Seven Top Jobs and How to Land Them
Filed under: College Grads, Hiring, Job Application, Job Candidates, Job Interview Tips, Job Searching, Jobs, Staffing, Unemployment
Looking for a job? Whether you’re a college student planning to enter the workforce soon or you’re a casualty of cutbacks in your company, job openings are scarce and you’ll most likely be competing with dozens or hundreds of other applicants. But it is possible to find a job you love, even in this tough economy.
Making the Job Hunt Easier
If you want to catch a fish, you have to go where the fish are. The same is true of job-hunting. You can’t randomly pick a career and hope you’ll find an opening. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the following jobs are the fastest-growing careers out there which means qualified applicants will be in high demand. Even better, they’re expected to continue showing strong growth over the next ten years, and qualified workers aren’t as readily available as you might think:
- Accountant or Auditor
- Medical Assistant
- Social Worker
- Human Resources Specialist
- Health Services Manager
- Public Relations Specialist
- Paralegal
According to Wanted Analytics, social workers and accountants were in highest demand during the month of February, while paralegals had the least number of available openings.
How to Land a Great Job
The first step to landing the job of your choice is choosing a career option that is likely to have a higher number of positions to fill. After that, it’s your job to make yourself an attractive job candidate. Here are a few tips on how to fit the bill:
- Find out what training employers expect—It’s not always necessary or even desirable to pursue a four-year college degree in your field. It’s expensive, takes a large chunk of time, and may not increase your chances of getting hired all that much. Some companies will be looking for that college degree, while others look for technical school training, job experience, and skills. If you don’t have the degree but you do have the skills, it’s still worth trying to land the job based on merit.
- Beef up your LinkedIn profile—LinkedIn has become the go-to resource for professionals looking to hire. Flesh out your profile, join some groups, and actively participate in discussions to showcase your qualifications and knowledge of the field.
- Add job experience to your education—For many companies, a great education just isn’t enough. Businesses want experience as well. You can gain experience by applying for an internship or a workforce development program.
These seven careers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. By making sure you have the right qualifications, you can increase your chances of landing the job you want.
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What College Graduation Means for Your Recruiting Efforts
Filed under: College Grads, Diversity Recruiting, Hiring, Job Candidates, Jobs, Recruiting, RPO, Staffing
Graduation day is an imminent reality for college seniors all across the country. As the moment of truth arrives, hundreds of thousands of new workers will be flooding the job market, looking for positions. That sudden upsurge in job seekers can be both a great opportunity and a daunting task for employers. How do you attract the best and the brightest from among those college grads while also choosing workers that will be a good fit for your company and stick with you for the long haul?
Think Like a College Student
College students don’t generally have much experience in the work force or in how professional communication works. They’re more in tune with the world of social media and smartphones, which means that in order to reach them, you should communicate your message in a variety of venues:
- Connect on Social Media—Consider creating a Facebook page for your recruitment efforts. Post job openings on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Don’t rely solely on job boards to get your message out.
- Create a Mobile App—Make it easy for the smartphone generation to find your job openings with a Jobs App like this one from Sodexo.
- Take Advantage of Video Interviews—Video interviews make it possible to check out candidates in other parts of the country without blowing the travel budget. As much as possible, try to make these actual person-to-person interviews rather than using pre-recorded questions so you’ll have a chance to evaluate the candidate’s personality as well as his or her knowledge.
Make Your Brand Attractive
If you expect the best new workers to stick around, you’ll need to do a good job of managing your brand image and promoting the benefits of working for your company.
- Build Your Employer Brand—Put some thought into what makes your company unique, what is desirable about your workplace, and what kind of working environment you provide. Communicate your brand on your website and through video and social media.
- Promote Benefits—Employee training, opportunities for professional development, and opportunities for advancement can all be attractive reasons to join your company.
- Provide a Mentor—Remember that college grads haven’t had much experience in navigating the complexities of a real life work situation, so they’ll need someone to show them the ropes. Formal training as well as touching base in an informal setting from time to time can go a long way towards helping young workers become invested in the company.
As graduation approaches, take the time to reach out to the next generation of workers. By creating a strong employer brand and comprehensive recruiting strategy, you can grab the attention of the young workers who will become the future of your company.
Five Ways to Land a Job After College
Filed under: College Grads, Hiring, Job Application, Job Candidates, Job Interview Tips, Job Searching, Jobs, Staffing
Finding a job after college is no longer a given. College grads struggle to find work in any field, much less the one they’ve chosen for their degree, with a lack of any actual work experience putting them at a disadvantage. The good news is that purposeful preparation can increase the chances of getting hired. Here are five ways to beat the odds.
1. Get a Four-Year Degree
Young workers with a four-year degree still have better chances of finding a job than those who forego a college education. However, getting a master’s degree doesn’t increase those odds much. Be ready to enter the workforce after graduation and don’t rely on grad school to catapult you into a full-time position.
2. Develop Desirable Skills
One of the greatest hindrances to landing a job is lack of experience. You can tackle this problem by seeking out opportunities to get hands-on experience during your undergrad years.
- Find an internship—Internships in your field of interest help you discover what the job requires, learn how to work in an office environment, and develop the skills you need to be successful.
- Get a part-time job in your field—Waiting tables at a restaurant may help you pay your school bill, but it’s not going to help you land your dream job. Find a part-time job with ties to the industry you hope to enter in order to gain valuable experience.
- Participate in practicum opportunities—Practicum, cooperative education, and industry mentoring opportunities all give students the chance to learn from someone who knows the field and to develop needed skills.
3. Manage Your Online Image
You can bet on it. Potential employers will Google you, and you want them to see a polished, professional image. Not that embarrassing picture you took at your cousin’s birthday bash. Keep personal information private and make sure that employers see a person they would be comfortable adding to their team.
4. Cast a Wide Net
Graduates may need to adjust their expectations by being willing to accept a job outside their initial field of study. Great opportunities often come from unexpected sources, and students can prepare for a broader range of job possibilities by taking classes outside their majors and applying for many different positions.
5. Network
Meeting people within the field gives students a foot in the door that could help them land a job after graduation. Join the University Business Association, create a polished LinkedIn profile, and make sure you present yourself professionally online.
College offers young workers an essential way to prepare for their future careers, but these days, students must do more than just get good grades. They must also begin creating a professional image, gathering work experience, and creating a total package that will make them attractive to employers.
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Reducing Your Cost Per Hire
Filed under: Executive Hiring, Hiring, IT Staffing, Job Application, Job Interview Tips, Recruiting, Staffing
Attracting quality talent requires investment. It takes money to attract talent, and it takes talent to make money. However, businesses today must also deal with the realities of a struggling economy and an extremely competitive job market. Let’s take a look at five strategies for reducing your cost per hire while still finding the right person for the job.
Focus on Retention
Retaining the employees you have takes effort, but it’s worth it in terms of cutting recruitment costs (and building a strong company). Implement strategies such as promoting from within, offering incentives and rewards, indentifying and addressing flight risks, and encouraging employee feedback to keep your current workers.
Recruit Internally
Post jobs on your company website, encourage employees to suggest candidates and consider implementing a referral scheme that rewards employees for high-quality referrals. On the negative side, internal recruiting limits your exposure, which is why it should be used as part of a broader recruitment initiative rather than your only plan.
Employ Social Media Recruiting
Social media is not only an extremely cost-effective way to recruit, but also one of the most popular venues for job candidates seeking new positions. That means it’s a good fit both for you and for your target audience. Maintain an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media networks by engaging with your audience and selling your company as a desirable workplace. Social media also broadens your reach by enabling your fans and followers to share job postings with their friends.
Reduce Printed Efforts
Printed job advertisements statistically provide lower return on investment than other recruiting methods. That doesn’t mean you should throw them out altogether, but it does mean you can get more bang for your buck by reducing the size of printed ads and the number of publications you advertise in. Redirect those dollars toward online efforts, a cost-effective recruiting venue that continues to surge in popularity and effectiveness.
Focus on Hiring the Right Person
If you hire the right person to start with, you won’t have to re-allocate resources toward filling that same position again in a year or two. Employing a talent agency can help you connect with a broader base of qualified candidates, especially if you’re looking for someone to fill a specialized position. Do your homework and get to know job candidates in different contexts. Following a person on Facebook and Twitter, for example, can help you read a person’s personality and communication style, filling in the gaps between resumes, interviews, and LinkedIn profiles.
Reducing your cost per hire requires a multi-pronged approach and may mean a major shift in current recruiting efforts. What strategies have you implemented to reduce costs while still finding the right person for the job?
Finding the Right Person for the Job
Filed under: Employee Retention, Job Application, Job Candidates, Job Interview Tips, Recruiting, RPO, Staffing
You’re interviewing job candidate #8. He’s blathering on about his experiences and education, and you’re waiting for that spark of revelation. That instinctive, gut feeling that this will be the right person for the job. It didn’t happen with candidates 1-7. And #8 isn’t looking too promising either. Is there a better way? You bet.
Too often, interviewers rely on gut feelings or instincts to make hiring decisions. The problem is that gut feelings can be wrong. Disastrously so. You might end up with someone who looks good and sounds good, but isn’t a team player or doesn’t perform well in the trenches.
The solution? Base your evaluation on facts. Here are five rock-solid tips to get you started:
- Know the Basic Requirements—What skills are absolutely essential to the position? No matter how good a candidate sounds, if he doesn’t have the basic requirements, you’ll have to invest too much into training with no guarantee that he’ll be able to learn what you need him to know.
- Evaluate Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills—Hard skills are the ones you learn in school: the book knowledge it takes to be an accountant or lawyer or physicist. Soft skills are the ones you learn from experience: how to interact with the client, how to read customers, and how to close the deal. Focus on the hard skills first. No matter how brilliant a candidate is, he won’t be a good match if he didn’t have the drive to finish school.
- Evaluate Results, Not Just Experience—As you’re scanning resumes, look for qualifications that show results, not just experience. For example, developing new IT software that resulted in 20% online growth says more about the candidate than just having experience in IT development.
- Focus on Quality, Not Just a Good Sales Pitch—The interview process is somewhat skewed toward extroverts. People who know how to sell themselves and effortlessly engage in conversation may appear to be a better fit, but may not ultimately be as qualified as a less verbal candidate. You can draw out the cream of the crop by creating sample scenarios and asking the candidate how he would act.
- Get Input From Others—After you’ve narrowed down your field of candidates, ask others in your organization to look over the top ten or twelve resumes and provide feedback. You can also introduce the candidate to team members and superiors after the interview and ask for their impressions.
It’s true that sometimes when you’re making the final call on a hiring decision, you have to go with your gut. But don’t let that become your modus operandi. Choose your candidates based on hard facts and input from your team, and you’ll be in the best position to find the right person for every job opening.
Stronger Employment Trends Expected in 2011
The unemployment rates in 2010 have been the highest in well over twenty years. It has been a difficult year for the unemployed who have had trouble finding a position in their field. With many mass layoffs by United States based companies, the job market has become extremely competitive. There have been a record number of applications for many open positions, which makes it difficult to land a career in your specialized field.
However, stronger employment trends are expected in 2011. Harris Interactive conducted a survey of more than 2,400 hiring managers and human resource specialists. The results of this survey concluded that more employers plan to add more full-time employees in 2011 than in 2010. Job creation will be gradual, but steady, so the change in hiring may not become immediately apparent. Matt Ferguson of CareerBuilder explains that, “More than half of employers reported they are in a better financial position today than they were one year ago.” This is a good improvement and will allow these companies to hire more employees in 2011.
The results of the survey showed that 24% of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent in employees in 2011. This is an improvement from the 20% who said they plan to hire in 2010, and 14% in 2009. 13% of employers said they expect to hire part-time employees in 2011, which is up from 11% in 2010 and 9% in 2009.
Some fields will be in higher demand during 2011 than others. The top 10 fields can be seen below:
1) Sales – 27 percent
2) Information Technology – 26 percent
3) Customer Service – 25 percent
4) Engineering – 21 percent
5) Technology – 19 percent
6) Administrative – 17 percent
7) Business Development – 17 percent
8 ) Marketing – 17 percent
9) Research/Development – 15 percent
10) Accounting/Finance – 14 percent
“Stronger Employment Trends Expected for the New Year, According to CareerBuilder’s 2011 Job Forecast.” ShareBuilder (2010): n. pag. Web. 26 Jan 2011. <http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr611&sd=12/29/2010&ed=12/31/2010>.
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