Archive for January, 2008

Archives for Biggest Employers

Despite the inexorable rise of e-business, logistics – particularly shipping – remains one of the world’s fastest growing fields. UPS, the global leader in ground shipping, is boosting the size of its Louisville, Kentucky hub from 20,000 workers to more than 25,000 in 2010.

Labor and urban planning experts contend that transportation hubs such as the one UPS is investing US$1 billion to upgrade in Kentucky are critical to the rise of jobs – and community planning – in the 21^st Century. The topic was explored last summer in a fascinating Fast Company article called Rise of the Aerotropolis. 

The article makes the case that in the future some employers will assemble teams of workers at or near giant airports. These highly mobile workers will come together for short-term projects before migrating to other global hubs according to the ebb and flow of talent supply and demand.

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Archives for Research

Fortune’s annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list is out and the top 10 contain a few surprises, some might even say head scratchers. But then again what a boring list it would be if you could guess all of them without looking.  

This year about 400 companies competed to make the list. What’s particularly useful about it are the different ways to sort through the data on the CNNMoney.com website, including by location, pay, job growth and benefits, to name a few.

Although one might argue that 400 companies really only scratches the surface of corporate America, one of the things that substantiates this list are employee interviews. Fortune’s research partner, San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute, compiled 100,000 employee interviews among these entries.

I’ll bet you can’t guess the highest paying employer on Fortune’s list – or possibly any of the top 10 aside from Goldman Sachs. But it’s interesting to note that the average annual pay of employees at Bingham McCutchen an elite Boston law firm is $211,017. Pity the associates who start out at a paltry $160,000 a year.

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Archives for Perfect Job

A political pundit is a thankless job – when you’re right it was obvious and when you’re wrong everyone points a fickle finger at you.

But unlike a weatherman, who studies meteorology, science and maybe broadcasting communications, political pundits take divergent paths to become gurus. Some wags are old pols; some are TV talking heads with varying degrees of “insider” knowledge. To the untrained eye, it appears the chief qualification is writing off candidates the way a carpenter turns a screw.

The pundits who wrote off the presidential campaigns of Senators McCain and Clinton before New Hampshire were having an especially bad day-after-the-primary.

“When the pundits declared us finished, I told them, ‘I’m going to New Hampshire, where the voters don’t let you make their decision for them,’” McCain told his supporters after upsetting the pundits.

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Archives for Social Media

The hype about social networks is a bit stifling at times. The social pressure to join them is even worse. Old friends, relatives or contacts who are yet to join Facebook or LinkedIn suffer the slings and arrows of social networking mavens who tell them they’re missing out on something cool.

Beyond the sheer joy of throwing sheep at friends or catching a buzz from virtual cocktails, we wonder how social networks help you personally or professionally. Are they an enormous time sink or a breakthrough in how you manage relationships?

To find out, the editors of Found|READ in conjunction with My Global Career invite you to participate in the groundbreaking State of Social Networking 2008 – a free, fast and confidential study about how people use social networks. Your completed survey enters you into a drawing for an Apple iPhone or equivalent prize from an Apple store. To complete the survey, please go to http://s-kf7uz-25818.sgizmo.com/

We look forward to sharing the results of the study with you and hearing your thoughts about what social networking is getting right – or wrong.

Archives for Branding You

Whoever said the more things change, the more they stay the same wouldn’t have a successful job search in 2008. Of course, some old ideas still work pretty well: Nepotism still beats struggling. Fraternities still spawn lifelong business partnerships.  

Pounding the pavement – well, maybe that idea should be retired, too. Fortunately, there are productive new career management strategies that can re-energize your job search and redefine your personal branding.

Old Idea: Graduate school
Fresh Concept: Immersion

A graduate degree still takes you farther in many ways than the school of hard knocks. Studies show wages are consistently higher for highly educated workers. But what savvy employers value now is immersion – they want you to start out as an expert and have skills they can’t find elsewhere, except perhaps at a higher price.

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