Transitioning to your next position.

Now that we move into February, many of us, or our friends, are transitioning to the next job, finding themselves laid-off, or worried about the next 3 months and what will come.

Remember the words of Albert Einstein: "Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." These perspectives have never been more true and appropriate. 

Often, you'll find opportunity hiding in the same ditch you feel you're in. You have to look for it; realize it. It's easy to let opportunity escape, just don't try to see it.

-David

SNAP Participants Inch Lower in Latest Report.

SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps most low-income households in the United States. To receive benefits beyond 3 months, as a childless adult, you need to be employed at least 20 hours per week or enrolled in a job training or work program.

In 2013, coming off the Great Recession, SNAP covered 15% of the US population, or over 47 million people. Scary. Since then, the percentage receiving support has come down to 13% and there are 10.6 million more people 5 years later.

While that's good news. We should be mindful that we are currently in the longest period of expansion (8.5 years), albeit incremental, since the period before the Great Recession began, which was 10 years long. 

Here's the concern: Just before the Great Recession, the percentage of the U.S. population receiving benefits was 8.75% and the Fed Interest Rate was 5.25%. In other words, we had slack in the economy to deal with one of these recessions, which are cyclical in nature. 

What's going to happen in 2018? Will homes prices continue to soar? Will the Dow Jones surpass 30,000? Will inflation stay under 5%? We all hope for green pastures ahead and whatever is around the next bend Recommnded.com will be there to support you. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts on these topics. Please email us feedback to community@Recommnded.com. And if you need help with your job search, email us at talentsuccess@Recommnded.com and we'll help you.

David - 925-237-1221

Job Satisfaction in 2017

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. As we wrap this year in the United States, some of us are determined to make a job change in 2018, few are “very satisfied” with their job and others are just thankful they have a job at all!

Looking at some data: 

Only 25% of employees have high job satisfaction and job engagement. You are in a very special situation and your job is to sustain and scale your value in 2018. Here’s an interesting read on how to do this:

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/6-ways-successful-people-stand-out.html

Nearly half of us are expecting to get a new job in the next 18 months. I say enjoy the next 5 weeks of the year, concentrate as little as possible on getting a new job and as much as possible on family time, because starting January you need to be full speed ahead on getting this new job. It will not happen overnight or even over weeks, it could take months no matter how valuable you are.

Whether you see your current situation as a mere placeholder until your next job (half of us), or you are in-transition and looking for your next job, our platform is here to help you. Browse our job board and start collecting your Advocacy to help differentiate yourself in 2018!

Happy Thanksgiving,

David

 

CEO | Recommnded.com

Job hunting over the Thanksgiving Holiday

It’s Thanksgiving week in the states and the books say we are at just under 8% for (unemployment + under-employment). Now is the time most choose to focus on family. But what if focusing on family means you are focusing on what’s best for your family, and you’ve decided that means getting a job..

Let’s look at some data from AAA. 51 million (or 16% of the US population) are traveling this Thanksgiving Holiday, presumably to see family. Keep in mind, the average work-week has nearly 13 million US passengers in airplanes and we took 457 million business trips by this time last year. Combine that with reports that we are at the lowest overall unemployment rate since the year 2000. So the economy is the best since the crash of March 2000? 26 million of us might feel differently because we’ve been either out of work for an extended period of time, we’re experiencing wage inequality or we can’t get a full time job. 

We have options on how to think about this week, let’s examine a few: “I’ve been trying to get a job but I’ll take a break for this week.” < Consider this: US workers are taking less vacation than ever and 33% of all US LinkedIn profiles are recruiters and sourcers (just the ones who use LinkedIn). You may want to consider the possibility that this will could give you an opportunity unlike any other week until Christmas. Maybe these recruiters, who decided to keep trying to find someone like you this week, are hoping you’ll stay engaged so they can get you on the phone.

Next: “I’m employed but I want a better job in early 2018.” < If you believe the news, 2018 is going to be more prosperous than 2017. I’m not necessarily in this camp but if there’s a great job to get in early 2018 and you’re aware of it, Thanksgiving week is a perfect opportunity to bring your focus into what you need to do to go out and win that job.

Or: “I have a bad feeling I may be laid off in the first half of 2018.” < If the company / business unit you work for is suffering, the future may look bleak and that could cause stress you just don’t need, on top of what you’re already dealing with. What a tough decision. None of us really ever know for how long we’ll be employed, especially in at-will states. My best advice in this situation is for you to make sure you have your resume(s) up-to-date. Maybe this week is a good opportunity for you to catch up with yourself, sort-out all the value you have on paper. If you can get yourself organized during the break and find yourself ready to come at December 2017 into 2018, you’ll appreciate not having to rush if the rumors of a bad spell at your company materialize into action.

Whatever your story is, we at Recommnded wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. Please visit our job board to see if one of our clients have a job you’d love to apply for. We’re here to support you!

David Brennan

CEO | Recommnded.com

Our part to help the victims of the North Bay Fires

On October 8th and 9th, four separate, terrible fires decimated over 200,000 acres, killed 42 people, injuring nearly 200 and destroyed almost 6,000 buildings. 

At its quickest pace, these fires were consuming land at a rate of 1 football field every 3 seconds. 

Inside a week, families went from planning their Halloween celebrations to figuring out where to get clothes, sleep and protect their family... or worse.

Our team knew our network had much to give and we picked our best, fastest option. We went to the local daycare center to ask a concentrated group of parents to donate as much as they could for families in need, primarily children, as fast as possible. 

Here was the result! Within 5 days of us organizing the effort, we PACKED an entire moving truck with donations. Thank you to all the parents in the San Ramon area for SO MUCH.

From this....

To this...

The children from the daycare center wrote personalized notes to the children effected by the fires.

Time-lapse video of the amazing San Ramon daycare center staff loading the truck. 

This was taken 65 miles south of the fires, 10 days after they started.

What's next?

We are now in November and we can only imagine for many of these families the challenges are continuing. Our specialty is Jobs. We are planning and communicating with people all over the North Bay on helping with jobs and talent. We have events coming up this year and we'll do our best to help the community.

Contact Us