Most Secure Jobs

Job security matters, especially during periods of high unemployment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), unemployment rates at the end of 2010 hovered close to ten percent. Is there anywhere to turn for job security? Yes, there is, according to the experts. The following jobs should offer stability last year and beyond.

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Metrics that matter

Staffing metrics have evolved from rough estimates on absenteeism to complex studies that evaluate every aspect of human-capital measurement. Along the way, the issue of what to measure has become as important as the old issue of how to measure.

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Common Mistakes Made by Job Seekers

After 10 years as a state unemployment counselor, it’s clear to me that job seekers are wont to follow their same old routine every day, yet they expect it to yield different results. In doing so, they set themselves up for rejection. Most of us are allergic to rejection. The adverse reaction causes our thinking

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Some Senior Executives Play by Different Rules

There’s a different set of rules and behaviors at the top of corporations. I call it the golf culture. It’s an abrupt and invisible change from the meritocracy that dominates all lower corporate levels. Admission to the senior-executive ranks typically depends on a combination of power and politics. Membership is predominantly male and the conventions

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Homeland-Security Staffing Raises Delicate Questions

The summer-long debate over the appropriate powers of the president of the United States to hire and fire employees of the new Department of Homeland Security has highlighted a more fundamental question about the nature of the federal civil service. Can federal workers be managed like civilians, or must they be ordered about like soldiers?

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Why Families Fail to See A Jobless Member’s Pain

Unemployment causes havoc in the family and tests its bonds more than almost any other crisis. When you’re jobless, other members of the family may unknowingly make you feel unwanted and on the outside looking in. They may give you silent stares, causing you to feel you’ve lost control and that the “pecking order” has

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How To Get Your Career Change In Motion

Changing careers can be like taking a train trip. You plan it, start at one location and go to your ultimate destination, with stops in between. (Sorry, there are no non-stop career trains.) The basics for getting started are scheduling your departure time and showing up at the station. Here’s how to get yourself moving.

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Career Transition Touchstones

Transitions are not comfortable. Wouldn’t it be nice if career changes were mapped out for us in neat little how-to packages with “start here and go to there” instructions (complete with arrows and signposts to keep us on track)? Sorry, it’s not that easy.

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