Job seekers often ask “How much time should I spend each day on my job search?” There is no one right answer, but suffice to say the amount of time you spend making strategic efforts directly correlates to your results. If you put in the bare minimum, such as just enough to collect unemployment insurance, you should not be surprised to see minimal results.
Troubleshooting Tuesday: Are You Spending Your Time on the Wrong Things?
The old saying “Time is money” may seem irrelevant to job seekers. After all, you’re not getting paid to look for work. Yet time out of work equals lost income, so how you spend your job search time has great financial impact. Today on Troubleshooting Tuesday, a look at whether you’re spending your time on tasks with the greatest benefit to your job search success.
Troubleshooting Tuesday: Why Aren’t You Making Progress?
Troubleshooting your job search is a sure fire way to figure out what is working, and fix what is not. But what if you’ve addressed your networking, resume, interviewing skills and more, but are not making the progress you would like? It could be your job search is stalling around how you focus your efforts. Use these questions to figure out if you need a different focus:
Video Friday: Giving It All Away?
Say you are in a job interview and asked for your most innovative idea for that company. Would you give that idea up knowing that you may not get hired? Jobfully CEO Mei Lu discusses why you would be at a disadvantage if you do not voice your best idea.
Troubleshooting Your Job Search
Job seekers sometimes say to me “I’m doing everything, and nothing is working.” The truth is, there are things every job seeker can do to improve their job search. But often job seekers don’t see beyond what they know about job searching. What they don’t know could change their strategy and execution. With that in mind, I’m kicking off “Troubleshooting Tuesday”, a series designed to help job seekers locate and fix the trouble spots in their job search. Today, I’ll go over some common trouble areas and raise some questions for rethinking your future job search efforts. In the weeks that come, we’ll tackle each area in depth.
Job Statistics – Focus on the Positives
We’ve all heard how tough the job market is, but the truth is that people are still getting hired. Here are some numbers that might surprise and inspire you:
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 4.3 million U.S. workers were hired in June 2010, including seasonal workers, part-timers, temps and contract workers.
- The number of job openings at the end of June was 2.9 million – an increase of 26% since the most recent series trough of 2.3 million in July 2009.
- Although job growth is down, it does not mean there are no jobs available. 4.3 million hires are still 4.3 million hires.
Making the Most of Hiring Ebs and Flows
Have you ever heard that no one gets hired in August? That’s not really true, of course, but there are seasonal recruitment cycles including peak and slow periods. Understanding them can give you an edge and improve your chances of getting hired. By knowing which months of the year are the most popular hiring periods in specific companies and industries, you can plan your job search process more efficiently. During the months of slow hiring, prepare yourself for the busy hiring period.
Trends In Recruiting, Part Two
As recruiters change how they find candidates, job seekers must change tactics as well. A recent LinkedIn survey points to current trends in recruiting which have implications for job seekers. Last time we looked at where recruiters are spending less time and money. Today, we will talk about some of the areas where they are focused and what it means to job seekers.
Trends In Recruiting, Part One
Knowing what is happening in the world of recruiting can give you an edge in your job search. A new LinkedIn survey of recruiters offers important insights that may impact how you look for a job.
We’ll examine 2010 trends over the next few days. Today, we focus on where recruiters are NOT spending money and why it matters to you.
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Small Business Challenges, Your Opportunities
In order to bridge the gap between an employer’s needs and your own, try putting yourself in their shoes, and you’ll get a huge perspective shift. I recently sat in on a group discussion about the needs of a small advertising agency regarding client relationships and talent acquisition for the firm, and found the concerns surprisingly similar.
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