It’s 2012 – What’s the Outlook?

It feels to me that we’ve been through the worst of the battle. I heard the other day that it’s a recession when your neighbor is unemployed, and a depression when you are unemployed. However, it feels like the sun is starting to shine a little more broadly. My friend, Kay, who was looking for a job for 10 months recently landed a great HR position. We toasted her success at dinner. Among our group of 10 friends, we had two hiring gains and no losses. (A gain of 20%.)

Julia Mira sent me the Manpower employment outlook, and the country expects 6-10% hiring gains depending on region. The West was the lowest at 6%, but any gain is welcome news.

The NCPA outlook for 2012 is also sunny. This year, we changed from individual and corporate memberships to simply individual memberships. As I write this, I realize I haven’t renewed my membership under my new employer. I challenge any other later-comers to do the same. We will have our membership results soon, and hoping for an uptick.

At the NCPA Holiday party, we had an amazing turn-out at 110 participants. Please see the video of the event at NCPA 2011 Holiday Party. Each month, we have a stable group of people attend our lunch, which reflects positively on our balance sheet. In fact, our financial health is the best it’s been in the last 10 years. This is an amazing feat, considering we have passed through a long recession or depression (depending on your circumstance).