Dear Annie: I work for Hewlett-Packard, which, as you probably know, is planning to lay off more than 24,000 people worldwide over the next three years. It seems that most of those on the chopping block are employees who came along with HP's acquisition of EDS. Since I happen to be in that group, I wonder if I should leave now, or wait and see what happens. On the one hand, I like it here, and my immediate boss has told me that he sees a great future for me at HP, so I should "just sit tight." On the other hand, I have two other job offers, one that came from a recruiter, and another from a former EDS colleague who left before the merger. Any advice on what to do? -Dangling Man
Ryan Saale was in a bind. He was planning to move back to St. Louis, Missouri, from Santiago, Chile, earlier this year but, with the job market taking a downturn, it wasn't an ideal to a start a job search -- much less from 5,000 miles away.
Don't talk with your mouth full. Don't talk to strangers. Look both ways before crossing the street.
It's a perfectly natural reaction: You lose your job and, in a panic, you immediately start calling and e-mailing your network and answering Internet job ads. The trouble is that, understandable as that course of action is, it's unlikely to get you where you want to go. Instead, take a deep breath, slow down, and chill. Then, make a plan.
Rules are meant to be broken. Think outside the box. Be an original.
Finding your first job is easy.
When you're job hunting, you can go mad if you think about the amount of factors beyond your control that affect your chances of getting hired.
Dear Annie: My 17-year-old son needs to get a job this summer to help save for college. He says he has been looking, and I believe him, but so far he's come up with nothing. I don't want to be a meddling mom, but I feel as if I should get involved at this point and try to help him, in no small part because the thought of his lounging on the sofa playing video games all summer makes me cringe. Do you and your readers have any suggestions? -Anxious in Attleboro
Starting any new job can be as nerve-wracking as it is exciting. While you're anxious for a fresh start and to meet new people, you're nervous that you won't be able to do the job or you won't fit in with co-workers.
Each year, Weddle's (www.weddles.com), a major U.S. publisher of print guides to Internet job hunting, invites the public to visit its Web site and vote for their favorite job boards. The 30 sites with the most votes at the end of the year are declared the winners of the Users' Choice Awards. It's not a scientific survey, since those polled are a self-selected sampling and tend to feel strongly about certain sites, both pro and con.
Dear Annie: I work for Hewlett-Packard, which, as you probably know, is planning to lay off more than 24,000 people worldwide over the next three years. It seems that most of those on the chopping block are employees who came along with HP's acquisition of EDS. Since I happen to be in that group, I wonder if I should leave now, or wait and see what happens. On the one hand, I like it here, and my immediate boss has told me that he sees a great future for me at HP, so I should "just sit tight." On the other hand, I have two other job offers, one that came from a recruiter, and another from a former EDS colleague who left before the merger. Any advice on what to do? -Dangling Man
Ryan Saale was in a bind. He was planning to move back to St. Louis, Missouri, from Santiago, Chile, earlier this year but, with the job market taking a downturn, it wasn't an ideal to a start a job search -- much less from 5,000 miles away.
Don't talk with your mouth full. Don't talk to strangers. Look both ways before crossing the street.
It's a perfectly natural reaction: You lose your job and, in a panic, you immediately start calling and e-mailing your network and answering Internet job ads. The trouble is that, understandable as that course of action is, it's unlikely to get you where you want to go. Instead, take a deep breath, slow down, and chill. Then, make a plan.
Rules are meant to be broken. Think outside the box. Be an original.
Finding your first job is easy.
When you're job hunting, you can go mad if you think about the amount of factors beyond your control that affect your chances of getting hired.
Dear Annie: My 17-year-old son needs to get a job this summer to help save for college. He says he has been looking, and I believe him, but so far he's come up with nothing. I don't want to be a meddling mom, but I feel as if I should get involved at this point and try to help him, in no small part because the thought of his lounging on the sofa playing video games all summer makes me cringe. Do you and your readers have any suggestions? -Anxious in Attleboro
Starting any new job can be as nerve-wracking as it is exciting. While you're anxious for a fresh start and to meet new people, you're nervous that you won't be able to do the job or you won't fit in with co-workers.
Each year, Weddle's (www.weddles.com), a major U.S. publisher of print guides to Internet job hunting, invites the public to visit its Web site and vote for their favorite job boards. The 30 sites with the most votes at the end of the year are declared the winners of the Users' Choice Awards. It's not a scientific survey, since those polled are a self-selected sampling and tend to feel strongly about certain sites, both pro and con.
Today's Internet-driven world has changed the way we look for and apply to jobs. Gone are the days of handwritten cover letters, typewriter-printed résumés and hand-delivered job applications.
Job hunts are hard work. Looking through job ads, going on interviews and networking take up a lot of your time. So how can you be expected to do all these things and still rewrite your résumé every time you apply for a job?
For some people, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a guiding principle. During a job search, however, it's hard to tell just what ain't broke and what needs fixing. Looking for work is a time-consuming process that can move -- or at least feel like it's moving -- at a snail's pace.
Résumés are tricky: If done well, they can put you in the running for a job; if done poorly, they end up in the hiring manager's recycling bin. They should be easy since you're just talking about yourself. No one knows your work history, qualifications and skills better than you. Unfortunately, they are hard work.
If you've rewritten that résumé several times and sent out dozens of applications but your job search still shows no promise, you might not be the problem.
With the U.S. economy apparently getting ready to take one of its cyclical snoozes, employers are more hesitant to take on new hires than they were even just three or four months ago - and the recent uptick in unemployment means more competition for each opening. That doesn't mean you need to give up on the idea of looking for a new job. In fact, if your company is going through a merger or seems likely to announce layoffs, your best bet may be to start your job search right away.
When you went to college, you received a welcome package and attended orientation to learn the ropes. Now that you're on the hunt for a new job, an equally life-changing event, no one's holding your hand. At best, a friend pats you on the back and says, "Good luck."
You've made up your mind. You're going to stop procrastinating, update that resume and (finally) look for a new job.
You've made up your mind. You're going to stop procrastinating, update that resume and (finally) look for a new job.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, 19.3 percent of full-time workers were unemployed for 27 weeks or more in 2006. If you have been looking for a job for a while, there's a good chance you're frustrated with your inability to find one. The longer you're on the job hunt, the more likely it seems that you won't ever be employed.
If you've ever looked at a job listing and thought, "I'd be perfect for this job, if only...," you understand the discouragement a lot of job seekers feel.
Friends provide us many things: love, support, camaraderie. Perhaps the most valuable thing they offer us is advice. They're who we turn to when we need guidance on life, love and everything in between. But there is one subject on which to tread carefully when we're seeking advice: job hunting.
Dream of landing a coding job at an A-list tech company? It might be a good idea to prep for your interviews by pondering how many golf balls can fit inside a school bus. Or how much you would charge for washing all the windows in Seattle. Or why, exactly, manhole covers are round and not, say, square.
If you're over 50 and unemployed, you already know how difficult it can be to land a new job. But there are some ways you can position yourself to get back on the career fast track.
Dear Annie: I am a brand new college grad with a B.S. in computer science and a minor in business, looking for my first paying job in the field, and a friend sent me your May 23 column ("10 great job markets for techies"). You mentioned that a recent survey said that 94% of techies are happy in their work, and 88% would recommend the field to others. Do you happen to know if that is as true for women as for men? When I picked my major, a few people told me that women have a hard time getting promoted in IT because it is still considered a "man's field." -Cybergirl
EAT A MEAL WITH JOBSTER CEO JASON GOLDberg and you'll quickly notice his disdain for menus; the man already knows what he wants. Why waste time on an exhaustive list of options? And it's not just a...
No question about it, technology careers suffer from an image problem. A study by Dice.com (www.dice.com), a leading job board that's exclusively for techies, says that 94% of tech professionals are happy in their work, and 88% would recommend a tech career to others. They're far more concerned with issues like keeping their skills up-to-date (82%) than with outsourcing (41%) or layoffs (37%). Yet, the study says, "those outside the industry don't see technology as appealing when compared to other industries."
The art of the job search has undergone seismic changes in the digital economy.
Eat a meal with Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg and you'll quickly notice his disdain for menus; the man already knows what he wants. Why waste time on an exhaustive list of options?
Dear Annie: I've been very successful as a salesperson at the same company for several years now, but I'd like to change jobs because there's not much chance for advancement here. The problem is that my son was diagnosed with a serious, chronic medical condition about six years ago, and I'm worried that if I change jobs, my son's illness will be flagged as a pre-existing condition and will not be covered under my new employer's health plan. Is it appropriate to ask about this in a job interview? -Stuck Here for Now
The biggest problem with job growth right now isn't too few new jobs. It's too few skilled workers.
With advice on everything from how to get a raise, to where the tech jobs are now, to the best way to get a rude co-worker to shut up, here are excerpts from some of the top Ask Annie columns of the year. By Fortune's Anne Fisher
Dear Annie: I've known for some time now that someone with the same name as mine is featured on a web site that is not exactly pornographic, but close. Friends tease me about this, but now that I'm job hunting, it's not so funny. Could this become a problem if (or when) employers Google me? Is there anything I can do to assure them there's no connection? -Not Laughing in the Northeast
Dear Annie: I went through a horrendous divorce last year that resulted in my having to quit my job and move to another city. Now I'm job hunting and wonder what to say on my resume about the gap in employment since my last job. Should I briefly state why I was obliged to move? (My ex was stalking and threatening me and our kids.) If not, what can I say instead? -Breathing Easier Now
Of all the hard-luck turnaround stories from the downturn that still circulate through Silicon Valley, few sound as stressful as Borland Software's. Since 2000 the vendor of software development to...
Forget "plastics." Today's career advice, in a word: computers. In two words: health care. Job opportunities in those fields will abound over the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Stati...
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - It may soon get easier for members of the MySpace generation to find a job.
Your job interview is approaching and you've put your portfolio together, written your resume, edited your cover letter and made a dozen phone calls ... are you forgetting anything?
Friends, be warned: If you're hoping to find a new job through a job board or other online channel -- or if you're an employer seeking candidates on the Web -- the world just got a little bit more difficult.
Dear Annie: Everything I hear and read these days about the job market suggests that employers in general are planning to do a lot of hiring this year, but does that include tech jobs too? I've lost two high-level programming jobs to outsourcing in the past three years, and I'm wondering if I should just give up and change fields. --Silicon Sam
Julie Printz left the paid workplace in 2000. The systems analyst, then making $53,000 a year at a St. Paul insurance company, was wracked with guilt each morning after dropping off her crying daughters -- one three years old, the other 10 months -- at day care.
With all the year-end office parties and holiday gatherings, this is a good time to land a new position for 2006. Here's how to network at these festivities.
Employers posted more job openings online than ever before in November, according to Monster Worldwide, with the call for help from the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast leading the way.
Steve Jones used to fill high-level job openings through Monster.com and Yahoo HotJobs. A recruiter for World Access, a travel insurer in Richmond, Va., he says he would pay as much as $1,500 to li...
Here's how to make sure past employers -- the ones you didn't like -- don't undermine your job search.
Losing your job is never an easy proposition. But if you were one of the thousands of people who lost a job because of Hurricane Katrina, getting back into the job market probably seems overwhelming.
The amount of time it takes to find a job is up again, after months of steady declines, as the jump in energy prices following hurricanes Katrina and Rita may be tempering corporate hiring plans, a new survey said Tuesday.
Hurricane Katrina will cost the nation 400,000 jobs by the end of the year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. To put that in perspective, employment in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast totaled about 775,000 at the end of 2004.
Most people dread following up with people to whom they've sent resumes. Yet those calls can make or break a job hunt. Here's how to do it right.
IT SEEMED A TERRIFIC opportunity. Laid off from a senior marketing job, Tom (not his real name), an MBA with 22 years' experience, spent several months look- ing for a new position. Then he got a p...
SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) - In the market for a new job?
Everybody tells a white lie -- even a bald-faced one -- from time to time. But apparently a fair number do so on their job search.
You're fooling yourself if you think you're going to get a job by copying a resume out of a book.
So, you swear you have nothing to hide? That's a good thing these days, because more likely than not, your potential employer will be digging into your past.
It seems like just about everything and everyone has gone high tech. From refrigerators with built-in computers to high-powered handheld devices, technology is touching nearly every aspect of our lives. The job search process is no exception.
Once you have been able to successfully present yourself on paper with a resume and cover letter, it's time to make your case in person.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Jobs growth in June was a disappointment, all the more so because it came on the heels of three very strong months of jobs creation.
Looking for a job online? Sending your resume all over creation and getting nowhere? Sure, the job market is still wobbly, but it's also possible that you're inadvertently tripping over your own fe...
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There have been three consecutive months of strong jobs growth. But for white-collar, middle-management types in many industries, finding a job is far from shooting fish in a barrel.
If the last time you retooled your resume was back in the days before you reached the airy heights of senior management, you've got some work ahead of you. Chances are, everything you know about re...
Over the past six years one of the constants of the Super Bowl telecast has been the Monster.com commercials. In 1999, even before a wave of cash-drunk dot-coms began spending far too much of their...
Dear Annie: After my last company was sold and the management team (including me) was shown the door, it took me more than a year to land a new position. The interviewing process left me with a bi...
Dear Annie: In these tough times, how can job seekers do the due diligence needed to make sure they have enough information about a prospective employer? Shortly before I started work at a large c...
When 18-year-olds entered college four years ago, dot-com mania was at its height, the Dow was at 11,000, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was the top show on TV. Companies desperate to fill their...
Dear Annie: I'm a graduating college senior, majoring in business, and I'm having the hardest time finding a job. I started job hunting last fall and have used all the resources offered by the care...
During this era of too many applicants and not enough jobs, human resources managers have become forced to operate with bloodless efficiency. But if it's been a while since you last applied for a j...
Dear Annie: What, if anything, can one do about a loved one who has been out of work for so long that he has given up? My husband had a great 20-year career with a big company, where he was promote...
Dear Annie: I've had a long and successful career in quality assurance with high-tech companies, often acting as part of the design team for new products and learning one new technology after anoth...
Dear Annie: I'll graduate in January from a good college and am just beginning to talk with corporate recruiters. My grades were excellent all through school, I've been active in sports and other e...
Never let it be said that this recession hasn't got its good side. "A year and a half ago, every hire was costing us $15,000 or $20,000 in recruiting expenses, and even then we couldn't get enough ...
Why is it so hard to get a job after age 50--and what, if anything, can older job seekers do about it? In response to the Nov. 12 column on this topic, many of you sent some pretty strong opinions,...
DEAR ANNIE: For the past few months I've been looking for a new job. I have applied to three or four online job listings per week and have posted my resume on several job boards. I've yet to hear a...
Zalee Harris' husband was sure she had lost it. Here it was, just before Christmas, and she'd been laid off from her six-figure job at the telecom company in Tysons Corner, Va., where she'd worked ...
The headhunter probably should have contacted Unmesh Laddha before plucking his resume off an Internet job board and sending it, without his knowledge, to an employer. Especially because that emplo...
America is no place to age gracefully. Of course, basketball players, dancers, and fashion models are finished young; mathematicians and chess players peak early too. So do construction workers and...
Remember the days when getting fired was almost as rare as getting divorced? When you chose a spouse, you signed a lifelong contract; perhaps more to the point, your spouse did the same when he or ...
In the days when the average executive recruiter was about as savage as a CPA, the lurid term "headhunter" carried a lightly comical spin. But many of today's headhunters, who have nearly doubled i...
DEAR ANNIE: My company has been bought, and my department is fairly certain that we are toast. I've been here for a little over ten years in pretty much the same job, because I like my work--and I ...
Life is ever unpredictable, and no one can expect or envision the reasons people drop out of the corporate work force. Maybe they go off to start a business, deciding that big-company life is no lo...
This past autumn, Tom Curry plunked down in the den of his Sturbridge, Mass., home, fired up the family computer, and started looking for work. Until then the computer had mostly been the domain of...
Scratch any company, and behind its products and services, guess what you'll find. People, of course--and with the job market now superheated, effective recruiting has become a powerful strategic w...
DEAR ANNIE: I am a senior manager who is looking for a job in a different, but somewhat related, industry. Since I am changing fields but would like to stay in management, should I expect to start ...
This is the first of several columns that will detail how you can use the Internet to manage your personal finances better. Next month: Surfing the Net to pick winning stocks
You know the drill. Your extended family, along with your friends, learn that you recently became, as the Brits say, redundant. So they're constantly giving you heartfelt and--they think--wise coun...
David Friedensohn enjoys running marathons and loves to surf, but jockeying for promotion--well, that's not exactly his idea of sport. He's just not a one-company kind of guy. Over the past decade ...
DEAR ANNIE: I will be graduating in May with a master's degree in finance from a topnotch university and will be starting to interview with companies soon, but I have a problem. I grew up in a poor...
The speed and scope of it have surprised me, but a real revolution is spreading over the world of job hunting and hiring. Within the past year or so, the online network has turned into a bustling j...
Despite the recent fair-weather forecasts, if you've been out job hunting, you know that finding a position with plum pay, secure benefits and real possibilities for advancement is still difficult ...
Looking for work when you're over 50 can make you feel like you're Heidi Fleiss trying to sign on as a Girl Scout leader. Just look at the obstacles you face: There's resistance to paying higher sa...
"Job security is a thing of the past. People are going to have to get used to the idea of involuntary separations -- sometimes four, five or six times during a career." Those cold-sounding words co...
HEAR a pounding? It's Chris Henry, U. Hartford '93, beating his betasseled and bemortarboarded head against a wall. He graduated in May with a BS in electronic engineering (grade point average: 3.4...
Hunting for work is never a joy -- and especially right now: the Conference Board's index of classified job listings fell by 10.6% in early '91. So if you're job hunting, it's essential to be creat...
IN HIS LATE 40s, Larry Keough was on a roll. After ten years with Pitney Bowes, the office equipment manufacturer, he made over $100,000 a year, typically winning an annual bonus amounting to 35% o...
When David Solow of Holland, Pa. began worrying about his job two years ago, he soon concluded that he had only two choices: either change careers or change locations. Solow, who at 35 was already ...
At age 41, Baichun Xiao has been swept off his feet three times by political convulsions in his native China. The Cultural Revolution sent him to a collective farm. The rise of the Gang of Four nea...
FACE IT. Chances are there's another job -- maybe even a whole new career -- in your future, even if you won't need the pay. What with longer, healthier lives and earlier, richer retirements, middl...
THE INTERVIEW is going well. Wally Wambat seems the right type to sell piston rods for Amalgamated Crankcase. The two of you have had a wide-ranging, touchy-feely talk in your office, and Wally, in...
LISTEN: % ''He made me scared, so I pulled the trigger. So feel sorry? I doubt it. I didn't want to see him go down like that, but better him than me.'' ''I'm gonna work 40 hours a week and bring h...
For 17 years Joseph Rockom, 47, climbed the rungs of American Microsystems Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer in California's Silicon Valley. Diligence and loyalty won him the rank of vice presiden...
IN THE COMPASSION-PACKED Sixties and Seventies, welfare became a right, checks became grants, and social workers turned into ''human services technicians.'' But now the buzzword in the welfare bure...
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