State Unemployment Information

Get the latest news… The unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war. What’s your opinion of this?

The latest news here The Labor Department says the unemployment rate for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 21.1 percent last year. What’s your opinion ?

I thought I’d share a horror story with you that’s closer to your career than you think. More times than not, job seekers tell me their main job seeking strategy is to search the major online job boards for open positions. Most find jobs and companies they’re suited, sometimes perfect for. They take care to fill out an online application which is, for those of you who’ve done it, the equivalent of being cyber-waterboarded. Unfortunately, even premium job board services like The Ladders send you to a hiring company’s website and the online application process begins. After a significant amount of time is spent saving and uploading and entering information, the SUBMIT button is pushed and the waiting game begins.

*Insert cricket sound here.*

Most job seekers don’t understand what happens after their resume is sent off into cyber space. Unfortunately, over 80% of the people I talk to use online job boards as their main tool of job seeking, and around 90% of those people either rarely or never hear anything after they submit their resume.

Companies that use online applications do so for several reasons. First, and most importantly, they use recruiting software that manages the intake of resumes and applicants. This is more cost effective than having a live person manage every resume that comes in. Which brings me to my next point – there isn’t a live person that receives your resume when you fill out an online app. And that leads to the next point – there is not a live person looking at your resume after you send it in. What happens is that the information you load via your resume and the online application gets housed in a database, an online folder if you will.

The recruiter or hiring manager, runs a query based on keywords they established for the open position when they posted the job. Those resumes that hit the keywords most frequently are contacted for the job. Those who don’t are “deselected” and never hear another word. Recruiting software is also used to provide auto-responses, i.e. “thanks for your application, if you are a skill match we’ll call you…” It provides tracking of applicants for legal reporting reasons and tons of statistics for in-house use, like cost of hire and time it takes to fill a position. The bottom line is that rarely does a resume get into the hands of an actual person, which is why you never hear anything.

There has been much ado about candidates cold-calling on recruiters and hiring managers, particularly in this crazy job market. I, personally, think it’s imperative to get your resume in the hands of a live person if you’re going to actually get the job ball rolling. So, my solution is to make sure you get a contact name along with completing the online application. Unfortunately, many times, the screening process won’t begin unless you’ve completed the online application process. The good news is that’s not the only tool you have.

Call the company’s general number and talk to the receptionist. Ask for the name and the contact information, email, phone and fax, of the person in charge of the engineering department, if you’re applying to be an engineer. If they won’t give that information out, ask for the name of the Human Resources Leader. If the company has an automatic phone answering system, punch in an extension until you get a live person and begin the process of getting a name and contact information. Sometimes it’s a lot of work to get an actual contact, but aren’t all things worth having worth it? I always say – it’s a full time job finding a full time job. You have to put the work in to get the benefit out, particularly in a sluggish economy.

In closing, doing what it takes to ensure your resume is viewed by eyeballs and not sitting in a database somewhere is a critical key to starting a dialogue with a hiring company. There are 100 applicants for every job posted on an online job board. Let the other 99 people get sucked into the black abyss while you reap the benefits of putting a little elbow grease into your job search!

Engineering management is defined as the field that relates to the application of engineering principles to the planning and operational management of industrial and manufacturing operations. Engineering managers are equipped with the know-how to plan and manage these sorts of operations. Engineering Management programs normally involves instruction in accounting, engineering economy, financial management, industrial and human resources management, industrial psychology, management information systems, mathematical modeling and optimization, quality control, operations research, safety and health issues, and environmental program management.

An engineering manager will usually need training and experience in both general management which will often include business administration and the specific engineering disciplines that will be employed by the engineering team that he or she will manage. Additionally, a successful engineering manager must completely understand that the factors that motivates some individuals to pursue careers in engineering are normally very different than those that motivates individuals who are strongly business minded. Subsequently, the skills that are essential to coach, mentor and motivate technical professionals are not the same as those that are needed for individuals in other fields. The engineering manager must essentially be have the ability to relate to the engineers he or she will manage.

There are various education and certification programs available that can provide Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D degrees in this field. Undergraduate programs provide generalist degrees that enable engineers to cope more effectively in the business environment. Master of Engineering Management (MEM) provides a technical-based alternative to the traditional MBA programs. Industrial and professional associations like engineers’ societies also offer certification programs that will aid in the validation of engineering management knowledge and skills. The specialization areas that may be observed in both degree and certification programs may be comprised of management of technology, product and process, quality, organizational management, operations management, program management, marketing and finance.

Formal Engineering Management education is typically conveyed at the graduate level and is also an academic field that is attaining more interest. Candidates for engineering management must possess an academic undergraduate degree with a major in engineering, computer science, mathematics or the sciences. The duration of study for this type of degree is primarily between a year and two and the completed degree may be designated as a Master of Engineering Management, MS in Engineering Management, MS in Technology or Innovation Management, Master of Business and Engineering or MS in Management Science & Engineering, depending on the university that offers the degree. Engineering Management students are expected to possess a variable amount of work experience before enrolling, which is mostly determined by program requirements. The degree generally includes units covering Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Finance, Optimization, Innovation, Operations and Project Management, among many other areas. Students in this sort of program primarily choose to specialize in one or more sub-disciplines such as Marketing, Finance, Healthcare and Energy.

Once an individual attains the mastery level in Engineering Management then he or she will be able work within that field.

Did you know that there are certain strategies that you have to use to your advantage to become a game tester so that you can finally walk away from your frustrating part time job? Just imagine being able to make enough cash from being able to test games so that you can walk up to your boss, shove your two weeks notice in his face and never look back again at working at that frustrating part time job.

Keep reading this article and you will begin to see how important it is to use the right strategies to finally be able to test games from home.

You probably already know that as a gamer you have to be competitive if you want success. And using the right strategies will help you get the edge you need to get paid to do game testing at home.

You see, many hardcore gamers think that all the skills they have will guarantee them the chance to become a game tester for companies such as acclaim, Nintendo etc. After turning in their application, months go by without them ever receiving a phone call or notice to be selected to become a game tester. These guys are basically treating becoming a game tester like any other regular day time job.

Unfortunately, because the gaming industry is so competitive, top gaming companies are only looking for certain traits and qualities when they are looking for someone to test their games from home. The majority of gamers think that by bragging about their accomplishments they will get VIP access to the game testing industry. And as months fly by, they are still stuck at their part time job because they thought their gaming skills is enough to finally become a game tester.

If only they had known the right strategies to use to get the top gaming companies to notice them, their situation would have been different. Luckily, the exact traits and qualities are outlined in easy to read blueprints for you to take advantage of. The entire process that you must take in order to get the best chance at becoming a game tester has already been mapped out for you.

I bet you will be glad to take advantage of the strategies and blueprints you need to become a game tester when you are ready to walk away from your part time job so that you can get paid to play games for a living.