Improved IT means many jobs cut in this recession have been cut forever, some job hunters are now learning. While long-sought efficiency improvements have arrived, not everyone is celebrating.

The employment numbers in the United States remain scary and sobering: In September, companies shed 263,000 more jobs, increasing the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The construction, manufacturing, retail trade and government sectors suffered the worst losses.

Today, 15.1 million people are looking for work, during the worst job market in 26 years.

And while some companies have plans to fill the occasional position next year, it’s just a fraction of what we’ve already lost.

Those positions that have been eliminated are most likely gone forever, economic indicators and researchers say. Why? Because, in part, of IT’s ascendance in 21st century organizations. The recession that commenced in December 2007 has forced businesses and government organizations to fully realize the dream and ultimate value of information technology and their systems: Fewer workers and more productivity.

Department of Labor statistics for 2009’s second quarter show that labor productivity increased at a 6.6 percent annual rate. “This was the largest productivity increase since the third quarter of 2003,” notes the Labor department’s release.

Perhaps companies were a tad overstaffed before the recession, though I believe the productivity data shows that technology is indeed being used more effectively and strategically by businesses.

Either all companies have become maniacal in their employee expectations (there’s probably a touch of that as well as people’s strong desire to hang onto their jobs), or those remaining worker bees are finally unlocking the computing power and decision-making capabilities inherent in their companies’ ERP, CRM, BI and supply chain apps.

The recession simply provided the spark. Recent research from the Economic Policy Institute shows that recessions can and do lead to the adoption of new technologies. Among the reasons why that is the case, notes author John Irons, “technology is often embedded in new physical equipment: as production and employment is reduced, there is less purchasing of newer equipment. As a result, workers are less able to utilize their skills, and there is less need to ‘up-skill’ current employees or hire additional employees with new skills.”

In addition, cheaper, better and faster technology mechanisms can be the driving force of innovative thinking during a recession. “Technology is transforming innovation at its core, allowing companies to test new ideas at speeds—and prices—that were unimaginable even a decade ago,” write Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor of management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Michael Schrage, a research fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business, in a recent article in MIT Sloan Management Review. “The result? Innovation initiatives that used to take months and megabucks to coordinate and launch Read more…

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The IT jobs market experienced a small upturn in October, according to a survey of recruitment specialists.

After more than a year of falling demand there was a slight higher demand for both permanent and temporary IT workers in October than in the month before.

These findings from the Recruitment Industry Survey, which is produced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG, showed It faired no better than the broader economy.

The survey uses a figure to represent demand, where anything above 50 indicates growth on the previous month.

For permanent IT jobs, the figure in October was 51.5, indicating a very marginal growth on the previous month. Two months ago in August, the figure was 44.8, a slide in the number of posts available from July.

But the fall had been at its worst in March, when the figure for permanent staff was 31.9, one of the most severe declines in the history of the report.

Temporary staff positions also grew last month, producing a figure of 53.8. This compared to a figure of 46.6 in August.

All sectors experienced some growth, except for secretarial Read more…

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IT decision makers will be investing in hardware in the coming six months, according to recent research, but high-tech executives say staffing will remain flat as companies not only slow the pace of jobs cuts but also hold off on new hires.

The latest release of the CDW IT monitor reveals that more than two-thirds of some 1,043 IT decision makers in corporate and government sectors plan to make IT hardware purchases in the next six months. More than 80% of large businesses and 84% of federal government high-tech executives polled expect to invest in hardware, with a majority pointing to operational efficiency gains as motivation.

“Hardware refresh cycles have been pushed to limits we’ve rarely seen, and anticipated investment in this area is encouraging as companies prepare for a larger economic recovery,” said Mark Gambill, CDW vice president, in a statement.

The survey, conducted over two weeks in September, also showed that more than 50% of federal government IT workers anticipate increased budgets in the next six months. Nearly 50% of both corporate and federal IT decision makers expect budgets to stay the same, with just more than 30% expecting slight budget increases. Twenty-seven percent of those polled expect to also invest in software across a significant part of their organization, while 45% anticipate software purchases for a smaller portion of their companies.

While spending is set to increase in various sectors in big and small ways, depending on the organization, questions regarding IT staff seemed to garner the same response across the board. Eighty percent of IT decision makers do not anticipate adding staff and plan to keep their personnel counts at current levels. Twelve percent Read more…

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In this latest Hiring Manager interview, Joseph Seibert, the senior vice president and CIO of The New York Times Company, counsels job seekers on how they can make great first impressions with their resumes and during job interviews. He also offers hiring managers advice based on the lesson he learned from his biggest hiring mistake.

When it comes to hiring staff for his technology department, Joseph Seibert has a soft spot for candidates who are underdogs. He admires IT professionals who’ve charged ahead in their careers despite starting at a disadvantage.

In the past, Seibert has grown so excited about an underdog’s personality that he says he has made the mistake of advancing a candidate through the interview process who had a great story but who was not right for the job. Seibert, now senior vice president and CIO of The New York Times Company, says the lesson he’s learned from that mistake is to know himself: to be aware of his tendency to get excited and to keep his excitement in check so that it doesn’t undermine his effort to hire the best person for the job. It’s practiced advice that all hiring managers can benefit from.

Job seekers can benefit from Seibert’s advice, too. In this latest Hiring Manager interview, Seibert describes the mistakes IT professionals make on their résumés and during job interviews that kill their chances of wooing employers. He spoke with CIO.com about his hiring practices and how the transformation of the media industry is affecting IT staffing at The New York Times Company.

Sarah Mitchell: How are the challenges facing the news industry affecting your hiring?

Joseph Seibert: The news industry is transforming. Traditional print and media organizations have to become multi-channel distributors of news and information, including digital channels, such as websites, blogs, iPhones, cell phones and BlackBerries. I was hired to transform the technology organization so that it has the right structure, skills and capabilities to support multi-channel distribution.

The technology organization is extremely important to this overall transformation, and it is very important that I get the right structure and the right people within that structure who understand multi-channel distribution, digital technology and traditional technologies. I need leaders who have worked in some type of media, including a pretty sizable digital environment, and who can work amidst transformation and uncertainty. They must know how to build the infrastructure that provides speed-to-market, flexibility, and that supports those many channels efficiently and effectively.

What organizational changes have you made to the Read more…

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Back in April, I wrote about the despicable practice of fake job postings. These are “employment” ads that end up being nothing more than come-ons from career-marketing services that can charge up to $10,000.

Now there appear to be more people seeking to make a profit off of job seekers: Recruiters selling your resume to other recruiters or companies.

Apparently people post fake job ads to garner 1,000 or more resumes and then sell those resumes to other recruiters.

Larry Chaffin, writing in a blog for NetworkWorld, did an experiment to check this story out. He and some partners created three fake resumes from a CIO-type to an entry-level employee. He explained,

“We looked at the positions that stated remote position\work from home office with a national telecommunication company or Fortune 100 companies. Also we applied for architect, engineer, and executive jobs as well. We applied for around 70 jobs and on some of them we made sure we had the experience they wanted. Being just right or over qualified you would think we Read more…

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Loosing a job is quite an emotional experience – looking for your next opportunity leans more toward the cerebral. Until you can come to terms with the first, it is difficult to tackle the later.

I recall my last job loss more than 10 years ago as if it were yesterday. I have always had the reputation of being the logical, analytical one doesn’t get sidetracked by the emotional aspects of life. There is some truth in that, but all changed when my employer showed me the door. I was 100% emotional!

I couldn’t look for work when it was a struggle to just get up. My husband, friends and relatives kept trying to cheer me up and encouraged me to look for other jobs. I wanted my old job back – and I wanted the pain to go away and the grief process to end.

At a loss as to how to handle all the emotions, I decided one morning to take a walk. Doing something physical got me out of my head and away from my heart and gave me some relief. So, I took a walk the next day…and the next…and the next. Everyday I added a little more distance until suddenly I realized I was walking more than four miles a day. And my life began to change. Not only was I putting Read more…

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What does the quote wherever you go, there you are mean to you? That quote came to mind the other day and I’ve been mulling it around from the perspective of a job seeker since.

Just how far would you go to get a job in these trying times? Would you lie? Would you cheat? Would you falsify information? Would you misrepresent yourself? Would you fake your references? Would you create a job history that was untruthful? Would you pretend to have a supervisor that never was? Would you create an employment background that didn’t exist? Would you order a degree you didn’t earn? Would you provide a phone number to a reference who turns out to be your best buddy posing as your former boss? Would you ask your friends, family, or professional network to lie for you just to get ahead in today’s super-competitive job market?

Wherever you go, there you are…what does that mean to you? I don’t know what it means to you, but here are a few ideas of what it means to me:

* You can try and be something you are not, but in the end (and in the beginning), you might as well let others see the real you. Wherever you go, there you are. And if the real you with your real assets and your real liabilities isn’t the right fit for the opportunity at hand, keep moving, keep rolling, until something else materializes. As your Uncle Bob may have told you, there are plenty of fish.

* You cannot run away from your problems and challenges. You can try, but they will still be with you…wherever you go, there you are. Looking for a job is incredibly hard work and unbelievably overwhelming in this market. That said, do not compound your problems by letting them fester until you’re in a real mess — address them, take action; recognize and resolve.

* Love your brand or leave it! If you don’t like brand you, Read more…

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7 Ways to Improve Ties and Keep Your Job

While the recession has been tough on U.S. workers in a variety of ways, it hasn’t damaged relationships in the workplace.

A new survey reveals that 87% of professionals have good relationships with their bosses, and 95% get along well with their coworkers. The results of the survey, developed by the financial staffing firm Accountemps, were approximately the same as those in 2005, when the economy was much healthier.

“People make work relationships a priority in good times and bad,” says Katherine Spencer Lee, a district president for Robert Half International, the parent company of Accountemps. “In the current economy, we see people pulling together, empathizing with the work and personal challenges their colleagues are facing, and doing what they can to help.”

Boosting Job Security
She also points to a “we’re in this together” mentality that is helping teams accomplish more with fewer supporting resources. Read more…

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