Let’s look at the employment numbers and unemployment numbers and see what they are telling us.  There are lots of numbers, but which ones tell the real employment story?

Since mid 2009 there have been around 14 million Americans unemployed.

Here are some figures that delve a little deeper into the jobs situation. Comparing 2011 weekly first time unemployment claims, we can see that each week around 400,000 Americans lose their jobs. Last week the number was 437,000. We can see that comparing the 19 weekly figures for 2011 to the same weekly figures in 2010, the number is down 12.17%. The continued claims, which counts all individuals receiving unemployment assistance, are down 17.7% for the same weeks this year versus 2010. This is good news.

There is a difficulty which could threaten this favorable trend. States and municipal governments are in difficult financial condition with the expiration of the stimulus which temporarily saved many public sector jobs. Look for states and municipal governments to step up their job cuts.

The most discouraging statistic is the raw number of American workers in the current labor market. As of last week, the US Dept. of Labor’s statistics show that there are 2.12% fewer workers in the workforce than for the same time one year ago.

So, here’s the recap. The number of layoffs is decreasing, but we may see it increasing soon. The number of Americans in the workforce is less than a year ago and not increasing significantly. The new jobs created are in the area of 200,000 to 250,000 each month, which doesn’t cover jobs lost and new workers graduating from school.

Here’s why……New jobs are created by businesses based on new demand. No business will hire new employees unless sales of their products are increasing and they need more employees to serve their customers.

So the bottom line is that if you have a job, you need to keep it. My goal is to become AMERICA’S JOB SAVER with the ideas in my new book….”Never Lose Your Job…Become a More Valuable Player.”

Please join me by helping to get these ideas to someone you care about who may be worrying about losing their job.  www.neverloseyourjobbook.com.  Sure, I want to sell my bi-book, but what I’m really looking to do is to help businesses grow based on increases in effectiveness of their workers.

Before you scoff at this idea, think about this. What would happen in any business if each worker did just a little better at their job?  You bet….the bottom line of that business would improve. So business improvement one worker at a time is the answer to growing demand. And growth in demand is what will create the new jobs that America needs.

Pass this idea on to anyone you know who has a job or runs a business.

The Virtues of Superman

 I have noticed over the years that most Americans root for the underdog, and I do that as often as anyone. But there’s another phenomenon which is completely different and it bothers me.   

 If you bring up Notre Dame, many avid sports fans express distain for the school and its sports programs. It is actually a very small school of about 8,000 undergraduate students and less than 2,000 graduate students. It has a storied past having won more national football championships than any other school, but all were in the distant past. The student athletes have always been just that with among the very highest graduation rates. So why are there so many “Notre Dame haters” among football fans?

 Since living in the West, I have become familiar with BYU. It’s a fine university also with some impressive sports results. It has a very high proportion of its students carrying a four point average, despite tough standards.  I have firsthand knowledge of the fine intellect, innovative and creative abilities and high character of its graduates having employed hundreds of them. Recently, the school discharged a student from the basketball program because he violated the code of conduct by having sexual relations with his girlfriend. Instead of being hailed as a paragon of virtue, many are scorning the University as being somehow out of touch with the times. I have also noticed that BYU has many who hate the fact that the school produces champions in all fields, some referring to it negatively. Why?   

 I was able to visit the Harvard campus once and I was taken with the traditional beauty and grace of the place. Recently a local football player selected Harvard over many with much better football programs. He reasoned that his education was much more important to the rest of his life than his college football experience. His point, and I believe most academic experts would agree, is that Harvard is one of the very finest Universities in terms of the education it offers. Yet I hear many speaking negatively about the school pronouncing its name with a snotty eastern accent. What causes this reaction?

  There are many universities where winning doesn’t come from doing things right, but by gaming the system.  I believe the reason these three winning schools are sometimes the target of distain is simply old fashioned jealousy. All three of these institutions have figured out how to succeed without compromising or cheating.

 The goal to get America back on a winning track is to prepare those who will lead us in the future to be successful, and to do so with character and integrity.  Recently I wrote a book about developing MVPs….More Valuable Players in business. Many Americans are tired of those who put winning ahead of winning ethically.  Let’s celebrate those who do the right things and do them well, and let’s throw our respect behind the institutions who teach the virtues of Superman…………….Truth, Justice and the American way.  How old fashioned is that?

Keeping the Job You Have……….Part Four

 This is part four of what will be a weekly posting concerning the idea of dramatically increasing your job security. I hope you will read our thoughts about this subject over the next few weeks…………It can make 2011 the year you stop worrying about your job and start enjoying it. 

Remember that our young man whose company had just completed a massive layoff has begun to increase his contribution to his company to improve his personal job security. He is finalizing the plan to begin successfully selling his new product line.

Usually when a product is not selling as well as we think it should we look at the way it’ s being presented and sold to the target or prospects. Usually we conclude that the selling isn’t working.  Maybe the price is wrong or the presentation needs to be stronger.

 In my consulting with lots of companies, almost all were having a “sales” problem which were causing them to be less successful than they needed to be. Almost every time, the problem turned out to be more with the product than the sales process.

It shouldn’t take a super salesperson to sell the product, but if the product doesn’t stand out in terms of offering clear benefits, it won’t sell very well.  Today there are so many products on the market that you must clearly offer a distinct advantage over your competition.

 So our young man must roll up his sleeves and make sure his product delivers solid benefits and those benefits must be what potential customers need.  His product is a service offered to business clients.  Customizing the specific offering would require the following analysis:

 Are they seeking the lowest price regardless of the quality of the service?  

Are they seeking premium service which also carries a premium price?

Are the seeking a cultural fit with their company?

Are they risk adverse therefore requiring lots of performance assurances?

Are they looking for the latest and greatest in terms of approach and technology?

Do they value a close personal relationship with suppliers?

Would they be drawn to a pay for performance approach?

Do they want a turnkey approach which emphasizes a “We’ll take care of everything” approach?

Asking the decision maker “what attributes would an ideal product have”  is an excellent way to start to do this analysis.  In this case, our young man got his boss to ask this of the President of each potential client. Since the question was coming from a very high level official, it sent that signal that the company was seriously interested in providing just the right service.

 Next week….The young man begins to work his plan

January 17th, 2011

Keeping the Job You Have……….Part Three

 This is part three of what will be a weekly posting concerning the idea of dramatically increasing your job security. I hope you will read our thoughts about this subject over the next few weeks…………It can make 2011 the year you stop worrying about your job and start enjoying it. 

Remember that our young man whose company had just completed a massive layoff has begun to increase his contribution to his company to improve his personal job security.

He now understands that getting others to commit to his new product line also means getting others to commit to change. We all feel comfortable with things the way they are. No one opposes change unless they feel the change is bad, but we all tend to continue doing and believing in the same things unless we are forced to change.

The new line was a significant change in the way the company would do its business. It will have an effect on people so the human resources folks would have an opinion. It has to be sold so the sales department certainly needs to be involved. Almost every facet of the company will see some change as this new line becomes part of the way the company does business so each has to be part of the change.  

So the question the young man faces is how can he get others in his business to embrace the change his new line will bring?  We all have a tendency to sell the benefits of something new hoping that others will see these benefits, have an enlightening moment, and endorse the new way.

This may work over time, but it is not easy sledding. There must be a better way.  In this case our young man decided to approach each department of his business. He is able to get each to see some benefit for the company if his new line becomes successful. His selling stops there. Next, he asked each if they would help him determine what, if anything, would have to change, to allow for his new line to roll our successfully.

We all like to be asked to assist a lot better than we like to be asked to change. With this approach, he is able to enroll each in the change as a change agent, not a changee. This is a significant difference. We are almost all for positive change if we are part of the changing, not if we are asked to change. 

It’s hard work, but one by one, the young man is gaining support for his new line. Each department is agreeing to assist with the necessary change in their area.  Success is starting to look more possible to the young man with others helping him instead of opposing him.  

Next week…….Next week the young man puts the final touches on the plan

For a comprehensive discussion of this subject check out my book www.neverloseyourjobbook.com

Keeping the Job You Have……….Part Two

 This is part two of what will be a weekly posting concerning the idea of dramatically increasing your job security. I hope you will read our thoughts about this subject over the next few   weeks…………It can make 2011 the year you stop worrying about your job and start enjoying it. 

Remember last week that our young man whose company had just completed a massive layoff decided to increase his contribution to his company to improve his personal job security.

We all work for our employer because what we contribute is greater than what they are paying us to work there. So selecting an area where we can improve our contribution is very important. Ultimately whatever we select must contribute to the bottom line of the company. We may not like that reality, but it is indeed a reality. No company can stay in business if it doesn’t succeed financially.  Whether it’s a public or private company, the financial investors expect a return on their investment.  So whatever you select, it has to somehow make the company more money either by adding customers, solidifying the ones they already have or by somehow improving the product the company sells.

In the case of the young man, he is responsible for a new business line, so getting that line off the ground and contributing a significant amount of sales was an easy selection.

What was difficult was to decide that he owned the success or failure of this line. At first, he pointed to the sales department who had not sold the product well as a problem. After more thought he decided that the sales wouldn’t ever come until the sales department saw and understood at a gut level the superior value the new product line offered to customers. 

After giving the product line some more analysis, he was able to figure out some ways to make the benefits of the product line much more obvious to everyone. As this thought process continued, he now owned the product line and its results.   “Of course they’ll sell it when they see how terrific the results are,” he thought.

Next came the goal in terms of product sales. He wanted to set a modest goal that he would surely make. But would a modest success actually add value to what he contributed to the company?  As he thought more about the goal setting process, he decided to involve his boss. He wanted to make sure that the goal would excite his boss enough to enlist the boss’s assistance.  As he and the boss set the target for the year, it was clear to the young man that he had his boss’s attention.

Now, he thought, all I have to do is make it happen. It will not be easy, but by owning the product, its success and the goal, he was feeling better about his situation at the company.

 Next week:…….The young man begins to enroll others to make the positive change happen

For a comprehensive discussion of this subject check out my book www.neverloseyourjobbook.com

Keeping the Job You Have……….Part One

 This is part one of what will be a weekly posting concerning the idea of dramatically increasing your job security. I hope you will read our thoughts about this subject over the next few   weeks…………It can make 2011 the year you stop worrying about your job and start enjoying it. 

 The economy is such that new job creation is just not happening.  If you are one of the 90% of us who has a job, it’s imperative that you keep it. “That’s not so easy,” you might say and you would be correct. Payroll is the number one expense at most businesses, so it’s a natural target for cost reduction.

Last week I was working with a young man whose company had just gone through a substantial layoff. The young man survived, but the event didn’t leave him with a lot of confidence concerning his long term job security.

I asked him what, if anything, those now gone middle and upper managers had in common. After giving that question some considerable thought, he decided that they did have something in common. The area they were working on was not doing very well at all. None of these layoff victims were contributing important success for the company.

We learn from the world of sports that a team’s MVPs don’t get cut. In fact, the organization seems to revolve around them. MVPs are often among the highest paid players, but they don’t get cut because the contributions they make exceed the pay they receive. So here is the important lesson our discussion uncovered. “To become safe from layoffs, you must be contributing more to your company than you are costing them.” It’s that simple.

So the young man set out to become one of those who is making important things happen for his company. We all make New Year’s resolutions, so why not make yours to increase your contribution for your company in an area that will make a significant difference for them.

 Next week:…….The young man begins the plan to make something important happen

For a comprehensive discussion of this subject check out my book www.neverloseyourjobbook.com

Reprinted with permission of Evergreen Newspapers
 
Tomorrow the Sunshine…and Jobs Will Follow

We hear a great deal of conversation about jobs, or the lack thereof. Our current economic situation won’t be improved until jobs are created and millions of workers who are seeking employment begin to bring home paychecks again.

We are expecting some politician to come up with a magic formula to oversee the creation of jobs. It’s like believing that we can command the grass to grow. We can put the grass seeds into the ground and water them, but without sunshine the grass won’t grow no matter how much we need or want it.

The sunshine which will cause jobs to increase is the belief by business owners or managers that demand for their product will be increasing and that it will take additional manpower to capitalize on the increased demand. Whether you are General Motors or a local restaurant you must clearly see that there are more people who want to buy your product before you decide to expand your capacity to supply more of what you sell.  If you were the owner of a restaurant and you were serving 100 meals a day, would you hire more cooks servers or dishwashers without the prospect of being able to serve enough more meals to more than pay the wagers of the new employee? So it’s the sunshine of increased sales that will cause jobs to grow. Nothing else can do it.          

Consider these clouds which may be blocking the sunshine. First the cloud of personal debt is causing American consumers to watch spending and their debt. The cloud of government spending leaves us wondering when our taxes will go up to pay for the government’s spending spree.  The cloud of healthcare costs which we see increasing to pay for the millions who are being added   The long term forecast sees future clouds of higher gasoline prices because we have stopped drilling.

So don’t look for jobs to be coming back today. We must clear up the clouds before businesses owners see the sun shining through in the form of increased demand. Take heart…. as Annie sang,

“The sun will come up tomorrow……So you gotta hang on till tomorrow….Come what may.

Tomorrow….Tomorrow….I love you tomorrow…..You’re only a day away.”

Reprinted with permission of Evergreen Newspapers

I’m sure you have heard these words when you called some business for which you had a question or problem to be solved. You would swear that you were hearing an accent from some far away place, but he introduced himself as Joe. Worse, you heard that your call was very important, but they didn’t invest in enough agents to answer it. The message they convey is that there is an unusually high call volume so you should consider checking the company web site. In other words, please hang up we are not staffed well enough to answer your call.

Good news, there’s another model out there. Alpine Access, a local company, and others are promoting another way of doing business. They are promoting something I call “home sourcing” an alternative model that hires American workers who work at home. These workers are better educated than typical call center workers. They tend to have many more customer service skills so companies who really care about customer loyalty are signing up for this level of telephone service.

The call center business focuses on one of two things. Some companies want to minimize expense and that’s their focus. They tend to hire offshore operations to just get through the call as fast as possible. Other companies see the conversation on the phone as a defining experience that provides an opportunity to improve the relationship between the customer and the company.

The secret of the call center business is to hire the very best people possible and empower them to serve the customer’s needs. By hiring top people the company doesn’t have to teach them to relate to the customer. Individuals whose life experiences more closely mirror the customers they are serving understand how to do that.

With their work at home model, such companies have a recruiting edge on traditional bricks and mortar operations, so they choose only the very best people. In the face of millions of lost jobs, Alpine Access is planning on hiring several thousand individuals this year whose commute is no further than to their nearest computer. They will be able to utilize the interpersonal skills they have learned over a lifetime to build better relationships for their company’s clients.

So maybe your call is important to us after all.