Now That the Recession is ‘Over’
CAN WE JUST GET BACK TO THE WAY
THINGS WERE IN THE JOB MARKET?
By
Skip Freeman – Professional ‘Headhunter’
Now that many, if not most, economic experts* have declared the current recession as “over,” there is no longer any need to do any special preparation for a new job search, right? Everybody can now simply go back to conducting a job search the way they did before the job market was leveled, correct? You know, just “hit the job boards,” send out a ton of résumés and then sit back and wait to be contacted by the hiring companies.
Based upon at least some of the recent feedback that I have been getting in reaction to the release of my new eBook, “Headhunter”
Oh, how I wish that were true! But let me assure you that it isn’t. And it doesn’t appear that it will be true anytime soon again, either. As I have learned in recent years, and as I have been “preaching”
Admittedly, there are some positive signs that the economy is finally bottoming out, after the longest, most severe economic downturn in a generation. Manufacturing is edging up again, after many months in decline. New home sales are even making somewhat of an anemic comeback in some areas of the country. New unemployment claims are at least slowing—or remaining relatively flat—in many states. Without sounding too pessimistic, one could put it this way: “We’re still bleeding to death, just not as quickly as we were.”
It’s also significant to note a couple of key elements that remain a drag on the apparent recovery. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the driving force behind our national economy, remains very much in the doldrums. When people are uncertain that they will keep the job they have, or that they will be able to get another if they don’t, they tend to remain very tight-fisted. And, of course, that’s precisely what’s happening today. When will consumers get back in the spending game? That remains largely unknown.
Then there is the “800 pound gorilla” known as jobs to consider. In any economic recovery, new jobs are always lagging indicators, and they will be in the current recovery, too. Hiring companies are still leery, very leery, about fattening up the payroll, and they are likely to remain that way for some time. Companies want to make sure that this recovery is “for real,” that we won’t end up with a “double-dip”
Make no mistake about it, millions of people today are still desperately looking for jobs in this country. That’s why there are 300 to 600 applicants for every single job available in today’s marketplace. If there ever was a time when it is important—no, make that vital—to find ways to “stand out from the crowd” it is today! Otherwise, job seekers better get prepared to get “lost in the shuffle,” quite literally.
In “Headhunter”
Obviously, I am not the only employment professional who knows how to coach job seekers to aspire to the TOP ranks of job candidates. And whether job seekers want to learn the “secrets” to successful positioning in today’s job market from me or from any other professional, the point remains the same: They better learn them and learn them from someone. Otherwise, I fear they are destined to do a lot of “wheel spinning” for at least the next couple of years.
* Officially, the only federal agency with the authority to declare either the beginning or the end of a recessionary period is the National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER. As of this writing, the agency has NOT made such an official declaration.
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Skip Freeman is the President and CEO of Hire to Win, an executive recruiting affiliate of Management Resources International, with offices in the Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan area. A successful veteran career coach and counselor, he recently published a new eBook designed to help today’s beleaguered job seekers, “Headhunter”
