Jobless rate drops to 8.6 percent, hiring picks up

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The unemployment rate fell to a 2-1/2 year low of 8.6 percent in November and companies stepped up hiring, further evidence the economic recovery was gaining momentum.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 120,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, in line with economists’ expectations for a gain of 122,000.

The relative strength of the report was also bolstered by revisions to the employment counts for September and October to show 72,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

While part of the decline in the unemployment rate from 9.0 percent in October was due to people leaving the labor force, the household survey from which the jobless rate is derived also showed solid gains in employment

The unemployment rate had been expected to hold at 9 percent. It last dropped by 0.4 percentage point in January.

“The really good news is that employment has grown for four months running — in large steps. There was a solid increase in private employment. Everything there looks steady, but clearly healthy and positive,” said Pierre Ellis, a senior economist at Decision Economics in New York.

However, retail accounted for more than a third all new private sector jobs in November.

U.S. stock index futures added gains after the report, while Treasury debt prices briefly extended losses and interest rate futures held steady. The dollar extended gains versus the yen.

The report is unlikely to take much pressure off President Barack Obama, whose economic stewardship will face the judgment of voters next November. The outlook for the U.S. economy is also being threatened by Europe’s deepening financial crisis.

The report could temper the appetite among some Federal Reserve officials to ease monetary policy further.

In forecasts released earlier this month, the Fed said the jobless rate would likely average 9 percent to 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter. It did not expect it to drop to an 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent range until late next year.

Data ranging from manufacturing to retail sales suggest the growth pace could top 3 percent in the fourth quarter, in contrast to China, where growth is cooling and the euro zone, which many economists believe is already in recession.

While the economy’s growth pace appears to have accelerated from the third quarter’s 2 percent annual rate, unemployment remains too high.

At the same time, U.S. fiscal policy is set to tighten in the new year, even if lawmakers extend a payroll tax cut.

Taken together, some analysts believe the headwinds facing the U.S. economy will lead the Fed to ease monetary policy further by buying more bonds.

“We still have a very long way to go. I would favor the Fed going for a third round of quantitative easing,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “It’s the only powerful tool left, even though it’s losing some of its bang.”

Analysts say the economy needs to create at least 125,000 jobs every month just to keep the unemployment rate steady.

But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

While the government’s survey of employers has shown a still tepid pace of job growth, its separate poll of households that is used to calculate the unemployment rate has shown robust jobs gains for four straight month.

At the same time, a broad measure of unemployment that includes people who want to work but have given up looking for jobs and those working only part time for economic reasons dropped to a 2-1/2 year low of 15.6 percent in November from 16.2 percent in October.

PRIVATE SECTOR SHOULDERS BURDEN

All the increase in nonfarm payrolls in November again came from the private sector, where employment rose 140,000 after increasing 117,000 in October.

Government employment fell by 20,000. Public payrolls have dropped in 10 of the past 11 months as state and local governments have tightened their belts.

Outside of government, job gains were almost across the board, with retail surging 49,800.

Elsewhere, construction payrolls fell 12,000 after losing 15,000 jobs in October. Factory jobs edged up 2,000, with most of the gains coming from automakers.

Health care and social assistance hiring rose 18,700 after adding 30,300 job in October. Temporary hiring — seen as a harbinger for future hiring – increased 22,300 after adding 15,800 jobs last month.

The average work week was unchanged at 34.3 hours, with hourly earnings falling two cents.

The Best Job Interview Questions You Should Ask

9 Etiquette Rules That the Boss Shouldn’t Break

From the office Christmas party to friending employees on social media, here are nine new and old etiquette rules you need to commit to memory.

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.

You’re happy in your current Restaurant Management position and aren’t thinking about leaving. So what should you do when a restaurant executive recruiter calls you? Or a recruiter for a Hotel Management position or other Hospitality Industry position?

You never know when a management recruiter might present a better opportunity. You’d be wise to learn what jobs are available. As a restaurant manager, you should already know the value of networking with other industry insiders. As most jobs a recruiter searches to fill aren’t advertised, working with a restaurant recruiter gives you an avenue of broader exposure to potentially better positions than you can get on your own. It could result in the discovery of a better opportunity for yourself.

If you are exceptional at your position, expect to be contacted. As new restaurant openings increase, experienced managers who excel in their positions can expect to be contacted. If you never get a call from a recruiter, you might not be “recruitable“ management material. Employers traditionally prefer to raid the ranks of the employed, especially those working for competitors. They will use recruiters to do so.

Here’s how to handle calls so you remain in a recruiter’s good graces without jeopardizing your current position.

Always take the call:

If you don’t cooperate, chances are you won’t be contacted by the firm again. One manager rudely refused to speak to a recruiter I work with when he called about an opening for a general manager of a high-volume concept paying $60k base, about $12k more than the manager was currently making. Less than a month later, the same manager’s resume arrived at the search firm. He’d been downsized out of his job. Guess where his resume went? Not wanting to talk to a recruiter shows that you do not understand the value of networking — a definite blow to your future career prospects.

Find out more about the firm:

If you aren’t familiar with the recruiter or the firm, ask for credentials. Get a phone number so you can call back to confirm that the company — and recruiter — actually exist. This can assure you the call is not coming from someone within your company trying to find out if you’re looking at other job opportunities. Also, no one should ask you for money. If a recruiter ever asks you for payment, that’s when you hang up because that’s not recruiting. Never pay for a job.

Read between the lines:

During your first conversation, you may not be given the name of the hiring company, just a brief description of the opening and its requirements. The recruiter may then ask if you know anyone suitable for the job. Be equally discreet in return. If you’re interested, don’t fire off your resume. Instead, ask for more information so you can evaluate the opportunity. Your next conversation should probably occur outside your restaurant.

If you aren’t interested, say so, but offer the names of people who might be. You’ll be helping your contacts and the recruiter, which can put you on his or her short list to call next time. The restaurant manager who says, “Would you like suggestions that might lead you to the appropriate people?”, will end up being a friend. Maybe three months down the road, they’ll have an assignment that’s appropriate for you.

Be articulate and positive:

The fact that you’ve been called means you have the right background for an opening. Don’t assume you’re just chatting; the recruiter will be evaluating whether you have the communication skills and other “intangibles” needed for the job. If someone answers my questions with “yeps” and “nos“, I’ll probably keep looking for someone who answers in full sentences. A positive, can-do attitude is essential. If you can say, “We had some real financial problems and have been down in sales the past two years, but I’ve learned so much about how to manage during lean times”, I’m more likely to think well of you than if you run your employer down.

Don’t exaggerate:

When asked about your accomplishments or earnings, don’t embellish. Recruiters check references thoroughly and any lies will disqualify you. If you fudge on your resume, that will give you a black mark not only with the recruiter, but with all their client restaurant concepts as well. Being completely honest means the recruiter is more likely to find the right fit for you. Tell them what you’re looking for and what you want that you don‘t currently have in your current position. Be realistic and honest about what you’re earning and your abilities.

If you survive these tests, the recruiter will most likely reveal the employer’s identity to you. If you’re still interested and continue to impress the search executive, your name will be submitted to the company. If you’re suitable, the next call you receive will be to schedule an interview.

I have been working on some great searches the past few weeks, and have come across an interesting pattern.

The companies I work with do not want resumes from candidates that are on career boards and job sites. That is such a different expectation from what most of you understand. They want to see and hear about great industry leaders that are not on these job sites. They want to have me present fresh and intriguing candidates.  Candidates they and their competitors have not seen.

Every employer has access to these sites. It has been heard that some employers are regularly viewing these sites not so much for new talent, but to see who on their current team may be “out looking for a job”.  Be very careful!

Another interesting phenomenon as of late is that if candidates are on an employer’s site posting for jobs, and they want to delete that online profile, they cannot in some cases. So, once you apply, you are in their tracking system indefinitely. What does that matter you say, well just this week I had some great candidates I wanted to take before a client for some great positions, but because they had already applied into the company’s database, they could not be presented. Could they still be reviewed by that client and hired, sure. But, your resume is in a huge and burgeoning system with thousands of other candidates. You are just a name and number. It will be very hard for you to get noticed, it at all.

However, if you use our services [never a fee to you], you will have a Gecko professional be your advocate in front of these companies. We take your resume right to the decision maker. These decision makers are taking our candidates and our word that these candidates are high quality industry leaders. We at Gecko have done our homework, and present you in a great light. We get through all the “noise” and to the top.

Give it a try, take you resume offline, stop applying to every little opening you see, and send us your resume today. You will not regret it.

Kevin Kalstad — Gecko Hospitality

As a recruiter in the restaurant industry, I have the opportunity to come in contact with hundreds of people every day from all facets of the hospitality industry. Many of them are employed but looking for a better opportunity. Some seek career counseling and we have stimulating conversations on the pros and cons of staying where they are currently working. And then others are unemployed.
The unemployed fall into three categories. There are those who are dying to get back into a restaurant, hotel or Cafeteria as a manager as fast as possible. They hate being unemployed and miss the fast pace customer service oriented business. The second group is those that are unemployed but want to hold out for the right job. That job has the title they want with at least the salary they were making before. It also has to be in a desirable location and with a company that is “Not a Step Down” form the company that let them go. They will stay on unemployment as long as a check comes in the mail and hold out for the perfect job. The third group is people who just can’t find work. They live in a place where opportunities are few and they can’t afford to relocate. They would be more than willing to work at Subway during the day and McDonald’s at night just so they can pay the bills and strive to have a better life.
I believe that there is a large group of Americans who fall into the second category and frankly it drives me crazy! Over the past year I have seen more candidates turn down job interviews and job offers because the job wasn’t the ideal job they are looking for. Sometimes the salary was $1000 a year less then they were making before. Sometimes it was because they didn’t want to work weekends or late nights any more. Other times it’ because the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol and they view it as step down. These people choose to stay on unemployment often because they have a spouse who is working and they just aren’t in a hurry to get back to work. Their spouse and our tax dollars are paying the bills. Now I know this isn’t everyone however I wonder, have we made it to easy for American’s to stay home and not go back to work?

When you go to buy a house, do you just wander around looking at all the houses for sale and then just decide on one?  When you need a doctor, do you just go to one because their name popped up in a google search of doctors in your area?  When you’re looking for romance, do you just go out with whoever happens to express an interest . . . well, ok, don’t answer that one.  The point is, you have criteria, certain requirements, and you narrow your choices accordingly.

You want to find the job that will be right for you, not one that’s right for anybody, one that’s right for you.  Sometimes you may not have thought about what that is.  We can help you do that.

Land The RIGHT Job, Not Just ANY Job!

Today I spoke with an experienced Chef with high volume Kitchen Manager experience and high volume Chef experience.  She said that to be honest, she doesn’t think much of recruiters, because awhile back when she was a younger chef, a recruiter sent her on a job interview with a concept that doesn’t even “cook” their food.  And, she didn’t know who she was interviewing with until she got there.  She decided to interview with me because of Gecko’s reputation.  Period.

I opened by asking what she would most consider herself, an Executive Chef or an Executive Kitchen Manager?  She appreciated the question and talked about the differences and her preferences.  Ultimately, she wanted to look at positions with high volume, well-known brand concepts with from scratch kitchens.  Out of my 5 opportunities in her geographical area, 2 were a match.  I mentioned them, she was highly interested.  I mentioned one other concept that I could check with for her – she was interested in that one as well – and there we were.  She now had a targeted search.

Her resume will not end up in a computer database with hundreds/thousands of others.  Her resume will go directly to the person in charge of hiring within the organizations we discussed.  Nowhere else right now, and definitely nowhere else without her prior consent.  We are different than other recruiters out there, and our candidates feel the difference.  For us, it’s about relationships.  For us, it’s about the Targeted Search.  Both for our candidates and for our clients.

Could she have landed a job by throwing her resume out there and hoping for the best, possibly.  Would it have been the “right” job for her?  Possibly not.  Why take that chance?  You don’t with your home, you don’t with your doctor, and what you do with regard to romance – well that’s your own business.  Your career?  Let that be ours.

Targeted Search = The Right Fit.

Gecko Hospitality = The Right Recruiter For You.

In today’s world 90% of people apply for a job by electronically submitting their resume either through a website or by emailing it to a recruiter such as me.   The first thing that happens to your resume after you click send is that it goes into a database.    I actually read every resume that comes across my desk however many recruiters don’t.   

What happens is that the recruiter gets a job order and then searches their data base for the right candidate.  When they find that candidate they will usually email and/ or call the candidate to set up an interview.   The kicker is that if you don’t have your address on your resume then the database software can’t find you so that the recruiter knows to call and email you.  The most important information to put on your resume is your name and contact information (address, phone number and personal email address).  Without these you will not get the job.