Blog Entries

Finding a job that matches your abilities

darin@rjandmakay.com — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:04:29 +0100

For those of you that are unsure about what job you want or are open to looking at other types of jobs that your transferrable skills would be a match for you are likely perplexed and a bit confused where to start. There are two ways you may ant to approach this. You can go through the process of taking self assessment tests to get a professional analysis of what you would be best at, the kinds of skills and abilities you have and how they translate into potential careers you should evaluat [...]

Attitudes. The good, the bad, and the hostile

darin@rjandmakay.com — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:42:01 +0100

There are job seekers with good attitudes, those with bad attitudes, and those that are down right ugly. Preparing yourself to have the right attitude towards your job search and everyone you will be interacting with throughout the process is the most important thing to properly prepare. It’s the most significant because it really doesn’t matter how good your resume is (or anything else) if you have the wrong attitude.

You have to look at a job seekers attitude from th [...]

Should I be looking for a career or a job?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

You have probably heard the advice that you should: Look for a career and not a job. What is the difference between a career and a job? A career is basically the professional pursuit of a lifelong ambition. A job is typically referred to as an activity which one can earn money. I encourage you not to get too enthralled into the semantics of the words. You can certainly get a job that turns into a career. You can get a job that leads into a promotion that leads to another promotion and befor [...]

Love vs Money vs Skill

darin@rjandmakay.com — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:42:22 +0100

If you are new to the job market or beginning to re-evaluate your career options because of present realities then you may struggle with what direction you should go and what opportunities are available. Some of the biggest choices you will make in the positions you go after center around love of passion for what your doing, compensation and benefits, and the skills being utilized.

You have likely heard the saying, Do what you love and never work another day in your life. This statement ha [...]

Is Financial Advisor recruiting stabilizing?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:09:50 +0100

Financial Advisor recruiting has seen a boom over the last two years. Will the boom continue or has Financial Advisor (FA) recruiting stabilized?

In the 15 month period from August 2008 to Nov 2009 there were 11,875 wirehouse reps and 1687 regional firm reps who switched firms. Wirehouse reps are Financial Advisors from either Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, UBS, Merrill Lynch/BofA and Wachovia/Wells Fargo.

According to Discovery Database, over the past year over 22,0 [...]

I'm still a pessimistic optimist on this job market

darin@rjandmakay.com — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:36:43 +0100

The unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% to 10% for November. Economist thought that the rate would maintain 10.2% for November so the news I’m reading is overly positive about the .2% drop. Most of these same economist however thought the unemployment rate would peak at 10.2% in February of 2010 but we saw that number 4 months earlier in October of this year. So forgive me if I am cautiously optimistic.

According to the New York Times, Allen L. Sinai, the founder of the resear [...]

The Job Seeker Competition Principle

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:49:29 +0100

The Competition Principle is a formal title I gave to what I believe to be a fundamental truth. The Competition Principle simply states, “There are others more qualified or talented than you who want what you want.” To make this principle specific to jobseekers I have defined the tenet as the Jobseeker Competition Principle. The Jobseeker Competition Principle states: “There are others more qualified or talented than you who want the same job you want.”

The Competi [...]

Merrill brokers pressured to also be bank tellers

darin@rjandmakay.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:43:29 +0100

About a week ago I read an article in the New York Post entitled “Merrill Flinch: Retail banking push meets broker resistance.” I’ve read similar articles in Registered Rep and so on. Anyone could have (and many did) predict that this and more would happen. This is one of many instances where completely opposite and conflicting corporate cultures are going to clash.

BofA is pressuring Merrill brokers to start pushing retail banking products. The big brouhaha in the [...]

Twenty percent true unemployment in 2010?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:30:08 +0100

On October 9th I posted a blog about how it might take 4 years to get unemployment back to normal. I referred to a Wall Street Journal survey of 48 economists which shows that on average these economist believed that the official unemployment rate would peak at 10.2% in February of 2010. They were half right.

The Department of Labor released the October unemployment numbers and the official unemployment rate is now at 10.2% (a 26 year high) while the true unemployment rate (inc [...]

The Great Recession is Over?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:16:02 +0100

A survey done by the National Association of Business Economists (NABE) found that 80% of the 44 professional forecasters believed the economy is growing again. The economy has suffered four straight quarters of decline. The NABE President stated, “The great recession is over.”

The great recession began in December of 2007 and the length and depth has been the worse recession of a lifetime for anyone born after the 1930s.

The unemployment rate is [...]

Might take 4 years to get unemployed back to "normal"

darin@rjandmakay.com — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:09:22 +0100

The Wall Street Journal just released a survey they did with 48 economists which shows that on average these economists don’t expect unemployment (the U3 official unemployment percentage not the true “underemployment” U6 rate) to fall under 6% until 2013.

On average the economists expect the unemployment rate to peak at 10.2% next February. This would mean a true unemployment rate at near 20% meaning one out of five eligible working Americans would be unemploye [...]

The Underemployment Rate Significance is Undervalued

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:31:22 +0100

The official unemployment rate is now at the highest it’s been in 26 years at 9.7% (and seems to be closing in on 10% fast). The good news? The pace of job losses slowed just a little bit. So little however that I am finding few optimists that believe unemployment will begin to turnaround until mid 2010.

Unfortunately the official unemployment rate only tells part of the story. There are actually two unemployment rates: The official unemployment rate (U3) and the true une [...]

The recession is likely over. High unemployment isn't

darin@rjandmakay.com — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:25:35 +0100

Today, Ben Bernake said the worst recession recession since the 1930s is very likely over. But he also said that the recovery would be slow and take time to create new jobs.The unemployment rate grew to a 26 year high of 9.7% up from 9.4% the month prior. Bernanke believes the unemployment rate will continue to rise even higher.

Bernanke expects the unemployment rate to continue to rise and then will tend to come down quite slowly. He didn’t seem overly optimistic about 2 [...]

Q3 2009 Hiring Forecast

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:06:41 +0100

I just received the CareerBuilder Q3 2009 Hiring Forecast. CareerBuilder and USA Today surveyed more than 2600 hiring managers and HR professionals.

They report that 68% of employers will make no change in their headcount in the third quarter. 15% of hiring managers expect to increase full time, permanent headcount in the third quarter. Although 10% anticipate a decrease in headcount this is a projected improvement from the previous 2 quarters.

Other interesting fin [...]

Follow Us on Twitter!

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:07:55 +0100

You can now follow RJ & Makay on Twitter.

We are posting selected brand new positions as soon as we get them, important recruiting and finance industry news, and jobseeker tips and advice. Follow us at twitter.com/rjandmakay or user name @rjandmakay.

Or just click the Twitter button on our home page.

The 3 biggest pre-interview ways to stand out from your jobseeker peers

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:42:20 +0100

With an unemployment rate at 9.4% (and a true unemployment rate much higher) the competition for open positions is the highest it has been in most of the working force’s adult lifetimes. Because of this, most, in fact, nearly all of the jobseekers don’t know how to effectively compete.

Just because hundreds of thousands of people are being let go every month doesn’t mean people aren’t getting hired. They are. In fact, the last two months have been very busy for us [...]

What does nine point four percent unemployment rate tell us?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:16:33 +0100

The markets are a buzz about today’s unemployment report. The Labor Department reported that 247,000 jobs were lost in July which is lower than the 320,000 many economist were predicting. This brings the unemployment rate down from 9.5% to 9.4%.

So, finally after all of this pain this signals the recession is now bottomed out right? Not so fast. The stock market has been steadily climbing and economists have started to get cautiously optimistic (or should I say not so adamantly pessi [...]

Have Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney Traded Places?

darin@rjandmakay.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:43:46 +0100

The new Merrill Lynch is looking a lot like the old Smith Barney. Run by a behemoth bank with a different culture and led by Sallie Krawcheck. The new Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney) is looking a lot like the old Merrill Lynch. Broker centric culture running outside the constraints of big bank bureaucracy run by James Gorman.

Dan Sontag is out at Merrill! In his conference call announcement today he said he supports Sallie Krawcheck. I don’t think anyone doubts that K [...]

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Best Positioned for Growth

darin@rjandmakay.com — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:44:52 +0100

It has now been two months since the joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney was finalized (June 1st). This mega brokerage firm with 18,500 Financial Advisors now represents a third of the top 100 Financial Advisors in the country.

On July 22, Gregory Shulas with Fundfire reported their poll which found that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is the wirehouse best positioned to seize a greater share of clients and new investor accounts in a post-crisis marketplace.

48% [...]

Hot New Resume Trend is Jobseeker's New Friend

darin@rjandmakay.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:39:25 +0100

With unemployment over 9.0%, the competition is fierce for job openings. With 500,000 losing their jobs each month jobseekers are stressed about competing for relatively few available positions. If you’re a jobseeker, looking for ways to differentiate yourself is critical.

A hot new trend becoming jobseekers’ new friend is eCompliments, http://www.ecompliments.com. This new online review and social networking site provides a central place and process for the refer [...]