Have Pittsburgh Job Seekers and Recruiters Jumped on the Social Media Band Wagon?

Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. These and literally hundreds of other networking sites on the Internet, with new ones popping up everyday, have seen dramatic increases this year in both traffic and news headlines. Pittsburgh area jobseekers and recruiters are just now realizing the advantage of using these newer tools in their recruitment and search mix (along with the rest of the country).

LinkedIn, considered to be populated by a more professional networking audience, allows users to build out an online resume showing career history, awards, group memberships and education background. Users can communicate both publically and in private. Due to the popularity of employment networking on LinkedIn the site has been actively pursuing this as a revenue stream.

Facebook is more family and friends oriented. Once you create a profile on Facebook the site helps you locate people you might know by looking for similar school histories, hometowns and more. You can allow the site access to your email contact list and it will tell you if any of those emails are registered with the site. The biggest advantage Facebook offers jobseekers and recruiters are “Groups” established on the site specifically set up to help them find one another. These are usually uncovered by doing searches on the site or from “Friends” passing along information (called viral).

Then there is Twitter. Everyone it seems is still trying to figure out what to do with Twitter. How to use it and NOT use it has become the topic of hundreds of news articles, blog posts and even “Tweets” (postings on Twitter). Twitter is a “micro blogging” site that lets you tell, in 140 characters or less, what you are doing. Pick any topic, hobby, political view, or quest and you will find “Tweeps” (people who use twitter) that specialize in what you are looking for. This allows you to “Follow” any and all whom you find interesting and eventually build a list of hundreds or even thousands of “Tweeples” (also people who use Twitter). If you are so inclined, you also have the ability to build your own following depending on how public you wish to be. As a job seeker or recruiter this gives you the ability to find one another, or those with similar interests, and communicate on regular, even daily, bases.

How the social networking phenomena will change the recruitisphere is so far unknown. Some consider most of it a fad that will fade over time. Many believe it is only in its infancy and will eventually transform how jobs are filled even more than the advent of the big job board. If any of you who are reading this are not at least putting your toe in the water, you are missing out on a very important tool for your toolbox. Pittsburgh, it seems, is embracing this new way of communicating as well as most areas of the country. Local communities of people who otherwise have never met are forming bonds and taking advantage of this new ability to “get their story out”.

If you have read this with familiarity because you use these resources then you can feel good that you are ahead of the curve. If you have resisted taking the social networking plunge we ask “what are you waiting for”? Since it can take a few months to get up and running on these sites, and build a network that can be of value, starting now can mean the difference between a three month job search and a six month job search! But remember, these are additional tools in your toolbox. No successful carpenter uses only one tool!

Lionsgate Studios Looking for Extras for Filming April 22nd and 23rd

We received this email from the Producers of “WARRIOR”:

Warrior Extras Casting is looking to book people for 4/22 and 4/23. Please respond if you are over 21 and available to work.

WARRIOR, a Lionsgate Studios feature film shooting in Pittsburgh, is seeking extras to participate in the filming of a staged "smoker" - an unlicensed mixed martial arts fight- as fans. Background actors age 21 and up of all types are needed.

There is a special need for bikers- as in Harleys, not Ducatis- both male and female for this location. Shooting will take place in Clairton on Wednesday, April 22nd, and Thursday, April 23rd, beginning in late afternoon. Background will be required to stay for the entire day of shooting, usually around twelve hours but often going longer.

Pay is $100/12 hours, with overtime as needed. Actors will be required to provide their own wardrobe and transportation, and may be asked to use their vehicles in the film for an additional $25. If available for this date, please send an e-mail to warriorextras@gmail.com with "SMOKER" in the subject line to be considered.

Include your name, e-mail address, phone number, photo of yourself, and photo of your vehicle. Please only respond if available for the specified dates and location. The shoot day may start late and end late. www.warriorextras.com

As Expected, Pittsburgh Region Continues to Shed Jobs in February

With about 1,500 job seekers coming to our job fair at Mellon Arena on March 24th, the 45 companies and schools in attendance are reporting one of the best qualified groups of job seekers seen in years. We knew this was the largest attendance we have had since 2003. This also coincides with the last time Pittsburgh had seen year over year job losses that approach the levels reported for February. The Pittsburgh Metro unemployment rate rose to 6.9%, up from 6.5% in January. The last time Pittsburgh had a rate this high was 1994. The state unemployment rate was 7.5 % in February and the national rate was 8.1%.

With a diversified economy, the Pittsburgh region has been better off than in past decades when steel and manufacturing accounted for a much higher percentage of jobs. Healthcare and education in particular have helped mitigate the effects of this recession buffering our area from the brunt of job losses like those seen in southern and western states. Also contributing to the relative strength of our economy is a housing industry that, because it was never part of the national housing bubble, has not seen the kinds of declines in housing values seen elsewhere.

Pittsburgh area recruiters that we speak with, though not as pessimistic as over the past three to six months, are still showing extreme caution in their hiring plans going into spring. Until they see a sustained improvement in economic news, job losses in our area will continue to mount (though not as severely as over the past six months). On the plus side, we are starting to see a slight uptick in the search for sales people in various industries.For more details on the February Pittsburgh job market see the Pittsburgh Tribune Review article here.

EmploymentGuide.com and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Help Pittsburgh’s Unemployed Workers

2009 Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo at Mellon Arena

The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and EmploymentGuide.com® partner to sponsor “Putting Americans Back to Work” Job Fair Series in Pittsburgh.

2009 Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo at Mellon ArenaThe Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and EmploymentGuide.com® partner to sponsor “Putting America Back to Work” Job Fair Series in Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA, 3/12/2009– In response to the current economic crisis and a tightening labor market, The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and EmploymentGuide.com have combined efforts to bring together jobseekers with companies who seek their talents.

On Tuesday, March 24th, from 10:00AM to 2:00PM at Mellon Arena more than 40 Pittsburgh area employers and schools will meet and interview hundreds of job seekers.

Companies and schools attending include:
Aramark
Army National Guard
Burns & Scalo Roofing
Community College of Allegheny County
H&R Block
CCAC/ Modern Office Systems Training
Life Pittsburgh
Mainstay Life Services
New Century Careers
SMG
Transitional Services
Waddell & Reed Financial Services
Echostar
Haemonetics
HCR/Manorcare
All-State Career School
Greenery Care Center
Cardworks Servicing
YWCA
PIA Truck Driving School
Rent-A-Center
U.S. Navy
Parkvale Bank
Giant Eagle
Market District
Getgo
Giant Eagle Express
Building and Construction Trade Industry Partnership
Brightside Academy
City of Pittsburgh
CEP / Clayton Academy
CVS Pharmacy
Cintas
Academy of Court Reporting
Verizon Wireless
Allegheny Answering Service
Reliance First Capital
Kaplan School
Gallagher Home Healthcare
Baptist omes
Futurity First Insurance Company
CynaMed Healthcare

And more

Co-sponsored by The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and EmploymentGuide.com, the 2009 Pittsburgh Employment and Career Education Expo is part of the “Putting America Back to Work” Job Fair Series, taking place in more than 50 cities across the country throughout 2009. The job fair series allows jobseekers to have personal contact with perspective employers.

Participating employers will seek to fill hourly to mid level positions ranging from entry-level to management and they represent industries such as health care, customer service, hospitality, finance, sales, insurance, skilled trades, transportation, security and more.

Adding to the success of this new job fair series is support from associations interested in helping their members including: the AARP Foundation, the National Urban League, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

Pittsburgh Job Market on a Slippery Slope

As the recession begins to deepen in the Pittsburgh region we are seeing an inability of local employers to make decisions about their recruitment plans. We continue to speak with hundreds of Pittsburgh area recruiters each week and are hearing from many of them that they have open positions they need to fill but either are not allowed, at least for the short term, to spend money in the effort, or are fearful of filling a position only to be told within weeks or months that they have to lay the new employee off.

Pittsburgh recruiters are currently just holding their breath. Many of our postings have communicated how we in Pittsburgh are fairing better than most areas around the country. The next month or two should really set the tone of how hard we are ultimately hit for all of 2009.

Most of the layoff announcements that have been publically made over the past month or two that affect Pittsburgh workers have been primarily companies with a national presence (Target, Ericsson, Home Depot, Circuit City) or large financial institutions (PNC Bank, BNY Mellon).

Healthcare and education continue to be the strength of our current job market condition. By keeping, and even continuing to increase, overall jobs in these areas of strength, other area support industries (retail, hospitality and other service industries) have been able to maintain more strength (jobs) than they would otherwise. This is different than in 2001-2002 when we lost 10,000 jobs from US Air.

The most optimistic forecasts predict the recession will continue to deepen until at least June. We will continue to report on strengths and weaknesses for our local job market as we see them.

To try and leave with at least one piece of good news, Single Source Roofing will be adding 50 jobs soon as they move into their new corporate headquarters in the Southpoint Business Park (see announcement from the Pittsburgh Business Times) and Yellow cab will be expanding as they add new service to the south hills area (see Pittsburgh Post gazette article).

The Experts Back up What We’ve Been Saying All Year about the Pittsburgh Job Market

Whether you are currently unemployed or fearful you may be soon, Pittsburgh is one of the better places in the country to be living right now. We have certainly seen a decline in opportunities compared to last year but the decline is not as severe as many other areas around United States. Here are some of the recent reports on the Pittsburgh job market:

Harold Miller, Pittsburgh’s Future Blog

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Pittsburgh Business Times

Channel 4, WTAE

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Pittsburgh Tribune Review 2

The first quarter of 2009 will continue to show deterioration in Pittsburgh’s job market. We’ll keep on watch to give reports as we see them and report ourselves on what we are seeing directly from Pittsburgh are employers.

Pittsburgh"s Hottest and Weakest Job Categories

It’s mid November and with the national economic news enough to scare even the sanest of us into a catatonic state what is a job seeker to do? Regardless of your current employment status; safely employed, under employed, barely employed or unemployed be grateful if you live in the Pittsburgh region, still considered one of the better job markets in the country.With that said we are unquestioningly seeing a softening in demand in a number of job categories while a few are surprisingly maintaining and even increasing demand. Most positions in healthcare and education are the top in demand. Weakest job categories in Pittsburgh include retail and automotive (not surprisingly), although mechanics and body shop technicians are still in high demand. What is a bit surprising is the current strength of hospitality, banking, customer service and maintenance technicians. Construction (mostly commercial/industrial) worker demand also remains strong factoring in seasonality.What next month or next year will bring is literally anybodies guess. We have read projections as optimistic as a rebound as early as next fall and as pessimistic as late 2010 (again, national figures). We here tend to be optimists. The new administration will at the very least offer new hope to the majority of the country. With new hope comes improved optimism. With improved optimism (and lower gas prices!) dollars will begin flowing again from consumers, even if it starts as just a trickle.