Halloween Specialty Shop Temporary Jobs

September 29, 2011 under Articles
Halloween @ Target 2008

Image by Brandy Shaul via Flickr

Halloween is a fun time of year; the costumes, the candy, the parties. People like to have a good time during the Halloween season, and it’s not just limited to their free time. Many people enjoy dressing up in costume for work during Halloween. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could wear a different costume to work every day? If your answer is yes, then you might want to consider landing a temporary position at one of the Halloween specialty shops across the nation.

A recent article that appeared on http://www.signonsandiego.com/ announced Halloween Adventure’s upcoming job fairs in the area to hire 120 employees for three different locations. Based out ofCanogaPark, Halloween Adventure’s threeSan DiegoCounty stores are located inMissionValley,El Cajon andVista.

Each store plans to employ 40 full-time and part-time workers for the following positions:

  • Regional District Manager
  • Assistant Store Manager
  • Store Merchandiser
  • Store Construction Personnel

Halloween Adventure announced that they will be hiring on the spot, and they are looking for friendly and energetic applicants that like to be on their feet. Pay starts at $8 an hour and costumes are the required work uniform.

Halloween Adventure operates 15 stores throughoutSouthern Californiaand employs almost 1,000 temporary workers every Halloween season. They are one of the largest Halloween specialty shops in theUnited States.

If you don’t happen to live in Southern California, it’s okay because there are other Halloween stores that operate throughout theUS. Spirit Halloween has locations everywhere fromAlabamatoWyoming, and they will be hiring for the following:

  • District Sales Manager
  • Store Manager
  • Assistant Manager
  • Sales Associate

In 1999, Spirit Halloween had 93 locations. Since their acquisition by Spencer Gifts, LLC, they have expanded to 900 stores acrossCanadaand theUS.

Formerly known as Halloween USA,HalloweenCityis one of the oldest and largest temporary Halloween retailers in the nation. They will also be hiring for similar positions.

So no matter where you live, if you like to dress up in costume and are looking for some good temporary work, check out your local Halloween specialty shop. Now is prime time for Halloween hiring.

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Craigslist for Jobs

August 5, 2011 under Reviews
craigslist

craigslist

Finding a job these days can be tough. Luckily, we have plenty of online classifieds and job boards to help us out. But with so many to choose from, which one should you use? In trying to determine what site is the best for the job seeker out there, it’s important to take a look at all of them and see what they bring to the table. Today, let’s talk about Craigslist.

Craigslist was started in 1995 in San Francisco by a guy named Craig Newmark. As a newcomer to the city, Newmark started an email distribution to friends in the area. The emails provided details about local events in the Bay Area. The social events were primarily of interest to software and Internet developers, as this was Newmark’s area of expertise.

Newmark expanded his list into a web-based service and branched out into other classifieds categories the following year. By 2000, Newmark’s service had expanded to other cities in theUSand eventually to most countries. By the new millennium, Craigslist was a full-blown online classifieds service featuring the following categories;

  • Jobs
  • Housing
  • Personals
  • ForSale
  • Services
  • Community
  • Gigs
  • Resumes
  • Discussion Forums

Today, Craigslist is a widely used service by people all over the world. In terms of the broad range of features it offers, Craigslist pretty much has it all. If you need to buy a bicycle, sell some furniture, look for a job, adopt a pet, post your resume or find a date, Craigslist is there to help.

But that last topic of interest – finding a date – is where Craigslist got into a little bit of trouble. After much controversy concerning the Adult Section, Craigslist closed this portion of the site down for good last year. It turns out that people were using this section to solicit prostitution – go figure. Although the Adult Section was closed down, many who frequented that category just moved their services over to the Talent section.

Even though you may have to avoid pimps and prostitutes, Craigslist still provides a valuable service, especially to those looking for a job. Jobs on Craigslist are sorted by location and category and feature everything from Accounting positions to Writing jobs. Craigslist also features a Gigs Section that posts part-time or temporary work for those looking to make an extra buck. In addition to finding all the jobs out there, you can also post your resume on Craigslist for employers to check out.

Craigslist can provide a lot of job opportunities, but beware. Scammers are rampant on this site, and you never know if when you show up to a job site you might be thrown into a van or mugged. Like any other listing on the Internet, do your research before agreeing to anything.

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , ,

Careerbuilder Review

July 20, 2011 under Reviews
Image representing CareerBuilder as depicted i...

Sometimes the hardest thing about a job is finding one in the first place. Sure you can go around to all the career sites out there and throw your resume at hundreds of different positions, hoping that it will stick somewhere. This can be tiring and discouraging when you don’t hear anything back.

Not every job board is the same. Some offer a lot more useful and effective services than others. Some sites are flooded with scam jobs and false postings, while others tend to weed out the riffraff and only offer the best of the best.

In determining which career site might be the best fit for your needs as a job seeker, it’s a good idea to take a look at what’s out there. What does each site bring to the table? And which one will work for you? Today, let’s take a look at Careerbuilder and check out what they have to offer.

Careerbuilder is the largest online job site in the United States. They list over one million different positions and host more than 23 million unique visitors every month. Careerbuilder lists jobs in pretty much every industry out there and is a useful site for both the job seeker and the employer.

Careerbuilder was founded in 1994 as NetStart Inc. They started out selling their own brand of software geared towards helping companies to list job openings on their websites. After receiving $2 million in investment capital, they transformed their business and created the Careerbuilder website. The name was officially changed from NetStart Inc to Careerbuilder in 1998.

With the economic recession hitting hard across the country this past decade, Careerbuilder suffered some setbacks just like everyone else. In 2008 they announced layoffs which affected the jobs of about 300 Careerbuilder employees.

Today Careerbuilder employs more than 2,500 workers. They are headquartered in Chicago and provide their online career services to 1,900 different partners across the country. These clients include about 140 newspapers and portals such as AOL and MSN.

Careerbuilder believes in matching the right people with the right jobs. According to their website, they help companies to attract what they believe to be their most important asset; the people. By using advanced technology and data analysis, Careerbuilder continues to help people find jobs and companies find good workers.

There is a lot to think about when applying for a job. The stresses of finding employment are substantial these days, and the last thing one should have to worry about is which career site to use.

Careerbuilder may not be the best career site to fulfill your job seeking needs, but hopefully this review has helped to enlighten all you job seekers out there as to what they can bring to the table. Good luck and happy job hunting!

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Monster.com Review

July 12, 2011 under Reviews
Image representing Monster as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Finding a job in this market today is tough enough. Searching for the right career site to help you find that perfect job should not be that difficult. There are a lot of job boards out there, and who really know which one is the best? It’s all relative, but what we can do here is shed a little light on the situation as to what each different career site has to offer.

That said, let’s start with Monster.com. Founded in 1994 as The Monster Board, their name changed to Monster.com when they merged with Online Career Center in 1999. As the online job board business took off in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s, Monster.com excelled and is now the largest job search engine in the world.

Monster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world. Now we are not just talking about the United States here, but the whole world. Monster.com dominates on a global scale. They are one of the 20 most visited websites of all time, and they host over 150 million resumes.

Not only is Monster.com a valuable resource for any job seeker out there, it also provides an immeasurable amount of priceless information for employers. Companies looking to hire can tap into Monster.com’s vast database of applicant information and choose the best of the best.

With over 5,000 employees across 36 different countries, Monster.com is a veritable powerhouse in the career site industry. They are one of the largest employment websites in the world, and they are not afraid to show it. Momster.com offers many resources for job seekers at all levels of the workforce.

No matter what type of job you are looking for, Monster.com is guaranteed to have a position worth looking at. Monster.com provides a variety of jobs for the eclectic workforce that makes up our nation, including;

  • Clerical
  • Labor
  • Government
  • Customer Service
  • Human Resources
  • Education
  • And much more!

In addition to their vast database of job listings, Monster.com also provides numerous other services and features on their website to better aid the distraught job seeker. The Q&A column is helpful for all those concerns you may have concerning the job market out there. The Career Tools portion of the website will definitely provide helpful tools and tips as well.

In this crazy world of career sites left at right trying to tell you what you need to do, it’s not easy to make an honest decision on the right fit for your needs. In making the right choice, it’s important to check out all the options. And that’s what Jobanb does, so you don’t have to….

 

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Obama’s Plans to Boost US Manufacturing Jobs

July 8, 2011 under Articles
Official presidential portrait of Barack Obama...

Image via Wikipedia

The economic recovery that should have been occurring during the last two or three years is taking longer than expected. Many people are still unemployed, and of those of us who do have jobs right now, many are suffering from uncertainty.

The answer to our sluggish recuperation from the Great Recession may lie in the manufacturing sector. Last week, President Obama delivered a speech at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA in which he outlined plans to revitalize the US manufacturing industry and boost job growth.

This initiative, called the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, calls for an investment of $500 million to jumpstart the plan. The Partnership would bring together government agencies, corporations and universities for research and development projects in manufacturing.

Obama believes that if we utilize these different resources and invest in information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, we can enable the creation of solid manufacturing jobs in the US.

By reducing costs, improving quality, and accelerating product development using these various technologies, we can ultimately create a renaissance within the American manufacturing industry.

In addition to revitalizing the industry within the US and creating jobs in our country, these investments will also help us compete with the rest of the world in manufacturing technology. The United States is a nation that was built on inventing and manufacturing, and Obama believes that we can make this happen once again.

Obama said that the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership would not just create jobs for the future, but also for right now. This could be the final measure that takes us out of the last leg of our lethargic economic recovery.

This necessary and immediate call for action could be because Obama is up for re-election in 2012. He realizes that he must make certain moves to once again to gain our country’s love and support. Obama came out swinging in 2008 with big ideas of turning our country around, speaking of change and new hope.

Over the last few years, he lost a lot of that original support when the job market and overall economy never got better. Now is the time to make up for it, and Obama realizes this.

By investing into the technologies that produce revolutionary ideas, new jobs will be created, breakthroughs will be made, and the manufacturing sector will boom once again in the United States.

Then again, it seems like this should have happened three or four years ago, when the economy was really suffering. People are still recovering from massive job losses and the big slump in the manufacturing industry a few years ago. For Obama’s sake, hopefully the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership isn’t too little too late.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Chevy Volt Has Big Plans for 2012

June 24, 2011 under Articles
Rear view of the Chevrolet Volt at a public ex...

Image via Wikipedia

It used to be that what was good for General Motors was good for America.

Although the era of automotive prosperity in the United States may never reach its former glory, Chevrolet has announced big plans for its extended-range electric vehicle, the Volt.

In 2011, the Volt was only available in eight different states and Washington, D.C. Chevrolet recently opened up orders for all 50 states in 2012 and lowered the base price for the Volt by $1,000. The Volt will be on sale next year for $39,995, and buyers may be eligible for a $7,500 tax credit.

The Volt runs on battery power for 35 miles, but then uses a gas-powered engine until it’s recharged. Although this is far less of a charge capacity than the Nissan Leaf – which runs only on battery power for a distance of 100 miles – the Volt may be just what the US needs to jumpstart the auto industry.

Interrupted by a boost in foreign auto sales, the industry in the US has suffered greatly since the ’90′s. This, coupled with the devastating effects of the recession on Detroit, and you have a recipe for an industry that has almost been lost. Numerous factories and plants were shut down in Southeastern Michigan, and the entire area is just beginning to pull out what is known as “the Great Recession”.

The amount of impact that the Chevrolet operations will have on the US auto industry is yet to be seen. Only one thing can be said for sure: the 60,000 Volts expected to be built at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant will definitely provide for a certain level of resurgence in the Detroit area.

2,500 jobs will be added to the plant. In addition to the Cadillacs and Buicks already built there, Chevrolet aspires to build over 100,000 Volts per year in the future and plans have already been made to add the 2013 Chevy Malibu to their production roster.

As well as providing a boost for the Detroit job market and potentially the US auto industry, the Volt is also a step in the right direction towards our freedom from dependence on oil. President Obama is already hip to this trend and recently purchased a whole fleet of the American-made semi-electric vehicles for government operations.

It’s nothing new that many steps must be made in freeing us from our need of oil and avoiding a global meltdown from our currently high level of carbon emissions.

America has been a leader of the auto industry ever since Henry Ford revolutionized the vehicle assembly line and put Detroit City on the map as a veritable force in car production. We have the opportunity to lead the world in the production of electric vehicles as well, and it all starts with one car: the Chevrolet Volt.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Small Businesses – Leaders in Job Creation

June 13, 2011 under Articles
Clean Energy Economy

Image by Center for Neighborhood Technology via Flickr

When most people think of job creation in the US, they think of the leading corporations that usually make the news with massive bouts of hiring. Places like Wal-Mart, Home Depot or AT&T are the names that typically come to mind.

But what most people don’t know is that the majority of new jobs in the past decade did not come from big-name corporations. In the last ten years, small businesses have accounted for more than half of all new jobs. Wal-Mart may be taking over in all other aspects, but small businesses are the nation’s leading job creators.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They exemplify the American Dream. Being your own boss and making your own fortune; isn’t that what every Average Joe dreams about as they sit in rush hour traffic while spilling coffee on their white business shirt?

The definition of a small business varies and can depend upon a lot of different factors. It can be a company as small as a dozen employees to as large as 500. Small businesses can also be classified according to sales, assets or net profits. Prime examples in our everyday economy include convenience stores, delicatessens, law firms, restaurants, hairdressers and online businesses such as web design and programming.

There are many advantages of owning your own small business, but there are also many drawbacks as well. Ideally, startups require only a small amount of capital and part-time hours to get them running successfully. However this is not always the case.

Many people out there believe that owning a small business means working when you want to and not having to deal with any superiors. Contrary to popular belief, most small business owners work 60 or more hours a week and don’t make any profit during their first two years. In addition, their startup capital has to come from somewhere, and this frequently comes from investors. To get investments, you need to have a solid idea and business plan, and you have to be able to appeal to your investors.

The high risk and uncertainty of small business ownership has not prevented thousands of Americans from giving it a go this past year. In 2010, the startup rate was the highest it has been in 15 years, with over a half million new businesses popping up. In response to the slow economic recovery and high unemployment rates, many Americans turned to small business ownership as a way out.

But don’t go quitting your job just yet. Owning your own business is not all sleeping in and three-day weekends. You might find yourself working longer hours than a traditional 9-to-5 and making a lot less money. Granted you will have the pride in knowing that you achieved the American Dream, but that doesn’t always pay the bills.

Either way, whether you are looking to start your own or just work for another small business, you are doing the country and the economy a favor by keeping one less person from unemployment.

 

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , ,

US Lagging in Green Incentives

June 9, 2011 under Articles
US Lagging in Green Incentives

Image via Wikipedia

It’s no question that green businesses and new forms of energy efficiency are necessary in reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, at least in my mind. Apparently, the US government is not sure about the importance of clean technology and the new companies that come with it.

A recent article by the New York Times talked about a company in England whose main business is insulating old homes using new technology to be much more energy efficient. Not only does this cut home energy costs, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The company, called the Mark Group, prospered over the last decade because of government incentive for businesses and residences to hop on the green bandwagon.

Like many other European and Asian countries, the British government offers a lot of motivation for citizens and companies to be green. Things like government investments, tax breaks, loans, and laws and regulations that tax emissions all help to advance the development of green technologies and businesses.

Unfortunately, the US is not as gung-ho in promoting our green future. Sure, Obama did just buy a fleet of electric vehicles, and he did push legislation to allow for the speedier development of the Cape Wind Project (a massive wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts), but it’s just not enough.

The fact that we don’t have enough government incentive to be green here led the Mark Group to bring their home insulation business to the US. After tapping out the market in England (more than 80% of older homes have now been updated to be more energy efficient), the Mark Group was beginning to run out of clients.

In the US, they saw an untapped market and decided to set up shop in Philadelphia. The fact that businesses don’t receive enough benefits and citizens don’t see a real advantage in trying to be greener has allowed for a slow start in the green revolution in America. Apparently, Congress is still undecided over whether climate change is in fact a real threat, and we have seen no huge efforts in trying to use less fossil fuel.

Clean technology is beginning to catch on in the US, but we are falling way behind when compared to the other leading nations in the world. This lag has affected pour job growth. There is a massive amount of potential to create new jobs with advancing technology in energy conservation. It could be the thing to finally jumpstart our economy again, but we are slacking.

Not only does this affect job growth in the US, it allows for foreign countries to export their green goods and services into our economy, just as the Mark Group did with their home insulation business. American homeowners in Philadelphia are paying this British company to update their houses for energy conservation. Our money is leaving the country.

I don’t claim to be an expert on foreign policy or government action, but I would like to offer a few words of advice for the sake of our economy and future as a nation. Why don’t we stop spending so much money on fighting for oil and supporting the US military, take those billions of dollars spent every year and invest them into promoting green businesses and clean technology? Just a thought…

 

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , ,

Indeed.com Job Board Review

June 9, 2011 under Reviews
Image representing Indeed as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

There are a whole lot of job boards out there, so many that sometimes it can be overwhelming to figure out the right one to use in your search for employment. Is there any real difference among the myriad job search engines? Or do they all offer pretty much the same results, albeit in different formats? You may be asking yourself these exact questions while perusing the long list of career sites.

Fortunately, you have access to great resources like this article right here to help you along in your quest for the best search engine for jobs. The best way to start analyzing the differences between all those job boards is to start with one and go from there. Today, let’s take a look at Indeed.

Indeed is a job search engine that was launched in 2004 and has done very well for itself in recent years. In 2010, Indeed surpassed Monster.com to become the #1 job site in the US. Indeed aggregates job listings from numerous different websites, including;

  • Job Boards
  • Newspapers
  • Company Career Pages

Indeed pulls from thousands of sources and brings its users the best listings available. When job seekers search on Indeed, they do not apply for positions right on the site. Instead, they are redirected to corresponding sites (such as company career pages or other job boards) to apply for the position. Indeed’s job is simply to present the options to the seeker.

Indeed is available in 53 countries and is the only job site to service all seven continents. The leading job site is presented in 26 different languages. It has over 50 million unique visitors and more than one billion job searches every month. Job seekers can also tap into Indeed from their mobile devices.

Indeed is a privately held company with big-time investors, including companies like the New York Times Company, Allen & Company and Union Square Ventures. It provides job seekers with access to millions of job listings across the country and around the world. Indeed has offices in the following US cities:

  • Austin, TX
  • Mountain View, CA
  • Stamford, CT

On the other side of the job search, Indeed also offers many services for companies wanting to advertise jobs. It is the leading pay-for-performance recruitment advertising network. They also offer the most cost-effective and efficient source of job applicants for companies in the US and globally.

Companies that advertise jobs with Indeed are provided with a brief job description for candidates based on their job search, and job seekers are then sent directly to the position listing upon clicking on it.

When companies choose to sponsor their jobs with Indeed, they are entitled to even more services, including having their position highlighted and at the top of the list in a search. Indeed also offers a low cost-per-click rate, and companies only have to pay when users click on the sponsored job to find out more.

In your job search, there is a lot to think about. You have to hype up your resume, write a nice cover letter and figure out what you want to be when you grow up. The last thing you should have to think about it is what service to use in your search. Hopefully this article has helped to shed a little bit of light on the situation.

 

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

High Gas Prices Lead to Alternative Transportation

June 9, 2011 under Articles
Cyclist and the price of gas

Image by richardmasoner via Flickr

If you commute to and from work, chances are you are probably hurting financially right now. With gas prices hovering right around $4 a gallon, many workers and their employers have taken steps to lessen the blow of expensive fuel.

According to a recent survey by the Best Workplaces for Commuters, almost 40% of commuters have turned to mass transit, car pooling or biking to work as alternatives to paying sky-high prices for gasoline. Most cities offer some sort of public transportation system. Some are better than others, but the bus is not a bad way to go.

It may take a little longer, and you might have to wait for your ride, but employees can save hundreds of dollars every month by taking the bus to work. No more paying for gas or parking, and many businesses even offer discounts and compensation for using mass transit systems.

Results of a survey by the Management Association of Illinois showed that 14% of businesses in the Chicago area have allowed employees to telecommute, 20% have offered compressed work weeks, and 27% have offered accommodations for workers who bike to work in response to the high gas prices. Many companies also offer commuter tax benefit programs, employee discounts on local mass transit and even transportation subsidies.

The Starbucks Coffee Corp has offered many incentives to its employees to take advantage of alternative transportation choices. They provide subsidies to non-retail employees for the purchase of mass transit passes, and they also offer cash incentives for workers who drive hybrid cars, walk or bike to work.

Riding a bicycle has benefits as an alternative to driving a car to work. First of all, it’s great exercise. Instead of sitting in your car or on the bus, you are pedaling and getting in a little cardio on your way to work.

Second of all, you don’t have to pay for gas or parking. As long as you already have a bike, you don’t have to pay for anything. And if you don’t already have one, check out the local classifieds or Craigslist. There are millions of bikes for sale out there for $50 to $100, the amount that one can easily pay on gas for a week.

Third of all, you are bettering the environment and reducing your carbon footprint. If you don’t have a car and are forced to ride a bike to work, this is also a great pick-up line. Instead of saying that you don’t have a car, just say that you really care about the environment and want to do your part to make the world a better place.

Some jobs might be a little difficult to ride a bike to. If you live more than five miles from your place of employment, it might not be a good idea. You will end up at work a sweaty, out-of-breath mess. If you have to wear a suit and tie, the bike might not be the best option either. You might look a little goofy riding a Huffy in a three-piece. And you don’t want to risk getting oil from your bike chain on your nice slacks. There is always the bus…

No matter what the right alternative might be for getting to work, now is the time to act on it. Saving money and the environment at the same time, alternative transportation choices are almost necessary in our current economy. There is always a better way.

 

Related articles
comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous