Economy grows at 5.7 pct pace, fastest since 2003
Economy grows for 2nd straight quarter at better-than-expected 5.7 pct rate, best since 2003

.Companies:Ford Motor Co..By Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer , On Friday January 29, 2010, 11:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy’s faster-than-expected growth at the end of last year, fueled by companies boosting output to keep stockpiles up, is likely to weaken as consumers keep a lid on spending.

The 5.7 percent annual growth rate in the fourth quarter was the fastest pace since 2003. It marked two straight quarters of growth after four quarters of decline. Growth exceeded expectations mainly because business spending on equipment and software jumped much more than forecast.

Still, economists expect growth to slow this year as companies finish restocking inventories and as government stimulus efforts fade. Many estimate the nation’s gross domestic product will grow 2.5 percent to 3 percent in the current quarter and about 2.5 percent or less for the full year.

That won’t be fast enough to significantly reduce the unemployment rate, now 10 percent. Most analysts expect the rate to keep rising for several months and remain close to 10 percent through the end of the year.

High unemployment and stagnant wage growth will likely keep consumers cautious about spending. Wages and benefits paid to U.S. workers posted a scant gain in the fourth quarter. And for all of last year, workers’ compensation rose by the smallest amount on records going back more than a quarter-century.

The economic recovery could falter if consumers, who account for 70 percent of economic activity, lack the income to ramp up spending.

“That’s why there’s so much hand-wringing right now,” said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist for IHS Global Insight. “Can the economy really sustain this? That’s the big question mark sitting out there.”

With hiring still weak, President Barack Obama has stepped up his focus on job creation. On Friday, he will outline the specifics of a proposal to provide tax cuts to small businesses that hire new workers. He touted the plan in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

The goal is “to encourage businesses to respond to rising demand and output by taking the plunge and hiring new workers again,” said Christina Romer, Obama’s top economic advisor.

About 60 percent of the fourth quarter’s growth resulted from a sharp slowdown in the reduction of inventories as firms began to rebuild stockpiles depleted by the recession.

Changes to inventories added 3.4 percentage points to the fourth-quarter growth, the Commerce Department said in its report Friday. Excluding inventories, the economy would have grown at a 2.2 percent clip, the government said. That’s an improvement from 1.5 percent in the third quarter.

Consumer spending rose 2 percent, down from a 2.8 percent rise in the third quarter. It added 1.4 percentage points to GDP growth.

A steep increase in exports also helped boost growth last quarter. The shipment of goods overseas rose 18.1 percent, far outpacing a 10.5 percent rise in imports. Net exports added 0.5 percentage point to GDP.

Government spending was actually a slight drag on growth in the fourth quarter: A small increase in federal spending was outweighed by a drop in state and local spending.

Still, federal government spending is likely to pick up and add to growth in the first quarter, Bethune said.

Business spending will likely boost economic growth for several quarters, Bethune said, though not likely enough to make up for sluggish consumer spending. Many companies are upgrading computers, cell phones and machinery as their equipment needs to be replaced just to maintain current levels of production.

In addition, many businesses have healthy balance sheets and don’t need to pay off the large debts that households are struggling with, Bethune added.

For now, the growing economy is benefiting companies up and down the supply chain. Ford Motor Co. this week reported higher fourth-quarter sales and its first annual profit in four years, as it recovers from the devastating downturn the auto industry.

Ford’s “recent success has benefited us,” said Tom Schumann, general manager of EC Kitzel & Sons Inc., a small cutting tool fabricator based in Cleveland, Ohio.

The company, which has 30 employees, bought a new machine tool in December and hired a new worker to run it, the company’s first hire since last spring. Still, many of the company’s suppliers are struggling.

“I’m not totally convinced we’re out of the woods yet,” Schumann said, referring to the economy.

Friday’s report is the first of the government’s three estimates of gross domestic product and is likely to be revised. The government initially estimated third quarter growth was 3.5 percent, which was later revised down to 2.2 percent. The next estimate will be released Feb. 26.

The report provided an upbeat end to an otherwise dismal year: The nation’s economy declined 2.4 percent in 2009, the largest drop since 1946. That’s the first annual decline since 1991.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

January 27, 2010, 3:54 pm
The Apple iPad: First Impressions
Tony Avelar/Bloomberg
Today Apple finally unveiled its tablet computer, the iPad. Thus concludes Phase 1 of the standard Apple new-category roll-out: months of feverish speculation and hype online, without any official indication by Apple that the product even exists.

Now Phase 2 can begin: the bashing by the bloggers who’ve never even tried it: “No physical keyboard!” “No removable battery!” “Way too expensive!” “Doesn’t multitask!” “No memory-card slot!”

That will last until the iPad actually goes on sale in April. Then, if history is any guide, Phase 3 will begin: positive reviews, people lining up to buy the thing, and the mysterious disappearance of the basher-bloggers.

The iPad is, as predicted, essentially a giant iPod Touch: aluminum-backed, half-inch thin, with a 10-inch screen surrounded by a shiny black border. At the bottom, there’s the standard iPod/iPhone connector and a single Home button. It will be available in models ranging from $499 (16 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi) to $830 (64 gigs of memory, Wi-Fi and 3G cellular).

The cellular signal will be provided by AT&T for $15 a month (250 megabytes of data transferred — think e-mail only) or $30 a month, unlimited. Amazingly, those AT&T deals involve no contract. You can cancel whenever you like. And since this thing isn’t a phone, you don’t have to worry about dropped calls; you’re paying exclusively for Internet service.

There’s no reason you couldn’t use it to make calls using Skype, of course — Apple says that virtually all of the existing 140,000 iPhone apps run fine on the iPad. (You can run them either at regular tiny size, or blown up double with some loss of clarity.)

Then again, you might look a little bizarre walking through the airport holding this giant clipboard up to your ear.

Until I saw the demo, I wondered why you’d want an iPad instead of a laptop. After all, the price is about the same. And once you add a carrying case to the iPad — wouldn’t you worry about that glass screen bouncing around in your briefcase or backpack naked? — it’s about the same bulk and weight as a laptop.

Now, though, it looks like Apple really has created something new. Criticisms of “Like a laptop” and “a big iPod Touch” don’t really do justice to the possibilities.

The iPad as an e-book reader is a no-brainer. It’s just infinitely better-looking and more responsive than the Kindle, not to mention it has color and doesn’t require external illumination. (Book fans should note, however, that the iPad e-bookstore won’t offer bestsellers at $10 each, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble do. And although Apple says the iPad has a 10-hour battery life, it hasn’t yet said “doing what.” Playing video eats up battery a lot faster than reading e-books.)

Web browsing, painting programs, TV and movies, newspapers and magazines all seem like naturals on this 1.5-pound machine, too. The New York Times app is especially appealing to me — and yes, this is my completely independent opinion — because it seems to work like the much-adored Times Reader app for computers.

Overall, the iPad seems like a dream screen for reading and watching—at some loss of convenience in creating. True, there’s an on-screen keyboard, big enough to type on with both hands in the usual way. And Apple will offer a specialized multitouch word processor, spreadsheet and presentation app for $10 each. But I’m guessing that, with no mouse and no physical keys to feel, writing and editing will be more effort than on a laptop. (Apple will also sell an external keyboard that holds the iPad upright as you type. Then again, if you need to carry all that around, maybe a laptop would make more sense.)

But these are just the wild speculations of a guy who’s never even tried the thing. (Believe me, I’ll review it when I get one.)

My main message to fanboys is this: it’s too early to draw any conclusions. Apple hasn’t given the thing to any reviewers yet, there are no iPad-only apps yet (there will be), the e-bookstore hasn’t gone online yet, and so on. So hyperventilating is not yet the appropriate reaction.

At the same time, the bashers should be careful, too. As we enter Phase 2, remember how silly you all looked when you all predicted the iPhone’s demise in that period before it went on sale.

Like the iPhone, the iPad is really a vessel, a tool, a 1.5-pound sack of potential. It may become many things. It may change an industry or two, or it may not. It may introduce a new category — something between phone and laptop — or it may not. And anyone who claims to know what will happen will wind up looking like a fool.

This article was posted recently on Yahoo’s HotJobs website. We have been hearing this for years that candidates simply want to be communicated with, but it often doesn’t happen. Our team at FGD knows the importance of communicating and you can expect to be kept in the loop throughout the entire process.

6 Reasons They Didn’t Call You Back
Are They Just Not That Into You?
by Larry Buhl, for Yahoo! HotJobs

In the best of times responding to a job listing can feel like sending your resume out to sea in a bottle. But at least you received a call or an email acknowledgement. Now, with the volume of applicants higher than ever, you’re more likely to hear nothing.
If there is a resounding silence from your queries, keep looking and networking. But you can also do some sleuthing to give you a better chance of standing out next time. Recruiters and career experts agree that, if you didn’t get an interview or phone call — or even a thank-you email — it may be due to at least one of six reasons.

1. They’re just not that into you.

You’re good, but someone else more closely met the qualifications. In a tight job market employers can usually get exactly the type of candidate they want. A polite “thanks, but no thanks” letter or email would be nice. But don’t expect it these days.

2. They may be into you, as soon as they get to you.

Companies receive so many submissions these days that they don’t even have time to send out letters or confirmation emails. “I know a major software company that’s taking more than three weeks just to send out acknowledgement notes, and some companies are spending months sifting through resumes for just one opening,” workplace etiquette expert Sue Fox tells Yahoo! Hot Jobs.

3. They would have been into you if you had followed directions.

“Many job listings use the word ‘must,’ not ‘it would be nice to,’” according to Dave Opton, CEO and founder of ExecuNet. “If it says you must have experience in X, then tailor your resume to show that,” Opton says.

If you’re answering a job listing, be sure you respond in exactly the way the company wants. And be aware that if you’re not applying for a specific job but rather sending out dozens or hundreds of form letters, your resume is likely to end up in companies’ spam folders.

4. They might be into you if you apply for a more appropriate job.

Independent recruiter Cheryl Ferguson tells Yahoo! HotJobs that many job seekers are overqualified, under-qualified, or otherwise just wrong. “If we need to fill a specific job, and you’re not right for it, don’t assume that we’re going to find the right fit for you. A lot of times people send me resumes, and I want to ask, ‘Did you even read the job description?’”

5. Your presentation could use some work.

“A lot of mistakes I see are a lack of cover letter, and an objective statement on the resume that is all wrong for the job opening,” says Lindsay Olson, partner and recruiter at Paradigm Staffing. “Even worse are obviously mass emails where the candidates had no clue what they were applying for.”

6. There isn’t any job.

Sometimes, due to last minute budget cuts, a position is eliminated before it’s even filled. Other times, according to Olson, companies reel in resumes even when they know there isn’t any opening. “Some companies want a big applicant pool because they think they may be hiring in the future,” Olson said.

How can you learn what happened?

If you feel like your resume is out at sea, and you’d at least like confirmation that you’re out of the running, there are things you can do.

1. Contact the company.

Yes, the ad had a NO CALLS warning, and there wasn’t a name anyway. But if you’re pretty sure you’re right for the job, and you’ve heard nothing after a week, you can still call someone to find out if you’re at least in the running. Try to find the hiring manager (HR is too busy, and they almost never want to hear from you).

“If you do follow up by phone, don’t leave a voice mail,” Opton says. “Early in the morning or after five you’re more likely to reach a real person.”

2. But don’t be a pest.

“If you’ve had an interview and sent your thank-you letter, wait a week to call,” Fox says. One or two emails are OK, but three will probably look desperate, she adds. “And never, ever, show up at the company without an interview and demand to be seen. It will backfire.”

3. Re-read the job posting.

Did the resume you sent really fit the job requirements? Or were you hoping they would find another job just for you? “I love it when a candidate has done the homework and already knows the company and the position,” Ferguson says. “It makes it easier for both of us.”

4. Take a look at your resume.

Get a second opinion, and a third. Does it present you in the right light? Is it professionally formatted? Does it feature accomplishments, rather than merely job titles and dates?

5. Step up the networking.

“It’s always best to network your way into a position,” Opton says. “You’ll get a lot more individual attention than someone responding to a job listing.”

San Ramon CA – Financial Group Direct (FGD) has built a solid reputation and profitable finance and accounting recruiting business built upon client satisfaction. FGD has been selected by a large publicly traded company to help support a national accounting initiative. “We are obviously thrilled to have been chosen for this project and we intend to deliver excellent results,” said Mark Woodburn, Founder and Managing Partner.

FGD – Financial Group Direct, LLC was established with the intent of providing a unique experience to its customers and financial professionals. Given the partners years of industry experience, they have seen it all. In such a relationship-oriented business, FGD understands that maintaining an outward focus will keep its customers and professionals coming back.

San Ramon, CA, January 8, 2009:

FGD – Financial Group Direct, the leader in Accounting & Finance staffing/search services, looks to expand Bay Area market share. FGD seeks to capitalize on the weakness of this economy by investing in new advertising campaigns. They will be launching their initial radio campaign starting on Monday, January 12, 2009. “We achieved strong sales growth during 2008 and we are looking forward to kicking off 2009,” says Mark Woodburn, Founder and Managing Partner of FGD – Financial Group Direct.

FGD provides interim, project and permanent recruitment services within the accounting & finance industry.  Their focus is in the areas of Accounting, Financial Management, Financial Operations, Internal Audit, Sarbanes-Oxley, Financial Reporting and Tax.  We are a boutique firm that prides itself on Values, Commitment and Service.   Our team has many years of excellence in this area of specialty.

(Article taken from Yahoo! HotJobs)

Using the Internet to find a job can feel like walking into a fitness center for the first time. There are so many resources available and so many different “exercises” you can do, it’s hard to know where to begin.

And then, of course, there’s the matter of time: We never seem to have enough of it. In today’s competitive job market, every minute must do its part, so you need to give the highest priority to the things that matter most.

Here is a regimen of specific activities that will shape up your online job search and get it off to a strong start. Think of it as a fitness program for your future.

The time required to complete all of these activities is just 58 minutes. Do one, and you’ll improve your job search performance. Do them all, and you’ll be well on your way to capturing your dream job.

Read more »

FGD – Financial Group Direct is committed to helping our network of financial professionals find satisfying and challenging employment opportunities. During challenging economic times, it has never been more important to stay competitive and positive. 

In order to accomplish our goal of helping our financial professionals, over the next several issues of this newsletter, we will be sharing articles that will provide insight and strategies to help you.

Please let us know how we can better serve you.

Sincerely, Mark Woodburn
Managing Partner

(Article taken from Forbes.com by John M. Mckee)

Would-be career winners should also understand there are a number of surefire ways to get yourself canned, or worse. Here we present nine sure ways to destroy your effectiveness, make enemies and destroy an otherwise promising career

Read more »

If we focus on the national news, we could all end up quite depressed. The 
good news is that we are experiencing a different reality in the San 
Francisco Bay Area. We continue to see a tremendous amount of demand for 
experienced Accounting and Finance professionals. It is not uncommon for us 
to see multiple job offers and candidates having many choices when it comes 
to their next career decision.

To help our candidates maximize their current market value, we encourage you 
to take advantage of our free services. These services include salary 
evaluations, resume tips, interview strategies and more. Please visit our 
website and click on the career services tab.