Screwed: 700 at DST Systems Inc.

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 1,488

In Kansas City, DST Systems Inc. is expected to lay off 700 employees, 7 percent of the company workforce… Gov. Gibbons of Nevada is proposing a budget plan that will include 300 layoffs… In the metro Atlanta area, CompuCredit Corp. has terminated 200 positions… Miami’s AeroThrust Corp. has announced 129 layoffs, effective April 1… Michigan’s Steelcase furniture maker has laid off 65 workers, claiming that another 85 cuts are possible… The Mamaroneck School District is considering to lay off 54 employees by next year…Omaha-based Infogroup has laid off 40 employees this week… Hazleton, PA. is warned to expect an undeclared number of municipal layoffs this coming May…

The Starbucks Guide to Job Status

Roman bath houses, or thermae, were massive public spheres (the Baths of Diocletian covered almost one and a half million square feet) that served as public gathering spots for every cross-section of society. Today, we have Starbucks.

CFO’s, soccer moms, drifters, aspiring musicians and more aspiring musicians all wait on line together. And then there’s you, a worker type. You could be unemployed, passing yourself off as a 9-to-5er. Or, you’re collecting a fancy salary but you’d like to pretend you’re one of the unwashed—you know, for kicks. You know which one you are, but can your co-caffeinators tell? It’s all right there in your order.

Espresso, Cream, No Sugar, to go-

You are gainfully employed. Usually you would be at work now, but you had to take a trip to the bank to deposit all of those paychecks and were in the area (of course you were). Plus, some extra caffeine will give that extra boost you need to pump out the Ralston account and serve as a responsible and contributing member of the work force. Drink up, you deserved it!

Starbucks Doubleshot on Ice, with an extra Espresso shot, to go-

You are painfully employed. No one should need that much caffeine. Yes, I’ve heard Voltaire drank between 20 and 30 cups a day, but you are not in the process of writing Dictionnaire Philosophique…

2009 Was a Big Year for Start-Ups

Isn’t it nice to be validated? For more than a year, we’ve been talking about all the new businesses that would be started as a result of the recession. We knew there were people who felt liberated by being laid off or by quitting miserable jobs, and others who were launching start-ups because they didn’t see any job openings out there.

According to a new survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, 8.6 percent of unemployed managers and executives started started businesses last year, a four-year high.

“The start-up rate might have been even higher if banks had loosened their lending standards,” pointed out John Challenger, the company’s CEO…

Create a Personal Branding Statement

Whether you get to a hiring manager by referral, through a recruiter or a job board, today’s candidate needs to make a distinctive impression quickly. The traditional resume form does a poor job of quickly, clearly, and succinctly telling the reader why they should spend more time on this resume.

Since the average time spent reviewing a resume is 15 seconds or less, a job seeker needs to quickly convince the reader to stick around. A well crafted personal branding statement tells the hiring manager three extremely important things in a well crafted, concise single line. The following questions and explanations will help you craft the right statement for you:

What does the candidate want?

In a Fishing resume the candidate has to give a generic title, but can make it specific for a response resume. It should be a single title, rather than a range, or something so broad as just Executive, or manager. Listing an industry specialization can help make it more specific…

5 Ways to Stay Focused at Work

Forget the days of limitless overtime compensation and relaxing hours spent chit chatting with coworkers at the office.

Whereas in the pre-recession years, it may have been commonplace for employees to take extended lunches and bill their companies for the overtime hours it took to complete the day’s assignments, more and more cost-conscious companies are now shutting down requests for overtime compensation and laying off staff—effectively telling the employees who remain to get the same amount of work done with less help and in less time.

What’s an overworked office dweller to do? You could work more hours, even though you’re not getting paid. Refuse to do the extra work that’s been piling up, and risk getting fired. Or simply become more productive with the eight hours a day you’re in the office…

Why You Should Sell Yourself Short

It used to be called an Elevator Pitch.

In this social media age, it’s known as a Twitter resume. And it’s still a potentially powerful asset.

I don’t mean an actual tweetable resume–despite what some experts advise, it’s hard to believe that people are getting work that way. I mean a distilled version of your story. What you’re about in a powerful sentence.

It can get the attention of someone you’re meeting for five minutes. It makes you memorable. And the process of getting to that summary forces you to figure out what you really have to offer.

Make lists. Boil them down. Think in vivid, active terms..

Screwed: 2,500 at Xerox

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 4,145

Xerox is planning 2,500 worldwide job cuts this year… Beginning Feb.5, 700 workers in Wayne County, MI will be given furlough every Friday… Another 585 layoffs lie in the future of the Lloyds Banking Group… Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, TN will be temporarily laying off 150 employees… In preparation for budget cuts, the Portland School District considers serving approximately 100 teachers with layoff notices…

Screwed: 1,450 in Iowa

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 2,701

The closing of a hog plant in Iowa owned by Smithfield Foods will mean the loss of 1,450 jobs. … Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS plans to lay off 400 workers worldwide. … Some 338 layoffs are rolling out across the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority, beginning this week. … Sitel will cut 250 workers at its Starkville, Miss., location. … Stanley Furniture Co. in Martinsville, Va., plans to lay off 200 employees. … One-third of its staff, about 50 employees, will be let go from Honolulu department store Shirokiya. … Luzerne County, Penn., will lay off 13 employees. … The Commerical Appeal newspaper in Memphis, Tenn., will cut 9 positions. …

Screwed: 5,700 at Peugeot Citroen

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 8,789

European car maker Peugeot Citroen has cut 5,700 French jobs… Finnish ship engine maker Wartsila Corp. plans to lay off 1,400 employees world-wide… 800 teachers of the Vancouver School Board are receiving warning letters which prepare them for the possibility of layoffs… Florida’s Broward School District will eliminate 475 jobs unless a budget cut is made… Maryland Gov. O’Malley’s proposed budget includes the elimination 0f 202 positions, 158 of which are vacant… The proposed Kansas City budget for 2010-11 includes 187 job cuts, 107 of which are vacant positions… The Charlotte Observer is laying off 25 staff in response to declining revenue…

Screwed: 4,000 at Philippine Airlines

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 4,589

Philippine Airlines plans to lay off 4,000 workers to avoid bankruptcy. … In Turkey, Izmir Demir Celik Sanayi AS will cut 177 employees. … As part of a restructuring plan, Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, Calif., will lay off 120 workers. … The Moraine Berry Co. in Dayton, Oh., will see 105 employees let go as a result of a focus on digital operations. … Douglas Battery Manufacturing will cut 90 workers with the sale of its industrial battery unit in North Carolina. .. Meredith Corporation cut 45 employees. … Boeing laid off 36 employees in its NASA Kennedy Space Center location. … The Reno, Nev., fire department issued 16 layoffs on Friday. … Eight to 10 employees are expected to be laid off this week by the city of Juneau, Alaska. ..Up to 450 employees could be cut from the Des Moines school system, including 300 teachers, depending on the budget. …