Great question LD. Here is a quick input in my industry, IT Outsourcing & more.
1) IBM had a message last week that will cut 15% off employees wages. I don’t remember the specifics, but I know a few thousands IBM employees signed up a petition against this wage cut….. I doubt there is anything they could/can do.
2) My own organization,global IT outsourcer,(I won’t name names) is doing poorly in San Diego.In fact is moving out of San Diego and a push out of California slowly (I won’t give many details). Bottom line, our subcontractors will have all their wages cut by about the same %. Needless to say that my organization experienced a hiring freeze for many months already.
I shouldn’t even mention that I’m in charge of outsourcing/offshoring labor globally for some division, and they’re working to outsource the outsourcer.
3) Retail is doing poorly. Under my consulting business, I’ve set up a Supply Chain for a retail store in PB a few years ago.The news I get today are grimm. Lease on the store is in the thousands, and daily sales are bearly breacking a couple-few hundreds. I know the store manager is gone – already. The owner took that role now.
4) Another big retailer,Wilson, will close 1,000 stores across N. America. That’s scary. I know another group of national retail stores are cutting full-time employees by 8 hrs/week.
5) Moreover, I’m looking for new work, and I’ve had 2 interviews. I tell you, the budgets for some of those positions are not that exiting. I’ve applied for many positions w/out getting much feedback, which reminds me of the DOT COM crash era. Back in 2001,it took me about 3.5 months to find my current job after applying for over 380 positions. I haven’t applied for that many jobs right now, but all the prospects I’ve had are through friends/ex coworkers – which tells you something about the market.
I’ve got 10 years industry experience & an MBA. I’ve left manufacturing in 2000 and moved to the service industry. I’ve got a pretty broad SCM experience (semiconductor industry, IT, high-tech manufacturing) – and no particular feedback from employers(unless one has an insider contact).
Now on the positive side – the majority of jobs I find require military experience. I do not have any govt/military background or a security clearence.
