Layoffs hurt people and come back to bite businesses, too.

A recent article in Newsweek (February 15th, 2010) written by Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, discusses the bad effects of lay-offs at corporations and on their employees.

In the early 60’s I was being recruited by IBM for a position in Human Resources.  I was told about IBM’s dedication to its employees and their families, and given a copy of the employee’s handbook, which even included company songs.  I was invited to a large company meeting at an auditorium in the Washington, D.C. area.  I went.  At the end of the 2 hour meeting, all the employees stood up and sang one of the company’s songs.  Morale and spirit were high, and in those days IBM ruled the roost of US corporations.  But, by the time the 80’s came around, IBM started a series of lay-offs, and the company started their great decline from the top.

After 9/11, all the US airlines, uncertain of their future and faced with a pending recession started laying off tens of thousands of employees.  One airline didn’t follow the crowd:  Southwest. Southwest Airlines, in its 40 year history has never had a involuntary lay-off, and today it’s the largest U.S. domestic airline and has a market capitalization bigger than all its domestic competitors combined.  In the 1930’s,when the Great Depression hit this country, most firms had huge lay-offs, and drastically cut back their advertising.  A few companies kept their employees, increased their marketing efforts and they became the number one company in their industries, and reigned in that position for 70+ years.

For some corporations, circumstances are such that lay-offs are necessary for the firm to survive.  If your industry is disappearing or permanently shrinking, layoffs may be needed to adjust to the new market size.  An example of that is the newspaper industry.  But, in most cases, layoffs are done to minimize hits to profits, not to ensure the company’s survival.  We continuously see companies announcing layoffs, and the stock market responds by increasing their share price. No thought, or not enough thought, is given to the effects on the morale and productivity of the remaining employees.  Thoughts like, “Will I be next?” infect the remaining employees.  Some companies will offer outplacement assistance to the laid-off employees ( in which the contracts are awarded to the lowest bidding company) in the hopes of showing the remaining employees that they care about what happens to their laid off people.  Some of these services are no more than a couple of seminars and some hand outs on how to do a resume, etc.

When most companies do layoffs, they reduce their R&D staff, marketing people, and their sales force…the same people they will need to take the company forward.  In some cases after a layoff, non-laid off key people will leave the company based upon what they feel is a low value placed on employees.  Layoffs weaken the entire organization, and affect its future growth.

People who lose jobs also lose income, and they spend less.  Even workers that aren’t directly affected, due to worries that they may be next, reduce their spending, creating less demand for products. If, for example, you worked for a computer maker, when purchasing your next computer would you buy one from a company that only months before laid you off?  I don’t think so.  So reduced sales continue the layoff spiral.

An example of that was Circuit City, the now defunct electronics retailer. They decided to lay off 3,400 of their highest-paid , most effective sale associates to cut costs. Companies such as Best Buy gained market share and Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed its doors in March 2009.

Not to be left out is the effect on people and their loved ones.  When layoffs hit, studies have shown an increase in alcoholism, smoking, drug abuse and depression and these can become long term evil effects of layoffs.  Companies need to re-examine their employment philosophy and management decisions.

It might not be as bad as you think - keep your chin up!

Of course as you’ve read and heard, the media have been blasting over TV, Radio, net and newsprint that the nation has over 10% unemployment. Some articles break down the numbers for unemployment by race, sex, and age groups, which sometimes reveal interesting information.  But they often miss a different cut – some very critical numbers that affect you directly.

Now, a story published by Daily Finance called “Recession Hammers Low-Wage Workers, but Glances Off the Affluent” cites findings by researchers at The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University which tell a truly different story about unemployment numbers.  This survey covers the period of October to December 2009.  Here’s the deal:

Unemployment numbers for people earning over $150,000 are a low 3.2% and those in the $100,000 to $149,000 are just 4%. The Department of Labor, for years, has always claimed that anything under 5% unemployment is considered “full employment” since many times for personal reasons, transitions, etc. there are always some people not actively seeking a new job or in-between jobs.

The unfortunate fact for lower income earners is that unemployment is extremely high, particularly in the lowest wage brackets – such as under $12,499, where the unemployment rate is a mind numbing 30.8% and those in the range of $12,500 to $20,000 where the unemployment rate is 19.1%.  For those in those lower income brackets and in the hardest hit industries – we feel for you.

However, if you’re in the higher income brackets, it’s not as bad as it looks – and may be much better.  So next time when you read about unemployment rates, make sure you get the rest of the story before you get downright depressed or decide it is useless to look for a job. Job hunting for those people earning over $100,000 is never easy, and takes time, but the deep recession has really not affected that group significantly compared with normal times.  For high income earners, use best-practices in your job search, and remember job hunting is a full time job at your level.  And keep your chin up!

Good hunting!

At least the patient has a heartbeat!

As we previously mentioned, the job market in the Bay area has definitely improved, but with a slight glitch:  salaries (on an average) have either gone down or not kept up with inflation, as reported by a Dice.com salary survey of 1,260 Silicon Valley based technology professionals.

A key example is the IT field, where salaries were down 1%.  With inflation running about 3%, that’s a loss of 4% in buying power.

The good news is that here in the Silicon Valley we still lead the nation in average IT salaries at $96,299, with the average national salary being $78,845.  The major area for salary growth was in Washington, DC (that figures), which had a jump of 4.3% to an average of $89,014.

Another interesting number was the increase in compensation for consultants, with an increase in Silicon Valley to $106,366 (nationwide average $98,964), and at an hourly rate of $67.67 (national average $61.56).  This correlates well with what we’re seeing at AA-Careers.  We’ve seen an increase in job offers for consultants, with companies being cautious about adding regular employees with the economic situation being as it is at present.

The article also quotes Tom Silver, Senior VP, North America at Dice, “Today, Silicon Valley has more available jobs than at this time last year”.  We agree, this is an improved market for technology job hunters.  The report went on to say, that in the survey, 46% stated they were satisfied with their compensation and only 37% were dissatisfied.  The Conference Board estimates a 2.8 wage increase in 2010, headlining “wage increases will barely cover inflation“.  At least covering inflation is better than losing ground, so that’s progress.

I think also we have to take in consideration that in some cases people have seen a reduction in rent, and for those who had the opportunity to re-fi their homes, that monthly payment has been reduced… that should also help to get thru these times.

Copies of both these reports can be found in the Client’s lounge at AA-Careers.

As always,
Good Hunting!

Beware what you post!

Saw a couple of interesting, related posts this weekend about social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace etc.) and job hunting.  I’d group the concerns into three areas:

First, be careful what you post about the job hunt itself.  If you’re updating your status to “just had a great interview” or “just interviewed a terrible company” you may be broadcasting to a much wider audience than you think.  Facebook, for example, recently changed the way that your information is shared (and many people clearly aren’t aware of this).  Yes, you can limit who can see your information if you’ve got everything set right, but it’s harder to protect than you think.  For example, Facebook applications that you use (like FamilyLink) have access to pretty much everything – again, unless you set the application access to limit this.  So, just assume your prospective employer can see your status.  That way, you can’t go wrong.

Second, be aware that many employers will look you up online…and any factual differences between your profile information and your resume may lead to problems (see related article).  This might lead your prospective employer thinking that perhaps you’re misleading them.  Dates and employers much match.  If your LinkedIn profile has more history than your resume, that may be okay, so long as the part that’s on your resume is the same as the profile.  But date discrepancies, title discrepancies, and employer discrepancies could be killers.  And you may not get a chance to explain.

Third, all of the information you have out there may influence whether you get hired.   This includes your statements of opinion, things you’ve said about prior employers, personal pictures, and, well – everything.  Things that might seem innocuous…like crude jokes you thought were private, to polarizing or political statements (see related article) could easily influence a hiring manager to pass over you.

Here’s what to do:

1. Get your public information in sync with your resume.
2. Purge anything problematic as best you can.  This can be a bit hard…and if you have a lot, you might consider hiring a reputation management firm to help.  I’ve read about one called Reputation Defender, but I can’t vouch for them personally – they’re just an example.
3. Set up your profile preferences (like on Facebook) to limit who can see things.  Here’s a good resource to take you through the steps for Facebook
4. Treat your posts and status messages as if they’re readable by anyone.  It’s just good practice.

Good hunting!

• Edward Jones
• Google
• Qualcomm
• Cisco
• Genentech, and
• Intel

Some other companies hiring (with a lesser presence in the Bay Area) include:  PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and Accenture.

The article doesn’t detail exactly where the openings are – but sometimes companies are flexible on this, anyway.

-Good hunting!

Job Hunting in December? Yes!

A widely held belief is that Job Hunting in December is a waste of time. But, times and beliefs are changing rapidly – and that belief about Job Hunting in December now needs to get washed down the drain.

Thanks to a highly motivated staff of consultants and some hard working clients, December came in as the best month of the year for 2009 for our clients to land new jobs.  We refer to the job hunt as a “Market Campaign”, and we had more Market Campaign Completion (MCC’s) in December than any other month in 2009, and it was the best December since 1999 (the era of the dot.coms).

We started to see some good movement starting in the fall of 2009.  Many companies, who have trimmed their staff to the bone, were starting to hire consultants for 3-6 month contracts. Also, as noted in prior blog posts, some of the stimulus money finally made its way to Silicon Valley.  And the Dice Career Fair this month had 13 hiring companies; attendance came close to 1,000 job seekers.

In the MCC’s in December, the average compensation (base pay) was $117,000, with highest being $175,000.  We also saw our first sign-on bonus ($6,000) in over 6 months. The clients were fairly evenly divided, with 38% making career changes and 62% staying with their career path. The biggest gains were in IT and ‘Green Jobs’.

We got some great comments from clients this month which we’ll use to update the website at some point, like “all the effort and hard work paid off”, “had great confidence walking into the interview room”, and “improved my salary $30,000”.  100% of our December clients who completed their job hunting campaigns checked the box that they would be happy to receive referrals.

I feel confident that 2010 will be a good year for the Valley.

Good hunting!

Dice’s Targeted Career Job Fair has filled the void, and now has 4 shows scheduled in the South Bay for 2010.  The first show is scheduled for Thursday, January 14th, between the hours of 11 am to 3 PM at the Santa Clara Convention Center.  I suggest you come early, there will be a line to get in.  Make sure you bring several clean copies of your most recent resume.

The initial list of companies includes… Lockheed-Martin, Acuitus, NetLogic Microsytems, Rockyou-HQ, Lawrence Livermore Lab, AA-Careers, and many more are signing up each day.

In our blog on November 30th we covered the additional funding be given to Lawrence Livermore of $240,000,000 for research on alternative energy sources, and now they pop up at the job fair. If you are interested in “GREEN” jobs, I suggest you review your resume, consider a change in the objective, and re-focus your accomplishments toward that objective. In the past Livermore Lab has given strong preference to those with advanced college degrees…if you’ve got them, show them!  …and maybe wear something green… 

The staff of AA-Careers will also be providing, as we have for over 20 years, a free resume critique booth which is separate from our regular booth.  We will try to see everyone, and even stay after the show closes if they’ll let us.  We know how popular this service is with job seekers. The resumes that are worked on are not given over to our regular booth, nor are any copies kept, it is up to you to submit one to them for consideration. Our regular booth collects resumes, has you fill out a very short questionnaire. These are taken back to the office, reviewed by the staff, and those that we feel our services will help will be called as soon as possible for the next available interview time. The January shows always draw a good crowd, and because of the companies attending, we expect this fair to have very good attendance. If nobody calls you from the AA-Careers office for an interview, please be patient, it may take 3-4 weeks to find an open time. If no one calls you I am sorry, we try to get those people in that the staff feels are the most marketable, and that our services could best help.

Good Luck on your Job Hunting, 2010 will be a better year than 2009…the job market door is opening!

Choose the right clothes for your interview!

Here’s the follow-up to my post regarding the candidates who showed up for the interviews.  There are two important themes here.  First, dress appropriately, and second, arrive early.

Dressing for an interview.

I wrote a bit about this previously, so I’ll just enhance that a bit with examples of how people showed up here for their interviews.

Too many of the applicants were either over dressed or under dressed.  How can you be “overdressed”?  Well, in a sense, its dressy clothing for the wrong occasion.  When you dress up for an interview, you don’t want to wear clothes that look like you’re gong out on a date.  Yes, that’s dressy, but it’s not business dress.  It’s fancy casual dress.  Others were under-dressed.  No matter how much you paid for your jeans, they aren’t interview clothes for office jobs.  After you get the job, jeans may be fine – but when you interview, you want to dress in business wear.  With so many people today responding to the same ad, it is critical to dress properly.

Choose the right clothes for an interview!

To be clear, of the candidates who came in to interview, there were by far more people under-dressed, than over-dressed.   At least 10% of those interviewed wore a t-shirt and jeans.  That is not really acceptable attire for interviewing!  One young lady had some printed words on her t-shirt.  This was beyond unacceptable.  Another candidate had a very wrinkled blouse which looked like it was slept in.  Nice clothing that’s unkempt doesn’t make the cut.

On the subject of fragrances – cologne or perfume, it may be a good idea to forget it for the job interview. In our interviews, one young lady wore so much that the office smelled for the whole afternoon.  The fragrance caused other candidates to start sneezing when they entered the office!

The winner?

The person who was got the job, wore a black 2 piece suit, with a very nice white blouse and ascot.  That’s the way to go.

Arrive early!

There several reasons to arrive a bit ahead of schedule.  First, it gives you time to collect your thoughts.  Second, it gives you a chance to freshen up prior to the interview.  This helps you look your best and will help with confidence, too.

Here’s an example of a person who arrived late.  She arrived 10 minutes late for the interview, sat down in the chair and talked for 30 minutes straight telling us all about her background, which included problems with her boy friend, statements about bad companies she worked for (she alleged sexual misconduct), why she dropped out of school, and ended by saying if she got the job she would break up with her boy friend and get her own place to live.  Ok…you probably can guess what I think about this.

Maybe if she had arrived 15 minutes early for the interview, she would have had time to compose herself and be more relaxed. I think her ranting on about her personal life may have been caused by being late for interview. A candidate should carefully listen to the questions asked, and then just answer each question. Interviewers are not interested in your personal life, and there’s a risk of alienating the interviewer.

Good hunting!

Um...don't do this ever, and especially not when job hunting!

A few weeks ago, AA-Careers ran a job ad on Craigslist.  When we ran the same ad 3 years ago, we received 48 resumes in a 30 day period.  The November, 2009 result?  This time, we received over 650 resumes in less than a week.

After a couple of follow up questions to my initial post, we decided to go into some more detail on the statistics:

• 29% of applications had at least one spelling mistake.
• 33% had attachments we couldn’t open using either the latest version of Microsoft Word or Acrobat Reader.
• 17% of applications had poorly written, missing, or completely inappropriate cover letters.
• 44% of resumes had a very vague objective unrelated to the job being applied for.

Ouch!  Our initial reaction was a bit of shock at all the work it would take to go through the applications.  Then, after we’d gone through a triage process, we became concerned for all the job hunters.  Hundreds of them made the triage process easy – because they were easy to eliminate.  It’s not like there aren’t many online resources and desktop tools to help, but for whatever reason, people aren’t using them.  There’s a combination of a lack of job hunting skills, a poor use of available tools, and perhaps a bit of self-defeating desperation.

The most important take-away here is that non-executive job hunters can differentiate to a certain extent by doing a solid job with the basics.

It might be helpful to address each of the issues in more detail, and build a bit more on our initial post about this with some additional specific examples.

Missing/Poor Objectives on Resumes

On 44% of resumes received, little time or effort was given to the objective on the resume. In several cases the objective on the resume was totally different from the advertised job. After reading a few resumes, you get very tired of the same old garbage items like ”seeking a rapidly growing company with opportunity for advancement”, “seeking a company that will give me a chance to learn”, “a job that will challenge my skills and education” and “seeking a job in a stable company that doesn’t have lay-offs”. Over 20% of the resumes had no objective at all.  Suggestion: Keep the objective simply the title of the job you are applying for at that time.

Inappropriate or missing Cover Letters

17% had poorly written, missing, or completely inappropriate cover letters.  For example, one letter stated:

“[…] although you may feel I am highly over qualified for the position, I really need a job so as to be able to pay my rent”

Suggestion:  A cover letter to a prospective employer is not a good place to look for sympathy.  Even if the employer is empathetic, they are looking to hire someone who really wants the job, will do well, and will not leave the second they find something else.  Employers don’t want to hire someone who’s desperate, or who doesn’t really want the job.

Another said:

“Although I have had no experience in that field, my friends say I am a quick learner”

Suggestion:  It would have been much better to say, “I feel that I am well qualified for the position and would appreciate having the opportunity to meet with you in person.”

Resumes that Won’t Open

33% had attachments we couldn’t open using either the latest versions of Microsoft Word and Acrobat Reader.  Obviously, this can work to immediately exclude you.  If a prospective employer already has too many resumes to look through, why will they spend extra time if your document doesn’t work on the first try?  Suggestion:  Send a test email to a friend first.  If you have to submit the resume through a website, still double check any attachments with someone.

Typos

Over 29% of applications had at least one spelling mistake or grammatical error.  Um…we’re not even sure where to start here.  A typo is never good form in a professional document.  If you’re not a good speller, use a spelling checker.  Suggestion. If there’s no spell check available on a web page, write your cover letter in a word processor, spell check, and then copy/paste it into the web form.

Showing up at the Interview

Next post…we’ll follow up on our post on interview dress based on our actual experiences from candidates who made it to the in-person round.

Good hunting!