Money in the bank

The kind of boss that we all want...

You’ve only been with the company for 3 or 4 years and they’re sending you to take their place at an important meeting.

“Anytime I ask you to go into a room and represent me, I have full confidence in you, and I expect you to take your full seat at the table – never forget that, and always make sure your voice is known.”

On another note... 40% of retirees say their annual spending did not fall from pre-retirement levels, and 26% of that same group said it actually rose (more time, more money).

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Improving job outlook. Listen in!

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/manpower-q1-better-but-not-great-for-job-seekers-2010-12-07

Lou Sinks

AMINEX Corp.

PO Box 206

Medway MA 02053

e-mail:sinks@aminex.com

voice: 508-520-2212

Money in the bank

Since the list of the nations Fortune 500 began in 1955, only 62 companies have appeared on the list every year (1,952 have come and gone).

So... the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top, it is said.

The average office worker receives 50 to 100 emails a day.

It’s no wonder, considering that receiving emails is not very many people’s main job, that everyone feels overworked (they still have to do what they’re being paid for).

Spoke to probably a typical candidate yesterday... who always had the above email scenario // rarely had time for a vacation.

She went to Hawaii with her husband & family for 6 days and, you guessed it, was on the computer for 6 hours each day!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

I continue to hear & read that employers are being inundated with unqualified candidate and are being very rude with their lack of response even to the good ones.

So... if this has happened to you, a good payback is to spread the word amongst your friends!

Also, tell your favorite recruiter who the bad companies are.

Chances are that they treat their employees in the same manner - and we as recruiters always need another target. J

On another topic... It’s not about personal style that makes you successful.

Some people get out of the huddle and walk to the line of scrimmage, while others run.

What matters is what happens when the ball is snapped!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

If the number of open jobs in the U.S. were filled, our unemployment rate would be under 7%.

But... many of them can’t find qualified candidates.

As an example, companies need a lot of technical workers, but a great number of our unemployed were trained to work in construction and other non-technical fields.

The number of job openings has risen 37% this past year, but are still 1.2 million less than the pre-recession.

Insurance positions lost 6900 people in June, but we still have unemployment in the 3+% range.

When interviewing you need to be honest about your past achievements.

In this day and age of technology, its typically not difficult for an employer to be able to “reach out” to other industry people and uncover the truth.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Thinking about retiring?

Check out this article from Fox News. It has a tax calculator to figure out how your nest egg will be affected if the tax cuts are not extended.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/14/golden-years-golden-rise-capital-gains-dividends-tax-hit-seniors/

Laura Hill
The Hill Group, L.P.
713 266.8397

Resignation Letter

I highly recommend this short article in the Wall Street Journal. Follow the link below.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657304575540143127402012.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2

Scot Dickerson, CPC

President

Capstone Search Group

Money in the bank

Only two of the last ten NFL Super Bowl runner-ups have ended up in the playoffs the following year.

If we equate this to our insurance careers, I would guess this means not to be overly satisfied with yesterday’s successes. J

A recent survey says that 64% of people believe they will never be able to stop working and retire.

80% of workers say they get satisfaction from their job.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Hiring a resume writer, ask these questions first.

I came across this article today on Wall Street Journal on line today. Very practical advise for job seekers interested in having their resume professionally written by a so called resume writing service.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433791872911672.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_4

Scot Dickerson, CPC

President

Capstone Search Group

Phone: (515)-987-0242 Ext. 18

Email: sdickerson@insurance-csg.com

Visit our website at www.csgrecruiting.com

mon

Money in the bank

While our industry’s employee earnings have gone up the past year (from 1.8% to over 14%), we lost another 4,000 jobs in May (mostly from the health insurance sector).

Multi-tasking in the workplace may be counter-productive, according to some HR experts, and scientists agree (human beings cannot efficiently do more than one thing at a time).

It is forecast that the U.S. will be facing a shortage of 8 million professional people for open positions in the not too distant future (the pool of candidates is shrinking 10,280 people a day) (usdol.gov).

Good news for those of you still working - and for recruiters! J

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Video Resumes

I found this interesting article on WSJ.com discussing the pros & cons of video resumes.

http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/employment/video-resumes-reveal-too-much-too-soon/

Scot Dickerson, CPC

President

Capstone Search Group

Phone: (515)-987-0242 Ext. 18

Email: sdickerson@insurance-csg.com

Visit our website at www.csgrecruiting.com

Money in the bank

A college degree, according to a recent study, gives you a return on investment (cost of education versus 30 years of increased earnings) of 9% each year.

The S&P 500 returned 11.9% for the same investment.

Thus... a high school grad who invested the same amount 30 years ago would be ahead of what a college grad paid to go on to higher education.

Gold has returned 2.6%... and 30 year treasuries 4%.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Apparently 101 all-industry recruiters are going to put a chapter each together on 101 great ways to enhance your career.

Do any of you have any particular hot-buttons on things that you would like me to discuss?

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Is something wrong with this picture?...

Our service sector represents about 70% of our economy (insurance is obviously a part of that), while manufacturing is just 11%.

But... supposedly it’s innovation / productivity that determines whether a country will be successful in manufacturing (not cheap labor).

So – we rank 4^th amongst the most competitive nations in manufacturing despite our labor costs.

How come our manufacturing sector is so depressed?

If you bought/held a balanced stock/bond mix in year 2000, you would have had an annual gain of 4.3% through 2009.

If you were all cash, it would have been 2.6%.

A professional money manager who could bet on or against stocks during that same period, returned no more than cash did for that same period.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Testing while driving is quickly becoming as dangerous as drinking and driving.

A random sample of 1000 investors, traders and analysts believe the U.S. will offer the best investment returns over the next year, with Brazil, China, and India following.

The European Union and Japan were rated the worst.

The San Francisco housing market is hot again.

Sales of houses & condos jumped 50% in the first quarter versus a year ago.

Most of the 10 biggest actively managed mutual funds are in the red, so far this year.

52% of executives at large worldwide companies think the economic recovery will be slow and difficult, compared with 27% who said the same last year.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

The Sironasays Blog

I just read the Sironasays Blog on The Top 20 Recruitment Myths. Good read! Check it out!
http://su.pr/19MhBI

Laura Hill
The Hill Group, L.P.
www.thehillgroup.net

Money in the bank

Money in the bank

Something is amiss...

Our firefighters / policemen and other government folks retire frequently with pensions in the $75/$80k range (and can do so at age 50-55)!

We’d need about $2Mil in the bank (could spend 4% each year, to not outlive it) for that same annual retirement for life.

On another note, we spend 8.5 hours per day interacting with a (non-work) PC, TV, or smart phone, and we check (at work) our emails 30-40 times/hour (per Newsweek).

No wonder we’re always behind schedule!

Nearly $2Mil people quit their jobs in April.

Economists say this is a positive sign, as people tend to quit their jobs in a healthy economy.

Think I mentioned just recently, that there is a pent-up anxiety by our workforce to find something better in the not-too-distant future.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

If you have a $300k 30-year mortgage at 5.17%, and pay an additional $200 on each monthly payment (going from $1642 to $1842 per month), then starting in year 5 you will have reduced your payoff time by 5 years and save $48k in interest!

About 25% of companies top performers said they plan on leaving their current job within a year (per Harvard Business Review survey of 20,000 high potential workers).

More work has been heaped on them since the recession, while awards, bonuses, and raises were cut back.

70% of todays 78 million baby boomers expect to work in retirement, and 14%-18% never plan to retire.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Last year U.S. residents paid down $277Bil of debt, while still keeping their savings rate at a respectable (for the U.S.) 3%.

Not including social security income, if you want to retire with $70k in annual income, you’ll need to have $3.7Mil in the bank (as interest rates are so low).

Interesting, in that this same $70k would put you in the top 25% of incomes.

To get in the top 5%, you would need $23Mil and your income would be $430k.

Insurance jobs in all categories are down from a year ago, except for health insurers (up .8%).

Ever hear of the Carlyle Group (private equity company)?

Their average return since their 1987 inception is 30%.

Can you imagine?!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

mon

A recent article says you have nothing to lose negotiating for a better offer, if you are entertaining going to a new employer.

I wound insert a caveat to that: “only if the offer is less than what you had originally indicated you were seeking”.

Trying to “up the ante” at the end of the process, will not endear you to your new management team.

Linkedin has 60 million members, its site had $17Mil visitors in February, the average member makes $107k, and more than 25% are senior execs.

Every Fortune 500 company is represented.

Oracle found their new CFO (2008) via Linkedin.

Someone, too, may be reaching out to you!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

If you work remotely from your home, check with your employer about your workers’ compensation coverage.

You may not have any, or it could be limited.

New job listings posted on 22,000 companies websites that were surveyed were down 6% - and 43 states showed declines in new job listings.

Apparently 2.6 million jobs are vacant in the U.S. because there aren’t enough workers with those exact skills (Smart Money magazine).

Unfortunately... no mention as to what those skills are.

4.5% for a 15 year mortgage will save you $50,000 for every $100,000 borrowed, versus 5.2% for a 30 year mortgage!

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

A recent survey of 130 insurance entities across the country shows:

· 74% have current openings

· Only 20 don’t plan on adding to staff this year

· 21 said they’ll add more than 500

· Top hiring positions are sales, claims, underwriting, call center, and IT

· Most felt finding qualified/quality candidates is still difficult

On another note... our personal savings rate has quadrupled since 2008 to 4.5%, and we apparently hope to increase that to 15% (can’t be done, but a strong sign of how insecure most of us are feeling).

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

mon

A recent survey of 130 insurance entities across the country shows:

· 74% have current openings

· Only 20 don’t plan on adding to staff this year

· 21 said they’ll add more than 500

· Top hiring positions are sales, claims, underwriting, call center, and IT

· Most felt finding qualified/quality candidates is still difficult

On another note... our personal savings rate has quadrupled since 2008 to 4.5%, and we apparently hope to increase that to 15% (can’t be done, but a strong sign of how insecure most of us are feeling).

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

According to Fortune magazine, more than 4000 Executive Directors and Analysts picked the companies they most admired.

The only one that had an insurance component was Berkshire Hathaway (#3).

The article goes onto say that “trust” is a key ingredient here (i.e. you can’t go dark on people, especially in times of crisis).

Implicitly, I gather this suggests that our insurance sector has gone dark.

Those most admired apparently invest in people and keep them employed, even in a downturn.

On another note, 5% of the unemployed have a bachelors degree or higher, 10.5% a HS diploma, 15.6% no HS diploma.

Advance degree holders earn triple what HS grads make.

Bachelors degree holders earn 2.4 times more than HS grads.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

Money in the bank

1227 CEO’s left their jobs in 2009.

I guess the view from the top is not as lofty as many people think!

There are 4 million unfilled skilled jobs in Europe currently...

I wonder if our skilled unemployed workers could get VISA’s to work over there?

As the economy recovers, the number of temporary jobs could triple this year from a current 13% of employees to 39%.

Expenses for S&P 500 Index funds range from .1 percent of assets to 2 percent (sold through financial advisors).

Strange, in that similar index funds tend to basically own the same basket of stocks!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

How Many Ways Can You Say Goodbye to a Job?

As professional recruiters part of our service is to provide guidance to candidates as they prepare to resign from their current employer. I found an interesting article related to the resignation process that candidates could find helpful.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025122588753994.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_OfficeLife

Scot Dickerson, CPC

President

Capstone Search Group

Phone: (515)-987-0242 Ext. 18

Money in the bank

A recent Money Magazine article entitle “Get a leg up on your job search” is interesting, as it highlights the importance of having a headhunter (recruiter) on your side (as many of today’s jobs are not advertised).

Many years ago, back in California, I had a personalized HEDHUNT license plate!

The article goes on to say...

1. Find a gatekeeper/recruiter who specializes in your industry.

2. A plus, if someone you know can recommend you to one who they have worked with in the past.

3. Reach out to them, and if you get a positive response connect on Linkedin

4. Stay in touch, but no more than once a month.

5. Be open minded when they call you, and if you’re not interested try to help them with a referral (people like to help those who have helped them).

I couldn’t have said these things better myself. J

Money in the bank

Need more room at home because kids have moved back in, or parent are on the doorstep?

Consider building out your attic! ($25-$100/Ft).

Money Magazine says that you will currently recoup 83% of your investment, versus lower returns for master bedroom add-ons, sun rooms, etc.

On another subject...

When it comes to tacking money oriented tasks, we apparently reach our peak performance to do so at age 53.3 (downhill from there).

I’m in trouble! J

Finally... less than 60% of us who have company 401K plans are contributing to them.

This is free money that you are losing by not receiving your employers matching dollars.

Event at a 3% match, thousands of dollars are being tossed away each year.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

2% insurance industry unemployment as of the end of December ‘09, and except for claims adjusters and TPA’s the rest of the industry’s average earnings were up year over year 2008.

Read an article about corporate downsizing recently and the negative effects it brings:

· Less national spending, as those who are still working cut back on their spending also;

· Companies who cut staff diminished their innovation & productivity, lose more ground and have to do more layoffs;

· Most studies indicate that layoffs have had a negative effect on stock-market return for those companies.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

References can end a very lengthy interview process in either a positive or negative light.

As a candidate you are virtually committing career suicide by not knowing (just assuming) what your references will be saying to a potential new employer.

Would you drive down a winding road at night and turn your lights off at the last turn?

How about jumping off a 3 story building before checking to see if the safety net was in place?

Not vetting your references, before you use them, is not dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s.

Getting a less than glowing reference from a name you give me or a future employer happens all too often, and you can avoid it!

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

For 2010, it appears that peoples top financial goals are:

Rebuild portfolio – 50%

Pay down debt – 23%

Spend less / save more – 16%

Get new job – 7%

Buy a home – 4%

On how people feel about 2010:

15% expect to do a lot better

31% expect to do a little better

28% about the same as 2009

26% worse than 2009

Gold seems to be on a lot of peoples mind, but Money Magazine says since 1974 when restrictions were lifted on owning gold, stocks have actually done a better job of beating inflation than gold has.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Spring is near!

I just received an email from a candidate with such a positive outlook. With his permission, I share it.

"We have now seen two consecutive quarters of GDP growth. The worst economic downturn in the world economy since the Great Depression is coming to an end. The "green shoots" are now turning into real growth. I believe these difficult economic experiences make us better business people." - Sam P.

It is true, diversity makes us stronger. We try harder, we work smarter and with the rebirth of our earth each spring we tend to start anew. This spring, turn your green shoots into real growth.

Laura Hill
The Hill Group, L.P
lhill@thehillgroup.net

Money in the bank

While the number of temporary positions fell sharply in the U.S., during the recent recession the ranks of involuntary part-timers (full time work not available) has doubled to 9.2 million people.

I wonder if these people are counted in our 10% national unemployment figure? Probably not!

I feel grateful that unemployment in the insurance sector is only in the 2% range, but, I still lament at those whom I know that I can’t find a position for.

Yes... hiring has picked up, but the roadblocks of going from candidate to actual hired employee have become larger.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Kind of interesting...

If we converted our 6.5 million heavy trucks that run on diesel fuel to natural gas, we could reduce our dependency on imported oil by 50% in seven years.

Only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs – the lowest level in 22 years, with the most dissatisfaction coming from our youngest workers.

Unfortunately, I guess, for most recruiters, the majority of our searches are for the more experienced (and by assumption from the above), who are less dissatisfied. L

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

A glimmer of hope!

After a long period of industry job declines, an additional 2700 jobs were added in December.

So... for the most recent 12 months, insurance jobs have declined 47000 (2%), but the downslide trend may be over.

Most of the industry segments, while seeing declines, did see increases the past year in average weekly earnings.

For all industries, the hardest hit segments for entry-level hiring this past year (all down over 30%) were hospitality, technology, transportation, investment banking, and telecommunications.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

A glimmer of hope!

After a long period of industry job declines, an additional 2700 jobs were added in December.

So... for the most recent 12 months, insurance jobs have declined 47000 (2%), but the downslide trend may be over.

Most of the industry segments, while seeing declines, did see increases the past year in average weekly earnings.

For all industries, the hardest hit segments for entry-level hiring this past year (all down over 30%) were hospitality, technology, transportation, investment banking, and telecommunications.

Harvey Dorland

Pacific Recruiting

936-597-6500 - direct

hdorland@ez2.net

Money in the bank

Happy 2010 everyone!

I do believe that we’ve weathered a number of storms over the past year, and while we may have felt some (or all) of them, this year will be better (but not majorly so in our industry).

Yes... I’m already sensing a stronger pulse over the past two months, but with pricing looking like it’s going to remain soft / or flat at best (too much capacity still out there), I don’t believe we’re going to see a large resurgence in hiring.

But, there will be more... particularly, I believe, on the carrier and wholesale side, and (as always) retail broker producers that have a customer following!

Harvey Dorland