Profile of a confident jobseeker
Abridged: Management-issues.com HERNDON, VA -- Self-confidence can make or break a job or career search. It allows you to have a positive yet realistic view of yourself. With it, you trust your own abilities and have a general sense of control in your life. Without it, you're frustrated and stuck - until you learn that having and keeping it - is really within your own control.

Many jobseekers who lack confidence depend excessively on the 'approval' of others in order to feel good about themselves. They tend to avoid taking risks because they fear failure, and generally do not expect to be successful. By contrast, self-confident jobseekers are willing to risk the disapproval of others because they generally trust their own abilities. They tend to accept themselves; they don't feel they have to conform in order to be accepted.

Develop personal standards and values that are meaningful to you and do not be dependent on the 'approval' of others. Similarly, if you wallow in "the past has done me wrong", consider that you can become aware of those influences and make a choice to move beyond them.

Don't overlook motivation in job interview
Abridged: Associated Press HOUSTON, TX -- Most job interviews are heavy on the preparation: What are your skills, training, educational background, learning abilities? Given this weighting, a candidate's motivation is often an overlooked - but crucial - element in determining how well the person will excel in an organization, according to a study by Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting firm.

To reduce the frequency of an unpleasant hiring surprise, the company recommends that employers pay more attention to a candidate's potential for engagement as a way to predict performance. The firm developed a list of six personal characteristics to help screen for likely engagement: Adaptability, achievement orientation, attraction for the work, emotional maturity, positive disposition and deep confidence in the ability to succeed.

"Measuring and selecting an engaged candidate is like hiring the caterpillar who turns into a butterfly - not the moth who eats away the fabric of your organization," said Doug Reynolds, a vice president at Pittsburgh-based DDI.

Labor market bounces back from hurricanes
Abridged: Washingtonpost.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The nation's businesses cranked up hiring in November, a sign the labor market is back in the groove as the ill effects of the Gulf Coast hurricanes fade. Employers expanded payrolls by 215,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent. The Labor Department's fresh snapshot of the jobs situation suggested employers are in a better hiring mood.

The hiring pickup came after two grim months for jobseekers. "There's no question that business confidence was paralyzed right after the hurricanes," said Brian Bethune, economist at Global Insight. "Business leaders were looking at the situation and were a little bit uncertain how it was going to be resolved. So they put hiring plans on hold. Now that the proverbial smoke has cleared, they are saying: `Let's hire.'"

November's employment gains were pretty broad based. Construction jobs went up, partly reflecting hurricane rebuilding and cleanup. Retail, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, financial activities and even manufacturing were among those boosting jobs. In an encouraging sign for job seekers overall, the average time that the unemployed spent searching for work in November was 17.7 weeks. That was down from an average 18.1 weeks in October.

Inner cities' jobs slip despite programs
Abridged: TimesLeader.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Many of America's inner cities continue to hemorrhage jobs despite years of federal programs designed to improve their economies. Nearly half of the country's 82 largest municipalities lost jobs from 1995 to 2003, according to a new Harvard University study. "It's sobering," said Michael Porter, a Harvard business professor who did the study for the university. "It suggests that there are relatively few inner cities that are thriving in the sense of job growth."

Among the best performing: Jersey City; Long Beach; Tulsa; and Anaheim. Among the worst: Detroit; Grand Rapids; Rochester, N.Y.; and Miami. Thirty-two of the inner cities studied also had neighborhoods that were designated federal urban empowerment zones or urban renewal communities. Of those, 12 showed an increase in jobs from 1995 to 2003. Only one, Mobile, Ala., added jobs at a higher rate than the surrounding metropolitan area.

Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said HUD is trying to better promote the tax incentives, especially among small-business owners. Economic development experts agree that tax incentives alone will not revive urban areas with chronically depressed economies. Harvard's Porter said. "There's no silver bullet," he said. "To get it right you've got to work on the fundamentals.”

Increased demand for temp workers
Abridged: Stockwatch.com ALISO VIEJO, CA -- Demand for temporary workers in the United States for the first quarter of 2006 is expected to climb approximately 5 percent over the same period in 2005, according to the RemedyTemp Quarterly Labor Forecast, released last week. "Industry wide hiring of temporary workers is expected to maintain its steady year-over-year growth during the first quarter," said Greg Palmer, RemedyTemp's president and chief executive officer. "This stable growth is due to an anticipated continuation of relatively solid economic activity."

Preliminary figures reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the fourth quarter increase will likely be approximately 4.5 to 5 percent. "Despite the destruction caused by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, national economic growth remained resilient," said Palmer. "There were broad-based employment gains in November - including demand for permanent workers - in construction, retail, health services, business services and even manufacturing."

The RemedyTemp Quarterly Labor Forecast is based, in part, on Bureau of Labor Statistics and other key indicators. It is tracked quarterly and serves as an indicator of economic activity. RemedyTemp provides this sophisticated forecast vehicle to assist other companies in managing their workforce intelligently to meet business demands.

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