What is a MOOC, and Can it Help You Get a Job?

People working on computers in a blue background. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. “Massive” implies that any number of students may participate, and “open” means that registration is not required and a tuition fee is not charged. MOOCs are essentially college-level courses that anyone can complete on the internet for free. Although students who complete MOOCs are not eligible for college credit, the allure is in the fact that course content is provided by some of the top universities in the world, such as MIT and Princeton. So while students who take an MIT MOOC can’t say they attended MIT, they most certainly can say that they successfully completed an MIT course. Continue Reading

5 Ways to Stand Out in a Tough Job Market

3d green figure standing out from the crowd. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Exceptional candidates go above and beyond to tailor resumes and ace interviews. They also know exactly what they want and how much they are worth. Continue Reading

12.2% Hiring Increase Projected for 2013 Grads

The job market for college graduates continues to improve according to preliminary results from the NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey.

The 12.2 percent projected increase in hiring of recent college graduates comes on top of the 9.5 increase seen in 2012. Part of the strength in the 2013 numbers is due to only eight percent of employers planning to hire fewer graduates, the lowest number seen since 2007.

The degrees most in demand are: Continue Reading

How to Survive a PhD

Dr. Jason Karp

With the bleak job market and lackluster economy, many young adults are staying in school to pursue graduate degrees or returning to school after a layoff.  To advance your career and get ahead in the competitive job market, the trick is to graduate as quickly as possible so you don’t waste more time than necessary out of the job market.  This is especially true for people finding themselves out of work and needing to return. How to Survive Your PhD covers many of these tricks, offering a no-nonsense approach to getting in and out of school with your PhD in hand. Here’s some tips to complete your PhD quickly and not have to spend seven years getting it:

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2.1 Million Young Adults Hired Since April

From April to July 2012, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old rose 2.1 million to 19.5 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This year, the share of young people employed in July was 50.2 percent. (The month of July typically is the summertime peak in youth employment.) Unemployment among youth increased by 836,000 from April to July 2012, compared with an increase of 745,000 for the same period in 2011. (Because this analysis focuses on the seasonal changes in youth employment and unemployment that occur each spring and summer, the data are not seasonally adjusted.)

Labor force

The youth labor force–16- to 24-year-olds working or actively looking for work–grows sharply between April and July each year. During these months, large numbers of high school and college students search for or take summer jobs, and many graduates enter the labor market to look for or begin permanent employment. This summer, the youth labor force grew by 2.9 million, or 14.2 percent, to a total of 23.5 million in July.
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Closing Candidates: A How-To in a Hot Job Market

Joanna Edwards, Executive Recruiter, High Tech Sales & Marketing Division Manager at RedFish Technology

An undisputable fact: the job market is heating up. Candidates seeking employment no longer go months without returned phone calls, but rather, quite the opposite.  This morning when speaking with a candidate who declared he was ‘actively looking’ for a new role,  I was informed that since beginning his career search on Thursday of last week  he had received 152 emails regarding job opportunities.  An entirely separate call indicated the same trend. This candidate, who was directly recruited out of her organization, had to choose from one of four offers – all with a 10% increase in base salary and a significant equity component.  These are all very solid signs that the job market is better than last year. But with a positive shift in the economy comes a new set of challenges that hiring managers must be prepared to combat.   After 17 phone interviews, six on-site meetings, three reference checks and everyone on your team agreeing that this (and only this) person is the ideal fit, you cannot afford to lose him. So in a candidate’s market, what is the best approach when at the offer stage? Below are some suggestions to help you and the team make a successful hire. Continue Reading

College Students and Recent Grads Concerned about Finances and more After Graduation

Those who don’t think that college students and recent graduates are concerned about their futures, think again.

According to a national survey sponsored by eHealthInsurance (NASDAQ: EHTH), this year’s college graduates are not likely to earn anywhere near as much as they think they need in order to be financially secure, and their expectations for getting employer-sponsored health insurance are unrealistic.

The survey, conducted in April 2012 by Kelton Research, found that this year’s college graduates may be in for a harsh reality check when they enter the job market. According to the survey:

• Today’s college students estimate that they will need to earn an average salary of $81,600 per year after graduation in order to feel financially secure; however, former college students who had graduated in the past three years said that their first job out of college paid only $21,900 per year on average
• More than eight-in-ten college students (82%) believe their first job out of college is likely to provide them with health insurance; however, nearly six-in-ten recent grads (59%) say that their first job out of college did not provide them with health insurance Continue Reading

New College Graduate Hiring Up 10.2% from 2011

There is good news in the job market for the graduating class of 2012.  Employers are expected to hire more recent college graduates this year than in 2011.

Employers expect to hire 10.2 percent more new college graduates from the college Class of 2012 than they did from the Class of 2011, according to a new study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Continue Reading

Securing the Right Job or Career Transition in the New Economy – part I

Part I of a 4 part discussion on the job market

Part I – Does the following describe your situation?

Check all that apply:

You are in a recent job transition.
You need to generate job leads before expenses start to mount.
You need to find a way to increase job contacts and generate more interviews.
You are frustrated with the job leads generated from Job Boards, Online Classifieds, and Job Fairs.
You have squeezed all the job leads you can out of your personal network.
You are ready to do whatever it takes to take your job search to the next level. Continue Reading

Economic Indicators Indicate Job Market About to Boom

The economy still has a long, long way to go before we will recover all of the jobs lost during the recession but the past few months are enough to convince all but the most irrational skeptic that we’re moving in the correct direction. Slowly, but better.

But those who are excited about the economy adding a couple of hundred thousand jobs per month need to keep in mind that if we continue to add jobs at that rate then it will take a decade to make up all for all the jobs lost toward the end of George W. Bush’s presidency as well as at the beginning of Barack Obama’s as the job losses were so monumental (750,000 some months) and the nation’s population has grown since the recession started in 2007. Looking back at job growth in the 1980′s or latter part of the 1990′s, we see that job growth of 250,000 per month is relatively weak. To actually increase the number of jobs we have in real terms, we need to start seeing monthly net jobs increase by at least 300,000 and even 400,000. Unlikely? Hardly. Continue Reading