Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com) was recently selected as one of the 50 Best Places to Work in New Jersey. This award, created in 2005, is sponsored by NJBIZ. I would like to thank you for your support and business. Without your faith in our firm none of our achievements would be possible; I can’t thank you enough.

This award program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in New Jersey, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses. The Best Places to Work in New Jersey program is made up of 50 companies split into two groups: 25 medium-sized companies (25-249 employees) and 25 large-sized companies (more than 250 employees). Berman Larson Kane has been named one of the 25 Best Places to Work in New Jersey in the medium-sized category.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:
– Have at least 25 employees in New Jersey;
– Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business;
– Be a publicly or privately held business;
– Have a facility in New Jersey;

Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the 50 Best Places to Work in New Jersey. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in New Jersey with assistance from ModernThink LLC, who analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

Berman Larson Kane will be recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in New Jersey evening awards ceremony on Monday, April 16, 2007, at the Hilton East Brunswick. The final rankings will be revealed at the ceremony. As president of Berman Larson Kane I thank you again for your business.

Reprinted by request from Feb 04 posting….

Effortless, seamless, natural, instinctive, in the flow, is the heart-warming expression for those with the right partners and/or the right careers. We at Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com) are always in awe.“Valentines Day” the hallmark/retailers holiday of love. A day to formalize our expressions of love for romantic partners with gifts of flowers, jewelry, cards and foods. For those lucky enough to be in a solid loving relationship all days of the year or at least most of those days are caring expressions of love. (No daily gifts needed) But occasional flowers and jewelry don’t hurt.

Well although it is different type of love. Think of those whom you know who are in the right career and jobs. They are usually successful, but would do their jobs with the same energy and passion no matter what the pay or hours. We all know this person; it might be a maintenance worker, sales professional or the CEO. It might be your accountant (probably not your lawyer just joking) or another service worker who is in a zone that allows them to perform their job perfectly, joyfully and gracefully everyday on every project. These lucky people are the cupids of the work world. These true work-a-world valentines are the ones that carry a company to greatness. Are the ones that all your customer’s love. Are the ones that you always want to embrace on your project team. And are the staffing professionals that you want filling your positions or assisting your careers.

On this day as you buy your gifts, write cards and make those expressions of love to your partners and/or those whom you are wooing. Take a brief moment to feel if this is a natural or forced activity. If it is natural you are in the flow. If it is forced I hope that it is a temporary situation. Because if it is not? Difficult choices could be on the horizon.

One final valentine career thought. Think of your job, as you’re other lover, friend and guardian. Read each hallmark sayings applying it to your job and career. Are you in that love zone? If you are, you are a very fortunate person. You are the ones that our clients love to hire and the ones lucky enough to be guarantee effortless career success. If it is forced? Career challenges are probably in your future.Our Berman Larson Kane valentine wish to all is may the love of cupid strike your heart in all areas of your life. Enjoy the holiday and if you aren’t in the flow, at least you can drown your sorrows with chocolate.

Holiday season is here and this year the unemployment rate continues to remain in a reasonable range. Some would even claim our current rate represents full employment.

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) continue to see a demand for talent, however we still are witness to many professionals experiencing underemployment especially in the information technology skill set.

When I have discussions with the underemployed they really are not in a holiday spirit of thanks. Many have a bitter streak that they have been short change by their past employer. My heart bleeds for this underemployed group because most are really hard working, honest, reliable and conscientious people. So is there a common theme to becoming underemployed? Is it possible for one to make underemployment, preventable?

As I try to look at this from a logical non-emotional perspective the answer is that the underemployed person’s wage level becomes unique to the employer. And when this person attempts because of layoff to transfer their skills, the true wage value is too closely tied to their current employer. Sometime changes in the market place like off shoring or out-sourcing will change the dollar value of the skill set. But for the most part a person with a long history with one employer is rewarded with higher pay during their tenure and these higher wages are not always portable.

If I look closely at these natural economic forces this employment selective process is a free market force that ultimately helps make our economy stronger. But for those that must retool, re learn and start anew it is a very challenging often hearth wrenching experience.

With 2007 on the horizon and NJ employers looking to selectively add to staff. I am afraid that wage wrenching will continue in many disciplines with a select few areas experiencing a war for talent. The $64,000 dollar question is “how do I position my skill set to be involved in this competitive war.

I am about to leave for the National Association of Personnel Services (http://www.recruitinglife.com/) annual convention. Attendance is almost sold-out and will be at least 650 plus leaders representing the recruiting and staffing industry.

The staffing industry in my opinion is one of the leading indicators of job creation in this country along the help wanted index. When employment of recruiters rises the general market is usually directly following. From these announced large attendance numbers it appears that the immediate future for employment prospecting will continue to improve. So those of you who are jobbing these numbers would suggest a goodtime ahead. As for employers it appears the competition for talent will only be getting more competitive.

As for the Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com/) micro barometer employment index we are seeing a shifting job growth towards the contractor/ temporary segments. I am not sure of the reasons? Depleted headcount budgets, lack of confidence, project work staffing, budget restrictions, capitalization or just flexible staffing strategies. But the bottom line is that we’ve experienced a dramatic upswing in temporary/contract hiring across several disciplines in September.

As for direct hire clients’ staffing requirements continue at a consistent rate. However; increasing growth of opportunities in niches with an increasing talent shortage include junior accountants, all junior – midlevel financial personnel, midlevel and senior JSP, NET, C#, database developers, technical sales and compensation analysts. This personnel shortage is creating a inflated sense of job openings since our experience here at BLK is at least 3 advertised openings for each available job candidate.

So my ramblings bring again to a prediction of flat unemployment with positive job growth numbers for the near future with increasing talent wars in the above competitive niches. As for the increase in temporary opportunities Q1 07 will determine if this is a year end patch or a new employment trend. So, I guess I am still guessing and after 30 years and I still know nothing.

We are Berman Larson Kane https://www.jobsbl.com experienced a decrease in new search assignments over the past two weeks. As these hot days of summer slow everything down the pace of job creation appears to be joining the weather, slowing down with the heat.

The Labor Department said US employers added just 113,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls during July, in the fourth straight month of weak gains in hiring. Job creation in prior months was revised upward but remained tepid. Payrolls grew by just 124,000 jobs in June and 100,000 in May; earlier estimates pegged the increases at 121,000 and 92,000, respectively. Other jobs indicators showed weakness, too. The unemployment rate, which the Labor Department tabulates from a poll of households separate from the sampling of large employers used to calculate payrolls, jumped to 4.8% from 4.6%. While a 4.8% jobless rate is low in historical terms, the rise was jarring all the same, as it was the largest upward move in the rate since October 2001.

However we at Berman Larson Kane remain optimistic for job creation for the remainder of the year. Several of our clients are experiencing double digit order growth and plan to add additional staff during the 4th quarter. We are also looking at an increase in contract and temp assignments which usually points to a raise in direct hires on the horizon.

So if you are looking for employment our prediction is that road ahead will continue to ease the journey. Careers in Accounting and Finance remain hot, Information Technologies continues to improve, Human Resource remains steady and the need for additional and better sales professional is a constant.

With the announcement on Friday that the US economy has created about 121,000 jobs during the month of June and that unemployment rate has remained unmoved.

We here at Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com) are experiencing a rate of new orders, search assignments and contractor assignments that would confirm that this rate is close to reality. This is unusual since as you can see from prior postings we are usually either experiencing a more rapid rate of growth or slower than the government reports. However, I must say I was freaked by the ADP prediction of 345,000 new jobs…. since a high number like this would of put us here at Berman Larson Kane way behind the curve in our sales forecasts.

As for the mix of jobs and skills hiring our human resource staffing has increased both on the contract and direct hire sides, information technology continues to increase off the lows of prior years…with a return to all types of hiring including developers in the web arena…..a skill shortage remains in the accounting and finance area with competition for 1-5 year talent continuing to heat up…..other areas such as office support remain steady.

As for the remainder of the year…..we at Berman Larson Kane continue to be optimistic about job prospects as our clients continue to add back to staffing levels not seen for several years. May the placement gods be with you….

Well the DOL has confirmed our reading here at Berman Larson Kane https://www.jobsbl.com. The economy continues to create new opportunities across many sectors.

With over 200,000 new jobs created in March we remain optimistic, as we approach full employment. Although I know of many individuals that remain under-employed. Job prospects continue to improve each month.

We are finding an increasing percentage of job seekers with multiply offers with upward moving wages.

However, as we approach April 15th we here at Berman Larson Kane have seen a slight decease in job requisitions from 1st quarter highs. But are still experiencing a good percentage increase over April 2005.

Predicting the future trend? We continue to remain positive that the market will continue to increase at least through the remainder of Q2. The one wild card in all of this continues to be the price of oil.

And for those considering a career choice, junior accounting and finance jobs are very very competitive. This is one vertical that is experiencing a real talent war. Let the games begin!

March is the season for College basketball playoffs and this year it is another month of job madness. We here at Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com/) continue to see a dramatic increase in the number of our clients that are hiring at a March Madness pace. This fast pace hiring was supported recently by the Department of Labors job creation numbers.

Hot areas include technology/finance/sales and a leading indicator that always suggests future hires is the increased need for recruiters. Competition for these skill sets is creating a war for talent with many job seekers having multi job offers from numerous employers. Another interesting trend is that the technology survivors of the dot.com era have seen a recent business surge creating a need to hire rapidly to increase/maintain their market share. The recent stigma of working for a dot.com has reverse itself back to being an employer of choice amongst some young technology professionals. We are all so lucky that our memories are so short!

As a staffing company we at Berman Larson Kane predict a continuing competition for talent. If these needs continue to accelerate we might even see employers willing to train US job seekers in needed skills. One word of caution, the wild card in this March Hiring Madness is the price of oil/bird flu and the always impending treat of terrorism. As for now job seekers should enjoy the competition on and off the court.

P.S. We are in day two and I am already out of the Basketball Pool because of putting my faith in our New Jersey/New York Colleges. Well we still have the best employment pool in the world…..Enjoy the bouncing ball and may your hoop dreams all come true.

And who will write tomorrows programs and administer tomorrow’s computer needs? Today’s NY Times reported that 1 in 75 students planned to major in computer science today, compared with 1 in 30 in the year 2000.

Why such a drop off in a career that the department of labor defines as one of the most rapidly growing fields during the next decade. How are we going to staff our corporate data centers if such a reduced number are planning to enter the profession. We at Berman Larson Kane (https://www.jobsbl.com) have been staffing data centers and software developers for 25 plus years. The field has experience some severe recent declines after Y2K (non-event), the dot.com (bubble burst) & 911 (effects on employment). But the outlook today is that more IT professionals are employed in the field then during the height of the dot.com explosion. So what is going on? Why are so few entering the field?
I am very interested in hearing from any students or future students why they are passing on this wonderful fulfilling profession. Is it the dollars? Job prospects? Quality of Work? Software Developers type-casting? Looking forward to your responses. If you would like to respond in confidence my email address is larson@jobsbl.com

Ford, General Motors and Kraft have announced massive layoffs. Will this be the trend for 2006? We at Berman Larson Kane https://www.jobsbl.com are still predicting strong job growth for the reminder of the year. But this certainly puts a damper on our most optimistic projections.

In my attempt not to over react to these announcements. Although 10 –25% reductions are big numbers of layoffs since these firms all employ a 100,0000 plus. I am comforted by the fact that most of the job creation in this country over the past decade has come from small to mid-size employers.

My concern is will the economy be able to absorb these laid-off workers in a timely matter? I assume many of the autoworkers will need to be re-trained to secure wages at current rates. And the psychological stress that these workers will undergo has not one redeeming quality.

So where are my rambles leading me? 2006 should remain good for job creation. But the real growth will come from the small business that will continue to discover specialty niches in this changing economic climate.