No matter how stable your work environment is at one time or another you’ve considered looking for a new job. Unfortunately, with the US economy in the state of near depression and jobless rate the highest they’ve been in many decades you are probably content sitting tight where you are. On the other hand if your employer is considering tightening the company’s belt you may soon have little choice but to pound the pavement.
- What has your experience been like?
- Are you currently searching for a job?
- Have you ever been unemployed?
- Are you having trouble finding qualified workers?
I can tell you from personal experience as well as the collective experience of many of my close associates this is not a good time to be on the street searching for a new job. The game has changed dramatically, evolving in ways you probably can not imagine. Many conservative people feel that if you are good at what you do then you will have little trouble finding a new role, however; they often overlook the obvious.
Many prospective employers want to hire the best but only pay for the middle tier. When they interview a high caliber prospect they will often pass this person over because they assume these individuals are too expensive to hire. In addition because of the high unemployment numbers prospective employers are more likely to wait hoping for the mythical perfect candidate.
All this while the US government does little more than encourage people to return to school ultimately over educating themselves out of the possibility of useful let alone meaningful employment. It is a great travesty to have recent graduates holding a BA in archeology stocking shelves at Toys-R-Us or flipping burgers at McDonalds. How will these individuals ever hope to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans if they can not even attain meaningful employment?
All of this negativity aside let’s consider how the game has actually changed. For one we have LinkedIn and if you do not have a profile already I can only ask what the hell are you thinking? Do you honestly think that your Facebook profile will help you land that dream Actuary job? To be honest in the search for new gainful employment Facebook is the last stone you should look under.
If you are a coder you should seriously consider publishing some of your work on github and stackoverflow because employers do not just want to see your resume’ and cover letter. They want proof that you can write top notch applications. Once again if you are on LinkedIn you can add many of these elements to enhance your professional profile.
If you are a presenter or public speaker you might consider setting up a account on you-tube or slideshare so that you can have examples of your skill at the ready when asked. Obviously you do not want to give all of your secrets but you certainly need to show case your ability.
This is definitely not your fathers’ job search. Times have changed drastically since the days of the onion paper heavy bonded resume. No longer is it even necessary to bring pre-printed copies to your interview. In fact times have changed so much that a printed copy of your resume is actually frowned upon by many new media and tech companies as a wasteful practice. Coupled with the ability to apply for jobs using your LinkedIn profile the resume is fast becoming a tool of the dinosaur.
No the resume is far from dead but as our lives become more digitally enhanced it will not be long for this world at the rate things are progressing. It is unfortunate that there does not seem to be a major competitor to LinkedIn in this arena, however; the use of customized applicant tracking tools like taleo, jobvite, and icims appear to be dwindling. While these systems are a boon for HR and recruiting they are nothing short of a miserable experience for the job seeker.
If you are looking for a job in technology or new media I can not encourage you enough to follow my twitter stream. I am contacted all the time by recruiters and associate asking for connections and recommendations for positions. If you are on LinkedIn then feel free to connect to me as I might know someone you are looking for or someone looking to hire you. I am big on making introductions and often take time to connect people that I think could work well together. Finally, I regularly post tweets of NYC startups that have open listings. I do not always have time to cull through these listings and break out individual positions but I do check to see if they are current.
The comment field is open let’s hear what you have to say.
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- More Veterans job services (jafdip.com)
- My social network is better than yours (jafdip.com)
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