51% of D.C. workers would consider quitting for a jop at new Amazon HQ

51% of D.C. workers would consider quitting for a jop at new Amazon HQ51% of D.C. workers would consider quitting for a jop at new Amazon HQAmazon is opening new headquarters in New York City and Arlington, VA. Hiring will begin this year, and workers in the sozialschlauch D.C. area are excited 71% of all information technology workers in the D.C. area would possibly quit their current jobs for a position at Amazon, a survey of 1,000 employed IT workers by Eagle Hill Consulting found.In fact, 51% of all workers in the metro D.C. area would consider leaving their current jobs for a job at Amazon, the survey found.The top reasons to flee into the arms of Jeff Bezos (newly single) included better pay (71%) Amazon has said the average salary at its new headquarters will be $150,000).45% thought the work would be more interesting.45% felt Amazon was a more progressive company.33% thought theyd find a better workplace culture.Only 17% were actually unhappy at their current job.And the em ployees who said theyd stay put despite Amazon cited happiness with the work they performed (52%), happiness within their current job (45%), and a feeling that they worked for a good company (38%). They also included satisfying work-life balance, company culture, and the fact that they were already well-paid.D.C. workers predicted a mostly positive impact on their area from Amazons opening in the form of the local economy and salaries with some negatives, such as traffic. Between the two new headquarters, 50,000 new jobs will be created. Two cities were chosen for the headquarters so as to not overwhelm one city with a massive influx of workers, but still, not everyone is happy about it.And pay attention, D.C. they wont be just hiring locally Amazon hires from all over the country. Theyve created a guide for interviewing presumably for hopefuls that are ready to quit their jobs to join the Amazon team.

A Five-Step Checklist to Remove Bias From Your Job Posting

A Five-Step Checklist to Remove Bias From Your Job PostingA Five-Step Checklist to Remove Bias From Your Job PostingHumans are remarkably efficient. Our brains make shortcuts to help us process day-to-day decision-making, allowing us to open the correct door or avoid a grumpy cubicle mate without even thinking about it.However, theres a downside to this process, too. As we filter information based on our experience and knowledge, our brain also forms unconscious biases related to other philanthropisch characteristics such as race, culture, gender, disability and more. This leads to making decisions in our work and our habits that result in an unintentional form of bias that come out when we reflect on how we behave and how we write. Writing a job post is a natural and normal activity for human resources representatives. However, job postings arent free from this kind of unconscious bias. We write what we write using our perceptions and assumptions, and then candidates read what we wr ite with their own biases. While we can never completely remove unconscious bias. The best communication reduces these biases as much as possible to communicate the essence of the job. If youre in charge of writing a job posting, heres a checklist you can use to remove as much bias as possible. Use gender-neutral language Inclusive language such as gender-neutral wordinghas a powerful impact on the results of recruiting. Evaluate your use of typically feminine or masculine descriptive words and review your job posting to speak to the candidate rather than he or she. Use task-focused language Task-focused language as opposed to concept-focused language increases the number of applications you will receive. For example, instead of describing a warehouse job as having an Aggressive, fast-paced environment, youll want to get specific about the skills required to succeed in the environment, such as the Required ability to lift more than 50 pounds in 5 minutes, and Required to act quickly in response to instructions. Ask someone different from you to review it Since unconscious biases are personal, an effective way to remove your biases is to have someone very different from you review the document. Find someone in the office with a very different learning style, background or experience level and ask for their feedback. Run it through word processing software Several word processing softwares including Microsoft Word and HemingwayApp.comallow you to assess the reading level of the document youre editing. Unless youre specifically writing a job posting for a position with high education requirements, aim to meet the governments Plain Language Guidelines of a 6th-7th grade reading level.

Tips for the Young and Jobless

Tips for the Young and JoblessTips for the Young and JoblessMany victims of layoffs this year were young, entry-levelor near entry-level- employees. And if you were one of those perhaps-now-not-so-newly laid off youngsters, youve probably considering going back to school to make yourself more marketable. But if youre on the fence about spending thousands of dollars on a JD/MBA/MA/MFA/MD/PhD, consider some other things you can do to make your resume fresh and relevant. Volunteering is a big one. Learning a new skilleither by reading up, taking a continuing ed course or earning a certificateis another. On his blog, Seth Godin recommends the followingSpend twenty hours a week running a project for a non-profit. Teach yourself Java, HTML, Flash, PHP and SQL. Not a little, but mastery. Clarification I know you cant become a master programmer of all these in a year. I used the word mastery to distinguish it from familiarity which is what you get from one of those Dummies type books. I would hope you could write code that solves problems, works and is reasonably clear, not that you can program well enough to work for Joel Spolsky. Sorry if I ruffled feathers. Volunteer to coach or assistant coach a kids sports team. Start, run and grow an ansprechbar community. Give a speech a week to local organizations. Write a regular newsletter or blog about an industry you care about. Learn a foreign language fluently. Write three detailed business plans for projects in the industry you care about. Self-publish a book. Run a marathon.While successfully completing everything on Godins list may take the same amount of time as an MBA program, youll still come out on the other end with a great resumeand no new student loans. Posted by Carolyn Wise, Vault Senior Education Editor