Best Cities

Best Cities for jobs - http://short.to/ccrl - I think that Des Moines should be on here.

Scot Dickerson, CPC

President

Capstone Search Group

Money in the bank

According to a recent poll, 73% of U.S. workers are disengaged (doing the bare minimum required), and 80% want more freedom.

The same apparently can be said of their leaders.

I wonder if this is a new anomaly... as it was not very long ago that I read many articles that said our workers were the most productive in the world.

How did we become so productive if we are so disengaged?

Are the other 27% of the workers propping up the rest?

Harvey Dorland

Career Patterns - Which one are you?

Career Patterns

We usually visualize career progression as a ladder that you climb to reach the top. But sometimes your career is not a ladder but a spiral staircase or a moving sidewalk.

Linear is the traditional "Up the corporate pyramid to the top" pattern. It is the prevalent pattern for most people and traditionally structured organizational development plans. Linear advancement provides rewards with power and prestige. Linears like leadership training and being delegated skill building opportunities like preparing budgets and taking on projects. They become frustrated when advancement is slow or management positions are eliminated.

Spiral is a relatively new pattern referred to as "being well-rounded". Spirals change positions every 5-10 years with each new position being tangential but related to the prior work. An example would be the person who goes from underwriting to developing underwriting information technology. Spirals seek career growth through creative positions. Spirals like to learn new skills and serve on cross-functional teams. They become frustrated when a challenge is accomplished or a job settles into a routine.

Roamer is a very traditional pattern that used to be known pejoratively as "still finding themselves" but now valued as the backbone of the workforce. Roamers change jobs every 2-3 years often to unrelated functions. Roamers have little need for security because they either come from affluent backgrounds or are accustomed to living on very little. They like variety and independence which are found in start-ups and expanding companies. Roamers are people-oriented and like to feel they are making a contribution. They become frustrated when there are personality clashes at work or their feelings are hurt or they feel they are no longer appreciated.

You never know which way your career is going to grow and the important thing is to recognize opportunities and take advantage of them when the become available.

Peter Baskin CPC
PBaskin@Personnel-Associates.com

New York Times article.

Take a peek at this. Interesting stuff and was given to me by a client this morning.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/investors-pay-business-plans-little-heed-study-finds/?scp=1&sq=Business%20plans&st=Search

Money in the bank

27.3% of all external hires come from referrals, 12.3% from job boards, 20.1% from specific company websites, 7.8% from direct sourcing, and all other sources made up the 32.5% difference.

So... recruiters are probably a part of the job board percentage, and I would guess the “other sources” percentage as well, perhaps even the referral percentage as we, I’m sure you’re aware, thrive on referrals.

As such, please let your friends know that you are looking.

Yes... some of those referrals will beckon you directly to your new position, but others will circle our way, and the end-result becomes the same: “new position / career / $’s”.

Harvey Dorland

Recession over?

ABC News has a great article with promising information that the recession is ending or maybe even ended last month! Layoffs are slowing, the number of houses on the market are fewer... all good indicators. Read the article below for more detail.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=6806395

Here's to a great second half of 2009.

Laura Hill
The Hill Group, L.P.

Interesting articles

Check out http://www.halesgroup.com/resources-articles.html for good tips about mergers and acquisitions and other published articles.

Scot Dickerson, CPC

Non-competes

Those on the agency side of the insurance business may want to take a look at an interesting article in Rough Notes May 2009 edition on page 26 titled: “Implementing Non-Compete Clauses.”

Scot Dickerson

Money in the bank

If you get laid off between 9/08 and 12/09 there is a good chance the government will subsidize your heath (Cobra) insurance costs for 65% of the normal charge, for up to 9 months, if you don’t piggy-back on your spouses coverage and, as a family, make less than $250k adjusted gross income ($125k for an individual).

Kaiser Foundation estimates an average savings of $6200 over 9 months.

On another note... Watson Wyatt Consultants says most employer cost-cutting actions have peaked, and that most are planning no further hiring freezes, restructuring changes, layoffs or salary freezes.

No particular industries were mentioned, so I’m assuming the best for ours!

Harvey Dorland