CVTracker Newsletter

Curriculum Vitae

Quarterly Newsletter

www.cvtrack.com

Vol. 1. Issue 2

June 2004

contents
Editor's Note United States Job Market - Summary Report Networker CVTracker^TM Update

editor's note
Land Ho! Land Ho!
Thank you for participating in the second issue of Curriculum Vitae Quarterly and our expression and outlook for the coming months ahead. Welcoming news is on the horizon as our economy, weathering the tumultuous effects of a truly battering storm, has slowly but surely pulled itself up from the depths of a low-period that needs no further deliberation. Yes, I'm sure that many of us have seen our friends, our relatives, ourselves, and our office nemesis undergo the humiliation, torture, and ego bashing that comes with the territory of job loss, but things have begun to pick up. The second quarter of this year has been substantially better than the last and we've seen some major changes in new job creation indices. Although, as we are optimistic, lets keep things realistic as well. The job loss is still with us. Although many new jobs have been created, few of these are in the sectors conducive to non-healthcare executive or professional occupations. Most have been concentrated in the healthcare sector with almost 2/3rd of the total job increase for May established in health care and ambulatory services. The shortages in nursing were predicted long before in 2000 and earlier, but we see now that economists had a strong understanding of how this may have affected the overall market and consequently resulted in overall job increase. Perhaps the most effective way of measuring job creation is a combined effect of both the dollar amount in new salaries as well as in the volume of new jobs. All told, U.S. economic prosperity might be measured even more clearly if we look at the employed rather than those out of work or new jobs created. What percentage of employed workers received raises, bonuses, or improvements in their personal economic prosperity? When comparing the new changes in the market, it's important to note that an even more efficient measurement of the market would be turnover of existing jobs, i.e. how many new jobs were created in relation to those existing. Putting this in dollar terms rather than volume terms might also be a powerful signal for determining economic value. Regardless, the best indicators are always combined effects. Seldom does a single indicator truly describe the impact of an economic change. We are still at amazing levels with respect to economic prosperity - even with the jobless recovery period, and the hopefully job-filled recovery. With 139 million of our residents gainfully employed, we have something to be proud of. Our unemployment levels are relatively low compared to the last few decades, and we have certainly improved our position in the global market with several economic indicators such as GDP, consumer sentiment, and production capacity. For those still out of work, well, times are changing quickly and within a short period there will be increased demand for whatever skills you can muster and no doubt, you will land somewhere. Hopefully in your career of choice. Ananda Chakravarty Assistant Editor
Note: Visit the most recent updated presentation on contact management software at Download White Papers

job market
Job market sees an indeterminate rise - but is this just an election year bump in the road? Current trend depressing investors and business forecasters alike. By Art Langdon
The overall job market has shown remarkable gains over the last quarter with the current administration predicting a total of 2.6 million jobs created by the end of December. Accomplishing this feat will require a minimum of 220,000 new jobs per month. The month of June provided a major setback to the strong jobs growth that was seen in previous months. Since February of 2004, there has been considerable job gains in terms of the payroll surveys submitted by companies every quarter. However, June saw a rise of only 112,000 new jobs created. As a note, the number of jobs created in June amounts to a mere .076% of the total employment in the US today. This set of jobs was exceedingly dismal in that it only represented 1.36% of the unemployed. In other words, a tiny percentage of the currently unemployed labor force was able to find jobs in June. An important point to note is that over the month of June, the labor force actually increased as a whole by 305,000 new workers. This suggests that many displaced or discouraged workers are returning to the job search and hence may be the result of a positive general outlook by the workforce due to prior month job reports and the economic condition of the nation in general. The cumulative effects have been somewhat more upbeat due to the influx of jobs in March and April, although there has been a consistent decrease in new job creation from March through June. There is no evidence that job creation or loss will be forthcoming in the next few months except for significant demand in specific industries such as healthcare. The unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged at 5.6% of the total employed labor force. Job growth for the last three months averaged 223,000 new jobs per month. However, simultaneously, the labor market as a whole averaged 209,000 new workers per month returning to the workforce or new entrants to the workforce in search of jobs. The overall average growth in terms of new jobs created for existing workers is approximately 14,000 new jobs per month for the months of April, May and June¹. From the unemployment side, the rate has remained relatively stable, fluctuating from 5.6% to 5.7% for the latest quarter. The employment levels have been improving steadily through May, but unemployment remains steady as shown in Figure 1. Employment and Figure 2. Unemployment Rates. Job creation was found mostly in the social services, ambulatory care, administrative and support services, and membership associations for the past month. Healthcare, hospitals, and corollary industries had shown the greatest job growth during the past few months. Motor vehicles, recreation, transportation, non-durable goods, and local government showed the highest job loss during the month of June. Regional rates are shown in Figure 3. Regional Unemployment Rates with higher rates in states such as Alaska and California. In states such as California, unemployment is targeted in specific areas such as Los Angeles (6.5%). It is important to note that metropolitan regions have accumulated higher rates of unemployment than their respective regions. For instance, New York state has an unemployment rate of 5.8% while New York City has a 7% unemployment rate. The District of Columbia had unemployment rates of 7.5% based on the DOL BLS May surveys. As can be seen fin Figure 3., unemployment was concentrated on the west coast pacific states and midwest and some southern states. The standard error for total cumulative employment based on statistics provided is 0.2% of the total¹. For the total 147,279,000 employed individuals in the nation, this constitutes a standard error of +/- 294,558 in terms of the accurate number of employed individuals. Statistically accurate evaluation of the data is done through cross checking which reduces error possibilities, but this can only be done qualititatively. Values less than this may be subject to further errors as data is acquired through multiple sources with different error probabilities including Fax, CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews), Unemployment Insurance records, self-service methods, and other sources. A point of importance includes the change in the employment scenario for those whose unemployment insurance has expired. A large number of unaccounted for individuals have lost work over the past two years and no longer receive financial support through government agencies. These individuals' records are no longer included in payroll sample data when computing payroll survey results and may have an impact on payroll survey results. Based on the employment numbers for May, the number of workers reentering the workforce seem to be increasing. Workforce re-entry is generally seen as a sign of improving economic conditions and may contribute to substantial productivity growth while validating industrial demand for labor.
Figure 1. Employment¹
Figure 2. Unemployment Rates¹
Figure 3. Regional Unemployment Rates²
¹ Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, United States Government ² Computed Statistics based on historical and US DOL BLS survey results - household surveys, 60000 sample, US DOL state-based survey used for determining state unemployment rates.

networker

Internetworking - the activity of networking on-line.
By Ananda Chakravarty

On line activities have become part and parcel of our normal 2-way communications means - already integrating itself with email, telephones, Blackberries, and the postal service. You may have already seen some of them in your web surfing activities. You may have signed up for some as well. However, online communities have been around for a considerable amount of time. In some form or another, we have been communicating through electronic text since the times of early discussion boards in the 1980's and into the various new services that are dedicated specifically to the electronic social networking avenues.

Blogs. Wiki. Instant Messaging. Newsgroups. Discussion Boards. Orkut. Spoke. LinkedIn. Ryze. Tribe. Friendster. Konnects. Eliyon. Online communities. BBS's.

Internetworking - Just added nomenclature? Or do these words describe the new social structure that is being built in the United States and around the world. Does this pose opportunities for the job seeker? Are these networks, messaging techniques, and social interaction valuable resources in finding a job, building a business, or disseminating information? What are some of the threats that come with these types of activities - privacy? identity? appropriateness? spam?

After contemplating some of what these new concepts, ideas, names, or brands might be, I figured someone is still out there to make some money. Since we already know that networking is critical in job searching, but also in building business relationships, friendships, and connections to the real world, what can we make of internetworking - or rather networking through different media than the usual telephone chat, meeting in person, or even the recent email correspondence? Perhaps just clarifying some of the various common tools already available to users in a short list can be useful (not as an advertisement, but more to demonstrate that several methods of networking have newly arrived - not all of which are appropriate for you) Such a list is far from comprehensive, but it can provide you with a start if you are seeking to exploit the possible new avenues of networking online. Lastly, as a point of importance, it might be impossible or at least difficult to determine whether time spent investigating or using these sites and tools are really worth the effort.

Now, there is a second side to this online networking that needs to be mentioned. Social networking has been around since the days of the caveman (or earlier for Darwinists). Connecting with one another is a substantial piece of our culture and even today you'll see the online dating services and numerous matchmaking portals strewn across the world wide web like a chain link fence. It can even be annoying given that job seekers really aren't sure which services pertain to finding a partner for the evening opera, finding a supplier for your product shipment due next week, or finding an employer willing to pay you big bucks to walk around the office all day long. The mask of online networking also hides what organizations do with your data, and to your data.

A commonality that the online social networks share is gathering and displaying your 'profile' information. All of them have some form of accessing other 'members' in their database through allowing users to review member profiles that list your name, address, personal information, interests, etc. Most of them provide some level of control to protect this information from blatant viewing, but the overall sentiment is build community and engage the online audience to communicate with each other. The 'profile' is critical to the network's success, but moreso, it is the location where you compromise your security, private information and personal data. Make sure you carefully address the privacy/security concerns you might have when submitting profile information.

Below is a short list of some of the more popular sites and I've tried to include some major site categories for networking in the list. These are for the average user and most of the basic networking sites fit into one or more of these categories.

Online Discussion
Contact Databases
Referral Databases
Meeting Facilitation
Expert Consulting
Job Board
Other

Examining these broad and relatively general categories, I will try to point out a few of the verticals that a specific site might be in. Please note, these sites are subject to continued change. I've also put a few identifiers, §, next to those sites that, after review, seemed to be valuable to job seekers. Finally, job board sites were also included - but only if they espouse some form of social networking or discussion boards.

§	Ryze	Open loop with discussion boards. Provides a profile page and some privacy/security. Facilitates in-person networking meetings and encourages face-to-face networking.
§	Tribe	Discussion boards, various interest based social networking - contains some job related material for the job search.
	Spoke	Sells to companies to provide workflow and groupflow management, also provides external links. Requires connection and data entry to establish contacts and connectivity.
§	Plaxo	Requires download of software to manage your contact base. Privacy is less secure when their software controls your contacts.
§	LinkedIn	Need to connect and make requests - facilitates building a new network from scratch - specifically oriented towards professional/business goals.
	Ecademy	Various chat boards and general profile-based networking.
	Orkut	Google sponsored site, closed-loop network
§	ZeroDegrees	A social networking tool - requires you to establish a contact base first. Allows importing your entire address book in many formats.
§	Eliyon	Primarily a contact database model, may be useful in finding specific information. Similar to alumni boards in that it is highly dependent on whether people update their own information unless they are frequently in the press. Executives and their information is updated more regularly, but connecting with these executives remain a challenge.
§	Yahoo, Google Newsgroups, et. al.	These are primarily discussion boards, with some interesting job discussion boards available. Some have job postings, some do not.
§	Monster	Basic Job board, now includes a discussion board to build online community.

Some sites provide free and open connection to contact information once you have become a member. An important measurement for the effectiveness of security might be examining your spam levels before and after you join as a member to one of the boards. This may help in determining whether the information is truly secure or is propagated over the internet.

Below is a diagram of how the social networking process actually fits together - the example shown is for a closed loop contact system. The processes involved in a social network can be complex, and each individual in the chain can bar or stop the flow of a contact request. There are slight variations to this model based on the network you access, and some networks do not have the same levels of restriction. Choosing a good network is almost as important as choosing an appropriate job board to work with. A strong, well connected network will provide you excellent job leads, while a poorly selected network will yield little. In addition, it is important to note that the various networks usually requires you to add contacts and their personal information. This sharing of information provides the network management considerable control and insight into your private affairs. Some networks provide excellent data protection, while others are not as closed. Certain networks provide for anonymous engagement, while others only allow engagement through release of personal information. Just as a note, all of these networks can be fed improper information and hence be wary of any possible concerns you may receive. Certain networks such as Orkut requires sponsorship to join the network by someone already a member. These closed-loop networks may be for privacy or at least a privacy image, but again, they guarantee nothing and you'll clearly understand that the networks themselves have no liability for its use once you join one and see the legal guidelines. However, they can be a new and interesting method of accessing people at various companies, with certain backgrounds, and even tap into the network you never knew you had.

I certainly hopes this article helps you on your way towards successfully networking in the digital age and simplifies the complexity behind some of the new tools available for you to use.

Happy Networking.

Ananda Chakravarty

Note: CVTracker, Netmap Software, and myself do not endorse or suggest accessing any of the sites listed. These are provided for your convenient use on an as is basis without any guarantees of functionality. These are all third party sites with no direct affiliation with CVTracker, CVTrack.com, or Netmap Software, Inc.

CVTracker^TM update
CVTracker^TM release v.1.9.5 has recently undergone further changes and a new round of testing to validate it's ability to perform as a powerful contact manager and scheduling system for you. Numerous recruiters and headhunters have already downloaded the software while many individuals have decided to put their networks in one place - readily accessible, and integrated with what they want to do. The software now contains most of the major features found in packages such as Act!(r) or Goldmine(r). For less than half the cost, the value obtained is significantly higher enhancing the value of finding a software product geared towards networking and job seeking. CVTracker^TM is also focused on building a job network, not just standard contact management nor a sales force pipeline. There are functionalities that may be shared, such as networking import/export files that can be downloaded and shared amongst members of the same networking group as well as a pipeline style format for delivering a resume and closing an interview opportunity. However, the primary focus is not in helping you to learn new sales techniques. The real focus is in helping you find new employment. The tool is far easier to use than complicated tools with thousands of features such as Act! or Goldmine. CVTracker^TM provides you with powerful search features, contact history management, and easy access to track your contacts, companies, positions, documents, and more! Try it out for a free 30-day trial period and see if it has what you seek. With the fast calendaring function, the easy-to-use data entry, and accessibilty to setting up your target companies - plus goals and objectives settings, it can be a powerful tool for any job seeker. Download the software at www.cvtrack.com


Note: These articles are available for publication and distribution through the internet provided the author's name, copyright, and a link to www.cvtrack.com is included. Print distribution is acceptable with a printed version that includes the author's name, copyright and www.cvtrack.com listed with the article.

You have been sent this newsletter because you had selected the option of receiving the quarterly newsletter when downloading software or documentation from the www.cvtrack.com website or have conveyed your interest in the CVTracker product. You may unsubscribe from this newsletter by sending a blank email to the following email address: unsubscribe@cvtrack.com. We do not send newsletters to individuals or organizations that have not explicitly signed up for such services.