In April, Washington State had 47,026 unemployed workers who had exhausted their unemployment benefits.
Unemployment benefits normally last 26 weeks. When the regular benefits are exhausted, extensions have been available. Some unemployed people have drilled through extended benies and emergency compensation that carried them up to 99 weeks.
To discover what happened on week 100, the state conducted a survey. The goal was to understand barriers job-seekers encountered, review programs and services the unemployed used to look for work, and find out where they landed in the spectrum of the pursuit of a job.
The survey used a point-in-time sample representing all recent exhaustees and was conducted in support of the “Retooling Washington” initiative. This initiative is an effort of the workforce-development system to identify ways to make a difference, and do that quickly.
Basically, Retooling Washington asks two questions:
1) How do we work together to help the unemployed who need to have their skills retooled for jobs now and in the future?
2) How do we work together to respond to needs of employers when they come to us to help them have the workforce they need now and in the future?
Acording to the report, “Only about 25 percent of those who responded to the survey had found work. Most of these said they used online resources and networking to find their jobs.”
A quarter of the job seekers looked online. Most of the online seekers found a job.
Having been the interviewer for open positions too many times to count, I was always impressed with the candidate who did their research, knew what our company was about, and could offer compelling information that would illustrate whey they were the best candidate for the job.
Erin Michael Vondrak illustrated her desire for a job by really using illustrations.
I was raised in southern California. In 2007, I graduated from the University of Redlands with honors in Photography and a Bachelor’s degree in Design in Various Platforms of Media. I have worked for Apple since 2007. I enjoy drawing, tattooing, doing stupid animations in Flash, and making people laugh. I love animals, computers, meeting new people, and exploring the world around me. I currently reside in Seattle.
The video tells us she is desperate to leave Apple and work for the Bellevue, Washington entertainment software and technology company Valve.
I hadn't heard of Valve before. They sound like they might be worth investing the time Vondrak has shouldered to compose an original song and create hundreds of illustrations to populate a YouTube job plea. According to Valve's website they have an incredible "98% retention rate." I'd like to know what makes it so high, and I'll confess, I'm a little curious about the two percent who don't make it.
If you're interested in a job at Valve, visit their jobs page, which states, "We're always hiring for all positions. Seriously."
Personally, I think Vondrak should be on their marketing team. Her video has been shown 89,401 times. That is an incredible amount of PR in three days
I learned about this first, on Geek Wire, "an independent technology news site and online community based in Seattle, Wash. — covering the people, companies and innovations emerging from and impacting the Pacific Northwest."
It's nice to know there are other people who love Washington State as much as I do.
What's the craziest thing you did to go after a new job?
There is something genius about the +1 concept. The first time I saw '+1' was infront of the letters 'RT' on Twitter. It took me a moment to understand it meant 'I agree.' At that juncture in time, I surmised it was the lazy man's way to comment, and assumed the man responding thusly must be pressed for time, and likely all thumbs on a smartphone with a teeny screenpad.
I, of course, took more care with my RT's, laboring over witty responses to attach myself to good content and make us both memorable.
But why not respond like lightning and electrify good ideas?
Why not, indeed, and Google now offers us that opportunity in a full and official way by using the +1 button. By clicking +1, we concur. We vote. We promote content to higher planes.
When we click the +1, we also thrust ourselves into those higher planes, exposing more of ourselves, and not just to our Twitter followers, but in a real dynamic way that can be tracked and followed (by Google), and we share with even more people who we are.
Do you want to more about me? Maybe not, but Google does. And the more Google knows about me, the better opportunity Google will have to correctly identify my psychographic profile. As a marketer, I am keenly aware that serving up relevant advertising that consumers will respond to in a meaningful way (read: spend money), has great value.
Yes, Google is profiling me and using my interaction with you to know you, and to market to both of us.
Is this a good thing?
It's a genius thing.
If you own a search engine and you create the *bling* that makes the engine more interactive, and from there the engine tugs users through a more meaningful maze of the Internet, the '+1 Drazzle' (razzle-dazzle yet to be defined as positive or negative) is genius.
I like smart people.
I like Google.
The only thing that would make Google better for me would be if they were located in Washington State, because I am pro everything good for the local economy. Those things will get my +1's.
"This is not a bridge project," began the Bridging the Gapsevent. "This is a light rail project with some other things thrown in for political cover."
Saturday, the first sunny day of the season, an eager, albeit light, audience ambled into the auditorium at LifePoint Church. When attendees settled into their seats, the event launched with a non-edited approach to bridges, tolls, politicians, government entities and vendors.
Tri-Met was held up to scrutiny using Tom Sawyer-esque comparisons. Their participation was described as an enterprising boy chomping on a crunchy apple, while everyone else paints the fence, i.e., Tri-Met intends to pay for nothing on this project, including pieces planned for the their side of the border. Yes, Washington State's responsibility includes funding the connecting pieces inside Oregon. The project's funding was described as 'novel.'
Light rail received a bashing. Tom Hann, from We The People, noted, "As long as rail is part of it, it is never going to be a cost effective alternative." He raised up other options: update and repair the I-5 bridge, consider third, fourth and even fifth bridges. Additional river crossing points were pointed to as making sense for the long term. "They incorporate redundancy into a system" that will need more than two options when earthquakes occur.
Tolls were uncharacteristically embraced. "Everywhere else in the economy user fees--pay as you go--is the way the economy works." Speakers also were quick to note, that tolls only makes sense, and are only beneficial to consumers, when consumers have choices.
The audience clapped at the video “CRC: Project cost comparison,” featuring third bridge proponent David Madore. Madore's final video question, "Is the CRC Project sky high or what?" elicited audience chuckles.
Madore's second visual, a virtual rendering of a proposed 192nd Avenue Bridge, gave him the opportunity to dispel the anti-bridge label that the media has pegged him with. “I am for a 192nd Ave Bridge," he stated. He encouraged the audience to take action. "The solution is for us to get engaged. We cannot leave it to those who want to come in and only sell services. We are the customers. We need to participate in the solution." His solution proposed that private industry be tapped to build bridges, saying they build "much more effectively than government."
Joe Cortright, known for the Cortright report, talked about the cost of the project. "Closer to $10 Billion," and not the $3.8 to $3.9 Billion that’s been widely discussed. "The initial price, $3.9 Billion, is only realistic if you could presumably walk in and buy the bridge, or pay for it outright." His PowerPoint showed the CRC project is predicated on very large borrowing, on tolls, surcharges, fees to operate light rail, and the cost to correct critical choke points inside Oregon, such as those at the Rose Quarter.
A project that involves extreme complexity and must pass through the political hands of eight government agencies was boiled down to its simplest terms during an animated feature (embedded above). Children's voices combined with flying seagulls gave a birds eye view of the Columbia River and the two current bridges. The description of the light rail train traveling no faster than the cars stuck in track erupted in chuckles and claps from the audience.
While a sunny day burst with warmth and frenzied activity outside, a half dozen more speakers and one country singer engaged the group that sat in the dark auditorium. The not to be missed moment, was the numbers person. The longest spontaneous applause and loudest hoots came during the forensic auditor's presentation.
When was the last time an accountant made you want to stand up and clap?
Video of the event will be available mid-week on couv.com.
Editors Note: The author is employed at couv.com, a corporation owned by David Madore.
For a generation taught to demand privacy from the companies it transacts business with, Boomers have readily abandoned that concept and joined Gen Xers and Gen Y in a very vibrant, public information sharing performance. Transparency is touted as the answer to what ails us and everyone is encouraged to step out on the information dance floor and boogie.
With each rotation of the mirrored information globe the dance hall twitters with life and we attempt to catch the flickers and make sense of them. In one ear interesting voices chirp in 140 characters, in another social media presentations sing. Associates are LinkedIN, family and friends are Facebooked, and everyone wants to know where and when via Plancast, Foursquare or Gowalla, and we blog all about it.
We share a lot, but most of it is lost in the mayhem.
Garnering salient information about the people who are important to us, especially in business, can be as illusive and dazzling as chasing the mirrored reflections of the disco ball. Gist, a Washington State corporation founded by T. A. McCann, created software for "relationship-centric professionals" to address our need to sort and prioritize the dazzling information mayhem.
For its unique, relationship deepening, innovation, Gist is my choice for 360 Biz of the Month.
I was introduced to Gist by a fellow Twitter-mate turned real-life friend, Ed Borasky (@znmeb). Boraksy is geekedIN and has enough online influence to beta test new products. He received a first round Googlewave invite and tossed one my way before I barely knew what a wave was. Right on the heels of Googlewave Borasky gifted me with Gist.
I like being among the first to know things and seeing the big picture puzzle in a comprehensible map. Gist provides me with all that and a scorecard. My relationship with the people and businesses in my database are weighted or scored based on a proprietary algorithm. A yellow or red alert tells me when too much time has passed between interactions with my inner circle. A detail screen offers an in-depth look of who our shared contacts are, and constant information monitoring keeps me abreast of their blog posts and news mentions.
Gist integrates inside Outlook, Salesforce, and the iPhone, and allows me to focus on my contacts one at a time—in order of their importance to me.
It's most valuable asset is that it saves me time. Instead of me plowing through a sporadic stream of Twitter submissions to find the person of the hour I want to connect with, then tracking down the latest piece of news on them, or signing up for constant Google alerts, Gist allows me to review that individual’s entire online interactions and news spotlights in a date sort that includes a company profile from Dow Jones Business & Reltationship Intelligence. Gist creates a clear portrait, a complete dossier of my contact, and reduces the time needed to pull the varied pieces together to the time elapse of a log-in. The information can be browsed lightly or explored deeply by following provided links.
Gist can be used as a brand monitoring tool, too. I had no intention of using it for this, but it unearthed a dozen copyright infringements for the company that employs me.
Because I have a native bias of Washington State businesses, I took the time to reply to the emails Gist sent asking for feedback. As a result, I connected with Greg Meyer, Customer Experience Manager. He was easily coerced into doling out a generous number of Gist invites for my network. Don’t be shy. Gist is ready for more people to test its beta product. And it’s offered free to my blog readers.
Congratulations Gist and T.A. McCann for earning 360 Biz of the Month for January 2010 status. I was too enthusiastic about your product to hold this post until after the first of the year. Wishing you much success in product development.
In April, Washington State had 47,026 unemployed workers who had exhausted their unemployment benefits.
