For the new year, I wanted to revisit some of my blog postings from the past 12 months and add additional comments.  Here we go:

-The number 1 employment tip for job seekers is…FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.   The unemployed don’t get it and if you do…you can increase your chances landing a job.

-I encouraged people to shop at  Bashas’ (local Arizona grocer)even if it cost you a little more.  http://momentumstaffing.wordpress.com/?s=bashas .  However…as a creditor in the bankrupcy proceedings, I have not heard one thing from them….not even a phone call.  It’s funny but when big business uses the court system for debt relief , its called ‘good business’.  When Joe/Jill Sixpack can’t pay his/her bills and goes into BK…they are called deadbeats.  Just something to ponder.

-I thought construction and transportation industries would be humming right now. http://momentumstaffing.wordpress.com/?s=construction.  Due to the stimulus package.  WRONG on that one.  Maybe in a year.

-Large banks, credit card companies, brokerage firms all took money from you the Taxpayer and then told you to ‘pound sand’ when you needed help with your bills.  This has not changed and now the propped up companies are booking profits faster than a  ’Girls gone Wild’ video.

-Desperate job seekers need to hold their anger tantrums at the interview. No one owes you a job and being a jerk will not help your situation, only hurt it.

- Selling your gold through the mail and at mall kiosks is still a dumb idea. http://momentumstaffing.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/beware-of-new-investment-scams/ . 

- My most read blog post is the one I wrote about Jim Cramer on CNBC. http://momentumstaffing.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/an-investment-website-you-can-do-without/ .  I have stopped watching CNBC for this reason and you should also.  Just look at his record and the bonehead calls.  Enough said.

-Don’t use animal urine to pass a drug screen.  By the way…that is gross and I have nightmares on how you collected it.  Yea I didn’t blog about it but It just happened again the other day.

Hope you all have a great New Year.  Please come back and visit in 2010!

This is a post I put on AZ central .com.  Re: article in the paper yesterday. Here is the link.

http://tinyurl.com/yh6thbh

I think the rules of investing have changed forever.  Everything I learned in the investment business and in school is not true.  Most individuals don’t realize that the SEC and the alphabet soup regulators only care about the minutia of the investment business, not the real problems that exist…i.e. Madoff.   The big boys just get a government bailout, or use the court system to circumvent paying the price of bad management.  The problem with the current diversification strategy is almost everything went down in unison, leaving Joe Six-pack out in the cold, 4 or 5 years from retirement.  Market timing is even a bigger joke since this strategy can’t beat the S & P 500 consistently.   Not to mention, the fees these jokers make.  The trading strategies currently being used by the bailout companies are fueling the market right now, a reward for being stupid the last 10 years. The only way you will change the system is to put these guys in the general population of Federal prison and allow the firms to go broke.  Just like it happens in the real world.

I just got back from a week off and I have already had my fill of  job search blunders for the day.  The lowlights:

1- if you are sending a resume, please attach it.  It works better that way

2- If you use a cell phone as your contact number..DON’T..have your peeps answer and yell into the phone or call you by your nickname: BOXHEAD,  take the call in the bathroom,  answer when you just got up from bed, have ‘copkiller’ or some other 3 minute rap song as a ring back,  have your girlfriend/wife assume it’s the ‘other women’  calling and give my girls the 3rd degree.

3- Use wierd fonts that cause old people like me a headache when reading your resume.

4- avoid facial tattoos like swastikas (YES), tear drops, wierd cryptic numbers or drawings.

5-Spell check your emails/resume

I know you are laughing but this happens every day…to people from all backgrounds. If you are not getting any call backs for jobs…this may be the reason

Frankly, I don’t have a clue.  What I do know is:

-Consumers are not spending and economic production is trying to balance demand vs. supply

-If you are a retailer and you are not discounting…you will die.  I went to Kohl’s the other nite and it was packed.  Everything  was on sale.

-The health care deal will hurt small business the most…and will not solve the problem of the uninsured.

-The bottom lines on our major corporations look better due to cost cutting and productivity gains…not on real top-line growth.  Increasing income from cost reductions are not going to help this year.

-Wall Street is still playing games with YOUR money.  Making all the profits from brokerage/trading operations…Simply:  Math Geeks back on the ‘roids’

- Our workforce is not prepared for this type of job market and making poverty comfortable should not be the Government’s main job.

How can the market double since March in this environment?  I would like to hear your thoughts

I saw that the President was going to have a job summit with business leaders. Since I won’t be invited, I thought I would just give him some ideas:

1- If you can’t borrow, you can’t hire. Business opportunities abound but only for those with a fistful of cash. Make more small business loans. (Without 1200 pages of paperwork)

2- Have a capital gains holiday for the next year. This will free up capital for reinvestment.

 3- Reduce the payroll tax. Give businesses more money to spend.

You can’t create jobs, without credit and demand for your products. Unemployment will remain high because Johnny Businessman won’t commit to new capital expenditures, or new employees because he cannot get the financing he needs to sustain the growth. Pretty simple. Hope He is listening.

 Before we begin, I would like to clarify the importance of the unemployment rate. Most economists (the nerds) will agree that it is a ‘lagging indicator’, meaning it reflects data in the past and does not accurately represent the current situation. Actually we will experience an improvement in the unemployment rate 3-6 months before that improvement is represented in the rate reported. That being said, why do I think the ‘real’ unemployment rate is closer to 20% than to the reported 10%?

1. Many jobs have been reduced to part-time or are less than 40 hours and are not accounted for in the rate.

 2. There are millions of discouraged workers who were banging the pavement and could not find work so they stopped looking.

3. There are still 4-6% of the work force that never has been able to keep a job and I see this number rising as desperation continues.

The danger we face is the number of ‘almost unemployed’. These are the families that are making less because of salary cuts, a cut in hours, or one member of the family is now unemployed. They are teetering on the ability to pay their obligations and one more layoff could force them into bankruptcy. This is a middle class problem that can tip the scales of the whole economy. We have bailed out all the big guys and have done nothing to help small businesses and families prosper. As I have stated in the past, if we do not get credit flowing again, this crisis will have a long, drawn-out recovery.

 Last week I read an interesting article in the New York Times by Joe Nocera http://tinyurl.com/yhnsope.  He was taking Goldman Sachs (sacks) out to the wood shed for giving such high bonuses after they were given your cash to survive.   It is not only bad PR but a horrible business practice.  Giving them this money with few strings, allowed them to return to profitibilty and play the same math games with the financial system.  Basically, there was little pain involved for them and they did not learn a lesson from their bad decisions.  On the other hand, Joe Six Pack is paying the price in job loss, foreclousres etc. 

The small business person is forced to increase his collateral for loans and credit lines he repaid many times over, because he does not have access to the Federal printing press.  New legislation to protect the credit card user was gutted by everyone gouging for interest rate increases and additional fees before the laws become active.  Credit Card companies know that you can’t go somewhere else because no one is lending.  Hey…but thanks for the free handout, now we are going to punch you in the face!

 GMAC the financial arm of General Motors (Obama Motors) is asking for a third bailout.  If you can’t make it after two, then you need to go away.  What about legitimate small businesses looking for capital?  Too bad, we are going to prop up the dying three-legged donkey, and we will use your tax dollars to do it.  Am I the only person that thinks this is stupid?

Since I have conducted a number of presentations with audiences ranging from a group of 6^th graders to 75 networking professionals, I wanted to offer some advice on how to create an effective presentation.  Good presentations and public speaking skills can help you to overcome other weaknesses you may have.  Ever notice that the best speakers sell more, get promoted more and are good at impromptu discussions?  Here are a few tips:

 1-     Know your audience.  Don’t use industry jargon in front of people who will not be familiar with the terminology.

2-     Practice in front of a mirror.  You may be making strange facial expressions, wringing your hands, or pacing. These bad habits can distract you audience.

3-     Watch the ‘umms’ and ‘you knows’.  Take a Toastmasters class and the group will track your ‘umms’ using a clicker. You will be amazed at the number you rack up! This is a great place to practice speaking in a nurturing environment.

4-     Vary your speaking tone.  M-o-n-o-t-o-n-e is boring.

5-     Pause during your speech and ask if people understand your points.  Allow time to backtrack and provide alternative explanations to get your point across.

6-     Beware of the use PowerPoint.  50% of the time it crashes and disrupts the momentum of your presentation.  Dimming the light for more than 5 minutes puts people to sleep.  The average human being has a 20-minute attention span.  Looking at graphs in the dark is a great way to get people to use their cell phones to send emails.

7-     Be careful with jokes.  You do not want to accidentally offend your audience. A better idea is to use a humorous personal or made up story about you.  Laughing helps people pay attention and relax.

8-     Throw in a couple moves during the speech. Switch sides of the podium, walk in front of the audience.  This forces people to follow you and not go comatose staring a fixed object.

9-     Don’t read your presentation.  This is a big no-no and the number 1 cause of audience boredom.  If you have back up reading material, hand it our after you are done or email it later.

10- Limit your number of handouts.  People will skip ahead and not pay attention to what you are saying.

11- If someone’s cell phone rings…STOP speaking until the offending individual mutes the phone.  Everyone will stare at them, and feel bad for you. Sympathetic listeners are more prone to hear your message.

Have a big presentation coming up at your company? Beware of these 3 people.

 The Casual Listener.  This is the person who was made to go by his boss. He would rather be texting his buddies than hearing you. 

The Numbers guy.  He/she likes to look over your financial data and check you math for accuracy while you are presenting.  This person can make you look like an ass when the questions come up at the end so make sure to double check your material for accuracy.

The Decision Maker.  This is the most important person in the audience.  If you know what he/she likes, you can make sure to hit those topics hard during your presentation. 

 Finally, be sure to make time for questions at the end of the presentation.  If there are no questions, then you probably were unsuccessful at capturing the audiences’ attention.  Make sure your presentation will cause people to ask questions by doing a dry run for a trusted colleague.  Have them make suggestions on how to stimulate the crowd.  Give some of these tips a try and see if they help your career down the road.

Recently, I have caught myself being too negative and I want to balance out my Karma with this open letter. 

 Dear Out-of-State Corporate Hotshot,

 Have you considered the benefits of doing business here in Arizona?  As most of you wake up, needing to sandbag your mansion or get some oars for your limo, we are enjoying another sunny day.  Here is a benefits list to present to the relocation committee.

1-     We do not have: Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes (generally), gigantic mudslides etc.  If we get a stiff wind and a half-inch of rain, it will be the leading story on tonight’s news.  Those weather events can close businesses for days.  We don’t have that problem.

2-     You do not have to shovel ‘Heat’.  People can drive everywhere without weather interruption.  We only have the occasional melted tire.

3-     Housing here is cheap.  And…you don’t have to worry about your home blowing away when you are at work.

4-     We have plenty of labor.  With all of the corporate downsizing, housing crash, everything crash, we have a very large unemployed workforce.

5-     We have plenty of office space!  As a matter of fact, I know brokers that will fistfight at the airport, for the right to show you those properties.

6-      We have four professional sports teams (counting the Mercury).  Great for entertaining big wig clients.

7-      If you like fast food. We have 13 different places at every intersection. Including 500 Starbucks.

8-      We have golf courses galore.  There are lots of uninformed homeowners who actually buy homes along the fairway..Great fun to blast shots into grandma’s hot tub.

 We are booking onsite appointments for the recovery of 2010 – 2011.  We suggest you book early, since tornado season is right around the corner.  Re-energize your stale organization by moving to Arizona, before Mother Nature causes your insurance premiums to rise.

 Sincerely,

Michael D. Hayes

 This week I went though the proctology exam that is renewing my bank credit line. I really liked the opening exchange where he said that we “lost some money” this year. How could this happen with such a blustery economy? The basic premise of the discussion centered on the bank “wanting more collateral” to  renew the line.

In plain English: We do not have any faith in your business model, and we got a pile of cheap cash from Uncle Sam that we are going to dole out with an eyedropper.

 Seriously, if you need a loan today you better have a paid off piece of real estate, stocks etc. or you are screwed. Long gone are the days of a personal relationship with your banker. He was always the first guy/gal to leave the Frat party after the beer ran out anyway. So fellow small business owners, the so-called engine of our economy, get a realistic budget and ride the storm out. You will be doing it alone. But please have a long memory when we turn this economy around.