I'm hoping that you didn't have to make the trek to work just to read our blog, although I'm flattered if you did, because we sincerely hope that you have your power/internet/cable/etc back at your home. We've been following the news about the outages and thought perhaps the following links would be of use.
Nationalgrid has been terrific about updating their twitter through this mess
You can also check the restoration plan which was updated this morning at 6AM
The real time map is also a useful tool
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Needle in a Haystack
I know, I know, you're tired of me not so subtlety hinting that you should let us handle your staffing, but seriously...you should. Bloomberg Press agrees with us on that. In fact they even recently dedicated a whole article to the struggle to find good caliber staffing for open positions. The Washington Post is in on the scope too. They also have an article from June discussing the exact same dilemma.
Unemployment is currently around 9.1%. With a rate that high it would seem that filling that accounting position you've had open would be easy, but that's just not the case. Business owners and HR professionals are forking over thousands on advertising open positions only to be inundated with resumes of unqualified candidates. The big question is why can't we find anyone to fill these positions?
Simply put it is because there is a mismatch between jobs and skills. In the worlds of academia & politics this mismatch is referred to as structural unemployment. This is a problem that exists across the board. Companies are not finding the level of talent that their positions require for entry level or higher end positions. Adding to the mismatch is the fact that more than 40% of the employed population has been out of work for 27 weeks or more. Their absence from the workforce not only makes them less marketable, but also contributes to the erosion of their skill set.
The founder of Begal Enterprises, Inc was a contributing voice to a panel of a half a dozen entrepreneurs who where questioned regarding their recruitment experiences. In his opinion despite the fact that the "pool" of potential candidates has gotten deeper the caliber has decreased. He and the other panelists said some candidates lack the "right set of skills" which others do not meet the "most basis of qualifications" such as proper spelling on their resumes. That in mind their opinion was that the "top talent search" is equally, if not more, challenging than it was prior to the recession.
Divya Gugnani, a New York employer, says that of five openings she presently has, only one has been filled. She has received more than 1,000 applications. In her opinion, getting the right people is "brutal" like "finding a needle in a haystack."
Unemployment is currently around 9.1%. With a rate that high it would seem that filling that accounting position you've had open would be easy, but that's just not the case. Business owners and HR professionals are forking over thousands on advertising open positions only to be inundated with resumes of unqualified candidates. The big question is why can't we find anyone to fill these positions?
Simply put it is because there is a mismatch between jobs and skills. In the worlds of academia & politics this mismatch is referred to as structural unemployment. This is a problem that exists across the board. Companies are not finding the level of talent that their positions require for entry level or higher end positions. Adding to the mismatch is the fact that more than 40% of the employed population has been out of work for 27 weeks or more. Their absence from the workforce not only makes them less marketable, but also contributes to the erosion of their skill set.
The founder of Begal Enterprises, Inc was a contributing voice to a panel of a half a dozen entrepreneurs who where questioned regarding their recruitment experiences. In his opinion despite the fact that the "pool" of potential candidates has gotten deeper the caliber has decreased. He and the other panelists said some candidates lack the "right set of skills" which others do not meet the "most basis of qualifications" such as proper spelling on their resumes. That in mind their opinion was that the "top talent search" is equally, if not more, challenging than it was prior to the recession.
Divya Gugnani, a New York employer, says that of five openings she presently has, only one has been filled. She has received more than 1,000 applications. In her opinion, getting the right people is "brutal" like "finding a needle in a haystack."
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Need Accounting Help? Meet August's Candidate of the Month
- EDUCATION: Bachelors & Masters degrees in Business Management
- WORK EXPERIENCE: Ten years solid experience as a senior accountant in multinational companies
- SKILLS: Trilingual, computer savvy, cash flow management, financial analysis, cost accounting, inventory procedure and payroll management.
City Personnel provides the highest caliber of staffing in the area. Besides having talented sales and marketing candidates we also have provide candidates for all levels of legal staffing, accounting, human resources, medical, and other office positions. For a more detailed look at Monika's background, or information on any of our other candidates, please contact City Personnel at 401.331.2311 or by email at resumes@citypersonnel.net.
To keep up with the latest candidates of the month and other happenings at City Personnel please follow our blog.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Interviewing 101
Interviewing stress you out? You're not alone, but trust me when I say it could be worse. The famous "what is your worst trait" question is far from the worst your interviewer could do. Just take these sample questions from the technology industry. "Why are manhole covers round?" "How do you measure four gallons of water using only a three and five gallon jug?" "How many dogs are there in the United States?" Don't know the answers? Neither do I, but don't fret Forbes breaks down why questions like this and others are asked and what interviews are looking for in your response. More after the jump.
What types of interview questions do you typically ask or get asked? Do you have a favorite?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Welcome Back NYLO
Anyone remember the great flood of 2010? Yes, it was the flood that turned Warwick mall into the "first underwater mall" in the country and yes that's where the footage of people rowing boats down their typically quaint residential streets came from. With those images in mind I'm sure we can all agree that the flood did a lot of damage to not only small residential neighborhoods, but also large established businesses. NYLO hotel in the Pontiac Mills Complex in Warwick was one of those businesses.
The 163 room loft style hotel opened to rave reviews in September 2008, only to be devastated by the flood waters from the cresting river at the end of March 2010. The river took not only their back deck area, but it also severely damaged the hotels main lobby, front desk, meeting room, lower guest rooms, and restaurant.
Almost 2 years later, and many extensive renovations later, the hotel is set to re-open. Michael Muller, the hotel chains CEO said that a corporate restructuring in addition to the replacing of custom fitted interiors, such as furniture and fixtures, designed specifically for NYLO Providence/Warwick are what lead to the delays in re-opening the hotel.
In addition to re-opening the hotel next Tuesday, NYLO has also named a new leadership team. Kingston, RI resident Susan Shaw is the new General manager. North Kingstown resident Joanne McNulty Schroeder has taken the helm as Director of Sales and Marketing. Providence resident Robert Minger will be over seeing the culinary experience as the Director of Food & Beverage. Jenna Cowan of Providence will be the Front Desk manager and rounding out management will be Allan Thompson of Boston as Controller.
The hotel has provided jobs for roughly 35-40 people, down from their pre-flood staff of 60. Of the 35-40 employed Shaw says that roughly half of them worked at NYLO prior to the flood, herself included.
Welcome back NYLO Hotel. We've missed you.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Google + : Leading us into the Future of Networking?
Google + is the future, or well it may be for job seekers anyway. I’m sure you’ve all heard the hype about the new social media site. It was rolled out in limited use a few weeks ago and the only way to get involved is to be invited. The exclusivity has rubbed some people in the wrong way, but it wasn’t too long ago that Facebook operated on the same principle.
Right now Google + isn’t for everyone, or all job seekers. Currently it is mostly populated by those in technology, marketing, social media, or internet. Despite the narrow present narrow market there are already 20 million users on Google + and it is rare to not see it pop up in one news feed or another.
You’re probably wondering what I mean by control. The Google “circles” concept allows you to create numerous different viewing groups such as school, work, family, etc and then chose which content can be view by which groups. This means that you can post the pictures of your weekend cookout for your friends and family to see and then in the same breath post your updates resume for employers to view. No more switching between Linkedin and Facebook to post different content, now it’s all in one place.
One of the other perks is that on Facebook a follower must be accepted as a friend while in Google + it is more one sided. If you want to follow the company of your dreams you can, but they do not have to follow you. Depending on what circle you place the company in you can control what, if anything, of your content they are able to view.
With all that in mind lets go back to the topic of job searching. As I mentioned early on Google + is currently populated by mostly techy folks and is only in the trial phases. It lacks the job listing section that Linkedin has and obviously the population diversity of Facebook. This means that people in accounting or healthcare for example probably shouldn’t jump on right away expecting to find work, but those in marketing, PR, and tech should definitely get on early and begin building their network. “Google+ invitations are currently scarce, so active users are generally well-connected. In my use of the service, it seems that the vast majority of early adopters are people related to the technology industry and Silicon Valley,” said Jon Burgstone, founding faculty chair, Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, University of California, Berkeley. “I expect job-seekers, at least for now, would find more and higher-quality opportunities on Google+ than LinkedIn.” Eventually, he continued, Google+ will appeal to “a broader population. People who should know, report that Google+ has a very, very large number of people waiting to be invited to user the service. If accurate, Google+ could grow very quickly.”
Want to get involved? Send me an email at bbert@citypersonnel.net and I’d be happy to send you an invitation.
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