TIPS from Longsoxx Jobs

Hello jobseekers!

On Saturday March 27, 2010, we turned 1! We didn’t have a birthday party though, but we did decide to bring you this nifty typing test. You might as well be the best candidate possible and a high typing speed is an asset. Our average here is 73 WPM; can you beat us?

Hello Jobseekers! Nothing had been posted here for a while, but we stumbled upon this great article. The title may be a little harsh for those of you that are mired in unemployment and underemployment, but it may help you nevertheless. Give it a read!

Keep looking! Come back to this site every day! We analyze our logs every day to try to add the jobs in the places people are looking for them, so bookmark our site or just stop by daily or every other day. You have to keep looking to find what you are looking for! Just because we don’t have what you are looking for today doesn’t mean we won’t have what you are looking for tomorrow. Rome wasn’t built in a day and a job seeker has to look many many places to find a job.

Another good tip for job seekers: be ready for when the call comes because it is coming! We have noticed that more and more people are beginning to hire even if it is just starting as a part-time job. Part-time leading to full-time is better than no job at all, isn’t it?

Also, in the very near future, we will be adding a survey to get your input on the types of jobs you are searching for. By participating, you will help make this web site that much more helpful.

Stay focused and think positive and go get that job!

Is the Great Recession over? The number of people filing jobless claims has dropped sharply as reported by CNN:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance fell sharply last week, according to government data released Thursday.

There were 440,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Feb. 6, down 43,000 from a revised 483,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report.

Economists were expecting initial claims to drop to 465,000, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims, which smoothes out volatility in the measure, was 468,500. That’s down 1,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 469,500.

A Labor Department spokesman said the snow storm that crippled much of the East Coast last week did not impact the number of jobless claims filed.

“Next week’s numbers will definitely be impacted by weather,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities. “But a drop in claims fits with the more positive news we saw in the January jobs report.”

The Labor Department said last week that the U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in January to 9.7% from 10%. Businesses shed 20,000 jobs for the month, far fewer than the 150,000 jobs that were lost in December.

“There are some clear positives in the labor market,” Vitner said, pointing to the manufacturing sector, to which some workers have returned to work after being unemployed for a short period of time.

Still, weekly initial claims totals remain “extremely high” and it is difficult to glean anything about the underlying trends in the job market from just one week of data, Vitner warned.

Continuing claims: The government said 4,538,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended Jan. 30, the most recent data available. That’s down 79,000 from the preceding week’s revised 4,617,000 claims.

Economists were expecting continuing claims to have declined 2,000 to 4,600,000.

The 4-week moving average of continuing claims was 4,603,500, a drop of 17,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,621,250.

However, many economists say the decline in continuing claims reflects a growing number of filers who have dropped off the jobless rolls into extended unemployment benefits.

Continuing claims reflect people filing each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks. The figures do not include those people who have moved to state or federal extensions, or people whose benefits have expired.

“The number of people receiving extended benefits is unprecedented,” Vitner said.

Hello Job Seekers! How are you doing today?

Something I noticed when I used to read resumes was the email address if the candidate bothered to list it. Sometimes, people would use their university email address while others would have something with a dot in it. That dot makes it look so much more professional, but I don’t know why. sherlock.holmes@scotlandyard.org  just looks professional. What’s your email address? It is wIlDcUtEgUrL99@compuserve.com? If it is something somewhat silly or childish, you might want to consider getting another email address to use when you correspond with business. Businesses tend to be conservative places so you may want to tone it down.

The best way to do this is to go to a free email provider like Gmail or Yahoo and get another email address. Instead of wIlDcUtEgRrL99@compuserve.com, if your name is Kelly Adams, try kelly.adams@yahoo.com, or kadams@ or kellya@. Do not use this address to sign up for things that require your email on the internet. You don’t have to make it your primary address, just one that is conservative enough to transmit the message “yes, I am a serious job candidate” (although you may be a “wild cute grrl”).

Hello Job Seekers! Hopefully you are steadily looking for a great and job and putting those resumes and applications out there in the mail or email. While you are waiting to be chosen, check around. How are your references? Have you seen or heard from them in a while? If not, why not invite them to your favorite coffee shop and share a café and a smile? You may want to also inform them that they may be called as a reference if that is okay with them. Before your interview, pop into your favorite word processor and type up the names and contact information for three references. Don’t forget to be neat. Print it out and fold it and place it in a nice new envelope. Keep this envelope in your coat pocket so you can offer them upon request (or if you “forget” it on your resume).

Hello Job Seekers! Here’s a question for you: how often are you checking around for jobs? Once a month? week? day? half-day? Although it can be redundant, job seekers should be checking job sites often. If a person was to check online for a job then find one to apply to at that moment, by time they are finished, some new ones will have appeared. So if you’re not updating the resume and getting ready for the big call that is coming, you can just check often. Make your favorite job site a shortcut in your shortcut toolbar. Click on it, then just press F5 to refresh. Job easily and well done!

Fed’s Plosser sees U.S. jobs growth in 1st quarter

PHILADELPHIA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on Tuesday that he expects the U.S. economy to add jobs in the first quarter, though he said jobs growth will likely be slow at first.

Answering reporters’ questions after a speech to an entrepreneurs conference, Plosser said the December U.S. jobs data — which showed employers cut 85,000 jobs that month — did not change his view of the U.S. economic recovery.

“I expect in the first quarter of the year we’re going to see payroll growth,” he said. “I think we’re headed in that direction and it will be slow to begin with and it will gradually pick up steam.”

Plosser said he does not expect the end of the Fed’s $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities purchase program at the end of March to have much of an effect on spreads.

“I don’t anticipate much impact when we get out of the MBS market,” he said.

“I think that’s one of the reasons we’re trying to wind our way down slowly, to invite more private purchasers,” he said.

Plosser is not a voter on the Fed’s policy-setting panel this year. (Reporting by Emily Flitter, writing by Kristina Cooke; editing by Leslie Adler).

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From what we have seen from our traffic and number of postings, we would agree with Philly Fed. Many areas where there were previously few jobs are seeing a slow rise in hiring. You probably have noticed that here. Larger cities seem to be adding quite a bit of part-time and some full time positions. Full-time or part-time, that leaves the question ‘are you ready to work?’ Clothes? Resume? References? Cell phone in the silent mode? If you’ve got all that, then look around for a new position today!