Are you eligible to sit for the CPA exam or looking to become eligible. Are you eager to learn? Do you want to be part of a growing organization? This role sits in the consolidations accounting group. Email me for more details or refer a friend!
Dlemaire@cfstaffing.com
Responsibilities:
Qualifications:
“The hiring manager and I had such a great conversation! The chemistry was totally there, and the job is PERFECT for me. I know I would be a great fit at the company – the culture is awesome. I can’t understand why they didn’t call me back for a second interview?”
Sound familiar? Yes, of course there are a ton of reasonable reasons that you may not have made the cut for the next round of interviews: they promoted someone internally, they found someone that was a little bit of a better fit (but you were surely a close-second) or maybe they decided not to hire anyone at all.
But often times, it was your big, bad, glaring interview flub that cost you the opportunity.
You tried to wing-it, and it showed: You have information galore at your fingertips, so why didn’t you read the company’s website, look up your interviewers on LinkedIn, or even read through the job description before your interview? Oh, you were too busy? You didn’t have time? You’re naturally a “great interviewer” who never needs to prep? Hiring managers always know when you haven’t done your due diligence. They want candidates who make the time to research them, the role and the company…and then discuss these details AT the interview. Don’t you remember? Cliff’s Notes are never enough, you always have to read the book to pass the test.
You were bad-mouthing: Just because you’re interviewing for a new job because you are unhappy at your current one, doesn’t mean you need to divulge every detail about what you hate most about your boss, your colleagues, and the way the company treats you – right there – at the interview – while you are being sized-up for something new. No future hiring manager wants to hire a complainer, let alone someone who may not get along with co-workers or blend in well with the company culture. If you’re talking about your former experiences that way – why won’t you one day talk about your future boss/company/co-workers that way, too? Stick to the skills and experiences you’re hoping to gain in your next role that your current company can’t offer. Practice the art of being tactful no matter how “comfortable” you get chatting with your interviewer. You might have a bunch of stuff in common, but you not friends (yet) – you are still being observed, evaluated, and judged for everything you say.
You were focused on what they could do for you: Companies set out to hire people who bring value. They search high and low for people who have the right experience, are team players, have a solid work ethic, can fulfill the responsibilities of the role at hand, and will be great contributors to the company, overall. Did you highlight all of these points during your interview? Or, instead, did you make sure to ask your laundry list of questions about how quickly you could get promoted after getting hired, how much of a raise you could get if you joined, frequency of company social outings, fringe benefits, and opportunities for tuition reimbursement so you can finally go back and get your MBA while working at this company? There is a time and place to ask these questions – but it’s not on the first date! When it is determined that you’re the right person for the job, the company will address your questions and review your benefits. In the meantime, be patient, show your stuff and give them a reason to pick you!
You asked about how much you wouldn’t have to work: Did you ask if you get the afternoons off for “summer Fridays,” or if you get the week off between Christmas and New Years Day? How about the number of sick days, work from home days or general paid time off? You told them that you were looking for a new job because you really need a “work-life balance,” right? Friends, we all want a work-life balance. I am by no means here to tell you to give up your personal life. But, do you know how it makes you sound when you’re trying to prove to a future hiring manager that you have an outstanding work ethic, when you are asking about your allotted time-off at the same time? Vacation policies and other special company time-off perks will eventually be shared, usually as part of a larger benefits package. Companies want employees that will do whatever it takes to get something done. It’s always a red flag when a candidate is more focused on their time-off when they haven’t even been fully considered for their time-on, yet.
You didn’t say thank you: Thank you notes. Did you remember to send one after your interview? I hope so because the people who interviewed you are expecting to see one in their inboxes within 12-24 hours after your interview (yes, you can email them). They will likely notice if they don’t get one, and, no matter how great of a candidate you are, this is an interview deal-breaker for some. If you did write a thank you note, hopefully you used spell check. Sloppy, poorly written thank you notes are deal-breakers, too. Trust me – I’ve seen it happen. Interviews don’t just end when you walk out the door and go on your merry way. Take time to draft a well-written, thoughtful thank you note to each person you met during your interview to show appreciation of their time and your interest in their company. You had a stellar interview, make your thank you note the icing on the cake!
Frankly speaking, anyone who has interviewed for a job may think these “no-nos” are just plain obvious. But, friends, my recruiting and hiring manager colleagues are still eliminating candidates for these reasons almost daily. Yes, it’s surprising, but all of these mishaps can be avoided. Your interview is the time for you to put your best foot forward- to shine! Prepare. Research. Practice interview questions. Be tactful. Be patient. Appreciate the opportunity to be considered. Whether you get the job or not, at least you’ll always make an excellent professional impression.
Lisa Frank is the founder of LBF Recruitment Strategies. As an executive recruiter, connector and career/life coach she offers a “Frank” approach to all aspects of life. Her blog, Frankly Speaking, shares her insights, guidance and outrageous (but true) stories about career and life topics with plenty of humor, relatability, experience and candor.
Manager of Financial Reporting
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
OVERVIEW OF THE MANAGER OF FINANCIAL REPORTING:
Some people like to jump out of planes or run a marathon; you enjoy preparing cash flow statements, account reconciliations, and group consolidations.
That’s how you get your adrenaline flowing.
You don’t just “know” Financial Reporting, you OWN Financial Reporting!
We are looking for a superstar….An experienced Manager of Financial Reporting-You don’t need to be managed, you don’t have to be informed how to do it…YOU are the BOSS when it comes to Financial Reporting!
We need someone who learns lightning fast & thrives on an ever changing, dynamic environment. Manager of Financial Reporting needs very little hand-holding, and jumps right in – after careful analysis of course. Someone who can take the time – but is mindful of deliverables – to truly understand our business and the variables that impact it. We need a critical thinker and a seasoned independent learner. Someone with all the skills to get the technical accounting work done, and the mindset to know how to put the pieces together: A MASTER Manager of Financial Reporting.
There are many reasons why this role should appeal to you…
RESPONSIBILITES OF THE MANAGER OF FINANCIAL REPORTING:
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE MANAGER OF FINANCIAL REPORTING:
Whether you’re just starting out in your job search or need a major overhaul to your application process, the key to a strong job search is a strong resume. But creating one is easier said than done, as most job seekers know from experience that it takes a lot more than an impressive career to catch the eye of the hiring manager.
Check out these six signs of a great resume, and learn how to put one together yourself.
1. Strong descriptors and accomplishments
Employers don’t simply want to know what you think about yourself; they want to see results. If you really are a hard worker, prove it by backing up that claim with some data. A recent CareerBuilder survey found that the words and descriptors that most impress hiring managers include: achieved, improved, trained/mentored, managed, created, resolved, volunteered, influenced, increased/decreased, ideas, negotiated, launched, revenue/profits, under budget and won.
2. Education, certifications and skills
If you hold certifications, degrees or awards that relate to your job, noting them in your resume will communicate to employer just how qualified you are for the job. Be sure to call attention to these accomplishments in a clear, prioritized fashion, like summing up your certifications and years of relevant experience in your professional summary at the top of your resume. You can go more in depth in your education/skills section, or call out awards as they were given by position or organization.
3. Links to even more information
Including links to your personal website, networking page or online portfolio will provide employers with an easy way to learn more about you if they are interested, without cluttering up your resume by trying to pack in too much information in a limited space. Include the essential information and job history in your resume that best relates to the position, and save more secondary information like unrelated volunteer efforts or personal work projects for your online presence, which hints that there’s plenty more to learn about you as a job candidate.
4. Context and accomplishments
If you work for a Fortune500 company, you’ll definitely want to capitalize on that prestige and avoid employers mistaking your work for a smaller organization. Offering context for your experience and accomplishments, like noting company size, market impact or revenue generation, can communicate to employers the range of experience you have, and if your accomplishments will translate well to their company size, culture and goals. It also frames you as a much more accomplished job candidate, which definitely helps.
5. A nice flow of space and information
A resume isn’t given much time to be read, and a solid block of text on the page will likely be scanned instead of read, while bullet points and summaries will receive more attention. Even your bullet points shouldn’t go overboard, and limit each section to two to five specifics. Not only will this cause you to offer a more well-rounded look at your career that offers equal importance to each role, but the nicely formatted flow of your resume will ensure easy readability that can catch the eye of employers.
6. Job description keywords
Since most resumes are submitted online now, and often go through applicant tracking systems that scan resumes before forwarding them on to hiring managers, it’s important to make sure that the ATS will approve your resume. This is a step to save hiring managers time and avoid looking at irrelevant resumes, but can accidentally weed yours out as well if you don’t meet the standards set by the ATS. Your best luck to make it through is to include keywords from the job description in your resume, and sprinkle them throughout to ensure a natural, relevant resume that reads well and aligns you with the company’s goals and needs.
Though it can feel like writing your resume is a job in itself, the extra time and effort needed will be well worth it when you’re tapped as a great potential hire and can start off on the right foot in the hiring process.
Five Ideas to Help Shorten Your Job Search By Brooke Chaplan
The job landscape continues to be difficult to navigate, especially for those already unemployed. If you’re in this position, you probably want your job search to be over as quickly as possible. Here are five ideas to help shorten your search.
Assess Your Goals
Take time to assess your goals and what you want in a job. Knowing this can help you ace that interview question, asking why you want to work for the company. It’s also important to know your own goals so you aren’t fruitlessly searching in areas you aren’t interested in, and wasting your time at interviews. Interviewers can quickly pick up on your lack of interest and won’t appreciate the lost time any more than you do.
Increase your Visibility
Networking is extremely important in today’s job landscape. One way to expand your network is to increase your visibility. Sign up for social media sites, and let everyone know you are looking for employment. You never know when someone might know of a position perfect for your skill sets. Online on different job sites you can even get reminders, newsletters, and notifications when places you are interested in post a job.
Get a Professionally Written Resume
There is a lot of evidence that a professionally written resume can significantly up your chances of getting noticed. Professional resume writers can tailor your resume to address the company and industry you are applying to rather than just sticking to one blanket copy.
Prepare for Your Interview
Another extremely important tip to consider, is making sure you are completely prepared for any interview you may get. You don’t want to be hesitating and staring into space when the interviewer asks you about yourself. Make sure your answers directly speak to your abilities and skills in relation to the company you’re applying to. Along with this, make sure you have your salary requirements laid out as well.
Do Your Own Background Check
Employers are increasingly making use of background checks these days due to a rise in negligent hire lawsuits. Preemptively do your own background check so you can see if there are any questionable issues or even wrong information on your report. A background checking company likePeopleFacts can help you figure out where to start. If you find something wrong on your report, you can dispute it with the background checking company and address it with your potential employer.
Remember that a job search is only as effective as the effort you put into it. If you want to make it as short as possible, then you should consider exploring every avenue that might give you an edge in the market.
September 2015
Industry News and Updates
This is probably the hardest newsletter I have written in an incredibly long time. I keep trying to wrap my head around what is going on in our local employment market. On one hand, we are obviously seeing the impact of the price of oil. I believe most companies are trying to hold onto their white collar talent, but that is becoming increasingly difficult. On the other hand, we still have a very low unemployment rate, which is sitting right around 4.7% today. To give you an idea of what that means, the US government considers the local market at full employment when we range between 5% and 5.5%. Moreover, the unemployment rate among degreed accounting professionals is less than 1% in Houston! Long story short, good talent is still hard to find!
Clients and candidates alike keep asking me what the market is like. Honestly, we have a mixed bag! There are certain industries that are doing very well and still adding, while other industries are hurting but still need to hire when they lose headcount. At this point in time, neither the candidate nor the employer are in the driver’s seat. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression – there is still plenty of demand out there! You will see proof of this in the list of our openings below. In addition, some employers will take advantage of this time and upgrade talent as other companies will be forced to lay off their superstars.
See you again in November!
Local Statistics:
Interesting Articles:
You Took the Wrong Job – Now What? by Harold Webb: http://wp.me/puDjI-U7
Article by Will Thomson: How I Use Facebook to Recruit YOU! http://wp.me/puDjI-U1
GET NOTICED DURING YOUR JOB SEARCH!: http://wp.me/puDjI-TZ
Local Searches:
San Antonio Searches:
www.linkedin.com/in/dianedelgadolemaire/
Crude Oil and Commodity Prices
September, Thursday 17 2015 – 10:01:09
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You are only one month into your new job, and you have definitely fallen out of love. In fact, you have even fallen out of “like.” You were too desperate or too eager to take that first offer, and now you’re paying the price. Every morning is a struggle; you hate Sunday nights; and there is no way you would ever spend one more minute there than you have to. You have definitely taken the wrong job, and you will need to figure out what to do. Here are your next steps.
Don’t just quit and walk out – bad decision. You might be able to get away with not putting this job on your resume at all, but there is always the chance that it will be discovered as you launch a new job search – then you are really out of the game until you fix that “lie.”
Start networking very quietly. Don’t do it openly on LinkedIn, but see what’s going on in your niche by checking in with any groups you have joined. If there are strong possibilities, privately message the people “in the know.”
Contact recruiters and honestly explain your situation. You are not the first person in this situation, and they will totally understand.
Don’t quit your job while you look. Try your best to finish that project; do the very best job that you can do while you are still there. You never want to leave a place on bad terms.
Be honest when you interview. You don’t have to say anything negative about your current job, organization or boss. It is just not a fit for you, and be willing to explain why it is not. After all, you don’t want to go into another job just like the last one, and no one wants to hire someone who is not a fit for them.
When you find your new job, give plenty of notice and leave on a good note. This new opportunity was just that you could not pass up is all the explanation you need to give.
You are not a failure and you are not stupid for having make a mistake. Many, many before you have done the same thing, and many will after you. Chalk it up to a valuable lesson and have a good laugh!
The Resume Looks Good, Except for the Pimplehttp://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.jshttp://i.po.st/share/script/post-widget.js#publisherKey=mns9h4nhlhq01egc28qa&retina=true// 3e3):(d.fillText(String.fromCharCode(55357,56835),0,0),0!==d.getImageData(16,16,1,1).data[0])):!1}function e(a){var c=b.createElement(“script”);c.src=a,c.type=”text/javascript”,b.getElementsByTagName(“head”)[0].appendChild(c)}var f,g;c.supports={simple:d(“simple”),flag:d(“flag”)},c.DOMReady=!1,c.readyCallback=function(){c.DOMReady=!0},c.supports.simple&&c.supports.flag||(g=function(){c.readyCallback()},b.addEventListener?(b.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,g,!1),a.addEventListener(“load”,g,!1)):(a.attachEvent(“onload”,g),b.attachEvent(“onreadystatechange”,function(){“complete”===b.readyState&&c.readyCallback()})),f=c.source||{},f.concatemoji?e(f.concatemoji):f.wpemoji&&f.twemoji&&(e(f.twemoji),e(f.wpemoji)))}(window,document,window._wpemojiSettings);
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You know what is funny about life? It seems like whenever you are getting ready for something big to happen, something ELSE happens. Life happens. Life doesn’t seem to work out the way you want it to ALL the time. We try to control it, but we can’t. Sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen and sometimes things just don’t happen AT ALL!
Let me take you back to high school for a minute. You are getting ready for prom and you have the right tuxedo. You have the right girl on your arm. You have the car. You have everything you want to make it a perfect evening. You wake up prom morning, look in the mirror and see you have a massive pimple in the middle of your forehead. You look like you got hit in the forehead with a hammer and have the huge bump to prove it. No amount of acne cream or make-up is going to fix it in time. Everyone if going to notice. It is that obvious. It sucks but unfortunately this kind of stuff just happens.
So, I get asked every day, “Will you review my resume”? If I have time, I will take a look at it. For the most part, with the caliber of people I am recruiting, the resumes I review look pretty darn good. Understand that I recruit executives and senior level sales people. The format is correct, the graphics look good on the resume, and individuals goals are clearly stated. Then, I see it. It is right in the middle and it is glaring at me! Something just doesn’t look right. It is that zit that can’t be overlooked.
Somewhere in our careers, something doesn’t go right. It happens ALL the time. In fact, I hardly ever see an unblemished resume. Somewhere you have made a bad decision. You have joined a company and things just “didn’t work out”. It could be that you joined a startup and they lost their funding. It could be that you didn’t get along with your boss. It could be that you had a life changing event that forced you to make a change.
Adversity happens. It is these defining moments in life that make us who we are as individuals. What I want to know is what you learned from the adversity. How have you changed as an individual? What would you have done differently?
See, even having a pimple at your senior prom probably didn’t prevent you from going to the event. Was it unfortunate that it happened? I guess. Your date probably didn’t even care and it isn’t something she remembers about the night anyway. She was probably having such a great time that a silly pimple wasn’t even on her radar.
Companies aren’t any different. They are so consumed with the role THEY ARE TRYING TO FILL that they don’t have time to dwell on something that could potentially be completely irrelevant.
So- Don’t obsess about some moment in time where things didn’t go exactly as planned. Talk about what you learned from the experience and that pimple may turn into the reason they hire you. As a candidate, you are unique and have a different viewpoint than others. Share it with the companies. It will help you in the long run.
I would like to hear your story. Why is there a pimple on your resume and what did you learn from it?
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http://www.bauer.uh.edu/centers/irf/houston-updates.php
September 4, 2015
It is hard, especially now with oil prices depressed, to predict where Houston’s economy is headed. It also is hard to know where it stands today, even if we are familiar with the economic data and can interpret it properly. Houston has arrived at a critical juncture in its business cycle, and it is important to understand how the local economy is faring right now, a small first step if we ever hope to understand its future. Recent job growth numbers have led to some confusion about Houston’s recent economic performance, and the purpose of this brief Economic Update is to put Houston job reports under the microscope. The figures show the emergence in 2015 of significant economic weakness, and they may well portend more slow growth ahead.
Nonfarm payroll employment data provided by the Texas Workforce Commission and the Bureau of Labor Statistics are the most comprehensive and timely description of Houston’s economy. It is an excellent gauge of state and metropolitan performance, although subject to substantial revision. Revisions are made regularly to the prior month, plus an annual “re-benchmark” revision takes place in early March that can change the figures for the past 24 months or longer. The preliminary data issued each month are based on a sample of Houston area employers, and revisions are inevitably most significant at times of substantial change in the economy, such as those we are experiencing now. The numbers we look at below are subject to these revisions, but are the most current available.
The employment reports from the press or various commentators sometimes seem to vary in the number of jobs reported, and often differ in the interpretation of the data. We will see why in the write-up below. The simple point to be made here is that since December 2014 the Houston job growth machinery mostly has been shut down, with negative growth through May. Then as oil approached $60 per barrel over the summer, Houston’s energy sector seemed to stabilize, and modest local job growth returned. Through July of this year, Houston has added 5 – 12,000 new jobs, depending on the source and interpretation of the figures. As oil’s price declined again in August, it put even this modest growth at risk. Widely quoted figures of 60,000 or more jobs created in Houston are simply a poor interpretation of current events, over-estimating local economic strength, as the number mostly reflecting job growth that took place in 2014.
Let’s start with the 12-month change in the number of jobs, i.e., the number of new payroll jobs created in the 12 months leading up to July 2015, where July is the latest number available. The official number from the Texas Workforce Commission is 64,600 new jobs, an amazing statistic given that Houston has sustained major damage to its oil and gas sector. It is a widely cited number, much loved by those who insist on booming the local economy, and cited as proof of Houston’s resilience and new-found diversity. Unfortunately, it is a poor guide to current events.
Table 1 shows Texas Workforce Commission data on the number of Houston jobs at three dates – July 2014, December 2014, and July 2015. The 12-month change would be July to July, and the jobs created in 2015 are the difference between July 2015 and December 2014. The basic data as reported by TWC are in the first line of the table, and the second line is the same data adjusted for seasonal variation. This adjustment can be critical if we want to compare the December holiday season to the summer doldrums of July. The third line is from the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. The Dallas Fed begins with the TWC data, also seasonally adjusts it, but adds some preliminary revisions. The major re-benchmark revision that is an annual event for TWC is performed quarterly by the Dallas Fed as the data becomes available.
Table 2 computes the change in the number of jobs measured from July2014/July2015, July 2014/December 2014, and December 2014/July 2015. The first figure in line one (64,600) is the 12-month change; the second figure is the number of jobs created in the last five months of 2014 (71,000), and the third figure is the number of new jobs in Houston in the first seven months of 2015 (-6,400). These are not seasonally adjusted.
So, in fact, the 64,600 new jobs is way too good to believe if we are describing current events. By this measure, all of the 12-month job growth came in late 2014, and that offers little help in understanding current events. We already knew that 2014 was a good year. We know exactly what happened to make the data behave this way. Oil prices began to decline slowly at mid-year in 2014, and the real reversal in the oil fields only emerged with OPEC’s Thanksgiving Day announcement that it would not serve as swing producer in oil markets, no longer using cuts in its own production to rebalance oil supply. Oil’s price immediately tumbled under $70 per barrel, and was under $50 by mid-January.
Through 2014, a red hot Houston job market had no time to absorb the emerging bad news about oil, and the local economy continued to grow strongly. Measured December to December, there were 114,000 new jobs in 2014, and this came on the heels of 291,000 added over the previous three years. You want to start counting jobs after December, of course, because that is when the calendar turns for 2015, but is also appropriate to start in December because it marks the point at which crisis conditions emerged in the oil fields. Looked at this way, it is amazing how quickly and almost completely the drop in the price of oil shut down Houston’s job growth.
The next two lines of Table 1 are adjusted for seasonal variation. We need this adjustment to compare the December holiday season, with its strong retail hiring, to the seasonally weak summer data, with teachers on holiday and out of the classroom. This comparison turns Houston’s job growth positive for the first seven months of 2015, and the TWC says we added 12,000 new jobs and the Dallas Fed only 5,400. For the first five months of 2015, the year-to-date job growth numbers were negative. They only turned positive in the last two months, as the price of oil briefly pushed back near $60 per barrel. As the price of oil again has since fallen to near $40 per barrel, and energy layoffs have resumed, even these modest employment gains are placed at risk.
As we move through the remainder of 2015, the weakness of the local job market, as measured by a 12-month change, would slowly emerge until we ultimately reached the December-to-December change, with all of 2014 finally purged. What would this December/December comparison look like if local job growth continued to perform exactly as it has for the first seven months? Table 3 uses the Dallas Fed data to extrapolate the figures into a full year 2015 job growth, and shows the losses and gains by industry. TWC provides no comparable industry-by-industry seasonal adjustments.
Extrapolating out, the full-year 2015 job growth would be 9,300 jobs or 0.3 percent. Construction and mining account for a loss of 19,300 jobs, and all of these are likely in oil production and oil services. The Dallas Fed does not separate the two industries, but construction continues to hold up well, helped by Houston’s recent history of strong growth, and by continued efforts to catch up with continued local housing and infrastructure needs. Plus, the east-side boom in petrochemical construction continues to add thousands of jobs, with more new plant announcements. Manufacturing jobs decline by 20,600, most of them concentrated in machinery and fabricated metal. Financial activities fall by 7,000 jobs.
The biggest gains come in private education and healthcare (14,800), leisure and hospitality (13,600), government (11,600), and trade, transportation and utilities (10,500). These all are sectors susceptible to a slowdown in the near future as the Houston economy catches up with past job growth, and the current reality of no-growth/slow-growth fully sets in. Area construction contractors report, for example, that they are still very busy, but that they are quickly working through backlogs that are no longer growing.
To borrow a popular maxim, only fools and liars forecast oil prices. But, we can look at current fundamentals in oil markets, and it’s easy to find a bleak outlook that could persist through 2016 and beyond. Table 4 is a list of factors currently weighing on world oil markets, and most of them have been with us for a while. The Saudi withdrawal as swing producer, turmoil in the Middle East, and stubbornly high U.S. production are continuing issues left from last year. However, the initial blow to oil price late this summer, pushing it back to the $40 range, was the pending agreement with Iran to allow the country to return to world oil markets. Once economic sanctions are lifted, Iran will immediately bring some mix of crude and oil products out of floating storage, they will increase oil exports, and future exports will rise as they update their aging petroleum infrastructure.
On the demand side, the newest issue to surface is the slowing growth of China and other emerging markets. These countries have driven high raw material prices – oil, metals, fertilizer, and foodstuff – for the past decade. It has been called the commodity super-cycle, a combination of strong demand driven by China and the developing world, historically high commodity prices, and rapid expansion of mining and agriculture industries. The financial market has been, for some time, digesting the possibility that this cycle is at an end with forecasts of Chinese growth drifting down to 6 percent. Current turmoil in financial markets reflects even greater concerns about Chinese growth, concerns that have pushed investors to accept the end of the commodity super cycle as a growing certainty. The oil industry is among many commodity producers now being severely punished.
This does not bode well for many of Houston’s oil producers. Continued low oil prices seem likely to bring another round of cuts in drilling; producers are rapidly running out of past hedges that bring them face to face with the current spot price; the autumn review of loan covenants is here, and without relief from higher oil prices, banks and other lenders seems sure to tighten credit. Highly leveraged producers will have to sell bonds (unlikely), sell assets (for pennies on the dollar), or seek merger or bankruptcy.
Table 5 summarizes the job growth estimates presented at the May 2015 Economic Symposium and published on this website as an Economic Update on June 23. Details of the forecast can be found in that write-up. Scenario 1 assumed a quick snap-back in drilling, beginning in early 2016, and a return to solid growth for the fracking industry once oil prices revived. Scenario 2 assumed a later return to high levels of drilling, with drilling only picking up in mid-2016, and slower long-term growth as the fracking industry grows but falls short of boom times in 2017 and beyond. The delay brings two years of slow growth to Houston in 2016 and 2017.
Our May projection of 12-13,000 new jobs in 2015 are right on track, compared for example, to our extrapolation of the Dallas Fed data to 9,300 jobs. But for 2016, Scenario 1 may now be looking too optimistic, with its assumption of a strong drilling revival beginning as early as this January. Several recent forecasts of the rig count have assumed further declines in 2016, and pushed any growth in the rig count back as far as 2017. At a minimum, Scenario 2 probably is now much more likely than just a few months ago, which would portend another slow year for Houston in 2016.
So far, 2015 has been less than a stellar year for Houston’s economy, now on track to deliver fewer than 10,000 jobs by year-end. Our projection for employment growth this year, the period of initial downturn in oil markets, remains right on track. The combination of solid U.S. expansion and a petrochemical construction boom have been just enough to keep Houston out of recession. Who would have thought downstream oil refining and petrochemicals would be the most important part of the “diversification” that is currently hard at work to offset the shale bust?
Houston’s outlook for 2016 and beyond is increasingly at risk, however. By the time of our November 12 symposium, perhaps a new consensus on China or oil markets will have emerged, and we can run new numbers on local job growth. Even without consensus, we can look at several possible scenarios, to get a feel for how Houston’s economy might fare under different conditions. How good or bad might it be? What happens in oil? Manufacturing? How does this trickle down to professional and business services? Single-family and apartments? Office, industrial, and retail real estate? Meanwhile, keep your seat belt fastened.
Written by:
Robert W. Gilmer, Ph.D.
Institute for Regional Forecasting
September 4, 2015
What kind of image do you have online? Have you tried to search your name online. Are you on twitter? Can everyone see your tweets? Are you on Facebook? What is visible to the public? What do you want me to be able to find out about you? Or you future employer? If you look me up you will probably see tons of posts / pictures of my beautiful children, my love for the Houston Texans, motivational quotes and my political views (which I have become more vocal about with age). BE CAREFUL what you put online!!!!! Recruiters and Employers are using this information. This could help or hurt you. It all depends on what you put out there.
Link to Article:
http://bullseyerecruiting.net/how-i-use-facebook-to-recruit-you/
How I Use Facebook to Recruit YOU!
I get asked daily “Where do you find your candidates?”. I kind of have to giggle every time I hear that question. The reason I giggle is because most people don’t realize how large their digital footprint really is on the web. I would venture to say when a candidate thinks of recruiting in 2015, most think about LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a vital part of the recruiting process, if we (as recruiters) relied only on LinkedIn we would not be successful at all. Our competition would be kicking our butt.
As a recruiter for sales people in the technology field, I see that most candidates and sales people have a LinkedIn profile. You know what else most people have? A Facebook account. Yes, I have said it before and I will say it again, recruiters are detectives. We will scour the web to find out as much as we possibly can about a candidate. We look to see what you are tweeting. We are reading your blogs. We are looking at the activity feed on your LinkedIn account.
You are probably asking “What kind of information are you looking for on my Facebook account?” The answer is simple. I am trying to get to know who you are. Sure, a resume tells you what kind of work you do, but I want to asses you as an individual also. Culture is becoming such an integral part of the puzzle in today’s hiring. I want to know your interests, what kind of activities you are involved in and who you are as a person.
See, I don’t hide anything from anyone. My social presence is who I am as an individual. I share pictures of my family, my love for the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Astros, Ole Miss, and blog posts that I have written. Why in the world would I do that? The reason is because that is who I am. That is what makes me different from the next individual. THAT is what makes me real.
You have probably read the things “not to post” on Facebook. I agree that there are things you shouldn’t share with the world and on social media. I also don’t want you to be scared of social media. Social Media will give you a competitive advantage over other candidates if used correctly.
I know this post will be controversial because many will take it as I am discriminating against individuals. I am not discriminating, rather uncovering what passions you have for in life. I believe that we are all created differently and I truly want to know what gets you out of bed every morning. I may not agree with you, or share the same interests and that is fine. What I want to see is passion and fire. I want to hire the best of the best. You can’t always get that from Facebook, but you may get a glimpse.
I also use Facebook increasingly every day to ask colleagues if they know anybody for a particular role. My Facebook friends are people I trust and they may be more willing to help than my thousands of LinkedIn connections. I have made several key hires from asking my Facebook friends for connections this year.
I also like to “add Facebook friends” with the candidates I feel like I have made deep relationships with during the recruiting process . Why not? They are the people I have grown to really like and who else would be better to help spread the word. I am friends with a ton of recruiters on Facebook also. These recruiting relationships can help spread the word faster than most. It is strategic and you should consider the same thing.
Did you realize the importance of using Facebook to recruit? You should now. Stop putting all your eggs in the LinkedIn basket. There are other ways to find top talent. I would like to hear your story!
Read more at http://bullseyerecruiting.net/how-i-use-facebook-to-recruit-you/#KvDAJcfabz5022CO.99
| Crude Oil and Commodity Prices September, Wednesday 9 2015 – 08:42:58
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Food for thought…….
9 Things Successful People Do Right Before Bed ~ Levo League// // <![CDATA[
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The very last thing you do before bed tends to have a significant impact on your mood and energy level the next day, as it often determines how well and how much you sleep.
Successful people understand that their success starts and ends with their mental and physical health, which is almost entirely dependent upon their getting enough sleep.
That is why bedtime routines are a key ritual for so many of them—and why the very last thing most successful people do before bed is read.
1. They read.
Experts agree that reading is the very last thing most successful people do before going to sleep.
Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of You Can’t Be Serious! Putting Humor to Work, says he knows numerous business leaders who block off time just before bed for reading, going so far as to schedule it as a “non-negotiable item” on their calendar. “This isn’t necessarily reserved just for business reading or inspirational reading. Many successful people find value in being browsers of information from a variety of sources, believing it helps fuel greater creativity and passion in their lives.”
For example, while some successful people use this time catch up on news stories from the day, skim tech blogs, or browse Reddit and Twitter, others enjoy reading fiction novels and ancient philosophy just before bed.
2. They make a to-do list.
“Clearing the mind for a good night sleep is critical for a lot of successful people,” Kerr says. “Often they will take this time to write down a list of any unattended items to address the following day, so these thoughts don’t end up invading their head space during the night.”
3. They spend time with family.
Michael Woodward, Ph.D., organizational psychologist and author of The YOU Plan, says it’s important to make some time to chat with your partner, talk to your kids, or play with your dog.
Laura Vanderkam, author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, says this is a common practice among the highly successful. “I realize not everyone can go to bed at the same time as his or her partner, but if you can, it’s a great way to connect and talk about your days.”
4. They reflect on the day.
Kerr says many successful people take the time just before bed to reflect on, or to write down, three things they’re appreciative of that happened that day. “Keeping a ‘gratitude journal’ also reminds people of the progress they made that day in any aspect of their life, which in turn serves as a key way to stay motivated, especially when going through a challenging period.”
Vanderkam adds: “Taking a few moments to think about what went right over the course of the day can put you in a positive, grateful mood.”
5. They meditate.
Many successful people use the 10 minutes before bed to meditate. Dale Kurow, a New York-based executive coach, says it’s a great way to relax your body and quiet your mind.
6. They plan out sleep.
“Much has been written around the dangers busy people face running chronic sleep deficits, so one habit I know several highly successful people do is to simply make it a priority to get enough sleep—which can be a challenge for workaholics or entrepreneurs,” Kerr says. One way to do that is to go to bed at a consistent time each evening, which is a key habit all sleep experts recommend to help ensure a healthy night’s sleep.
Vanderkam further suggests that you plan out when you’re going to wake up, count back however many hours you need to sleep, and then consider setting an alarm to remind yourself to get ready for bed. “The worst thing you can do is stay up late then hit snooze in the morning,” she says. “Humans have a limited amount of willpower. Why waste that willpower arguing with yourself over when to get up, and sleeping in miserable nine-minute increments?”
7. They unplug and disconnect from work.
Truly successful people do anything but work right before bed, Kerr says. They don’t obsessively check their email, and they try not to dwell on work-related issues.
Woodward agrees, saying, “The last thing you need is to be lying in bed thinking about an email you just read from that overzealous boss who spends all their waking hours coming up with random requests driven by little more than a momentary impulse.” Give yourself a buffer period between the time you read your last email and the time you go to bed. The idea is to get your head out of work before you lie down to go to sleep.
8. They lie down on a positive note.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of replaying negative situations from the day that you wish you had handled differently. Regardless of how badly the day went, successful people typically manage to avoid that pessimistic spiral of negative self-talk because they know it will only create more stress.
“Remember to take some time to reflect on the positive moments of the day and celebrate the successes, even if they were few and far between,” Woodward says.
9. They picture tomorrow’s success.
Many successful people take a few minutes before bed to envision a positive outcome unfolding for the projects they’re working on, says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job. “For most, this is not a task or exercise; they’re wired with a gift of solid resolution skills that come naturally.”
This was originally posted on Business Insider.
7 Success Habits of Exceptionally Productive People By Jeff Haden
Need to get more done? Do what the pros do.
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/7-success-habits-of-exceptionally-productive-people.html?cid=sf01001
The toughest job interview questions of the year for both the UK and America have been revealed.
People always prepare for interviews, often by researching the company and preparing answers to typical interview questions. Recruiting companies are now also trying to give their clients the low-down on the latest interview topics to wow prospective employers with.
Glassdoor, the anonymous review site, has created a list of the toughest interview questions in the UK and US.
Joe Wiggins is the spokesman for Glassdoor in the UK. He explained to The Independent the purpose of such questions. “Often it is to see how you react under pressure. It’s to see what happens when the rug is pulled from under you – how do you prepare for the completely unexpected?”
Questions not included on the list were from candidates asked which superhero they would be or their opinion on The Blair Witch Project.
Wiggins added: “The message for candidates is to be prepared for anything and try to practice these sorts of questions, but not to worry too much. No one is going to know the answer to these things.”
The full compiled list by Glassdoor is below.
The ten toughest interview questions in the UK in 2015
1. “Can you calculate how many tennis balls are used during the course of Wimbledon?” – Accenture
2. “Estimate the total number of cars in the UK.” – Barclays Investment
3. “How many calories are in a grocery store?” – Google
4. “How would you sell a fridge to an eskimo?” – Harrods
5. “What would you take to a lonely island with you and why?”– Urban Outfitters
6. “Is Batman a super hero?” – AlphaSights
7. “You have 17 red and 17 blue balls, and you remove 2 at a time. If the two are the same colour, add in one extra blue ball. They are different colours, add in an extra red ball. What colour is the final ball removed?”– Geonomics
8. “What cartoon character would you be and why?” – ASDA
9. “What is the wildest thing you have done?” – Metro Bank
10. “What was your opinion of the film Blair Witch Project?” – Jefferies & Company
The ten toughest interview questions in the US in 2015
1. “What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?” – Airbnb
2. “What’s your favorite ’90s jam?” – Squarespace
3. “If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them how would you choose which ones to answer?” – Dropbox
4. “Who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?” – Stanford University
5. “If you had a machine that produced $100 for life what would you be willing to pay for it today?” – Aksia
6. “What did you have for breakfast?” – Banana Republic
7. “Describe the color yellow to somebody who’s blind.” – Spirit Airlines.
8. “If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?”– Bose
9. “How many people flew out of Chicago last year?” – Redbox
10. “Who’s your favorite Disney Princess?” – Cold Stone Creamery
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Houston's F&A Recruiter and Talent Connector 