The bad news: It still seems like it may be easier to win the lottery than land a job in this increasingly tight job market.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that were 5.4 job seekers for every employment opening in April.
The bad news: It still seems like it may be easier to win the lottery than land a job in this increasingly tight job market.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that were 5.4 job seekers for every employment opening in April.
According to the report, there were 2.5 million openings at the end of April — the lowest level since the bureau began tracking the number in 2000. If we included the number of temp workers and disgruntled job seekers who have given up on their search the unemployment rate would be at 9.3 percent.
The good news: There’s reason to still cling on to hope of finding a job.
The Society for Human Resource Management released a survey that shows there are signs that the job market is beginning to stabilize. According to several private surveys, restaurants, mortgage servicers and health centers have stepped up their hiring. Moreover, nearly a quarter of manufacturing companies and more than 40 percent of service-sector employers plan to hire workers in June.
While those numbers are far lower than they were this time last year, it’s better than nothing.
For those working in real estate and finance, job security is still an issue, but cuts are coming at a much slower pace. And President Obama recently announced that his administration will accelerate implementation of his $787 billion economic stimulus plan, which will create more than 600,000 jobs in the next 100 days.
Now that we know there’s light at the end of the tunnel, before we move forward, I have a message for some job applicants: Please get yourself together.
See that picture posted? That’s how one woman showed up at her job interview yesterday. Yes, she showed up to interview for a government job in thong sandals. My friend works at a government office and uploaded the picture on Twitter.
Oh, but it gets worse. She sent me another picture of a woman who came to her interview with her kids in tow. She was dressed in denim at that. What kind of Project Pat mess is that?
Then after emailing friends I know that work in banking and HR, I got a number of stories ranging from a woman nine months pregnant showing up to a job interview to people showing up at banks looking for work in flip flops, sweat suits, and shorts.
If you show up to an interview looking like your water could break at any second or dressed as if you’re ready to plant a tree or play on the court no one is going to hire you. Ever.
My gift to you: Information on how men and women are advised to dress for a job interview.
Should you land an interview that could help keep you off the growing list of bank-card borrowers with accounts becoming delinquent, here’s a quick hint: Don’t show up dressed like you just left a shoot out.
Email me at therecessiondiaries@gmail.com
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.