The Layoff Kings: The 25 Companies Responsible for 700,000 Lost Jobs
Between December 2007 (when the recession officially began) and last month, more than 8 million Americans have lost their jobs, according to the government. Of those job losses, 700,000 stem from layoffs at just 25 companies, according to 24/7 Wall Street’s analysis of data from employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Here is the list:
1. General Motors
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 107,357
2. Citigroup
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 73,056
3. Hewlett-Packard
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 47,540
4. Circuit City Stores
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 41,495
5. Merrill Lynch
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 40,650
6. Verizon Wireless
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 39,000
7. Pfizer
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 31,771
8. Merck & Co.
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 24,400
9. Lehman Brothers
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 23,340
10. Caterpillar
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 23,024
11. JPMorgan Chase
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 22,852
12. Starbucks
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 21,316
13. AT&T
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 18,401
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 17,655
15. Dow Chemical
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 17,530
16. DuPont
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 17,000
17. Berkshire Hathaway
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 16,900
18. Ford Motor
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 15,912
19. KB Toys
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 15,100
20. United States Postal Service
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 15,000
21. DHL Express USA
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 14,900
22. Sprint Nextel
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 14,500
23. Sun Microsystems
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 14,000
24. Boeing
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 13,715
25. Chrysler
Number of jobs cut since recession began: 13,672
source: dailyfinance
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In: Business Stories · Tagged with: Alcoa, Berkshire Hathaway, Circuit City, Circuit City Stores, Dhl Express, Dow Chemical, Employment Consulting, Ford Motor, Job Layoffs, Jpmorgan Chase, Kb Toys, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Recession, Sprint Nextel, States Postal Service, Sun Microsystems, United States Postal Service, Usa Number, Verizon Wireless
Interview Questions You Can Ask
By Ford R. Myers President, Career Potential, LLC
The most important questions of your interviews might be the ones you ask. In the interview, don’t think you’re the only one who is “on the spot.” It is perfectly acceptable for you to ask questions of the interviewer and to take notes throughout the meeting (which will help you to formulate your questions). When an interviewer asks, “So, do you have any questions for me?” the worst thing you could possibly say is “Nope.” In some cases, you’ll be judged more on the questions you’re asking than the answers you’re giving.
After all, you might wind-up working for this individual, so it’s important for you to find out as much as you can about how he or she works, thinks, and communicates. Additionally, asking smart questions will help you sound like an articulate, savvy business professional. You’ll seem well-prepared and genuinely interested in working for the organization.
Take a look at these questions that you can ask the interviewer, and then feel free to come-up with even more of your own:
(1) Can you give me more detail about the position’s responsibilities?
(2) Where do you see this position going in the next few years?
(3) What are two or three significant things you would want me to accomplish in my first few months?
(4) How often has this position been filled in the past two to five years?
(5) What would you like done differently by the next person who fills this position?
(6) How can I most quickly become a strong contributor within the organization?
(7) How will my performance be evaluated, and at what frequency?
(8) What are the most challenging aspects of the job for which I am being considered?
(9) How are loyalty and hard work rewarded at this organization?
(10) How would you define or describe your own management style?
(11) What are the strengths and weaknesses of my prospective subordinates, as you see them?
(12) With whom will I be interacting most frequently, and what are their responsibilities? What will be the nature of our interaction?
(13) What would the limits of my authority and responsibility be?
(14) What particular things about my background, experience, and style interest you?
(15) What makes you think I’ll be successful? What causes you concern about my candidacy?
(16) What freedom would I have to act and what budget would be available to me for: (a) changes in staffing, promotion, salary increases; (b) use of consultants, requesting or purchasing software and hardware systems, capital for new ideas and approaches; (c) changes within my area regarding policies, procedures, practices, performance, and expectations?
(17) How do you like your people to communicate with you? (verbally, in writing, informally, in meetings, by phone, voicemail, e-mail, only when necessary?)
(18) What are some of your longer-term objectives?
(19) Why did you join this company? Why have you stayed?
(20) Now that we’ve had a chance to talk, how does my background measure-up to the requirements of the job? To the other candidates?
(21) Am I being seriously considered for this position?
(22) Where are you in the process? What’s our next step?
(23) If I don’t hear from you within (time period), would it be okay to call you?
Prepare thoroughly for your interviews by studying and practicing both your answers and your questions. The time you invest in this process will definitely pay-off with more – and better – job offers!
Copyright © 2010, Career Potential, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Ford R. Myers, a nationally-known Career Expert and author of “Get The Job You Want, Even When No One’s Hiring.”
For information about career services and products, visit www.careerpotential.com and www.fordmyers.com.
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In: Job Search Advice · Tagged with: Contributor, Ford, Interview Don, Interview Questions, Interviewer, Interviews, job, Loyalty, Management Style, Savvy Business, Significant Things, Smart Questions, Strengths And Weaknesses, Subordinates
The 20 Most Outrageous CEO Parachutes
$35 million for bogus expense reports? Mark Hurd’s H-P payoff was just another routine day in the life of corporate America. How his parachute stacks up against 20 all-time malfeasants.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd may be hurting from the media swirl around his alleged relationship with a contractor and false expense reports, but his wallet will stay fat thanks to a severance package valued at $34.6 million in cash and stock.
And how’s the man Hurd succeeded as America’s favorite entitlement whipping boy, BP CEO Tony Hayward? He was exiled to Siberia and will leave his post in October—but not without a severance and pension package reportedly worth $17 million.
But Hurd and Hayward are hardly the best-paid paragons of corporate misfires. The Daily Beast inspected news reports and Securities & Exchange Commission filings spanning more than 25 years to find the 20 titans of industry who, despite very public professional failings, walked away with tens, even hundreds of millions in cash and stock.
To come up with our list of 20, we separated the leaders of industry into two groups—those who resigned or were fired under the taint of ethics scandals, and those who left because of professional failings. We then combined the 10 highest paid from each group—reflecting the total value of the exit packages—into our final list of 20.
#1, Michael Eisner
Company: Disney
Total Value of Severance Package: $220 million
#2, Henry McKinnell
Company: Pfizer
Total Value of Severance Package: $213 million
#3, Robert Nardelli
Company: Home Depot
Total Value of Severance Package: $210 million
#4, Bruce Karatz
Company: KB Homes
Total Value of Severance Package: $175 million
#5, Stanley O’Neal
Company: Merrill Lynch
Total Value of Severance Package: $161.5 million
#6, William McGuire
Company: UnitedHealth
Total Value of Severance Package: $161 million
#7, Franklin Raines / Fannie Mae
Company: Fannie Mae
Total Value of Severance Package: $148 million
#8, Michael Ovitz
Company: Disney
Total Value of Severance Package: $140 million
#9, Douglas Ivester
Company: Coca-Cola
Total Value of Severance Package: $120 million
#10, Philip Purcell
Company: Morgan Stanley
Total Value of Severance Package: $113 million
#11, Kenneth Lay
Company: Enron
Total Value of Severance Package: $81 million
#12, Steve Hilbert
Company: Conseco
Total Value of Severance Package: $72 million
#13, Frank Newman
Company: Bankers Trust
Total Value of Severance Package: $55 million
#14, Mark H. Swartz
Company: Tyco
Total Value of Severance Package: $45 million
#15, Kerry Killinger
Company: Washington Mutual
Total Value of Severance Package: $44 million
#16, Angelo Mozilo
Company: Countrywide
Total Value of Severance Package: $44 million
#17, Harry Stonecipher
Company: Boeing
Total Value of Severance Package: $44 million
#18, Carly Fiorina
Company: Hewlett-Packard
Total Value of Severance Package: $40 million
#19, Mark Hurd
Company: Hewlett-Packard
Total Value of Severance Package: $35 million
#20, Martin Sullivan
Company: AIG
Total Value of Severance Package: $19 million
source: TheDailyBeast
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In: Business Stories · Tagged with: Bp Ceo, Bruce Karatz, Ceo Mark, Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, Henry Mckinnell, Home Depot, Mark Hurd, Merrill Lynch, Michael Eisner, O Neal, Parachutes, Paragons, Robert Nardelli, Routine Day, Severance Package, Total Value, Unitedhealth, Whipping Boy, William Mcguire