What is happening with Facebook?
On March 30th, 2012 Facebook will convert their pages to a new design layout. This new look and updated tools were built around an activity timeline intended to help businesses better brand and manage their information.

How do these changes affect my Recruiting.com Jobs App?

App Placement. You can now prominently feature your Recruiting.com Jobs App by placing it in one of the first four boxes of your app catalog. Click on the edit icon in the upper right corner of your app image to adjust placement. Note: The Photos App will always appear in the number one spot.

App Name. You now have the ability to rename your Recruiting.com Jobs App; so if you prefer to call the tab “Careers” instead of “Jobs,” you can now do so by going to Edit Page>Apps>Edit Settings.

App Size. The Recruiting.com team has already updated the Jobs App and its tab image to fit the new dimensions. When your page is converted to the new format, your Recruiting.com Jobs App will automatically update to the correct size.

Jobs Stream. If you are utilizing automatic jobs streaming on your wall, some of the posts may be consolidated automatically by Facebook.

How Can I Best Utilize the New Layout?

Cover Image. This is a large image at the top of your timeline. Pick an image that is visually appealing and best represents your business. See the Facebook link at the bottom of this email for more information on cover image restrictions.

Description.  Your company “About” section is now displayed next to your applications tabs. Use this space to spark interest among the Facebook audience by crafting a brief, but intriguing description of your organization.

Highlight Posts. You can move your favorite posts, such as those that received positive comments about your company, to the top of your page with the new highlight feature. Just click on the post your would like to highlight and select the star icon in the upper right corner.

Who can I reach out to with questions?
Contact your Jobing Industry Director at (866) 456-2464 with any questions related to your Recruiting.com Jobs App.

For additional information on Facebook’s upcoming changes and how the transition to the new timeline layout may impact your Page, visit http://www.facebook.com/about/pages/.

Several new reports paint a bright picture for this year’s college graduates, who should have a better chance at finding a job than their recent predecessors. More and more businesses are showing up at college recruiting fairs and placing a strong emphasis on hiring recent grads.

One survey, from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, revealed that businesses are planning to hire 9.5 percent more college graduates this year than last. Another report from the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University found that employers will increase college graduate hiring by 7 percent.

Are you planning to hire more recent grads this year?

The U.S. Senate is planning to vote today or tomorrow on the Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act, or JOBS, Act, which would help to create new pools of capital for small businesses by reforming regulations and allowing crowdfunding investing.

The bill, which was already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 8, is gaining strong support among entrepreneurs and small business owners.

“Crowdfunding and the JOBS Act need to pass so we can get capital to our nation’s job creators,” Startup Exemption Founder Woodie Neiss said. “This important piece of legislation addresses the startup and seed-funding gap that was left after the financial meltdown of 2008. It will allow the community to step in and fund fraud-free entrepreneurs and small businesses. Main Street will be able to evaluate becoming investors in our nation’s neighborhood shops or the next great startups and will also share in that prosperity.”

Click here to read more about the pending legislation.

]]> http://news.recruiting.com/2012/03/20/jobs-act-would-benefit/feed/ 0 http://news.recruiting.com/2012/03/20/what-are-the-best-jobs-for-2012/ http://news.recruiting.com/2012/03/20/what-are-the-best-jobs-for-2012/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:52:39 +0000 Jen Carpenter http://news.recruiting.com/?p=2285 Read More]]> What do computer programmers, therapists, and pharmacists all have in common? They’ve been ranked among the top jobs for this year.

U.S. News & World Report recently released its list of the Best Jobs for 2012, and it’s no surprise that technology and healthcare-related positions make up the bulk of the list. In fact, registered nurses were ranked as the top job to have this year.

“Healthcare has become the core industry in this country, just like manufacturing in another era,” John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said. “It’s a confluence of forces causing this, including the science involved in uncovering new frontiers, the aging of the population, and government’s commitment to providing healthcare to a broader generation of people. That causes job growth in several sectors.”

The Best Jobs for 2012 include:

1. Registered nurse
2. Software developer
3. Pharmacist
4. Medical assistant
5. Database administrator
6. Web developer
7. Computer systems analyst
8. Physical therapist
9. Computer programmer
10. Occupational therapist

As of January 1, employers across the state are required to pay workers a minimum wage of $7.65, an increase of 30 cents from last year. The increase in pay stems from a 3.8 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index, which shows that consumers are paying more for everyday goods and services.

In 2006, voters approved the “Raise the Arizona Minimum Wage for Working Arizonans Act,” which allows the Industrial Commission of Arizona to enforce a new minimum wage based on fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index.

As we previously reported, Arizona is among nine other states slated to increase minimum wage this month, including: Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

The nation’s GDP increased by 1.8 percent during Q3, as several key economic indicators continued to grow. While this is an improvement over the 1.3 percent growth we saw during Q2, it’s slightly lower than previously-estimated growth of 2 percent.

The main causes of GDP growth during Q3 came from increases in non-residential fixed investments, exports, consumer spending, and federal government spending. However, those increases were slightly offset by declines in private inventory investment and state and local government spending.

According to MarketWatch, experts are predicting that our nation’s economy will do better during Q4, but caution that 2012 is still up in the air:

Growth has averaged a paltry 1.2% rate so far this year — much slower a pace than is usually the case in an economic recovery. Growth rates of 3% or more are more common.

Economists are forecasting stronger growth — about 3.0% on an annualized basis — in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31. Some estimates approach 4%, reflecting expectations of stronger consumer spending.

But economists aren’t very optimistic about growth in 2012 given the continuing European financial crisis, signs of slowing growth in China and, closer to home, fiscal gridlock in Washington.

At the same time, corporate profits increased by $32.5 billion during Q3, which is a huge drop from the $61.2 billion increase we saw during Q2. On the plus side, taxes on corporate income fell by $9.1 billion, resulting in a $41.6 billion increase in after-tax profits.

Private-sector employers added 325,000 jobs during December, which is much better than many experts were predicting. This is a good sign that the national economy will continue to recover as we embark on the new year.

“December’s advance was the largest monthly gain since December 2010, reflecting strong job creation across most industries,” Carlos Rodriguez, president and CEO of ADP, said in a statement. “Small and medium-sized businesses were hiring at a similar pace. Job creation among large employers was also encouraging.”

The service-providing sector accounted for the majority of the job gains, adding 273,000 employees during December. The goods-producing sector added another 52,000 workers.

Although small business continued to hire the most (+148,000), medium businesses were a close second (+140,000). Large businesses added another 37,000 workers.

“The estimate for December suggests that employment accelerated for the fourth consecutive month, consistent with the year-end pick-up in economic growth,” Makroeconomic Advisers Chairman Joel Prakken said. “Today’s report, which is notably above the consensus forecasts both for today’s number and for Friday’s jobs estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, points towards a strengthening labor market.

“Today’s report also suggests that November’s somewhat surprising decline in the unemployment rate might stick and, indeed, that the unemployment rate could fall further in December,” he continued. “Other indicators also signal some firming of labor market conditions, including the downward trend in unemployment claims, upturns in consumer sentiment and confidence influenced by perceptions about the availability of jobs, along with a rising trend in employees voluntarily quitting their positions.”

According to the most recent Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report from the Department of Labor, initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped (-15,000) to 372,000 during the week ending Dec. 31, 2011.

According to a report by Bloomberg:

The decrease in firings indicates employers may be getting more comfortable with their headcounts and their economic outlooks as the year begins. Economists forecast a Labor Department report tomorrow will show hiring picked up and joblessness held below 9 percent in December.

In the week ending December 24, we saw the insured unemployment rate drop to 2.8 percent (-.1 percent), and the number for insured unemployment fall to 3,595,000 (-22,000). The previous week, a total of 2,932,561 people claimed Emergency Unemployment Compensation (+6,426).

Georgia was the only state that saw a decrease in initial claims of more than 1,000 in the week ending December 17, as fewer layoffs in the construction, service, and manufacturing industries caused the state’s claims to fall by 1,105.

During that same week, layoffs in the service industry caused California to see the highest increase in initial claims (+16,490), while Alaska reported the highest insured unemployment rate (6.5 percent).

Blogic was founded in 2011 as part of AZ Disruptors (www.AZDisruptors.com), the first Arizona incubator to offer angel funding to individuals and businesses developing cutting-edge “disruptive” technology. Blogic was created to help companies maintain a consistent visual identity across a website and blog.  As part of the acquisition, Sean Coleman, Founder & CEO of Blogic, and an Arizona State University alumni, will join Jobing’s software engineering team.

“We were very impressed, not only with the technology the company had built, but also with the passion and energy of Sean Coleman,” said Aaron Matos, Founder & CEO of Jobing. “Jobing has a reputation for our technology solutions which provide our clients with the best tools and resources.  Sean’s vision and technology expertise align very well with what we are looking to accomplish here at Jobing; and he is a welcome addition to our tech team.”

“I am incredibly excited to join the Jobing technology team,” said Sean Coleman, Founder & CEO of Blogic. “This acquisition allows me to bring my vision of brand-matching to life, with the support of a very talented group of people.”

About Jobing
Jobing’s mission is to connect local employers and local job seekers through Jobing.com, a local job board community; and Recruiting.com, family of technology products focused around web, mobile, social media, search and video recruiting.  The 3-time Inc. 500 company is a privately held, employee-owned company, funded by investors Great Hill Partners (www.greathillpartners.com) and JMI Equity (www.jmiequity.com).  For more information, visit: http://about.jobing.com.

About Blogic
Blogic is a premier site-matching technology company dedicated to meeting the challenges that often arise from maintaining a consistent visual identity across a website and blog. Blogic can copy a website design exactly, allowing for the instant creation of a seamlessly integrated blog.  Incorporated in the summer of 2011, Blogic was one of two companies incubated as part of AZ Disruptors (www.AZDisruptors.com/). For more information, visit www.blogic.com.

About AZ Disruptors
AZ Disruptors is a Phoenix, Arizona-based start-up incubator for software companies. The first incubator to offer funding in Arizona, AZ Disruptors offers selected companies access to office space, desks, chairs, Internet, mentors, legal advice and $20,000 cash to help build successful software companies.  For more information, visit www.AZDisruptors.com/.

According to a report by The Washington Post:

The falling state rates reflect the brightening jobs picture nationally. The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in November to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009. The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row — the first time that’s happened since 2006, before the Great Recession.

Unemployment

• The national unemployment rate came in at 8.6 percent during November, down from the previous month (9 percent) and the previous year (9.8 percent).
• Over the month, 43 states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates drop, while three states reported rate increases and four states experienced no change.
• North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate during November (3.4 percent), while Nevada saw the highest rate (13 percent).
• Michigan reported the largest monthly decline in unemployment (-.8 percent).
• Over the last year, 45 states experienced a decline in unemployment, while five states saw their rates continue to grow.
• New Mexico recorded the largest yearly decline in unemployment (-2.1 percent).

Employment Situation

• Between October and November, jobs were added in 29 states and the District of Columbia, workers were lost in 19 states, and employment was unchanged in two states.
• New York added the most jobs over the month (+29,500), while Wisconsin lost the most workers (-14,600).
• South Carolina reported the largest monthly percentage increase in employment (+.9 percent), while Alaska saw the largest decline (-.8 percent).
• On a yearly basis, 45 states and the District of Columbia added jobs, while only five states lost workers.
• California added the most jobs between November 2010 and November 2011 (+233,100).
• North Dakota saw the largest yearly percentage increase in employment (+4.5 percent), while Delaware recorded the largest drop (-.8 percent).