If you're unemployed, you know how hard it is to find a job. Not just because many people are vying for the same one, but because companies are able to say they won't hire someone who currently doesn't have a job.
More than a dozen states are looking at legislation that would make it illegal for companies to refuse to hire the unemployed.
States including Connecticut, California and Colorado are considering various sorts of bills. One would ban advertisements that mandate candidates be employed while others would allow job candidates who don't snag the position to sue businesses for discrimination.
Since December 2009, six months after economists declared an end to the recession, the percentage of long-term unemployed, or those looking for work for more than six months, has stayed above 40%. The longer one is unemployed, the harder it is to get a job.
The new measures may also encourage companies in other states to revisit their hiring rules. (WSJ)
Hiring Ahead (Triangle Business Journal)
PNC Bank has hired 100 employees of RBC Bank USA, the bank it just bought in North Carolina.
Jimmy Neissa, UBS's joint global head of investment banking, is departing the firm. Samuel Molinaro Jr., formerly Bear Stearns' chief financial officer, is coming aboard.
What a difference eight months makes. Last July, Canadian banks seemed to be immune from the weak economic crisis engulfing the rest of the world. Now, Bank of Montreal is cutting 60 positions in its capital markets group.
Knight Capital Group has brought on former MF Global employees and plans to hire several more salespeople in the next three months.
Oh Captain My Captain (Poets & Quants)
You can find heroes in the most unlikely of places: business school.
Some airlines are introducing services that would allow you to choose your seatmate on a flight. Instead of zoning out on your iPod, choose someone in an industry you want to be in and be ready to pick their brain.
Buzz Around the Office
Check Please (YouTube)
A cat calls for the waiter.
List of the Day: Watch Out for Tricks
Some employers may try to trick you during the interview process. Weigh carefully before responding to these.
1. Why have you been out of work so long?
2. What bugs you about coworkers or bosses?
3. Where do you really want to work?
(Source: Forbes)
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