Smartest Cities in the U.S.

Sperling's Best places ranked the 200 largest metropolitan areas on the percentage of population 25 and over with a bachelor's degree. If you are interested in living in a community with more degreed residents, you might consider one of these top 10 smartest cities:

1. Boulder, CO


2. Bethesda, MD


3. Ann Arbor, MI


4. Cambridge, MA


5. San Francisco, CA


6. Durham, NC


7. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO


8. Washington, DC


9. Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, CT


10. San José, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, CA

Smartest Cities in U.S.

Online Networking Sites Can Help Your Job Search

If you're looking for a new job but don't belong to an online social network, you could be hurting your chances of success. A recent survey of 115 human-resources professionals by Jobvite Inc., a provider of recruitment technology in San Francisco, found that:

• 78% use sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Jobster for recruiting.


• Of those, 16% say that more than half the candidates they consider for jobs are identified through social-networking sites.

Is The American Dream Attainable

• Slightly less than three-quarters of U.S. workers say the American dream is unattainable, according to a new survey with 755 respondents.
• Seventy-seven percent also say the nation's political system doesn't represent them on workplace issues such as health care, retirement, fuel prices and the economy.
• Women feel even less represented than men, with 82% of female workers feeling unrepresented compared to 73% of male workers, reports the Marlin Company, a workplace-communications firm in Wallingford, Conn.

Should Paid Family Leave Be A Federal Law?

Paid family leave is a hot workplace issue. Up until last month, California and Washington State were the only states with any type of family leave legislation on the books. New Jersey passed a paid leave bill in late May. New Jersey and Washington’s programs take effect in 2009.

Most employers don’t provide any type of paid leave to take care of a new baby or an ailing parent. A study by the Society of Human Resource Management found that only one-third of companies offered paid family leave.

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to let workers take up to 12 weeks off without pay. In most cases workers are guaranteed to still have a job when they return. But many employees are hard-pressed to take off so much time without pay.

The lack of paid leave is unusual among the world’s industrialized nations. Other nations without paid family leave include Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.

The U.S. system generally is structured around the old model of Mom staying home with the kids and Dad being the breadwinner. The reality today is that 70% of families have both parents working.

There are movements in a handful of other states, including New York, Massachusetts and Oregon, to implement paid leave, but many advocates believe time off with pay should be mandated at the federal level. Two bills now circulating in Congress would mandate eight to 12 weeks of paid leave.

One bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), calls for eight weeks of paid family leave within a one-year period. Benefits would be paid out on a tiered system depending on salary. The program, which would not affect companies with 50 employees or fewer, would be funded by employee, employer and the federal government.

A second bill in the House would mandate 12 weeks of paid leave. The legislation also includes a tiered wage system and would be funded by a new trust fund. Employers and employees would pay into the fund equally through payroll deductions, similar to unemployment benefits.

But the business community hasn’t exactly embraced these type of mandates with open arms, and Stark expects a battle to pass the legislation. Some employers see the mandate as a potential threat that would raise the cost of doing business, so compnaies would end up lowering wages to compensate. Others say it cuts down on flexibility and creativity.
“Employers didn’t step up on Medicare or Social Security. We made them do it and now it’s part of the system,” he notes.

In California, the paid leave program piggybacks on the state’s disability program and is 100 percent funded by the employees themselves at an annual average cost of about $47 depending on salary. Californians who take advantage of the program get 55 percent of their pay while on family leave.
No matter what the ultimate structure, calls for paid leave are likely to intensify, especially with the graying of the population.

Paid Family Leave Becomes Hot Workplace Issue

Traits Employers Look for in Hiring Employees

What skills do company chiefs consider vital to their organizations? For 88% of 1,150 CEOs surveyed recently, the answer is a tie between:

• The ability to quickly adjust to internal and external changes
• Expertise in leading and developing others.

Also highly valued are:

• Collaboration skills
• Creativity and innovativeness
• Proficiency in anticipating and managing risk

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an accounting firm headquartered in New York.

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