When you listen to the news, it’s clear that the job market is tough due to many factors that are beyond our control. The impact is being felt by job hunters at all stages and ages, whether they are recent graduates looking for their first professional position, or seasoned professionals who are looking for a better position or pivoting to a different type of role.
Although this situation feels discouraging, it’s not the first time in history that job markets have been tough, and that suggests that at some point there will be an improvement. Even in tough times, companies continue to post and fill positions, although at a slower pace. So it’s important to be prepared, as hard as that may feel.
We’ve written before about the importance of having a strong job search process. This makes it easier for you to keep track of your applications and organize your activities. This is becoming even more important because when you feel discouraged, it feels like it takes more energy to do this.
Keep Your Process “On Point”
If you have an established process, it’s worth doing a few checks periodically to make any needed adjustments.
What to check? Start with two major items.
Check Your Focus
Make sure you’re not applying for jobs indiscriminately.
If there’s a little fit between your background and the position description, that’s a recipe for failure. While we will all experience rejection, there is no sense in applying to jobs for which you are truly not qualified. This does not increase your chances.
Doing this also makes it difficult when it comes to item number two on this list.
Assess your Customization Approach
Make sure that your applications are tailored to the jobs you are applying for. This increases the likelihood that your application survives the screening process that is designed to find candidates who have the closest fit to the position description.
What To Do While You Hunt
Assuming you are comfortable with your search process, you should take the opportunity to keep moving forward in other ways. In previous blogs, we’ve mentioned taking this time to strengthen or add to your skillsets by engaging in activities that can increase your differentiation from other candidates.
Volunteer
Consider doing volunteer work that is relevant to your career interests. Depending on your field, you might even go to an organization and propose a project that you could do on their behalf. For example, if you are a marketer, perhaps you might propose to develop and implement a phone survey on behalf of a non-profit that is trying to meet the needs of its client base.
Keep Learning
If there are specific skills you want to strengthen or a skill that you think you’d like to acquire, this is the time to find educational resources to meet your needs. It’s a mistake to think once you’ve graduated, that your learning days are over. You should expect and want to acquire new skills throughout your career.
Get Comfortable Using AI
If you are not familiar with AI tools, now is the time to learn about them. Increasingly, companies are expecting that there is some level of familiarity with using tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity. Companies are beginning to incorporate the use of AI as a part of employees’ required skills. The expectation is that employees will use these tools to make themselves more productive.
Slow but Steady
Current trends suggest that companies have become more deliberative in their hiring. Even though they plan to fill positions, the hiring process is much slower from the candidate’s point of view. A recent client told me they applied for a job online in April. They never heard anything from the company and thought that they had been rejected. But in August, they received an invitation for an in-person interview.
We have no insight into why it took so long. There are many potential reasons, of course, ranging from budget constraints and strategy adjustments. But our takeaway is: don’t discount those applications that you have already submitted.
The client happily accepted the invitation to interview and knows that he did well because he was well prepared.
If you don’t have confidence in your job hunting process and are concerned that you may not be prepared to respond when the invitation for an interview comes, reach out to Command the Interview. We work with individuals and organizations to prepare candidates to interview confidently in challenging times.