While the October unemployment rate in Pennsylvania remained flat at 8.8% from September, the state managed to add over 10,000 jobs month to month. This is only the second time since 2007 that Pennsylvania has seen job counts rise.

The big gainers were Healthcare/Education and Hospitality, while manufacturing and construction continue to shed the most jobs, though at a reduced level from prior months.

This puts Pennsylvania 1.4% better than the national unemployment rate of 10.2%.

More: http://bit.ly/4ukKIH

Job fairs are still one of the easiest ways to get in front of a potential employer. The entire point of the event is to being together employers with open positions and job seekers to fill them. If you prepare adequately and come with an open mind about job possibilities, you may very likely leave the event with an interview, a job offer or some great leads. The Employment Guide was fortunate enough to help over 15,000 people find employment through job fairs alone in 2009.

We have a complete resource center on Orlando Job Fairs here.

For more information about transforming from the soldier's life to civilian employment, please be sure to pick up a copy of the Veteran's Transition Guide at your local Workforce Central Florida location or at a military base near you.

Whether you just got out of the service or are staring to think about your next steps after military life, online job hunting is the most efficient way to find your new career. There are many new search tools and online job resources available, waiting for the classifieds in the Sunday paper is old news. Perhaps you have already dabbled in online job searches and social networking. However there are still some tips and tricks to getting the most of your online job seeking efforts.

Here are some tips and resources to get you started:

Start With The Basics
Set up a professional email with GMail or your own hosted domain. Try and grab yourname@gmail.com if its available.

Look in All Available Places
In today's landscape there are job boards, social networks and communities for every industry, every niche and every brand. Find these specialized job boards and communities and look for people to connect with, companies that you relate to and opportuities to explore. The Employment Guide has set up niche sites in Transportation, Healthcare and Older workers to make this process easier for job seekers.

Use Automation Tools
Set up things like job alerts and Google alerts to create feeds that bring the jobs to you. This will make the most effective use of your time.

Promote Yourself
Use these social media tools to promote yourself in a positive light. Do you have videos of presentations or pictures of things you have built, awards you have won? If so, showcase this on your profiles, start a blog or bring them onto the networks. This will give recruiters a great sense of who you are and what you can do for their company.

Get Offline
We can get caught up in the ease of tools like Google and Job Baords, however physical meetings and networking events can still play a major role in returning to a civilian job. Try sites like Meetup, Eventful and Upcoming to find events in your area that relate to your likes and interests.

For more information about transforming from the soldier's life to civilian employment, please be sure to pick up a copy of the Veteran's Transition Guide at your local Workforce Central Florida location or at a military base near you.

I was up late the other night and this clip really caught my eye. It was an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart featuring Vice President Joe Biden. In this first part of the interview Joe and Jon talk about the administration's role in job creation and the new jobs coming to Americans in the form of Health Care, Energy and Education.

Watch the clip here.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Joe Biden Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I'd love to know your feedback. Over the past half a year we have heard from Florida's Gov. Charie Crist and now Joe Biden talk about jobs in these sectors. They say the growth with come in the first quarter of new year. What do you think is happening and where do you fit in. We love learning from the people who are living the job seeking lifestyle as it helps us deliver news and information and help you out everywhere that we can.

Happy hunting Orlando!

-Greg

As we continue our tour of the new Health Career Web, I wanted to showcase one of the most beneficial things you can do other than create a powerful profile, and that's making use of the blogging feature. The video below walks you through how to create a new blog post and where it goes and who has the potential to see it.



I hope you are enjoying these videos and taking action if they pertain to you. We have some great information coming in the next few days including a Thanksgiving action plan for job seekers that may just turn your holiday season around!

Happy hunting Orlando!

-Greg

Here is a look at some of the stories that are going on here in Portland and the Northwest:

• It looks like the people of Portland have stopped looking for jobs and that's the reason the unemployment rate has dipped.
• However, the unemployment rate has held at 11.3% and that's lowest it has been since February.
  
• When times are tough it's nice to see the Young Professional of Portland helping the unemployed battle hunger and joblessness.
• A new study shows that you might not need as much income in retirement.
• Most Portlanders are happy with their city.
• US Chamber of Commerce VP John Murphy, issued a challenge to Oregon to create more jobs.

So Portland, we here at the Employment Guide and Wiser Worker are here to help with the unemployment rate. Also, keep your heads up and don't give up hope! If anyone would like to add another article or has any comments, please feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Click on the image below to view a copy of this week's edition of The Employment Guide in Portland.

As we continue our series on Health Career Web, today we are going to take a look at how to create your profile to optimize its visibility to other healthcare professionals and employers that may be looking for someone with your credentials.


How To Set Up a Professional Healthcare Profile on Health Career Web


After watching the video, go ahead and signup and get started with your profile. Use keywords to describe your career and your career path, upload a strong photo that portrays you in a confident light and be sure to pass along your profile URL t your other social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

And then be sure to search for me and say hello!

-Greg

Last year we shared an overview of the all new HealthCareerWeb.com and all the new features of this health care professional network. Today, we have a quick video that shows you all the different ways that you can look for a job on the site, after all, the goal of your networking is to expand and develop your career, right?




All you nurses, physical therapists and health care professionals now have a very powerful tool to find jobs in your area and in your niche.

Some tips to finding great health care jobs in Orlando on Health Career Web:

Keywords: Use the best possible keywords for the position you desire. If you type in nursing, you will see positions for all types of nurses, in all situations, skill levels and experience. If you type in LPN or Registered Nurse, you will find more specific results that fit your skill level and job of choice.

Broaden your search: If you know your areas, you can begin picking cities, zip codes and locations that match your preferences. Knowing that Sanford is just around the corner from Lake Mary will open up jobs in both locations. Don't be scared to open a map and see the place you want to work, especially if you are looking to relocate.

Know your skill level: If you are currently in school, are there things you can be doing to help you get the certifications or experience you need? If you are out of school, can you be doing things to brush up on your skills? Look for similarities in job descriptions and see the things you are going to need in order to land that healthcare job.

Happy hunting Orlando and please let me know what you think about the new Health Career Web in the comments.

-Greg

Just this last Friday, the Labor Department said that the jobless rate in the U.S. had jumped up to 10.2%. That is the highest unemployment rate in 26 years! The highest post world war II rate was 10.8% at the height of the 1982 recession. Also, economists that were recently surveyed stated that the unemployment rate will hit 10.5% by the middle of next year. The Federal Reserve also warned that unemployment will likely stay high for the next couple of years.

That news may trouble some people, but others may choose to believe that the job market is looking brighter. With many reports that the economy is on the way up, it is nice to hear that companies are going to start hiring. The National Association for Business Economics said the number of employers planning to hire workers over the next six months exceeded the number expecting job cuts for the first time since the recession began in December 2007. That is really great news and is something that everyone should focus on instead on the double digit unemployment. We here at The Employment Guide are also doing all that we can to help get the economy back on a roll again.

It is also nice to see that employers may need to soften their stance on sick days with there being such a scare with H1N1. With uncertain times, people do not need the added stress that they could possibly loose their job by being sick.

So Portland, with the recent news of the unemployment rate being double digits and that companies are going to hire. What side of the fence do you lean towards? Please leave you comments in the section below.