Diversity Employers

PREMIER 2013

Editorial objective:1- give diverse jobseekers sound information on job opportunities and how to successfully navigate the job search process,2- invite “employers of choice” to share success secrets and valuable information on where the jobs are.

Issue link: http://diversityemployers.epubxp.com/i/224970

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The eighT Forces We Are Up AgAinsT Okay, with that background, let's look at what are the changes to the job-hunt since at least 2008, and maybe before: 1 A conservative mood is sweeping around the world these days, and the global economy is currently dominated by concern about defcits rather than jobs—with governments opting for austerity rather than growth. It is precisely the right policy at precisely the wrong moment in history. Austerity right after a world-wide recession has unintended consequences. So, government jobs are still disappearing, and hiring by private employers is stalled because of what's happening with banks, with investors, and with uncer-tain visions of the future. This isn't a problem just in the U.S. It is global. The unemployment rate for the Eurozone is 12%. In all of Europe, 26 million people are currently out of work.1 not value these things. It values quick fxes, fast food, selective inattention, multitasking, TV ads that constantly change their visuals every two and a half seconds, etc. It is diffcult to get people to practice their job-hunt in a different way than the culture behaves everywhere else. 4 The number of the long-term unemployed in the U.S. has increased dramatically. Currently, 30% of all unemployed persons in the U.S. have been out of work a year or more.2 Before 2008 that fgure was just 10%.3 5 The length of the average jobhunt has increased dramatically. Many of us have been out of work far longer than we ever dreamed we would be—one year, two years, three years, or more. We feel like the job-hunt has turned into something of a detective mystery, which we are unable to solve. From 1994 through 2008, roughly half of all unemployed job-seekers found jobs within fve weeks. After 2008, a far greater proportion spent and are still spending more than a year looking for work. Many long-term unemployed feel they have become A Lost Generation. Society has written them off. Employers advertise—well, at least, some employers advertise— "people who are out of work need not apply." The media talk as though this were universal—witness such headlines as "The Long-Term Unemployed Are Doomed"4—so we need a little realism here: according to surveys, this is the sentiment of only four out of every one hundred U.S. employers, or at least four who will admit it. On the other hand, forty-four out of every one hundred employers feel this way if we have been unemployed for two years, or more.5 (Bad news for sure, although to look on the bright side, that means 96% of employers don't feel this way just because we're out of work, and 56% don't feel this way even if we've been unemployed for two years or more.) Furthermore, the data doesn't support this prejudice. "Employers often avoid hiring candidates with a history of job-hopping or those who have been unemployed for a while. The past is prologue, companies assume. There's one problem, though: the data show that it isn't so. An applicant's work history is not a good predictor of future results."6 The culture is affecting how job-hunters go about the jobhunt. If a particular culture values hard work, long hours, persistence, and determination, this will affect how the job-hunt is conducted. In many places, since 2008, the culture does Many employers are holding out for the dream employee. Knowing that there is the biggest pool of applicants they have seen in a long time, many employers are over-screening. They reject candidates they would have hired eight years ago, This isn't a problem just in the U.s. it is global. The unemployment rate for the eurozone is 12%. 2 3 6 because they keep thinking, with all those out there who are out of work today, maybe someone better will come along next week. Not all employers think this way; but way too many do. Job-hunting is increasingly a repetitive activity in the lives of many if not most of us. This is because the length of time a job lasts, on average, has decreased in a number of industries since 2008. For example, some employers in the IT industry7 are increasingly hiring someone just until a project is completed, rather than permanently hiring us. Again, 20% to 30% of those employed by the Fortune 100 now have short-term jobs, either as independent contractors or as temp workers,8 and this fgure is predicted to rise to 50% during the next eight years. Even in industries where people are hired allegedly for longer periods, employers are much more ready to cut the size of their workforce just as soon as things start to even begin to look bad. You thought you were being hired for a number of years, they said that, they meant that, but then fortunes change and suddenly you're back out on the street. if we think we can go about our job-hunt exactly the way we did it the last time, then we are in for a rude awakening. Our typical work history now is going to be three careers over our lifetime, and at least eight jobs. So, even when we fnd a job now, we may be job-hunting again, sooner than we think. We need to become masters of the job-hunt, in its post-2008 incarnation. Speaking of which, we come to: 8 Job-hunting methods that worked before 2008 no longer do. Now, I'm exaggerating here, a bit, of course. The three traditional jobhunting methods since back when dinosaurs were roaming the Earth—resumes, agencies and ads (sending out resumes, answering ads for vacancies, turning to federal-state and private agencies for Diversity Employers | DiversityEmployers.com | First Semester December 2013 9

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