Many of us have dreamed of launching our own businesses. And metro Phoenix residents hoping to start their own businesses will find there are various resources to help them gain the knowledge they'll need to launch their ventures. The Maricopa Community Colleges Small Business Development Center offers two relatively new tools to help budding entrepreneurs or those contemplating starting their own small business. The first, developed by Hewlett Packard, is called "LIFE -- Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs." The second program, TechEDge, is a partnership with the city of Chandler. HP LIFE classes, which are free, began in January, and more will be added as people request them, says SBDC Director Mark Engle. "People really like the approach," he says. "It's not the typical training of ... Continue reading →
SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co. is cutting 27,000 jobs in an effort to recover from management missteps that hobbled the Silicon Valley pioneer as its rivals raced ahead with more innovative products and services. The streamlining announced Wednesday represents HP's largest payroll purge in its 73-year history. The reductions will affect about 8 percent of HP's nearly 350,000 employees by the time the overhaul is completed in October 2014. The cuts come eight months after HP hired Meg Whitman as CEO to turn the company around. HP hopes to avoid as many layoffs as possible by offering early retirement packages. The company expects to save $3 billion to $3.5 billion annually from the job cuts and other austerity measures. Word of the mass layoff had ... Continue reading →
Job Market Competition Unemployed per Job Posting How hard is it to find a job in your city? Here's the number of unemployed per job posting for the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S. Updated May 2012 Rank Change Metropolitian Area Job Postings vs Unemployed Persons Ratio 1 1 Washington, DC 1:1 2 -1 San Jose, CA 1:1 3 4 Boston, MA 1:1 4 6 Oklahoma City, OK 1:1 5 Raleigh, NC 1:1 6 -2 Hartford, CT 1:1 7 -1 Baltimore, MD 1:1 8 Austin, TX 1:1 9 Salt Lake City, UT 1:1 10 1 St. Paul, MN 1:1 11 -2 Richmond, VA 1:2 12 2 Columbus, OH 1:2 13 2 Seattle, WA 1:2 14 3 Cleveland, OH 1:2 15 -2 Denver, CO ... Continue reading →
Just like any other relationship, your relationship with your job is going to have its’ ups and downs. In some cases it can be clear the best solution is for the two of you to separate – meaning you will need to find a new job. In other cases, making a few changes to how you work can rekindle your passion for what you do, allowing you to keep your job and your sanity. You may not have any physical signs of burnout. The list below highlights seven red flags that signal you may be overwhelmed and could benefit from making some changes. It’s Monday 10:00 AM and you can’t wait for Friday. Your meeting status: unprepared and uninterested. You’re more inspired to make an ... Continue reading →
Ordering a pizza in Spanish has suddenly become a cultural hot button. Pizza Patron, a 104-unit, carry-out pizza chain headquartered in Dallas, is raising eyebrows both inside and outside the Latino community with a planned promotion to give away thousands of large pepperoni pizzas on the evening of June 5 to folks who order in Spanish. It can be broken Spanish. It can be first-time Spanish. But it has to be Spanish. Pizza Patron has seven locations in the Valley. The move comes at a time immigration and immigration reform remain simmering election-year issues. One in every six people in the U.S. is Latino, says the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2000 to 2010, the U.S. Hispanic population expanded from 35.3 million to 50.5 million. Critics ... Continue reading →
To the relief of graduating seniors — and their anxious parents — the outlook is brighter than it has been in four years. Campus job fairs were packed this spring and more companies are hiring. Students aren't just finding good opportunities, some are weighing multiple offers."It's a very unsettled entry-level job market, but I remain optimistic that there are at least these positive signs," said Richard White, director of career services at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.In some ways, members of the class of 2012 got lucky. They arrived on campus in September 2008, the same month that Wall Street investment bank Lehman Bros. collapsed, touching off a financial crisis that exacerbated the recession.On campus, they were largely insulated from the collapsing U.S. economy. ... Continue reading →
A job offer is usually welcome news—unless it comes while you're waiting to hear about a different job you really want with a different employer. While many job-seekers might see this as a good problem to have, it's a tough spot to be in. And most job-seekers aren't sure how to navigate it well. After all, can you put the first company off, and if so, for how long? What should you say to the first company in the meantime? And can you take the offer but rescind your acceptance later if the other job comes through? The first step here is to call the company that made you the job offer. We'll call it, "Company A." Explain that you're very interested in the job ... Continue reading →