Jobs in Pennsylvania Created by Nine Projects

Several new projects will help create hundreds of jobs in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Edward G. Rendell recently announced that nine new projects have been approved for $10.1 million in loans through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority. Those projects will create 640 jobs throughout Pennsylvania.

The PIDA provides capital for infrastructure acquisition, creation and renovation projects primarily for manufacturers, industrial developers, research and development firms, agricultural processors and employers looking to establish national or regional headquarters in the state.

“Even in the midst of this national economic recession, companies are looking to build, grow and create new job opportunities,” Rendell said. “We must continue to encourage businesses to grow here in the state and create jobs by providing companies with the vital investment capital they need.”

The projects include:

• Allegheny County - RIDC of Southwestern Pennsylvania will receive $1.9 million for a $4.7 million renovation project.
• Berks County - MRD Lumber Co. Inc. will receive $1.8 million for a new $4.5 million building, creating 24 jobs during the next three years.
• Cumberland County - Enginuity LLC will receive $288,100 to acquire and renovate an unoccupied building. The $960,458 project will retain 66 employees and create eight new jobs.
• Erie County - Great Lakes Automation Services Inc. will receive $360,000 to renovate an unoccupied building. The project will cost $938,000 and relocate 27 existing employees to the new facility.
• Erie County - Accuride Erie LP will receive $1.2 million ro renovate its existing facility. The $3 million project will retain 167 jobs and create 103 new positions.
• Lehigh County - Gillespie Printing Inc. will receive $330,000 to acquire and renovate an existing building. The $825,000 project will help relocate 18 existing employees.
• Mifflin County - First Quality Baby Products LLC will receive $2.3 million to construct a new manufacturing operation. The $9.7 million project will create 500 jobs during the next five years.
• Philadelphia County - Steven F. Kempf Building Material Co. will receive $1.5 million to acquire and renovate two existing buildings. The $3.7 million project will retain 47 employees and create five new jobs.
• Washington County - Washington County Industrial Development Corp. will receive $561,012 to construct a multi-occupancy building.

RI Summer Jobs for Youth

Several RI summer jobs will be created thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri recently announced that the State of Rhode Island will use almost $4 million in federal funding to create up to 1,700 jobs for youth this summer. The program is aimed at youths 14 to 24-years old who are lacking basic literacy skills, have dropped out of school or are homeless, pregnant, criminal offenders or disabled.

A $2 million grant to the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island will help create 900 jobs and another 800 jobs will be available to Providence and Cranston residents through a $1.9 million grant to Workforce Solutions.

The temporary jobs could help heal Rhode Island's wounded economy, which is among the worst in the nation. During April, the state's unemployment rate increased from 10.6 percent to 11.1 perccent.

Rhode Island's unemployment rate has increased every month since June 2007, when the unemployment rate was at 5 percent. The state had an unemployment rate of: 9.1 percent during November 2008, 9.4 percent during December 2008, 10.3 percent during January, 10.5 percent during February, 10.6 percent during March and 11.1 percent during April.

The state had a total non-farm employment of 464,700 workers during April, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 465,000 workers during March and a 4.1 percent decrease from last year.

Background Checks for Texas School Employees Too Public

How much should the public be able to know about school employees' background checks?

That question is currently under review in the Texas Legislature. There are four bills in the Legislature that would make it harder for the public to obtain information, according to an article by The Dallas Morning News.

If passed, the bills would mean schools aren't allowed to show the public information learned through criminal background checks, including campus-by-campus summaries of convictions. Schools also would be required to destroy any information learned from criminal checks within a year.

The bills would go against previous opinion and legislature, including an Austin district court's decision, that states some information on school district employees should be public.

"The public should be entitled to full disclosure," Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton, said. "We talk a lot about transparency these days."

The Association of Texas Professional Educators, which is the state's largest teachers' union, wrote much of the language in the bills. The union has sued to overturn previous opinion and legislation.

Supporters say school employees face unfair scrutiny and embarrassment if criminal information is public, and that lawmakers never wanted the information public when they passed the 2007 law requiring background checks.

Applicant Tracking

Trying to find the right solution for a company’s applicant tracking problems can be difficult, particularly so for a small to mid-sized business.

These workplaces suffer something that larger corporations usually don’t have to contend with, limited funds, which means that the focus must be placed on getting the best program for the least amount of money.

NowHire.com believes that its recently-released nowHire Elite Business Edition can provide quality applicant tracking solutions with a price that is affordable to smaller companies.

According to a recent press release, the software program is geared toward offering both small and mid-sized offices the same hiring management advantages enjoyed by their larger clients.
This new edition is Web-based and focuses on making it easier to automate the recruiting process, which for many smaller businesses can easily become overwhelming.

For its larger corporate clients, nowHire created an automated system that follows applicants through the employment process, from start to finish and also monitors the continual professional development of current and new employees. The company believes that this program, which is a “talent management system,” is too much for the needs of smaller businesses.

“We’re increasingly talking to companies that know they need to automate their recruiting and hiring, but just don’t need to invest the time and budget to bring on a full-featured, enterprise ATS,” Joseph Impastato, nowHire.com’s founder and chief executive office, said. “Still, they want to be sure the basic system can be scaled to their talent management needs as they grow.”

One of the better features of the Elite Business Edition is the fact that it allows companies to offer what they call an “Extreme Support Philosphy.” NowHire provides toll-free phone and e-mail support to job applicants in hopes of showcasing employer responsiveness.

The goal is to help the candidate feel more assured that their applicantion has been received and is important to the company they have applied to. NowHire believes that this customer-service feature will impress job applicants by giving them the feeling that they are applying for a job with a company that has a “culture of communications” and values the time of potential employees.

Other features of this ATS include applications geared toward allowing users to easily manage job requisitions, candidate’s, interviews and background checks. The Elite Business Edition also helps out in the pre-screening and ranking of candidates and scheduling interviews.

Perth Jobs

Perth jobs with wood processing manufactures are taking a hit due to the gas crisis.

Industry heads are blaming the problems on the lack of publicized information coming from Apache Corporation, whose Varanus Island facility’s June 3rd accident caused the shortage.

Wesbeam, which is 33km north of Perth, has already laid off a dozen casual contractors since the explosion. Currently they are focusing on trying to keep their full-time employees engaged while the on-going crisis continued.

“Every consumer of gas has a meter … all the information is there, it’s not complex, it’s not rocket science, it’s just arithmetic,” James Malone, Wesbeam’s chief executive officer, said. “I’m a little bit surprised about the relative dearth of numeric information when that information is not unavailable.”

Dardnaup, another wood processing pant located about 160km south of Perth, released 21 of its 200 workers earlier this week. Ron Adams, the company’s managing director, is currently receiving 15 hours’ notice of gas supply availability to his business. At this time he is questioning how the addition of more coal-fired power stations will effect the situation.

“I find it extremely difficult in a business sense to understand … some of the information,” Adams said. “Trying to get hold of good reliable information has been very (difficult).”

The lack of information is caused by the fact that the West Australian government’s Office of Energy (OOE) is refusing to provide up-to-date figures the consumption of electricity. The OOE has said that they adopted this stance “for practical reasons and matters of commercial confidentiality.”

A fact sheet released by the OOE on June 25 2008 included four paragraphs of disclaimer on the topic.

“The State of Western Australia, the Minister for Energy, the Coordinator of Energy, the Office of Energy and their respective officers, employees and agents do not make any representation as to the accuracy of the information contained in this document,” it stated.

A spokesperson with Alinta, a private gas supplier, has said that they are, however, constantly communicating with the businesses that are being effected by the shortage.

“At this time we can only allocate on a daily basis, but we are working hard provide businesses most affected with as much information as is available so they can plan in advance,” they stated.

Recruitment Software Company Partners with CoAdvantage

Recruitment software company Cytiva Software, Inc. has announced its partnership with CoAdvantage, a provider of human resources and benefits solutions.

Under the new arrangement, Cytiva's SonicRecruit software allows CoAdvantage to provide clients with a recruitment software solution that interfaces with the company's payroll, HR and benefits administration technologies.

"We chose Cytiva after completing due diligence on other recruiting software technologies and found SonicRecruit to be a reliable and successful vendor, from sales support and pricing to training and integration," Jordan Conley, vice president of technology at CoAdvantage, said in a press release.

"CoAdvantage is known for its high level of service and HR expertise," Cytiva CEO Jason Moreau said in the release. "This kind of partnership allows SonicRecruit to complement CoAdvantage's strong offering and increases our visibility within their loyal client base."

Scott Millson, CoAdvantage's human resources outsourcing president, hopes the partnership will further the company's mission to serve clients with excellence and innovation.

"We seek best-in-breed partners for our clients in the SMB marketplace who assist us in providing solutions that reduce administrative headaches and overhead so our clients can focus on strategy and results," he added.

Medical Jobs Continue to Increase

The nation's economy is in turmoil and nearly every industry in the country has suffered month after month of job losses. However, the healthcare industry, which is often considered to be recession proof, continues to add medical jobs.

During March, 14,000 jobs were added to the healthcare industry, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry employed 19,149,000 people nationwide and had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. During February, the industry had 592,000 job openings and 463,000 hires.

Ambulatory healthcare services accounted for the most new jobs during March, adding 7,700 employees. At the same time, hospitals lost 700 jobs, which was the first reported decline since the recession began.

A slight drawback, the industry's first quarter job growth averaged 17,000 per month compared to 30,000 per month during first quarter 2008.

The healthcare and social assistance sector is made up of establishments that provide health care and social assistance for individuals. There are many career opportunities within the sector, including jobs in ambulatory healthcare services, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities and social assistance.

In 2007, there were 773,730 home health aides; 606,020 licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses; 194,010 medical and health services managers; 1,257,790 nursing aides, orderlies and attendants and 2,097,590 registered nurses.

In January, workers in the healthcare and social assistance sector worked an average of 32.5 hours per week and earned an average of $19.67 per hour, a slight increase from the average pay of $19.65 per hour in December 2008.

The occupation that pays the most is medical and health services managers at an average of $83,470 per year, followed by registered nurses at $62,510 per year; licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses at $38,710 per year; nursing aides, orderlies and attendants at $23,660 per year and home health aides at $20,520 per year.

As for the future, the healthcare and social assistance sector is expected to greatly increase. In 2006, the sector employed 15,930,300 workers. That number is expected to increase to 19,979,500 workers by 2016, an increase of more than 25 percent.

Nationally-Accessible Background Checks

A new bill is being introduced into Congress in order to create a nationally-accessible background check system for volunteers and employees of youth-serving organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs. According to an article on American Chronicle, the bill is spearheaded by Reps. Adam Schiff, John Conyers, and Mike Rogers.

The Child Protection Improvements Act of 2009 amends the National Child Protection Act of 1993. A summary of the Act includes the following information:

Amends the PROTECT Act to terminate the Child Safety Pilot Program on the date the program established under this Act is operating and able to enroll any organization using that Program.

Requires the Attorney General to: (1) establish an applicant processing center to streamline the process of obtaining nationwide background checks; (2) enter into an agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to establish a criminal history resource center to provide child-serving organizations with reliable and accurate information for interpreting criminal histories; and (3) assess annually the compliance of state criminal background check programs with requirements of this Act.

Sets forth the duties of applicant processing centers, procedures for requesting a nationwide criminal background check, and fee schedules for background checks. Grants individuals who are the subject of a background check the right to request full criminal history reports and to challenge the accuracy and completeness of such reports.

Grants limited immunity to child-serving organizations and NCMEC for acts and omissions in obtaining or using criminal history background information.

Prohibits unauthorized disclosure or use of criminal history records.

Nevada Jobs Focus of Governor's Tax Hike Worries

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons is willing to work with legislators to come up with solutions to that state’s economic crisis, as long as those solutions do not raise taxes. “Higher taxes will kill Nevada jobs at a time when we are trying to keep existing jobs and create new jobs,” Gibbons said. “There are reports of a list of tax hikes circulating behind closed doors at the Legislature. Legislators should be candid and truthful with Nevada citizens and let the people see that list.” Gibbons also said that as legislators encourage raising taxes, they should think about the people and businesses that will be crippled.

“Since certain legislators apparently are listing taxes they want to raise,” Gibbons said. “I would like to present my list of some of those who will be hurt by their tax hikes:”

• Workers who have been laid off and their families
• Workers enduring pay cuts
• Workers who have had their hours cut
• Seniors on fixed incomes
• All citizens trying to provide for their families while prices on many necessities rise
• Businesses large and small that are already struggling to survive
• Young families scraping together everything they have to pay their mortgage and stay in their homes
• Businesses contemplating moving to Nevada

Governor Gibbons also noted that despite partisan criticism aimed at him by certain legislators, it would be valuable for the Governor’s Office and the Legislature to work together on plans for allocation of federal Stimulus Package funds. “These funds are extremely valuable now as Nevada’s economic crisis continues,” Gibbons said.

Website Created to Track Illinois Job Creation

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has launched Recovery.Illinois.gov, a website created to help ensure that Illinois takes full advantage of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, including a way to track creation of jobs in Illinois.

“Our recovery team is ready to carry out the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act here in Illinois,” said Governor Quinn.

The new website is the portal to Illinois’ implementation of the federal stimulus plan and will:

• Keep track of projects, spending and job creation;
• List state run programs receiving supplemental funding including unemployment benefits, food stamps, vocational rehabilitation and other services;
• Connect to agency sites where proposed project lists will be posted as they become available; and
• Allow Illinoisans to suggest a project that is eligible for federal stimulus funds.

“We are moving as quickly as possible to get projects going so that we can get the people of Illinois back to work,” said Governor Quinn. “This website will help them learn about important programs and track our progress."

Thousands seek child care background checks under new Oklahoma law

In the three months since the mandated child care employment background check law became effective, nearly 4,100 requests have been processed by Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ Oklahoma Child Care Services division.

With the law becoming effective Nov. 1, 2008, the newly formed OCCS Licensing Records Office (LRO) reviewed 4,091 requests for background checks for individuals seeking employment or licensure in Oklahoma’s nearly 5,000 child care facilities. In the 4,091 reviews, 93 applicants did not meet state requirements to work in a child care facility or to be issued a license because of persons living in a home where care would potentially be provided.

Child care facilities must submit an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation criminal background check, along with other documentation for review. The LRO conducts additional searches and returns the results of the reviews to the facilities for appropriate actions. The law stipulates a child care provider must receive the response prior to employing a person or allowing a person to reside in the residential facility where care is provided.

With more than 25,000 people employed in Oklahoma’s Child Care industry, the demand for the requirement has been difficult for the LRO to meet. In addition to those seeking employment or licensure, all adults who reside in a child care home are required to submit a request for a background check.

“We have a responsibility to meet any and all mandates placed into law by the Oklahoma Legislature to protect the children of our state,” said Janice Matthews, OCCS state licensing coordinator.

While the new law has merit, it has not been implemented without challenges. The new law went into effect in Nov. 1, 2008 as an unfunded mandate requiring significant staff time to operate. There have been as many as eight employees working on completing the reviews with a self-imposed turnaround of 24 hours. The LRO is currently staffed full-time by four persons; two were transferred from field duties and two are retired licensing professionals working under contract through a temporary service company.

“We ask the industry’s patience during this transition. The people we have assigned are working at full capacity and, under the circumstances, are doing an outstanding job”, said Matthews. Oklahoma currently has 106 Child Care Licensing Specialists monitoring the state’s 5,000 child care facilities, down from 114 professionals doing this work 18 months ago.

Salary Insights For Job Seekers

PayScale, Inc. has announced the launch of a new career management platform where employees and job seekers will have access to an array of salary insight and career management tools in one place.

As the economy maintains its uncertain footing, the total workforce - including the employed and the recently laid off - are seeking real-time salary information that keeps step with the market, professional development opportunities, job alternatives, and career planning tools. PayScale's new personalized career management platform provides users insight into their career options in one easy-to-access location.

"PayScale provides employees and job seekers with an easy-to-use suite of tools to understand their place in the job market and inform their career decisions," said Joe Giordano, Founder, PayScale, Inc. "We have leveraged our extensive dataset of over 16 million career profiles in conjunction with advanced statistical modeling to provide fresh insight into the job market and potential career options available to workers across the world. This type of information is more relevant now than ever before, as the challenging business climate and recession persist."

Tools in the new PayScale career management platform include:

• Real-time Salary and Benefits: See how your compensation compares to your peers.
• Job Opportunities: Browse job opportunities matched to your position, location and your industry.
• Educational Opportunities: Is more education worth more in your profession?
• Cost of Living Calculator: Find out if working in another city would improve your standard of living.
• GigZig: Glimpse future career paths and their corresponding salaries
• Company Data: See top jobs and typical pay for a current or future employer
• Advice: Read helpful career advice from people like you.
• Anonymous Profiles: See career details about people like you.

Outsourced HR Consulting Helps Recruiting Efforts

Orion Recruiting, a financial industry recruiting firm based in Chicago, has announced a new practice area called Orion Consulting Services. The new offerings provide a range of Human Resource services for Orion's financial and trading clients - from the outsourcing of an entire human resource department to the writing of job descriptions, competitive salary analysis, evaluation of the firm's environment, and even the option to have a recruiter working on site throughout the duration of a particular candidate search.

By expanding its service set to include HR-based consulting, Orion presents a revolutionary type of recruiting that goes beyond simply searching for talent. Andrea Persico, President of Orion Recruiting, states, "We recognize the fact that a great many of our clients don't require full-time Human Resources staff - Orion's new practice area allows those types of firms to utilize our professional, high-quality services on an as-needed basis. We believe the industry has required this for quite some time."

Another facet of this practice area focuses on Orion's ability to setup, from start to finish, a firm's foray into the world of college & campus recruiting.

"Many of the financial firms are looking for top talent right out of school. However, to be effective at this type of recruiting, there's a great deal of planning, marketing and tactical execution that's required to ultimately be successful. This is where we come in - leveraging our specialized industry experience in the campus arena to get our clients high-quality hires. At the end of the day, most firms simply want to focus on trading, yet not neglect the other areas of their business. We feel our outsourced college-recruiting service will go a long way towards helping companies achieve those goals," Persico said.

A Polygraph Is Not A Career Test

Sometimes, employers will ask candidates to take a personality test, such as the Myers-Briggs, to see how they will best work in a team of current employees. Are you an introvert in a team of extroverts? Balance is a good thing. Career testing is often a helpful adjunct step beyond the job interview.

Rarely, however, will employers use a polygraph test for pre-employment screening. In fact, the federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) customarily prevents employers from using polygraph, also called lie detector tests, either for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment.

While there may be certain extreme exemptions, employers generally may not require a lie detector test, nor can they discharge, discipline, or discriminate against an employee or job applicant for refusing to take a test or for exercising other rights under the Act, which was brought forth in 1988. In addition, employers are required to display the EPPA poster in the workplace for their employees.

Seeking an Internship?

Internships are in high demand among college students and graduates. Whether it is spoken or not, having an internship is seen as a necessity. An internship, even if it’s just for a summer, is well worth it, for merely the experience alone. There are some great Web sites out there to help in the searching process.

Internships are thought of as a good stepping stone into the professional work place, if not into a career. In a 2006 New York Times article, "Internships have displaced casual hourly jobs as the more typical summer experience for college students — one that may provide valuable professional contacts or even lead to full-time employment after graduation”.

As a perspective intern, it is important to know major companies to intern with and the number of positions they offer. Experience.com and Vault.com are both internship Web sites that post a list of the top internship companies throughout the United States.

This world has become rather competitive. The same New York Times article stated, “In a survey by Vault.com, which tracks student employment trends, 62 percent of college students planned to do an internship this summer, up from 41 percent two years ago."

Here are some great tips to finding a great internship. First, always plan ahead. It is important to make a resume to show off your skills, and keep adding to it. According to internjobs.com, begin looking for a summer internship around February, a fall internship around August and a spring internship in October.

Second, be familiar with the company you are interviewing with. It will impress a potential employer by demonstrating your interest and knowledge of the company’s affiliations, products, news, etc.

Finally, NETWORK! Staying connected with people from school, work and friends to see what job possibilities are available is key. Today, it’s about the people you know. Also, make sure you know exactly who you will be directing your resume to.

Follow these steps for the right path to an internship.