Unemployment Rate Unexpectedly Drops

Staffing Stocks Up on Drop in Unemployment Rate

Unemployment Leaves Experts Optimistic

Great FAQ about unemployment benefits from the New York Times:

Answers about unemployment benefits: Part I

Answers about unemployment benefits: Part II

Free Money Finances addresses the often asked interview question: “What are your greatest weaknesses”.

Finally, Amateur Asset Allocator writes about preparing for a layoff in advance.

All of these articles offer good advice, and we will see what the carnival brings next time!

Generally, employers are not allowed to ask questions relating to the following:

• Race
• Color
• Sex
• Religion
• National origin
• Birthplace
• Age
• Disability
• Marital/family status

Here are some examples of illegal questions and reasons why they are illegal:

Are you a citizen of  _____? – Employers are only allowed to ask if you are authorized to work in the United States unless they are a defense contractor or the government that requires U.S. Citizenship.

What religious holidays do you celebrate? – Religion should not be a topic  in an interview.

How many kids do you have? – This is a personal questions related to family status.

If you get pregnant, would you come back to work? – Women should not be discriminated against for pregnancy.

How do you feel about working in a mostly male/female team? – Gender should not be a concern in the workplace.

Do you smoke or drink or take drugs? - This is a valid concern for employers but they cannot ask you these directly.  They can only ask you if you have been doing illegal drugs and if alcohol have affected your work.

Have you had any recent operations or illnesses? – This is also an illegal question regarding health.

How far do you live? – You can’t be discriminated against for the place you live.

If you see a sign of any of these illegal questions.  You can say that you are uncomfortable with answering them or change the topic and tell the interviewer to get back on the topic of the job you are applying for.  If an employer seems very prying and intrusive then they might not be the person you want to work for anyway.

Quick General Guide:

Seven tips for the newly unemployed
Getting by without a job series:

This is a great series written by Philip Brewer of Wise Bread

Getting By Without a Job, Part 1 – Losing a Job

Getting By Without a Job, Part 2 – Boost Income

Getting By Without a Job, Part 3 – Cut Spending

Getting By Without a Job, Part 4 – Get Free Stuff

1. Clearly Identify Your Target Job — I think this is the most difficult part of many people’s job search. Some people are changing jobs because they hate what they’re doing, and may be looking for something completely different. Some people are looking for the same job, but with different types of benefits and hours. The idea is that the job seeker needs to clearly identify the endgame for his or her job search and build a profile of the ideal job. A person can only aim when a target is clearly painted and it is a total waste of time and effort to find a job you don’t really want.

2. Network with People You Know — After you work for a few years you will probably end up with quite a few ex-coworkers. You may not know all of them very well, but there has to be a few that you are on friendly terms with. Generally I ask for the contact information of coworkers I like when they leave my company. Recently a lot of them have been connecting with me on LinkedIn or Facebook. For the people that do not use these services I record their contact information in a text file. It’s very likely that some ex-coworkers are willing to forward your resume to HR, because a lot of companies have internal referral bonuses for successful hires. The world is a very small place, and I think the first place to look for a job is through people you know. Friends and relatives are also great resources for possible jobs. You can just send out a general email to all your friends and relatives and ask if there are any available positions that would fit you. I think it is to your advantage to tap your relationships unless you don’t want your friends and relatives to know that you’re looking for a job.

3. Ignore the Bad Mercenary Recruiters — I have found that most headhunting firms that cold call me end up wasting my time. They often overstate the salary of the job they’re recruiting for and they’re more like salesmen that are trying to sell whatever person they can for a commission. Most of these “bad” recruiters don’t read your resume and do not match you to a company’s needs very well. For example, there was one day when I got three calls from three different recruiters trying to pitch the same position which I knew I was not a good candidate for. Though, many companies do hire their own internal recruiters and they are the HR department of the company. Those calls lead usually lead to fruitful interviews. So it is very important to identify where a recruiter is coming from. It is as simple as asking, “are you part of the company you’re recruiting for, or are you a recruitment firm?” There are very good independent recruiters and I have known a couple, but they really work on finding you a job that matches your needs and the jobs they present to you should already be something you’re interested in.

4. Plan Interviews Close to Each Other — I think it’s generally good to group your interviews around the same days if it is possible. The reason is that if you interview at multiple companies on approximately the same day you’re likely to receive their responses at approximately the same time. Another reason is that you may be able to use less vacation days from your current job if you schedule multiple interviews on the same day. When you get responses back around the same time you are able to make more strategic decisions on what to do next.

5. Search for All Possible Titles of Your Desired Job — When you look for a job online you usually use some job search engine and type in your desired job title. Make sure to try all possible variations of your job title. For example, my current job title is Release Engineer. Some companies also title my position SCM Engineer, Configuration Engineer, Build Engineer, Software Engineer in Release, Build Release QA Engineer, and some other names. The point is that you can’t just search for one job title because you may miss out on some positions that is a good match to your skills. Brainstorm a list of titles you may be called and start searching there.

6. Prepare References — Make sure you have at least two to three people that will vouch for your work ethics. If you’re pretty new to the workforce you should still secure a couple people that will speak on your behalf. You should inform these people that your job search may burden them with writing a recommendation or answering a few questions. This is courtesy, and most companies still ask for human references no matter how good you look on paper or how smooth you were in the interview.

7. Research the Company You Are Interested In — It amazes me how many people I have interviewed had absolutely no interest in the companies that are supposed to hire them. If you are interested in a company you should find out some basics such as its location, its products, and its working environment. Such information can be obtained during an interview but a little preemptive research is always good. You may find out that a company is not really a good place to work or that its products are totally unappealing to you. If that’s the case then there is no point in applying and interviewing. If after your preliminary research you are still interested then you would have more to talk about with the interviewees. It is a win-win situation for you to do your due diligence.

8. Update Your Resume — It is a good idea to update your resume every six months even if you haven’t changed jobs. There may be new projects that you have done and new technologies you have learned, and your resume is a good place to keep record. Another reason is that when you update your resume in a website like Hotjobs or Monster employers tend to pick up on the update and contact you if they are interested. Make sure that you block your current employer in these services so that they don’t know you’re looking.

9. Prepare for Your Interview — This is a must. You can prepare for your interview any way you are comfortable with, but you must do it. Your preparation could be as simple as reviewing your resume and remembering what you wrote. I say this because I have had interviewees who wrote a lot of things on their resumes they did not know anything about. Since tips for interviewing would take up an entire book I will not elaborate here. However, I have written an article on some horrible interviews I have endured.

10. Don’t Look Back — There may be rejections along the path of your job search, but the key is to just forget about it and don’t look back. There is no time to waste on being depressed about not getting a certain job. The same applies to your old employer when you do find a great offer. If you were jaded enough to search for a job in the first place then it’s probably best not to look back and go on to your new place.

The Job and the Company — The first and most important thing is to understand what you will be doing in the position offered. Is this job something you would be happy doing eight to nine hours a day? Would you be creating a product or service that people find useful? Are there opportunities for advancement and recognition in this job? Of course, the best place to learn about the job is through asking questions at the interview or asking HR. It’s important to get as much information as possible because a lot of job descriptions these days are pretty vague. Additionally you should find out about the company from external sources such as surveys and friends.  You should find out the working conditions and hours and the general company ethics. I really can’t stress enough how important it is to have a job you enjoy with a company that takes care of its employees because otherwise life is pretty miserable.

Your Future Coworkers – If you read my article on interviewing in the Valley, then you’ll know how important it is to me to find useful people that I can get along with at work. Interviews work both ways, so when I am the job candidate I am also assessing how skilled and amiable the interviewer is. The most important person that has to get along with me is my direct supervisor so I try to ask questions about his/her management style and gauge his/her personality. If my direct manager isn’t even interviewing me, then something is definitely broken at the company and I wouldn’t consider it.

The Benefit Package — A lot of people I know seem to put salary as the top priority in evaluating a job, but it’s really just part of a greater benefits package. Other major things to consider are paid time off, health insurance, retirement contributions, bonuses, and equity compensation. Each one of these benefit items could be worth a considerable amount financially. In some jobs, bonuses are the bulk of the compensation so you can’t really decide that a certain job pays worse just based on the salary. Retirement contributions is also a big benefit. A lot of people my age think that retirement is really far away and it’s not a big deal, but we are the generation that can’t depend on social security and pensions, so anything a employer would give us now could be a lifesaver in the future. Vacation days is another great thing. The difference between having 10 days and 15 days of vacation per year is huge. That extra week of vacation may just save your sanity. Equity compensation can include stock grants, incentive stock options, or employee stock purchase programs. If the company is doing well, then the equity is a worthwhile bonus. Health insurance is very important, but a lot of employers these days don’t pay for 100% of the premiums. So when I look at a compensation package I would find out how much health insurance the company pays for. There are also other miscellaneous benefits a company could offer such as free food, club memberships, and discounts. Those are also great, but they’re more minor additions to a benefits package.

The Location of the Job and Commuting– Most of the time I don’t apply for jobs that are more than 20 miles away from where I live. The physical accessibility of the job is very important because you need to consider that it takes time and money to commute. If your company offers telecommuting then that’s possibly the greatest location because you can work at home and not commute at all. I personally don’t mind going to the office because I like to interact with my coworkers, but if I have to drive more than an hour each way to work everyday I think I would go insane. And yet I know some people in the Bay Area that drive two to five hours per day to work because housing is so expensive in areas close to work. Driving that much is really not worth it because an 8 hour day turns into a 10 to 13 hour day and there will be no other life but work. I would prefer to take public transit to work if I could, so if the job is along well established public transportation then that’s a plus in my book.

In conclusion, there are many aspects of a job to consider before accepting an offer. The best thing to do is to get as much information as possible, either through the interview, people you trust, or online resources. If there are terms that you don’t like about the benefits package there is always room for negotiation. I have found that it’s never as clearcut as “this offer is better because it pays more”. Trust your instincts, and if you feel like you wouldn’t fit into a particular job or company, then don’t take it because if you do the lives of everyone involved may become a little worse.