Over the Wire

"Digital Turnoffs" for Employers

Post by Whitney Heckathorne, Marketing Manager

While surfing various Tweets today (it's my job, I promise), I came across this video which makes use of Harris data from a study we conducted for CareerBuilder back in June 2009. The study sought to answer a couple of different employment-related questions:

• Do employers look up potential job candidates using social networking sites? (The answer is a resounding YES, YES, YES ... and the percentage is only growing.) 
• How can a potential employee's social profile make or break them in terms of scoring a job?

Check out this video and find out if you are committing any of the cardinal sins of social networking -- chances are, your profile isn't as squeaky clean as employers would like!

(As an aside -- the video also includes soothing music along with photos of cute animals and babies, so if you aren't into learning how to give your Facebook a facelift, you'll still really enjoy this afternoon treat.)

In the meantime, I'm off to delete a few pictures.

P.S. Many thanks to YouTube user, edtechsteve, for posting this video.

Storm Clouds or Clear Skies Ahead for The Economy?

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Dow Jones Newswires’ Al Lewis discusses a recent Harris Poll which indicates many Americans expect the economy to worsen this year. What do you think - should we be preparing for glimmers of sunshine? Or will we stay stuck in an economic slump?

 

 

 

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Data Snapshot

Just one in ten Americans say job market is good and two in five believe it will not start growing for a year or more.

For full data and methodology, click here.

Harris Poll Wrap Up: Interviewing New Yorkers about the Economy

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The economy: getting better or getting (staying) worse? According to today's Harris Poll, Americans have mixed opinions...and the people of New York City are no different. Dan and Whitney are back and are out on the streets, asking people their opinions about jobs and the economy and, more importantly, if their outlook for the future is better or worse.

 

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Watch for Harris on MSNBC!

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Harris was thrilled to welcome the producers and crew of MSNBC's Sunday morning program, Your Business, to our NYC office today. The show is producing a segment about how focus groups can be beneficial for small businesses and - lucky us! - Harris's expertise was chosen to be featured.

Here are a couple of pictures from the focus group we conducted for the segment; we had such a terrific time working with the MSNBC folks and can't wait to see how the segment turns out when it airs in about 6 weeks. Until then, these pictures should tide you over...

Camera crew setting up!

 
Harris' lovely focus group volunteers

Harris' resident focus group expert (and moderator for our session today!), Clay Dethloff

We can't wait for the segment to air--will post a video when it's live! 

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In the Strictest Confidence

For 44 years, since 1966, The Harris Poll has measured Americans’ confidence in the leaders of our major institutions. Based on the responses, Harris calculates an overall Confidence Index. Over the past almost 5 decades, we have seen the Confidence Index rise and fall, but by and large, it has remained steady somewhere in the 50s. It reached its peak in 1973 at 69, and it bottomed out in 1997 at 42 (actually the 90s in general were somewhat of a down time with “confidence” hovering in the 40s for almost the entire decade).

And today, Harris Interactive’s Confidence Index stands at 53, one point lower than last year.

The beauty of an index is that it offers a birds-eye view of how respondents (in this case Americans) feel about a certain issue and it measures trends in attitudes and experiences over time.

But… an index doesn’t always reflect the underlying (and sometimes significant) changes in the public consciousness.  While our index (and others) often appear static, the attributes that make up the index may experience more dramatic fluctuations. 

And today’s Confidence Index is no exception.  While the top-line figure is 53, essentially the same as it has been for the past 7 years, some of the specific measures that make up today’s Index have changed considerably from last year and over the past decade.  For example, while we entered the decade in 2000 with a Confidence Index only slightly higher than it is today, our confidence in:

• ↑ The military has increased 11 points since 2000.
• ↑ The White House has increased 6 points since 2000.
• ↓ The medical field has dropped 10 points since 2000.
• ↓ Major companies have dropped 13 points since 2000.
• ↓ Wall Street has plummeted 22 points since 2000.

And while the Confidence Index is virtually the same as it was last year, our confidence in:

• ↑ The courts and the justice system has gone up 5 points from last year.
• ↓ Major educational institutions have gone down 5 points from last year.
• ↓ Television news has gone down 5 points from last year.
• ↓ The White House has gone down 9 points from last year.

Some changes are self-evident and we are made aware of them routinely in the news … the country’s financial collapse (and thus our crumbling faith in Wall Street); corporate deception (and thus our subsequent lack of trust in the leaders of major companies); the disrepair of the medical industry (and thus the growing need for reform); and the loss of momentum for policy change (and thus the decline in the White House approval ratings).  But some are surprising – why less confidence in colleges and universities today and why more confidence in the justice system from just last year? 

And why, do you believe, that the 90s – so closely aligned with prosperity – are also our lowest period of confidence?  

Trapped Or Rapt?

Building on the data snapshot from yesterday, it seems about half of us are still (happily? stuck?) in the same industry in which we started our career after we left college (according to our Adecco study from mid-April) – that’s 48% of us college grads who have ever had a full-time job to be exact. 

Of course, significantly more younger folks are still on the same career path, while I am guessing those of us who are older have changed careers or had our career veer in a different direction multiple times. 

And, there appears to be no set time to stay in that first job out of school: college grads who have had a full-time job since graduating worked there for…

• Less than one year (12%)

• 1 year to less than 3 years (35%)

• 3 years to less than 6 years (22%)

• 6 years to less than 8 years (8%)

• 8 years or more (23%)

So, what’s the primary driver that makes that first job so appealing for many of us – environment?  growth potential?  boss?  salary or other compensation?  just the personality of the employee?  What are your thoughts?

Therapist Needed for Top Executives

Before you run out to start your own gargantuan and semi-functioning company, stop and read the following blog post.  Because it turns out, my dear top executives, most of the public in the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Great Britain can’t stand you.

According to the findings from the latest Financial Times/Harris Poll,

• 68% of American adults – and 57-75% of adults in the European countries – say their opinions of business leaders have gotten worse as a result of the current economic situation, with Germany as most cynical.
• 76% of Americans and 65-81% of adults in the EU5 (with Germany again as most disapproving) believe that the recent behavior of business leaders has been unethical.
• 79% of Americans – and about same proportion in the EU5, though highest in Germany – believe business leaders are paid too much. 
• 68-82% in the countries surveyed (w ith the United States and Great Britain on the low end and France and Germany on the high end) believe governments should claw back bonuses or pensions paid to business leaders whose companies received bail-outs.

‘Nuff said. 

Have We Hit Rock Bottom Yet?

Post from Allison Dickin, Senior Research Associate, Public Affairs Research at Harris Interactive

We all know the economy has been in trouble for a while now, and working Americans’ confidence in the overall economy and in their own personal employment situations over the last several months provides strong evidence that they’ve been paying attention.

According to the Spherion Employee Confidence Index, calculated based on data from surveys we have conducted monthly since July 2004, employees’ overall confidence in the economy, their employers, and the job market has declined fairly steadily since back in January 2007, when it reached an all-time high of 60.5.  With a few exceptions, over the course of the last 26 months, the Index has continued to drop, reaching an all-time low of 40.1 in February 2009.  With everything that’s been going on in the U.S. and around the world over the past year or so (i.e., foreclosures, layoffs, bailouts, major financial meltdowns, etc.), this is hardly a surprise.

The good news, however, is that we’re seeing some signs that things might be beginning to turn around.  President Obama has said the U.S. economy is showing glimmers of hope, the stock market has had some good days recently, and Goldman Sachs just announced a profit and hopes to begin repaying its bailout money.

Additionally, in March, the Spherion Employee Confidence Index began to rebound.  The increase was small, but in March 2009, the index rose 1.3 points to 41.4.  The past month’s survey also showed:

• A slight decline in the percentage of employees who think the economy is getting weaker (68% vs. 70% in February);
• A slight increase in employees’ confidence in the future of their current employers (66% vs. 63% in February); and,
• A rise in the percentage of working Americans who say they are likely to look for a new job in the coming year (36% vs. 33% in February).

These changes are small, to be sure, and the Spherion Index has seen improvements like this in the past, only to have them matched by a drop in the following month.  But what do you think?  Is it possible our economy is starting down the road to recovery?  How do you think the Employee Confidence Index will change in April?

Data Snapshot

Only 1 in 4 employed Americans (25%) believe the economic stimulus package will be successful or very successful in creating 3.5 million jobs. --- commissioned by Adecco and conducted online between February 25-27, 2009 among 2,078 adults ages 18 and older, of whom, 1,151 are employed full time and/or part time