The nature of employment in this country will never be the same again. Yes, businesses will still need workers but how they go about recruiting, screening, and hiring is new - and even if they will add workers at all or outsource the particular task or project to another company.
Over one-half of all workers in the US are not in "traditional" jobs; under an employer - employee defined relationship. Decades ago, corporations found that many "specialty" functions could be outsourced more cost-effectively than performed on their own. Things like advertising, accounting, legal, public relations, shipping, and even design and product production have been contracted out to other firms for half a century. But the idea of the virtual corporation has really taken hold and accelerated, as companies cut costs to the bare bone to survive this tough recession. Organizations like UPS have become complete logistics companies, not just shippers. Many companies no longer conceive, design, product test, quality control, produce, market, warehouse, package, distribute, or even handle customer service calls after the fact. And the trend is to more outsourcing. Companies won't even consider managing their own information technology, communications systems, logistics, production, finance/investment, and not just advertising but frequently all marketing and sales functions any longer. This is one of the main reasons for the growth of small businesses and why they have created almost three quarters of all new jobs in the past couple of decades. The big challenge this has created for job seekers is find companies willing to retain business functions they are qualified to handle, or go find the organization it has been outsourced to and apply there.
The good news is that with the Internet and all of the electronic jobs' sites, it is easier to locate those jobs by inputting information on your skills and matching up to job openings. The bad news is that thousands of others are doing the same thing - and from all over the country, not just your local area. So this is a double edge sword. Now, instead of having your resume sit on a stack on someone's desk, it sits in a database, most likely many times larger than the paper stack. It then becomes the age old problem of getting noticed in the crowd (a problem in the paper and electronic world). Worse yet, the recession and subsequent shrinking of companies have them so focused on hiring the person with the "exact" set of skills that they electronically scan resumes for key words and don't even look at those which are not absolute perfect matches. Combine that with the fact that over half of senior level positions are not even posted outside of companies and rely on recruiters to find candidates - and this becomes a daunting challenge.
The real dichotomy for job seekers is that during the recession the first ones to be laid off were the workers so specialized that they couldn't take on additional tasks or projects outside of their area or expertise. So the generalist - who could perform multiple job functions - were retained. But if you position yourself on your resume or in interviews as anything more than the "exact fit" you may not even get to first base. Surely, companies will wake up and realize that you are the better candidate if you can perform the exact work they desire but have many more skills? Probably not - until you get beyond all of the initial resume scans and screening interviews and get in front of the hiring manager(s). What you have to do is research the posted and not published job requirements of the position you are applying for and make your cover letter and resume match those specifications to a tee. Once you get beyond the screeners - that is where you let those doing the hiring know what else you bring to the party.
What is critical in today's job market to "get noticed," find the management jobs not posted, and to uncover the precise requirements a company is looking for. The most effective method to accomplish all of this is through networking. Networking has become the critical skill to master in the new job market. I don't mean getting a thousand followers on Twitter - that is not networking - it's just tweeting. Effective networking is best described by the famous author Napoleon Hill, "you have to give before you receive." You have to have a relationship established with colleagues in your field, former classmates, trade association members, former co-workers -- whomever you come in contact with, and be willing to assist them in any way possible before you can call on them for help. Once you have your network established then by all means connect on LinkedIn, or another social network, and ask your network if they know someone with knowledge of the company or position you are trying to get information about. LinkedIn has a great feature that lists where people used to work, and you are typically only a degree or two away from someone who can get you information about a position or even get your resume to the the top of the stack, in front of the hiring manager.
Employment and how we go about finding jobs won't go back to the way it was. Who you know will be critical. The new jobs will mainly be generated by small businesses, as that trend will continue. So the era of the corporate position, with all the perks, will still be there albeit in much fewer numbers as more and more corporations downsize and become mere shells of their former entities. This will be especially pronounced with the manufacturers as the US becomes even more of a "service" economy. Job seekers will need to be prepared to be contractors selling their own services, paying their own payroll taxes, paying for their healthcare costs, and socking way funds for retirement. Of the 25 million firms in the US, 19 million are sole proprietorships with no payrolls, and only 17,000 have more than 500 employees (the Dept. of Labor cut-off size for small business classification). The job market has changed and we have to adapt and most likely create our own job security going forward - without dependence on a company.
Richard S. Pearson is the Author of 5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track. He has held vice-president positions with four multibillion dollar travel industry companies and three Internet early stage companies. He has a BA degree from Regis University in Organizational Development. His experience has given him a unique perspective on how to navigate the organizational structures of both large and small companies. He has hired and trained hundreds of employees from frontline salespeople to vice presidents, and coached many through their careers. He is currently working on facilitating the large increase of travel between the US and China, which is taking place. http://www.5necessaryskills.com |
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