Bright FuturaInternships After Graduation?
Posted on July 18, 2012
Graduation is a very major milestone in everyone’s lifetime. After years of continuous studies, quizzes, assignments, and tests, you are finally free to take your first steps in your professional life. However, that is a major test in itself nowadays. With the economic downturn, finding a good job is nearly impossible because of the number of applicants jumping at every good opportunity. What you can do to improve your odds however is apply for part time jobs or through the various recruitment services available online such as: http://www.inspiringinterns.com/
Who says internships are only meant for students?
Students and fresh graduates both can apply for internships and use them to gain access to the organizations where they want to get full time jobs.
They are an excellent method to test careers and employers and to enhance your network. They might even give you access to better positions, as opposed to entry-level jobs.
Good full time jobs are very difficult to come by if you don’t have some experience written on your resume. However, with internships or temporary placements such as a part time job, you might just find the kind of job you were looking for. Once you have access into an organization, you can easily network
Network. Network. Network.
All you need are good interpersonal skills and a professional attitude. Internships are specially useful to get the feel for an organization and gain entry there. Once you’re in, you’re in. Most organizations put together a resource pool of interns that they can hire later on as full time employees. That, combined with a strong network within the company is all you need to find yourself a decent full-time position.
According to surveys by several educational and human capital development institutes, employers usually hire most of their interns for full time positions. Internships are low risk scenarios where the intern gets to know the organization and how it works, while they get to see the candidate in action. This gives them a much better understanding of how they will perform in a proper job. This makes internships excellent tools for both entities to see how well they fit together.
Whether you go for an unpaid or paid internship, both are pretty good investments of your time as long as you have done your homework about the organization. Just make sure you use that time to make a permanent place in the organization for yourself.
Once you’re through the internship term, you won’t necessarily get a full time position there right then. However, you will still gain some experience and learn some new skills. You will also be able to add a few stars to your resume and hence, will improve your chances of getting a good job at other firms. Moreover, if you have networked properly during the internship, you should have a decent network of contacts that you can utilize for career advice and referrals.
Regardless of all this, you have to tell the company what you want. Until they know that you are interested in a full time position there, they won’t be sure about it. Why wait for them to decide to hire you? Once you’re through half of your internship term, communicate your interest to your boss and ask them what the proper steps would be to apply for a certain department. If done properly, this should give you the entry-point you wanted.
5 Useless College Majors: According To Yahoo
Posted on May 19, 2012
If you’re considering going back to school in hopes that you’ll graduate to more opportunities, there are certain degrees that you might want to avoid.
Consider the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) 2012 Job Outlook study, which surveyed almost 1,000 employers on their future hiring plans. Many areas of study, such as fashion design and the performing arts, didn’t even make the list.
Number of Students Awarded Degree in 2008-2009: 24,988
Typical coursework:
- Crops
- Plant diseases
- Animal husbandry
- Basic veterinary science
When schools such as the University of Idaho cut their agriculture programs, you know times are tough for this degree. The state has more than 25,000 farms, for cow’s sake, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture census, in 2007.
Still, if your idea of a good day is getting up with the sun and working till it sets as an agricultural manager, a degree in agriculture might be your calling.
Just don’t expect farms and ranches to be calling you, says Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., and author of “The 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality.” “It’s true that farms are becoming more efficient now and so there is less of a need for farm managers,” he says. That means less jobs. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor projects 64,000 fewer jobs in this field over the next seven years.
Total Number of Agricultural Managers in 2008: 1,234,000
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: -64,600
^ You’ll be poor, but at least you’ll look good.
Number of Students Awarded Degree in 2008-2009: 89,140
Typical coursework:
- Fashion history
- Sewing
- Tailoring
- Coloring
- Design
- Pattern making
The world of high fashion is glamorous, exciting, and, unfortunately, highly exclusive and competitive.
“Fashion never dies out, never ends, and even though everything gets made overseas now, there’s always a need for designers. But it’s incredibly competitive. It’s one you really have to establish yourself in,” Shatkin says.
And those glamour positions are expected to be the ones with the fewest opportunities among an already small field, says the U.S. Department of Labor. Because it’s so tough, Shatkin suggests that getting a practical minor with this degree is very smart.
Total Number of Fashion Designers in 2008: 22,700
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: +200
Number of Students Awarded Degree in 2008-2009: 89,140
Typical coursework:
- Theater
- Acting
- Directing
- Design
- Play-writing
- Communications
- Dramatic literature
Here’s the good news: Sign up for theater as a major and at least you’ll be really good at acting like you have a job.
Here’s the bad news: Actors endure long periods of unemployment and frequent rejection, says the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department goes on to say that because earnings are erratic for actors, producers, and directors, many hold second jobs. In other words, how do you feel about waiting tables?
Of course, says Shatkin, “People go into this with such a love for it you can’t stop them.”
Total Number of Actors/Producers/Directors in 2008: 155,100
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: +16,900
Related: Do College Freshmen Feel Academically Prepared?
Related: The Dwindling Power of a College Degree
Number of Students Awarded Degree in 2008-2009: 80,756
Typical coursework:
- Animal breeding
- Reproductive physiology
- Nutrition
- Meat and muscle biology
Here’s another degree aimed at a career that at first glance doesn’t look all that discouraging. After all, animal scientist employment is projected by the U.S. Department of Labor to grow 13 percent from 2008 to 2018.
But crunch a few more numbers and you quickly realize that you could be in for stiff competition to grab a piece of that pie.
Fewer than 5,000 animal scientist jobs are projected to exist in the field by 2018.
The problem, says Shatkin, is the degree is so specific that trying to apply it to anything else means a tough time convincing people it gives you any useful skills for jobs outside animal science jobs.
Total Number of Animal Scientists in 2008: 3,700
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: +500
Number of Students Awarded Degree in 2008-2009: 24,988
Typical coursework:
- Crops
- Plant diseases
- Agricultural business and economics
- Crop and fruit science
If you like the farm life but aren’t all that keen on all the whining and clucking of an animal farm, perhaps a degree in horticulture is growing on you.
Unfortunately, the number of jobs in the field itself is not growing, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And Shatkin agrees. “Better than agriculture, but not by much. If you’re lucky, you may find some way to apply that to a related business like food processing or production,” he says.
Total Number of Farmers and Ranchers in 2008: 985,900
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: -79,200
Though these jobs may come off as seemingly unfruitful for some, be sure that with ANY profession or ANY major there is SOMEONE making money in it. So follow your dreams and live out your degree.
Written Terence Loose via Yahoo
Posted by: Maximillian Garland| Bright Futura Columnist
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Don’t Be Stewpid: Professional Proofreading By Kibin
Posted on May 1, 2012
Your terms paper is due on Thursday and guess what it’s worth 50% of your grade. My guess is that you probably want to get that baby proofread. You can ask Larry, your roommate who has been going on a 2 week Minecraft binge OR you can get it proofread by some pros!
Ultimately, it is your choice. If you think Larry the roommate can handle it than be my guest. I personally would prefer using Kibin, especially if the university writing center has an extremely long wait list.
Kibin use to be an editing community where volunteer editors proofread and offered unbiased feedback for free. However, lately they have been getting a lot of press and they have begun to charge.
Kibin’s current rates
The service is really easy to use.
Just upload your (doc, rtf, or txt) file and in the time you’ve specified (24,48,72 hrs) you’ll get your paper returned with edits/comments in the Kibin dashboard.
If you’re in a hurry and need a guarantee that your editing will be done in 24 hours, you can opt to pay the $0.01 per word, but otherwise the service is free.
What does the essay look like when they return it to me?
Interested in editing for Kibin? Ask if they are hiring @kibin
Kibin’s guarantee
“If you ever feel like your paper did not receive the editing or attention it deserves, please contact us immediately. We promise to make it right whether that is refunding your payment, point balance, or having it edited again without charge.” – Kibin website
Related: How To Literally use Literally by the Oatmeal
Related: Play on Facebook with Maximum Stealth
Reason you should always have someone proofread your work
Maximillian Garland: Bright Futura
8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees by Inc.com
Posted on April 12, 2012
Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers… they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.
A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance.
Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:
1. They ignore job descriptions.
The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.
When a key customer’s project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there’s a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it’s not their job.
2. They’re eccentric…
The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.
People who aren’t afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.
Related: Why Employeers Are Unsatisfied With College Grads
Related: Top 25 Oddest Job Interview Questions Asked in 2011
3. But they know when to dial it back.
An unusual personality is a lot of fun… until it isn’t. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.
Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It’s a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.
4. They publicly praise…
Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person.
Remarkable employees recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.
5. And they privately complain.
We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.
Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.
Related: Why Employeers Are Unsatisfied With College Grads
Related: Top 25 Oddest Job Interview Questions Asked in 2011
6. They speak when others won’t.
Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.
An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, “Why did you ask about that? You already know what’s going on.” He said, “I do, but a lot of other people don’t, and they’re afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you.”
Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.
7. They like to prove others wrong.
Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn’t have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.
Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important, but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.
8. They’re always fiddling.
Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.
Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can’t help it.
Jeff Haden via Inc.com
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What Job Recruiters Look For On Your Facebook
Posted on April 5, 2012
If you are looking for a job, or have recently, it’s likely that you’ve utilized social media to search and apply for jobs. In addition to keeping in touch with friends, social media is a great way to sift through the various job listings and learn more about the companies you are interested in. In some instances, you can even use social media to submit your job application and resume.
However, has it ever occurred to you that employers are using the web to search for you? It’s true. There are a number of ways you can use this to your advantage and increase your chances of getting hired.
Social Networks Employers Use
Job recruiters scour social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to find candidates. If you apply for a job, it’s very likely that someone in human resources will be checking out your online presence. But before you run off and delete those spring break photos from your Facebook page, read on.
A recent survey by Reppler, an online presence monitoring service, found that employers tend to look at Facebook and Twitter the most of all social networking sites. What’s more, they visit these sites early in the vetting process.
Almost half of the recruiters said that they look at social networking sites after receiving the application while only 15% visit the sites after having a conversation with the applicant.
Reppler interprets this activity to mean that employers are using these sites to get an idea of who you are as a person.
What Recruiters Are Looking For
Generally speaking, recruiters and employers examine your personality traits and use what they learn about you to predict how well you will fit in to their organization, as well as how you will perform your job.
According to Reppler, 60% of recruiters have rejected a candidate because of what they learned about them online.
The main reason for rejection is if the applicant lies about their qualifications. Apparently, some candidates put one thing on their resume while their online profiles indicate something entirely different. This is a major resume mistake to avoid.
Related: Infographic Resume For The Creatively Impaired
Related: How To Craft The Perfect Modern Resume
Other reasons for rejection include:
- The candidate posts inappropriate photos. A photo of yourself with a glass of wine in your hand isn’t going to hurt you, but if you’re falling down drunk or are clearly using illegal drugs, then your image suffers.
- The candidate posts inappropriate comments. Avoid making statements that would be considered inappropriate in the workplace.
- The candidate posts negative comments about employers. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
- The candidate demonstrates poor communications skills. Employers are looking for people who can be understood in both verbal and written communication, so spelling and grammar count, even on social media sites.
Manage Your Online Presence
To ensure that you present yourself in the best possible way, public relations job recruiters suggest you do the following:
- Use Facebook privacy settings to control who can see posts on your page.
- Control the settings for what others can post on your Facebook wall. This prevents your wild friends from posting about your wild weekend.
- Make your Twitter account public so that it can be seen, but keep it professional.
- Make sure that information about you is consistent with what is on your resume.
- Google yourself occasionally to see what is out there about you.
How To Clean It Up
Take a look at all of your social media profiles as if you were a job recruiter.
What would you think of this person?
Would you hire him or her?
Maybe your posts are fine, but what about your friends? Are they posting inappropriate pictures and comments on your sites? You may have to change your settings or ask your friends to stop.
Social Job Hunting Apps
If you’re looking to be hired, there’s an app for that. Employers are beginning to use apps on their jobs sites to learn more about you during the application process. Some of the most popular apps are:
- Apply with LinkedIn. To use Apply with LinkedIn, simply click on the button to apply for the job using the information in your LinkedIn profile. When you do, you will see who in your network already works there.
- Pooldip. The Pooldip app allows companies to manage and hire their Facebook fans. Become a fan of the page of a company that you want to work for, and you then have the opportunity to transfer your professional information from your LinkedIn account. Your personal information and photos on Facebook will remain private and cannot be seen by the company.
- BeKnown. Once you install BeKnown to your Facebook page, the app will share with your connections the companies you worked at, schools you attended, and other professional information. You can also use the app to search and apply for jobs without leaving Facebook. BeKnown will help match you to jobs based on the information in your profile.
The Future of Hiring
It is predicted that companies will doing more screening and recruiting of job candidates on social media sites, so don’t be surprised if you’re expected to engage in a preliminary interview via an instant message chat on Facebook or Twitter. Because of this, we may see fewer career expos and job fairs where those in need of a job can meet with recruiters and shop resumes.
If you are seeking a job, you should also consider creating an online portfolio to showcase your work and accomplishments. Furthermore, artists and designers should consider joining a site like BigBlackBag.com or DeviantArt.com.
Final Word
Because social media recruiting offers so many advantages to both employers and job seekers, it’s here to stay. Even if you’re not looking for work now, you’ll be ahead of the game if you start monitoring your online presence and crafting your image to appeal to those for whom you would like to work in the future.
Have you found or applied for a job using a social media site or app? How was the experience?
via moneycrashers
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Why SoFi Might Change College Debt Forever
Posted on April 4, 2012
Can former students help solve the student loan crisis? That’s the reasoning behind a new loan initiative launched last year at Stanford University, one of the nation’s most elite and expensive colleges, where undergraduate tuition is now $40,050.
A handful of Stanford alumni created SoFi, a company that funds student loans with investments from alumni.
The company is based on the peer-to-peer lending model popularized by microfinance organizations and websites like Kickstarter.com.
SoFi grew out of a recognition that the student loan market is “unsustainable,” said SoFi CEO Mike Cagney in an interview with The Huffington Post. “You’ve got the government, the school, the students, and nobody is invested in another’s success … If you take the government out of the equation and introduce alumni, you create those connections and that investment.”
Related: 5 Reasons Student Loans Are Like An STD (VIDEO)
Related: How To Pay Off Your Student Loans Like A Boss
Student loan debt today totals more than $1 trillion, a 14-fold increase from 15 years ago. It dwarfs the amount of the nation’s credit card debt, which is just shy of $800 million. Those in the class of 2010 graduated with an average of more than $25,000 in student loan debt, according to the Project on Student Loan Debt. In 2009, nearly 9 percent of student loan holders defaulted on their government loans, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Last fall, SoFi piloted its loan product at Stanford’s graduate school of business (where tuition runs $108,000 for its two-year program); a hundred students borrowed a total of $2 million from 40 alumni investors.
Ben Kessler, 27, a second-year MBA student at Stanford, borrowed roughly $150,000 to finance his education. While the majority of his loans are through Citibank and the federal government, about $35,000 came from SoFi.
Through SoFi, students not only receive loans but are also introduced to participating alumni who serve as mentors.
For Kessler, that networking opportunity was one of the main attractions of the SoFi loan, whose 6.24 percent interest rate is comparable to those of his Citibank and government loans.
“I’ve sat down with three or four SoFi staff members [who] introduced me to a lot of different people in the alumni network, and to their own lenders and investors,” said Kessler in an interview with The Huffington Post.
Related: The 8 Stages of Staying Up All Night (College Humor)
The fact that alumni are funding some of his loans does not increase pressure to repay them, Kessler said. “I feel the same pressure to repay my Citibank loan as compared to my SoFi loan. But what I do feel is that there’s a relationship that stands to benefit if I do pay back the loan over time and if I do reach out and build a relationship with the people I’ve met through SoFi.”
“There’s no difference in what I stand to lose, but there’s a lot more to gain,” he added.
All the 100 Stanford MBA students who borrowed money from SoFi last year have kept up with their payments, Cagney said. That success, combined with eager alumni and enthusiastic investors, has enabled the company to expand. This year SoFi is planning to lend as much as $150 million to students at 40 schools, including some of country’s most elite institutions, such as Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Duke and Georgetown universities.
The SoFi model has not affected Stanford alumnis’ contributions to other scholarships and grants, said Cagney. He pointed out that none of the 40 Stanford alumni who funded SoFi loans changed their contributions to scholarship programs as a result of their investment. SoFi investors receive a 5 percent to 8 percent return on their loans and view it as a socially responsible investment, as opposed to a charitable donation, Cagney said.
Kessler is excited to put his SoFi contacts into action when he moves to the Midwest this summer. “I want to create a family business for my wife and future children to have as a stable source of cash flow and a stable source of income,” he said. “Growing up in southern Wisconsin, I saw a number of small business that were doing well and people had a nice lifestyle, and that appeals to me.”
via huffingtonpost
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Class of 2012: More jobs, bigger paychecks
Posted on April 3, 2012
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — This year’s college graduates are being offered more jobs and fatter paychecks.
Members of the Class of 2012 are being offered median starting salaries of $42,569 — up 4.5% from last year, a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows.
Meanwhile, they have more jobs to choose from. Employers expect to hire 10.2% more graduates this year than they did last year, according to NACE’s survey of 160 employers.
These employers have posted 15,767 job openings for college graduates this year — up about 10% from the 14,341 that were posted for the Class of 2011 and more than triple the mere 5,174 job postings for the Class of 2010.
But the competition is steep, with employers reporting that they have received nearly 33 applications for every job posting, up from 21 applications per posting last year.
The major in highest demand is engineering, with 69% of employers in that field saying they are hiring graduates. Business majors are next on the list, with 63% of employers hiring.
Accounting, Computer Science and Economics are also among the top five most-desired majors.
These are also the fields with the highest-paying jobs, according to a separate survey NACE conducted this year. Employers in each of these areas are paying median salaries above $40,000 to this year’s graduates.
Engineering jobs pay the most — with this year’s graduates starting at a median salary of $58,581, which is relatively unchanged from last year.
But even some of the jobs that don’t typically pay as well posted increases in salaries this year. Education-related salaries increased 4.5% to a median $37,423, while salaries in the communications field rose nearly 4% to $40,022
via Money.cnn
The 10 Best Cities for Young People to Find Jobs
Posted on March 19, 2012
By LEAH KONEN, The Fiscal Times
For recent college grads, the future may seem bleak. In 2010, employment among young adults was at the lowest rate since World War II. The average college graduate carries more than $25,000 in debt, and millions of them are trading sexy dreams of big city lofts and office happy hours for a not-so-sexy reality of cruising job sites on Mom and Dad’s couch.
If you’re a young person looking for a job, which cities are best? Though it varies from industry to industry, certain cities have shown markedly low unemployment for young people in recent years and have the companies and culture that makes them a hotspot for college grads. We looked at unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s 2010 population survey, the latest data available, for 25-34-year-olds, as well as 20-24-year-olds, in 116 of the country’s largest metro areas, to find the 10 best cities for young people to find jobs — and some of them might just surprise you.
10. San Antonio, TX
They say that everything’s bigger in Texas, and in San Antonio, the job market certainly is. The unemployment rate for the San-Antonio-New Braunfels area is just 6.6 percent, with the city at a low 7 percent. The Milken Institute recently named San Antonio the nation’s best-performing city in its ranking of 200 metro areas, thanks in part to extensive oil drilling projects in Eagle Ford Shale — which in 2010, generated 6,800 full-time jobs and $311 million in salaries and benefits, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. This month, Boeing also announced a plan to move aircraft and maintenance work from Wichita to San Antonio in 2013.
9. Portland, OR
All you have to do to see that Portland is hip is turn on the TV — IFC’s recent hit, Portlandia, paints the city as a haven for hipsters, artists and creatives.
Startups are booming here — Fast Company named the “Silicon Forest” as one of the best places to launch a startup in 2010, and the city itself is a trusty friend to startups, giving them city-sponsored events, like the Portland Incubator Experiments, to help draw investors. We’re not surprised that this hip city added 12,000 jobs from November 2010 to November 2011 and has an unemployment rate of just 6.5 percent for 25-34-year-olds.
8. Honolulu, HI
(editors note: HECK YES!)
It seems that Honolulu is home to much more than just beaches and hula skirts. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, visitor spending rose 15.6 percent to 1.1 billion in October, which is good news for Hawaii’s largest city and state capital, home to top companies like Hawaiian Airlines and the University of Hawaii. The unemployment rate for 25-34-year-olds is just over 6 percent, and at 9.3 percent for 20-24-year-olds, it’s the 9th best city for that category, as well.
7. New Orleans, LA
Post-Katrina, the “Big Easy” has built an impressive hub for jobs, with the unemployment rate at just 5.5 percent in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area and just 5.9 percent in the city itself. Private companies like Tulane University and Pan-American Life Insurance help keep the economy going, but it’s the city’s tourist appeal that really brings jobs.
<Yes, the tourist appeal
In 2010, New Orleans hosted 8.3 million visitors, the most since the flooding. And the recent return of three major cruise ships promises to keep business afloat. The city added 9,000 new jobs in 2011, and major retailers like Walmart and Costco are planning to open new locations there in 2012.
6. San Francisco, CA
When you think of cities popular for young people, San Francisco of course comes to mind. A cornerstone of startup culture, the city is the birthplace of tech favorites like Twitter, Yelp, Dropbox, Wikipedia, and StumbleUpon, and added 18,000 jobs between November 2010 and November 2011.
Plus, a new program, the Civic Startup Accelerator is working to pair top startup companies with City Hall to get new and innovative technology worked into the government sector — and famed angel investor Ron Conway has already agreed to advise the program. It’s no surprise that the unemployment for San Francisco County is 5.4 percent for 25-34-year-olds.
5. Washington, D.C.
(Editor’s Note: Home)
It’s no surprise that the nation’s capital is an epicenter for jobs. Between government, tourism, finance and lobbying, there’s no shortage of industries. But much of the growth is happening in the private sector — the Washington Post’s annual list of top companies in the area, the Post 200, is dominated by defense companies, government contractors, information organizations, hotel companies and financial firms, with names like Geico and Hilton Worldwide topping the list. These firms and others give the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area an unemployment rate of just 5.4 percent for 25-34-year-olds.
4. Boston, MA
This historic haven is also a haven for jobs, with the unemployment rate at a cool 4.8 percent in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area and just 5 percent in the city proper. With Harvard, one of the nation’s top universities, employing about 18,000 people in the area, it’s no surprise, but there are plenty of businesses booming from technology, like iRobot, a robotics company most famous for Roomba, to the environment — Clean Harbors, Inc. was ranked by the Boston Globe as a top company — it was instrumental in containing the BP oil spill. The area added over 50,000 jobs in 2011, and the passage of a new casino bill promises to bring even more jobs to the area.
3. Fort Worth, TX
Dallas’s neighbor has a seriously sunny economic disposition, with an impressive 4.7 percent unemployment rate for 25-34-year-olds in the city and 5.1 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. In 2011, the area added over 57,000 jobs and in 2009, Site Selection magazine named Dallas-Fort Worth the country’s third most active market for corporate relocations. The area is home to the corporate headquarters of a number of household names, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Radio Shack, Pier 1 Imports, and Motorola. Of course, it’s also home to American Airlines, which declared bankruptcy in November.
2. Tulsa, OK
It looks like this famed oil capital is continuing to see prosperity. Tulsa beat the national average by nearly 6 points, clocking in at just 4.5 percent unemployment for 25-34-year-olds — and just 6.2 percent in the greater area. Privately-funded local initiatives have helped put this city at the top. The city added over 10,000 jobs in 2011, landing itself on our recent list of 10 Best Cities to Find a Job, and more than 4,000 of those jobs pay an annual income of $50,000 or more, according to the Tulsa Metro Chamber. Add to that extremely low overhead. Due to low rent, energy costs, and taxes, the city is attractive to businesses in aerospace, energy and health care.
and number one is……..
1. Jacksonville, FL
This military-centric North Florida city might not be the first one that springs to mind, but its low unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in the city and 3.2 percent in the greater area for 25-34-year-olds makes it a clear winner (that’s more than 7 percent below the national rate of 9.4 percent for that age group). The city also had the eighth lowest unemployment for 20-24 year-olds (8.3 percent). Why so many jobs? Three naval air stations supply a steady number of noncivilian jobs, which trickles down to the rest of the community. Plus, the city is home to the largest Toyota distributor in the U.S., and has even seen a recent renaissance in filmmaking, satisfying those creative types.
LEAH KONEN via The Fiscal Times
Posted by Leon Langford| Bright Futura Columnist
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Want to Be Unemployed? Get This College Degree
Posted on March 19, 2012
By BLAIRE BRIODY, The Fiscal Times
What’s the degree with the highest post-graduate unemployment? It’s not English (editor’s note: I majored in English!) or philosophy,
Architecture, a once-thriving industry that’s been severely battered by the housing crash (though the former two don’t exactly bring in the big bucks either).
A study released Wednesday by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that among recent college graduates with undergraduate degrees, architecture had the highest rate of unemployment at 13.9 percent, followed by the arts (11.1 percent) and the humanities (9.4 percent).
The degrees that gave graduates the best prospects of landing work were
- Health (5.4 percent unemployment)
- Education (5.4 percent)
- Agriculture
- Natural resources (7 percent)
A real architect at work.
While many college students are acutely aware their degree in 17th century Greek literature won’t garner a salary anywhere near what a Wall Street banker or chemical engineer makes, others likely don’t give it much thought, opting to follow their passions and face the real world after graduation.
Why did I major in Eastern European Pottery
But in an increasingly dicey job market for college grads, it might finally be time for students to sit down with a calculator to crunch the cost-vs.-payoff numbers for their degree before declaring a major.
That, or acknowledge that the only architecture they might be seeing if they pursue their love of structural design is the unemployment office.
By BLAIRE BRIODY, The Fiscal Times
Leon Langford | Bright Futura Columnist
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Top 25 Oddest Job Interview Questions Asked in 2011
Posted on January 23, 2012
When sitting down for a interview at a top U.S. company, you’d typically expect the interviewer to slam you with questions about your past history, testing your abilities, and knowledge of the company.
You wouldn’t think it was the time or the place to start asking about your opinion on garden gnomes or to explore solutions to world hunger, but that’s exactly what happens to some candidates looking to join up with some of America’s Top Companies.
25 Oddest Job Interview Questions: According To The Glass Door
1. “How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30pm on a Friday?” – Asked at Google.
2. “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk.” – Asked at Acosta.
3. “If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?” – Asked at Hewlett-Packard.
4. “What do you think of garden gnomes?” – Asked at Trader Joe’s.
5. “Is your college GPA reflective of your potential?” – Asked at the Advisory Board.
6. “Would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer?” –Asked at Deloitte.
7. “If you could be #1 employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be #15 employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?” – Asked at ADP.
8. “How would you cure world hunger?” – Asked at Amazon.com.
9. “Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?” – Asked at Pinkberry.
10. “Does life fascinate you?” – Asked at Ernst & Young.
Related: Why Employeers Are Unsatisfied With College Grads
Related: No Longer Hiring: Jobs That Died in 2011
11. “Given 20 ‘destructible’ light bulbs (which breaks at certain height), and a building with 100 floors, how do you determine the height that the light bulb breaks?” – Asked at QUALCOMM.
12. “Please spell ‘diverticulitis’.” – Asked at EMSI Engineering.
13. “Name 5 uses of a stapler without staple pins.” – Asked at EvaluServe.
14. “How much money did residents of Dallas/Ft. Worth spend on gasoline in 2008?” – Asked at American Airlines.
15. “How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator?” – Asked at Horizon Group Properties.
16. “You have a bouquet of flowers. All but two are roses, all but two are daisies, and all but two are tulips. How many flowers do you have?” – Asked at Epic Systems.
17. “How many planes are currently flying over Kansas?” – Asked at Best Buy.
18. “How many different ways can you get water from a lake at the foot of a mountain, up to the top of the mountain?” – Asked at Disney Parks & Resorts.
19. “What is 37 times 37?” –Asked at Jane Street Capital.
20. “If you could be a superhero, what power would you possess?” – Asked at Rain and Hail Insurance.
21. “If you were a Microsoft Office program, which one would you be?” –Asked at Summit Racing Equipment.
22. “Pepsi or Coke?” – Asked at United Health Group.
23. “Are you exhaling warm air?” – Asked at Walker Marketing.
24. “You’re in a row boat, which is in a large tank filled with water. You have an anchor on board, which you throw overboard (the chain is long enough so the anchor rests completely on the bottom of the tank). Does the water level in the tank rise or fall?” – Asked at Tesla Motors.
25. “How do you feel about those jokers at Congress?” – Asked at Consolidated Electrical.
Questions via theglassdoor
Could you answer any of them? What’s the weirdest job interview question you’ve ever gotten? Let us know in the comments below!
Maximillian Garland | Bright Futura Columnist
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