Magic Pot of Jobs

The statewide unemployment rate of Nevada rose once again, making July the fourth consecutive month that this has happened. With 4.9 percent of area individuals finding themselves without employment, the state’s jobless rate is currently at it’s highest since January of 2004. Within the last year the number of those employed in Nevada has risen 1.7 percent. This goes to show that they problem isn’t necessarily that there are not new positions being created, but that the population growth is far exceeding the number of new jobs in the area. When combined with the nationally experienced housing slump, one can easily see why employment conditions continue a downward trend.

Las Vegas jobs seem to be among the most scarce in the state. The city’s unemployment rate, which is currently higher than the national average, increased from 4.7 percent in June to 5.1 percent in July. The total number of individuals employed city-wide was approximately 919,100, which left about 49,800 people without jobs.

It isn’t that there aren’t Las Vegas area jobs to be had. The problem is that they exist mainly in certain industries, such as healthcare. Instead of being filled by individuals from the local area, employers looking for doctors, nurses, therapists, teachers and engineers are finding that they have to look elsewhere for those qualified. The city just doesn’t seem to have enough residents with the proper education and training to meet industry demands.

Available jobs in Las Vegas for construction still exist, just on a smaller scale. Nevada moved from the 16th most expensive state to do business in to the 14th due to taxes and increased cost of office and residential rent. When paired with the already existing housing slump, the rise in the cost of commercial operation has decreased the number of large scale construction projects.

Also adding to the frustration of Las Vegas job seekers is a decrease in the number of temporary positions available for those waiting on something more permanent. At this time trolling online job postings and local newspaper classifieds maybe important. When so many individuals are without employment, the job market tends to be more competitive. This means that applying to a newly available position as quickly as possible is extremely important. With employers receiving such a large number of resumes, one would hate to have theirs on the bottom of pile.

An extension of Cheezhead launched today by the name of Xtra Cheezhead. The blog will feature a myriad of bloggers in the employment space, featuring names such as Jennifer Floren, Hank Stringer and Susan Burns to name a few.

Imagine a company that had all the financial resources and most technologically advanced equipment, but no employees to get anything done. When thought of this way, its easy to understand why workers are the most valuable asset a business has. Because of this a good human resources department can make or break a company.

There are several good reasons why one should consider the possibility of a career in human resources. For starters, the need for individuals trained to handle employee related issues is on the rise. With companies becoming more and more competitive for the best and brightest workers, those skilled in hiring and training such individuals are absolutely necessary to businesses that want to get ahead. After the hiring process, human resource employees are responsible for handling benefits and company morale to guarantee that these highly desired individuals are satisfied with their jobs. Without human resource employees to guarantee that such issues are handled proper highly skilled workers might leave the company for a job with a competitor. Because of this, many businesses are now focusing on stronger and better human resource departments.

Individuals who decided on careers in human resource now have more opportunities for advancement than ever before. With human resource departments becoming more important, there has also been an increase in individuals skilled in this area being promoted to higher positions within the organizations that employ them. Currently there are more human resource employees on main boards than ever before. If things continue this way it is likely that there will also be an increase in Chairman and CEO positions being filled by individuals that have a background in human resources.

Human resource job security does differ a little, depending on whether one is a generalist or a specialist. Positions for generalist tend to be more secure. Specialist involved in such things as training and development are likely to be cut if a company is experiencing a shortage of funds. The latter is also true for in-house recruiters. Still, even though some positions in human resources aren’t as secure as others, all experience a good level of flexibility when it comes to transferring to different industries. No matter what sector one works in, human resource work still tends to be similar enough that one can easily find a position in an industry that is fairing better if they lose their job due to financial cut backs.

Reading human resources articles that are on the internet or various trade magazines can give one further information about the details of other issues related to this field.

With a so many options, it can be difficult for one to decide which applicant tracking software is right for their company. Although available features and usability are extremely important, if the program is out of one’s budget then no amount of bells and whistles will likely to justify the expense. Knowing what one should expect to pay for quality applicant tracking software can assist in making sure that one is able to the get best program for the available funds.

One thing will drastically change the price one can expect to pay for applicant tracking software is the number of users one plans allow to have access. Software that runs off of the vendor’s server (ASP recruitment software) usually can support anywhere from 10 to 20 users. This option can handle the processing of resumes from tens of thousands of individuals every year. One can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per registered user for an ASP software solution. In addition to this one will also have to pay set-up fees that range from $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the applicant tracking software in question. These fees cover such things as technical support, system upgrades and debugging. When one choses this type of applicant tracking software there is usually a set up time of no more than five business days.

Enterprise software runs off a company’s own server, as opposed to that of the vendor. Because of this there is no limit to the number of registered users that licenses can be purchased for. There is also no limit to the number of applicant’s resumes that can be processed in a year’s time. For this type of applicant tracking software one is looking at a steeper price. Enterprise software solutions can easily cost $15,000 to $30,000 more than vendor server supported options. In addition to the initial expense one will also have to pay $1,000 to $5,000 for each individual license. Set-up fees usually run anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000. There is also the expense of running a company server to support the software which must be considered. In-house software such as this usually takes 20 days to a month to get up and running properly, due to the more complicated nature of the program.

As one can see, applicant tracking software prices vary greatly depending on functionality and the number of users that will require access to the program. In-house recruitment software will require a much larger budget and is really only necessary for companies that process resumes in bulk, where as ASP software can be affordable enough for much smaller businesses.