Cracking The New Job Market

COLLEGE GRADS: 5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TIP JOB SEARCH ODDS IN YOUR FAVOR

Bill Holland — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 12:58:38 +0000

John Sullivan, a highly regarded human resources thought leader, recently gave job seekers reason for pessimism when he took a look at recruiting by the numbers (http://www.ere.net/2013/05/20/why-you-cant-get-a-job-recruiting-explained-by-the-numbers/). His point was that the odds of landing a job are against most of us. For example, a typical job board posting will be seen by an average of 1,000 viewers. Of those, 200 will start the application process; 100 will actually apply; 75 get screened out; 25 resumes are seen by the hiring manager; 4-6 applicants are interviewed; and 1 person is finally hired. Further, 50% of hires end in failures. That is, they either quit or are terminated within a year.
Sullivan is essentially correct. One in a thousand or even 200 (depending on how you want to do the math) is pretty long odds. Don’t despair. Here are 5 things you can do to tip the odds in your favor.
1.Start with positions for which you are reasonably qualified. THEN GO AHEAD AND APPLY. Instead, far too many job seekers use a scatter-gun approach to the job market. For them, any job opening is reason for optimism and an opportunity for luck to weave its magic spell—a noble approach perhaps but not very smart. It is akin to playing the lottery. It is also a waste of time and a major contributor to negative odds.
2.For those positions for which you are reasonably qualified, develop a detailed understanding of what is of importance to the employer. You can get this by reading the position description, speaking with company employees, and doing research on the Internet. Understand the key words employers use to describe the kind of employee most likely to succeed. They are the ones companies want to hire.
3.As you develop your resume and prepare for interviews, be sure and practice the translation of your background to what is of importance to an employer. It is in this sense that I have often advised clients that their resume is not about them. It is about what an employer needs from the position being filled. Figure that out and use the discussion of your background as you develop your resume and prepare for interviews to give it to them.
4.Your resume will get extra attention if referred by a trusted source. That is usually a current or former employee, vendor, or personal friend of the hiring manager. Don’t overlook using college administrators and faculty who have referred successful candidates before. Use your social network to find out who you know that is connected to the organizations in question and use them as referral sources.
5.There is a good chance you will be back this way again—i.e., looking for a job. Take note of the skills, attributes and connections you wish you had but do not. Put together a list and set out to develop whatever is required to survive and prosper in the new job market. If you happen to be an undergraduate in your freshman or sophomore year, now is a great time to get started. An early start is the best way of all to tip the odds in your favor.

COLLEGE GRADS: EFFECTIVE OUTREACH TO ALUMNI

Bill Holland — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:01:03 +0000

I am getting my annual rush of panic calls from parents, grandparents and soon-to-be college graduates about how to find a good job. And just when I think the level of sophistication about how to use social media has grown, the same bad practices show up as frequently now as the ever have. I am talking about postings with various on-line alumni groups where students in need of employment ask for help driven usually be their desired work location and/or industry.
Those who reach out in this manner have the process backwards. They want help from otherwise perfect strangers as if their alumni relationships will serve as a call to action. The strategy can work, but not often enough to be reliable. Here are 5 proven job search suggestions that can make your alumni outreach more effective.
1.Go through all of your contacts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites and provide them with an update on your graduation and job search status. For most contacts it’s “out of sight-out of mind.” They will likely be glad to hear what you are up to and learn how they might help. Be sure and ask them for any contacts they may have with others in your industry and/or geography of interest. Then follow up.
2.Establish a separate network of parents of friends, relatives, and university related contacts. Provide them with the same update and make the same request. You will be surprised how responsive they can be.
3.Identify companies you are particularly interested in working for and determine if they have entry level openings. Through LinkedIn you can determine who you are connected to inside each company. Reach out and ask for advice about employment and career opportunities. Be sure and ask who they think are the appropriate people get in to see.
4.Visit the on-campus career services office to get the latest scoop on who is still recruiting and/or what alumni in your target companies or geographies may be available for consultation.
5.Now you can reach out to alumni groups in your social network. Share with other job seekers what you have learned and ask them to do the same with you. This approach establishes you as someone who has something to offer and is worth staying in touch with.
Until you are an established contributor, you are simply like every other college graduate looking for a job.

PARENTS–HELP YOUR COLLEGE GRADUATE’S CAREER

Bill Holland — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:30:13 +0000

Parents worry about being too pushy. But, if your student is about to graduate (or already has) and doesn’t know what to do next. It’s time to get a little pushy. I don’t mean “bull-in-a china shop” pushy. But this is a critical period because more is at stake than meets the eye. Here is why:
•The clock is ticking. Sometimes it is about student loan debt; at other times it’s the weight of expectations—a time during which students are inclined to believe any job—even if it does not require a college degree, is better than no job.
•It takes about a year for students to lose their “recent college graduate” status and the limited expectations employers have about previous work experience. After that, whatever job they have rather than their college degree will begin to define their standing in the job market.
•Students often take on additional responsibilities (car debt, marriage, kids of their own, etc.) that makes a job—almost any job—an absolute necessity.
If your student is near graduation (Even if they have already graduated) they need to get cracking on landing their first professional job. Here is what they should do:
•Visit the campus career services center and clarify what job opportunities are available. Identify those organizations/companies that have traditionally recruited students with their academic profile.
•Review the position descriptions and determine the ideal profile required to be a viable candidate.
•With the help of career services center professionals (Also available in my book, Cracking the New Job Market) develop a resume/application that emphasizes their attributes and experiences as an ideal candidate. If there is some important characteristic your student does not have, help them get busy developing it. By the time a year is up, they could develop into an ideal candidate.
It is more important that your student’s first job after college rises to the level of requiring a college degree rather than a position they are absolutely in love with. After all, it’s only a first job, not a life sentence. Transferring from one professional job to another is considerably easier than going from dog walker to management trainee.
Next post will be advice to parents/grandparents on how to provide a career boost if your student is in their junior year.

Parents with college-aged students are worried. They should be!

Bill Holland — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:41:57 +0000

A mother who wanted career advice for her daughter explained that even with a college degree from a well-known university her daughter had worked as a waitress since graduating two years earlier. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the job market would treat her daughter as a waitress rather than as a college graduate.

Parents are worried. They should be! You don’t need a college degree to tend bar, wait tables or walk dogs. Yet nearly half of all college graduates have jobs that do not require a college degree. And for millions of college graduates the situation will not get better once the economy improves. More than a bad economy is at play. Today’s job market has new rules about how to prepare, enter, survive and prosper.

Settling for jobs that do not take advantage of your student’s college degree amounts to an occupational downgrade that can take as long as two decades to overcome. Economist Paul Krugman suggested two decades was conservative. The demands of the new job market are such that those who settle may never recover—forever stuck in careers beneath what they dreamed of as entering freshmen.

But why am I talking to parents? Because there are things they can do to help their students avoid a downhill career slide. Here are some parental tips for you depending on where your student is along the educational continuum.

College freshmen and sophomores: Parents are sometimes worried about flying the proverbial helicopter and, as a result step back too far and let go too soon as their student enters college. From the standpoint of career development, they need you now more than ever. It is a time when students should have a laser-like focus on skills, extracurricular activities, and work experiences that will facilitate entry into the job market at graduation. Instead, many students waste those years reveling in the excitement of independent living away from mom and dad and are not focused on the linkages between college and career. The lack of focus the first couple of years of school can easily be the first step on the slippery slope to an occupational downgrade.

Now is good time for a conversation with your student about why they want to attend college. Most students understand that the end game at graduation is a well-paying professional position or its equivalent. It is time to place special emphasis on what your student needs to do to make a well-paying professional position happen. It is a career foundation that can be effectively established during the first two years of college or before.

Juniors and seniors should be in full job search mode. Yet many wait until they are near graduation or after to get started. That’s too late. There is stiff competition at graduation for good jobs. They will go to those who have a strong sense of career direction and solid preparation. It is a foundation that needs to be demonstrated in resumes, applications and interviews. It is hard work and requires practice. And it is not something someone can master in the rush of the moment.

Those who have graduated and have yet to land that first professional job should know time is speeding by. They need to put all their energy into a job search and avoid staying in a position that does not require a college degree. Before long, the job, rather than the degree, will define their standing in the job market.

These are a few of the realities of the new job market. How do parents get the attention of their students; how important is college major in career success; how does one judge if their student is on a career path to nowhere? Those questions and more is what this web site is about.
It’s a place for you to comment, ask questions and get answers—a place to see what other parents are experiencing. From time to time I will publish newsletters, post videos, blog entries and tweets as tips for parents and students. All are designed to get your student on the path to career survival and prosperity. The sooner you get started the better.

Please let me know what you think and what other topics are of interests. Sign up to automatically receive new blogs, tweets and a copy of my newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Getting From Backpack to Briefcase

admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:34:34 +0000

NPR- “Making Summer Jobs Work For Teens”

Bill Holland — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:32:26 +0000

Bill Holland as a guest on NPR

A report by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies finds that less than 30 percent of U.S. teens had jobs in the summers of 2010 and 2011. Though the employment outlook is bleak, there are some strategies for navigating the summer job market. Listen Here

NPR- “Un- and Under-Employment Awaits Many College Grads”

Bill Holland — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:30:44 +0000

Bill Holland as a guest on NPR

Many young graduates take lower-paying jobs as waiters or cashiers that pay the bills, but rarely use the skills they learned in college and often have little money left to pay off student loans. And the choices they make early in their careers often have a long-lasting financial impact. Listen here

Expert Strategies for ‘Cracking the New Job Market’

Bill Holland — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:15:29 +0000

Bill Holland, author of Cracking the New Job Market, offers tips for job-seekers in this very difficult employment environment.

Watch the video

Bill Holland — The Right Job Guy.

Bill Holland — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:00:55 +0000

Listen to my video as I take a broad view of today’s job market—one designed to get you on the path to career survival and prosperity. Learn more about how we can work together to get you the job of your dreams.

Book a free no risk consultation with me using my appointment calendar below.

Bill Holland talks about the “New Rules for Getting Hired” on CNBC

Bill Holland — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:05:31 +0000

Check out my interview on CNBC about the new job market.

From the interview:

“It’s new because there’s a worldwide redistribution of the workforce that’s going on. and i might add, that has very little to do with the job numbers that are getting ready to come out. that job market is going to be a lousy competitive job market for the foreseeafuture, regardless of how well the american economy does. and a couple of ticks up and down in the job market in the united states won’t make that much different. so, what people need to do is to really start thinking about how they can be competitive in this job market, and that requires them to begin to think differently. and i’m not talking about just tweaking your resume. i’m talking about tweaking your mindset, which is much more difficult.”

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000100678