Hot Job Locations
When it comes to business most experts would say there are three things to consider; location, location, location. It only then stands to reason that they same is true for the employment market. Forbes recently released their ‘Best Cities for Jobs 2008 and I’ll be the first to admit that the top cities surprised me. Below is the top 5, for the complete list click here.
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Wichita, KS
- Austin, TX
- Atlanta, GA
- Fort Worth, TX
I know Austin is hugely popular as is Fort Worth and Atlanta has been for some time, but Salt Lake City and Wichita? Who knew. So anybody ready to relocate?
Until next time…
Ridin’ the storm out
Not to beat a dead horse, but today Reuters is reporting the following. ‘U.S. companies’ planned layoffs jumped 68 percent in April from the prior month to the highest since September 2006, pointing to further deterioration in the labor market, a report showed on Thursday.’
If you haven’t read the writing on the wall, here’s where I think we stand. In my opinion, most of this is trickle down from the mortgage disaster and fuel prices. As we’ve seen as fuel prices go up, so does almost everything else. Some companies pass these costs on to consumers, as you’ve seen if you’ve been to the grocery store lately. The other outcome here is layoffs. Layoffs are up and I think they’ll get worse before they get better. My advice, hunker down and ride this one out, keep your ears open at work, and always have an updated resume and strong network just in case.
Until next time…
Recession = Exploding Job Offers
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the recession and if we are or aren’t in one. I for one think we are, regardless of what ‘W’ says. Going hand in hand with a recession are what are called ‘exploding job offers’. For those of you not familiar with exploding job offers, take a look at what Steven Rothberg at collegerecruiter.com has to say about them, ‘An job offer which an employer makes to a candidate, which the candidate accepts, and which the employer later rescinds usually because of changing economic conditions. Recently the Wall Street Journal featured an article about how a year ago law firms were falling all over each other to recruit and retain entry level lawyers for their summer associate programs (sort of like internship programs) and as first year associates (entry level lawyers). Now some of those same law firms are cutting back:
- Some law firms like New York-based, 800 attorney Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP shrunk the duration of their summer associate program from 12 to 10 weeks. That effectively cuts the pay of their summer associates / interns by almost 17 percent.
- Other law firms are delaying the start date of some of their first year associates. In addition to Pillsbury cutting its summer associate program, it is also delaying the start date of its first year associates.
- Chicago-based, 700 lawyer Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP is taking an even harsher approach. It admits to exploding the offers for two summer associates and two first year associates who had accepted offers to work at its Charlotte, North Carolina office.
Exploding offers are not confined to law firms. Over the next couple of months we’ll likely see many more examples emerging from employers large and small, public and private, urban and rural’.
The recession is here, exploding job offers are here. I don’t think this will be as bad as what we saw in 01-03, but be prepared.
Until next time…
