Networking Books To Help You With Your Job Search

The most effective way to find a new job is through networking. These books from leading experts can help you network:

• I'm on LinkedIn, Now What??? and I'm on FaceBook, Now What???, by Jason Alba


• Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, by Harvey McKay


• Professional Networking for Dummies, by Donna Fisher


• The New Job Security, by Pam Lassiter


• Make Your Contacts Count, by Anne Baber & Lynne Waymon


• How to Work a Room, by Susan RoAne


• Masters of Networking, by Don Meisner


• Networking for Job Search and Career Success, by Michelle Tullier


• Never Eat Alone and Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time, by Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz


• Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson

Arlene Schwartz Personalized Resume Service

Reasons for Changing Jobs

An online survey of why people change jobs conducted by Right Management received 1,308 responses, indicating:

• Slightly more than half changed jobs involuntarily due to downsizing or restructuring
• 30% opted to switch employers because they craved something new
• 18% made career moves to boost their incomes

Big Pharma Layoffs

It’s the era of layoffs in Big Pharma, with nearly every major player cutting thousands of jobs. In the past few months alone, Merck, Schering Plough and Wyeth have all announced cuts.

But most of the people losing their jobs seem to be landing on their feet, according to a survey of 1,282 pharma folks who lost their jobs in the Northeast between January 2007 and March ‘08.

• About 73% of the employees found jobs at the same or higher pay level.


• 84% found work without having to relocate, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.


• The most common way to find a new job was through networking, which worked for 43% of the respondents.


• 15% percent used Internet listings


• 12% used job search firms


• 8% sent their resume directly to a company, the article says.

The survey was conducted by Right Management, which has been hired by companies in the region to provide outplacement assistance to workers who lose their jobs.

Tough Job Market for New Graduates

This year's college graduates face an even tougher job market than last year's. Career coaches advise jobless grads not to get distressed, but to adjust their searches:

• Focus on smaller companies


• Be willing to move


• Network aggressively

Poor Job Market for Teenagers this Summer

The 2008 summer job market is shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work, according to labor economists, government data and companies that hire young people.

This deterioration is jeopardizing what many experts consider a crucial beginning stage of working life, one that gives young people experience and confidence along with pocket money.

Little more than one-third of the 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States are likely to be employed this summer, the smallest share since the government began tracking teenage work in 1948, according to a research paper published by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. That is a sharp drop from the 45 percent level of teenage employment reached in 2000.

The rates among minority young people have been particularly low, with only 21 percent of African-Americans and 31 percent of Hispanics from the ages of 16 to 19 employed last summer, according to the Labor Department.

Toughest Summer Job this Year is Finding One