Snowbound continues and February will be only one day old greeting us with the next snow / ice dump.  How do you keep up your spirits, as the weather continues to chill us all? 

Well in a few days pitchers and catchers report to spring training in the warmth of Florida and Arizona.  Spring is on the horizon for all of us and hopefully so is the job recovery.  And I believe that even before the warm weather arrives that job growth will increase into positive territory.

Those who have been unemployed are very anxious to see a thaw in the employment chill.  We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) continue to be optimistic about job creation during 2011.  Although I must admit the January job launch has been slower than I predicted.  We are seeing the hiring process stretched over additional weeks because of cancellation due to the weather here on the east coast.  This hopefully will snowball (bad pun) into amazing job creation numbers for February / March.  I am positive by April hiring will reach a panic as certain skill sets become scarce.

As for now those of us who are lucky enough to be employed might consider seeing the movie “Company Men”. This film is a reality check of how thin the line is from employed to unemployed and how effects every aspect of your life.

For the 17 million who continue to seek meaningful employment I wish you all the best and hopefully better times are ahead. 

During this Thanksgiving Holiday let us remember the 17 – 20 million good folks who continue to be adversely affected by our high unemployment numbers.

Over the past several years the personal painful histories that I have witnessed, due to no job or meaningful work, continues to be heart wrenching for all of us in the employment profession.

As president of our organization I assure you that we will continue our free community out-reach programs to assist all “job-seekers” with their efforts to gain solid employment. Since beginning this program 24 months ago over 35,000 individuals have participated. My wish is by Thanksgiving 2011 our webinar attendance will decrease to zero.

During this week of thanks, I encourage each of you as professionals to lend a hand, take a phone call, review a resume, coach an interview or pass on some advice to a challenged “job-seeker”. 

We at Berman Larson Kane continue to thank each of you for your business support during our thirty-one year history.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and take a moment to please be thankful for your job and remember those who continue to seek employment.

Sincerely,

Bob Larson, CPC

The 4^th Quarter of 2010 is upon us and the unemployment rate remains at or near all time highs.  Economists tell us the recession is over, corporate earnings continue to rise and the political mood of the country is uncertain.  Even with all of this mixed negativity I continue to see signs of major employment improvements on the horizon.

Some positive signs:

1 – Employment jobs wanted advertisements continue to increase. Pointing to the fact that companies are aware that they are approaching stress levels and will need to add staff if they want to continue to service their client base and continue to grow.

2 – The temporary employment index continues to add additional payroll numbers pointing to a resumption of direct hiring.  I am surprised this has not already happen…but I am optimistic for the immediate future.

3 – Hiring companies are beginning to realize that a person who has the skills of at least 2-3 former employees is a dream and not a reality.

4 – At BLK (www.jobsbl.com) we continue to see the number of jobseekers landing multiple interviews and some fortunate ones multiple job offers.

5 – We are witnessing a small growth in new business development from new clients who are having challenges servicing their openings from the job boards.

6 – Established long-term clients are slowly increasing the number of requirements in comparison to 09.  We are seeing this increase across different specialties with a special concentrated growth in Information Technologies.

7 – Once the Federal releases QE2 money will flow and companies will need to expand rapidly.

However although this movement appears positive for some; we have a long hard road to restore the employment opportunities to the 17 million that are counted amongst the unemployed, underemployed and the new workers that enter the job marker every month.

We at Berman Larson Kane continue to do our best attempting to assist all of the job seekers in need.  But this employment challenge is larger then any one person, firm, specialty, and political party can handle.  Beside these small improvements I remain confident in the belief that this too shall pass.  I have been in this field for over 35 years and it always comes back to a labor shortage!

Labor Day is only a few days away.  Will the economy celebrate this important holiday by creating work for the millions who seek it?  All the economic reports predict flat to slight growth during the remainder of 2010 with concerns for a double dip recession.  We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) have fair amount optimism for job creation in our small universe.

Some signs that growth might not be as dismal as the economist are forecasting:

-Many of our long established clients are planning to add to staff after the Labor Day holiday.

            -We are experiencing an increase in our temporary and contract employee’s conversions to direct hire status.

            -Our new client’s numbers continue to grow during the summer months.

            -New job orders held steady during July & August.  Our usual experience is a decrease of hiring during summer months.

            -We are finding many job candidates are being offered several positions during their job-hunting cycle. The cycle however continues to be exceptionally long.

            -A recent staffing industry meeting that I attended the consensus seem to have a few hints of optimism for the remainder of the year and beyond.

            -Our job-seeker webinar series (https://jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php)

Attendance has decrease in recent months.  This is a good thing for nothing would make us happier here at BLK than for the need for this service to cease.

So as the summer comes to a close and the vacation cycle spins down.  We are looking forward to hiring increasing and job opportunities being more plentiful.  However we still have a long way to go before all those that want a job can land one.

I continue to thank our loyal clients and job seekers for their support and we at Berman Larson Kane will continue to offer the “Best Staffing Options”.

We have experienced the hottest July since 1999 with record number days above 90 degrees.  As for the job market the pattern is lazy and hazy through the first half of the summer.  The good news about this is the heat has prevented any severe action on the downside but has also not sparked any direction on the upside of hiring.

So good news the job market is remaining on an even keel and not losing any additions jobs.  But the bad news we are not seeing any swings in the job creation number.  Hazy Lazy and “Flat” are the words that best describe the summer months for hiring.

As we look out to labor day and beyond, a recent article showed that over fifty percent of corporations are planning to add to staff before the end of 2010.  This is such welcoming news and I hope the sincere responses to the survey will unfold into action beginning in September.  These responses make sense as earnings continue to improve, corporate technology upgrades are being implemented and many durable goods are beginning to show a need for replacement.  All three of these events will need additional workers to meet demand.

The wild cards that could greatly hinder this positive prediction remain the euro, consumer confidence and no more surprises from our financial markets.  And if the federal government was to introduce additional stimulus we might even see extreme positive job creation numbers.

As for our little universe here at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) we continue to thank our loyal clients for putting their confidence in our services, we thank the job-seekers who land positions with our clients and the great team we have working here that are able to make these fantastic matches everyday.

As the fall approaches and temperatures drop…we will see the job market begin to heat up.  The hotter the job markets the better for all.  I can’t wait to feel the heat J.

Although the job market continues to improve the number of unemployed remains at historical highs.  Will we be celebrating in July the new job number releases?  I would think not.

Our Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) tiny universe is seeing a continuous increase in both temporary and direct hire orders the past 4 months.  This has been really good for a select group of job-seekers and has propelled us to a wonderful quarter.  But from talking with many hiring authorities hiring is remaining soft and selective.  Many companies are not ready to make long-term commitments in staffing.  Productivity numbers continue to improve and I believe many companies will ride this wave for the immediate future.

So my prediction for the summer months are NO Hiring Fireworks, but selective pockets and skill sets will continue to see improvements. 

Our BLK micro world is seeing an increase in IT hiring across many skill sets, a steady increase in technical sales opportunities, a small increase in HR positions, a select amount of hiring in the financial area and a sideways movement in Pharma positions.

So if you are job-seeker better days are on the horizon.  And if you land a new job launch some firecrackers so the rest of us can enjoy the belief that our job is on the horizon.  Your sparks will hopefully ignite some major hiring fireworks in the near future.

Special thanks to our BLK clients who have help us achieve a record quarter.  Your confidence in our services is so greatly appreciated and as president of Berman Larson Kane I pledge that we will continue attempts to exceed your expectations.

For those in transition we will continue offering our FREE Job-Seeker webinars until you all become webinar dropouts because you have landed a great job.  You can read what others have said about our most recent webinar by visiting https://jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/testimonials.php?id=59  Stay well…Bob Larson, CPC

The pruning that corporate America has performed over the past 2 – 3 years, shedding jobs has helped them return to positive earnings.  As these wonderful earning reports continue to flow into the markets will the next wave of growth demand additional staffing?

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) continue to see an increase in both temporary and direct hire requirements.  And this increase is significant over 2009 numbers, with increases of over 25% in all areas.  This is welcoming news!

However, those that have been out of work for more then 30 or more weeks continue to struggle to locate new employment opportunities.  Does this signify a changed skill demand for the new jobs that are being created? I am not sure.  We do see strong activity and new skills in “new media companies” as advertising dollars are being dispersed over more venues. 

As for traditional employment and skills, I believe that companies are beginning to hit a stress level that their current work force is incapable of maintaining at efficient levels.  As the prospect of losing the ability to expand, because of too small labor force, hiring will at some point pick-up to a brisk pace.  When this happens it is anyone’s guess, but for the immediate future we at Berman Larson Kane are planning for hiring to continue to show positive trends over the next 4-5 months.

In the interim, if you are still unemployed these positive trends will hopefully begin to at least produce additional activity in your job search.  A quote from one of our clients sort of quantifies the upturn “we have experienced potential hires being on additional interviews with competitors so we need to speed up our hiring cycle to land the good talent that is on the market.  We do not see this talent pool being available forever”

Less hope this client has identified a shift in hiring attitudes.  As for now good luck with your job search and we thank all those that have participated in our FREE job-seeker webinars for you positive feedback.  It makes our mission here at Berman Larson Kane so much more rewarding.

The wild card in this recover for the moment is the EURO and its possible negative effect on the world economy.

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) have experienced an increase in new requirements for direct hires over the past 6 weeks.  Although these numbers are low compared to 2004 highs they have a significant increase over 2009, a welcoming sign in the right direction J.

As the department of labor reports March 2010 was the first month in along time with an uptick in the job creation numbers.  Another sign that things are getting better.  And if you remove the seasonal census workers the numbers are still close to 100,000 private sector jobs, another impressive step J

As I look out on the horizon it appears that the rapid shedding of jobs has ceased.  New jobs are being selectively created as companies look to expand business and find that their current workforce is at their stress limits.  Corporate earnings have been impressive pushing the Dow above 11,000, however it appears that corporations will need to increase headcount to continue sales and earnings growth.

But, we still have a long way and need allot of momentum to begin to make a dent in the 8 million plus jobs that were eliminated during the past 24 months.  We especially feel the pain of those that have been on unemployment for 6 months plus, as they are financially, intellectually and confidence level strained.

My predictions are for a steady job growth for the remainder of the year, but hoping for rapid expansion and job growth numbers in the 300,000 plus range in the near future.

Having been in the employment business for over 35 years I have never seen such talent struggle to secure meaningful employment.  Our Free BLK Job-Seeker webinar series https://www.jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php  continue to help all of those in transition and we thank all of you for attending and appreciate your comments as so many of you have become successful webinar dropouts because you are landing jobs. 

Stay well everyone the sun is peaking through the clouds.