Jun 05
Even in a recession, USA Today points out that sex still sells:
Even as Starbucks shutters stores, some coffee shops in Southern California’s Little Saigon are booming with a formula that seems to defy recession. They are serving up strong Vietnamese brew, delivered to tables by young women in bikinis, spandex, fishnet sarongs or lingerie, displaying bountiful skin and cleavage. Lots and lots of cleavage.
I’d like to thank USA today for being a joyful cross between the Times and the Enquirer. Think this approach would work for other businesses? Taco Bell, I’m looking at you…
Jun 04
Wal-Mart always seems to do well. When the economy grows, its core users spend more on Wal-Mart goods, offsetting the substitution effect that sends its noncore users to more expensive stores.
When the economy shrinks, its core users have less to spend but the substitution effect goes in its favors as noncore users can no longer afford more costly alternatives.
Ultimately global retail growth and its ability to control its supply chain determine profits. Regardless: Wal-Mart keeps the lights on in all scenarios.
That’s probably why it’s hiring 22,000 people this year (down from last year, but still…). These new hires will be concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. Check out the article here.
May 30
Have you posted your resume on JobScore.com yet? It’s still stmall, but it’s growing fast with an excellent idea. JobScore creates a resume pool and overlays that resume with a profile that you create. Then it works with company hiring managers to draw from the pool based on the results of their proprietary matching technology. Check it out.
May 27
Ever wondered that question when a friend or acquaintance pulled down a solid new job? So did Daniel Johnson, founder of HowIGotMyJob.com. He basically goes around interviewing people after they get hired then podcasts the conversation. You can find notes to all of his interviews on the site right along MP3s of the original interviews.
Check it out: he covers a wide range of positions across industries and seniority levels.
May 18
The NY Times brings us the lighter side of unemployment here:
So, while 4.8 million workers were laid off or chose to leave their jobs in February, employers across the country hired 4.3 million workers that month…
We’ve written about this before but the point deserves repeating: This economy is huge and dynamic. Even when the stock of jobs is falling, the flow of jobs will never stop completely. People quit, die, retire, get promoted, change fields, go back to school… This is why persistance will ultimately pay off, even in a deep recession like this one.
May 14
We’ve all seen it: job listings stagnate. Especially with high unemployment, employers get bombarded with applications in the first few days after posting a job. This is especially true with Craigslist, one of the most-used job sites out there.
CL Job Hunt helps you to get your resume in the door quickly by sending free, customizable job alerts to your cell phone. You can specify up to 10 districts and multiple job categories. When you receive the text message, you will simultaneously get a detailed message in your email inbox containing the full listing and hyperlink to the original post.
May 11
Pundits all over the blog-o-sphere are declaring an end to the employment free-fall that has characterized the labor markets since last fall. Gary Burtless, a Senior Economics Fellow at the Brookings Institute, makes the case here:
April’s job loss of 540,000 looks pretty good when the monthly drop of payroll employment in the previous four months averaged 700,000. To be sure, the monthly drop in private sector jobs still looked awful in April. Part of the improvement in overall employment loss is explained by a big jump in federal government employment, much of it due to hiring for the 2010 Census. Even in the private sector, however, the pace of job loss slowed, reflecting a slower rate of employment shrinkage in both the goods-producing and service-producing sectors. It no longer looks as though the job market is in free fall. It is still in decline, but the decline is not accelerating. It may be slowing.
Remember, as I pointed out in The Unemployment Rate Doesn’t Matter, that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator.
Although the pace of job loss has slowed, the unemployment rate will still eek forward for several quarters at least. When you see GDP turn positive you will know that you’re a couple quarters away from rising employment. In the meantime, take this good news for what it is: evidence of Bernanke’s “green shoots” in the economy.
May 11
In recent weeks, Mike and I have discovered many great articles and resources on the internet related to unemployment and finding a job. Up until now, we didn’t have a good way to quickly share tidbits of information with TheCanned’s visitors. I’m happy to announce that we have solved this problem. Today, we’ve launched a new “Ponderings” section of our Layoff Beard Blog for these updates. You can expect many more posts moving forward, so check back frequently!
In addition, we’re always looking for new topics for our articles. Please feel free to Contact Us or post a comment in our Layoff Beard Blog with any subject matter that you would like us to write about. We love hearing from you!
