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For many years, college has been seen as the path to a brighter future. That mantra still applies, but since the onset of the recent recession, it comes with more qualifiers. According to the College Board, students attending public schools are typically leaving college with over $20,000 in debt. Those who choose to splurge on a private college are stuck with over $40,000 to pay back. If those numbers seem hard to wrap your head around before graduation, they’ll seem especially staggering when you start getting the bills.

College debt is a very big issue that should be taken into consideration when you’re planning your future, but it doesn’t need to be a deterrent for getting a college education. Even though the job market for graduates is competitive, it’s still better for those with a college education than it is for those without. You can increase your odds considerably by thinking carefully about the decisions you make in college that will help you find profitable work once you finish.

With 2011 upon us, a lot of companies are thinking through how they will be growing for the new year. One thing that comes up repeatedly is the increased need for technical talent.

An article in Bloomberg Businessweek that came out recently discusses the growth in hiring for U.S. tech jobs over the past year. The trend is tied in deeply with increased global demand for tech products, as well as a desire for companies to realize cost savings through greater technological innovation.

The election results are in and a Republican wave of gains were picked up in congressional, gubernatorial and legislative races. What does this mean for the labor market?

Over the years it has been important to follow trends in the workforce. It makes us think, predict, analyze and make decisions on how we will conduct our business. Recently I found an article that was published by Workforce Management in 2003 giving us a fast forward of 25 trends that would change the way we would do business. As you will read all the experts, universities, government, futurists or research groups did a very poor job. I clearly remember the report that came out in 2003 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under item 13 in this article, increasing the civilian labor force by 17 million by 2010.

In recent news, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), issued a memo last January that said that these IT staffing firms weren't the real employers of foreign workers and, thus, couldn't use the H1-B visa. This has strong implications for the staffing industry which relies heavily on foreign talent to fill certain job classifications.

The recession may well be causing a perception disconnect between employers and their
workforce, according to new research from Monster.com and Human Capital Institute*. The study reveals a dramatic difference in how employers and workers perceive the impact of the current recession, potentially leading to employers facing mass talent drains as the labor market begins to turn. Furthermore, employers are vastly overrating the morale of their employees with 84% of those surveyed believing that their workforce is content to simply have a job while only 58% of workers actually feel that way.

The job of a talent agent includes marketing and promoting various people that have specific talents in acting, modeling or both. Many talent agents work exclusively with actors or actresses, while others work with models of different ages or may focus on just children or just adults. A talent agent works closely with the talent to help them learn the various skills needed to land the job that they are auditioning for. This means that the talent agent should have a good background in the type of career the talent is interested in pursuing.