job.search@2009 – Understanding the Current Job Market

My last post focused on using Personal Branding techniques to develop your professional internet presence.  That is the first step in a successful job search.  Why?  Before I answer that question, let’s take a look at what is happening around us:

• CNNMoney reports that unemployment in our country hit a 21 year high back in February, and we have been on a downward spiral since then.  Currently we are at an 8.6% unemployment rate.
• 3.3 million jobs have been lost since November.  3.3 million!
• The last statistic I saw indicated that there are 73 candidates for each job opening in America. 
• Unions and other professional brotherhoods are offering to accept sweeping pay cuts in order to ensure that their professional brethren remain employed.

I won’t continue to list the woes of the US job market.  You get the picture. 

I do see a glimmer of hope, however.  Let’s look at one of those bullets again:

• CNNMoney reports that unemployment in our country hit a 21 year high back in February, and we have been on a downward spiral since then.  Currently we are at an 8.6% unemployment rate.

“21 year high” indicates that we have actually been through WORSE, does it not?  In fact, we have.  1982 found the US unemployment rate sitting at 10.8% vs. today’s 8.6%.  We climbed out of the latrine known as the 1982 job market; we can climb out of this one as well.

Another bit of hope: 

• Unions and other professional brotherhoods are offering to accept sweeping pay cuts in order to ensure that their professional brethren remain employed.

People are joining together in a grass-roots style to bring each other along.  More important than the grass-roots style movement (although that is important), is the idea that somewhere, individuals and groups of workers are doing something to combat the severe downward trend in the job market!

Why is the job market so dismal?  When I began considering this question, I arrived at the obvious yet circular answer: jobs are disappearing because companies aren’t making money.  Companies aren’t making money because no one is buying anything. No one is buying anything because consumers don’t have any money.  Consumers don’t have any money because they don’t have jobs.  They don’t have jobs because jobs are disappearing.  Jobs are disappearing because companies aren’t making money.  …and so on ad nauseaum.

The government is very concerned and they are doing everything that they can, however they necessarily operate on a macro level: trickle-down economics, tax-payer supported bail-outs, stimulus checks.  It just may be, however, that the solutions that have been attempted are akin to attempting to perform intricate brain surgery with a chainsaw.

I believe that the answer is very simple: trickle-UP economics!  We must break the self-feeding circle of no-jobs-due-to-companies-not-making-money-due-to-no-consumers-due-to-no-consumer-money-due-to-unemployment.  If you are unemployed, find a job.  If you have a job, you can buy things.  If you buy things, companies will make money.  If companies make money, they will need to hire more employees.  If companies hire more employees, more people will have jobs.  If more people have jobs, ahhh, you get the picture!

Finding a job today is nothing like it was two years ago.  Two years ago, you could rely on your resume, professional credentials, education and experience.  Those things are all still important; however it is absolutely imperative that you assume that potential employers will Google you before they decide to interview you.  You are who Google says you are, not who your resume says you are.

If you are starting a job search and you have NOT made a conscious effort to build a strong professional presence on the internet, now is the time to begin.  Have patience – it takes time.  Have fun with it – you might find that you enjoy it… and you also might find that you accidentally network your way into a new career.

Hard work always pays off.

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