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
It's a Whole New World for JOB-HUNTERS help)—still work sometimes, and work well. But they are no longer dependable, if ever they were. Their track record has gotten terrible. You've got to have a plan B. And maybe C and D. If we don't know that, 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. We will try job-hunting the way we "always did it before," but this time it . . . just . . . won't . . . work. Things have changed dramatically since 2008. Maybe you've already found that out. You sent out resumes. Everywhere. To everyone. Week after week. That used to work. Now, nothing, nada, zip. EmploYErs ChangE, JoB-huntErs Don't Here's why this happens. Job-hunters tend to hunt in the same way regardless of whether the times are good or bad, but employers don't. Employers often change their hunting behavior dramatically when times are tough. The reason for this is that when times are good, employers often have diffculty flling their vacancies, so they will typically cater to the job-hunter's preferences in such a season. We like resumes, so they will take the trouble to solicit, look at, and read our resumes. We like job-postings, so they will post their vacancies where we can fnd them: on their own site or on job-boards, typically. What we are not prepared for, is that during tough times, when employers are fnding it much easier to fll a vacancy, many of them will stop reading our resumes and stop posting their vacancies. But we do not change our job-hunting behavior, so we go looking for work the same way we did last year, or four years ago, or ten or thirty, and suddenly fnd that nothing is working. We can search until we're blue in the face. We can work like a dog, send out resumes week after week, but . . . nothing! Everything that used to work, doesn't work anymore. And we are baffed. It is like turning the key in our faithful car, but for the frst time in fve years the motor won't start. We decide, of course, that the reason why nothing is working is that there are no jobs. It never occurs to us that there are jobs, but that employers have changed their behavior.9 And what is particularly depressing is the degree to which some employers are increasingly using the Internet to hide from job-hunters. They ask job-hunters to fll out an online application, then notify them (without ever offering a faceto-face interview), "Sorry, you do not have the qualifcations we are looking for." You think you've applied for these jobs, but you never had a chance. DiffErEnt languagEs: a forEign CountrY What has gotten worse since 2008 is the fact that employers and job-hunters speak two entirely different languages, using the same words. Take the word "skills." When we're job-hunting, you get turned down because—some employers say—"You don't have the skills we're looking for." You think they're referring to such things as analyzing, re-searching, communicating, etc. No, they really mean "experience," though they use the word "skills." Sample employer memo: "We're looking for someone who has had fve years' experience marketing software products to a demographic that is between the ages of twenty-four and thirty." You should assume that the employers' world is like a foreign country; you must learn their language, and their customs, before you visit. You want the job-market to be a hiring game. But the employer regards it as an elimination game. This is an idea from the authors of a book called No One Is Unemployable.10 They suggested that when you approach the world of business for the frst time, you should think of it as going to visit a foreign country; you know you're going to have to learn a whole 10 Diversity Employers | DiversityEmployers.com | First Semester December 2013 new language, culture, and customs, there. Same with the job-market. When we are out of work we must now start to think like an employer, learn how employers prefer to look for employees, and fgure out how to change our own job-hunting strategies so as to conform to theirs. In other words, adapt to the employer's preferences. So, let's take a look at that world of the employer. Employers don't have all the power in the hiring game, but they do have an impressive amount. This explains why parts of the whole job-hunting system in this country will drive you nuts. It wasn't built for you or me. It was built by and for them. And they live in a world different from yours and mine, in their head. (That's why I said foreign country!) This results in the following fve contrasts: You want the job-market to be a hiring game. But the employer regards it as an elimination game—until the very last phase. Larger companies or organizations are looking at that huge stack of resumes on their desk, with a view—frst of all—to fnding out who they can eliminate. Eventually they want to get it down to the "last person standing." You want the employer to be taking lots of initiative toward fnding you, and when they are desperate they will (especially if you have applied math skills!). Some HR departments will spend hours and days combing the Internet looking for the right person. But generally speaking the employer prefers that it be you who takes the initiative, toward fnding them. In being considered for a job, you want your solid past performance— summarized on your written resume—to be all that gets weighed, but the employer weighs your whole behavior as they glimpse it from their frst interaction with you. You want the employer to acknowledge receipt of your resume—particularly if you post it right on their website—but the employer generally feels too swamped with other things to have time to do that, so only 45% 1 2 3 4