In an effort to promote American Jobs Act introduced earlier this month at a joint session of Congress, President Obama has teamed up with social networking site, LinkedIn for a town hall about creating jobs and growing the economy.
The discussion is moderated by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and features President Obama in a Q&A session with a small audience addressing topics including American Jobs Act, reducing the deficit, creating permanent jobs and other economic issues.
To get involved you can follow the discussion or join and even ask the President a question.
The dismal economic report last Friday prompted a whole lot of gloom and doom talk, including those hated words, “double dip.” Of course, a “double dip,” or a second dip of the economy into a deep recession, would be bad news for job seekers and business owners. It’s important to understand what is driving this discussion, so that you can make decisions based on all the factors that affect you. Don’t fall prey to all sorts of hyperbole about the whole country collapsing. The main thing to keep in mind is that the two most important words are “confidence” and “uncertainty.”
For those of you who didn’t see the story, the main number that is being bandied about is a reported 1.3% rise in economic growth. This means that the country’s economy only grew by 1.3% for the second quarter of 2011. The rate of the economic expansion for the first quarter was revised down to 0.4% from 1.9%. These are very poor numbers for two quarters in a row. It is widely held that the United States economy needs to grow at a rate of 3% per quarter just to start reducing the unemployment rate.
The poor economic growth numbers are the result of individuals and businesses failing to act because of factors outside of their control. Individuals lack confidence in the state of the economy. When this happens, business is slow. Businesses feel uncertain about how their operations will be affected by policy and other issues, so they are slow to expand, decreasing the potential for capital expenditures and hiring. Individuals and businesses have good reason to be cautious. Read this »
With Social Media so hot today, it’s important to add this valuable and interpersonal dimension to your hunt for a new or better job. Here are seven techniques to help you piggyback to a paycheck by means of Social Media:
1. Create a brief description of your strengths and areas of expertise. Keep it short and simple. Sure, you know a lot more than you can fit into this description, and you’ve got a lot more going for you than just these few items. But for this job-seeking exercise, small is beautiful. Use this description as your foundation for your Social Media communications to follow.
2. Start a blog on a topic that falls within your description of yourself. Use any of the popular blog sites, such as Wordpress or Blogger. Make a commitment to add a new entry to this blog at least twice a week.
3. Write up a signature file for your emails that captures the essence of your description. Keep it under 40 words. Include both an email address and a link to your new blog. Attach this signature file to every email you send out. Read this »
Even though the talking heads are all atwitter with newly optimistic economic forecasts for the new year, if you know anything about economics, you know that unemployment is a lagging indicator. This means that job losses occur after the economy has turned south, and unemployment rates don’t climb back up until employers are fully confident that new orders can’t be filled within their existing workforce.
So other than watching those consumer confidence numbers, what can you do to overcome this, to speed along your own likelihood of seeing a paycheck in your hand? You can start by hiring yourself out as a mercenary, as a solver of short-term or long-term problems, to fill in a gap or add your special skill where it is needed. Read this »
In an effort to promote 
The dismal economic report last Friday prompted a whole lot of gloom and doom talk, including those hated words, “double dip.” Of course, a “double dip,” or a second dip of the economy into a deep recession, would be bad news for job seekers and business owners. It’s important to understand what is driving this discussion, so that you can make decisions based on all the factors that affect you. Don’t fall prey to all sorts of hyperbole about the whole country collapsing. The main thing to keep in mind is that the two most important words are “confidence” and “uncertainty.”
With Social Media so hot today, it’s important to add this valuable and interpersonal dimension to your hunt for a new or better job. Here are seven techniques to help you piggyback to a paycheck by means of Social Media:
