Roughly 30 million Americans continue to fear for their
livelihood as Congress has yet to find a compromise on extending the weekly
supplement to regular unemployment benefits that expired at the end of July. As
part of the CARES Act, the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program
(FPUC), which provided an additional $600 per week to individuals collecting
regular jobless benefits, has proven highly effective in keeping affected
households afloat during the past few months, and it is widely feared that
millions of laid-off workers will no longer be able to pay their bills or serve
their debt without the weekly supplement.
According to data published by the U.S. Department of Labour
on Thursday, more than 30 million Americans received unemployment benefits in
the week ended July 18, 16.7 million through regular state programs and another
13 million through the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which
is available to individuals who are self-employed or who otherwise would not
qualify for regular unemployment compensation. As the majority of those 30+
million previously qualified for the weekly $600 bonus, economists are warning
that consumer spending could fall off a cliff in case Congress fails to agree
on an adequate follow-up aid package.
Even though progress has been made in narrowing the gender gap in U.S. workplaces, the pay gap remains much more pronounced than commonly assumed. In late 2018, the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research said that women are earning just 49 cents to the typical man’s dollar which is much less than the 80 cents normally reported. Some organizations are bucking the gender discrimination trend, however, something which prompted Statista and Forbes to team up to identify America’s Best Employers for Women.
The 2020 list was compiled by surveying over 75,000 U.S. employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations with 45,000 women included in the sample. Four criteria were involved in the evaluation – direct recommendations in terms of general work topics, direct recommendations relevant for women, indirect recommendations as well as diversity levels among top executives or the board. The 300 companies receiving the highest total scores were awarded as the Best Employers for Women 2020. It is also important to mention that the research was conducted during March and April 2020, when Covid-19 was spreading across the country and the responses reflect employee’s feelings just before the crisis really took hold.
This year, sporting goods retailer REI jumped 20 places to take top spot with a score of 87.6. The company states that it is devoted to the promotion of diversity, equality and inclusion with women making up 38 percent of its board of directors, half its senior leadership and 45 percent of its total workforce. Additionally, REI has been working over the past three years to dissolve gender labels in outdoor gear and it has funded inclusion efforts, donating $2.5 million to 80 organizations. Unilever comes second in this year’s ranking with 87.93 while beauty chain Ultra Beauty rounds off the top-three with 85.52. You can browse the full list on Forbes here.
During a passionate debate in the Resumeble workshop, career development expert Ava Williams presented information proving that now, both during and post COVID 19 is the best time to find a job. Companies are actually crying out for workers, meanwhile people are simply not trying to get a job because they think it is a fool’s errand. Getting a job right now is not only easier than you think, it is also a smart move.
Use Your Free Time Effectively
To use your time effectively and earn some extra
cash while you search for a full-time job/career move, you could sign up to
different agencies who are screaming for people to work in warehouses, stores,
and on farms. If you show the company that you are willing to go into work when
there is a crisis then they might end up giving you a full-time job once the
Covid-19 pandemic is under control.
You could also use this time to finally clean out
the attic/ garage, for one you will be able to make more space, and two you
will be able to search for anything that you don’t have any use for, and sell
it on Facebook or on eBay.
However, you might also use this time on
self-improvement or increasing your job skills. You can consider taking an
online course that relates to your job or in an area that will enhance your
resume. With the limitations posed by lockdowns and social distancing, many
more opportunities have become available online.
Update Your Resume
By updating your resume, you will be able to inform
recruiters or companies what you did during the Covid pandemic, and what
skills, and strengths you have gained during the time of the outbreak.
If you get stuck, and you don’t know how it is supposed to look or how many
pages you should have when creating a resume, you could contact a resume
writing service, recruitment agency, or a job center and they will gladly help
you get started.
Look at what other people have written in their
resume and see if you can steal a few points. Many times, people forget to put
things in their resume because their experience didn’t occur to them as
something of note. They may have forgotten their experience with kids, or
animals, or cooking, or even their experience with heavy machinery. Some people
even forget to mention that they have a driving license, or a completely clean
criminal record.
Prepare For an Online Interview
Practice your tone of voice, your diction, and your
pronunciation. Record yourself and see how you look and sound. If you do not
like the sound of your voice on camera, then learn to talk more slowly, and you
will discover that you sound far better.
Practice your replies to the sort of questions the
online interviewer is going to ask you. Think up your replies to these
questions and rehearse them. This will enable you to answer the questions
quickly and easily, and it will seem like you are very confident (whereas you
are actually very well prepared).
Conclusion – What To Do Next
Now is the time for action. Do not waste the time
that the lockdown and Covid-19 has presented, especially since we cannot be
sure if there will be another global resurgence of this disease. Instead, take
action by using your free time effectively, by updating your resume, and by
working on your interview skills.
With this being the ultimate solution to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are now highly encouraging remote working environments. But, it’s also true that “working from home” is not an easy job. When you have your kids and family around, no maids coming in, and your email loaded with urgent work messages amidst loaded household chores, work from home seems nearly an impossible task.
But at this point in time, where your business needs more efficient employees at toes, it’s no time to go down at work or get distracted. Although balancing your work time and home time might seem a bit challenging, it is not impossible if you know how to do it right. Here are some simple yet effective tips to help you work better, stay productive, and at the same time spend quality family time.
When traditional methods used to stimulate the economy don’t work, what do governments do?
Quantitive easing, defined as “a government monetary policy occasionally used to increase the money supply by buying government securities or other securities from the market,” is often used to increase the money supply and promote lending and liquidity. Fan or foe, it’s an unconventional monetary policy used during deep recessions.
Writing a CV or Resume is never easy and avoiding classic mistakes will help you to progress your job search. Here are some real life examples of mistakes people made. When is the last time you checked your CV? Did you ask someone to proofread it? Choose someone who is able to give you honest feedback and ask them to proofread it in order to perfect your CV.
On the hunt for a great IT job? Narrow your search with this informative infographic. blog.modis.com crunched the numbers to find the top 12 cities for finding an IT job. Check out the list and see what makes these cities so great for IT professionals like you.
Company HQ is in Nowheresville, USA. But that incredibly talented, can’t-live-without-’em prospective employee isn’t. Now more than ever, that isn’t a problem. But the new arrangement also presents a few challenges. How do you train an employee you’ve never met? How can you be sure they’re doing work that’s on par with what your in-house team is doing? Consider these tips created in this infographic with Mindflash.
