Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
NATION
Pitfalls to avoid in job interviews
Executives are habitually on the hunt for greener career pastures, just like the rest of us. But at the upper echelons of corporate recruitment and hiring, there are some unique mistakes this group can make, according to Connecticut-based career network firm ExecuNet Inc.Three common blunders:
» Interviewing without adequate insight.
This doesn't just mean doing some research on a potential employer before the interviews -- we all need to do that. Instead, learn about its problems and obstacles to its business strategy, research its competitors and past efforts, formulate potential solutions. Demonstrating uncommon knowledge about a potential employer or its competitors will help distinguish you from other candidates, said Dave Opton, ExecuNet's CEO.
» Spending the bulk of your search online.
This is akin to having all your eggs in a single basket. A successful job hunt requires several approaches: social networking, professional organizations, focused outreach to particular companies and their recruiters, plus the Internet, Opton said.
» Overlooking the value of networking.
Professional relationships tend to be the common thread through business transactions, and this is true also for landing new positions. According to a recent ExecuNet survey, 41 percent of executives secured their most recent job through networking and 26 percent were recruited by a search firm.
Isles still lead nation in gas prices
LOS ANGELES » Hawaii gas prices remain the highest in the United States as the nationwide average jumped more than 5 cents a gallon in the past two weeks, largely because of problems related to Hurricane Ivan, an industry analyst said yesterday.For Sept. 10 through Friday, the combined national average for all grades of gas hit $1.94 a gallon, up about 5 cents from the previous two weeks.
"Most of this is hurricane-related," said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey.
Honolulu had the highest gas prices in the nation at $2.26 for self-serve regular.
Unemployment rate favors Bush
Twelve years ago, "It's the economy, stupid" was added to the political lexicon, with conventional wisdom holding that an incumbent president had better keep a close eye on economic figures lest he be handed a pink slip.And unemployment figures have long held the top spot when it comes to our personal assessments of how the U.S. economy -- not to mention our own finances -- is doing.
To that end, the Chicago research and outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. delved into historical unemployment data for correlation with presidential election outcomes.
With some exceptions, in 10 of the last 14 presidential elections, if the unemployment rate averaged lower than 5.5 percent or below during the three months before the election, the incumbent party was retained.
When President Clinton defeated the first President Bush, unemployment averaged 7.5 percent in the August-October period. It was then 5.1 percent in that duration when Clinton ran for re-election.
Notably, this factoid didn't hold true when Kennedy defeated Nixon, and when George W. Bush wrested the White House from Democrats in 2000. Unemployment was 4 percent then.
And now? The August unemployment rate was 5.4 percent.
Many give up on reward programs
Are you an avid collector of airline miles, bank card "points" or retail store credits? Have you ever realized anything from that exercise?Most people who leave such loyalty/rewards programs (70 percent) say they do so because it takes too long to build their accounts, according to a recent survey.
And in jolting news for marketing departments nationwide, that figure jumps to nearly 80 percent for those ages 18 to 24, that young and coveted consumer demographic.
The results are from 1,047 random interviews by Maritz Loyalty Marketing, part of St. Louis-based Maritz Inc.
