Verizon Communication a leader in delivering broadband and wireline and wireless communication innovations has 1,288 open jobs to fill listed on their website as of today.  The company headquartered in New York generated $88 billion in revenue last year from 63.7M customers.  Its diverse workforce of nearly 242,000 people continues to grow as the company generates innovative products that allow them to expand their market share and grow their presence into new markets.  In 2006, people of color made up approximately 45% of the company’s workforce and 38% of the management team.

The company has won the following employer awards:

• Business Week named Verizon “One of the Best Places to Launch a Career”
• Working Mother named Verizon ” 100 Best Companies”
• Black Enterprise named Verizon as one of the “40 Best Companies for Diversity”
• Latina Style named Verizon as one of the country’s top 50 employers for Hispanic Women

Sampling of the open jobs as of January 22, 2008:

1. Account Manager/Senior Account Manager
2. Accounting
3. Accounting Manager
4. Administrative Assistant
5. Apprentice Telecom Technician
6. Application Developer
7. Assistant General Counsel
8. Audit
9. Avaya Technical Specialist
10. Benefits Specialist
11. Billing Analyst
12. Business Solutions Consultant
13. Business Analyst
14. Call Center Manager
15. Channel Manager
16. Cisco Network Engineer
17. Client Account Manager 
18. Client Executive
19. Client Service Manager
20. Conference Coordinator
21. Conference Sales Manager
22. Contracts Attorney
23. Corporate Account Manager
24. CPE Sales
25. CPE Specialist
26. Director, Real Estate
27. Director, Sales
28. Director, Security
29. Employee Communications
30. Engineers ( IP, LAN, International, Network)
31. Executive Assistant
32. External Affairs
33. Facility and Construction Engineer
34. Federal Sales Director
35. Financial Analyst
36. Government Sales
37. Health and Wellness Coordinator
38. Help Desk Analyst
39. Implementation Manager
40. Incident Problem Manager 
41. Inside Account Manager
42. Installation Technician
43. Interns, Student
44. Manager, Business Operations Support
45. Manager, Product Management
46. Manager, Sourcing (Purchasing) 
47. Manager, Tax
48. Marketing
49. Marketing Communications
50. Network Administrator
51. Pricing Analyst 
52. Project Managers
53. Product Development Managers
54. Program Managers
55. Relay Operators
56. Regional Sales Manager
57. Sales Engineer 
58. Sales Managers
59. Sales Support
60. Security Analyst
61. Security Engineer
62. Telecom Technician

The Mason City Council approved steps to hire two more officers to the existing police department of 41 officers.  The two new officers would allow the police department to have four officers on day on each shift.

Telecommunication equipment maker Tellabs Inc. announced that it will be shedding 225 more jobs to be added to the 125 job cuts that were announced in September.   These cuts are part of the company’s plan to saving $100 million annually as it increases profit margin and reduce operating expenses.

Nationwide Insurance intends to eliminate 190 jobs at its Gainesville office.  The jobs are in customer service operations in auto and home insurance.  Job help will be offered help with job searches.

The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit located in Washington, D.C., expects that about one-third of the federal government’s 2 million workers will retire or leave public service within five years.

This pilot program will start with the U.S. Department of Treasury which expects to have 14,000 key jobs open in the next two years.  About half are with the Internal Revenue Services. 

IBM Corp is pairing with the Partnership for Public Service to form an initiative to transition experienced employees to move onto new jobs with the federal government.  The pilot program will begin in July  and will focus on IBM retirees and employees nearing retirement.

General Electric intends to close its refrigerator plant in Bloomington, KY, which is northwest of Louisville.  The company indicates that the decision is not final and the Local 2249 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers could submit alternative proposals during a 60-day bargaining period.  An estimated 60 percent of current workers are eligible for retirement.  Other employees would receive medical, dental and other benefits for one year after the plant closes.

Sprint Nextel announced today that it intends to slash 4,000 jobs and cease operations at 125 retail stores to address slowdown in subscriber growth and revenue.  Sprint said it will also close 4,000 of its 20,000 third-party distribution points, such as stalls inside other consumer-electronics retailers. 

QLT announced it is restructing its North American operations and laying off 115 persons.  The company which makes the prostate cancer treatment Eligard, the Acne treatment Aczone and the drug delivery system Atrigel. 

The company will also sell it corporate headquarters in British Columbia and its USA unit.

Due to the continued housing slump, Lehman Brothers announced they would cease wholesale mortgage lending in the U.S.  This change will cause the company 1,300 jobs as it consolidates operation centers in California, Florida and New Jersey.  Most of the operations will be absorbed into is Aurora Loan Services Unit.

Lehman Brothers is the nation’s fourth largest investment bank.

Excerpts from American City Business Journals article dated 1/18/2008 

Chief executive officers earn substantially more money than anyone else in the private sector, according to a new bizjournals analysis of 323 occupations.

The typical CEO makes $240,903 per year, based on salary data collected from U.S. companies between December 2005 and January 2007.  That translates to $4,633 per week or $103.76 per hour.

Everyday workers are so far behind CEOs that they can only dream about six-figure salaries.  The average annual pay for all full-time employees in private industry is $40,553.   That is less than one-third of what the typical doctor makes - and one-sixth of what the average chief executive receives.

Bizjournals analysed earning for full-time employees throughout the private sector, using data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Ten jobs have average salaries of at least $100,000 per year, and another 88 jobs fall in the range of $50,000 to $99,999. 

Visit http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/142.html for the complete rankings 323 of the highest paying careers.