If you're now diligently looking for work, still looking for work or are working, yet want to keep a network alive, there’re some facts you need to know about today’s job market. Yes, the language is horribly cliché, today’s job market, yet it really is changing all the time. Columnist Richard Friedman says of today's employment inequities, "This is not your parents' job market."
The experts tell us so while sharing bottom line employment search tips about how to get hired. It absolutely reflects employment hiring shifts and new skills required for new jobs in a new era. According to the most recent number by the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment stands at 7.2 %. This translates as 12 million Americans looking for work.
What still are some of the best practices for an employment search? Here, not tips from a labor expert, but simple ones gathered from research, first and second hand experience:
- Know who you are, what you can do and what you need to learn
Don’t waste time with being something you’re not. If you're making a career transition, let the potential employer know in your resume or in an interview. Always sell your best work experience, actually talking about your successes and also about what you find challenging. A new job is as much about what you know and have done as well what you’ll have to learn to do.
- Reaffirm that new learning is a value
Because you're confident but still learning, express to a potential employer that you look forward to learning more about a new job, including what you’ll learn from a team. Companies know that employees who are continually learning in today's climate offer better job results.
- Regularly read the tips of an employment expert that you trust
If you discover job expert tips that you like and makes sense, adopt and apply them. Because there’s so much information online, so many experts with something to say, why do crazy-making with your valuable time. Too much of a good thing can be confusing and non-productive.
- Be sincere and connect with a human network often
Remember, that before and in spite of social media, it's only a tool. It doesn't replace connection with real humans that can see and hear you—listen to your story, gather details about you that’s more telling than anything you post on a social media site. And, social media matters, but what matters most is when real human connections follow from it.
- Record your search and meet with people that can really help
Keeping a journal of your search for inspiration on days when you need it and practically for retracing people and results is useful. Also, remember to chat and or make coffee time for people who sincerely want to help you in your search. False leads can be frustrating!
- Develop the patience of stone
Because of the unpredictability of hiring as a result of the near economic depression, the fact is, there’s a long road ahead before a full recovery of the job market. Many companies are not hiring and some jobs just don’t exist anymore. Remember to evaluate your skill set ruthlessly. If re-training is needed, don’t waste time.
- Know something about how companies work
There’s something to be said for searching out employment recruitment companies not just for persons looking for work, but for where companies go to post jobs that have a good reputation and good numbers for actual placements of jobs posted by employers. It seems to make sense. Who companies hire to do their hiring is a good indication of company culture and perhaps offers ideas on how to connect with a human on the inside about getting hired.
For a quick orientation of one such company that recruits employees for companies and shows what many companies are now opting for to keep up with the demand of new applicants, check out the company Hiring Thing. There’s an orientation video on the site for companies interested in their service. Again, knowing how companies work can be important to your job search. As Hiring Thing has as its company motto: We make finding great employees, faster and easier. Surely the motto speaks of a company that’s looking for efficiency and relaxed employee confidence.
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