Dr. Bamster's Blog

Things are quiet. It's as if people are collectively holding their breath--and waiting. What are we waiting for? Maybe for some truths to come out. We waited a year--through all of 2008--for the Bush Administration to acknowledge that the U.S. is in a recession. Well, we are definitely in a recession and job losses are mounting.

I work for a mid-size book publishing company that publishes about 110 new titles annually. In October, I saw several coworkers leave when their jobs were eliminated. That layoff was directly related to the economy because retail bookstores are not ordering as many books; and because banks are not lending as freely anymore, there is less capital for businesses to operate with.

But, are people still getting hired? Yes, and people are still buying cars and houses, too. We just hear more bad than good news these days. Reading a newspaper is a dismal experience, but then again, if the newspaper publisher where you live hasn't gone bankrupt or otherwise discontinued publishing, you may consider yourself lucky to still have one to read.

Having the technology to instantly access news from everywhere may actually feed the feeling of doom and gloom many of us are experiencing. We can turn that around though and use technology to reach perspective employers, stay in touch with people, and build a network that may produce that next "terrific" job. LinkedIn is one of the best online communities for people to belong to. LinkedIn is, in my opinion, more about building a network to support career goals than it is about being social. If you already have a profile on LinkedIn, browse around and see what others are doing and saying to make their profiles produce results. The other tools on LinkedIn, especially the job search feature and the possiblitiy of getting introduced to someone who may be hiring are very useful.