Unemployment is at record highs in countries such as the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and Ireland. Stephen Borer, executive search consultant with experience in all of these markets, shares the top 10 steps to job seeking in the new employer-led market;
1. Switch gears and understand that it is now an ‘employer-led market’ meaning that job seekers will have to work harder than ever to identify and secure job opportunities. The sooner you understand that you need to work harder for success, the better.
2. Manage your personal financial situation. If you need to take lower-paid, even part-time work whilst you search, get that sorted first. This will likely be a long process so sort out your finances first.
3. Do not rely on the visible market. There are thousands of roles being hired directly through networks that never make the public domain. Work hard on building and using your network to uncover opportunities.
4. Be proactive. Proactively target organizations that you have directly relevant experience for. If your experience, for example, is managing a plastic extrusion operation, approach other organizations that also use that manufacturing process.
5. Keep your resume simple. Do not use borders, headers and footers, images, columns, or any other formatting on your resume. You should use simple bold font and bullet points otherwise you stand the risk of Applicant Tracking Systems, used by many organizations, not processing your resume correctly.
6. Be clear on your superpowers. Understand where your unique selling points (superpowers) are so that you can very surgically target organizations that will have these requirements.
7. Manage your digital footprint. It is not just your resume and cover letter that you need to prepare at the beginning of a job search. Your online presence is equally important so make sure that your digital footprint is professional, consistent, and updated across all platforms, particularly LinkedIn.
8. Maintain a positive mindset. This is the single most important part of a successful job search. Keep positive throughout.
9. Organize, Track, and celebrate your progress. Manage yourself like you would a sales representative. Set yourself goals and targets, measure your progress, and reward yourself for small wins as you go along.
10. Prioritize self-care. Job seeking is a stressful time so make sure that you maintain balance in your life and find time for your physical health, mental health, nutrition, and personal finance.
“The employment market has flipped almost overnight. Q1 saw one of the strongest employment markets in history. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has turned that on its head and we now find millions of people unemployed and employers hesitant to be hiring. It is a tough time to find yourself unemployed.”
Stephen Borer, May 2020
“As a job seeker in this current market, you need to be organized, motivated, and prepared to work hard to find yourself opportunities. It is those job seekers prepared to go the extra mile that will ultimately see success. There are employers still hiring but the competition is fierce.”
Stephen Borer, May 2020
“Over the last 9 weeks (since the pandemic began) organizations have realized the importance of communication in managing their current employees. They will learn over the coming weeks that communication is also important in managing potential employees. Those organizations who communicate clearly, operate their recruitment processes with transparency and good manners will win in the long run by building an employer brand that stands the test of time.”
Stephen Borer, May 2020
About an employer-led market
An employer-led market is an employment market where there is an oversupply of job seekers and undersupply of organizations looking to hire.
For approximately 5 years preceding Mid-March 2020 we saw the employment market getting progressively better for job seekers as most markets globally experienced an increasingly ‘candidate led market’. Candidates were in high demand which reduced timelines on hiring cycles, gave candidates the upper hand in salary negotiations, and saw employers competing over the best candidates. Economies such as the US, Canada, and UK were at almost full employment.
Covid-19 has seen this trend reverse almost overnight. With so many people unemployed globally, the employment market behaves very differently for a job seeker in the new ‘employer-led market’. Recruitment processes will dramatically slow down, the number of job opportunities reduce significantly and the level of competition for each role will increase exponentially.
About Stephen Borer
Stephen has developed a training module for job seekers affected by Covid-19 that is available on Udemy.com. It provides a simple step by step process for business executives seeking a new role following Covid-19.
Director of TalentSphere Staffing Solutions, Stephen has over twenty years of executive search industry experience in the UK, Canada, Ireland, the US, and Australia.
Stephen led recruitment teams through the great recession and has proven experience helping job seekers find work during an employer-led market.
Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-borer-2656351/
About TalentSphere
TalentSphere is a recruitment business servicing the US, Canada, and Ireland. It was ranked on the 2019 Growth 500 as one of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by Canadian Business and Maclean’s.
Visit https://talentsphere.ca/
Unemployment rates in the US, Canada and Australia
Kevin Hassett, a senior White House economic advisor, said Friday 22nd May 2020 that he thinks the US unemployment rate, which hit 14.7% in April, may rise to 22% or 23% by May and edge up a bit in June before heading lower.
Source CNN
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/24/kevin-hassett-unemployment-outlook-june-sotu-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/
Unemployment rates in Canada hit 13% in April compared to 7.8% in March according to Statistics Canada.
Source Statistics Canada
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200508/dq200508a-eng.htm
Australia saw the biggest rise in unemployment on record, with almost 600,000 people losing their jobs in one month between March and April.
Australian Bureau of Statistics
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/lookup/6202.0Media%20Release1Apr%202020
The unemployment rate in Ireland jumps to record high of 28.2% in April.
Source Central Statistics Office
https://www.cso.ie/en/releases...
Media contact
Stephen Borer, TalentSphere Staffing Solutions, [email protected], +1778 807 9777 ext 701
