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Initial claims for jobless benefits dropped by 10,000 last week. The ADP National Employment Report said nonfarm private employment increased 55,000 in May. The report also upped the April numbers from the initial 32,000 jobs added to 65,000. The Monster Employment Index rose — only by a point — but it did rise. And the U.S. Census Bureau said new orders for manufactured goods rose again in April.

Heartening, if not full-speed-ahead news? That would seem a reasonable conclusion, except on Wall Street where traders behaved as if the news should have been better. On the initial enthusiasm, the Dow rose quickly, only to give back all the early gains and drop 57 points by lunchtime.

Nevertheless, tomorrow’s jobs numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the most anticipated of the monthly labor reports. Economists expect the report will show somewhere around 513,000 jobs were added in May. Most of the jobs — somewhat more than 300,000 is the estimate — are likely to be temporary workers hired by the Census Bureau. keep reading…

Good news is expected from three employment reports out this week. The key report will come Friday, an hour before the New York Stock Exchange opens, but already optimism about the number of jobs created in May seems to be the rule on Wall Street.

No less than the President himself said the employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would not only be positive, but strongly so. “We expect to see strong jobs growth in Friday’s report,” Obama said in a speech in Pittsburgh today. “This economy is getting stronger by the day.” keep reading…

As the last strains of Pomp and Circumstance played out over college quads and athletic fields these last few weeks, more than a few of the new graduates had to be wondering: What next?

A survey of graduating seniors found only a quarter of those in the Class of 2010 who applied for a job had one waiting. Conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, this year’s results, certainly discouraging if you’re one of the grads or a parent, are an improvement over 2009, when only 19.7 percent had jobs waiting.

The ever-so-slowly improving economy is one reason for the better numbers. Another is savvier job hunting. “A greater number of Class of 2010 graduates accepted the jobs they were offered,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. Last year, 45 percent of the students offered jobs accepted them; this year the acceptance rate rose to 59 percent. keep reading…

Hope your Memorial Day was a good one. We’re still waiting for the official start to summer here in Portland but that doesn’t mean we can’t give you some of the great things posted recently.

Here’s what’s going on in the ERE community this week:

1. Top Three Concerns of Recruiters Using Twitter (Resolved)
2. Don’t Forget Complex “Boolean strings” Just Yet
3. Indeed.com — Finally Playing with the Big Boys
4. On The Beach and Out of Home
5. Stop Looking for the Silver Bullet
6. Why Won’t You Hire Me? Part 3 – It’s a Gamble

1. Top Three Concerns of Recruiters Using Twitter (Resolved)

Ali Webster posts an interesting piece on the common concerns among recruiters using Twitter. She says, “A few weeks ago, I held a roundtable discussion with recruiters on their opinions of and experience with social media sites. Mentioning LinkedIn elicited a positive response and Facebook stimulated a robust discussion about balancing their personal and professional lives. When I brought up Twitter, one of the recruiters responded “eh…” and another shrugged her shoulders (sigh).”

Read through to see her top three concerns and how she resolves them.

keep reading…