Thursday , October 29, 2009
By Julie Banderas/Fox News
With men accounting for 72 percent of the nation's job losses since the beginning of the recession, many American families are looking to mom to bring home the bacon. Recent studies found that 40 percent of American women are now the primary earners for their families, and that means more and more moms are going back to work — or at least trying to.
"If you had told me five years ago I would be doing what I'm doing now, I might have said no way," said Liz Morgan, a full-time mom who hopes to return to the workforce.
Morgan, 44, worked for 13 years as a legal publisher before taking on the role of a stay-at-home mom. She left her job four years ago to spend more time with her kids, as her husband's small business provided for their family of five.
But being a stay-at-home mom is a luxury the Morgans can no longer afford.
"I thought, well, it shouldn't be too hard to find a part-time job, and that proved to be more difficult too. I'm not only competing with people my own age — there are a lot of younger people who have more flexible hours," she said. "I basically want to work between 8 and 3."
"They face a motherhood penalty which will make it harder for them," said Pam Stone, a professor of sociology at Hunter College in New York. "It would be hard enough because they have interrupted their careers and their skills are getting rusty."
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that an increasing number of married women with a college education between the ages of 25 and 44 are working. Some see the predominantly "male'" recession as an opportunity for women to make a new start.
"The sectors that men have traditionally found good jobs in — finance and technology — aren't going to be doing well going forward," said Sylvia Hewlett, founder of the Center for Work Life Policy.
"So I think a lot of couples are understanding that over the long haul it's the wife and the mother that has the better prospects in the job market."
Times have definitely changed, but not completely: despite women making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, women continue to be paid 23 cents less than men for every dollar earned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Is Your Career Site Making A Good Impression?
A career site can be an effective part of an overall Talent Management System. Or, it could be one of the main reasons why that Talent Management System isn’t doing what you need it to do on a consistent basis. We sat down with interactive design expert Maarten-Jan Waasdorp, COO at Six Foot LLC, and asked him questions that non-interactive experts might want to ask about their own career sites:
1. What are some most common mistakes you see employers making with their career sites?
Companies tend to stick to their current look and branding and make recruitment a part of the corporate site. This often leads to the Career Area on the site being overlooked. If it doesn’t stand out and engage potential candidates, then the candidates will not be motivated to apply for a position with the employer.
2. What are some general suggestions you might have for employers to help them make their career sites more effective?
Some of the suggestions I would make are:
· Start to think like your potential applicants think. Ask “How can I “entertain” the candidate while they are on my site? Are they tech savvy? Are they into Social Media?
· With the current available technology it is very important to be leading-edge so you will get the best people for your jobs.
· Make your recruitment site interactive, attract with visuals like video’s or animations. Engage the potential hire in a game or quiz.
· Make optimal use of all available media; on-line, print, TV and radio and be combined into one powerful recruitment tool.
· Also think of separating recruitment from your main site and set up a separate (mini) site. You can be more efficient and use more SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization/Marketing) tools aimed at recruitment.
3. What is the best way to measure traffic coming to your site?
First you have to make sure that anyone looking for a job in your industry/geographic area will find your career site/mini-site. I can’t stress enough the importance of making the search process fast and easy. It all starts with the way your site is initially set up. Once set up, it’s a good idea to ask the company that built your site to also track the traffic coming to the site. There are free options available, but for a small fee it’s worth the peace of mind you get by having experts handle the process on a monthly basis. And it’s quite possible they will notice “Red Flag” indicators you might miss and be able to trouble-shoot on the spot so that your site continues to enjoy a robust flow of traffic.
4. What are a few of these “Red Flags?”
One of the biggest issues is always the question of are you using the right key words to reach your target audience? You may think you know what is driving people to your site, but sometimes perception is not the reality. That’s why traffic metrics are so important. Most employers realize that SEO is not a miracle tool. You have to do intelligent research to ensure your SEO strategy is targeted and will reach the audience that possesses your desired levels of skill-sets and experience. Wrong input will result in wrong output.
5. What steps can an employer take if they need to build or improve their site but don’t have an in-house web department?
The obvious answer is to look for a partner like Six Foot! Aside from that, even if you have an in-house web department, it’s worthwhile to look outside the company and find a vendor who can help you realize the goals you’re trying to accomplish. Take Six Foot for example. We have a large team that does nothing but design and develop solutions exactly like this, using the latest technologies. An experienced design team will come up with ideas you haven’t even thought about yet simply because you were unaware of all the possibilities available at your fingertips.
In Six Foot’s case, we combine these skills with more than 20 years of experience in the Talent Acquisition & Retention business to help you come up with the customized strategies for your specific situation. We also use our vast network of industry partners to combine (web) technology solutions with a wide variety of related consulting services.
6. How do you prevent getting "ripped off" by an outside vendor?
There are a lot of suppliers out there who will provide a lot of different solutions with a lot of different price tags. The outcomes, of course, will be different, too. In most instances you will find that you can’t expect the same result from a smaller “start-up shop” versus a well seasoned, very experienced, award winning company.
In today’s economy it’s tempting to underestimate the importance of quality and focus rather on the cheapest price. Well, a quality product doesn’t always have the highest price. Hopefully you are developing your website so that it becomes an important, strategic and cost-efficient part of your Talent Management process.
For example by attracting higher quality candidates, an effective career site can often help reduce the amount of fees you find yourself having to pay staffing agencies. A good site will also increase your brand identity and value. Paying more does not automatically guarantee good service so I do advise you shop around before making any decisions. Ask friends and colleagues if they are happy with their website provider. Be sure to sit down with the potential design team and engage them in a comprehensive “discovery phase” before you kick-off the project. The discovery will give you an exact scope and plan of the project and will confirm whether or not you are dealing with the right supplier.
SIX FOOT: Six Foot is an interactive agency and consultancy that specializes in ORGINEERING (process mapping, usability and information architecture), INTERACTIVE (websites, portals, animations and applications), ONLINE MARKETING (brand marketing, SEO/SEM, social media and metrics), and EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN (touch screen, digital / interactive retail experiences, kiosks and trade show support). Six Foot has emerged as a leader, specializing in the development and execution of combined online and in-store brand experiences, e-marketing programs, creative design, 2D and 3D animation, and database and back-end infrastructure development.
Maarten-Jan Waasdorp: COO at Six Foot LLC; Maarten-Jan (M-J for short and definitely easy) has over 20 years of global experience in finance, operations, company strategies and general management for Fortune 100 companies. M-J combines all his skills and experience to develop and execute plans for any kind of challenge. M-J was born in the Netherlands and moved to the US in 2007. He is a member of the national COO Forum and the World Affairs Council of Houston.
1. What are some most common mistakes you see employers making with their career sites?
Companies tend to stick to their current look and branding and make recruitment a part of the corporate site. This often leads to the Career Area on the site being overlooked. If it doesn’t stand out and engage potential candidates, then the candidates will not be motivated to apply for a position with the employer.
2. What are some general suggestions you might have for employers to help them make their career sites more effective?
Some of the suggestions I would make are:
· Start to think like your potential applicants think. Ask “How can I “entertain” the candidate while they are on my site? Are they tech savvy? Are they into Social Media?
· With the current available technology it is very important to be leading-edge so you will get the best people for your jobs.
· Make your recruitment site interactive, attract with visuals like video’s or animations. Engage the potential hire in a game or quiz.
· Make optimal use of all available media; on-line, print, TV and radio and be combined into one powerful recruitment tool.
· Also think of separating recruitment from your main site and set up a separate (mini) site. You can be more efficient and use more SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization/Marketing) tools aimed at recruitment.
3. What is the best way to measure traffic coming to your site?
First you have to make sure that anyone looking for a job in your industry/geographic area will find your career site/mini-site. I can’t stress enough the importance of making the search process fast and easy. It all starts with the way your site is initially set up. Once set up, it’s a good idea to ask the company that built your site to also track the traffic coming to the site. There are free options available, but for a small fee it’s worth the peace of mind you get by having experts handle the process on a monthly basis. And it’s quite possible they will notice “Red Flag” indicators you might miss and be able to trouble-shoot on the spot so that your site continues to enjoy a robust flow of traffic.
4. What are a few of these “Red Flags?”
One of the biggest issues is always the question of are you using the right key words to reach your target audience? You may think you know what is driving people to your site, but sometimes perception is not the reality. That’s why traffic metrics are so important. Most employers realize that SEO is not a miracle tool. You have to do intelligent research to ensure your SEO strategy is targeted and will reach the audience that possesses your desired levels of skill-sets and experience. Wrong input will result in wrong output.
5. What steps can an employer take if they need to build or improve their site but don’t have an in-house web department?
The obvious answer is to look for a partner like Six Foot! Aside from that, even if you have an in-house web department, it’s worthwhile to look outside the company and find a vendor who can help you realize the goals you’re trying to accomplish. Take Six Foot for example. We have a large team that does nothing but design and develop solutions exactly like this, using the latest technologies. An experienced design team will come up with ideas you haven’t even thought about yet simply because you were unaware of all the possibilities available at your fingertips.
In Six Foot’s case, we combine these skills with more than 20 years of experience in the Talent Acquisition & Retention business to help you come up with the customized strategies for your specific situation. We also use our vast network of industry partners to combine (web) technology solutions with a wide variety of related consulting services.
6. How do you prevent getting "ripped off" by an outside vendor?
There are a lot of suppliers out there who will provide a lot of different solutions with a lot of different price tags. The outcomes, of course, will be different, too. In most instances you will find that you can’t expect the same result from a smaller “start-up shop” versus a well seasoned, very experienced, award winning company.
In today’s economy it’s tempting to underestimate the importance of quality and focus rather on the cheapest price. Well, a quality product doesn’t always have the highest price. Hopefully you are developing your website so that it becomes an important, strategic and cost-efficient part of your Talent Management process.
For example by attracting higher quality candidates, an effective career site can often help reduce the amount of fees you find yourself having to pay staffing agencies. A good site will also increase your brand identity and value. Paying more does not automatically guarantee good service so I do advise you shop around before making any decisions. Ask friends and colleagues if they are happy with their website provider. Be sure to sit down with the potential design team and engage them in a comprehensive “discovery phase” before you kick-off the project. The discovery will give you an exact scope and plan of the project and will confirm whether or not you are dealing with the right supplier.
SIX FOOT: Six Foot is an interactive agency and consultancy that specializes in ORGINEERING (process mapping, usability and information architecture), INTERACTIVE (websites, portals, animations and applications), ONLINE MARKETING (brand marketing, SEO/SEM, social media and metrics), and EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN (touch screen, digital / interactive retail experiences, kiosks and trade show support). Six Foot has emerged as a leader, specializing in the development and execution of combined online and in-store brand experiences, e-marketing programs, creative design, 2D and 3D animation, and database and back-end infrastructure development.
Maarten-Jan Waasdorp: COO at Six Foot LLC; Maarten-Jan (M-J for short and definitely easy) has over 20 years of global experience in finance, operations, company strategies and general management for Fortune 100 companies. M-J combines all his skills and experience to develop and execute plans for any kind of challenge. M-J was born in the Netherlands and moved to the US in 2007. He is a member of the national COO Forum and the World Affairs Council of Houston.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
US in need of Tech reboot
From John Mitton:
Much has been made about the shortage of workers, in the USA, who have the skill-sets needed for jobs of the future, including jobs which haven't been invented yet. I have recently given a series of keynote speeches to a variety of professional groups in different industries which all share the same dilemma: How do we starting producing tomorrow's workforce today? During the keynote sessions we explore answers to questions like: What changes need to be made in what and how we teach our children?; How do we strengthen our childrens "soft skills?"; With only 28% of 9th graders headed to a four-year university, how do we prepare the other 72% to survive in today's workplace?; What happens if we don't act now?
The article by Kendra Marr, "US In Need of Tech Reboot," illustrates that many in corporate America have begun to put realistic training programs and mandates for innovation back on the front-burner. It will be a process involving parents, teachers, Board of Educations, state legislatures, institutions of higher learning at the 2-year and 4-year levels, and finally the workplace itself.
Enjoy the article:
(Source: Politico.com; By: Kendra Marr October 28, 2009 05:01 AM EST)
For years, the U.S. was a pioneer, the renowned home of Yankee ingenuity. The United States put the first man on the moon and invented the light bulb. The country gave the world the daring Wright brothers, billionaire computer genius Bill Gates, Google and the iPod.
But lately, experts say, the U.S.’s creative streak has sputtered. Today, it has gone from being the No. 1 innovative country in the world to No. 6 and has made less progress in international competiveness and innovation than 40 other nations and regions measured in the past decade.
Concerned about the failure to innovate — and convinced that it is the key to a vibrant economy — officials at Intel, the world’s largest maker of semiconductor chips, are convening a high-level conference in Washington next month. There, Obama administration officials, high-tech gurus, NGOs, corporate titans and academics will share ideas on how to spur economic recovery through innovation.
“You need to create circumstances that encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurship,” said Peter Cleveland, Intel’s vice president of government relations. He said the conference will explore what skills U.S. workers need to compete in industries of the future, including green technologies, and will tackle how to foster creativity, make scientific investments a priority and encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors.
Industry’s focus on innovation as a key to the future dovetails with White House thinking, and several senior administration officials will participate in the conference, including top economic adviser Larry Summers, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Austan Goolsbee, staff director and chief economist on the president’s economic recovery board. Other scheduled participants include America Online founder Steve Case; Jeff Immelt, the chairman and CEO of General Electric; D.C. Public Schools chief Michelle Rhee; and Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.
In February, when consultants at McKinsey & Co. asked executives how the government should spend federal stimulus funds, 59 percent answered, “fostering innovation and potential new industries.” Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg echoed that sentiment last week when he proclaimed “investment and innovation has never been more important than it is right now.” “In the face of a global recession, economies all over the world are looking for ways to become smarter, more productive and more competitive,” he said at a broadband industry conference in Chicago. “The key to a smart economy is smart technology that can change business models and change society.”
President Barack Obama embraced the same message last month when he outlined the “groundwork and the ground rules to best tap our innovative potential.” Building on more than $100 billion in stimulus funding, he promised to invest more in research, promote policies that foster entrepreneurship and provide federal backing for clean energy, advanced vehicles and health care technology. “By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world,” Obama said. “We used to be No. 1. We should be No. 1 again.”
That, however, is a formidable challenge. Tight credit markets have driven companies to stash away cash, cut wages and lay off workers. Companies in Standard & Poor’s 500 index chopped 5 percent of their research and development costs and 25 percent of capital expenditures between the end of the third quarter last year and the second quarter of this year, according to the index.
To match Finland’s investment in technology programs on a per capita basis, the U.S. would need to invest $33 billion each year, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Today, the U.S. spends about $2 billion. “In reality, innovation is not manna from heaven,” he said. “It’s human made and influenced by policy.”
Many experts believe that policy imperative begins with investing more in education. Over the past decade, numerous studies show, the United States has failed to raise math and science test scores, and students in several Asian countries consistently score higher in both subjects.
Economic turmoil often breeds technological breakthroughs. During the Depression, DuPont invented nylon, which paved the way for parachutes and toothbrushes. The dot-com bubble burst in 2001, but that same year, Apple introduced the iPod. The hope is that history will repeat itself. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett has been repeating the company’s mantra: “You can’t save your way out of a recession.”
In February, Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced plans to spend $7 billion to build advanced manufacturing plants in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. The company funded mini-documentaries produced by PBS’s “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” that examined the role of innovation in the economy.
Intel and the Aspen Institute also hosted dinner discussions featuring Summers, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. The Aspen Institute, the journal “Democracy” and PBS are co-hosting the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Intel Conference. Lehrer and PBS correspondents Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will be among the moderators.
“It was definitely not hard to get people to participate in the conversation, because it’s on everyone’s mind,” said Jamie Miller, Aspen’s vice president for public programs. “You look at the auto industry and places like Detroit, and there’s a fear that if America’s not at the cusp of innovation, we will not be able to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off,” she said. Said Atkinson: “We were ahead so long — really since the ’50s — that we were kind of blind to the threat going on.”
Much has been made about the shortage of workers, in the USA, who have the skill-sets needed for jobs of the future, including jobs which haven't been invented yet. I have recently given a series of keynote speeches to a variety of professional groups in different industries which all share the same dilemma: How do we starting producing tomorrow's workforce today? During the keynote sessions we explore answers to questions like: What changes need to be made in what and how we teach our children?; How do we strengthen our childrens "soft skills?"; With only 28% of 9th graders headed to a four-year university, how do we prepare the other 72% to survive in today's workplace?; What happens if we don't act now?
The article by Kendra Marr, "US In Need of Tech Reboot," illustrates that many in corporate America have begun to put realistic training programs and mandates for innovation back on the front-burner. It will be a process involving parents, teachers, Board of Educations, state legislatures, institutions of higher learning at the 2-year and 4-year levels, and finally the workplace itself.
Enjoy the article:
(Source: Politico.com; By: Kendra Marr October 28, 2009 05:01 AM EST)
For years, the U.S. was a pioneer, the renowned home of Yankee ingenuity. The United States put the first man on the moon and invented the light bulb. The country gave the world the daring Wright brothers, billionaire computer genius Bill Gates, Google and the iPod.
But lately, experts say, the U.S.’s creative streak has sputtered. Today, it has gone from being the No. 1 innovative country in the world to No. 6 and has made less progress in international competiveness and innovation than 40 other nations and regions measured in the past decade.
Concerned about the failure to innovate — and convinced that it is the key to a vibrant economy — officials at Intel, the world’s largest maker of semiconductor chips, are convening a high-level conference in Washington next month. There, Obama administration officials, high-tech gurus, NGOs, corporate titans and academics will share ideas on how to spur economic recovery through innovation.
“You need to create circumstances that encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurship,” said Peter Cleveland, Intel’s vice president of government relations. He said the conference will explore what skills U.S. workers need to compete in industries of the future, including green technologies, and will tackle how to foster creativity, make scientific investments a priority and encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors.
Industry’s focus on innovation as a key to the future dovetails with White House thinking, and several senior administration officials will participate in the conference, including top economic adviser Larry Summers, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Austan Goolsbee, staff director and chief economist on the president’s economic recovery board. Other scheduled participants include America Online founder Steve Case; Jeff Immelt, the chairman and CEO of General Electric; D.C. Public Schools chief Michelle Rhee; and Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.
In February, when consultants at McKinsey & Co. asked executives how the government should spend federal stimulus funds, 59 percent answered, “fostering innovation and potential new industries.” Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg echoed that sentiment last week when he proclaimed “investment and innovation has never been more important than it is right now.” “In the face of a global recession, economies all over the world are looking for ways to become smarter, more productive and more competitive,” he said at a broadband industry conference in Chicago. “The key to a smart economy is smart technology that can change business models and change society.”
President Barack Obama embraced the same message last month when he outlined the “groundwork and the ground rules to best tap our innovative potential.” Building on more than $100 billion in stimulus funding, he promised to invest more in research, promote policies that foster entrepreneurship and provide federal backing for clean energy, advanced vehicles and health care technology. “By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world,” Obama said. “We used to be No. 1. We should be No. 1 again.”
That, however, is a formidable challenge. Tight credit markets have driven companies to stash away cash, cut wages and lay off workers. Companies in Standard & Poor’s 500 index chopped 5 percent of their research and development costs and 25 percent of capital expenditures between the end of the third quarter last year and the second quarter of this year, according to the index.
To match Finland’s investment in technology programs on a per capita basis, the U.S. would need to invest $33 billion each year, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Today, the U.S. spends about $2 billion. “In reality, innovation is not manna from heaven,” he said. “It’s human made and influenced by policy.”
Many experts believe that policy imperative begins with investing more in education. Over the past decade, numerous studies show, the United States has failed to raise math and science test scores, and students in several Asian countries consistently score higher in both subjects.
Economic turmoil often breeds technological breakthroughs. During the Depression, DuPont invented nylon, which paved the way for parachutes and toothbrushes. The dot-com bubble burst in 2001, but that same year, Apple introduced the iPod. The hope is that history will repeat itself. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett has been repeating the company’s mantra: “You can’t save your way out of a recession.”
In February, Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced plans to spend $7 billion to build advanced manufacturing plants in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. The company funded mini-documentaries produced by PBS’s “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” that examined the role of innovation in the economy.
Intel and the Aspen Institute also hosted dinner discussions featuring Summers, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. The Aspen Institute, the journal “Democracy” and PBS are co-hosting the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Intel Conference. Lehrer and PBS correspondents Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will be among the moderators.
“It was definitely not hard to get people to participate in the conversation, because it’s on everyone’s mind,” said Jamie Miller, Aspen’s vice president for public programs. “You look at the auto industry and places like Detroit, and there’s a fear that if America’s not at the cusp of innovation, we will not be able to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off,” she said. Said Atkinson: “We were ahead so long — really since the ’50s — that we were kind of blind to the threat going on.”
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