Don't Put Your Job Hunt On Hold for the Holidays

While some of the editors are getting ready to take a few days off (alas, not all of us will be off this next week), we leave some good advice from the career experts at the WSJ/Career Journal:

Don't Put Your Job Hunt On Hold for the Holidays

It's a myth that hiring slows down between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, says popular Journal columnist PERRI CAPELL. Sometimes, in fact, it's the very opposite, as "managers try to fill jobs before their budgets expire."

"Not only don't things slow down in December," says Tim Jones, vice president of human resources for Ixia, a communications technology test systems maker. "but there's a sense of urgency to fill jobs in many cases."

In fact, from the perspective of IMDiversity's editors, December has been an active month for the posting of jobs on our job banks. The activity seems to have been at least partially boosted by the fact of imminent or slightly extended deadlines for internships, coops and other entry-level or educational opportunities for the late spring and summer (yes, already), where a high volume of applications must be in early enough in the new year so that decisions can be made for a summer start.

For others, the holidays can be an ideal time to "line up one's ducks," fine-tune your resume, take the time to do the kind of employer research we all know we should be doing thoroughly, but don't always have time and focus to do as well as we should.

So, while we wish everyone a happy holiday season, we also urge those who are in an active job search to not let too much momentum go to waste over the next couple of weeks, but keep up the efforts to make 2008 a very happy new year indeed.

Good luck!

New edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN on campus

The staff at IMDiversity is pleased to announce that the First Semester Super Issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN has made its way to college campuses. Available at colleges nationwide, primarily through career services offices, as well as through direct personal subscriptions, the new Career Planning and Job Search Issue features:

• The annual TOP 100 Diversity Employers List
• Careers Focus on Engineering, Science and Technology, including an interview with NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham
• A new special report on the progress at New Orleans' HBCUs two years after Hurricane Katrina, in collaboration with Black College Wire
• Kanye West feature profile
• Campus to Careers section

The magazine is free for students through the campus career center. Stop in and get your copy for these features and many more today, or stop in at the THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online later this month for some previews and extended features.

From the Author: Secrets of the Hidden Job Markets

Following up on a comment left on our September blog post about the new book, Secrets of the Hidden Job Markets, we responded to the author, Janet White, to invite her to share in a little more detail the idea behind her "contrarian" job-hunting approach, which calls on jobseekers to"Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams."

More specifically, we were interested in how White's "non-traditional" approach could serve the interests of underrepresented minority and women jobseekers in particular. Thanks to Ms. White for taking the time to share her response:

IMDiversity: Why and how is the non-traditional approach outlined in the book relevant specifically to the interests of underrepresented minority and women jobseekers?

Author Janet White responds: The point of my book is that you have within yourself the most powerful job-finding tool that exists – your mind. Your thoughts are so powerful that they can help you get, or hinder you from getting that dream job – regardless of your gender, skin color, age, country of origin, disability or whatever.

This is because of the Universal Law of Attraction, which states that you attract to yourself anything you focus on, feel strongly about or believe to be true. Just as soil turns seeds into plants, so the LOA turns your “seeds” of thoughts, feelings and beliefs into “demonstrations” that will reflect those thoughts, feelings and beliefs right back at you, whether you really want them or not.

The problem is that most people focus on what they don’t want and then they complain when it shows up. When you change your thinking, everything changes – what you do, what you say, how you act, and most importantly, you change the way other people respond to you.

For example, if you believe you’re being discriminated against because you’re a minority woman, you will find yourself in situations in which female diversity candidates receive a cool reception.

But when you believe you are welcomed by businesses because of your unique talents, experience and expertise, and your ability to help them accomplish their goals, then that will be your experience and your diversity status will be irrelevant.

Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dream was written specifically to get you to realize what you believe to be true about yourself and the process of job hunting, and to help you have the experiences you want.

About Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams: http://www.jobmarketsecrets.com/.

What do you think about this topic? Leave us a comment on this post.

Surveyed HR and Training Executives Unsure How to Apply Diversity

Surveyed HR and Training Executives Unsure How to Apply Diversity, reported by Kim R Wells, on his blog, Professional Edge:

According to a recent article by Kathy Gurchiek in Society of Human Resource Management's HR News, putting diversity into practice has been a challenge for many firms. For many of you young professionals looking to access and advance in today's top corporations this may be of interest to you.

According to the article, organizations are increasingly committed to diversity in their workforce, but one-fourth of more than 2,000 senior HR and training executives polled are unsure how to apply it and leverage its benefits; a conclusion based on findings by the Boston-based Novations Group, a global consulting organization that commissioned the Internet survey of 2,046 workers conducted in February 2007.

Kim Wells is a regular columnist and blogger for IMDiversity and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN, as well as a business consultant and Career Services Director at Howard University.

Book: Secrets of the Hidden Job Market

Getting That Dream Job Is Almost As Easy As Changing Your Mind, New Book Says

This forwarded by the Author:

"If you’re job hunting and tired of not getting hired, chances are it’s your
thinking that’s the problem, according to Janet White, author of Secrets of the
Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams. "A primer on using the Law of Attraction, Secrets explains how job seekers’ negative thoughts unintentionally attract the things they don’t want – like a difficult, frustrating job search and its related problems – and how they can intentionally use positive thoughts to attract what they really want – like the job of their dreams."

The book's main argument is that the “Traditional System” of job hunting -- help wanted ads, job fairs, etc. -- can in some cases actually work against jobseekers, making their job searches unnecessarily difficult, complicated and frustrating. White argues instead for following a “Contrarian System,” combining "common sense, sound business judgment and an understanding of basic human psychology".

We're still reviewing the book, and would like to ask the author for more input about her approach. We'll post any follow up here and on the Career Center.

Obviously, we're a little biased: In our company's 35-plus years of publishing and recruitment experience, we have observed that technology or communications systems by themseleves are neither going to win nor lose a job for a jobseeker. These are vehicles for learning about opportunities, and connecting jobseekers to employers who may have a need to hire them and be enticed (or "attracted" in White's view) to contact them. Only the jobseeker can win or lose the battle to convert those opportunities into fulfilling employment.

At the same time, we see first-hand every day illustrations of Secrets' premise that "a job seeker’s feelings, beliefs and assumptions determine how easy or difficult it will be for them to land their dream job, even before they take the first step."

What jobs people look for, what methods they use to look for them, how they prepare to apply for them and then follow up on opportunities to zero in, and how they otherwise approach the whole elaborate dance of the application process likely has a great deal to with their psychological state, determination, clarity of purpose, confidence, diligence and creativity. For those who have been beaten down by a long string of unsatisfactory job searches and application dead-ends, Secrets of the Hidden Job Market may offer some tips to help clarify your goals, and the inspiration to re-start and turbo charge your pursuit of not just a job, but your "Dream Job".

As always, we welcome those who've read and used the book's techniques to let us know what you think.

Employer Tools Update: More Application Methods

Tip to employers posting open positions on IMDiversity's Job Bank and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online's Job Bank:

At the request of our clients, we have again expanded the options and tools for specifiying different preferred formats and communications methods for receiving applications from our jobseekers.

New tools bundled with the basic and advanced Job Post Form in your Employer Tools account not only allow you to specify a wider range of position-specific application requirements. They also provide expanded options for receiving applications (whether via email, Inbox files, redirects, or other methods), and new tools for previewing and testing application redirects and email contacts.

Additional upgrades are planned to this section in September, so stay tuned.

New Report on Jobs, Housing, Education Shows "Hope Needs Help" in New Orleans

BUILDING A BETTER NEW ORLEANS: HOPE NEEDS HELP

New report shows that, despite some successes, Katrina’s most vulnerable victims still need help

(Via BLACK PR WIRE) ( August 24, 2007) Two years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is coming back – but not for everyone. Though nonprofits and community groups have helped some poor and vulnerable residents succeed, many of the city’s entrenched racial and economic inequalities are coming back in full force, according to a new report by PolicyLink, a national public policy organization.

The report, “Building a Better New Orleans: Hope Needs Help,” highlights the tremendous strides made by some of the city’s most vulnerable people and showcases the folks who helped make that progress possible. But the report also calls on the federal government, the private sector, and the public to do more to get New Orleans the help it needs to create a truly vibrant and equitable city.

“The people of New Orleans have spent two years doing all they can to reclaim their city,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink. “But the scale of the disaster is so immense that a true recovery is not possible without the resources, expertise, and leadership of the federal government.”

In the vital arenas of housing, jobs, and schools, there are some visible signs of recovery:

• The city’s population has returned to nearly two-thirds of its pre-Katrina size. The city’s labor force has reached 78 percent of pre-storm size.
• More than 60,000 residential building permits have been issued.
• Twenty-five new public charter schools have opened in New Orleans, and an additional 11 are expected to open this fall.

But the recovery has not reached everyone.

• Little has been done to assist low-income renters. Government subsidies will only help rebuild about 25 percent of the city’s stock of affordable rental housing.
• African-American evacuees were nearly five times more likely to be unemployed than white evacuees in 2006.
• Only 40 percent of students have returned to New Orleans public schools, with 76 percent of those students in free or reduced-cost lunch programs.
• More than 40,000 New Orleans families remain displaced outside of Louisiana.

New Orleanians need safe, affordable homes to live in, good schools to educate their children, and well-paying jobs to support their families. The city is teeming with hope and inspiration. But hope needs help.

The full report is available at www.policylink.org/HopeNeedsHelp or downloadable in PDF format

Also See http://diversitycareers.blogspot.com/2007/08/imdiversity-joins-call-for-day-of.html

IMDiversity Joins Call for A Day of Presence for the Gulf Coast

The staff of IMDiversity, Inc. wishes to call our visitors' attention to an important series of events here in our hometown -- from August 27-September 1 -- commemorating the anniversaries of the hurricanes that struck our region two years ago. A variety of events -- from large gatherings and vigils to scholarly panel discussions to policy roundtables to volunteer drives -- will be held in our city surrounding the anniversary.

We join our neighbors, and business and media colleagues in inviting concerned citizens to consider visiting us, whether in person or virtually, to participate in the August 29th DAY OF PRESENCE and other events throughout the week, and consider volunteering in some way to help in the ongoing and needed restoration of our city and region.

We will be posting additional information about events and actions on our sites, as well as on our network of blogs, with the most current information that comes our way being posted on an ongoing basis at our BLACK COLLEGIAN @ Blogspot blog.

Meanwhile, we encourage interested readers to view this release by Susan L. Taylor, ESSENCE Editorial Director, discussing the planning for one New Orleans gathering, as well as Vincent Sylvain's African-American Leadership Project (AALP) Announces Schedule of Activities to Commemorate Hurricane Katrina, listing details of additional events.

Study: Turnover at Accounting Firms

Industry Report
Report: Accounting Firms Face Significant Risk of Turnover by Women and Men of Color
Catalyst.org releases first in a new series of industry-specific diversity research reports

Census: 300+ U.S. Counties Now 'Majority-Minority'

More Than 300 Counties Now "Majority-Minority"
Nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s counties has a population more than 50% minority, according to a new release by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Excerpts from the summary ...

Nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties has a population that is more than 50 percent minority. In 2006, eight counties that had not previously been majority-minority pushed the national total to 303, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

The two largest counties passing this threshold between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006, are Denver County, Colo., and East Baton Rouge Parish, La., with total populations of 566,974 and 429,073, respectively. Three other counties were in Texas (Winkler, Waller and Wharton), with one each in Montana (Blaine), New Mexico (Colfax) and Virginia (Manassas Park, an independent city and considered a county equivalent).

Los Angeles County, Calif., had the largest minority population in the country in 2006. At 7 million, or 71 percent of its total, Los Angeles County is home to one in every 14 of the nation’s minority residents. The county’s minority population is higher than the total population of 38 states, with the largest population of Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians and Alaska Natives in the country. It also has the second largest population of blacks and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders.

Harris County, Texas, gained 121,400 minority residents between 2005 and 2006, which led the nation. Harris (Houston is its largest city) now has a minority population of 2.5 million, comprising 63 percent of its total. Its minority population ranks third nationally, not far behind second place Cook County, Ill. (Chicago).

Based on total population, Starr County, Texas, located on the Mexican border, had the highest proportion of all counties that was minority, at 98 percent. Among the nation’s 25 most populous counties, Miami-Dade County, Fla., had the highest proportion minority, at 82 percent.

See specific highlights and full detail tables

New Column on Transitioning from College to the "Real World"

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online is pleased to introduce a new column, "Now What?" by special columnist Chaz Kyser, of special interest this time of year for all those newly minted college grads who are experiencing "culture shock".

Geared to helping recent graduates making the transition from school to the world of work, the column is dedicated to the idea that "the real world—the working world—is not to be feared, put off or ignored; it should be embraced."

By the author of the book, Embracing the Real World: The Black Woman’s Guide to Life After College, the column has origins in Kyser's determination to share practical guidance especially -- but not exclusively -- to young African-American women. However, the expanded online column contains valuable tips and reminders for those of all ages, genders and backgrounds who are already working, and are concerned with such nuts-and-bolts topics such as the pros and cons of a second job, meeting and exceeding a new employer’s expectations, fitting in at a new workplace, and evaluating whether or not to go back to school.

Resume FlashPost Undergoing Maintenance

Starting today, our Resume FlashPost has been temporarily disabled. This tools section has been closed temporarily while our server is undergoing maintenance changes. We expect to reopen the section shortly, and apologize for any inconvenience this outage may have caused to any of our users.

QuickSearch Added: $100K+ Jobs

The staff of IMDiversity.com has continued the season's updating on the Career Center section of our site, adding this week a number of new location quicksearch sections, as well as a new QuickSearch of jobs offering salaries in the six figures, or hourly equivalents.

IMDiversity's QuickSearches provide pre-programmed searches of opportunities contained in our jobs database, making with the goal of providing convenient, one-click access to job search results without having to manually input multiple search criteria on each visit. QuickSearch results also allow visitors who open a free MY JOB TOOLS Account to save and customize one-click job searches and schedule automated job agents that will automatically send personalized email job alerts when new opportunities fitting the search criteria are posted.

Feb. Top 100 Employers/African American History Edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN

IMDiversity, Inc. is pleased to announce the publication of a special, extra graduation edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine . Available on college campuses nationwide, primarily through career services offices, as well as through direct personal subscriptions, the issue contains a special readings section focused on the transition from campus life to the working world, a section on Careers in Media & Mass Communications that is extended on THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online, a Q&A with Roderick West, President n& CEO of Entergy New Orleans, and a contribution by The Apprentice winner Randall Pinkett, discussing "secrets to becoming a successful campus CEO".
The staff will begin to upload the edition, including a number of special extended versions of articles, to http://www.black-collegian.com.

Staff Message of Support to the Families and Friends of Virginia Tech Victims

The staff of IMDiversity, Inc. and the editors of IMDiversity.com and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN wish to extend our deepest heartfelt sympathies to those whose loved ones' lives were lost and upended by the tragic shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech. Such a ghastly, inexplicable tragedy can threaten to overwhelm a community, and we hope the people of Blacksburg will find strength in knowing that the prayers and thoughts of the nation are with them.

-- The Staff of IMDiversity

Kim R. Wells, Howard University Career Center director, joins THE BLACK COLLEGIAN blog team

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN staff has been working to expand its blogs section this season, and is pleased to welcome our new featured columnist and blog team member Kim R. Wells, Director, Howard University Career Services. Mr. Wells, a long-time contributor to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, has over 17 years of experience leading career management, organizational development, and strategic human capital initiatives in both corporate and higher education environments. In addition to his columns, Mr. Wells will be posting to our THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online's blog especially, but not exclusively, addressing career issues, tips and straight-talk from an insider’s view, and for the benefit of African American college students, recent graduates, and other diverse jobseekers.

Misc. Notices Maintenance, Jobs

Notice of Site Maintenance
Our site servers will be undergoing routine maintenance this weekend. Beginning on the night of Friday March 30, visitors may experience brief periods in which they find this site temporarily inaccessible. The maintenance will be conducted on portions of the IMDiversity.com and the Job Bank at THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online. We will work to complete the maintenance with minimal disruption to our users, and thank you for your patience.

Added: Featured Jobs @ IMDiversity
IMDiversity has added a new Featured Jobs page on our main website to call attention to open positions of interest in a variety of fields and at various levels. At this time, there's no single criterion for a job's inclusion on the list at this time; some positions are editors' choice; others are interesting positions whose posting is about to expire; others have been flagged as good jobs where the employer is especially actively interested in filling; still others are positions worthy of a shout because they are high-level, or are geared to providing a service for the particular good our multicultural communities. We encourage you to visit Featured Jobs whenever you stop by the site to see what's new.

Annual Summer Gigs Feature
IMDiversity has updated its special seasonal section dedicated to providing job outlook information and featured opportunities for recent graduates and other entry-level jobseekers, as well as internships and other summer opportunities. The one-month feature is the perfect thing for student procrastinators who have not yet nailed down an internship or for those about to graduate still looking for their first job. Visit the Summer Gigs 2007 section now.

Al "The Inspiration" Duncan joins THE BLACK COLLEGIAN blog team

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN staff has been working to expand its blogs section this winter, and is pleased to welcome our new new columnist and blog team member Al "The Inspiration" Duncan. Mr. Duncan is a widely traveled public speaker, TV personality, workshop leader, and author of numerous motivational publications. His State of Mind multimedia program, described at www.alduncan.net, incorporates E-Books, E-Zines, and audio content to provide motivational and self-empowerment aid to diverse audiences everywhere.

Working with TBC's blog team, Duncan will blog to Elevate U, with a focus on providing information and engaging in discussions helpful to college students and recent grads pursuing their self-development and career-development goals. We are pleased to welcome him, and invite you to also see his recent feature, Six Ways to Turn Setbacks into Comebacks, from last fall's edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine.

Feb. Top 100 Employers/African American History Edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN

IMDiversity, Inc. is pleased to announce the publication of the Second Semester 2007 Super Issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine.

The February Top 100 Employers/African-American History edition features our annual listing of the top 100 employers for the class of 2007, as well as a feature interview with actor Will Smith; Charlayne Hunter-Gault's tribute to the late Ed Bradley; and much more.

Additional career-focused features include a series of practical advice articles for students and recent graduates on successfully navigating the various stages of the job interviewing process, from interviewing at on-campus career fairs to presenting yourself well at on-site interviews.

In a related feature, "How to Make the Most of Your Campus Career Center," we surveyed directors from career offices at universities nationwide to get their tips for how to maximize these often-utilized resources.

The staff will begin to upload the edition, including a number of special extended article expanded from the magazine versions, to http://www.black-collegian.com. The magazine is distributed free on several hundred college campuses in the U.S., primarily through career services offices, and is also available through direct personal subscriptions.

IMDiversity Healthcare Channel updates underway

The editors of the IMDiversity.com network have begun work on updating and expanding the http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Channels/healthcare/default.asp.

Initially launched as a time-limited feature -- a blend of an online virtual career fair with detailed background articles presenting information about diversity and the employment outlook in this booming field, the Healthcare Channel has proved a consistently popular destination with our readers. Many readers, in fact, have written to request additional features focused on finding and preparing for opportunities in healthcare-related fields.

As a result, we have published a number of new articles , as well as updated and expanded upon the statistical information, resource listings, salary information, and employment outlook projections for the field. We will continue to update the channel throughout the season, and incorporate new readings series focused on both opportunities and disparities in healthcare for our diverse communities.

The Healthcare Channel, along with the IMDiversity Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Channel, offer not only articles about the industries, but also a number of job quicksearch tools and employer profiles to allow faster, more relevant searching of targeted opportunities in this very broad employment category. QuickSearch tools in both channels also allow users who hold a free MY JOB TOOLS Account with IMDiversity to customize, refine and save healthcare-related job searches in our database so they can automatically receive email notices of new postings in the future.

Welcome to new EON Member: Chocolate City NLBC

IMDiversity is pleased to welcome Chocolate City NLBC, serving the diverse community of North Long Beach California, as the newest member of the Employment Opportunity Network!

"Representing a multitude of professional business owners, social organizations and churches, Long Beach is recognized for its rich diversity," says the organization. With some two-thirds of its population consisting of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other diverse ethnic groups, the community offers a host of business opportunities, and community and cultural events.
The website for Chocolate City NLBC is dedicated to providing information and listings for the area, as well as networking opportunities for its residents and those considering a visit or move there. As a member of EON, the website now also offers a free jobs search page targeting employment opportunities in North Long Beach and surrounding areas, co-presented by IMDiversity.

We encourage you to learn more about the organization in its EON Member profile, and more about this highly diverse neighborhood at its main website at http://www.chocolatecitynlbc.com.

Holiday Work at the Career Center

IMDiversity wishes our visitors and members a happy new year!

We have been working on upgrading portions of our site network over the holidays. In addition to the continuing development of new blog channels, we have also added a handful of new Jobs QuickSearch pages at the Career Center, including new location searches for Virginia jobs and Maryland jobs, and a new search form for viewing featured employment opportunities in Canada.

Next up, we'll be updating our Healthcare channel, so stop back soon.