A certain television station likes to pitch its programming with the slogan: “It’s not reality it’s actuality.” It’s an interesting statement, although a bit confusing – much like today’s job market.
The reality is if you read a variety of articles or talk to a group of “experts” you’ll actually get a broad range of opinions about the current state of the job market.
The National Association for Business Economics reported statistics indicating there has really only been a marginal increase in jobs due to the stimulus money. However, government reports have shown job losses have actually slowed throughout country for the past four quarters.
If we flip over to the recruiter community to look at the Recruiter Confidence Index, 53% of the industry is confident the job market is picking up. However, if you’re actually waiting for your phone to ring from a recruiter with a job offer, the reality is, you’ll be out of work for a very long time.
A 2009 ExecNet survey polling over 8,000 professionals provides an interesting perspective from the trenches.
- Only 5% of companies polled are still cutting back or have hiring freezes. Many “cut back too far”, with 14% adding positions and 57% looking to “trade up.” These numbers are actually up significantly from this time last year.
- Companies have taken their focus off of retention. The reality of this shift will be a different kind of bail-out with disgruntled employees “jumping ship” once the economy becomes more stable. The irony is that this turnover will place more of an emphasis back on retention making the job you land more stable.
- There are expanding industries. Healthcare and Clean/Green Technologies lead the pack in opportunity with Energy, Pharma/Med/Biotech and Environmental-related industries rounding out the top five.
So what does this really mean for you? What do you have to do to get employed – now?
Here are a few tips that actually work so you can too:
- Be positive and action oriented. Shake off the fear, dump the negative perceptions and get to work on your search. You’re still the same competent, skilled and experienced person you were when you had a job. So print up some business cards using your expertise as your title and start networking. You could be a handshake away from your next great success.
- Get comfortable as an expert. There is something you do really, really well and probably enjoy doing more then anything else. Run with it. Mrs. Fields was an expert in cookies. She was never nominated for the Nobel Prize but she made a big batch of money.
- Be relevant. No one cares what you’ve done for the past 20 years. Everyone cares about what you can deliver in today’s economy, industry and market. Tell them in simple, concise, personable language. Dump the jargon and be authentic,
- Be solution-oriented. Forget about the laundry list of responsibilities you’ve had. Talk in terms of bottom-line results. Be the “aspirin for their headache”.
- Be a master networker. There are no short cuts. This is still the best and fastest way to get employed. Create a profile on LinkedIn (www.linkedIn.com) and join some groups related to your expertise and interests. Interact with groups, associations and other industry experts you can become aligned with. Go to networking meetings each week and be actively engaged. Give and get business cards and follow up with the objective of building relationships. Offer assistance, provide value and make introductions. The more you give, the more you will receive. Remember, people help and hire others they know, like and trust and this takes time. So speed it up and whatever you’re currently doing – double your activity to reduce time in search.
- Be focused, proactive and strategic. Set objectives for each week and break them out to daily activities. Create a target list of companies where you’d like to work and network your way in. ExecuNet reported that 58% of hires last year were for existing positions. That means 42% were newly created jobs (otherwise known as the hidden job market) and landed by people who acted on this strategy.
- Be aligned with people and resources that can help you. Get a coach; create an advisory board of positive, connected peers; and build a strong diverse network and nurture long-term relationships.
- Be smart. Do your homework and conduct research so you can make fact-based decisions about your career to ensure you’re actually working with reality not hype. Just yesterday I actually met five people over 50 who had landed great jobs….really.
Share with me examples of you putting this to work and getting results. The rest of us want to know.
