Getting your player ready...
Employers continued to slowly add jobs in 2012, with payrolls in the private sector increasing by nearly 1.6 million jobs through October. In September, the unemployment rate fell below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009.
However, the recovery is far from complete. There are still more than 12.2 million Americans who are unemployed. Another 6.5 million have stopped actively seeking employment but still want a job and more than 8 million are working part-time jobs because full-time ones are unavailable. While job cuts have slowed significantly, job growth remains frustratingly slow. Many job seekers have concluded that there are no opportunities and have abandoned the job search entirely. However, while it may seem as if no one is hiring, nothing could be further from the truth. In September alone, employers hired 4,185,000 new workers, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey. There were another 3,561,000 job openings at the end of the month. The impact of this is somewhat offset by the fact that total separations (including voluntary and involuntary) totaled 4,024,000 in September. It is important to remember that the employment market is a fluid environment – it is constantly changing. There are jobs out there. Here are tips for those in trying to weather the employment storm. Importance of networking. Simply posting resumés on Internet job sites and answering classified ads rarely work, even in a good job market. It is critical that job seekers expand their job search through networking. Job seekers may also want to consider expanding their parameters to include a wide variety of industries, companies and cities. Don’t rule out struggling companies, as they are looking for talent that can help turn the business around. Advertise your job loss. If knowing the right people helps to get your foot in the door, then it is essential that the right people know you are seeking a job. An unfortunate obstacle to job search success is pride. Too often people are embarrassed to tell anyone about their job loss, but this secrecy will not provide job leads. Talk to former co-workers and even casual business acquaintances you may have dealt with in your position. Share your plight with people at your house of worship. Electronic mail has made staying in touch with contacts faster and easier, but face-to-face meeting remains the most powerful and effective way to communicate your skills, experience and qualifications as well as obtain the most useful help from your contact. Obtaining interviews. Once you have created a list of contacts and job leads, the next step is to begin making phone calls to arrange interviews. In each call, your goal is to contact an “action person,” someone who can see you and then offer you a job.
