It’s difficult to be optimistic about the bleak job market when , unemployment is stuck at around 9.1 percent but a survey just released by employment services firm ManpowerGroup offers hope for job seekers in many places around the country.

The survey reveals that the metropolitan area with the most optimistic forecast of all for hiring this fall is San Antonio, Texas, and there’s also the good news that employers in 45 states expect the bleak employment picture to perk up. In fact, hiring managers in dozens of metropolitan areas anticipate considerable increases in hiring, while others present a darker forecast.

ManpowerGroup surveyed more than 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan areas to find out who’s hiring, who’s firing and who plans to maintain their current staff levels in the fourth quarter of 2011, October through December. Of the surveyed employers, 16 percent anticipate an increase in staffing levels in their hiring plans, while 11 percent expect a decrease in payrolls. The difference between those numbers provides what ManpowerGroup calls a net employment outlook of 5 percent–or 7 percent when seasonally adjusted, which is still up from 6 percent for the same period last year, but down slightly from last quarter. Seventy percent of employers expect no change in their staffing, and the final 3 percent of employers are uncertain.

Forbes.com slideshow: The best and worst cities for jobs right now While the outlook is positive overall, the one-point drop from the third quarter is the first decrease in nine quarters. “The numbers are not going in the right direction this quarter, and they are not as robust as we would have liked them to be,” says Melanie Holmes, a vice president at ManpowerGroup. “Employers are hesitant about hiring in this economic climate. They are remaining guarded, and that is reflected in these results.”

Still, “We do see some bright spots in hiring, especially in San Antonio, which has the most promising hiring outlook for the fourth quarter,” says Jonas Prising, president of the Americas at ManpowerGroup. “Employers in other markets in Texas, including El Paso and Austin, are also anticipating strong hiring increases.”

The San Antonio metro area enjoys a 17 percent net employment outlook, the percentage of employers that expect to add employees (25 percent) minus the percentage that expect to reduce their workforce (8 percent). Another 64 percent said they anticipate no change, and 3 percent didn’t know.
Forbes.com: 20 businesses you can start now “San Antonio has continued to see new jobs created, and new jobs brought to the region,” says Richard Perez, president and chief executive of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. “I would say that San Antonio is well positioned to come out ahead in the future as well because our cost of living remains low, making it a good environment for companies to increase their investment in jobs here, plus we have a very talented labor pool because we graduate more than 30,000 from our colleges and universities each year.”
The industry with the largest economic impact and largest number of employees in San Antonio is health care and biosciences, with more than 142,000 employees, Perez says. “This surprises a lot of people who think we are only a tourism town. One of every five workers is in the health care sector, and it has an estimated $24 billion economic impact here. We also have large manufacturing and financial services sectors. And yes, we have a significant tourism industry in San Antonio, with approximately 106,000 employees.”

The largest employers in the San Antonio area include the Department of Defense, whose workplaces include Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Randolph Air Force Base. Combined they employ over 70,000 individuals. The largest corporate employer is San Antonio-based financial services firm United Services Automobile Association, with 14,800 employees. H-E-B Grocery Company follows close behind with 14,600 workers. AT&T, Toyota, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Valero Energy, Harland Clarke and Citibank are some of the area’s other major corporate employers.
Forbes.com: Best business quotes from the silver screen“San Antonio’s list of large employers is long and diverse,” Perez says. “We do not rely heavily on one area and that is by design. San Antonio has many industries that together keep us a resilient economy. We are fortunate to have many strong industries, and many strong companies with large employee bases.”

Employers in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Baltimore-Towson metro areas also anticipate a significant upswing in hiring for the next quarter.
Nearly a quarter of Cape Coral-Fort Myers employers reported positive forecasts, while 6 percent drew a bleaker picture. Sixty-nine percent said they won’t be changing their employment levels, and the remaining 3 percent are unsure of their hiring plans. With a net employment outlook of 16 percent, the southwest Florida metro area is the second best place for finding a job this fall.
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Baltimore-Towson employers are expressing similar sentiments. Twenty percent of that metro area’s hiring managers anticipate a bright fourth quarter. Meanwhile, 7 percent expect to decrease their payrolls, 71 percent anticipate no change and 2 percent are uncertain. This yields a net employment outlook of 13 percent and positions the Maryland metropolis as the third best place for finding a job this fall. Greensboro-High Point, N.C., St. Louis and Tulsa enjoy the same rank.

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Unfortunately not all cities are as confident about hiring. The net employment outlook in Spokane and Las Vegas is a far weaker -4 percent–and those metropolitan areas aren’t even the worst. The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla., metro area yields a net employment outlook of -5 percent for the quarter.

The worst area of all for finding a job this fall is Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
Only 12 percent of surveyed Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area employers plan to hire between October and December, while 19 percent expect to reduce their staff levels. Sixty-nine percent expect to maintain their current workforce. This yields a net employment outlook of -7 percent for the Connecticut metropolis.

“Although this quarter we are seeing relatively stable hiring compared with last quarter and even the year before, we are way below the double-digit employment outlook numbers we saw prior to the end of 2008,” Prising says. “With daily fluctuations in the market and mixed news reports about housing and consumer sentiment, employers are just plain uncertain about the future. Until they see a sustainable demand for their products and services, employers will not commit to hiring in big numbers.”

“Unemployment discrimination” and the jobless
By: Elaine Quijano (CBS News)

Of the 14 million Americans currently unemployed, 6 million have been jobless for more than 6 months.

CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports that many job seekers say being unemployed is being held against them.

Delores Barnes always goes job hunting armed with her dossier of documents, including her birth certificate.

Two years ago, she was laid off from her supervisor job with New York’s Children’s Services. Ever since, Barnes has been looking for work to support her and her nine-year-old daughter, Savianna “I can’t give up. I’m on a mission. I have a daughter, and she’s like, I have to be strong for her. I have to show her that you just don’t give up,” Barnes says.

Yet no amount of persistence can overcome the simple fact that some employers don’t want to hire the unemployed. In job posting after job posting, companies require that applicants “must be currently employed.”

“They have that perception that they are the dead weight, therefore they want the strong people who are currently employed,” says Robert Krzak, president of Gecko Hospitality.

Krzak says some companies won’t even consider unemployed job candidates.
“If there is a candidate out there who has been out there in the job market for six months or even a year or more than a year, a lot of companies are very suspect of that, because why aren’t they working?” Krzak says.

“It’s discriminatory and the fact that just because you don’t have a job you can’t compete for a job,” says Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. DeLauro is sponsoring a bill aimed at stopping the practice.

“These are competent people. They have lost their job through no fault of their own,

Why shouldn’t they have an opportunity?” DeLauro says.
Barnes says the practice doesn’t make sense, hiring people who have jobs when so many don’t.

Barnes is now training to be a computer technician, and says she’ll keep pounding the pavement, even though with some companies she can’t even get her foot in the door.

Sit in front of laptop. Lie on couch. Eat pickles for lunch. Back to laptop.

Feel sorry for self. Feel sick of self. Tear hair out in frustration. And … back to couch.

If this is your 9-to-5 routine, you’re probably like 14 million other Americans: unemployed. And in addition to the frustration of looking for work, you might find yourself feeling a little lonely.

Sure, you chat with friends online all day. And you may have a family or significant other who comes home in the evening. But good old fashioned, face-to-face contact with another human being before dinner? Kind of rare these days.

In running my unemployment blog, I’ve received plenty of emails from readers. And although many of them were lighthearted in nature, a number of them were quite the opposite. One of the saddest read: “You’re the first person I’ve spoken to in days.”

Unemployment can make a recluse out of even the most social of butterflies. After all, you want to spend as much time as possible looking for work. And where do you look for work? Online. And where do you go online? At home.

But spending too much time alone can be detrimental, not just to your emotional well-being, but to your job search too! Staying connected with the rest of the world is not a luxury. It’s a necessity!

Work from a coffee shop.
Find a coffee shop with WiFi in your neighborhood (even better if it’s free WiFi!). Grab your laptop and go. You may not be striking up conversations with fellow coffee shop patrons, but it’s nice to be in the presence of other human beings. It’s also nice to have a change of scenery; one that doesn’t include Oprah on mute and swag from your previous employer.

Team up with other jobseekers.
Chances are, you know others who are unemployed. Instead of each working alone in your respective homes, why not team up? Agree to meet at someone’s house, and look for jobs together. After all, misery loves company. Not only will you have others to talk to who are in the same situation, you might just find that your jobless friends make good leads. You never know who might know of a job that isn’t quite right for them, but fits you perfectly.

Go to networking events.
Whatever your industry, there are probably relevant networking or trade association events taking place locally. Not only will you keep abreast of changes in your field, you’ll get to rub elbows with living, breathing, hiring members of the work force. We all know that spending hours and hours online every day is not the most efficient way to get hired. The majority of job seekers find work through a contact. You need to get out there and network!

Get a (night) life!
Spending eight dollars on an Apple Martini may be the furthest thing from your mind right now. And rightly so. But maintaining and growing your social network (and we don’t mean Facebook) can be a valuable part of your job search. And you don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of money (or borrow cash from friends) to go out. Especially right now, there are plenty of extended happy hours and recession specials.

Volunteer
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: You can’t spend all day, every day, looking for work. Volunteering a couple of days a week will give you something else to do, a fresh perspective and a chance to spend time with others who share your passion for a cause. And depending on the type of volunteer work you choose, it may even help keep your career on track (and your resumé strong). I know a laid-off writer who started volunteering in the communications department of a non-profit agency. She says it’s keeping her busy, helping her develop her writing skills, and preventing her from sticking her head in an oven. Not bad for a dozen or so hours a week, which would have otherwise been spent obsessively surfing the web.

How many of us have heard these famous last words at the end of a not-so-successful date? They remind me of Charlie Sheen’s character on Two And A Half Men. “I’ll Call You” was Charlie’s escape hatch which allowed him to quickly part company with his lady friends without a big confrontation. It was never genuine. Rather flip and dismissive. Which is why Job Seekers recoil when they hear the same words from a Professional Recruiter: “I’ll Call You.”

I understand the temptation to lump Recruiters in with the Charlie Sheens’ of the world. After all, today’s society has been conditioned to understand “I’ll Call You” to be the ultimate blow off. However, I can assure you, and the rest of today’s Job Seekers, that when we Recruiters say “I’ll Call You” we actually mean it! It may not be the next day or next week. But if your work history is strong, and your skill set relevant to our niche, we will eventually call you.

Most Agency Recruiters, like me, are driven by our clients’ immediate needs…critical positions which need to be filled ASAP by candidates who meet a very specific set of criteria. This explains why a highly-qualified Accountant will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is working on filling Sales positions. Or why an accomplished Engineer will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is handling several Chef openings. Or why the recent college grad will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is seeking out CEO candidates. It doesn’t mean the Accountant’s or Engineer’s or College Graduate’s resumes were awful and that they “never find a job in this town again.” It simply boils down to timing.

I’ll admit we Recruiters see thousands of resumes a month. Even if we say “I’ll call you,” how do you, the Job Seeker, know that we won’t forget you three months from now? I’ve been asked by Job Seekers before:”Can I call you every week to stay in touch?” It’s a nice idea, really. But if I honored this request by the several hundred prospective candidates I’ve been in contact just in the last month, then you will legitimately be able to compare me to Charlie… *after* he lost his mind!
If you, the Job Seeker, wish to stay on a Recruiter’s radar for future opportunities, then you will benefit the most by supplying the following:

• an updated copy of your resume
• accurate salary history
• reasonable salary expectations
• markets for relocation
• list of tangible, measurable accomplishments
• aspirations for your next position
• three professional references
• an active cell number
• and a viable email address

A good Recruiter will enter every tidbit of this information into a profile he/she has created for you in their keyword-optimized database or tracking system. Between your resume and the above bullets, you have armed the Recruiter with the information needed to match you to upcoming positions. And when the right position matches up…then the magic happens. And unlike Charlie Sheen…the Recruiter actually calls! It may be in two weeks…two months…or two years. But the Recruiter calls.
Please don’t misunderstand. I do not mean that you, the Job Seeker, should completely drop out of sight after the initial phone screen with your Recruiter. I’ll confess that occasionally well-timed calls from active Job Seekers who want to update me on a new accomplishment or a changed email address, have been followed up with my query “By the way, may I run a new opportunity past you?” So in the end, the best way to treat “I’ll Call You” from a Recruiter is to view it as the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (Giving props to Bogey.) Not the dismissive end of a brief encounter. (Ala Charlie Sheen.) Your Recruiter likely wants to help. It’s just he/she may not be able to do so right now. But when that perfect project does come along with criteria that matches your background & skill set, then both you and the Recruiter will be…Winning!

Wendy Gawlik CPC

By Zachary Roth | The Lookout

The economy added slightly more jobs than expected in July, though not enough to ease mounting concern that a double-dip recession could soon take hold.

The Labor Department said employers added 117,000 jobs last month. Analysts had said that anything above 100,000 would be good news.

The awful numbers for June and May were revised slightly upward, to gains of 56,000 and 46,000 respectively.

Still, a day after the market plummeted amid concerns over slow economic growth and Europe’s debt crises, the news will likely do little to ease the concerns of investors or give hope to those out of work. Most economists believe the economy needs to add around 250,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with the rate of growth in the workforce.

The overall unemployment rate ticked down slightly, to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent, but that was in part because of people who gave up looking for work after growing discouraged, and who are therefore no longer counted in the statistics.

By Liz Goodwin | The Lookout – 3 hrs ago

A study by the National Employment Law Project finds that middle-wage jobs–those that pay between $13 and $20 an hour–have been the biggest casualty of the recession. This year’s job market has 8.4 percent fewer jobs in that pay range than existed prior to the onset of the crash in 2008.

This is leading to an “hourglass economy,” the researchers write, with disproportionate numbers of Americans finding themselves at the top or bottom of the wage scale.

Most of the job growth since the recession has been in low-wage jobs, which shot up 3.2 percent in 2010, even as real wages for those workers have declined. The researchers say “retail salespersons, office clerks, cashiers, food preparation workers and stock clerks” have seen the fastest growth in available positions.

The economy has seen a 4 percent drop in higher wage jobs (those paying between $20 and $53 an hour) and a .3 percent decline in low-wage jobs since early 2008. But those wage sectors have still sustained a better recovery than mid-wage jobs have.

The lag actually pre-dates the ’08 collapse, researchers say, with mid-wage occupations such as machinists and pre-school teachers growing at a markedly slower pace than higher-wage and lower-wage jobs did. “Growing wage inequality in the United States is a phenomenon that’s three decades in the making, and which the recession

Company’s Q2 Partnerships Join an Impressive Base of 18,000 Restaurants Nationwide

Arlington Heights, IL (PRWEB) July 20, 2011
Restaurant.com announces the addition of six new restaurant chain locations to its rapidly growing program. The latest multi-unit partners include:
• Surg Restaurant Group – Restaurant.com is excited to welcome Surg Restaurant Group’s creation, Distil, with a fourth location in the Milwaukee metro area.
• Nicky’s Mexican Restaurants – Adding a creative Mexican taste from Louisiana, Restaurant.com welcomes seven Nicky’s Mexican Restaurants to the mix.
• Giordano’s – Serving Chicago’s Famous Stuffed Pizza for more than 35 years, Giordano’s has added its Rosemont, Ill. location to the Restaurant.com program.
• Tara Thai – The word “Tara” means water, commonly found in Thai folk literature. Tara Thai restaurants offer a unique and relaxing atmosphere, featuring a variety of underwater art. Seven east coast Tara Thai restaurants are now on the Restaurant.com program.
• Shula’s – Providence, R.I. is now home to the 13th Shula’s chain location on the Restaurant.com program. Named in honor of legendary NFL coach Don Shula, Shula’s 347 Grill offers everything from gourmet salads to fresh specialty fish, and exclusively serves Premium Black Angus Beef® burgers and steaks.
• Levy – Loft 610 in Omaha, Neb. is now the second Levy Restaurant location on the Restaurant.com program. Chef Ben invites customers to gaze out at Turner Park or cozy up to the warm glow of the stunning wine wall.
• Leona’s & The Hop Haus – Under the same multi-unit operation, Leona’s and Hop Haus have 14 Chicagoland locations on the Restaurant.com program. Both restaurants take pride in their cozy, family-owned atmospheres.

“Creating partnerships with chain restaurants is an exciting venture,” says Restaurant.com CEO, Cary Chessick. “Restaurant.com brings family and friends together, helping deepen relationships and create lasting memories one dining experience at a time.”

“Restaurant.com has certainly increased the exposure of Leona’s Restaurants and the Hop Haus to the city of Chicago and beyond,” says Marc Fishman, Leona’s and Hop Haus Marketing Manager. “With over 2.5 million appearances in search results, and thousands of tables filled, Restaurant.com has been instrumental in bringing first time customers to our business. Survey results have provided us with ‘spotters’ at all our locations, helping keep our operation team vigilant while increasing customer satisfaction across the board.”

Each new Restaurant.com partner has a custom web page on Restaurant.com, featuring a personalized description of the restaurant. The profile includes type of cuisine, menu items, décor, pricing, and hours of operation for each participating location. Restaurant.com partners benefit from the program’s extensive marketing efforts, which create greater exposure and increase customer traffic. The company never sends its restaurant partners a bill, only hungry diners.

The Restaurant.com program supplies restaurant operators with recurring custom reports that combine data from each chain location. Operators can evaluate total and individual location-specific program results with information such as profit estimates, number of tables filled, web page traffic and more. Restaurant.com also sends surveys to guests to collect feedback about their dining experiences. The survey data can be used to help modify menu items, improve and reward service, plus support in-house incentive and loyalty marketing programs. The company also includes consultative marketing services that reveal best practices, lessons learned and tips for more effective interactive marketing.

Restaurant.com has nearly 500 chain locations among its rapidly growing network of more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide. In 2010, the company filled more than five million tables across the country and generated more than $340 million in revenue for the restaurant industry.

Restaurant.com helps deepen relationships and create lasting memories one dining experience at a time. The company offers savings at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 45,000 daily gift certificate options. Restaurant.com brings family and friends together to relax, converse and enjoy dining out. Restaurant.com customers have saved more than $500 million since the Arlington Heights, Ill.-based company was founded in 1999.

Gerry Oher
Restaurant.com

What Gen Y Job Hunters Need to Know

It’s old wisdom: surround yourself with people better than yourself. But how? How do you know that the people you’re putting around you are actually better, and not just richer/smarter/better looking?

Now that you know I can do this, here’s my methodology so you can do this, too:

• Let go of judgment. The first step in recognizing talent is recognizing talent! You can only do this if you are able to put aside your own issues and prejudices and see others for who they are. ie, if you’re starving, any chef is a 4 star chef. You’ve got to be able to compensate for your own “schtick” when assessing others.
• Let go of ignorance. Sifting through the self-promoters to get to what’s real requires that you have some education about the world around you.
• Let go of jealousy. If you’re jealous of what they’ve got, you’ll feel it, they’ll feel it, and badness will be inevitable.
• Let go of need. Needing others is only fractionally better than being jealous of them. Needing people leads you to make demands. Which amps up the awkward and ends painfully.
• Let go of labels. Strong people don’t need anyone to define a relationship with labels because they’re able to figure it out on their own. Trying to label a relationship can scare a strong person off. (Not comfortable with ambiguity? Keep that to yourself.)
• Let go of doubt. Great people want people around them who are even better then themselves. If you don’t believe you belong, you don’t belong.
• Let go of control. Great people will do things you don’t understand and can’t explain. Insisting on living in a world you fully understand will keep you from experiencing people who can open you up to new and bigger ideas. Great people approach their worlds with innocence, wonder, and curiosity.
• Let go of you. Help the people around you shine brighter. The strong ones’ll keep you around and start feeding your gift back to you. (The weak ones will show their true colors by trying to take advantage or assuming malintent on your part—easy to deal with once you’re prepared for it.)
• Let go of work/life distinctions. When the relationship comes first, it’s sometimes difficult to know if it’s going to grow into friendship, business, or both. Especially with great people who jump from idea to idea with ease, and make no distinction between a project that makes money and one done for fun. Be profersonal.
• Let go of self-esteem. The thing about surrounding yourself with awesome is, you are always being challenged. It’s with love and support, but they’re challenges nonetheless, and you must win, without help, without cheating, without rationalizing. And when you don’t win, you must bounce back quickly and confidently because you don’t want to fail twice in a row.
• Let go of ego. You love that local band? Accept that you’re just one small part of their success, and help them get big anyway. Make it your goal to enjoy next year’s conversation with that girl who claims she “discovered” the band on the radio “last month.”
• Let go of negative. Awesome people fix things or laugh about them. They see no third option.
• Let go of safe. Surrounding yourself with extraordinary people guarantees one thing: change. Scary, risky, life-altering change. No-more-comfort-zone change. For instance, if I were the worlds’ best matchmaker and we were hanging out, I could find you your true love. When I did, would you be ready? Great people requires us to abandon the safe harbor of our routines.

Did you get it yet? Greatness happens when you let go. It’s the ultimate “stone soup;” you bring only your true self and all the other ingredients you think you need actually are provided by others when the time comes. It takes an incredible amount of self-confidence and faith to play this game—but I never did say it was easy.

That’s my recipe. I hope you can make it work for you!

Time … is your friend, not your enemy!

By Kevin Kalstad, CPC  | Gecko Hospitality

In the past 4 weeks I have seen not one, but two great candidates walk away from two great job offers / opportunities. True Story!

Both situations were with different candidates and clients, but in essence it all boiled down to time. In my opinion, the candidate’s lack of patience for the client’s needs cost them these jobs. We tell our candidates that these searches take time! If the job you are interviewing has a larger title and area of responsibility, it will take even more time.

How long might these searches take? From the time we get your resume, to when you might get an offer, these are generally how long these searches might take.

Assistant Manager and or Sous Chef: Six to Eight weeks

Chef and or General Manager: Eight to Twelve weeks.

District or Area Manager: Twelve to Thirty Six weeks.

Bottom –Line?

We would urge you to be patient with the process. We want to place the right candidate, with the right client. More than ever, great companies are truly counting the total cost of each and every new hire they make. Hang in there with us, and we will get you a great job with and excellent company!

Send us your resume today to start the process. We never charge a fee to you, our candidates.