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Get Your Game On - The News is Not All Bad
 My name is Bob
and I am a news addict. In the morning I read The Wall Street Journal and
The Washington Post. Throughout the day I get dozens of news
alerts and e- newsletters. I'll confess to liking the Google
News feature waaaay more than I should. In the
evenings I like to catch an hour or so of (what else?) news on TV. On the
elliptical trainer I watch Jon Stewart. Weekly, I read Business Week,
Newsweek, The Washington Business Journal, and several
other monthly publications. As you might suspect, I also love the Sunday
morning TV news talk shows.
The economic news is pretty grim lately.
I hear the phrases "Global Economic Meltdown" and "Great
Depression" far more often than I prefer. I have enormous empathy
and concern for the 1.2 million people who lost their jobs so far this
year, and for everyone who worries about their economic security.
Despite what you read, it's not all bad
out there. As a major news consumer, I'd like to remind you that national
news is very different than local news. The Washington job market is holding up quite nicely relative to
the rest of the country. In my October newsletter I posted an article
about how this area was recently rated the best place to ride out a
recession. This issue of our newsletter brings you additional perspective
on our regional economy.
Don't let the national news paralyze you. Get your game on. If you start
recruiting this week, you can still make December job offers for people
to start in early January. If you want someone to start in early
February, you need to get your recruiting strategy in place by early
December. Last year, thanks to some careful December planning, we started
recruiting work on almost a dozen searches right on January 1. We had our
searches filled in late January, before other employers even got their
want ads posted. Personally I love recruiting in the first 3 weeks of
January - lots of "New Year's Resolution" job seekers, and not
so many employers actively recruiting. If you are not fully staffed with
the right people, give me a call.
Contact me ...
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HR Jobs to Share
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HRA-NCA
The Staffing Alliance of Maryland Employers
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Welcome,
We live
in interesting times. The news blares, "Recession! - Be
Afraid", yet unemployment in our area remains low and recruiting is
still a challenge for most organizations. This month's issue brings you
news and perspective about what is actually happening in our region.
As
always, Staffing Advisors is here to help your organization stay fully
staffed with the right people, getting results, whatever the challenges
you may be facing.
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· Stephen Fuller: "It's Nice to Have
a Rich Uncle"
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 Unemployment here in our region is lower than anywhere else
in the country, home sales increased over last year, and the local
economy is adding jobs. We can all thank Uncle Sam for these blessings.
To compensate for job losses in
retail, construction and financial services, our region is adding new
professional jobs in business, education, health, utilities and
information services. From tighter banking regulations, to the $700
billion bailout, to an increased role for the FDIC - it's all good news
for our local economy because it brings more high paying jobs to Washington. Regional economic guru Stephen Fuller
astutely observes that "although the unemployment numbers have gone
up slightly, the picture is not as bad as the numbers might indicate,
because the jobs we're adding pay more than the jobs we're losing."
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To feel better,
read on ...
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· Wall Street Comes to K Street
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 This weekend's The Washington Post brought us yet
another story about how the local economy is propped up by federal
spending. The article states that "an army of accountants, financial
advisers, asset managers, lobbyists and others is descending on Washington as part of the government's attempts to
rescue the economy and bail out industries." Lawyers and consulting
firms have gobbled up hotel rooms and office space, and will hopefully
soon be spending lots of expense account money in local restaurants.
"Firms see this as a
potential gold mine," said Anirban Basu, an economist and chief executive of Sage Policy
Group in Baltimore. "We often talk about D.C. being
different economically than the rest of the country,
and this is perfectly true. I don't see much evidence of a slowdown
here."
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Read the full
article ...
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· Political Types Scramble for New Jobs
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 A change of administration brings change and opportunity to
our job market - and a boon to search firms like ours. Workplace
journalist Marci Alboher observes, "The
conventional wisdom is that those who worked for the winning candidates
get hired and losers scramble for new jobs. But in reality, everyone
scrambles. They look for specific positions in an administration and lay
the groundwork to get hired by another campaign (Congressional races for
2010 will be staffing up soon). And those who have earned a reputation
for strategy of any kind may try their hand at consulting or
punditry."
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For more ...
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· Highest-Paying White-Collar Jobs
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 I was not surprised to see that Controller, Development
Director, Finance Director, and Marketing Director are among the fastest
growing, highest paying white collar jobs. We've completed over 20
searches for positions like these already this year.
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To see the full
list ...
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· Economics as Metaphor
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 In this thought provoking article, economic guru David Ranson argues that the best metaphor to describe our
economy is not so much a "house of cards" as it is a beehive.
"A natural system has
built-in redundancy. It manages and heals itself. The economic system is
no exception. On this page about 10 years ago, Penny Russell and I argued
against the idea that the economy is a "house of cards,"
susceptible to collapse as soon as a few cards are dislodged. We
suggested that it's more like a beehive. The future of the hive does not
depend on full employment for all the worker bees. In fact, an accident
can put many bees out of action without compromising the hive as a
whole."
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To read more
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· Survey: How Large Companies May Cut
Costs
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 In a recent survey of HR executives at 450 large companies,
Towers Perrin found relatively few (16%) anticipated large job cuts, but
three quarters planned to cut travel and entertainment expenses, and over
half were scaling back holiday parties and other employee events.
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Here's the full
list ...
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· Why Are Search Firms Thriving?
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 Instead of using their internal recruiting capabilities, why
are so many executives willing to pay fees to search firms? According to
this article, search firms are often able to do things than internal
recruiters cannot. Search firms have the luxury of managing the search
assignment with a single-minded focus. Similarly, search firms are more
able to reconcile the hiring requirement to market realities.
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Read the
article ...
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· The Most-Used Recruiting Metrics?
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 In a recent survey of 500 recruiting and staffing
professionals from companies of varying sizes, these
metrics were the most-used.
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