You? How to Risk and Succeed in the Job Search in a Down Economy"

Nearly three years of a job-seekers ratio above 4-to-1

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:12:00 +0000

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Nearly three years of a job-seekers ratio above 4-to-1

via Economic Policy Institute - Feed by Heidi Shierholz on 1/10/12

Today's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of job openings decreased by 63,000 in November 2011, to 3.2 million; also, October's job openings were revised down by 43,000. In November, there were 13.3 million unemployed workers, an improvement from 13.8 million in October (unemployment figures come from the Current Population Survey and can be found here). Therefore the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 4.2-to-1 in November, a slight improvement from the revised October ratio of 4.3-to-1.

To put this figure in context, the highest this ratio ever got in the early 2000s downturn was 2.8-to-1, and in December 2000, the month the JOLTS survey began, the ratio was 1.1-to-1. While the job-seekers ratio has slowly been improving since it peaked at 6.9-to-1 in the summer of 2009, today's data release marks two years and 11 months—152 weeks—that the ratio has been above 4-to-1. A job-seekers ratio of more than 4-to-1 means that there are no jobs for more than three out of four unemployed workers, no matter what job seekers do. Furthermore, the lack of job openings relative to unemployed workers is in no way limited to particular industries such as construction—unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings across the board, in every major industry.
MORE: Sort through updated graphs using data from today's report
The fact that we have had a job-seekers ratio above 4-to-1 for 152 weeks underscores the crucial need for continuing extended unemployment insurance benefits, which now last a maximum of 99 weeks. There are currently 5.6 million people in this country who have been unemployed for more than half a year, up from 1.2 million in 2007. As the job-seekers ratio shows, what's happening is not that millions of workers have become lazy, unskilled, or unproductive; it is that there are not enough jobs available. With the Congressional Budget Office projecting an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent at the end of this year, continuing federally funded unemployment insurance benefit extensions through 2012 would extend a lifeline to the families of millions of long-term unemployed workers, and generate spending that would support well over half a million jobs.
With research assistance from Natalie Sabadish and Hilary Wething

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A solid step in the right direction for the labor market

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

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A solid step in the right direction for the labor market

via Economic Policy Institute - Feed by Heidi Shierholz on 1/6/12

This morning's release of the December 2011 employment situation report, which marked four years since the official start of the recession in December 2007, capped off 2011 on a positive note. Both the establishment survey and the household survey showed improvement – the labor market added 200,000 jobs, hours and wages were up, unemployment ticked down, underemployment dropped, and the duration of unemployment spells declined. This is a step in the right direction.

MORE: Sort through updated graphs using data from today's report
However, it will take many years of reports this strong or stronger to bring the labor market back to health. The jobs deficit of the 2008-09 period, defined as the number of jobs lost since the recession started plus the jobs we should have added to keep up with the normal growth in the working-age population, remains well over 10 million, and at December's growth rate the United States will not recover its pre-recession unemployment rate until 2019.

Despite relatively strong month, December caps off two years of little improvement in the labor market

Two years ago, in December 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.9 percent, and it is now 8.5 percent. How much improvement does that drop actually represent? Given weak job prospects, many would-be workers dropped out of (or never entered) the labor force over this period, a trend that reduces the measured unemployment rate but does not represent real improvement in employment. If the workers who comprise the drop in the labor force participation rate (from 64.6 percent to 64.0 percent) over the last two years were counted as unemployed, the unemployment rate would be 9.5 percent now instead of 8.5 percent.
The trend in the employment-to-population ratio, which is the share of the working-age population that has a job, also illustrates the challenge. This measure increased from 58.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 58.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, a tiny change and well below the 63.3 percent average in the first quarter of 2007.

Long-term unemployment

The share of unemployed workers who have been unemployed for more than six months decreased in December to 42.5 percent, an improvement but still not far below its record high of 45.5 percent in March 2011. (By comparison, in 2007 the share averaged 17.5 percent). The number of workers unemployed for more than six months decreased by 92,000 in December, to 5.6 million (compared with a 1.2 million average in 2007). The fact that we still have large numbers of long-term unemployed is unsurprising given that there have been over four unemployed workers per job opening since January 2009.

Hours and wages up

The length of the average workweek increased in December to 34.4 hours, restoring hours to where they were last spring. Average hours have thus far made up just three-fourths of what they lost in the first 18 months of the downturn (average hours were 34.6 in December 2007 and 33.7 at the low point in June 2009).
Average hourly wages increased by 4 cents in December and have risen at a 1.9% annualized rate over the last three months. This remains far below the pre-recession growth rate (3.4 percent from December 2006 to December 2007), as persistent high unemployment has exerted strong downward pressure on wage growth. With hours and hourly wages up, average weekly wages grew more strongly at $3.70, and they have risen at a 3.1% annualized rate over the last three months.

Demographic breakdowns

Unemployment in December was 8.7 percent for those age 25 or older with only a high school education, and 4.1 percent for those age 25 or older with a college degree or more. While workers with higher levels of education have lower unemployment rates, all education categories have seen their unemployment rates roughly double over the downturn, a trend running counter to the notion that there is high unemployment because employers are unable to fill their demand for workers with higher education credentials.
Considering additional breakdowns by age, race/ethnicity, and gender, we find that all major groups of workers have experienced substantial increases in unemployment over the Great Recession and its aftermath. However, young workers and racial and ethnic minorities have been and continue to be hit particularly hard.

In December, unemployment was 16.7 percent among workers age 16–24, 7.6 percent among workers age 25–54, and 6.2 percent among workers age 55 and older (up 5.0, 3.6, and 3.0 percentage points, respectively, since the start of the recession in December 2007).
Among workers younger than age 25 who are not enrolled in school, unemployment over the last year averaged 21.3 percent for those with a high school degree and 9.2 percent for those with a college degree (reflecting increases of 9.3 and 3.7 percentage points, respectively, over the annual average of 2007; 12-month averages are used here since seasonally adjusted data are not available for these series.)
Unemployment in December was 15.8 percent for African American workers, 11.0 percent for Hispanic workers, and 7.5 percent for white workers (up 6.8, 4.7, and 3.1 percentage points, respectively, since the start of the recession).
Men saw a much larger increase in unemployment during the recession, but have seen relatively stronger improvements in the recovery. The unemployment rate reached its pre-recession low in late 2006 and early 2007, at 4.4 percent for men and 4.3 percent for women. Male unemployment peaked at 11.2 percent in October of 2009, and has since fallen to 8.7 percent. Female unemployment continued to rise for another year, peaking at 9.0 percent in November 2010; it since has fallen to 8.3 percent.

Industry breakdowns

As has been the case for more than three years, budget crises at the state and local level hurt state and local jobs growth. In December, state government employment was flat, and local government employment dropped by 14,000 jobs. Over the last year, state and local jobs have declined by 20,000 per month on average (-5,000 state, -15,000 local), an enormous drain on the recovery.
Most of the private sector gains in December were in service-providing industries: Private service-producing industries added 164,000 jobs while goods-producing industries added 48,000 jobs. Construction added 17,000 jobs in December, after staying essentially flat on average for the last year, while manufacturing gained 23,000 jobs, after adding around 3,000 on average for the prior three months. All of December's manufacturing gain was in durable goods.
Retail added 27,900 jobs in December, in line with its average growth rate of 25,800 over the prior three months. Couriers and messengers saw an outsized gain of 42,200, but, according to BLS, that growth may have been due to the seasonal-adjusted model not properly accounting for increased online purchasing during the holidays. Employment in couriers and messengers was likely overstated by around 40,000; without this blip, total payroll job growth in December was only 160,000.
Restaurants and bars added 24,000 jobs, slightly off the industry's average of the prior three months of 30,000. However, employment in restaurants and bars is now just 20,000 shy of being back up to pre-recession levels. Health care added 22,600 jobs, below its average growth rate of 27,600 in the prior three months. Temporary help services declined by 7,500, well below that sector's average gain of 13,600 in the prior three months.

Underemployment

The "underemployment rate" (the U-6 measure of labor underutilization) is the BLS's most comprehensive measure of labor market slack. It includes not just the officially unemployed and the marginally attached (jobless workers who want a job and are available to work but have given up actively seeking work), but also people who want full-time jobs but have had to settle for part-time work. This measure decreased in December from 15.6 percent to 15.2 percent, in large part due to a 371,000 decline in the number of involuntary part-time workers to 8.1 million. In December there were 23.8 million workers who were either unemployed or underemployed (the 8.1 million involuntary part-time workers plus 13.1 million officially unemployed and 2.6 million marginally attached). Racial and ethnic minorities have been particularly hard hit by underemployment.

Conclusion

This report shows the labor market ending 2011 on a better track, with good gains across almost all dimensions, but job growth needs to be even stronger to get the nation on a fully productive track. To get back to the pre-recession unemployment rate in four years – by the end of 2015 – would require adding around 320,000 jobs every month between now and then. Expectations are that sustained robust job growth is at least a year off. The U.S. workforce can't afford to wait. The ongoing crisis in the labor market calls for substantial additional stimulus to generate jobs.
— Research assistance by Nick Finio, Natalie Sabadish, and Hilary Wething

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Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

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Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers

via Economic Policy Institute - Feed by David Cooper on 1/4/12

One common misconception about minimum-wage workers is that they are mostly teenagers, working part time. In fact, of the roughly 1.4 million low-wage workers who will benefit from Jan. 1 minimum wage increases in eight states, roughly 80 percent are at least 20 years old and 78 percent work at least 20 hours per week. The percentage of affected workers who fit the false stereotype of teenage, part-time workers is a mere 12 percent.[1]

Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington all raised their minimum wage to adjust for inflation. This "indexing" of the minimum wage ensures that the real value of the lowest-paid workers' wages does not shrink as normal costs of living go up. More than a million workers will benefit from this increase.

For more information on minimum-wage workers, indexing the minimum wage, and the economic effects of minimum wage increases, see Fix it and forget it (2009) by EPI's Heidi Shierholz.

[1] Source: EPI Analysis of Current Population Survey, 2010 Annual Social and Economic Study

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R.I. leading economic indicators up

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:55:00 +0000

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R.I. leading economic indicators up

via PBN.com - Latest Stories by document.write('');By Kimberley Donoghue PBN Web EditorTwitter: @kdonog on 1/4/12

An index of leading economic indicators for Rhode Island's economy reversed a three-month decline in November.

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How networking helped my business (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

5 minutes. Yes, just five minutes.

Good overview with practical examples of networking tips!

How many of these do you use?

What will you use next?

Thanks to Jason Jacobson for sharing this video

Report: Boston’s job outlook 5th best in nation

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

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Report: Boston’s job outlook 5th best in nation

via Boston Business News - Local Boston News | Boston Business Journal by Lisa van der Pool on 12/13/11

Boston's employment outlook for the first quarter of 2012 has been ranked the fifth best in the country, according to a new report from staffing company Manpower. Between January and March, 17 percent of the employers interviewed in the Boston-area plan to hire more employees, while 6 percent said they will reduce head count, according to Manpower's Q1 Outlook. About 68 percent of firms said they will maintain current workforce levels and 9 percent were not sure about their hiring plans. Overall, per Manpower's report, Boston's employment outlook for Q1 is stronger than Massachusetts as whole...

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Job-seekers ratio remains above 4-to-1 for 34th straight month

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:20:00 +0000

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Job-seekers ratio remains above 4-to-1 for 34th straight month

via Economic Policy Institute - Feed by Heidi Shierholz on 12/13/11

Today's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of job openings decreased by 110,000 in October to 3.3 million. The total number of unemployed workers in October was 13.9 million (unemployment is from the Current Population Survey). Therefore the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 4.3-to-1 in October, a deterioration from the revised September ratio of 4.1-to-1.

To put this figure in context, it's useful to note that the highest this ratio ever got in the early 2000s downturn was 2.8-to-1, and in December 2000, the month the JOLTS survey began, the ratio was 1.1-to-1. While the job-seekers ratio has been generally slowly improving since its peak of 6.9-to-1 in the summer of 2009, today's data release marks two years and 10 months—147 weeks—that the ratio has been above 4-to-1. A job-seekers ratio of more than 4-to-1 means that for more than three out of four unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. In October, there were 10.6 million more unemployed workers than job openings. Furthermore, the lack of job openings relative to unemployed workers is in no way limited to particular industries such as construction—unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings across the board, in every major industry.

The fact that we have had a job-seekers ratio above 4-to-1 for 147 weeks underscores the crucial need for extended unemployment insurance benefits, which last a maximum of 99 weeks. There are 5.7 million people in this country who have been unemployed for more than half a year, up from 1.2 million in 2007. Of course, the reason for this is not that these millions of workers have become lazy, unskilled, or unproductive; it is that there are not enough jobs available. This is no time to cut the number of weeks of benefits, as the House of Representatives appears ready to do. With the Congressional Budget Office projecting an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent at the end of next year, continuing federally funded unemployment insurance benefit extensions through 2012 would extend a lifeline to the families of millions of long-term unemployed workers, and generate spending that would support well over half a million jobs.

—with research assistance from Nicholas Finio

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Old dogs and new tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:43:00 +0000

The teaser video:

Two teachers partnered with 4th through 8th grade students to learn new technology. Learning and collaboration followed.

There might be something here to apply to the job search. How can you use technology to collaborate and find your next real great opportunity?

The full video:

Additional presentation on the use of social media tools in the classroom can be found on the K12 Online website. There are lots of good ideas being put to use that you can re-use for your job search and personal development!

Feds: Boston ranked No. 2 in job growth in October

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:45:00 +0000

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Feds: Boston ranked No. 2 in job growth in October

via Boston Business News - Local Boston News | Boston Business Journal by Galen Moore on 12/5/11

Boston's jobs numbers grew by 1.9 percent, year over year, by the end of this October - more than any other major U.S. metropolitan area save Houston, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total nonfarm payroll in Boston, Cambridge and Quincy, Mass., was up 47,000, or 1.9 percent, from one year ago, as of the end of October, according to the BLS. The report surveyed 12 major metros, finding only two – Philadelphia and Atlanta – where jobs had actually dropped as of Oct...

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Hopkinton Networking Group: Fri, Dec 2 - Lydia Magill

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Lydia Magill. The facilitator for this week will be Ralph Sabatino. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, starting at 11AM, Lydiawill speak about "The Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching” and have dialog and answer our questions.

Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching...and How to Regain Your Balance
Lydia Magill brings nearly 3 decades of wisdom and expertise to her career in Recruiting and Talent Acquisition, as well as the experience of speaking to over 500 career centered groups on a variety of buisness and career transition subjects. An adept Human Resources practitioner, Lydia enjoys working with adults in career transition and exploration, and has deep regard for individuals dealing with the uncharted course of a career search.

LydiaB. Magill
Talent Acquisition and Management
lbmhr@hotmail.com
617-515-1125
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiamagill214

Schedule for HNG Meetings:

December 16, 2011: Charlie Anderson - "Your Job Search from an HR Perspective"
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****
January 06, 2012: *
January 20, 2012: Clare Harlow "People Reading with DiSC"

General Information:
The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda items:
· Welcome
· Landings (with doughnuts)
· Announcements
· New member introductions
· Needs and Leads
· Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
· Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
· Name
· Skills and Value Statement
· Where have you been?
· Where are you going?
· Your title
· Your target companies
· Geography of search
· Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions: St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street , Hopkinton , MA 01748

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street , take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route.

Payroll Tax Cuts by the Numbers: State-by-State Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:45:00 +0000

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Payroll Tax Cuts by the Numbers: State-by-State Analysis

via Center for American Progress by CAP on 11/29/11

See also: The Importance of Extending Both the Payroll Tax Cut and Emergency Unemployment Benefits, No Time to End Unemployment Benefits by Heather Boushey, and Our Economy Needs Help Now by Heather Boushey

The Senate is expected to vote in early December on extending the payroll tax cut that boosted the paychecks of 160 million American workers at a critical time for our economy. Congress must act before the end of the year to prevent the 2 percent reduction in all workers' paychecks from disappearing in January, which will happen if the payroll tax cut now in effect is not extended.

The Senate bill, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, would both extend and expand the tax cut, cutting workers' share of the Social Security payroll tax in half, to 3.1 percent for 2012. The bill also provides payroll tax relief for employers, targeted toward small businesses and new hires.

The Middle Class Tax Cut Act will benefit every one of the approximately 160 American workers who pay payroll taxes. The map below shows how much it will add to the take-home income of a typical family in your state.

See also:

The Importance of Extending Both the Payroll Tax Cut and Emergency Unemployment Benefits
No Time to End Unemployment Benefits by Heather Boushey
Our Economy Needs Help Now by Heather Boushey

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Extending unemployment benefits is critical

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Currently, there are nearly five workers actively searching for work for every job available, compared to just one and a half job searchers per job opening before the Great Recession began. Allowing unemployment benefits to expire amid such a weak labor market would have serious implications for the unemployed, as well as every one of us who still has a job.

The reason: An end to the benefits would threaten our economic recovery. Economists across the board agree that unemployment benefits are one of the most important countercyclical economic policies we have, helping those who do not have jobs with assistance that is immediately spent in the broader economy. Over the past few years, according to a detailed study by Wayne Vroman for the Department of Labor, benefits for the long-term unemployed led to the creation of about 700,000 new jobs each quarter.

Read the full post here

Contact your congressman to let them know of your interest in this matter!

Stop Looking For a Job, Start Looking for an Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:00:00 +0000

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Stop Looking For a Job, Start Looking for an Opportunity

via Phil Gerbyshak by Phil Gerbyshak on 11/20/11

From Phil: What follows is a fantastic guest post from Darren Hardy, author of the new book The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success. Some good things to ponder as we head into the Thanksgiving break.

A lot of jobs that once were, aren't coming back. Ever. To look for what isn't there is a waste of time and an insult to your dignity.
If you haven't noticed, the world has changed — radically. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has imploded. The path to a high-paying job used to involve getting the highest academic degree you could obtain, along with specific technical job skills, to start climbing the ladder. Today, most of the ladders are decimated. If those jobs still exist, the needed knowledge and skills of those jobs have changed . . . and change again every day.
These are the greatest times of opportunity we have seen in human history — but only if you know how to seize them. To succeed you need to change with the way the world is working now. If you are unemployed, underemployed, or want to take control of your financial future, here are seven strategies to thrive in the new world.
1. Adapt to the new reality.
Over the last decade we have witnessed the death rattle of an era gone by. The corporate structure and monolithic systems of the industrial age have begun to crumble. We are returning to the way we started — as entrepreneurs. When America was founded, the majority of people had their own business, farm, market or trade. People used their skillsets and hobbies to make a living as entrepreneurs. Then the industrial age flipped the ratio and most people became employed by new systems of repetitive labor and mass production. Technology recently wired all of us directly to each other, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels, giving every entrepreneur immediate and direct access to a global marketplace of opportunity, right from their fingertips . . . or laptop. This means competition doesn't just come from the business down the street, but also from every basement or second bedroom of every home in every city or suburb in every country of the world. You better become a continual learner and constantly improve your special skills.
2. Stop looking for a job and start looking for an opportunity.
Take the skills you have as an employee and turn those into a contract services business. You have an expertise, knowledge and experience in something that's unique to you. Your skillset might be so unique you don't even recognize it as personal expertise. What is your experience, knowledge or unique gifts? Ask a good friend, colleague or former employer to tell you. Once you discover your specialization, hire your expertise out, offer it to multiple businesses and entrepreneurs who need what you can deliver. More companies are hiring consultants and contractors for specific projects, specialized skills and services. Bartering services on the Internet are booming — sites like SwapASkil.com, UExchange.com, TradeAway.com and SwapThing.com.
3. What do you have?
What goods do you have that others might want? What goods do you have easy access to that most do not? What goods can you make that people would want? Answer one or more of those questions and take it to market through eBay or an automated Amazon.com store. You also can write about your area of skill or expertise. You can create a how-to information book and sell it through ClickBank, create a podcast or video blog series and distribute it through iTunes or other distributions channels. Follow through on a great idea. There are probably thousands of people who want to know what you know or how to do what you do. Plus, it has never been cheaper to build, outfit and market your business than it is today. Vendors are flexible and partnerships are open.
4. Who do you know?
If you want to calculate your potential for increased wealth, don't look at your current bank balance, cars or property inventory. Look at the inventory of your high caliber relationships. With the Industrial Age over, we are now in the Relationship Age. Unequivocally, the relationships you build will be your No. 1 asset in these expanding and fast-changing times. Your ability to network is the skill you want to hone, practice and master. Your ability to get to, connect with and establish relationships with important and purposeful people will be your gateway to any goal, destination or aspiration you have.
5. What problem can you solve?
The economic downturn has created a ton of new problems that need solving. Problems are food and oxygen for entrepreneurialism. Those who create solutions to our new problems will become the beneficiaries of these times. Remember, 90 percent of entrepreneurs started out at the bottom, broke or with little capital or savings. Today they are among the world's wealthiest.
6. Return to self-reliance and self-responsibility.
You make your choices; then your choices make you. Everything in your life exists because you made a choice about something. Choices are at the root of your results. Don't choose at all and you've made the choice to be the passive receiver of whatever comes your way. Most people think they take responsibility for their lives, but many people operate in the world of blaming, finger pointing and expecting someone else — or the government — to solve their problems. You can't count on anyone else for your success but you.
7. Take control of your future!
Separate from everyone else by developing the mindset, habits, actions and persistence it's going to take for personal accountability and control of your future. Your soft skills can give you the leading edge. With the mind-blowing velocity of change and throng of competition, the skills needed for success today are less about academic, industrial, or technical training and more about soft skills — emotional intelligence, adaptability, resiliency, relationship-building, accountability, productivity and leadership skills.
There are no secrets, shortcuts or quick fixes to success. It takes hard work, personal responsibility and positive choices. You already know all the information you need to succeed. You just need a new plan of action. Now is the time.
© 2011 Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success

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Forecast: Rhode Island grows weakly through 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:56:00 +0000

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Forecast: Rhode Island grows weakly through 2015

via PBN.com - Latest Stories by document.write('');By Kimberley Donoghue PBN Web EditorTwitter: @kdonog on 11/18/11

Rhode Island faces three major challenges: creating jobs, solving the pension and budget problems, and streamlining its cumbersome regulatory system, two professors said.

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Hopkinton Networkers Group - Friday, Nov 18th

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:40:00 +0000

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our very own member, Sandra Cipriani. The facilitator for this week will be Marilyn Johnson. We are going to reverse the schedule this week and Sandra will lead a interactive discussion about

*Using Social Styles to Your Advantage*

It’s a myth that the most qualified candidates for a position get hired. There are other factors involved into making a hiring decision. The hiring manager may be asking him/herself: Will I be able to work with this candidate? Will this candidate be a good fit in my team? The only way hiring managers can see if you are a good fit is during the interview. Your challenge is to convince them that you have the right skills and that you will be a good fit for their team and the organization all in a couple of hours! Easy, right?

One tool to help you during your interview is to understand and be able to adapt to different social styles. In this session you will be able to:

Identify your own social style
Describe the other three social styles and their preferences
Demonstrate how you would adapt your interview with a hiring manager who has a different social style
Be prepared for a interactive and fun session!

Sandra Cipriani is a Learning & Development leader with over 15 years experience in facilitation and designing curriculum for mid to large size financial organizations. She has a graduate degree in Adult and Organizational Learning from Suffolk University in Boston and has a passion for empowering and advancing employees through learning. She is also on the board of the Trainers’ Roundtable and the Hopkinton Networkers group.

For the second first hour, from 11 to 12 AM to the following agenda:
Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Introductions, and Needs & Leads.

Please note this week the Church is having an event, and we must vacate the hall by noon.
Please arrive early to network and to get started on time.

*Schedule for HNG Meetings**:*

December 2, 2011: Lydia Magill - Lydia Magill - Motivational Ups and Downs of Career Searching... and How to Regain Your Balance

December 16, 2011: Charlie Anderson - "Your Job Search from an HR Perspective"

*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****

January 06, 2012: *

January 20, 2012: Clare Harlow "People Reading with DiSC"

*General Information:*

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there are plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following *Agenda *items:

Welcome
Landings (with doughnuts)
Announcements
New member introductions
Needs and Leads
Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
Cleanup

For those *new members *who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
Name
Skills and Value Statement
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Your title
Your target companies
Geography of search
Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

*Directions: St. John the Evangelist, 20 Church Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748 *

Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route.

Evocative

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:31:00 +0000

Another in the series from Tom Asacker in his Opportunity Screams series. Worth the few minutes to watch!

How can you use this for your job search?

We are the 99%

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:59:00 +0000

Okay, so we are the 99%. What can we do about it? Create attention by protesting is one step.

What is the action plan from this? Where do we go from here?

One place is to the polling place and voting booth in November.

Another place would be to the local meetings of your Town Council, School Committee, Planning Board - being active there will force them to consider you.

If you are not there, you can easily be forgotten and ignored (intentionally or otherwise).

"Hey, what's wrong with me?"

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:35:00 +0000

Regular readers and participants of the Job Search Jam Session in September will recognize Hari Narayanan who is quoted in this article:

Cortes's colleague at the Milford center, business service representative Hari Narayanan, said local companies are willing to hire candidates - even unemployed ones - who show initiative.

"It's more of what people have been doing while they're unemployed," he said. "Employers are looking for a skill-set. Their number one concern is finding the right people to come work for them."

But some laid-off job hunters say it's not so easy to convince companies they're worth hiring - or even deserving of an interview. Lisa, a 44-year-old Framingham resident who withheld her last name so as not to hinder her job search, said her setbacks since losing her human resources job in May have made that task even more difficult by hurting her self-confidence.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1872805847/Job-seekers-fight-frustration-and-limited-opportunities-for-work#ixzz1bbTxghqF

There may be nothing wrong with you. Times are tough. Be confident in yourself. Layout a plan, set a target and start networking. The more you network, especially with information interviews, the better your chances will be of finding the right information and making the right connections to land where you want to be.

Hopkinton Networking Group: Hari Narayanan

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Sherlock) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:40:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Hari Narayanan. The facilitator for this week will be Jim Lane. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, strating at 11AM, Hari will speak about "The Job Ready List” and have dialog and answer our questions.

Speaker Topic: “The Job Ready List”

With the rush to land the right job, we at times fail or become disorganized in being truly “job ready”. Hari is an expert at coaching and teaching how to be “job ready”.

In this workshop, you will learn or just be “refreshed” on goal setting, all your KSA’s, finding the right job, re-identifying your own skills, being aware of key or winning words, talk about effective resumes and cover letters, your networking, your elevator speech, right ways to interview and how thank you letters can be effective.

About Hari Narayanan
Hari is the Career Coach and Business Service representative at the Milford, MA Workforce Central Career Center. Born in India, has a graduate degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University NY. Worked in Polaroid for 16 years spanning R&D, Engineering, Manufacturing, Customer focused product research & development until the company closed. Moved on to the other end of the spectrum to work with a private marketing company to create and establish eleven international markets for basic commodities companies. Moved on to work with a German Instrumentation company to expand their market in North America. Got laid off, again which gave him the motivation to start his own company while searching for his next career move. He is now working in Business Services for the State of Mass in the Division of Career Services. Married with two children in High School.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:
November 4, 2011 Anne Crawford "Is Your Elevator Speech Getting You to the Next Level"
November 18, 2011
December 2, 2011
December 16, 2011
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ****
January 20, 2012 Clare Harlow " People Reading with DiSC"

General Information:
The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following Agenda items:
Welcome
Landings (with doughnuts)
Announcements
New member introductions
Needs and Leads
Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
Name
Skills and Value Statement
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Your title
Your target companies
Geography of search
Name and e-mail address
If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,

Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:
Jim Lane - JDlane58@hotmail.com
Sandra Cipriani - sandraopps@comcast.net
Steven Hakar - hakar4@hotmail.comm
Gil Krispien - g.krispien@verizon.net
Sandra Lowther - sandy_lowther@charter.net
Barbara McKee - barb6635@comcast.net
Ralph Sabatino - ralphsabatino@ymail.com
Salpi Sarafian - ssarafian@rcn.com
Marilyn Johnson