THIS is the problem with unemployment

Question from Job Seeker: Should you jump on the first job offer you receive?

I say NO, absolutely not, because people are stressed & anxious, they may end up taking on a job they do not really want out of fear, which will be obvious to all in the short-term, this could also lead to job-hopping.... Your thoughts?

ANSWER from Dennis:
My guess is your currently living on the government dollar, giving you the right to be selective. I have many candidates that would prefer to be on unemployment then take a short term deal - that is in their skill set.

But what I find and my guess is your question might confirm it, is that people equate Unemployment with receiving unemployment benefits. The idea of the benefits is for you to find work...period. If people had no money coming in at all, any job offer would be a good one.

If you were looking in your skill set and you had a reasonable offer then yes you should take it.

Take it to take care of you, take care of your family and participate with the working class.

You mention in your question people are stressed and anxious, why might that be? Because they are unemployed, they have bills and some one is going to help them make that right by paying them! You might have to think about taking it. You might not get a second chance considering where we are in our economy.

Job Hoping, personally, I appreciate all and any people that are working during these times and are trying to take care of themselves and their family. I will take an person that had a good skill set that is currently working at Starbucks® then someone unemployed sitting on the couch eating Cheetos® waiting for the "right" opportunity.

What do YOU think?

Dennis

***ATTENTION COACHING SESSIONS AVAILABLE!Coaching is available through any combination of in-person, telephone, or email support. Are you prepared to navigate the current job market? If you would like to increase your chances and give yourself a real chance to win the next position. I have developed a simple easy to use and affordable product http://www.mypocketapplication.com/Email me, or call Dennis Scherer for more information!630-571-6025

COCAINE USER HIDES BEHIND TONIC WATER EXCUSE AND WINS

COCAINE USER HIDES BEHIND TONIC WATER EXCUSE AND WINS!

This unemployment insurance case will probably make you angry when you read it. At a time in the history of the United States when people are arguing about whether there should be additional extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, cases like this one make the situation ever more confusing—are the right people getting unemployment insurance benefits in the first place?

In this particular Illinois Department of Employment Security unemployment insurance benefits case, a claimant was a temporary employee originally. For purposes of this article, let’s identify the Claimant as Mary and the Company as Smith Company.

Mary worked for Smith Company as a temporary employee. Mary knew that if she were ever invited to join the Company as a permanent employee, she would be required to have a drug test per company policy. This Company decided to invite Mary to join Smith Company as a permanent employee and they scheduled Mary for a drug test. Mary took the drug test, and she tested positive for cocaine. Mary denied ever using cocaine. She argued to Smith Company that the test results were a “false positive” because of some interaction with tonic water!

Smith Company didn’t buy Mary’s tonic water excuse, and they did not hire Mary as a permanent employee. In fact, they terminated her employment relationship with Smith Company. Mary filed for unemployment insurance benefits. Smith Company protested (claiming that Mary was discharged for misconduct connected with the work under Section 602A of the Illinois Unemployment Insurance Act).

At the unemployment insurance hearing, the Hearing Officer found that the drug test was performed by a reliable and independent laboratory. However, there was nothing in the Hearing record to support this finding by the Hearing Officer that the lab was reliable and independent. The Company produced no evidence or witnesses at the Hearing that the lab was reliable and independent, and that the test results were therefore valid.

However, the Hearing Officer still found for Smith Company and denied unemployment insurance benefits to Mary. Mary appealed that Hearing decision to the IDES Board of Review.

The IDES Board of Review reversed the decision of the Hearing Officer and found that Mary was not guilty of misconduct under Section 602A of the Act. The Board of Review found that Smith Company did not meet its legal burden of proof at the IDES hearing because Smith Company failed to have medical personnel available during the hearing to testify about the drug test, the test results, and other aspects about the lab and the validity of the test. So Mary’s silly tonic water defense was victorious!

Of course, Smith Company could have appealed further to Circuit Court and beyond if necessary, but in view of Smith Company’s clear failure to have the necessary witnesses at the hearing, appealing through the Illinois court system did not seem a prudent decision from a financial perspective.

Smith Company did not know that they should have had witnesses from the lab at the IDES hearing. Now they know.

If your Company is claiming misconduct because an employee failed a drug test, be sure you have the necessary witnesses and evidence to present at the unemployment insurance benefits hearing. Witnesses can testify by phone.

By

Nancy E. Joerg, Esq.

Senior Attorney and Shareholder

Wessels Sherman Joerg Liszka Laverty Seneczko P.C.

St. Charles, Illinois

(630) 377-1554

najoerg@wesselssherman.com

www.wesselssherman.com

***ATTENTION COACHING SESSIONS AVAILABLE!Coaching is available through any combination of in-person, telephone, or email support. Are you prepared to navigate the current job market? If you would like to increase your chances and give yourself a real chance to win the next position. I have developed a simple easy to use and affordable product http://www.mypocketapplication.com/Email me, or call Dennis Scherer for more information!630-571-6025

Total of 2.6 million jobs lost

Below is the latest results from the Labor Department.

I don’t believe it will be getting better anytime soon. So, the question I have for you is what are you going to do to make your self outstanding?

There are companies still hiring, and in the future they will hire again. Are you going to be prepared to stand out above the rest of the crowd? Realize it is a big crowd. Are you going to put in a full day effort, every day?

I read a statisic that less then 10% of people find jobs on the classified ads, this includes Monster, Careerbuilder, and the internet postings. Let us say the statisic is wrong and 15% of people find jobs online. That still leaves 85% of the job openings being filled in other ways.

Do you how those other 85% of others are getting noticed? Do you know other ways of being hired besides internet? If you are getting calls on your resume or even interviewing, are you getting hired? Why not?

As a career coach I will ask you, when would now be a good time to get yourself some help? Do you buy a book, join a club, get advice, or hire a coach? I have had people tell me I can’t afford it. Well, you can’t afford not to have it.

I hope you have found my blog useful, and maybe I can help you one on one in the near future.

Dennis



BREAKING NEWS
updated 1 hour, 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs. The labor market is expected to remain weak as mass layoffs continue.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, underscored the terrible toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies, and highlights the hard task President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy.

For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Although the number of jobs in the U.S. has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.

Unemployment rising, Who's hiring? 2009 job outlook

Jobless claims at 26-year high

Number of people filing for initial unemployment insurance surges to 573,000 in latest week. By Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing new unemployment insurance claims jumped last week to a 26-year high, surpassing the number of filings economists had predicted.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial filings for state jobless benefits surged to 573,000 for the week ended Dec. 6. That was an increase of 58,000 from a revised 515,000 claims in the previous week.

It was the highest number of jobless claims since Nov. 27, 1982 when initial filings hit 612,000. Economists were expecting jobless claims increase to 525,000, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com.

The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which works to eliminate fluctuations in data was 540,500 last week, an increase of 14,250 from the previous week's revised average of 526,250.

One economist said the number of initial claims decreased in the previous report because the data from that report represented the week of Thanksgiving. Some of the surge in initial filings in this current report could be a bounce from that week.

However, "the underlying trend in the labor market is that it continues to weaken," said Jay Bryson, global economist with Wachovia Economics, and that is evident in the 4-week moving averages of initial claims.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment rose to 4,429,000 in the week ended Nov. 29, the most recent week available, which was also a 26-year high. The measure was an increase of 338,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,091,000.

The last time continuing claims was at such an elevated level was Dec. 4, 1982, when continuing claims hit 4,509,000.

Meanwhile, the 4-week moving average of continuing claims was 4,133,500, an increase of 130,750 from the previous week's revised average of 4,002,750.

With the U.S. economy officially in a recession, unemployment has been on the rise. The economy shed 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October, according to a government report released last week.

So far this year, the economy has lost 1.9 million jobs.

The economy has fallen into a recession, and the nation's gross domestic product - the largest measure of the economy's health - contracted by 0.5% in the three months ended Sept. 30. Bryson said that he expects the GDP to contract even further in the coming quarter.

When companies see their orders decrease, they simply don't keep as many workers on the payroll.

As workers lose their jobs, that hits states particularly hard.

"Not only, when people get laid off do income taxes go down, but they start drawing unemployment compensation," said Bryson. "So whenever you are in a recession, you see the deficit widen."

According to a report from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 43 states are facing shortfalls in their budgets for this year, and as people continue to lose their jobs, states are pinched further.

The largest increases in initial jobless claims for week ended Nov. 29 - the week before last - were in Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, and North Dakota. The largest decreases in initial filings were in California, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, and Texas.

First Published: December 11, 2008: 8:39 AM ET

Are you ready to compete?

Dennis

Monster and Careerbuilder Search Tips

I wanted to shed some light on what we see as recruiters in our search databases. I believe if you understand what we see you might make adjustments to help us find you!

You might feel that your resume covers all the criteria or skills you have? However, the real question, does it match the job specification search criteria?

So how does this work?

If you go to an advance search page in Google, you will see a variety of ways to narrow your search to find what you are looking for. It is that simple when we are narrowing our focus on people we need.

Recruiters start with keyword searches

• Last employer
• Degrees obtained
• Location
• Skills

Matching keywords is the area that you need to take into consideration when you are writing your resume. You might need to modify key phrases for each position as well.

If you write you have knowledge of Macintosh computers, and I do a keyword search on “Apple” your resume will not come up in my search.

If you list yourself as a secretary and I search “Administrative Assistant”, again, your resume might not be found.

The words that are in the job description are clues to what the hiring managers are looking for in a candidate. So, you need to pay attention to see if your resume has those keywords included.

I am sure you have the talent and probably can do the work. You need to get noticed. This is just one of many ways to get in front of the hiring personnel.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Driving in to work today, I forgot my I-pass in my other car. I had to go through the pay toll lane. I went to the first person, gave my money, received no look, no acknowledgement; just a scowl on his face. He couldn't be any slower in getting the gate up, so I can go. I said, thank you, and received no return sound at all. So I think, well maybe that's just him.

I was wrong. At the next toll, I came up to the next lady, waited a few minutes. She was doing something, she looked out at me like I was bothering her day. I said thank you, and drove on.

Maybe they don’t need to say thank you. Maybe they don’t need to smile. Maybe the don’t need to work quickly. Maybe they don’t need to be grateful to me. Or... maybe the should be grateful they are working, that the machines haven’t taken over their jobs! Maybe they can be grateful that they can feed their families. Maybe they can be happy that they have an income ..or maybe not.

I’m sure there are a few people that would do that work, and show it with a smile and a thank you.

Dennis

**From the bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of127,000 in August and 284,000 in September, as revised. Employment has fallen by 1.2million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construction, and several service-providing industries. Health care and mining continued to add jobs.

Preparing for a pink slip

With all the unemployment news, you want to be prepared. An unexpected layoff can come without notice. One day your working then next your not. Therefore, it is up to you to be prepared.

Here are a few simple things to keep in mind.


Contacts are key:

Get your coworker and supervisors contact information. Many people do not think about obtaining this information until after they are let go. Contact information can be personal email, personal cell phone or home number. This may sound simple, but when a large layoff happens finding key coworkers for a reference is difficult.

Have pertinent information about your current position:

Know your location, headquarter location, HR contacts. Why is this important? Well, if the company closes several locations, you need to have a way for a new employer to verify information. Also, try to find out which employees will be left behind.

Outside contacts:

Keep contact information on vendors, customers, other companies that you have worked with. You have information at your office but remember that you will not be there.


Keep your nose clean:

During layoff times, upper management will start to utilize other means of cutting back on labor. You need to shine. You need to be prompt. You need to do what it takes. I know you might be thinking, “Well, they aren’t going to take care of me so why should I care?” The caring reason will be different for everyone. Think about why you need the paycheck, food, house, kids. These are reasons to keep up the good work. You want to be in line for a severance, if given, and not let go for disciplinary actions. Do not give them the excuse to let you go early. If you give them the excuse to terminate you, then you might not get unemployment and jobs are not plentiful during these times.

Start looking

Start looking for positions that match your skills. Now I give you this advice for something you can do after hours. This will help you target companies that might utilize your skills. I find it easier to look will working then after you are let go.

Dennis

*** Caution on posting your resume, HR departments might be scanning for resumes of personnel of that company, and letting those people go first. If you can, post your resume confidential.