State of The Global Job Market
I am the founder and CEO of Global Expansion, Inc. We are a global Career Job Search Coaching and Outplacement company helping job seekers around the world find their next job I wanted to share with everyone my thoughts on the job market, job search, layoffs, job search strategies and the effect of the Coronavirus on jobs in the near term along with potential courses of action to take in both the near and long terms. Today is Thursday July 1, 2020.
There are 4 kinds of job seekers right now. The ones that are currently out of work, ones that are currently employed but are looking for new positions, the ones that may lose their jobs in the coming months and those that are looking for remote work.
As I’m sure you are aware, many cities and states are spiking with new cases of the virus along with hospitalizations. I am in South Carolina and things are getting worse by the day. Re-openings have slowed and several cities have actually reversed their re-opening plans and placed new restrictions. School systems are still trying to figure out if they will open in the fall. The time for them to make a decision is less than 30 days from now.
If schools don’t open up, this will create all kinds of disruptions. My oldest daughter attends college in NYC and would be going into her Junior Year. She decided, and I agreed that she will be taking a year off from school. Especially because she is an artist and much of her area of study is in person, it makes no sense to pay full tuition for only a partial education.
My point is this. 6 months ago, we would have never even thought this was a potential course of action. The overall trend is definitely negative. Companies are trying to figure out what to do. Now, they are posting new job openings. I see them, and my clients are applying to them Many of you are frustrated about the lack of activity in job the market. I share your frustration. Many of my clients are applying but not receiving interviews I totally understand your frustrations.
The major issues are that companies are trying to figure out what to do. They don’t know if things will open up and if recently laid off staff will be hired back, or there will be new lockdowns and restrictions in the coming weeks, which will cause there to be new and additional rounds of layoffs. So, in trying to figure out what to do, they are not doing anything.
It is important for all of you to realize that the current state of the health crisis, the economy, the political climate and the job market are not like any of us have seen in our lifetime. You cannot compare it. Six months ago, with the unemployment rate at 3.5% there was so many jobs being posted, interviews were being set up weekly and applicants were getting job offers. Today this is not the case.
It is not because your resumes are not good enough (most of them are) or that you are not seeing enough positions to apply to (you are) or that you are not physically applying to enough positions. (you are)
At the present time it doesn’t make sense to apply to companies that you feel would be a good fit. We don’t know what is going on at these companies. What their financial situation is, whether they are on hiring freezes or whether there will be new layoffs.
The strategy is to keep applying to new positions (within a few days of them being posted). The companies are receiving these applications. They are just not acting upon them. I have seen some of our clients get phone calls from applications they put in a month ago. There is not a set time frames for responses.
Many job seekers out in the world are halting their search. I don’t agree with this. As soon as the economy opens up (and it will), each of you will have a hundred applications in. You will get called. You just can’t control when that will happen. Two of my clients this week received job offers. Trust the process
The way forward is this. You need to put a together a comprehensive job search strategy. That means an awesome resume, cover letter, job board registrations on the top 5 job boards, setting up customized job opening alerts and updating and optimizing your LinkedIn profile. You need to track your results and then continue to make small tweaks and pivot where necessary.
This may mean creating another version of your resume, adjusting your cover letter more toward each position you are applying to, expand your geographic radius. Look at remote positions. Develop both a short and long-term strategy. Look at part-time, contract and freelance positions to get you over the hump.
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