Jobs Not Advertised How Do You Find Them

The Staffing View

On business, the workplace and employee relations

_May, 2010

Your Career Network, Key to Finding Unadvertised Jobs

Whether you’re in a job search, temporarily employed or if you have a permanent position, it’s critical for the development of your career that you create and maintain a network of contacts These are people who can help you not only in times when you are unemployed, but also as you look to advance They serve as friends or colleagues with whom you can share ideas, gather information about companies or employers and, during those times when you are out of work, provide you with some good leads

Unfortunately too many people decide that networking is important only after they’ve lost their jobs The problem is that the best help they’ll receive at that point is from the relatively small group of people who already know them well A larger network would obviously improve their chances of finding employment But it takes time to establish new contacts and build relationships that can lead to job offers It’s unrealistic to expect that simply attending a networking event will produce an opportunity It happens, but the odds are long

Rather, take a longer view Even if your employment needs are immediate, working on a long-term networking plan while trying to land a job in the short term makes sense Here are some ideas to consider as you get started

• Remember from the start that networking is about building relationships You aren’t applying for a job when you meet someone You’re taking the opportunity to get to know them and help them know you


• Meet with as many friends and acquaintances that you can As close as you are, they may not be fully aware of your skills, your experience and the type of employment you seek But they’ll listen


• If you’re attending networking events, arrive prepared Know what you’re going to say about yourself When someone asks what you do, make that first reply short, to the point and interesting And show some excitement “I work in sales, primarily in biotechnology, which is a really exciting field”


• Networking at an event isn’t a contest to see who can collect the most business cards Take the time to talk with people, make an impression and find out who could be worth a follow-up call, card or email Aim for quality, not quantity


• If you attend an event alone and don’t know anyone there, look for someone else who also appears alone They may be struggling to start a conversation Take the initiative and say hello They’ll probably be glad you did


• What about online networking? Having a LinkedIn account has become a fundamental part of networking It enables people who meet you and want to know more, to do so by reading your bio on line at their leisure It helps to deepen your new relationship


• If you’ve grown your list of connections on LinkedIn, you can use it in job hunting Suppose you’d like to work at Company X First thing, check your network and see if you know anyone there If so, contact them, inquire about job opportunities and ask for a referral Perhaps none of your direct connections on LinkedIn work at Company X, but some of their connections do You could again contact your first connections, ask them for an introduction to whomever they know in Company X, and then have a conversation with that person


•  Have you joined any professional associations? Don’t view the other members as merely people who do what you do, looking for the same jobs They’re actually people with whom you have much in common, which can be the basis of a professional relationship


• Finally, the best way to motivate people to help you is to help them Listen to the people in your growing network What are their career needs? Perhaps you can point them towards a new job or career If it works out, they’ll remember your help

 

Back to Work After Long-Term Unemployment

Everyone encounters questions from new coworkers when they begin a job Where did they work before? How come they left? For people who were laid off, then endured a long job search before being hired, those questions can be difficult to handle and a source of stress

If you fall into that group there are a few facts to remember about the circumstances that led to your layoff Most notably, this has been a recession for the ages According to the Department of Labor, more than six million Americans have been unemployed for six months or longer, the largest number since the government began keeping track in 1948 It’s also more than double the number of long-term unemployed in the next-worst period, the early 1980s

Your inability to find work up to now probably says more about the odds than it does your qualifications Labor experts say the economy needs 100,000 new jobs a month just to absorb entrants to the labor force More than 15 million people are officially jobless, according to the Labor Department, meaning that even with a roaring recovery an enormous number of people will probably be jobless for years

With all that in mind, here are some tips on how to manage those early awkward days

• Remember your achievements and what you were good at in your old job That will give you confidence to state frankly that you were part of a layoff and that the right opening was hard to find while out of work Make a mental list of your accomplishments while previously employed


• Hold off on the details You can tell your new coworkers that you were laid off, but there’s no need to go into details leading up to that point Discussing poor decisions by management, errors made by co-workers or your underappreciated skills and experience will only make you seem petty No matter how much detail you provide, people who weren’t at your old company won’t fully appreciate whatever led up to your lay off


• Talk with friends who were also out of work for a while but finally moved on to new jobs What sort of questions did they encounter? What answers did they provide? How were they received?

Job jitters are common for most everyone joining a new company But for people who have been involuntarily out of the workforce, the pressure can seem greater Focus on your strengths and your ability to do the work at hand and questions about past employment will become less intimidating

 

Unemployment Insurance Taxes On the Rise

The stock market continues to climb in 2010, but so do worker layoffs So far this year employers with fewer than 500 workers have sliced 29,000 jobs from their payrolls and firms above that employment level have cut more than 18,000, according to the payroll company Automatic Data Processing Inc Add those numbers to the hundreds of thousands of layoffs in 2009 and they add up to a predictable consequence – a hike in unemployment insurance costs for employers

According to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, at least 35 states have raised their tax rates or wages subject to unemployment taxes this year, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Georgia, New York, Virginia and Maine That’s an onerous burden for employers as they try to climb out of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s Companies were forced to shed jobs when their revenues plunged during the recession As business has slowly returned, many have gradually added to their payrolls But rising UI taxes is a cost of doing business that saps resources that could be spent more productively

Many employers have tried to match the recovery in their revenues by creating more flexible payrolls They contract with a staffing firm for skilled workers, rather than immediately hiring them as permanent employees Should business continue to expand and they gain more confidence in their recovery, they either draw more temporary help from their staffing firm or enlarge their permanent staff

Employers also turn to employee staffing firms when adding to their payroll because the responsibility for paying unemployment insurance remains with the staffing company Though they work for the contacting company, the workers remain employees of the staffing firm

Many employers are managing their costs by appealing claims for unemployment benefits filed by former employees When a company is notified that a former employee has applied for benefits, it has the right to dispute the claim If state officials rule against the company after reviewing the dispute, the firm can then appeal that decision While many workers have been laid off due to the recession and are entitled to UI benefits, some employees have been let go because of poor performance or bad behavior and may not qualify for benefits Similarly, employees who leave their company voluntarily may not be eligible

In 2009, employers filed 405,153 appeals to deny benefits to former employees and succeeded 36 percent of the time That percentage has been fairly consistent in recent years, according to the US Department of Labor

 

How to Get Unstuck in Life

If you’re a “to-do” list sort-of person struggling to complete your list, making a list too-long to be meaningful, perhaps mixing priority items with those less important, take note of the advice from Penelope Trunk, career counselor and founder of the social networking website Brazen Careerist

• Clear your inbox “I deal with each email the second I read it–by responding, deleting, or transferring to my to-do list”


• Have a single list “I have A’s, B’s, and C’s for my priorities, so I can tell what is most important to do on any given day”


• Include long-term goals “I put them in my list of A’s I identify the items I must get done before the end of the day But I also add at least one non-deadline-based item that helps me reach a bigger, life-changing goal”


• Rewrite the list every day by hand “If something on the list is not worth taking the time to rewrite by hand, it’s not worth taking the time to do”


• Get the A’s done first “I don’t do this But I should Honestly, I can tell that it doesn’t really matter if I follow all the other rules when I’m not doing this one”

Survey: 71% of Companies Able to Monitor Employee Social Media Use

If you don’t want your boss to see which social media you partake in, hold off on your tweeting or Facebooking when you’re in the office In an online survey of 257 security professionals, more than 70 percent said they work for corporations that have visibility into employee use of social media The poll was conducted in February and March by nCircle, a San Francisco-based provider of automated security risk and compliance auditing solutions Other findings included:

• 59 percent of companies maintain a social media policy


• 39 percent of respondents’ organizations ban social media use


• 46 percent of respondents were unsure if their employees comply with social media policy, despite the majority having visibility into social media use