GSETA

Link Round-Up

Social Media for Business

View more presentations from Presentation Advisors.

Since most people have off tomorrow, we're posting this week's Round-Up today. Enjoy your holiday!

• Papers from White House Summit on Community Colleges--These papers were prepared for the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges. Dr. Jill Biden to convened the October 5, 2010, summit to highlight community colleges' role in developing America's workforce and reaching the President's goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

• 33 Free Nonprofit Webinars in January--many of these are related to grant and proposal writing.

• National Framework for UI Claimants Outlined--from the recent USDOL Road to Recovery Summit in DC.

• Free Productivity Resources for Teachers--many of these would work for anyone. 

• 6 Free Online Interactive Whiteboards--try one of these out in your next conference call. 

• 5 Tips for Advancing Any Career Using Technology Tools--the title says it all.

• Workforce Development Transportation Solutions--a sampling of transportation strategies being implemented by WIBs and One Stops around the country. Also check out the Youth Employment Transportation Resources and the Older Worker Transportation Resources.

• 3 Things Employers Look for In Your Resume--1) Can you solve problems I have today, 2) Can you build shareholder value and 3) Will you fit into my company culture.

 

Friday Link Round-Up

The Good and the Bad of running your own business

View more presentations from Clear Presentation Design.

Here are your links for the week:

• Standing on Shaky Ground: Americans' Experiences with Economic Uncertainty--he Rockefeller Foundation, the New America Foundation, and Yale University economic security expert Jacob Hacker gathered to discuss the issue of economic risk and the release of a report that analyzes how this risk affects Americans entitled Standing on Shaky Ground: Americans’ Experiences with Economic Insecurity. The report is based on a new two-wave survey of Americans that examines their experiences and perceptions between March 2008 and September 2009. Includes video and a link to the full report.

• Salary Negotiation Tips and Strategies--Although this isn't the strongest market for job seeker negotiaton, there are still some things you can do to improve salary outcomes. 

• Turn Your LinkedIn Profile Into a Printable Resume--LinkedIn users are now able to create PDF resumes in a variety of formats from their LinkedIn profiles.

• How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile--If you're going to use LinkedIn, you need to get the most out of your profile.

• How to Find a Job When There Are No Jobs--some tips from an HR pro.

• Getting People Into Jobs Who've Been Out of Work the Longest--advice from the recent USDOL re-employment Summit.

The Declining Demand for Men

Economist Nancy Folbre looks at how the recession has had a disproportionate impact on men, in part because traditionally male occupations, such as manufacturing, have been particularly hard hit:

The Great Recession has sometimes been dubbed the Mancession because it drove unemployment among men higher than unemployment among women. Because men tend to work in more cyclical industries than women, they have historically lost more jobs on the downturn and gained more on the upturn.

The current upturn, however, is doing little to restore jobs, with November unemployment rates at 10.6 percent for men and 8.9 percent for women.

A long-term trend also lurks behind the cyclical pattern — a decline in the demand for the kinds of jobs that men typically fill.

For example, men constitute more than 71 percent of the work force in manufacturing but less than 25 percent of the workers in health and education services. These two employment categories were similar in size in 2000, but manufacturing employment has failed to rise, even in non-recession years. Employment in health and education, in contrast, has risen slowly, but steadily.

Why does this happen?

Partly because employers, men and consumers are all strongly influenced by conventional gender roles.

As Maria Charles and David B. Grusky of Stanford document in their book “Occupational Ghettos,” gender segregation is a remarkably persistent and complex phenomenon shaped by deep cultural beliefs.

But surely economic factors play some role. Men seem to be more reluctant to enter women’s jobs – which typically pay less for the same credentials – than women to enter men’s jobs. Will prolonged high unemployment among men overcome their reluctance?

Maybe, but not overnight. We should address the mismatch between the supply of and demand for men from both sides.

Increased public investments in job training and education could help workers diversify their skills, and a green jobs program could increase the demand for both men and women who need jobs but can’t find them.

Is your local area doing things to address the "Mancession"? If so, what are you doing? How are these strategies working?

Friday Link Round-Up

YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

Hope you had a good week. Here's your weekly dose of links:

• The Effects of Involuntary Interruptions at Work--Research shows that we are less productive when we are multi-tasking and dealing with interruptions. This TedTalk makes a pretty compelling case for scheduling stretches of uninterrupted time to actually get work done.

• Group.me--Free service that allows you to send group text messages to small groups. Could be useful for coaching/case management and communicating with teams and work groups.

• Unemployment Rate is Highest for College Grads Since 1970--From USA Today

• Frustrated Unemployed Bring Dark Side to Job Search Amid Rejection--Worth a read, especially for the long-term unemployed.

• New York Study on Homeless Called Cruel--NYC is evaluating the effectiveness of a program for the homeless using a control group methodology where some people are randomly selected to not receive services. Could this be a new program evaluation trend?

• Community Wealth.org--tons of news and resources on community-based economic development models

• Boolean Search Webinar--strategies for doing better web searches. Perfect for staff and job seekers to improve their research skills.

The Case for Early Unemployment Intervention

The first thing many dislocated workers do upon being laid off is take a few weeks (or months) off before they dive into the job search. According to research, however, this may be the best way to become one of the long-term unemployed, which could lead to becoming unemployable.

From a 2008 paper by University of Chicago economics professor, Robert Shimer:

Professor Shimer averaged job-finding data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from January 1976 to October 2007, looking at only people who either lost or left jobs before becoming unemployed (that is, excluding people who were new entrants or re-entrants to the labor force).

 Professor Shimer found that 51 percent of workers who had been unemployed for one week obtained work in the following month, but the share declined sharply after that.

“For workers with duration less than six months, the job finding probability averages 31 percent,” he writes. “It falls to 19 percent during the next six months and just 14 percent for workers who have been unemployed for over a year.”

In other words, in recent decades, a person out of work for a week was nearly four times as likely to find a job the next month as a counterpart who’d been out of work for a year.

This trend holds true using more recent data from 2009, suggesting that the sooner a job seeker begins looking for a new position, the better. In fact, all-out efforts should be made in the first four weeks following a lay-off and, if possible, as soon as a worker is notifed that he/she will be let go.

What is your One-Stop Career Center doing to inform job seekers of these statistics and get them started on their job search within the first few weeks of being laid off? Unemployed workers need to understand that the longer they wait to begin the search, the greater the likelihood they will be unemployed for the long-haul.

Friday Link Round-Up

How to interview for A-Players

View more presentations from Auren Hoffman.

It's that time of the week again. . . here are your links:

• One More Way--This free portal for job seekers with disabilities offers access to job openings, resources and teleseminars on job search topics.

• Small Business Hiring Guide--from Monster.com, this guide includes resources on how to find, recruit, interview and hire candidates, specifically geared to small business.

• 5 Ways Volunteering Can Help You Get a Job--the title says it all.

• Employment Practices for Special Populations--a nice collection of resources for supporting the employment of job seekers with special barriers, including people with disabilities, individuals with substance abuse issues, and ex-offenders. 

• 5 Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online--good info for WIBs and One Stops looking to develop more of an online presence and promote their expertise to businesses and job seekers.

• 12 Ways to a Great Corporate Culture--from Inc., key lessons from 12 great companies.

• Going to College--a free college planning/readiness tool for youth with disabilities.

• Job Start 101--From the Business Roundtable, this online workbook features a series of video modules and questions on how to establish an online brand,develop a positive work persona, manage your emotions at work, build positive relationships and solve problems. The modules are based on the soft skills employers told the Roundtable they most wanted in their workers. 

• 5 Ways to Clean Up Your Online Image for the Jub Hunt--basic steps, but very necessary.

Tools and Resources to Make Your Data More Interesting and Informative

As many WIBs and One Stops look to communicate with businesses and the the community on the work that they do, presenting data in a way that is informative and makes a point becomes increasingly important. Although you may be tempted to use narrative and tables to communicate, most people's eyes glaze over when faced with a list of numbers, making it difficult for them to really grasp any point you may be trying to make. Using data visualization tools can also help you tease out relationships and patterns that you may miss in looking at data alone.

Fortunately, there are tons of free resources that can help you convert your dry data into interesting and informative infographics. A picture is worth a thousand words and these links will help you get started:

• Visualizing Information for Advocacy--this free guide and toolkit provides you with a basic grounding in the importance of infographics and how they can be used effectively to better communicate with stakeholders. Start here if you're interested in making your data more informative.

• ManyEyes--also free, this IBM-developed site allows registered users to upload data sets and create their own visualizations. You can check out the list of options and learn more about how and when to use each type. You can also see the visualizations created by others. 

• Data Visualization: Modern Approaches--great overview of different ways to display information, including links to tools and resources. 

• Mapping Resources--Google maps can be a great visualization tool.

• Understanding Graphics--a great all-purpose website.

Also be sure to check out the TEDTalk video at the top of this post. It does an excellent job of explaining the importance of data visualization and how it can help you understand and communicate more effectively with data.