Talent Talk: PlasticsToday’s Weekly Jobs and Business Blog 767

I am left instead with topics related to general business conditions as they affect the plastics labor markets, managing your career, and hiring good people. The plastics industry is still putting bread on the table for nearly a million people in the U.S., and that's actually pretty exciting stuff for me.

So I'm looking forward to the coming months, and I have a list of topics I'd like to discuss, including "resume killers", "quit telling kids to study what they love", interviews with industry executives from companies who are hiring now, and some who will be ramping up in 2012.

I would appreciate your help; it will only take a few seconds. Give me some ideas as to what topics you would like to see covered. What have you always wanted to know from a headhunter, but were afraid to ask? (We don't shrink the heads; that is a totally different industry.)

The question I get asked the most is how does my business even exist with unemployment over 9%? It's an interesting dynamic that we've touched on, but can get more in-depth if you'd like. You might be interested in knowing how the unemployment rate is calculated, since I brought that up. Monty Python might suggest it is published by the Ministry of Silly Numbers, but it's actually worse than that.

So the point is, please take 30 seconds right now and let me know a topic or two you'd be interested in reading about. I know most of you e-mail me directly and that is fine, but if you post a comment below maybe that will spur additional thought.

About the author: Paul Sturgeon is business manager with KLA Industries based in Cincinnati, OH, an executive search firm specializing in plastics and polymer technology. If you have a topic you'd like to see discussed, a company that is growing, or other ideas for his blog, e-mail Paul at [email protected].