THIS JUST IN…….

More than half of U.S. employers surveyed by the staffing firm Manpower Group last year said they were having trouble filling job openings because they couldn’t find qualified workers. That’s a huge 38 percentage point jump from 2010, when only 14 percent said they were having trouble filling positions.

here is another reminder from the world of business about how hard things can be….

The maker of Twinkies, Sno Balls and Wonder Bread is trying to lose the fat. Hostess Brands is hoping to cut its high costs as it heads back into bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a decade. Hostess has enough cash to keep stores stocked with its Ding Dongs, Ho Hos (I LOVE THOSE THINGS) and other snacks for now as it battles rising labor costs and increased competition. But longer term, the 87-year-old company has a bigger problem: health-conscious Americans favor yogurt and energy bars over the dessert cakes and white bread they devoured 30 years ago.

The other day we talked about the king of beers now being the prince. Best Buy, Netflix and even Blackberry -those recent darlings of the business world – not looking so good these days…

But let’s forget about firms and let’s get personal. This is all about you and your skills and your future. What have you done lately to get better at what you do? Think back through your career and you can name the people who are no longer around, the ones who failed to change, the ones who wore their character faults like a badge of honor. The ones who got complacent, the ones who got laid off/downsized/fired.

The workplace requires new skills everyday but it also requires good old fashioned people skills. Employers want employees who do more than the minimum and do it with a positive attitude. Just yesterday I had a large (and new) client tell me how much better I was to work with than the incumbent consulting firm I had just displaced. The core of his comment was that I was easier to work with AND worked harder to understand their business and to tailor my message to their needs. In other words, it was all about them and not about my billable hours. I have learned that the billable hours will follow when I do the right thing for the client.

Sure, we all worry about ourselves but what are you doing to make yourself more valuable tomorrow than you are today. Still not too late to put some goals in place for 2012. Do some action planning and set some targets.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.