We live in an age when the one-company individual no longer exists.  Your father, mother or grandparents may have worked for one company their entire lives.  Now it is not uncommon to be employed by three, four and even five or more companies during one’s worklife.

Accelerated by unending layoffs, the number of managers and executives who have changed jobs four or more times has increased dramatically according to surveys our company conducts among the individuals who go through our program. (more…)

As approximately 2.9 million young men and women begin their post-secondary education, many are pondering ways they might be able to avoid the high rate of unemployment and underemployment facing the most recent crop of graduates.  They might consider the advice of human resource executives, who said in a new survey that they would advise college freshmen to pursue degrees in engineering, computer science or health care.

According to the survey, which was conducted in August among about 150 human resource executives by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the career paths to avoid included law, marketing/advertising and, ironically, human resources. (more…)

As social and professional networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn become more popular for connecting with friends and family, more and more people are visiting the sites for more specific reasons, namely the job search.  As the number of unemployed workers continues to grow, job seekers are using these sites to brand themselves to future employers.

LinkedIn has always been touted as the site to network professionally; however, job seekers are now also turning to Facebook and Twitter for job leads, advice and contact building.  Hundreds of recruiters are trolling Twitter, searching for applicants with relevant skills, while job seekers post links to their resumes, websites and examples of their work for previous employers. (more…)

Lower gasoline prices could boost travel this summer; welcome news for the nation’s tourist destinations.  However, one workplace expert warns that some destinations will fare better than others, as the recession and the fear of layoffs are likely to keep many Americans close to home and well-connected to the office via cell phone and email. (more…)

If you’ve been making the networking rounds lately, you’ve probably been noticing a heightened level of people out of work and looking for a job.  Wait, I’m sorry.  The ubiquitous term of the moment is “in transition.”  You know things are bad when people can agree on a euphemism for “laid off.”  Indeed, the environment is reminding me of the last great tech meltdown, which starting producing similar crowds around 2001.  And it makes me wonder: are the Pink Slip Parties on the way back?  (They’ve already returned in New York City and Houston.)

If you weren’t active in the market back then, a “Pink Slip Party” is a party for the unemployed/recently laid off.  Frequently, there’s an attempt to have HR and recruiters in the room.  Ideally, companies will have a booth and people will line up to interview for jobs right there at the party.

Does this sound like a good thing?  Well, it can be.  The thing is, there are some strange elements that can creep into a Pink Slip Party. (more…)

A recent conversation highlighted an age-old problem with workers on the computer/IT side of things: what happens when you’re in an interview and the interviewer is asking for 5 years experience on a program that’s only existed for 2 years? Do you lie and risk losing the job at a later date? Do you correct the interviewer and risk losing the job before you get it? Do you even know if it’s possible to have that much experience? Don’t laugh, it was very common for recruiters to ask for 5 years of ASP experience, back when the language had only been around for 2 or 3 years. And then you have the cases when the tech has been out exactly as long as the requirement, so you’d need to be part of the first handful to use it. Expectations aren’t always realistic.

Then you have the really amorphous marketing terms that are fine for a sales pitch, but doesn’t really mean a whole lot to somebody who’s doing implementation (Web 3.0, anyone?).

For your benefit (and the benefit of any recruiters who want to check requirements vs. how old things are), we’ve prepared a list of how old some technologies you might get asked about are. We’ve also included some guides on what to do about some dubious marketing buzz terms that get thrown around. (more…)