Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With John Challenger

Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The soft economy may be making the holidays tough on some of us. The unemployment rate is up, and extended jobless benefits for some will end on December 28. There is some help on the way, though. For two days after Christmas, job seekers will be able to get free advice. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the international outplacement consulting firm, is sponsoring a national job search call-in. The CEO of the firm, John Challenger, is in Chicago. He joins us now live to tell us about it. Mr. Challenger, thanks for being with us.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CEO, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Happy holidays, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: And to you as well. Let's go ahead and talk about this, because there may be a lot of people out there who want to know about this job search call-in. Who can take part and what services will you be offering on this call-in?

CHALLENGER: Anybody who's unemployed or in a job and worried about it and wants to talk about their job search in the new year can call in. We are offering free advice. We have consultants from all over the country, our outplacement consultants, to try and diagnose the person's issues, problems and give some quick answers.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. And we have the number on the screen right now. December 26 and 27 from 10:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, 312- 332-5790 is the number. So let me ask you, how things are looking into the new year? You have some people coming in toward the end of 2002 here asking for jobs. What are they telling you, what are you hearing about this situation?

CHALLENGER: It's not bleak out there, but it is very tough. That means you just cannot afford to relax if you're out of work looking for a job.

SAN MIGUEL: Are there any sectors that are offering even better prospects than others?

CHALLENGER: Sure. There are some strong areas. There is some hope in tech. We've seen tech spending go up for the first time now for two consecutive quarters on the part of businesses. Retail has been good in certain areas like discount, home shopping kinds of things, because the housing market continues to be very strong.

SAN MIGUEL: I'm hearing a lot -- I had a lot of folks -- well, not a lot, but I have some friends of mine who lost jobs over the last two years. They used that as an opportunity to go back and take some classes, or some of them went back to get master's and things like that. You said that you don't really recommend retraining for those who are in mid-career or downsizers. Why is that?

CHALLENGER: It's very costly because you go out of the market for a year, for two years. That's a lot of salary loss. Plus, you're paying for the school. Better, go find a job, take advantage of the tuition reimbursement that your new company might offer, or go at night.

SAN MIGUEL: For those also who just got laid off and they got a really good severance package out of the deal and they're thinking, well, I think I'm going to take a vacation, I've been under such stress about this situation in my job; I think I've earned this. Do you recommend that?

CHALLENGER: I don't. You can always take vacations. The search -- it goes back to that first point I made. It's not a time to relax. There's too many people out there competing, there is not that much job creation going on right now in the economy. You can't afford to take those two or three weeks off, a week off on a vacation because often, the momentum just stops in the search.

SAN MIGUEL: What if I've just gotten out of college, let's say, you know, a December graduate or something like that, should I go ahead and try to hit the job market or maybe get into a graduate program because the more training that you have, the more skills in certain areas that's supposed to make you more valuable as a job candidate?

CHALLENGER: No question, Renay. Every study shows that each new level of education that you attain going to graduate school and getting a master's degree is very important to lifelong earnings.

SAN MIGUEL: And any other advice you have for those who are going to be looking for a job with the beginning of the new year?

CHALLENGER: Don't stop right now in this holiday season. People often put it off thinking that businesses just aren't around, people aren't making decisions, but the beginning of the year is one of the strongest hiring periods, consistently year in and year out, and people come back and say, let's make this decision. So go out and see those people now, and start the ball rolling.

SAN MIGUEL: Don't give up and the new year offers new opportunities, as well. Let's go ahead and give that number one more time for the call-in from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The number is 312-332-5790, December 26 and 27, a couple of days after Christmas, from 10:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Mr. Challenger, thanks for joining us. We appreciate your time and your insight.

CHALLENGER: Thanks so much, Renay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The soft economy may be making the holidays tough on some of us. The unemployment rate is up, and extended jobless benefits for some will end on December 28. There is some help on the way, though. For two days after Christmas, job seekers will be able to get free advice. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the international outplacement consulting firm, is sponsoring a national job search call-in. The CEO of the firm, John Challenger, is in Chicago. He joins us now live to tell us about it. Mr. Challenger, thanks for being with us.
JOHN CHALLENGER, CEO, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Happy holidays, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: And to you as well. Let's go ahead and talk about this, because there may be a lot of people out there who want to know about this job search call-in. Who can take part and what services will you be offering on this call-in?

CHALLENGER: Anybody who's unemployed or in a job and worried about it and wants to talk about their job search in the new year can call in. We are offering free advice. We have consultants from all over the country, our outplacement consultants, to try and diagnose the person's issues, problems and give some quick answers.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. And we have the number on the screen right now. December 26 and 27 from 10:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, 312- 332-5790 is the number. So let me ask you, how things are looking into the new year? You have some people coming in toward the end of 2002 here asking for jobs. What are they telling you, what are you hearing about this situation?

CHALLENGER: It's not bleak out there, but it is very tough. That means you just cannot afford to relax if you're out of work looking for a job.

SAN MIGUEL: Are there any sectors that are offering even better prospects than others?

CHALLENGER: Sure. There are some strong areas. There is some hope in tech. We've seen tech spending go up for the first time now for two consecutive quarters on the part of businesses. Retail has been good in certain areas like discount, home shopping kinds of things, because the housing market continues to be very strong.

SAN MIGUEL: I'm hearing a lot -- I had a lot of folks -- well, not a lot, but I have some friends of mine who lost jobs over the last two years. They used that as an opportunity to go back and take some classes, or some of them went back to get master's and things like that. You said that you don't really recommend retraining for those who are in mid-career or downsizers. Why is that?

CHALLENGER: It's very costly because you go out of the market for a year, for two years. That's a lot of salary loss. Plus, you're paying for the school. Better, go find a job, take advantage of the tuition reimbursement that your new company might offer, or go at night.

SAN MIGUEL: For those also who just got laid off and they got a really good severance package out of the deal and they're thinking, well, I think I'm going to take a vacation, I've been under such stress about this situation in my job; I think I've earned this. Do you recommend that?

CHALLENGER: I don't. You can always take vacations. The search -- it goes back to that first point I made. It's not a time to relax. There's too many people out there competing, there is not that much job creation going on right now in the economy. You can't afford to take those two or three weeks off, a week off on a vacation because often, the momentum just stops in the search.

SAN MIGUEL: What if I've just gotten out of college, let's say, you know, a December graduate or something like that, should I go ahead and try to hit the job market or maybe get into a graduate program because the more training that you have, the more skills in certain areas that's supposed to make you more valuable as a job candidate?

CHALLENGER: No question, Renay. Every study shows that each new level of education that you attain going to graduate school and getting a master's degree is very important to lifelong earnings.

SAN MIGUEL: And any other advice you have for those who are going to be looking for a job with the beginning of the new year?

CHALLENGER: Don't stop right now in this holiday season. People often put it off thinking that businesses just aren't around, people aren't making decisions, but the beginning of the year is one of the strongest hiring periods, consistently year in and year out, and people come back and say, let's make this decision. So go out and see those people now, and start the ball rolling.

SAN MIGUEL: Don't give up and the new year offers new opportunities, as well. Let's go ahead and give that number one more time for the call-in from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The number is 312-332-5790, December 26 and 27, a couple of days after Christmas, from 10:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Mr. Challenger, thanks for joining us. We appreciate your time and your insight.

CHALLENGER: Thanks so much, Renay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com