The Inside Job
-
South Carolina Unemployment Fund Near Insolvency
Continue reading… 3 CommentsSouth Carolina's unemployment benefits fund is expected to be empty by the end of today if Gov. Mark Sanford does not request a federal loan that would keep benefit payments running through March. The governor is expected to announce his decision at a press conference this afternoon.
Sanford has resisted requesting the $146 million loan until the unemployment agency agrees to meet his requests for a state audit and increased data reporting on the state's unemployed.
The state's 77,000 unemployed are no doubt keeping a white-knuckled grip on their TV remotes, awaiting the governor's decision. South Carolina Republican state legislators are reportedly rather unhappy with Sanford. One lawmaker called it a "heartless and cruel act."
-
Vicki Iseman Sues the New York Times
Continue reading… 7 CommentsWashington lobbyist Vicki Iseman sued the New York Times for $27 million today. In a story the paper ran earlier this year, Iseman was linked romantically with presidential candidate John McCain in 1999.
The text of the suit is here (thank you Michael Calderone).
Iseman's defamatory complaint has two bullet points--that the Times story communicated that she had exploited a relationship with McCain "to obtain favorable legislative outcomes for her clients"--a violation of professional and ethical norms. The second point is the paper's portrayal of the nature of her relationship with McCain (as "illicit and inappropriate") while she conducted business for clients before the committee chaired by McCain.
The TImes says: "We fully stand behind the article. We continue to believe it to be true and accurate, and that we will prevail. As we said at the time, it was an important piece that raised questions about a presidential contender and the perception that he had been engaged in conflicts of interest."
-
President Bush Shows Managerial Skill
Continue reading… 5 CommentsWhite House spokeswoman Dana Perino offered a spirited endorsement and portrait of working for President Bush in an E-mail to Byron York at National Review. Certainly, it's important to consider the source (as she's unlikely to give anything but a positive report), but it's an interesting look at his managerial style--it sounds like he's a rare giver of feedback.
From NRO:
"It's always amazed me that he’s constantly trying to buck us up,” she told me. “For example, during the election cycle, the president said that I should not rise to the bait when he was attacked, that I should let it go and not get caught up in the election. For a while there, it was really difficult--after all, over $125 million in negative ads against him were run the last several months. One day the president called me and said he’d heard I’d had a tough briefing, and that no one wants to stand up there and be a piñata--but that I was doing the right thing and he was proud of me. I have a ton of examples just like that."
-
When Drugs Are OK If You're Performing
Continue reading… 0 CommentsA recent story in the NYTimes on WaMu's mortgage factory (housing boom) years pulls back the curtain on the bank's approach to loan-approvals--what it calls its "boiler room culture" . The Atlantic's Megan McArdle made note of this passage:
"I'd lie if I said every piece of documentation was properly signed and dated," said Mr. Parsons, speaking through wire-reinforced glass at a California prison near here, where he is serving 16 months for theft after his fourth arrest — all involving drugs.
-
What Laid-Off Life Looks Like
Continue reading… 1 CommentThese days, the media is doing its storytelling job by detailing the lives of the recently laid-off and the challenge of finding a job--and the getting by in the meantime.
Seven portraits in New York magazine show the variety of obstacles that accompany a layoff.
- An IT director says it's harder for his wife to parent their kids with him home all the time.
- Bad habits kick in: A 24-year-old former recruiter spent his severance at a bar and finds it hard to get out of his boxers.
- The freetime poses a challenge for workaholics.
- Pride inhibits the job hunt. Says a former newspaper editor: "I’m trying to get myself into the right people’s in-boxes, but I don’t want to be a wretch who reeks of desperation."
-
Indeed.com Wins Best Job Search Site
Continue reading… 4 CommentsIndeed.com took top honors among job search sites in a holiday poll over at Lifehacker. The straightforward search site ranked no. 1--Monster, Careerbuilder, LinkedIn, HotJobs and Craigslist rounded out the top six.
Lifehacker says of the site: "Indeed isn't a full-service job search site where you post your resume and hope for calls from employers, but if you know what kind of work you're looking for, its impressive meta-search (complete with email alerts and RSS feeds) is worth a look."
You can see all of the site's job tools here.
-
Save Jobs With Your Checkbook
Continue reading… 1 CommentAbout a month ago, Suze Orman was on MSNBC's Morning Joe pleading with Americans to stop their spending and save, save, save. Time magazine's Joe Klein, also a guest on the show, looked a bit aghast. He responded that if all Americans do just what Orman suggests, the economy will be in freefall. Of course, many consumers are already stashing their pocketbooks until their jobs and investments are more secure, and healthy companies (see Toyota) are feeling the effects.
So, the save/spend argument isn't new. But today RealClearMarkets' Steven Malanga writes a piece titled: "Save Jobs. Buy Something." Malanga's target is the seemingly virtuous (certainly in an economic expansion) Buy Nothing Day--an abstemious holiday touting freedom from consumerism and consumption (it no doubt had plenty of unwitting participants this year).
Malanga asks: "Why is it that in tough times it seems rational and even noble to deny oneself, even when doing so only spreads the pain?" Maybe it's because the tenure of our consumerism-centered economy has been rather brief, compared with our thousands of years of tribal living and shared resources, Malanga suggests.
-
How to Job Hunt During the Holidays
Continue reading… 1 CommentA common piece of job-searching wisdom insists on consistency and commitment: Treat your job search as if it were a job.
Translation: Out with the sweatpants and House reruns; in with the alarm clock and regular hygiene.
The misery of unemployment can often dull one's past enthusiasm for early morning runs and desk calendars. But most job seekers know that those small tokens of formality (normality) can be the most meaningful when one has the horrid privilege of suddenly being able to spend morning and afternoon hours in front of the TV screen, lobbing tennis balls at the net with the Wii controller.
-
Caterpillar Pay Cuts: Harder Times in Peoria
Continue reading… 1 CommentIt was less than a year ago that I was pounding the pavement in Peoria. My entreaty was not dissimilar to the time-tested "How's it playing in Peoria?" line. I was there to gauge residents' feelings about the economy--and they were mostly optimistic. It wasn't too surprising. Sales at heavy equipment maker Caterpillar--Peoria's largest employer--were booming, thanks to a cheap dollar and bustling exports. Caterpillar sales are a key economic indicator for this Illinois city. As one small business owner put it back in January:
"As Caterpillar goes, Peoria goes," Clementz says. "If it wasn't for the Caterpillar people, I probably wouldn't be here."
Today, we're in a global recession and the news is less rosy.
-
Gov. Blagojevich Not Going to Quit His Job
Continue reading… 1 CommentA tough-talking, Rudyard Kipling-referencing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said today he is sticking with his job. At a brief, no-questions press conference in Chicago, the Governor said he was not going to quit, despite accusations he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges nearly two weeks ago.
He said repeatedly he would fight the charges, and that he had truth on his side. "I have not done anything wrong."
Illinois lawmakers have begun an impeachment inquiry that is expected to take several weeks.
-
Detroit Bailout: What it Means for Workers
Continue reading… 5 CommentsThe White House has a $17.4 billion plan for bailing out Detroit automakers. Here are some of the plan's conditions and "targets" on pay and perks:
- Firms must accept limits on executive compensation and eliminate perks such as corporate jets.
- Eliminate the jobs bank.
- Work rules that are competitive with transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.
- Wages that are competitive with those of transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.
-
5 Ways to Fix Your Job Search
Continue reading… 9 CommentsNo job search is perfect. If you're sending out résumés and making calls, you're sure to make mistakes. It's useful to keep in mind, however, that your peers are also making mistakes. The beauty of a job search is that you press forward on a hundred fronts, you knock on a hundred doors—and all you need is one success, one door to open. Minimize your mistakes, and you're likely to have a door open sooner.
Here are five possible fixes:
The unedited résumé: Since many of us don't have the money for a professional résumé writer, you've probably written it yourself. You may even have had someone look over it. But has it been copy-edited? Trust a reporter: Copy-editing changes everything. If you're not lucky enough to have a copy editor as a friend (or as a friend of a friend), then call up your local newspaper and get connected with a copy editor on staff. Offer the editor $20 to look over and edit your résumé in his or her free time. Virtually everyone's grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction would benefit from having the educated eye of a copy editor taking a look.
-
Mary Schapiro: Tapped as First Woman to Lead SEC
Continue reading… 0 CommentsIt's been a rough year for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency has been scarred by the crisis on Wall Street and it's taking heat for not catching Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.
Today President-elect Barack Obama named his pick to lead the agency--Mary Schapiro, a veteran financial regulator, would be the first woman to chair the SEC (her appointment must first be confirmed by the Senate).
Obama called Schapiro "smart and tough." Nice. She's now CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.
-
3 Points on Jobless Claims
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe number of new claims for unemployment benefits dropped a bit last week from the previous week's 26-year high. The Labor Department reported this morning there were 554,000 claims filed in the week that ended December 13--down 21,000 from the previous week's revised 575,000 claims.
Three points:
- On December's jobs report: The jobless claims data today, which show an increased four-week moving average of 544,750, are "consistent with about a 500,000 monthly drop in nonfarm payrolls," according to Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR. Last month, U.S. companies cut 533,000 jobs.
-
Zhang Yimou: Inspiration to Late Bloomers
Continue reading… 1 CommentZhang Yimou, the force behind this year's spectacular Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing, is one of four runners-up for Time magazine's Person of the Year.
The Chinese movie director's ceremonies were watched by a third of the world's population, according to the article's writer, Steven Spielberg.
An excerpt that ought to inspire anyone who's been told they're too old to start a new career:
-
The Best Job Advice on the Web Today
Continue reading… 0 CommentsIf you've recently been laid off, or your hours have been cut, or your workload has tripled--you may be tempted to badmouth your company to friends, family, and new acquaintances with whom you're sharing your current plight. The Boston Herald says it's a bad idea to even show visible anger. If this upsets you further, take comfort that the reason is satisfyingly self-serving--the fact is that "the organization you are leaving may be your best source for new employment through referrals and references.
The two keys to success are people skills and self-management, says Tom Hoobyar. It's his first law of life. He has a dozen. "If you learn to manage yourself you can accomplish anything you can dream up," he writes. It's an empowerment boost for those losing sleep over the state of the job market. Other laws are also useful, particularly no. 9: "There is no 'happily ever after' in the real world." Instead, after every crisis, the sun rises again--that's the good news.
-
Best Careers Get Graded
Continue reading… 1 CommentU.S. News launched its Best Careers for 2009 last week. It's a great resource for college students trying to pick majors and find careers with promising outlooks. It's also a great resource for the rest of us. Some of the 30 careers require undergraduate degrees or post-graduate degrees, but certainly not all of them.
One of the most helpful pages is the best careers "report card." It's actually an underrated piece of this whole package. You can find it here.
People looking for work that requires less training--perhaps those who have recently been laid off and are looking to switch out of a sluggish career--can use this interactive table to sort the 30 careers by their level of training difficulty.
-
Motorola Announcement: Benefits, Executive Pay Cut in 2009
Continue reading… 6 CommentsWe're getting used to layoff announcements, but this morning Motorola announced different kinds of cuts it was making to slash expenses in 2009.
Here's what they're doing:
- Motorola says it will permanently "freeze" its pension plans in the U.S. Benefits previously accured will be preserved, but the company is eliminating future accruals.
- It's temporarily suspending the 401(k) match. Employees can still contribute, but the company won't match contributions.
-
Why CEOs Should Explain Their Pay to Employees
Continue reading… 0 CommentsManagement expert and author Patrick Lencioni has a solution to exorbitant executive compensation packages: Healthy shame.
Actually it's really more like in-your-face accountability that would likely involve a little shame. Lencioni writes in the Table Group letter this morning that executive pay probably has less to do with individual need than it does with the Joneses, as "CEOs know what their peers earn, and they want to compare favorably for the sake of their egos more than their bank accounts," Lencioni says.
He suggests that executives of public companies account for their pay in a few ways:
-
Employers Scrimping on Pay Raises Next Year
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAn annual survey of hundreds of large employers indicates average pay raises for millions of workers in 2009 will fall below 3 percent for the first time since the data began to be tracked in 1976.
The Hewitt Associates survey of 640 companies finds half of companies planning to alter base salary spending next year--and another 25 percent of companies still considering it. Among those employers (representing about 7 million workers), salaried employees will average salary increases of 2.5 to 2.6 percent--down from 3.7 to 3.8 percent in July--and executive pay increases will fall to 2.2 percent from 3.8 percent.
So how will performance be rewarded--and talent be retained--in this kind of environment?
