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Tag: Unemployed

  • LinkedIn is Worried U.S. Workers Don’t Have The Skills For Available Jobs

    LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner gave a speech at the recent Bay Area Council 2012 Outlook Conference, where he outlined his suggestions for solving a different kind of unemployment crisis: the gap between worker skills and the skills needed for those few jobs that are available. The theme of the conference was “The Next Human Leap,” and Weiner made the point that in making the next leap, we, as a whole, don’t want to leap so far that humans can’t keep up. Weiner points out that that although the unemployment rate sits at around 8.2%, there are 3.5 million available jobs in the U.S.

    “I would posit that at least one major driving factor here is…the pace with which technology and innovation is now accelerating,” said Weiner. “We are outstripping our ability to educate and train the existing workforce.”

    The Bay Area Council is business-sponsored public policy advocacy organization based in the San Francisco Bay area. The group holds the yearly Outlook Conference that highlights future economic and political trends. This year’s conference featured speeches by former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

    Mario Sundar, senior social media manager and the chief blogger for LinkedIn, outlined the main points of Weiner’s speech in a post on the LinkedIn blog. Weiner has a three-pronged solution to ensure that jobs requiring a high level of skill can be filled. First, improving the U.S. education system. Second, make it easier for highly skilled workers to emigrate to the U.S. and fill jobs. Lastly, greater investment in the country’s digital infrastructure.

    Sounds easy, right? Improving education and investing in infrastructure are causes nearly everyone can get behind, yet are much easier said than done. Has Weiner actually come up with workable solutions? Watch Weiner’s entire speech below and decide for yourself. Then, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

  • RiseSmart Brings Unemployed March Madness

    RiseSmart Brings Unemployed March Madness

    RiseSmart, a trusted outplacement provider for professionals in search of employment, has provided a way to stay connected to the workplace even when you aren’t part of it. With March madness underway some job hunters might be missing the traditional water cooler slander from their basketball pool rivals. RiseSmart has a way to get these people connected and into the game again.

    The RiseSmart Challenge is online version of the office pool and helps keep job hunters excited, active, and engaged in office life in order to keep them ripe for rejoining the workforce.

    Sanjay Sathe, founder and CEO of RiseSmart comments on the importance of keeping job seekers positive:

    “In our five years of helping put Americans back to work, we’ve found that the unemployed find work faster when they treat their job search with a sense of adventure and fun. We try to create an atmosphere that encourages this positive approach. The RiseSmart Challenge is a fun way to lift the spirits of workers in transition and energize them for the real challenge ahead – reentering the workforce.”

    The isolation of spending long hours on the job search with very little feedback or encouragement can be draining and darn-right frustrating. I think this is a great way to keep job hunter’s spirits up and get them engaged in something traditionally reserved for office life. This service could be a real asset to some.

    Sathe comments on the new RiseSmart Challenge:

    “March Madness marks an exciting time in which offices are abuzz with colleagues engaged in heated water-cooler debates over who will make the Final Four and be crowned champion,”

    “We wanted to offer those in the Transition Concierge program the chance to experience this same sense of fun even while they are between jobs. So we created the RiseSmart Challenge.”

    So if you’re in between jobs and want to stay connected to buzz of the Final Four and the pulse of the office, checkout the Challenge. It could be just the outlet you need to get reinvigorated.

  • Obama offers To Forward Resume` of Out-of-Work Engineer

    5:30 Monday evening saw the first Google+ hangout for the President. Many people had several inquiries for the leader of the free world. Fort Worth, Texas resident Jennifer Weddel was one of the participants int the live video conference. She told the President that her husband had been laid off for over 2 years and has not been able to find steady work as an engineer since. According to a source, Obama then proceeded to tell the woman:

    “Well Jennifer, I don’t know your husband’s specialty, but I can tell you that there’s a huge demand around the country for engineers, demand is especially high for specialized engineers in the high-tech industry.”

    He continued:

    “If your husband’s in that field, then we should get his resume and I’ll forward it to some of these companies that are telling me they can’t find enough engineers”

    After that he stated that he insisted that she send him her husbands resume` stating that:

    “I meant what I said.”

    Weddel commented saying:

    “I appreciate your response Mr. President, I’ll have to take you up on that.”