May 22, 2013

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Job seekers can become job finders with polished resumes

May 14, 2013 by

A new crop of job-hunting high school and college graduates is about to flood Nebraska’s marketplace, and some will find success much faster than others.

Susan McBroom, a vocational rehabilitation counselor, says the quality of your resume will quickly determine your odds of going from a job-seeker to someone’s newest employee. McBroom discusses the most common resume error.

“People are not matching the resume to the job that they’re applying for,” McBroom says. “It’s really important that they match their skill sets to the position they’re applying to. If they don’t know their skill set, there’s a resource called O’Net Online that they can find each job broken down to the specific skill set.” The address for that website is: www.onetonline.org.

While a one-page resume was once the rule, McBroom says a two-page resume is now standard, but she says don’t go beyond two pages.

“It takes a recruiter about 15 seconds to look through a resume,” McBroom says. “What I tell new grads is to be sure that if you don’t have a long work history, put things in there that would be internships, big projects, things like that.”

About 90% of employers now hire electronically, so having an e-resume that can be attached to an email cover letter is a must. Resumes need to be kept simple, using plain lettering and nothing fancy.

Despite the economic downturn of the past few years, McBroom is optimistic about the job market, adding, it’s excellent if you’re looking for positions in the medical field.

“Anything in nursing, certified medical assistant, medication aid, psych aid, and the last two don’t require a four-year degree,” McBroom says. “The job market is getting better. The unemployment rate for ages 19 to 24 is about 12% but that does include new graduates so, it’s really important to have a perfect resume out there.”

Nebraska’s jobless rate is under 5% well below the national jobless rate of about 7.5%.

Being aggressive is key. Many ads say “no calls” but she says to call anyway, a week after you send your resume, just to see if they got it or have any questions.

While social media sites are popular, McBroom doesn’t recommend being on one unless it’s private and visible by only a limited number of people.

If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, she says: “Be careful what you put out there. Employers do research social media. If possible, set your Facebook to private. Keep in mind, others may access information from it.”

 

Filed Under: Economy, Education, News

Survey: Nebraska has regained all jobs lost in recession

May 2, 2013 by
Dr. Ernie Goss

Dr. Ernie Goss

The Midwestern economy faltered slightly during the past month but it’s still healthy and chugging along, while Nebraska’s economy is solid, according to a survey.

Creighton University questioned supply managers and business leaders across the nine-state region.

Creighton economist Ernie Goss says Nebraska’s numbers show a thriving economy, while the Midwest region as a whole experienced a minor slip.

“The leading economic indicator from our April survey was down a bit but still very strong,” Goss says. “That goes up against the March number which was a little stronger. This is pointing to pretty solid growth in the next three to six months.”

Nebraska’s jobless picture continues to improve, according to the survey. Goss says the Husker State has regained -all- of the jobs it lost during the recession.

“The employment number is looking very good,” Goss says. “Companies are continuing to hire, especially durable goods manufacturing and anything connected to agriculture and housing.”

The automatic, across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration got plenty of attention earlier this year, but Goss says it’s caused very little harm to businesses in the Midwest.

Goss says, “We asked the supply managers the last two months, in fact, three-fourths of them say no impact, 25% say modest impacts, while none — that’s zero companies — in our entire survey, that’s remarkable, say there were significant impacts.”

He predicts durable goods manufacturers will continue to lead economic and job growth for the state in the next three to six months.

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Economy, News

Nebraska not discouraged by loss of Facebook to Iowa (AUDIO)

April 24, 2013 by

Nebraska officials say they are disappointed, but not discouraged that the state failed to land a $300 million data center.

Facebook has announced it will locate the data center in Altoona, a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa.

“Are we disappointed at being second? Sure, we are,” says Kearney City Councilmember Bruce Lear. “But, at the same time, we got to learn a lot about proposing this kind of project, putting together the data and resources that were necessary to make this kind of project happen.”

State economic development officials teamed up with Kearney officials nearly four years ago to begin developing Tech One Crossing, a development park specifically targeting technology firms.

The legislature also approved a package of incentives to lure “project edge” to Nebraska. The announcement by Facebook unveiled the business Nebraska courted.

State Sen. Galen Hadley of Kearney sponsored the bill offering tax breaks for Facebook. Hadley says he’ll be talking with economic development officials about how to win the next big project.

“So, we’re constantly trying to tweak our economic development package to be competitive,” Hadley tells Nebraska Radio Network.

Hadley acknowledges it is difficult to come so close.

“Oh, I’m disappointed, but you know I think economic development is a little bit like life; sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But if you gave it the best try you could you go on and you try to get the next firm that’s coming in,” Hadley says.

Hadley believes Nebraska’s incentive package was comparable to Iowa’s. Iowa offered a total of $18 million in incentives to Facebook.

It might not have been the financial offers that tipped the scale.

Hadley says he has heard that Facebook chose Iowa, because Des Moines offers better air transportation that Kearney.

Buffalo County Economic Development Director Darren Robinson says Kearney will continue to aggressively court high-tech companies to locate in Tech One Crossing.

“Considering where we’re at today and you’ve had one of the largest data center companies come take a look at Kearney, pretty successful so far,” according to Robinson. “We’re not going to stop. Today isn’t the end. This is the beginning of the next phase.”

Kearney has spent $2 million and cleared a 165-acre site for the Tech One Crossing Park.

Tyson Havranek, KXPN, contributed to this report.

AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:45]

 

 

Filed Under: Business, Economy, Featured Stories, News

Facebook to build massive server farm in Iowa, not Kearney

April 23, 2013 by

Nebraska’s loss is Iowa’s gain. The social networking website Facebook is announcing plans to locate a major computer “server farm” in central Iowa, not in central Nebraska.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board this morning approved incentives for Facebook to build the $300 million data center in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona.

The city of Kearney, Nebraska, had also been in the running.

Iowa EDA board member Pete Brownell revealed some of the details of the project, which was listed as Siculus, Incorporated, on the board’s agenda.

“Siculus is a 100-percent owner/operated subsidiary of Facebook,” Brownell said. “So, Facebook is making a move into Iowa…very exciting.”

Iowa EDA spokeswoman Tina Hoffman says it’s easily one of the biggest economic development projects the board has ever dealt with.

“Obviously, 300-million is nothing to sneeze at,” Hoffman says. “With the possibility of that growing, we’re excited about that. In addition to that, just the name of Facebook is huge.”

The 476,000 square foot data center is just considered the first phase of the project. Hoffman says Facebook could ultimately build two more data centers on the 194-acre site.

The IEDA Board approved $18 million in tax incentives toward the project. The City of Altoona has approved a 100 percent property tax abatement that will extend 20 years.

Facebook officials anticipate the first data center will employ at least 31 people.

 

Filed Under: Economy, News

Nebraska unemployment figures for March

April 19, 2013 by

The Nebraska Department of Labor released Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate for March is 3.8%, seasonally adjusted. The jobless rate is the same as the February rate and down 0.2% from the March 2012 rate.

“In addition to the state having a consistently low unemployment rate, the Nebraska labor force continues to grow and the number of unemployed Nebraskans within the labor force continues to shrink,” said Commissioner of Labor Catherine D. Lang.

Non-farm employment grew by nearly 4,000 jobs since February 2013. The top three private sector industries showing the largest gains over the previous month were Leisure and Hospitality, Mining and Construction and Professional and Business Services.

The seasonally-adjusted national unemployment rate in March was 7.6%, a decrease of 0.1% from February.

The March 2012 national unemployment rate was 8.2%.

April 2013 data will be published Friday, May 17.

Filed Under: Economy, News
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