As most economic writers will tell you, it is the small business sector in our country that adds the most jobs to our economy.  As a matter of fact large businesses (over 500 employees) have reduced the number of employees significantly in the last few years.  Thus job seekers are feeling the pinch as new business startup statistics are the lowest since the 1990s. 
An article in USA Today Small Business provided a summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  For the 12 months ending in March 2010 there were 505,000 new business startups – the weakest growth since the bureau started tracking this stat in the 1990s.  Other publications have tracked current trends and say the outlook is not very rosy (National Federation of Independent Business).  After steady increases through early February, the optimism index dipped for March and April of this year. 
The lack of new business is attributed by many to the lack of consumer spending.  Sales trends are down, and there is a lot of uncertainty about what is next.  Also companies are worried about what will happen in the next year in U.S. Government. 
This news impacts our unemployment issues. National unemployment statistics hover at 9%, and an article in the Financial Times said that the “basic unemployment” percent (people between jobs or permanently unemployed) may not ever get back down to the 3% level we’ve held for years.  For every “opportunity” for growth in an industry there is a balancing economic factor that may dampen that growth. One example was the optimistic view that companies might move manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. because of rising costs overseas.  The pessimistic view is that these same companies will adopt more technologies that would replace these very jobs! 
There is an interesting factor in all this news.  Technology companies (mostly small businesses) and technology jobs continue to make gains, and there are jobs going begging.  The reason – the workforce lacks the skills to fill these positions.  One article talked about the loss of jobs in the construction sector, and the need for trained workers in the healthcare industry…and these skills don’t cross over.  There are also jobs to be had in IT, and even in skilled manufacturing. 
There is no easy answer to the problem.  There is hope for the job seeker with technology or IT skills, but it will require time and patience to find the best match.  Keep hunting!

Tags: hiring process, Hiring Trends, industry news, job seeker attitudes, retraining, technical jobs

We’ve all fallen asleep in training sessions or in conferences that are meant to teach us important things..but don’t quite reach us. Our brains are complex things and resist change, and even if the message gets through we only retain about 5% of the information. So how can a poor lecturer get through to us?

An article in HR Magazine (Nov 2009) by Charles Jacobs suggests that the best way to get through to the audience is through stories. Think about the last time you heard a good lecture. I’m willing to be it wasn’t a presenter that flipped through a pile of Powerpoint slides with lists of facts. The lectures I remember (though not everything, of course) were ones that inspired emotion in some way. Sometimes the lecturer connected with me personally by talking about feelings or events I identify with, such as motherhood or the environment. Other times the presenter may connect their topic to a current political hot button. Personal experiences help, but if they aren’t in a world I relate to I’ll soon be playing with my cell phone. As an attendee at events where it is important that I learn the subject, I try to make a connection even if the speaker isn’t quite capturing my attention. I may even decide I don’t particularly like the presenter or his lecture, and just the fact that I’m looking for things to disagree with keeps me focused.

A good presenter has a few other skills besides storytelling. They really need a sense of humor, some flexibility in adjusting to a particular audience, and enthusiasm! Nothing loses an audience faster than a droning voice reading the notes to them.

If you are trying to lead a group and need to have them focused on the task, it helps to give a clear picture of the final product or event through a story. The audience needs some sort of vision to hang on to while they wade through the task at hand.

Retraining is more prevalent now than in the past, because of the shifting job market. It is important to learn new skills well, and one can only hope the instructor or lecturer cares as much about the learning process as you do. It is important that you engage, and if the speaker is off the mark try asking questions to get what you need. The audience can make an average speaker successful by being attentive and responding to his ideas, so hang in there and learn.

Tags: change management, effective learning, public speaking, retraining