Oases in a turbulent jobscape

Posted on May 3, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

Though the storm clouds bearing down on the global economy have, in recent months, begun to part (some), and while the tides of pervasive uncertainty beneath which imperiled job seekers and job-holders were once submerged have begun to recede, there is still an overwhelming sense of job insecurity as a number of question marks, the biggest of which relates to future composition of the EU and Europe’s ongoing sovereign debt crisis, still loom. In short, like investors, who, at the height of the economic crisis, sought ‘sure bets’—safe places to stash their investments capable of weathering prolonged market volatility—job seekers are still searching for that job oasis. Read more

Reading resumes as cultural economic history

Posted on March 7, 2012
Filed Under Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

Have you ever considered what’s driving lexical evolution? That is, have you ever wondered how forces of culture and language interact, and may influence each other? Although it can be difficult to trace effect to cause, determining how the introduction of certain words into the public lexicon may begin to impact or shape our cultural horizons and vice versa, woven into our everyday language is a complex web of understanding. While stating that language is a gateway to understanding may be a bit mundane—after all, without language we would presumably lack the requisite tools to properly formulate the ideas which form the foundation for all understanding—perhaps more exceptional is the remark that, in using language, we sometimes subconsciously communicate information about our social, cultural, and/or historical context. That, unbeknownst to us, our use of certain words instead of others may covertly convey important details about the socio-cultural milieu of which we are part. So what does this have to do with resume writing? More than you might think. Read more

The 14 unicorns of business

Posted on February 20, 2012
Filed Under Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Recession | Leave a Comment

I remember writing a position paper as an undergraduate philosophy student, which, I suppose in some way, epitomizes how philosophy is sometimes characterized by popular culture: arcane, esoteric, and utterly preposterous (or bizarre). My target? I sought to expose the epistemological faults latent in empirical observation. My foil? The unicorn (its single antler does, after all, resemble a sword). While I used more than the mere unicorn to illustrate my point—I used something even more intellectually elusive: theoretical physics—I hoped to change the parameters we use to determine whether a thing exists. In short, I (quite unsuccessfully, I might add) sought to conflate two different categories of being: things that exist only in concept (e.g. unicorns) and the intelligible, observable universe. Read more

Are you in love with your employer? 10 companies worthy of your affection

Posted on February 16, 2012
Filed Under Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast | Leave a Comment

I can already hear the objection. “Ryan, don’t you know that the title of this blog post inadvertently personifies employers by implying that an employer (an abstract concept) can be made the object of one’s attention?” Alright, so maybe that’s not what you’re thinking at this precise moment. In fact, I don’t think anyone would object to the idea that we oft fall in love with the idea of something, whether that idea corresponds to a person, or the myriad commercial activity comprising business. In the same way that a person can embody certain attributes that may make them biologically (or culturally) desirable, so too employers can embody certain attributes that make them desirable to would-be employees. Read more

Who’s hiring? 2012 edition

Posted on January 23, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast | Leave a Comment

As assured as the earth will make one full turn on its axis every “day,” so too is the publication of “Who’s hiring” lists and “our labor market in review” articles at the outset of every New Year. Each New Year, virtually everyone with a horse in the “jobs” game—from blogs, to multinational corporations, like CareerBuilder, has a list to share. Publishing these lists have become somewhat of a tradition here at the Career Services Blog (after all, who doesn’t want to know who’s hiring?). With that in mind, I have posted the top 5 employers who are hiring in 2012 from a list recently published on CareerBuilder’s blog TheWorkBuzz, and, just for some contrast, the top 5 jobs that “died” in 2011, according to Monster. In addition, Forbes recently published a rather short, yet (what I consider to be) clear-eyed assessment of what 2012 may bring for American labor markets. Read more

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