Headlines have been filled with bad news about the job market for the past few quarters with multiple layoff announcements every week. It’s important to acknowledge the challenges we face in this economy, but it’s also important to spend time discussing the positive aspects of the job market.

Silver lining with recent Wal-mart layoff news

Wal-mart, the world’s largest retailer, recently announced a layoff of approximately 700-800 employees. While they’ve had some challenges with their employment brand, they are still the largest private sector employer in the U.S. (over 1.6 million employees). Coverage of their recent announcement made headline news which focused on the layoff itself. The headline on CNN.com reads:

Wal-mart to cut jobs at headquarters - World’s largest retailer, citing ‘unprecendented’ times says it will cut as many jobs across divisions.

The news is definitely unfortunate - especially for the employees and the families who are directly affected. But there is also some positive news as well. Buried in the article is an important statement about their growth plans. Wal-mart has “no plans to eliminate store level jobs” and “still plans to open between 125 and 140 new stores” which entails the hiring of thousands of store associates. That’s positive news and shouldn’t be buried at the bottom of the article.

Finding the silver lining in the job market

Consumer spending has decreased and there has been a logical shift in where consumers are spending their dollars. Instead of eating out at a sit-down restaurant on a regular basis, more people are opting for fast-food (cheaper) or eating at home. Many of us are looking to stretch the dollar further and are shopping at the grocery store and preparing our meals at home. Instead of the $6 cup of coffee we are brewing our own coffee at home or picking up a cup of joe at the drive-through.

We’re looking to low-cost retailers, not only for our staples, but for additional products and services. Companies like Wal-mart and McDonald’s appeal to consumers in this economy and address the need to stretch the dollar further. It’s seems logical that these companies would put an emphasis on maintaining or increasing staff levels at their retail locations. The economy is driving business to their retail locations because they specialize in low cost products and services.  These companies are in the business of providing the most value for the dollar possible, so it makes sense that they would make adjustments to corporate jobs while putting emphasis on staffing at their retail locations.

This economy is tough and and the impact on the job market has been non-trivial. It may get worse before it gets better, but it’s important to highlight the positives. They may seem few and far between right now but will eventually become more frequent.

Filed under: Employment Brand, recruiting, restaurant, retail, staffing, store | 1 Comment »

Politics aside, the recent U.S. Presidential election was historic on many fronts. While “change” was a major theme with various candidates throughout the entire election process, one big change was how the candidates chose to communicate with voters. Sure - there were the expected town hall meetings, speeches, interviews and debates. All par for the course. But Obama’s campaign did something others didn’t do much of, if at all. They plugged into the social network of American voters and invited them to join the ride.

Voter turnout in this election was the highest it’s been in nearly 40 years and Obama’s campaign engaged an unprecedented number of voters through new channels including websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter (165k followers and a reach of 8.3M at last check) and mobile (2+ million voters).  Just like most new technology, it can be challenging to sift through all of the hype to see what’s valuable and what’s just a fad. Twitter wasn’t very interesting when people were just using it to share what they were eating for lunch but becomes much more interesting when used engage an audience interested in a topic, cause, company, etc. In a similar fashion, mobile marketing is evolving in the U.S. (hint: we’re still catching up to other countries). Read more »

Filed under: SMS, WAP, call-to-action, campaign, mobile marketing, mobile site, text messaging, texting | No Comments »

As CNN reports, the past couple of years haven’t been easy for the US Army to find new recruits. But they’ve developed a way to attract recruits like never before, which has lead to 200 visitors per day at one recruiting station in particular, which is amazing considering the average Army recruiting station attracts 20 visitors per day.

They’ve created what they call the Army Experience Center (AEC) - a 14,500 square foot facility at Franklin Mills Mall in Philadephia Pennsylvania. Strategically positioned between popular retail stores in the mall, the US Army has taken their recruiting efforts right where their ideal recruits are found on any day of the week - the shopping mall.

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Filed under: Employment Brand, SMS, recruiting | No Comments »

The term “mobile marketing” has been around for awhile, but it’s taken some time for many of us to understand what exactly it is and how it really works. However, several big strides brought mobile marketing into the mainstream in 2008.

Brands are beginning to leverage mobile marketing to engage consumers with offerings ranging from mobile coupons to product information. Military institutions are beginning to experiment with mobile to reach new recruits. A political candidate used it to build and engage a community of voters that helped lead to his election as President of the United States. Mobile is reaching a tipping point as a major marketing channel, and large brands are paving the way with an investment and commitment to fully explore the potential of mobile marketing.

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Filed under: Advertising, SMS, mobi, mobile marketing, recruiting | No Comments »