Based on a recent survey by economists, the job market outlook is projecting steady growth in employment. Recruiting consultant CareerXroads reports that new companies find 28 percent of their hires via referrals. Job boards represent one in five applicants, or 20 percent. And career Web sites, about 10 percent. For job seekers or those who contemplate changes in their careers, such statistical information is pertinent so they can know how to spend their time searching for that new gig.
The most efficient way to search is via a job search aggregator such as Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com. Both of those engines search through all jobs in one go, pulling up results from job boards, newspapers’ job sections, companies’ career pages, recruiter sites, and more. Instead of looking via many job boards, these aggregators are huge time savers, but they often display duplicate results. Despite that, they’re still efficient and very helpful. But don’t ignore individual job boards and particularly the specialized ones in your industry. To find those that pertain to your industry, Google them.
As the cliché says, however, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” You need to work your way via multiple channels. Close to a third of jobs are filled via referrals, and a large number of LinkedIn contacts could prove useful for that. Once you’ve targeted a few companies and found an opening, it is imperative that you reach out to the hiring manager. Getting your résumé in front of that person and possibly having a phone chat could make the difference between getting an offer and sending your résumé to nowhere.
But let’s review for a moment the reason for the need to look for a job to start with: because the economy is vastly different from economies we remember from the past. In today’s economic climate, people are expected to change jobs and, occasionally, careers. Job stability is simply no longer guaranteed. So, what to do now? Continuing your education and earning advanced credentials are more important than ever, because in this fast-changing and shifting job market, the only things that stay with you and that you can never lose are your professional experience, newly acquired skills, and credentials.
In summary, the future cannot be expected to remind us of the past but is instead similar to a chameleon by constantly changing and morphing into new norms with new needs. Only those who adapt to that future will succeed. The rest will lag and be left out.
