Looking for work? You're not alone.

[CielOnTap]

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010
Tokyo job fair draws throng
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer
About 2,400 university students who graduate next month attended a job fair put on Tuesday by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, hoping for luck in what could be their final opportunity in the tough career market before getting their diplomas.

Compared with a fair held by Tokyo in November, some 1,000 students showed up even before the forum started, said Masayo Maruyama, head of the metropolitan government's youth employment division. Their desperation reflects the severe job market for college students.

According to a survey by the labor and education ministries, only 73.1 percent of university students graduating this year had received job offers as of Dec. 1 — the lowest figure since the poll was first conducted in 1996.http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100217a3.html

Industry job fairs tend to reflect current trends and formats more than government job fairs. All those dark suits are showing conformity--how many applicants wore a different suit colour or ensured they had some colour near their face to stand out?

[fishandchips]

The students at the fair don't mention if they accessed any career services at school or in the city. All efforts seem to weigh on this job fair, if external applications did not turn up in their favour.

Another odd thing-no one interviewed by the reporter said anything about personal networking or family connections leading to job opening leads.

[pretzels]

Mar 3, 2010
Home is best for China's migrant workers
By Olivia Chung

HONG KONG - Chinese factories ranging from electronics giant Foxconn to diminutive outfits employing a handful of people are struggling to find workers to help fill surging export orders. Migrant workers who returned home for the recent spring festival are deciding to stay there, where they are finding opportunities that appeal more than going back to long hours and often hard conditions in the Pearl River Delta.

The week-long annual festival sees millions of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta region, the driver behind the country's now decades-long economic boom, return to distant provinces to celebrate with their extended families. Just a year ago, they were being urged to stay there as factories cut work forces during the economic slowdown, making thousands redundant. Now the migrants are staying at home of their own accord.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, which supplies products for computer and electronics companies such as United States-based Apple from a plant in China's Guangdong province, faces a shortage of 50,000 workers at its Shenzhen factory, with many vacancies due to workers not returning from their holiday. Wu Guizhou, in charge of recruitment, said the company needed to hire at least 25,000 more workers, mainly ordinary workers, after recruiting about 25,000 since the beginning of this year. The company now offers employees 200 yuan (US$30) for every person they introduce to the factory. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/LC03Cb01.html

1,500.00 CNY = 219.671 USD
China Yuan Renminbi United States Dollars
1 CNY = 0.146447 USD 1 USD = 6.82840 CNY

What does $219 in monthly wages (notice the absence of what any payroll deductions might be for the food and board) get a worker? Is healthcare possible to afford; what of clothing purchases, or money to send home to family after living expenses are deducted?

[CielOnTap]

But companies like Adecco are “just at the fringe of the labour market,” said University of Geneva economist, Jean-Marc Falter, in an interview with Swisster.

“Results like Adecco may not be useful,” said Falter. Economic interpretation based on the company’s performance means “working on a segment of the labour market,” rather than taking into account other factors which help paint a picture of unemployment, said the economist, who suggested that businesses increasing use of temporary workers – which accounts for much of Adecco’s revenues – does not represent a definite economic revival.

Other recruitment companies have proffered optimistic executives for media interviews.

“Our markets have stabilized and classical recovery patterns are visible,” says Ben Noteboom, CEO of Randstad, after his company reported results on February 18.

Manpower, another staffing company, also said recently it had grown more confident that economic recovery could be sustained.

http://www.swisster.ch/news/business/adecco-results-mask-swiss-unemployment-problem.html

[CielOnTap]

The New Poor
In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt

By PETER S. GOODMAN
Published: March 13, 2010
One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools.

At institutions that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects borrow aggressively to pay tuition that can exceed $30,000 a year.

But the profits have come at substantial taxpayer expense while often delivering dubious benefits to students, according to academics and advocates for greater oversight of financial aid. Critics say many schools exaggerate the value of their degree programs, selling young people on dreams of middle-class wages while setting them up for default on untenable debts, low-wage work and a struggle to avoid poverty. And the schools are harvesting growing federal student aid dollars, including Pell grants awarded to low-income students. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/business/14schools.html?src=me&ref=general

Here's some advice for you if you decide to get into training for regulated trades:

-find out how alumni at your schools of interest are finding their vocational job search going; check the post-graduate surveys from the past years and talk to registration staff.
-what are the regulatory bodies requiring of you in professional fees and course commitments? How long are apprentices needing to apprentice? What is the apprenticeship process like and what barriers exist i.e. have to be recommended by experienced or senior person in the regulatory body, limited number of spots open, followup to queries, does a person have to try other area chapters.
-how detailed is the background check on you going to be when you register with the regulatory body? Can you reach past employers, etc from all sites/countries? If you are intending to be working with youth or the elderly or vulnerable people, do you have any past charges in your history? It can screen you out from registration.
-how are the courses going to be given and how much flexibility is there in scheduling? Are there support services provided with your fees?
-if you cannot find a job in your intended field, will the training have transferable skills that can be used in a different field?

[fishandchips]

H&M's full name is Hennes & Mauritz- a low-price clothing store chain that is slightly nicer than Old Navy in merchandise variety.

Ikea and Google top student career wish list
Published: 18 Mar 10 10:29 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/25598/20100318/
Swedish students have named Google, Ikea and the foreign ministry as their dream places of work, according to a new survey from Universum published on Thursday.

Furniture giant Ikea is favoured primarily by economics students, who would also love the chance to work at Ernst & Young and Hennes & Mauritz, in addition to the traditional choices of the major banks and investment houses.

The finance sector made a general recovery among the preferences of Swedish students in this year's survey after a couple of years of ambivalence in the wake of the finance crunch and subsequent recession.

[CielOnTap]

While reviewing the list of exhibitors appearing at Toronto's National Job Fair this Wednesday and Thursday, I discovered one of the partner sites http://www.confidencebound.ca/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/. Some articles will cover areas of concern or interest for job searches that may seem sidelined.

It does help to know that people in media or leadership roles sometimes have to find their footings too before their passion for their vocations gets full expression. We won't all get extended long employment like Mayor McCallion of Mississauga, but we can pick up some ideas about how she got to where she is today.

[CielOnTap]

Friday, April 2, 2010
760,000 new recruits fete first day
An estimated 760,000 new recruits showed up for their first day of work across the nation Thursday as recall-hit Toyota Motor Corp. and bankrupt Japan Airlines Corp. promised fresh starts to revive their operations.

This year's entrance ceremonies came amid a sour job market that has yet to reap the benefits of a moderate economic recovery in Japan, leaving many new graduates still scrambling for a job.

As of Feb. 1, a record-low 80 percent of graduating college students had found jobs, falling below the level marked during the "ice age" of the job market in the latter half of the 1990s, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry poll found.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100402a1.html

There are Spanish flight attendants who have not been paid for nine months since their airline employer ran into business difficulties. They might be keen to know if international airlines are still hiring.

May the new recruits in business have a chance to acquire some job experience for most of the year and maybe a little savings before any news of layoffs reaches their sections.

[CielOnTap]

Growth of Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal, Officials Say
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: April 2, 2010
With job openings scarce for young people, the number of unpaid internships has climbed in recent years, leading federal and state regulators to worry that more employers are illegally using such internships for free labor.

Convinced that many unpaid internships violate minimum wage laws, officials in Oregon, California and other states have begun investigations and fined employers. Last year, M. Patricia Smith, then New York’s labor commissioner, ordered investigations into several firms’ internships. Now, as the federal Labor Department’s top law enforcement official, she and the wage and hour division are stepping up enforcement nationwide.

Many regulators say that violations are widespread, but that it is unusually hard to mount a major enforcement effort because interns are often afraid to file complaints. Many fear they will become known as troublemakers in their chosen field, endangering their chances with a potential future employer.

The Labor Department says it is cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns properly and expanding efforts to educate companies, colleges and students on the law regarding internships. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html?src=me&ref=general

Unless an intern happens to live near the place of their internship or has someone willing to pay their transportation and other needs, I don't see the appeal of internship. It benefits the employer but the intern is basically a contracted volunteer, likely with a dress code.

I am glad that the internships are getting a viewing; bus fares and cars don't pay for themselves. Even co-operative education can fall into an internship, but smart students want to be earning some money during their semester away from school or try to find employers who will pay. Paying a co-op fee to one's school is no guarantee of a placement. There may be disclaimer about co-op placements not always being paid, but where is the incentive to travel far, to an employer in line with your studies if no income is forthcoming for the effort?

[burnt fare]

California's jobless rate hits high of 12.6% in March
The state adds 4,200 jobs, but more people were seeking work than in February. L.A. County's rate holds at 12.4%; Orange County's rises to 10.1%. Meanwhile, unemployment benefits are running out.
By Alana Semuels
April 17, 2010


California's unemployment rate reached a new high of 12.6% in March, bolstering fears that a weak labor market will remain a drag on the state's economy at least through the end of the year. The unemployment rate in February was 12.5%.

Despite hints of an economic turnaround, some of the 2.3 million unemployed in the state found March the toughest month yet. That's because tens of thousands have been out of work so long that their unemployment checks will be cut off within the next few weeks. They're not helped by the $18-billion measure signed Thursday by President Obama that extends jobless benefits for many Americans through June 2.

The Employment Development Department estimates that about 100,000 Californians will have exhausted their benefits by this weekend.http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-caljobs17-2010apr17,0,7129545.story