With more than 15.1 million people out of work in the United States, unemployment reached 9.8% during the month of September — the highest rate in 26 years. And former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said things are going to get worse. On ABC’s This Week, Greenspan predicted that the unemployment rate will surpass 10% and then “stay there for a while before we start down.”
Though he is definitely concerned with the unemployment statistics, Greenspan says a second stimulus plan is not needed now.
“In my judgment it’s far better to wait and see how this momentum that has already begun …read more

Your ability to solve other people’s problems can be the difference between being employed and being unemployed. A problem solver is a thinker who focuses on problems in front of them and they use information and knowledge to come to a solution. A solution that works is better than one that doesn’t. So a successful problem solver is valuable to organizations. I stumbled on a question this evening on LinkedIn asked by Charles Caro, that provoked this post tonight.
Here is the question:
The other day I was setting in on a professional networking group for job seekers. One of the participants, …read more

JobSerf.com is an outsourcing organization for the job seeker. If you are struggling with your job search and you need some help finding jobs to apply for, JobSerf.com is willing to work for you. I am not big on job seekers sitting behind their computer, responding to job ads on various job boards, however as I listened to Jay Martin, founder of Jobserf.com, I like what I heard. Rather than you sitting behind your computer churning applications, resumes and cover letters, I like the idea of having someone else doing it for you. Your responsibility as a job seeker will …read more

Microsoft crop. will be giving away more than 30,000 vouchers over the next 90 days to help people in Washington State who are unemployed. The vouchers will allow them to take free computer courses online or in person, as well as take Microsoft certification exams for free or at little cost.
“When this downturn ends, we will need more skilled workers ready to enter the job market. Microsoft’s generosity will provide thousands of men and women the skills they need to work with the software that runs our businesses,” Governor Chris Gregoire said.
Washington state has an employment rate of 8.4% — …read more

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will get what you’ve always gotten – the same result.” That is the definition of insanity and in this insane economy, you better have some relative sanity to combat the foolishness. Whether you are employed or unemployed, creativity and out of box thinking should become your favorite companions.
For those of you who are employed, you must be focused on preparation and planning. What will you do, if your job was gone tomorrow? Everything looks great today. No layoffs or very few in your organization. Everyone seems relatively happy despite the economy. …read more

YES, character matters! Think about that phrase – Character Matters!
I have spent a large part of this year responding to issues in and around termination. Many more people get fired today in the natural flow of an organization today than any other time in our history.
For some people, termination has come by their own poor choices. Character Matters!
For some people, a manager has chosen to fire people for no apparent reason, other than because they don’t like an individual. Character Matters!
For some people, they are not clear why they are unemployed. All they know is that they don’t have a …read more

If you are unemployed, and you are not easy to find through a Google Search, then you may find it extremely difficult to find a job through Social Networking. Given the number of people I speak to weekly about their job search, I would highly recommend that you jump on the Social Networking bandwagon. Why?

Gone are the days when you can grab a newspaper and circle jobs you are interested in, call on the phone and hope someone will talk to you about the job.
Gone are the days when you can walk into an organization and hope to get an …read more

Today is a good day here at Interview Chatter. I am celebrating my one year anniversary as a blogger. My desire to blog was birthed from a desire to write and to share information that would be valuable for job seekers. Unfortunately, early in my work career I came up against obstacles when looking for employment and when looking for promotion within organizations. I didn’t know then, what I know today and as far as I knew, there wasn’t any information to help me along the way. The most painful experience had to do with not having a degree. Here is …read more

What is a Community Employment Scheme? I had no idea. I was visiting JibberJobber tonight, Communicating With An Interviewer After You Are Rejected and there was a comment asking about Community Employment Scheme.
Here is the comment from Ailish:
I was just wondering, how would I answer the ‘Why did you leave your job’ question when the job was a Community Employment Scheme and the maximum time allowed to work on them is four years. Is it appropriate to state that you did a CE Scheme or do you make something else up as to why you left. I heard somebody …read more