April 18th, 2012 – Just as unemployment numbers appeared to be decreasing they are now back up over the last two month perioud. Federal Reserve policy makers are saying the labor market market recovery will be slow coming, after more more Americans filed unemployment claims than expected last at the beginning of April.

Unemployment claims saw an additional 13,000 applications for the week ended as of April 7th, the highest they have been since January 28th. Unemployment claims came in at 380,000, when the number was expected to be closer to 355,000.

Senior economist Michael Hanson at Bank of America has this to say:

“There’s a modest recovery in the labor market, but still a ways to go,”

“There’s a number of tailwinds for the labor market that are fading a bit,”

“And there are a number of headwinds that are still out there,”

Some economist are saying that people shouldn’t read too much into these numbers as they don’t expect the labor market to soften much more moving forward.

With that being said the world economy is still dealing with the European debt crisis, and it is likely the U.S. Government will be needing to make more budget cuts down the road.

Most people start and finish their job search by submitting a few or a ton of resumes over the internet. The internet is a great way to find jobs quickly and makes it easy to submit resumes. However, your job search should go beyond just pushing the “submit” button while you hide behind the computer screen. You should never have an over reliance on any one job search method; such as the internet.

Besides submitting your resume to companies online you should also be using social sites like LinkedIN, Facebook and others to see if you know anyone at potential companies where you are submitting your resumes for open positions, before you submit your resume. If you see a job opening at a particular company, hit your social circles to see if you know anyone who may be able to help you get your resume into the right persons hands, along with a positive recommendation to the hiring manager.

In a post we recently published we mentioned small businesses are a great place to be looking for jobs right now. With that being said don’t be afraid to walk into some of the smaller companies and ask if you can introduce yourself and leave your resume with the hiring manager. You can also try getting through the hiring manager over the phone in order to introduce yourself if walking in is not an option.

Be more effective by outsourcing the job of looking for a job to a headhunter, or recruiting agency. Recruiting agencies and headhunters get paid to find you work, and they have lots of connections. There is a good chance they will know of, or may hear of a job where you’ll be a perfect fit.

Make sure that when the right job opening comes along, you’re resume is as perfectly put together as possible. You’ll also want to make sure you’re interviewing skills are as sharp as they can possibly be. For help with resumes and with interviews please visit some of our other articles.

March 23, 2012 Washington – According to the United States Labor Department the number of people seeking unemployment has fallen to a 4 year low. This drop coincides with the best 3 months of hiring within the last 2 years.

Thursday the U.S. Labor Department said:

“…weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, lowest since February 2008. The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, dipped to 355,000, also a four-year low.”

It has been estimated that employers have added 245,000 jobs per month to the job market, which has pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3%.

The economy grew at 3% for the last quarter of last year, in comparison to 1.7% the quarter before. Consumer confidence is steadily increasing leading to more spending, and in turn increasing business for companies who are now hiring.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) also reported their best winter for home sales in the last 5 years. Home sales have dipped in February, but are still 13% higher than they have been in the last 6 months.

Concerns now shift to rising gas prices which could lead to consumers having less discretionary spending money.

The Federal Reserve said this regarding gas:

“…it expects oil and gas prices to temporarily boost inflation but predicts that longer-term inflation should remain stable.”

Overall the news regarding unemployment and the job market seems to be moving in a positive direction, which is good news for those looking for work.

Many times when we think about finding work the first thing that pops into our minds is looking for work at larger companies. Larger corporations are a logical place to look for work because they employee a large number of people, are easy to find, and usually make it easy to find and apply to open positions online.

However, if you’re looking for work finding companies with 20 employees or less may be the best place to look for work. According to an article published in Forbes, companies with less than 20 employees in many cases have been hurt the least by current economic conditions.

From the Forbes article:

“In February 2012 the Intuit Small Business Employment Index, a measure of employment at U.S. companies with fewer than 20 employees, stood at 95 percent of its January 2007 level.   Small business employment has been slowly working its way out of a deep decline, with the Index hitting a post-financial crisis bottom in November 2009 at 89 percent of its January 2007 level.”

One of the best resources which we recommend for finding job openings at these smaller businesses is Craigslist.com.

Please visit some of our articles on preparing for interviews along with resume creation to ensure you are as prepared as possible for finding and landing that next job!

The position of a network administrator can be challenging as well as rewarding. Learning more about the future outlook pertaining to this career as well as understanding the network administrator salary pay range before pursuing a career in this field is advisable, as is with any career you may be considering. With this being said let’s start by taking a look at the career outlook, and then we’ll take a detailed look at just how much money you can expect to make working in this field of employment.

Network Administrator Employment & Career Outlook Statistics

In May 2011, roughly 340,000 jobs were held in the United States by computer and network administrators. These jobs spanned a wide range of industries including computer related services & design, telecommunications, insurance providers, financial firms, business management companies, government agencies and schools. Roughly 7% of people working in this field are self-employed.

The above average job growth expected in this field of work is great news for anyone currently working in this field or considering a career in this field of work. Jobs in this field are expected to grow around 23% between the years of 2008 and 2018; which means there will be plenty of job openings for qualified candidates.

With businesses these days relying so heavily on technology, and computer networks being the backbone of this infrastructure; network administrator jobs will play an integral role in the development in the success of companies moving forward. Mobile technologies will also continue to grow which will also increase the number of jobs in this field of work. Network administrators will help organizations connect with customers, employees, consumers, and clients. Information security will also be a key factor in creating more jobs; as companies will need to implement more sophisticated technologies in order to deal with the growing number of online attacks aimed at their computer networks.

Generally speaking those with college degrees in related fields of study and/or network administration certifications will have the best opportunities. With demand projected to be over 20%, those without degrees but who have related work experience will also have opportunities to find jobs in this field of work. In addition to new jobs that will be created, there will be a need to replace jobs being left behind by those moving into other fields or retiring from the job market.

Network Administrator Salary Figures

As of May 2010 the median annual network administrator salary was estimated to be around $69,160. The middle 50% earned between $53k and $88k annually; the lowest 10% earned $42k, and the highest 10% earned over $108k. These salary statistics were prepared by the United States government in 2010.

States having having the highest levels of employment for those seeking jobs in this field are California, Texas, New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

The top paying states for work in this field are Washington D.C. $85k (mean salary), Virginia $81k, Maryland $80k, California $80k, and Massachusetts $80k.

Additional network administrator salary figures as of March 2012:

We hope you’ve found our page on network administrator salary figures and career outlook detailed and informative. We look forward to hearing from our visitors, so please feel free to leave us a comment. For more tech career job profiles and information feel free to visit some of our other articles.

Washington March 1, 2012 – Chances are that you may be looking for work if you’ve found your way to our website. The good news is jobless claims have hit a 4 year low according to the Labor Department for the period ending February 25th, 2012.

Weekly claims for unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 applications to 351,000 from the previous week’s figure which was around 353,000.

Generally a better indicator of where employment or unemployment is heading is the four week moving average. The four week moving average dropped by 5,500 to 354,000; this new level represents the lowest seen since March 2008.

Even with this drop the labor market is far from where it was or needs to be in order to be considered healthy.

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had this to say:

The unemployment rate remains elevated, long-term unemployment is still near record levels and the number of persons working part-time for economic reasons is very high,

What is known is that weekly unemployment claims have been dropping since October of last year.

Regardless, the labor market still faces challenges moving forward; the unemployment rate still remains elevated at 8.3%; however, it could be argued this number is understated. There are still an estimated 13 million people unemployed with millions of others having given up there job search. Those who have given up their job search are not considered unemployed or employed; additionally those who have taken part-time work in place of full-time work to get by are also not figured into the 8.3% number.

For those interested in pursuing careers in this field it’s a good idea to first know what the average human resources salary will approximately prior to pursuing a career in the field. In this article we will take a detailed look regarding the the topics of salary and job growth outlook. If you are interested in finding out more information in addition to this article regarding HR careers you may want to check out our Human Resources Job Description and Career Information article.

Human Resources Job Outlook

Job growth is expected to be around 22% for jobs in this field between the years 2008 and 2018 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs in this field of work will grow at a rate above the average because of legislation changes in regards to health and occupational safety, wages, retirement plans, healthcare, and so forth; these changes will require individuals in human resources who are knowledgeable and specialize in these particular areas. More complicated and rising costs regarding healthcare will also require specialists who are able to source, negotiate and create creative healthcare benefit and compensation packages for employees.

Job demand will vary depending on the area of human resources which is being discussed. For example, jobs in the human resources training area will be particularly in high demand; this demand will be due to employers spending a greater amount of money on employee job-specific training. Employers have recognized that employee training programs are needed especially in high-tech so that their employees skills do not become obsolete.

With businesses expanding human resource specialists in the area of recruiting will experience positive job growth. Newly created positions will need to be filled with qualified candidates and it will be the responsibility of HR recruiters to find these individuals.

Additionally there will be jobs created from the need to replace those who have been promoted to other positions, or are retiring from the workforce.

Candidates with certifications, experience and college degrees in related fields of study will be the most desired candidates.

Human Resources Salary Figures

With there being such a wide variety of different positions in human resources we thought it would make the most sense to put the different positions and related human resources salaries into easy to read tables.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2010:

Additional Human Resources salary figures as of March 2012.

We hope you’ve found this article regarding human resources salary figures and job outlook information helpful and informative. For more information regarding business careers you can visit some of our other articles.

The human resources job description can vary depending on what type of human resource position is being discussed. There are several types of human resource positions which we will take a closer look at in this article. In larger corporations the Director of Human Resources will manage several HR (Human Resource) managers who individually specialize in overseeing human resources functions such as employment & placement, training & development, and compensation & benefits. In smaller companies a human resource generalist is the individual who would be responsible for covering all of the tasks just mentioned, and this requires and extensive amount of knowledge and experience in the field of human resources.

Human Resources Job Overview

All businesses want to attract the most qualified employees, match them to the best jobs for which they are suited, motivate them and retain them for as long as possible. The human resources department is responsible for making this happen by providing benefits, relations, training, recruitment and placement. In past years the human resources department followed processes established by upper management; however, nowadays HR managers and directors work more closely with executives or top management to give input and help to develop processes. Human resources mangers play a much more active role than they have in the past in business today.

Human Resources Job Descriptions

Employment and Placement

Human resources employment and placement managers are responsible for overseeing the recruiting and placement of newly hired employees. These managers supervise recruiting and sometimes interview specialists.

Human resources recruiting specialists are responsible for the recruiting, and hiring of new employees. They are responsible for finding qualified candidates to fill open job positions. They may follow standardized company processes, or may have the freedom to prospect for applicants however they so choose. These specialists also act as gatekeepers by conducting initial interviews before passing candidates along to hiring managers for further interviews.

Recruitment specialists often need to travel and reach out to the community in order to find qualified applicants. They spend their time setting up booths on college campuses and at career fairs in order to find promising job candidates. In addition to face-to-face recruiting they also use the telephone and internet in order to find qualified applicants as well.

Training and Development

Human resources training and development managers work with and oversee specialists in these particular areas. These specialist develop programs which can enhance employee skills in order to maximize production and business results for their organizations. Not only does training help to improve a companies overall production, but it has also been found to build workforce loyalty among employees. Company training programs can also be used as good selling points by human resources recruiting specialists when trying to lure qualified candidates to come and work for their company. These training programs can help an employee enhance and acquire new skills which can be helpful for job advancement or for finding a new job in the future. For these reasons mentioned, a companies training and development programs play a vital role in a companies human resources department.

Compensation and Benefits

Human resources compensation managers are responsible for maintaining an organizations pay structure. Working together with compensation specialists or analysts they are able to formulate compensation plans which ensure equitable and fair pay structures for all employees. Compensation managers review salary surveys in order to find out how their companies pay structure measures up against competing companies in the same industries. They also make sure the organizations scale of pay complies with ever changing employment regulations and laws.

Human resources benefits managers are responsible for administering and overseeing employee benefits programs. These benefits programs include retirement, stock options, healthcare and much more. As employer provided benefits continue to play a larger role in an employees overall compensation package; the negotiating, designing and implementation of these programs has become increasingly more important. These benefits programs have also become increasingly more complex; for example retirement plans may include 401k, pensions, profit sharing, and employee stock purchase. Healthcare benefits generally include medical, vision, dental, and sometimes life insurance.

Human Resources Educational and Skills Requirements

The educational and training backgrounds can vary quite a bit depending on the type of work and the level of the position regarding human resources positions. As you can see from our human resources job descriptions above the tasks, roles and responsibilities can range vastly from position to position.

Regarding entry level human resources positions, employers seek out college graduates with 4 year degrees. Having a degree in a related field of study like human resources, and human resources administration can help candidates stand out. However, some employers look for graduates who have business, technical degrees, or liberal arts degrees. Depending the industry the educational requirements for the most desired candidates will vary.

For those looking for advancement into managerial and director positions an advanced or graduate degree will help, and may even be required in some organizations and businesses. A master’s degree in labor relations, business administration, or in human resources is ideal.

Depending on experience, entry level employees in this field usually start out in intern positions or by performing remedial human resources tasks. Entry level tasks include, putting together employee handbooks, internet & employee research, data entry, handling routine questions over email or by phone, answering phones and other similar tasks. This type of experience helps entry level HR employees to learn the fundamentals necessary to be effective in roles which require more responsibility and experience.

Those pursuing careers in this field should also be social and have outstanding interpersonal skills. These types of skills can be developed through corporate internships in human resources positions or through teaching, training and other positions which require face to face human interactions. The job also requires strong written and verbal skills. Those who speak more than one language or who have a multicultural backgrounds will be in high demand. A fundamental understanding of computers and technology is also necessary for this career.

Thanks for visiting our human resources job description and career information page. We hope this page was able to provide you with a details and information you were looking for. We love hearing from our readers, so please feel free to leave a comment. For more information about other business careers you can visit some of our other pages.

For those interested in finding out more about customer service positions you’ve come to the right place. In this article we will take a look at the customer service job description and also job salary figures along with job growth outlook information for this career.

Customer Service Representative Job Overview

Customer service representatives are responsible for maintaining the relationship between a company that produces a good or service and those interested in buying those products/services or who have already purchased products and services. Customer service representatives solve problems, answer customer questions, and generally are responsible for making peoples experience pleasant. While most customer service work is done via the telephone, representatives may also communicate with customers using scanners, email, computers, fax and even face-to-face.

Customer Service Representative Job Description

A majority of customer inquiries are simple requests and questions which can be handled with standard scripts and processes. For example, a customer may want to change a shipping address, find out when a product will arrive, how much time is left on the warranty and other similar issues. However, there are instances where the issues may be more involved and in these cases a customer service representative will need to know how to farm out the issue to someone else in the organization who can solve it.

While many inquiries are routine and pleasant interactions there will always be a certain percentage of customer complaints a representative must deal with. representatives are usually trained to handle complaints by making suggestions to remedy the issue; this may include discounting a product, allowing the customer a return, or shipping a new item out. Customer service representatives may have the ability to reverse certain fees, and/or charges, and act as gatekeepers to ensure customer complaints are valid before offering refunds, discounts or replacement products/services.

In some organizations customer service representatives may also play a limited role in the sales of products and services. In these cases representatives usually offer suggestions, and if the customer is ready to buy they take the order; in this regard they are different from sales representatives who are actively prospecting and pursuing new business.

Customer service representatives mainly utilize computers to assist them with their work nowadays. Representatives are able to access customer files when they call in order to see all the account details. Having access to customer account details helps customer service representatives to solve problems, or issues. With their computers representatives also have access to documentation which provides answers to the most commonly experienced customer problems, and issues. In the case a customer service representative is not experienced enough to help, a supervisor or manager is often asked to assist.

Work Environment

Customer service representatives generally work in call centers with many other customer service representatives. These representatives spend a majority of their day on the telephone solving customer service issues in various ways. The companies representatives work for generally keep statistics on how much time it takes a representative to solve and issue and how many cases they are able to close each day. These type of statistics help companies to gauge how effective their products/services and customer service representatives are. The last thing a company wants is to have dissatisfied customers; which can result from long phone hold times and poor customer service.

Just about every industry nowadays employs customer service representatives. Depending on the organization the job may be exclusively a customer service job, or it may be a hybrid type position. An example of a hybrid job would be one where a person acts as a cashier, but also assists customers in finding products in a physical store location; generally these types of positions are found in retail stores and shops.

Customer service representatives working in call centers can usually expect comfortable, well lit, clean office environments. Representatives will have their own cubicle or workspace equipped with a computer and telephone, along with a headset in order to keep their hands free. Call centers are generally staffed around the clock and this can mean working late nights, early mornings, weekends and holidays. In this line of work it is also possible to work part-time; as many workers are able to work split shifts in order to accommodate their schedules.

Work in this field can be repetitious, which can lead to stress. Long periods of time on the phone and computer can lead to eye strain, back pain, headaches, and carpal tunnel injuries. Dealing with complaining and irate customers can also lead to job stress.

Customer service representatives working in retail locations may have to spend many hours on their feet moving around the store. There may also be additional challenges in having to deal with customers face-to-face rather than over a telephone or computer.

Customer Service Representative Educational Requirements And Training

Most jobs in this line of work require a high school diploma or the equivalent. Many employers will provide training for those individuals they believe have the skills to excel at this type of work.

Some customer service jobs may require a 2 or 4 year college degree if they are more technical in nature. In either case the most desirable candidates for employers will have attained a 2 or 4 year degree.

Training for this work varies from company to company. However, most representatives will be given some sort of basic training before actually interacting with customers. Much of what makes a good customer service representative is learned on the job and through many years of experience.

Those looking to pursue jobs in this field of work should have good interpersonal & communication skills; be familiar with computers, fax machines, copiers, scanners and phone systems. Representatives also need to be level headed and able to keep their “cool” in extremely volatile interactions with customers.

Customer Service Representative Job Outlook

According to the Unites States Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs in this field of work are expected to grow roughly 18% between the years of 2008 to 2018. This job growth percentage is faster than the average expected for all other jobs across the Unites States. For those looking to pursue a career in this field this is very good news.

Job growth in this industry will be due to companies placing an increased importance on customer satisfaction along with new businesses entering all industries in future years. This 18% increase will be responsible for generating roughly 400k of new job opportunities in the United States.

In years past it became popular to offshore customer service representative jobs; however newer trends have been to keep these jobs Stateside. While off-shoring these jobs helped companies cut costs, it also resulted in hiring workers who did not have the same outlook and cultural sensitivity as the customers they were trying to help.

Job advancement in this field of work usually comes in the form of being moved to supervisor and/or manager positions. Customer service representative may also transition into other customer facing positions such as sales. Representatives familiarity with products can also translate to job advancement in product improvement positions as well.

Customer Service Representative Salary Figures And Information

In May 2010 the median customer service salary was estimated to be around $30,460 annually according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median 50% of workers earned between $24,150 to $38,750; while the top 10% earned over $49,320 per year.

States with the highest level of employment:

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. New York
5. Pennsylvania

Top paying states:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Delaware
3. California
4. Connecticut
5. Massachusetts

Additional customer service salary figures as of March 2012:

We hope that you’ve found this customer service job description, salary and job outlook page detailed and informational. For more business careers please visit some of our other web pages.

After you have acquired the proper skills to get the job you’re pursuing, one of the next most important steps is creating a great resume. In this article we will provide you with a sample administrative assistant resume, and some quick tips to help you get started. Sample resumes help to give one ideas and verbiage, which when used with their own skills and experience can help to build a great resume which will showcase their talents.

In addition to the verbiage needed for your resume you will also want to use a template which will showcase your work. You can find some effective resume templates in some of our other resume posts; you can find them by clicking here, or by clicking here. You can also use the template provided in this article (below). Your resume template should make the information contained in your resume easy to find, and yet at the same time pleasant to look at.

Resume Presentation

When sending out your resume to potential employers via email, it should always be sent out in PDF format. There are plenty of free software applications on the internet which can convert word and text documents to PDF. I prefer using Adobe Acrobat but NitroPDF and PrimoPDF are also very popular free alternatives.

Whenever presenting your resume in person, you should spend the time and money to find some nice paper to print it on. Something a little heavier than a standard sheet of printer paper and maybe with a little texture will do very nicely. If you are not good at this sort of thing you can ask for help at a print shop, or paper shop like Papyrus. You should always bring a few paper copies of your resume, as well as your references along with you when you interview.

Additional Resume Writing Tips

Start your bullet points off with resume action words such as: accomplished, balanced, channeled, delegated, demonstrated, earned, facilitated, generated, increased, launched, maintained, negotiated, operated, performed, participated, scheduled, trained, wrote, and so forth.

In your resume’s “Objective” which we’ve labeled “Administrative Assistant” in the sample below, make sure to tell the potential employer how you can help them achieve their goals; don’t make the mistake of stating what you are looking for and your goals. Employers are much more interested in what you can do for them.

Now that we’ve covered some of the basics let’s take a look at the sample resume.

Administrative Assistant Resume Sample

Jannete Black
2345 Stone Lane
San Diego, Ca 98709
(515) 555-9090
JB@email.com

Administrative Assistant

A professional administrative assistant with 6 years of small and large business experience. My organizational, time management and technical skills allow me to take on many tasks, freeing up those I support to focus solely on their important business responsibilities. I have experience in a wide range of staff support duties which include: creating policies, organizational procedures, customer relations, problem solving, editing, composing, proof reading, report building, and in preparing a wide array of administrative documents.

Skills

• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook
• Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS
• Typing 85 WPM
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal skills

Summary Of Qualifications

• 6 years of administrative assistant experience
• Ability to train and lead staff
• Excellent time manager and planner
• Strong technical skills including deep knowledge of Excel and Access
• Proficient report building and presentation skills
• Resourceful internet and real life research abilities
• Experience in vendor negotiations (purchasing and leasing)
• Excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills

Professional Experience

Intertrobe Inc. San Diego, Ca 98098
2010 – Present
Administrative Assistant

• Responsible for supporting high touch technical support team managers and staff; comprised of 60+ employees
• Coordinate and perform a wide range of operational activities: booking travel, scheduling meetings, ordering supplies, customer research, preparation of reports and other day to administrative duties
• Prepare reports for management presentations (including charts, graphs and graphic design) to executives using a variety of software applications including MS Excel, and PowerPoint
• Establish and maintain relationships with vendors, negotiate supply and lease pricing for employee assets and supplies
• Maintain employee database which consists of personal employee information including: addresses, telephone numbers, addresses and emergency contact information
• Sort, arrange and coordinate the delivery of traditional mail and packages
• Develop collateral and trainings which have been implemented to ensure a smooth on-boarding process of newly hired employees
• Train, setup and help new employees get off to a smooth start
• Type first draft documents, proof-read management final draft collateral and reports, as well as prepare management memorandums from dictation
• Serve as a liaison between the group which I support and all other groups in the organization, and help to coordinate company wide activities
• Responsible for maintaining company technologies including printers, fax machines, phones and other related products
• Serve as a mentor and train newly hired administrative assistants to help them get familiar with the company processes and procedures

Education

San Diego State University, San Diego, Ca
Bachelor of Science in Communication

The Final Steps To Help You Land The Job

Once you’ve put together a fantastic administrative assistant resume make sure to socialize the resume letting colleagues, friends and family proof-read your resume. You may even want to consider working with a certified resume specialist. Resume specialists put together resumes daily and for a living; they have experience and know-how which you can leverage for a nominal fee.

After your resume is ready to go, make sure to start brushing up on your interviewing skills. After circulating your resume, inevitably you will land an interview and it is better to prepare weeks in advance, rather than only days or a day before the interview. You can brush up on some of your interviewing skills by reading our 15 most common interview questions page.

We hope you have found our administrative assistant resume sample article detailed and informative. For more administrative assistant resources please visit some of our other web pages dedicated to this career.