Did realize how many people are looking for a new job?
According to LinkedIn’s survey report in 2016, 87% of passive and active candidates are open to a new job. The number one reason for wanting a new job is career advancement and growth.
In the last three years, I’ve been surprised to find clients come to me looking for new roles that have been with a company ten years or more. Baffled with how much the job market and recruiting trends have changed, they seek solid advice.
If you are a new job seeker, here’s what’s changed since you’ve been ‘out there’.
#1 Resumes get about 30 seconds at best by the reader
What you spend hours agonizing over, will be read in under a minute. Don’t panic. Getting endless amounts of feedback by colleagues and experts alike will not help you to write the perfect resume. At some point, stop writing and starting applying. See what happens. Your resume is no longer the make or break deal.
#2 Who You Know Matters
While the resume isn’t the end all be all, who you know is very important. According to LinkedIn, word of mouth of a referral into a company is 50% of your success rate as a candidate. If you have been stuck in the office working 70 hours a week for the past five years and your professional network has dried up, get out there and start shaking hands. It will pay dividends.
#3 Social Media Is Not Only Perception, but Fact
Recruiters and hiring managers alike will dig into your social media profiles and LinkedIn is the number one way recruiters find passive talent before they hop to the job boards and scour for talent. Ensure your online presence is polished. Years ago this didn’t matter as much. Today it is everything.
#4 No One Cares Why You Lost Your Job In 2008
Thank goodness for that. Job gaps or long lengths of unemployment during the Great Recession will no longer be held against you, so don’t get knots in your stomach over your history. We all know what happened years ago and everyone gets a hall pass.
#5 Being Employed A Long Time Makes You Loyal
There is nothing finer to a recruiter than finding that hidden gem of a candidates that has been with their employer for ten years or more. Rather than being deemed passé, you are considered loyal – a tough to find trait since 2008. Having tenure with one organization demonstrates you really are a team player and can get through good times and bad with an organization.
#6 You Can Dodge The Online Process
Hate spending hours looking for opportunities, applying online only to be timed out by the applicant tracking system? Today you can actually bypass the entire click/upload/send routine by networking your way into a company. Many job interviews actually occur with the resume being an afterthought if you are referred into the company and position.
Who is Elizabeth Lions anyway?
Elizabeth this the author of two job seeking books and a third on the way on leadership. She is an executive coach, wise adviser and works with the Who’s Who of Corporate America. In fact, she has the best job in the whole wide world.
Are you tired of it? Visit www.elizabethlions.com if you are serious about a job change in 2017