mpnThoughts

I happened to read the Corner Office section of The New York Times Sunday paper (Oct. 18, 2009) this morning. It was about Carol Bartz, the current CEO of Yahoo. She grew up poor on a farm in Wisconsin; her mother died when she was 8; her grandmother raised her; and she worked in sales [...]

Hopefully, it will only continue to pick up. While we have three job announcements to list this issue, there are a couple of others that the Admin Guy is awaiting input on before printing up the particulars. In one case, the individual had done a national search that stretched out in terms of time, but [...]

When I came into work this morning at my usual early hour, I stopped to talk with two young women dressed for the office but tossing around some boxes in a mini-warehouse in the back of our building. They said they were packing to move out. Ahh, another company downsizing thinks I. But no, they [...]

Every summer I hear people say that since companies don’t tend to hire in the summer they might as well go off to the beach themselves. Or, maybe they’re a little more savvy, and ask how busy it is at MPN and what should they be doing? Fact is, as a recent article that MPNer [...]

It’s almost a daily event these days: a company announces a round of layoffs. The first, the second…the ninth? Who knows? As a job seeker you immediately scratch them off your target list figuring that if they are laying people off, they won’t need the likes of you. But not so fast, Buckwheat…! It turns [...]

The Sunday New York Times recently featured an article entitled, “What’s Your Backup Plan?” The article looked at three potential backup plans: chocolatier, organic farmer, and dog massage therapist. As the author, Alex Williams noted, “Plan B typically offers less money and prestige than Plan A, but promises a more hands-on, stress-free and fulfilling existence. [...]

Just to give you a little insight on how things look from the end of the table at MPN: We have only had two people get full time, bona fide jobs in the last few months, far fewer than normal, but not so bad given the economy. A number of people have taken on part-time, [...]

As John Challenger, the noted CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the Chicago job-placement firm, said recently, “There are some places that are OK in this economy: healthcare, education, government…core consumer products.” Not to mention agriculture. Remember, the same people in the media who brought you upbeat news of rising markets and easy profits in [...]

Grrrrrr…there’s that old chestnut you get from clueless relatives and suspicious HR coordinators again. “Looking for a job, stupid” you’re tempted to reply. One of the silver linings of all the bad news about job losses from the ruins of the Bush economy is the fact that people will hopefully cut you a little slack now. [...]

Many people ask, should I do a blog? Will it help my search? Will it demonstrate my New Media savvy? Sometimes we come up with some useful job-search criteria at our weekly meetings (despite the best efforts of the Admin Guy!). We did so at our last meeting in terms of the characteristics you should [...]