Where are the jobs?

Over the past few months more and more people throughout the Greater Orlando area have been writing in with one basic question: “Where are the jobs?” Though there are no job-warehouses impatiently waiting for your application, rest assured, companies ARE hiring.

Unfortunately for most, jobs are NOT growing on a tree where all you have to do is pluck the one you want as you passively stroll on by. Taking a passive approach does not do you or your career success a favor.

For the record, I consider an individual putting in less than four hours a day pursuing for a job to be taking a passive approach. How about a quick survey of sorts, raise your hand if the following refers to you: I spend less than two hours a day on my career campaign? If you raised your hand, congratulations as your complacency will allow you take advantage of unemployment longer than your aggressive counterpart… do you feel lucky!

As many career management studies indicate, most people undergoing a career transition spends an average of 3.5 hours daily looking for employment.

After looking at this morning’s job classified in the Orlando Sentinel, I came away quite under-whelmed as the amount of jobs were an embarrassment… so glad President Obama’s job stimulus program is working the same way most politicians work… not at all (oops, did I say that out loud?).

Despite political efforts to dampen the field, companies are hiring. For those living under a rock, companies skipped rope and have jumped away from the traditional method of newspapers to another medium. So, where are jobs to be found?

Did you know: The top career management associations in the United States suggest that only 20% to 30% of all job openings are listed traditionally; meaning that 70% to 80% of all jobs are not advertised!

The above statistic is bad news for the passive job seeker but GREAT news for the aggressive job seeker. The aggressive job seeker works at finding work six to eight hours daily and is finding payday (on average) four to six months quicker than the second-handers (any Ayn Rand fans out there?).

If job listings are not advertised, why did they leave and where are they?

Let’s tackle the first question first and understand why companies turned away from traditional advertising. Though the main reason is obvious, I’ll say it anyway: MONEY. The cost of print advertising has skyrocketed to the point of absurdity (even more than the price of gas—go figure).

In addition to the increased cost factor, demographics come into play. Newspapers cater to a limited area and to a limited audience. In order for companies to be competitive, they must attract and keep cutting-edge employees from across the globe. No longer is a village good enough (sorry Hillary, this is not child-rearing); companies on the move reach across village lines, state lines, and country lines to gain their competitive advantage.

With cost high and reach low, companies are taking advantage of low-cost methods to attract high quality candidates via two main avenues (both of which reside under the networking umbrella):

* Employee referrals: Companies enjoy this method of finding quality hires as it is cost effective while empowering current workers who now play an active role in the hiring process.

* Digital networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have become the number one place for companies to secure help.

How does the shift from traditional advertising to a digital and employee referral system affect you? To be blunt, if you want to find your perfect job, networking is the key though you must maximize your efforts. Not to worry, we’ll review networking techniques as well as some of the do’s and don’ts in upcoming articles.

No doubt about it: In this day and age, an online presence is important. In fact, in some professions, not having an online presence is an immediate disqualifier.

Think about the suspicion: If the hiring manager enters a name in a search engine and nothing comes up, he or she may wonder several things:

     *  Why doesn’t their name show up?
     *  Are they behind on the latest trends?
     *  Do they not know how to use the Internet to its fullest?
     *  What are they trying to hide?

Time to draw a line between professional networking and social networking. Professional networking is a place for business related discussions, not so much social networking. Social networking, however, IS ALSO a place for business related discussions as well as personal.

Warning! Everything you do, post, or say on the Internet is fair game for employers.

Data triangulation is part of the hiring process… hiring managers are not just going to check the references on your reference document, they’ll do a Google search and more detail searches as part of your background check.

If you would like our career experts to address specific questions or issues related to your career development and success, reach out by using the comment box.

For those interested in cutting-edge career books to guide you along your journey, visit www.edu-cs.com or go to Amazon and search Danny at ECS for a listing of available material.

Danny Huffman, MA, CEIP, CPRW, CPCC
www.EducationCareerServices.com
Got Twitter? Shadow me @dannyatecs