New Year, New Everything?

New year, a new attitude, new clothes, a new you, a new job???

What’s in store for us in 2011?  We can only hope a changing economy and a turnaround in the job market.  When is a good time to ask for a promotion?  Always.

In this job market, it is understandable that workers perform their duties to the best of their abilities simply to hold onto their jobs.  Most feel fear for their economic well-being.  It is important to remember your job may be your career and for every crash there is a rebound.  What goes up must come down theory.  Positive thinking.  Putting yourself in position for a promotion is important in surviving the recession successfully.  How is this accomplished during these times of fewer jobs and more people looking for employment?  Taking on more responsibilities, developing a new skill or furthering your education, or adding extra work to your existing workload.  These methods make good business sense for both you and the company.  Now, for the important part of this equation; it is imperative that management notices the reason for these methods.  They must be conveyed as promotion bound, so not to appear as an “over achiever”.  This is accomplished by expressing your goals to management in a positive manner.  Divide your skills and abilities into “what I can do now” and “what I can and would like to do when we grow as a company”.  This establishes your loyalty to the company while stating your personal goal, which is ultimately a promotion.

No one really knows for sure what’s in store for us in 2011, however, thinking and being positive while focusing on both your personal career goals and the company will help prepare for the turnaround.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  May your holiday be filled with goodness and your New Year prosperous with good health.  During this holiday season it is difficult for some to face the reality of our economic situation.  The Rock River Valley is seeing unemployment like it has never seen before.  For some, participating in a federally funded job training program is the best solution.  The Dislocated Worker Program has submitted statistics and we thought it might make for an interesting post.

Since 2008, 66% of enrollees in the program found jobs with the average salary earned at $12.70 per hour ($26,416 per year).  Rock Valley College has seen 68% of the enrollees become employed.  The college is the largest of the 29 training providers.  Another popular provider is Eagle Training Services, a truck driving school, which has had 80% of its 45 trainees find jobs.  Participants in this program are required to fill out applications in class, which are then faxed right to the companies.  This gets the process started, and the participant is responsible for following up.

There are people of all trades and professions.  They have seen pilots, factory workers, construction workers, and tradesman enrolled.  Some are on their second careers and trying something totally new.  If you have found yourself unemployed, training assistance might be a solution.

We can only hope 2011 brings employment opportunities, wage increases, tax decreases, and a solution to healthcare for all…. And to all a good night.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Tough Times

Job seekers over the age of 55 have had a more difficult time than most during this recession.  The national unemployment rate for this group is at a historic high and seekers have been ending their job searches.  Despite their years of experience, many older unemployed job seekers fear they may not find work again.

Convincing potential employers that age is not a detouring factor in job performance can be difficult.  It seems, employers fear the older candidate has not kept up with technology, is going to retire soon, or has an unwillingness to learn.  There is no way around this, so the advice here is to “hit it head on”.  Address the issues in the first means of communications, email, cover letter, or phone interview or personal interview.  Explain your technical skills with your current education and experience.  Let them know how many years you feel you have left in you, so to speak, and express your willingness to learn, preferably without the “old dog new tricks” routine.

Along with work skills, the skills needed to perform a job search can be difficult.  The older candidate has probably not had to look for a job recently.  It’s a whole new world.  Hopefully this blog has some helpful information.  Good luck and thanks for visiting.

How much do we really know about the Census?

Did you complete the census?  Most of us did, but do we really know any specifics?  When asked how often it is sent out, and I didn’t know, I looked it up (Wikipedia) and found a few interesting facts that I thought we would share.

The US Constitution requires the Federal Government to conduct a census every ten years.  The last one being in 2001.

The results are used to allocate congressional seats (congressional apportionment), electoral votes, and government program funding.

The census is performed by the United States Census Bureau.  The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 under then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson.  There have been 21 federal censuses since then.

Only the names of the heads of household and a general demographic accounting of the remaining members of the household were recorded for the first 6 censuses (1790-1840).  Beginning in 1850 all members of the household were named.  The first slave schedules were also completed in 1850 with the second, and last, in 1860.  Censuses of the late 19^th century included agricultural and industrial schedules to gauge the productivity of the nation’s economy.  Mortality schedules were taken between 1850 and 1880 to capture a snapshot of life spans and causes of death throughout the country.

The first 9 censuses (1790-1870) were not managed by the Executive branch, but by the Judicial branch.  The US federal court districts assigned US marshals, who hired assistant marshals to conduct the actual enumeration.  Sounds familiar huh?

For more information on the census go to:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census

Happy Tax Time

Let me begin by wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year! It is the end of January and it has been a while since we have posted. It is also the time W2 forms are required to be prepared and sent out. This means it is tax time. Yikes! How time flies. Don’t panic. We have put together a few pointers to get through the dreaded 3 letter word.

First, remember to keep business and personal separate. It is not complicated, it’s simply following the tax code, and it is not worth getting into a dispute over these obvious issues. Speaking of obvious, the second point to mention is to keep good records. This applies all the time and is just as useful when preparing taxes, as it is if you find yourself in a tax controversy. An example of this is charitable donations. Next time you make a donation, write a check. The IRS requires a paper proof of every donation deducted. No kidding. Forms are the IRS’ life. Don’t ignore 1099’s. This information is submitted and matched to your return. These forms also have to be mailed by January 31, as do the W2’s. You can make sure they are correct and you have time to correct them if they are not. Again, keep good records and document all correspondence if this happens. The IRS is not your worst enemy. If you have trouble receiving forms or documents, ask for an extension. They are usually granted automatically. They are also available to assist you with questions or problems.

One of those problems could be finding a tax preparer. We have been lucky. The one referred to us over 5 years ago has proven to be invaluable to our company. We can call and trust him for anything, anytime. Referrals through friends, business associates, and social networking are great ways to obtain professional relationships. The IRS offers the following tips on choosing a tax preparer.  Hope this helps!   And Happy Tax Time!

• A paid preparer must sign the return as required by law.
• Avoid preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers. If your returns are prepared correctly, every preparer should derive substantially similar numbers.
• Beware of a preparer who guarantees results or who bases fees on a percentage of the amount of the refund. A practitioner may not charge a contingent fee (percentage of your refund) for preparing an original tax return.
• Understand that the most reputable preparers will request to see your receipts and will ask you multiple questions to determine your qualifications for expenses, deductions and other items. By doing so they have your best interest in mind and are trying to help you avoid penalties, interest or additional taxes that could result from an IRS examination.
• Choose a preparer you will be able to contact and one who will be responsive to your needs. Ask who will actually prepare the return before engaging services. Avoid firms where your work may be delegated down to someone with less training or some unknown worker. You should know exactly who works with your tax matters at all times and how to contact him or her; after all, you are paying for it. Determine if the preparer is exporting your return to a foreign country for preparation. Foreign countries do not have the same security and privacy laws as the United States nor is there any recourse should your information be compromised as a result of lax or nonexistent privacy procedures.
• Investigate whether the preparer has any questionable history with the Better Business Bureau, the state’s board of accountancy for CPAs, the state’s bar association for attorneys or the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) for enrolled agents or the oversight agency in states that license or register tax preparers.
• Determine if the preparer’s credentials meet your needs or if your state mandates licensing or registration requirements for paid preparers. As of 2008, California and Oregon are the only two states that regulate paid tax preparers. Is he or she an Enrolled Agent, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Tax Attorney? Only attorneys, CPAs and enrolled agents can represent taxpayers before the IRS in all matters including audits, collection actions and appeals. Other return preparers may represent taxpayers only in audits regarding a return that they signed as a preparer.
• Find out if the preparer is affiliated with a professional organization that provides or requires its members to pursue continuing education and holds them accountable to a code of ethics.

Downsizing Woes

Ok, you have been downsized. You can cry (go ahead you’re entitled) and you can burn your employee manual (you won’t be needing it anymore). But there are a few other things to consider. You cannot stop bad things from happening nor can you stop good things from happening.

Trust in yourself. No matter how frightening or sad it is to leave familiarity behind, look forward to what is next with excitement and positive anticipation. Understand that looking for a job IS a job and it requires discipline. Put your resumes out, make phone calls, talk to recruiters, and follow up on leads. You can do this no matter what your attitude for the day is (you will have good and bad). Do this happily, sadly, anxiously, positively, or negatively… but you HAVE to do this.

This space of transition is a gift of time to use wisely. Do you want to stay in the same career? Or is this the time in your life to branch out and change? It is the economy that is broke…. not you.

Opportunities Page Updated

Thank you for visiting. If this is your first visit, welcome…. if you’ve been here before be sure to look at the Opportunities page. Business is doing well. We have added the positions we are currently searching for on this new page and hope to be updating it frequently. This, of course, will depend on our client’s needs. So far the industry that seems to be most hiring is the automotive aftermarket. This follows two sales positions (in the storage industry and the rubber industry) that we have completed recently. As mentioned in a previous post, when sales positions are requested to be filled, we hope the marketplace is making a comeback. If you are looking to make a career move, please submit resume to search@gcyeiser.com. Also, you may leave a comment here, or request a connection on LinkedIn through the link on this blog.

No News is Good News

It has been awhile since we have posted here at Team Yeiser’s Blog. That’s because we really haven’t had anything new to post. Things in the job marketplace are still the same. We are filling sales positions and have added a new page to the blog. Coming soon is our Opportunities Page. It is our continued hope that we will have numerous searches that we will need your assistance with. We will be posting these jobs in order to receive referrals in our comments section and/or resumes submitted for consideration. Watch for these postings on the Opportunities Page soon!

Thanks for visiting.

Get Going… Blog Us!

Hi!  Glad you found us.  Just to get us started…. let’s blog about the economy.  Its tough.  Although are search segment of our businesses is slow, we are concentrating on the other two segments.  Click on our “About” tab and review our brief history.  Let us know your thoughts!  Thanks.