Labor Day is only a few days away.  Will the economy celebrate this important holiday by creating work for the millions who seek it?  All the economic reports predict flat to slight growth during the remainder of 2010 with concerns for a double dip recession.  We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) have fair amount optimism for job creation in our small universe.

Some signs that growth might not be as dismal as the economist are forecasting:

-Many of our long established clients are planning to add to staff after the Labor Day holiday.

            -We are experiencing an increase in our temporary and contract employee’s conversions to direct hire status.

            -Our new client’s numbers continue to grow during the summer months.

            -New job orders held steady during July & August.  Our usual experience is a decrease of hiring during summer months.

            -We are finding many job candidates are being offered several positions during their job-hunting cycle. The cycle however continues to be exceptionally long.

            -A recent staffing industry meeting that I attended the consensus seem to have a few hints of optimism for the remainder of the year and beyond.

            -Our job-seeker webinar series (http://jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php)

Attendance has decrease in recent months.  This is a good thing for nothing would make us happier here at BLK than for the need for this service to cease.

So as the summer comes to a close and the vacation cycle spins down.  We are looking forward to hiring increasing and job opportunities being more plentiful.  However we still have a long way to go before all those that want a job can land one.

I continue to thank our loyal clients and job seekers for their support and we at Berman Larson Kane will continue to offer the “Best Staffing Options”.

We have experienced the hottest July since 1999 with record number days above 90 degrees.  As for the job market the pattern is lazy and hazy through the first half of the summer.  The good news about this is the heat has prevented any severe action on the downside but has also not sparked any direction on the upside of hiring.

So good news the job market is remaining on an even keel and not losing any additions jobs.  But the bad news we are not seeing any swings in the job creation number.  Hazy Lazy and “Flat” are the words that best describe the summer months for hiring.

As we look out to labor day and beyond, a recent article showed that over fifty percent of corporations are planning to add to staff before the end of 2010.  This is such welcoming news and I hope the sincere responses to the survey will unfold into action beginning in September.  These responses make sense as earnings continue to improve, corporate technology upgrades are being implemented and many durable goods are beginning to show a need for replacement.  All three of these events will need additional workers to meet demand.

The wild cards that could greatly hinder this positive prediction remain the euro, consumer confidence and no more surprises from our financial markets.  And if the federal government was to introduce additional stimulus we might even see extreme positive job creation numbers.

As for our little universe here at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) we continue to thank our loyal clients for putting their confidence in our services, we thank the job-seekers who land positions with our clients and the great team we have working here that are able to make these fantastic matches everyday.

As the fall approaches and temperatures drop…we will see the job market begin to heat up.  The hotter the job markets the better for all.  I can’t wait to feel the heat J.

Although the job market continues to improve the number of unemployed remains at historical highs.  Will we be celebrating in July the new job number releases?  I would think not.

Our Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) tiny universe is seeing a continuous increase in both temporary and direct hire orders the past 4 months.  This has been really good for a select group of job-seekers and has propelled us to a wonderful quarter.  But from talking with many hiring authorities hiring is remaining soft and selective.  Many companies are not ready to make long-term commitments in staffing.  Productivity numbers continue to improve and I believe many companies will ride this wave for the immediate future.

So my prediction for the summer months are NO Hiring Fireworks, but selective pockets and skill sets will continue to see improvements. 

Our BLK micro world is seeing an increase in IT hiring across many skill sets, a steady increase in technical sales opportunities, a small increase in HR positions, a select amount of hiring in the financial area and a sideways movement in Pharma positions.

So if you are job-seeker better days are on the horizon.  And if you land a new job launch some firecrackers so the rest of us can enjoy the belief that our job is on the horizon.  Your sparks will hopefully ignite some major hiring fireworks in the near future.

Special thanks to our BLK clients who have help us achieve a record quarter.  Your confidence in our services is so greatly appreciated and as president of Berman Larson Kane I pledge that we will continue attempts to exceed your expectations.

For those in transition we will continue offering our FREE Job-Seeker webinars until you all become webinar dropouts because you have landed a great job.  You can read what others have said about our most recent webinar by visiting http://jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/testimonials.php?id=59  Stay well…Bob Larson, CPC

The pruning that corporate America has performed over the past 2 – 3 years, shedding jobs has helped them return to positive earnings.  As these wonderful earning reports continue to flow into the markets will the next wave of growth demand additional staffing?

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) continue to see an increase in both temporary and direct hire requirements.  And this increase is significant over 2009 numbers, with increases of over 25% in all areas.  This is welcoming news!

However, those that have been out of work for more then 30 or more weeks continue to struggle to locate new employment opportunities.  Does this signify a changed skill demand for the new jobs that are being created? I am not sure.  We do see strong activity and new skills in “new media companies” as advertising dollars are being dispersed over more venues. 

As for traditional employment and skills, I believe that companies are beginning to hit a stress level that their current work force is incapable of maintaining at efficient levels.  As the prospect of losing the ability to expand, because of too small labor force, hiring will at some point pick-up to a brisk pace.  When this happens it is anyone’s guess, but for the immediate future we at Berman Larson Kane are planning for hiring to continue to show positive trends over the next 4-5 months.

In the interim, if you are still unemployed these positive trends will hopefully begin to at least produce additional activity in your job search.  A quote from one of our clients sort of quantifies the upturn “we have experienced potential hires being on additional interviews with competitors so we need to speed up our hiring cycle to land the good talent that is on the market.  We do not see this talent pool being available forever”

Less hope this client has identified a shift in hiring attitudes.  As for now good luck with your job search and we thank all those that have participated in our FREE job-seeker webinars for you positive feedback.  It makes our mission here at Berman Larson Kane so much more rewarding.

The wild card in this recover for the moment is the EURO and its possible negative effect on the world economy.

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) have experienced an increase in new requirements for direct hires over the past 6 weeks.  Although these numbers are low compared to 2004 highs they have a significant increase over 2009, a welcoming sign in the right direction J.

As the department of labor reports March 2010 was the first month in along time with an uptick in the job creation numbers.  Another sign that things are getting better.  And if you remove the seasonal census workers the numbers are still close to 100,000 private sector jobs, another impressive step J

As I look out on the horizon it appears that the rapid shedding of jobs has ceased.  New jobs are being selectively created as companies look to expand business and find that their current workforce is at their stress limits.  Corporate earnings have been impressive pushing the Dow above 11,000, however it appears that corporations will need to increase headcount to continue sales and earnings growth.

But, we still have a long way and need allot of momentum to begin to make a dent in the 8 million plus jobs that were eliminated during the past 24 months.  We especially feel the pain of those that have been on unemployment for 6 months plus, as they are financially, intellectually and confidence level strained.

My predictions are for a steady job growth for the remainder of the year, but hoping for rapid expansion and job growth numbers in the 300,000 plus range in the near future.

Having been in the employment business for over 35 years I have never seen such talent struggle to secure meaningful employment.  Our Free BLK Job-Seeker webinar series http://www.jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php  continue to help all of those in transition and we thank all of you for attending and appreciate your comments as so many of you have become successful webinar dropouts because you are landing jobs. 

Stay well everyone the sun is peaking through the clouds.

March Madness is upon us here at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com). We are witnessing an influx of new orders for both temporary employees and direct hires.  What a welcoming change for business, for job-seekers and the beginning of a new season. 

This April 1 will be our 30th anniversary of Berman Larson Kane. We have witness many changes starting with bicycle messengers in 1980 to video interviews today.  So what has 30 years in business taught me? What lesson can I pass along to 30 years of helping employers and job seekers?

 Observation # 1 – Change is a Constant/ Predicting Change is a Crap Shoot
In 1980 when BLK started, resumes were typed and snail mailed. Bicycle messengers peddled from mid-town to down town with urgent resumes that needed to be delivered for next day interviews. I thought the fax machine was the greatest invention, only to have an exclusive life cycle of only about 3-5 years before email made faxing resumes obsolete. I thought the Internet job boards would never be able to deliver quality job applicants. Now we at BLK have our own job search and registration system. Were have all the programming jobs and programmers gone? Maybe Peter Paul and Mary had the answer “it’s blowing in the wind”.

 Observation # 2 – Values are the Foundation of Business/Life and Remain a Constant
Over the past 30 years our mission statement has adjusted, some years becoming longer and other years shorter. The type and mix of services is constantly adjusting at our clients and job seekers request. But the Value of offering “The Best Staffing Options” has always been the foundation of our Berman Larson Kane’s success. 

Observation # 3 – Providing Excellent Service is a Continuous Journey
I know that we offer a great staffing service. BLK is a group of experience; smart, dedicated employees looking to assist job seekers and employers with matching careers aspirations to jobs that need to be performed.  Our service is dedicated to making sure that both job seeker and employer are winners. How we accomplish this is a daily journey. Our previous experience is only one of the tools that make us who we are. Continuous learning is another part of the journey. Understanding and listening is a continuous process towards providing the “Best Staffing Options”. 

Good I love this Journey…. may it continue for at least another 30 years. Special thanks to all that have joined us and assisted us on this value driven, constantly changing and continuous journey. Berman Larson Kane http://www.jobsbl.com

Thank you Mr. President. “Yes We Can” will and should make job creation a top priority over the next 12 months.  I was so please to see this all-important initiative move into a prominent position during your state of the union address last evening.

I have been in the employment field for over 35 years, 30 years as president of Berman Larson Kane and have never witnessed such long-term/un/under/part time/ wish I was fulltime employment.   

We at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) have never seen such an inventory of talent seeking jobs.  Our Free Job-Seeker webinars have now exceeds over 25,000 registrations.  This community service is one of the small steps our organization has taken to assist those in need.  The high attendance of our “Staying Motivated on an Extended Job-Search” webinar is one of our most popular because of chronic unemployment. 

Tax cuts, training, stimulus dollar, community college credits and OJT will all help get our country back into an economic recover.

“YES YOU CAN” help our economy create jobs.  Thanks for recognizing the need and taking the lead.  As jobs are created our county will begin to smile again.  Mortgage payments will be met, health insurance coverage will increase and the tax base will stabilize.  Thanks again for bringing jobs to the forefront of your administration.

While the unemployment rate remains high in the 10% range several signs point to new jobs being created in 2010.

For the past two years our country has consistently lost jobs month over month, with the most recent few months we are almost at a leveling point as the number of jobs shred drops to the low 5 figures from the high 6 figures.

Tomorrow’s employment announcement for the month of December should continue in this low range.  If we are surprised with a positive number it will be the first time in a long time that we created more jobs than we lost.  A good sign that we are stabilizing and have reach level ground.

Going forward I really believe that we will see some positive job growth during 2010 with the numbers by March reaching a positive low six-figure range.   If, all factors remain constant and we avoid a national meltdown confidence will return to the employment market.  As this confidence returns, sales will increase, housing will be restored and job creation will to accelerate.

From our marketing efforts here in our small micro-world at Berman Larson Kane (www.jobsbl.com) the majority of our clients are planning to increase staff during the first six months of 2010 although not at robust levels.  The really solid news is that a very small minority less than 2% of our clients is planning on shedding jobs over the next two quarters.

As this New Year begins to roll along I wish for a return too a day when jobs were plentiful and all that wanted to work could.  I think we are 4-5 years away from low unemployment numbers of below 5% … but for the moment I am happy that the shedding has ceased!

For the past year we at Berman Larson Kane have been offering FREE job-seeker webinars.  I would like to thank the tens of thousands who have attended these sessions.  Your comments and feedback are so greatly appreciated and as a result of your interest we will continue these programs into 2010.

As a reminder along with offering our traditional staffing services since 1980, Berman Larson Kane would like to share the following FREE services to the transitioning community during these challenging job-seeker times.

1)      Scheduled for December 16th at 12 noon EST is our next FREE Interactive Webinar: Baby Boomer Interviewer Success Strategies.  Please register for this event at http://www.jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php .

      This community service is available to all those in transition, so feel free to pass

      invitations along to job-seeking friends.

2)      Our Book, “Aim Shoot Get Hired”, is now available as a FREE eBook and can be downloaded at http://www.jobsbl.com/about/book/index.php .

3)      All prior job-seeker webinars are available FREE through the BLK website as streaming media at http://www.jobsbl.com/jobs/coaching/webinars.php .

4)      The historical section of our newsletter is filled with exciting job-seeker tips.  Click on http://www.jobsbl.com/about/report/index.php for FREE reviews.

5)      You can view our hottest public job openings at http://www.jobsbl.com/jobs/index.php ; however,  our confidential searches are not listed for public display.

As always, we thank you for your support and assistance during our 30-year history of offering “The Best Staffing Options”.  We are predicting hiring demands will return to normal beginning Q1 2010.

I hope the job market is turning a corner.  We are experiencing a significant increase in temporary and contact staffing.  This trend is confirmed by the Department of Labor and you can read more about it in this month’s  Berman Larson Kane Newsletter at http://www.jobsbl.com/about/report/report.php?issue_num=118.  Stay well

Thank you to all of those that participated in our webinar.  We at Berman Larson Kane www.jobsbl.com hope one small tip will assist you in securing new employment.  If you would like to view this webinar, rebroadcast are available for free on our website.

Testimonials from
Taking the Fear out of Cold Calling

“Thank you for the information you shared during the webinar. Very helpful! I look forward to future webinars you may offer that might assist me with my job search.”

“Great seminar!Thank you!”

“Good material, good presentation.”

“Very informative. I am more motivated to overcome my FEAR of Cold calling.”

“Thank you. Webinar validated my fears AND my methods. One surprise: 40 calls per week! Wow, will get on that one quickly.

“Nice presentation on a difficult topic.”

“Excellent ideas. Thank you for saying it’s OK to be a pest. Very helpful.”

“Thank you for offering this and your other webinars. Cold calling is tough for me. I think you really hit the nail on the head as to many of the reasons why I find it so difficult. I mostly have a hard time getting over feeling like I’m being a pest. You made a lot of thoughtful, helpful points, but I’m not sure I’m going to find this any easier to do. However, I’m going to reread my notes for some sparks of inspiration, and take a stab at making some calls. Thanks again.”

“Great presentation, Bob. I am one who has great fear of the warm calling — contacting people I haven’t kept in touch with for YEARS. Your suggestions are very helpful. Thanks for all you do to help those of us looking for our next provessional opportunity. (H. Treddin-Denville, NJ)”

“I am very glad that I joined the webinar, it was very informative and cold calling topic was really interesting. I learned and convinced to overcome my fear. Thank you for providing detail information about cold calling and warm calling with samples.”

“exceptional job … thank you for taking the time to present this material”

“I thought it was very helpful and hopefully now that I know step by step on how to go about what I include in my messages, It will make it that much easier to call.”

“Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t really thought about snail mail in some time but that may actually be a great “”in”" with a potential hiring manager.”

“As Bob mentioned, it’s not any easy thing to do & not my favorite topic. He had some good suggestions for making the calls easier to stomach.”

“I thought that BLK was spot on about the various fears involved with calling out. After an extended transition, one could get into a funk or lull and think that it isn’t worth it, but it really is, and I know personally, that is what I need to do. Like was said in the webinar, it only takes one win / hit !! Thanks for the push.”

“Loved the practicality of the Webinar. It was quick, helpful and the technology worked perfectly (always a plus with these things). Thanks, Bob!”

“Great information! I will start doing mor cold calls starting today!”

“Very interesting. The content was right on in identifying many of the concerns that I have about cold calling. Despite the assurances, though, I am still a little hesitant about doing them–I have received such calls in the past and have not found them much fun to deal with. However, given my lack of employment, perhaps I just need to press on.”

“Thank you for your generous advice and time, it is much appreciated. I feel armed with more incentive for making many more calls than I’ve made, and even some reason to think I did a few things right. Now I’d like to better learn how to use LinkedIn and other social networking sites to target to whom to introduce myself. Expanding my network when I feel I’ve exhausted my warm calls is something I’d like a script for.”

“Excellent presentation, well thought out and efficiently presented. Very energizing! Gotta get on the phone…”

“I decided to take the Cold Calling Webinar because the idea of cold calls makes me cringe. My job search is two weeks old and I was given the services of The Five O’Clock Club in my outplacement. The Webinar was very informative and I must admit I have heard many of these points before. The difference is that Bob Larson has a style of speaking that gets the point across and does it in such a way that it feels like a comfortable conversation with someone you know. He instills confidence in the listener.”

“Bob,An EXCELLENT session . . . Once again the content, delivery and your wealth of experience provided valuable and most appreciated information. Thank you and your staff as well for providing same.”

“Great approach - Bob realizes that to get folks to cold call you need to alleviate or eliminate the apprehension about doing this. His tips are clean and concise, much like your message needs to be.”

“Well done. I half-expected the program to be a thinly-veiled pitch for recruiting services, but indeed found it to be very helpful. As a result, I will look earnestly for more programs and services from your firm.”

“Terrific content provided in an upbeat manner. It did acknowledge the difficulty in following this advice and admitted it is hard - so that was realistic. The time frame (30 minutes) and cost (free) make it a wonderful value. Thanks.”

“nice webinar! Thanks for the cold calling and warm tips, it will help in landing a job.”

“Quite good, and not too long. This may actually make me resove to do some calling.”

“Upbeat and inspirational…gave me a set of tactics that I wasn’t using. Appreciate the time and effort in providing this.”

“This was an excellent webinar. Very concise. I feel like I learned a lot. I have a better understanding how important cold calling is. I will commit to developing a strategy for adding cold calling to my search efforts. Thanks for hosting this program.”

“I can finally adjust my thinking about this topic and start working towards a goal of approving my job search.Thank you”

“Thank you for a Great Presentation.The examples of reducing your phone bill by using Skype and how the significance of staying in touch like EC the EE can generate results were brilliant. Keep up the Good Work!!”

“Excellent presentation! I concede that I ‘m part of the 90% not presently using cold calling as part of my job search. However, I have used the warm calling aspect as a follow-up technique to a resume submittance trying to establish a deeper working relationship with the recruiting firm or client.”