Housing and jobs

Recently, I heard this statement made by a jobseeker” I need a job, what does housing have to do with me getting a job?’ The short answer to that question is-a lot! In an economy such as ours everything is somewhat related to job demand and housing plays a crucial role.

To explain, there are three main ways in which housing demand affects job creation. The first is directly though the demand for individuals in the construction trade. In Volusia County, at its peak, 15,000 individuals or 6.1% of our workforce were employed in the housing industry. Today 8,100, that is 3.2% of our local economy is directly affected by housing. These numbers become even more staggering when we look to our sister county to the north. Flagler County’s slice of the housing pie at its peak was 2,400 or 8%, today it is 890 or 2.7%.

The second way that housing affects jobs is through a slightly more complex chain. This chain is based on the fact that a significant amount of our consumption is based on the value that is encased in our homes.

This value was utilized in a number of ways. The main method that we all read and hear about, but struggle to understand, is through financial engineering. This is when those values associated with our homes, or better yet the mortgages attached to the homes themselves were pooled, bundled, and then sold at a discount to investors nationwide and worldwide. These products were structured many different ways, but the main products involved selling slices of our mortgage payments called tranches to investors. These products were viewed as fairly safe investments and as a result they sold like hotcakes. This product in a nutshell is the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) also called CMOs (Collateralized Mortgage Obligations) or Mortgage Backed Certificates (MBC) that we have read some much about in the past 2-3 years. These financial products helped facilitate the rise in the perceived value of homes, drove paper profits, and fueled consumption and demand. Thus the demand for employment followed.

The third and no less important way is through value extraction of your home in the form of a loan to fuel your personal consumption. That personal consumption drives demand, which then drives the need for production of goods and services to meet this demand. This is the same drive that forces an employer to place an ad on EFM, Monster, Career Builder, or your local newspaper’s want ads to hire you the jobseeker.

As is obvious, both processes are prone to the opposite effect when the reverse occurs. This is what we had experienced in the past 2-3 years. This is not to say that an economy cannot grow and create jobs without this process occurring, but at this current time, the way our economy is structured, at the very least we will need to see some stabilization in the housing market before we would expect significant consistent improvement on the jobs front.

Employ Florida

Employ Florida Marketplace (EFM) is still an awesome place to look for job openings! Now EFM is like many other things in life, you get from it what you put into it. Take the time post your resume and to enter all of your skills. Remember not only can you use it to look for a job but employers can use it to find you!

We even have a workshop that you can attend if you need help with this, Take Control of Your Job Search. Days and times for your area can be found on our webite onestops.com.

Below are some of the jobs I found on EFM today.

Manager of Benefits and Wellness $50K
Contract Administrator $38K to $63K
Substance Abuse Counselor $30.00 per hour
Financial Paralegal $50K
Field Mechanic $22.00 per hour
Technical Manager $80K

This is just a tiny sample of jobs that have posted by our preferred employers. Do a search on EFM for yourself. I think you will be surpised at what you find!

Top 5 Tricks of Identity Thieves

Do most people really know how they are generally perceived by others?

By: Lori Stone, APR
Director of Business Operations & Communications
Center for Business Excellence

“Just for a moment, I was back at school and felt that old, familiar pain…” Do you ever have something happen that brings you back to that insecure place we all have deep inside? You know the feeling – like when you had a stream of toilet paper stuck on your shoe trailing behind as you made your oblivious way down a crowded high school hallway.

Or, maybe, it was the time a high school science teacher strongly suggested to you in front of your classmates (all boys) that you really should be down the hall in Home Ec learning how to bake cookies instead of the rationale behind Newton’s laws of motion. True story.

Well, I had that feeling a few weeks ago during a meeting. A gentleman entered the room, shook every man’s hand and walked right past me like I was vapor.

Perhaps, he was tired. Maybe, he was in a bad mood. Better yet, my suit may have blended in with the wallpaper and he couldn’t detect me.

Nonetheless, his dismissive behavior made me feel like shouting out, “Hey Mister, I can’t believe it’s 2010 and that just actually happened! Hello, my name is Lori Stone, someone YOU (yes, you) should know!”

Of course, I didn’t do that. My point is, his actions created my perception which became my reality in that moment. And yes, I admit, I stewed over it longer than I should have.

So, I did a little research and found an interesting exercise to help us put our best foot forward when interacting with others. I hope you find it useful:

http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?NewsEntityId=190566

Overcoming Defeat

If you are looking for work and have not been successful you could probably describe the 50 different ways you have been turned down for a job. "You are over qualified." "You don't have enough experience in this field." "We have already filled that position." And so on. You may have come to think that there is no way a great job is going to happen to you. Don't get defeated, it will happen. Here are a few situations where rejection didn't end in defeat:

• Babe Ruth is remembered as the “Home Run King.” He was also the “Strike-Out Champion,” having failed at bat 1,330 times, more than any other player in the major leagues at that time.
• In 1962, an executive of Decca Records made the following statement about a singing group: “We don’t like their sound. Besides, groups playing guitars are on the way out anyway.” He was talking about the Beatles.
• Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, co-authors of the world renowned Chicken Soup for the Soul® book series, were turned down by 33 of New York's biggest publishing houses in the first month of their efforts to promote their labor of love! They heard, "Anthologies don't sell." "We don't think there is a market for this book." "We just don't get it." "The book is too positive." "It's not topical enough." All totaled, they were rejected by 140 publishers. To top it off, their agent said, "I can't sell this book - I'm giving it back to you guys." They finally found someone willing to take a risk on their project, Peter Vegso, President of Health Communications, Inc. The first books were published on June 28, 1993, and had become a Christmas favorite by the end of December. Word of mouth soon led to a groundswell of popularity. To meet the demand, the publisher had to subcontract printing. With over 60 million copies sold to date, 48 titles in print in the United States and translations in over 30 languages, Chicken Soup for the Soul® has made international publishing history. At one time or another there have been at least eight Chicken Soup for the Soul® titles simultaneously in the top fifty on the USA Today best-selling books list. Jack and Mark hold the record in The Guinness Book of World Records for having the most books on the New York Times bestseller list at one time; seven books on May 24, 1998.

It may seem that you have heard "no" too often and will never get a "yes", but keep your faith. It will come and soon you can add your name to this list.

For more inspirational stories you can go to:

http://www.achievemax.com/

Robin Ryan Rocks!

60 Seconds and You're Hired! is in my opinion the best book on interviewing that has ever been written. Everyone I have recommended this book has had nothing but great things to say about it . You can purchase it from amazon.com for less that $4.00 or if you e-mail me at velmalowe@cbe-fvc.org I will let you borrow one of my copies. Just promise me you will bring it back!

Also, you can visit her website daily for her job search tip of the day!

Robin Ryan's website

7 Spending Cuts You Might Not Even Notice

Even those who are employed can benefit from cutting costs. No matter how much money we make, it never seems to be enough. Click here to read an article with seven ideas on cutting costs.