Content about Employment
SAN FRANCISCO — In a case that affects thousands of businesses and millions of workers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers are under no obligation to ensure that workers take legally mandated lunch breaks.
The unanimous opinion came after workers’ attorneys argued that abuses are routine and widespread when companies aren’t required to issue direct orders to take the breaks. They claimed employers take advantage of workers who don’t want to leave colleagues during busy times.
John Doe is a successful engineering student in his final year of school. Armed with a 4.0 GPA, numerous academic awards and a long list of professional experience, Doe is primed to enter the job hunt. He has no shortage of suitors and receives an interview request from a top technology company. With his impressive resume and interview skills, Doe is virtually assured of securing his dream job.
Tucked inside 21st and Guadalupe streets, underneath a group of trees and passed by hundreds, if not thousands of students a day stands a building seven stories high made of grey concrete and with few windows. The building, the Harry Ransom Center, appears enigmatic and imposing, impenetrable to the average student.
Each spring, students flood to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial stadium, resumes in hand and wearing their most impressive business wear for internship and career fairs that offer a last chance to secure a summer or fall internship before the school year ends.
If you are graduating from college in May, there is one thing on your mind: life post-graduation. More than ten years ago, graduating with a college degree was sure to give you an edge in the work force. A high GPA was thought of as a plus and almost your golden ticket to a post-graduation job. However, despite the honor of being a Longhorn and graduating with a 4.0 GPA, these things will only get you so far in today's job market.
What sets students apart from their peers in the current seemingly impenetrable job market? The answer is internships.
Professionals in crisp suits with BlackBerrys to their ears hurried along Wall Street, fueling that distinguished adrenaline of go-go-go, cutthroat competition and ingenuity. Blocks away, in a cramped lot across the World Trade Center memorial, a group of NYU students camp out for Occupy Wall Street, telling tourists they are protesting in hopes of entering a better workforce when they graduate.
ATLANTA — Republican candidate Newt Gingrich is decrying media coverage of the sexual harassment claims against rival Herman Cain and says that Cain’s tax plans deserve more attention.
Gingrich has told WSB radio in Atlanta on Wednesday that he thinks it’s “disgusting” that the news media has started what Gingrich described as a “witch hunt” against Cain. It was revealed this week that Cain’s former employer, the National Restaurant Association, settled in the 1990s with two women who claimed that Cain had sexually harassed them.
Americans who are unafraid to expose known dangers of certain industries are traveling with the Government Accountability Project to share their stories.
GAP speakers are participating in an American Whistleblower Tour, which aims to raise awareness about the importance of whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are people who observe serious wrongdoing and disclose the information. One large-scale whistleblower case is that of UT alumna Sherron Watkins, who helped reveal the Enron accounting scandals.
In her revealing memoir, “Suits: A Woman on Wall Street,” Nina Godiwalla describes the cost of being different in a fast-paced, white male-dominated society powered by a thirst for power and money. From day one of her undergraduate internship at J.P. Morgan, Godiwalla was an outsider. As a woman, a UT student and the daughter of two Indian immigrants, she was a cultural anomaly among the white, affluent, Harvard Business School types on Wall Street.
“As soon as you find a job, look for your next job.”
Every campaign needs a premise. For Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry, the premise is the “Texas Miracle” — the idea that Texas is dodging the “Great Recession” because of his unparalleled leadership. For all his braggadocio about keeping Texans employed, Perry can’t hide behind the tough statistics released by the Census Bureau this week.
Students donned ties and trousers and polished their resumes for the fall 2011 Natural Sciences Career Expo at the Frank Erwin Center on Monday. Inside, a wide range of employers, from small start-up companies to Facebook, Chevron, Apple and Microsoft, waited for job-seeking students.
“It’s really important to get practice interviewing with recruiters,” said Eric Uniacke of Chevron. “Students can really benefit from that.”
Director and filmmaker Richard Linklater and artist Mika Tajima contended that slackers aren’t apathetic or lazy, but are instead driven by a unique ideology that emphasizes enjoying life. They discussed their views on slackers at a program presented Tuesday by the Blanton Museum of Art and the UT Visual Arts Center.
WASHINGTON — The dismal U.S. job market, which has intensified fears of another recession, may be even worse than the unemployment numbers suggest.
The shockwaves from the Labor Department report on Friday that employers stopped hiring in August have rippled around the world, sparking a steep retreat in Asian stock markets. The lack of hiring in the U.S. last month surprised investors — economists were expecting 93,000 jobs to be added. Previously reported hiring figures for June and July were revised lower.
UT students will join the Longhorn Network’s production team through five paid internships before the network’s Aug. 26 launch.
The University’s 20-year agreement with ESPN to broadcast exclusive coverage of UT athletic and academic events will bring $300 million to the University and its licensing and marketing firm. For the first five years of the contract, the University has committed half of its $10 million annual payment from ESPN to academic initiatives including two endowed chairs announced by President William Powers Jr. last spring.
OK, so you read the story about the latest round of layoffs at Gannett and it makes you wonder why you would ever want to pursue a career in journalism. The economy keeps stumbling along, no one has figured out how to make a lot money with news websites and the forecast remains cloudy, at best.
The UT System Board of Regents will now require all student employees at UT to go through a criminal background check, according to an email sent to the Human Resources Department last week.
The departments that hire student employees will cover the cost of background checks, University Operations spokeswoman Cynthia Posey said.
UT has between 7,000 and 10,000 student employees, and the process will cost $4 for every person who has not gone through a criminal background check, she said.
It’s Friday night, and Alex Ramirez sits in the gallery of the Texas House, overlooking the 150 members who debate back and forth across two podiums in the center of the chamber.
As a Texas Capitol intern, he feels a part of history in the making as lawmakers battle to balance a state budget shortfall between $15 billion and $27 billion.
The UT finance junior watched the culmination of months of research and long hours at the Capitol as the House passed its version of the 2012-2013 budget earlier this month.
Whether it’s to purchase groceries out of necessity or a Tyler’s sweater out of indulgence, most Longhorns know what it’s like to cringe when reaching for their credit card. We are, after all, college kids, renowned for the financial desperation epitomized by meals of ramen noodles and wardrobes full of free T-shirts. This “college student” label, however indicative of limited financial means it may be, is our ticket to a more affluent future.
Despite the nation’s high unemployment rate, University graduates’ job prospects are improving, career service administrators said. Outside companies posted 51 percent more jobs University-wide in 2010 than they did last year.
Business sophomore Nathan Myers interviewed with Home Depot for an internship last year. Their mock interviews helped him prepare. Though he did not get the Home Depot internship, Myers said company recruiters constantly come to the Red McCombs School of Business to interview students for internships or jobs.
Editor’s Note: Portions of interviews in this story were translated from Spanish.
Felix Jimenez, an immigrant from Vera Cruz, Mexico, worked for an Austin roofing company for one year without receiving any pay.
He and his wife, Brenda, sought the help of the Workers Defense Project to negotiate with the company to get earnings. Within a year, Jimenez obtained his wages, and he and his wife began working to help other families.
Staff Council passed a resolution on Thursday calling for Human Resource Services to provide comprehensive, easy-to-access information about the layoff process in response to repeated complaints of anxiety and confusion.
