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#YourCareer : 7 Soft Skills You Should Master To Advance Your Career. Out of 7, How Many Do you Have? Great REad!

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While technology continues to revolutionize the workforce, business remains a human endeavor that relies on strong relationships to achieve success. This means that mastering soft skills is crucial for anyone who wants to excel in their career.

Soft skills are behavioral and interpersonal attributes, like being a collaborative member of a team. Dictionary.com defines soft skills as “personal attributes that allow individuals to communicate effectively and get along with others.” Since people are what make business happen, building and using soft skills is the key to achieving goals. They’re also essential for bolstering your personal brand and for getting noticed, acknowledged, and promoted.

 

Hard skills are technical skills that are learned through formal education and on-the-job experience. When it comes to looking for a job, hard skills such as data analysis or language proficiency are the minimum qualifications that get you considered. However, soft skills are often what will tip the scales in your favor over other equally technically qualified candidates.

Unfortunately, the term “soft skills” often makes them seem less important than the so-called hard skills (which is also a poor descriptor for the technical skills required to do a specific job). But soft skills are becoming even more critical as technology enters the workforce. You might be great at crunching numbers or coding like a pro, but if you can’t work well with others, you won’t get very far.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

Soft Skills Are Hard Won

Developing your soft skills isn’t always easy. It takes deliberate effort and practice to master these essential work skills. But it’s worth the effort because they can’t be replicated by robots. While ChatGPT and AI bots can ace the bar exam and accurately complete most tax forms, they can’t offer something that humans can – our humanity, our ability to build relationships, think creatively, innovate, influence, and inspire.

As you progress in your career, soft skills become even more crucial. Mastering them early on can help you prepare for the transition from being an individual contributor to a management role, while expanding them can enhance your leadership abilities and inspire your team.

 

According to a Harvard Business Review article “Why Do So Many Managers Forget They’re Human Beings?” by global leadership expert Rasmus Hougaard, about 70% of leaders rate themselves as inspiring and motivating. However, employees perceive their leaders quite differently. McKinsey’s 2022 Great Attrition research found that uncaring and uninspiring leaders were one of the top three reasons why employees chose to quit their jobs, says Emily Field, co-author of The Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re already a boss, you need to have killer soft skills to get ahead. With hybrid and remote work becoming more common, there are some specific skills you must master.

 

The 7 Most Important Soft Skills

1) Self-Awareness: This is the most important soft skill because it’s foundational for many of the soft skills essential for career success. Knowing your values, purpose, strengths, challenges, and blind spots helps you interact with others more authentically.

2) Feedback: Both giving and receiving feedback are essential for keeping relationships on solid ground and for making meaningful performance improvements.

3) Emotional Intelligence: The ability to manage your emotions and the emotions of those around you is essential for nurturing relationships. EQ trumps IQ in the workplace.

4) Listening: Arguably the most challenging of all communication skills, listening is essential for understanding others and showing them that you value what they have to say. Listening in the virtual world, where visual cues can be hidden, takes even more effort and practice.

5) Inclusive Leadership: With less in-person connection, people are feeling untethered. Leaders must make their people feel included and a sense of belonging to the organization. This requires getting to know people on a deep, emotional level.

6) Coaching. Adopting a coaching mindset helps you engage with your employees and colleagues in productive and non-confrontational ways. Coaching is a high EQ way of enabling your people to be their best, without being directive, demanding or demeaning.

7) Virtual Presence. While mastering the technical aspects of Zoom is not a soft skill, showing up as confident and leading captivating hybrid meetings when you have fewer visual clues and are competing with a suboptimal meeting environment (such as a 13” computer screen) is a soft skill that is particularly relevant now. With loneliness increasing and connectedness waning, being adept and facilitating meetings from a people perspective pays dividends beyond the action items that are doled out.”

Soft Skills Are Social Skills

To give soft skills the import they deserve, let’s all agree to start calling them the more accurate and descriptive term: social skills. With strong social skills, you can thrive in any work environment, expand your personal brand and advance your career to new heights.

 

Forbes.com Author:   William Arruda is a keynote speaker, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and co-creator of the Personal Brand Power Audit – a complimentary quiz that helps you measure the strength of personal brand.  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Forbes.com | May 2, 2023

#BestofFSCBlog : Over 12K Reads- A Crash Course In What To Do Before Going Into A Job Interview. Interview Coming Up? MUst REAd!

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The more you research, prepare and practice before the interview, the better your chances of succeeding. In fact, the greater your knowledge is of the job at hand, the industry and your prospective employer, the more relaxed and confident you will feel.

Self-confidence will serve you well when interviewing for a new job, as interviewers pick up on this. If you come across confident and adept, you will be viewed favorably.

You can empower yourself by thoroughly reviewing the job description, conducting due diligence on the company, researching the interviewers on LinkedIn, cleaning up your social media footprint, role-playing interview questions and preparing the questions you’ll ask beforehand.

Be Courteous About The Dates And Times Of The Interview

Be reasonable and understanding when scheduling interview times. Politely ask the interviewers what days and times work best for them. Avoid requesting an early Monday meeting or late on Friday, especially during the summer or on the eve of a holiday weekend. By doing this, the company will recognize that you are empathetic and polite. It will immediately make you look good in their eyes.

Closely Read The Job Description

One of the first things you must do is thoroughly read the job description. You want to lead by letting the interviewer know you’re well-informed about the company and the job advertisement requirements. It’s appreciated when you can clearly and concisely match your background with what’s required for the role.

The interviewer will ask, “What do you know about our company?” In preparation for the meeting, you must scour the company’s website and the internet to learn as much as possible about the firm, its management team, products and services and reputation. You should also have a basic knowledge of what is happening in the industry and any challenges the company might face.

Showing you did your due diligence signals to the interviewer that you are smart, capable and interested in the job opportunity.

 

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Question: Searching for ‘the Best Daily Career Search Articles/Blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

Find Who You Know At The Company

Tap into your network to find out if you have any connections at the organization. If so, reach out to them and politely grill them for all the insider information you can get, which will offer a competitive advantage. If you have a close relationship with a senior-level person at the company, ask them to put in a good word with human resources, the hiring manager or anyone involved in the interview process. The recommendation will go a long way and make you stand out, as this person has personally vouched for you.

Practice Outloud Your Elevator Pitch

Although you know what you do in your job and did in prior positions, it always sounds better in your head than when you say it out loud for the first time. To convey this seamlessly in an interview, outline an elevator pitch—a clear and concise 30-second to a one-minute advertisement about yourself. Keep practicing the pitch until you are on autopilot. Although you will have rehearsed it numerous times, avoid coming across robotically. The key is to let your genuine and authentic self shine through.

Role Play Answering Commonly Asked Interview Questions

There are several frequently asked interview questions, such as, “Tell me about yourself. Where do you see yourself in five years? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why do you want to work for this company? Tell me about a time when you faced a challenge at work.” Research these types of questions and role-play answering them with a friend or colleague, who can offer honest and constructive feedback on your responses.

Conduct A LinkedIn Search Of Your Interviewers, As They Are Snooping On You Too

Interviewers and other people involved in the hiring process will peek at your LinkedIn profile and search your social media postings on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other sites. You want to make sure that there is nothing inflammatory that could cause a problem.

In the same right, you should conduct an online search of the interviewers to learn more about them. Seek out what interests and things you have in common. For instance, maybe you live in close proximity, attended the same college or are fans of the same sports teams. Small talk is an underappreciated skill. It’s a superpower. By having insights into the interviewers, you can break the ice by bringing up last night’s game or talking about your alma mater. You’ll create a quick bond, lending to a much more excellent collegial conversation.

Get The Inside Scoop From Your Recruiter

Ask your recruiter to share everything they know about the company, the people you’re meeting with, the corporate culture and any nuances you should know about. The headhunter will know about layoffs on the horizon, whether workers are happy or not and if there is a turnstile of employee turnover. If the search agent worked with the hiring manager in the past, ask what you need to know about the person, so you’ll have a vibe about the interviewer before you enter the room or video call.

What To Do Right Before The Interview

Don’t wait until the last minute for Zoom video interviews to check your internet connectivity, lighting, sound quality and background. Similarly, if you are going into an office, map out your commute days before the interview to gauge the timing and ensure you know where you are going. Arrive onsite early, have several copies of your résumé on hand and dress appropriately.

Before the interview commences, give yourself a pep talk. Use self-affirmations or mantras. Get your body moving to get your blood flowing and energy pumped up.

 

Forbes.com Author: Jack Kelly Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com | April 25, 2023

 

#JobSearch : How To Network On LinkedIn To Get A New Job. How has LinkedIn Helped you get a Job?

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To grow your career, you will need to forsake the stereotypical depiction of networking by going to a conference, wearing a name tag on your blazer, forcing a fake smile and shaking hands. As nearly everything is online these days, you can get noticed by recruiters, hiring managers and human resources on social media platforms, such as LinkedIn.

Before you embark upon a job search, start cultivating a network of like-minded people who can mutually benefit each other. It won’t work out well if you come across as asking for help without the professional relationship being reciprocal.

LinkedIn Photo And Profile

The first thing you need is a robust LinkedIn profile. Ensure you have a good headshot photo and a summary highlighting your skills, experience and past work achievements.

nclude your current position, title, past jobs, education, certifications and licenses. On your LinkedIn profile, allocate the most real estate to your current job and somewhat less space for prior roles. It’s okay to leave off short stints of three months or under. You can explain the employment gap in person when you interview. Be honest about your jobs and responsibilities; otherwise, it could backfire on you when called out in an interview.

 

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Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

500 Connections Is The Goal

Make a goal of achieving 500 connections on the professional social media platform. Within the LinkedIn ecosystem, that number shows you are serious about your career and networking. If you only have a few connections, people on the platform won’t be interested in engaging with you, as you come across as disinterested in participating. You want to appear well-connected and on the fast track.

Target List Of People

Put together a list of the companies you’d love to work for. Then, search for their hiring managers, human resources, corporate internal talent acquisition professionals and decision makers on LinkedIn and send out invitations to connect. Once you have the person as a first-degree connection, you can personalize messages and InMails to hold private conversations with them. You can ask for an introduction to the professional handling the job you’re interested in and have applied to.

In addition to in-house recruiters, you can connect with headhunters who specialize in your space. A search professional will know the industry, the ranking of the companies, the hiring managers, interviewers and human resources. They’ll be able to get your résumé to the right person’s desk. Recruiters also offer exclusive entry into well-paying jobs in the hidden job market, as many corporate jobs are not posted online for confidentiality reasons.

Reconnect with former colleagues who are now at other firms. Ask your connections for referrals to job openings or introductions to hiring managers. This can help you stand out from other applicants and increase your chances of getting hired, as an employee referral goes a long way. Take someone out for coffee to brainstorm about your prospects.

How To Get Noticed On LinkedIn

A thoughtful way to garner attention is to “like” and participate in the discourse on LinkedIn by responding with well-thought-out comments to other people’s content. The authors of the posts will appreciate your support, and over time, online friendships form.

To establish your own social branding, create content by writing compelling articles on LinkedIn or coming up with interesting, short-form videos. At first, putting yourself out there can be uncomfortable, but you can start slowly. You don’t need to author lengthy articles or viral videos. It can just be informative content about fast-moving developments within your field of expertise. Then, tag some prominent people in your sector, so they can see your post and add their own two cents.

There are easy layups to communicating with people on LinkedIn, such as giving kudos to someone for getting a new job or promotion or celebrating a work anniversary. On the platform, you can join up to 100 groups that cater to your profession or industry. Just like you “like” and share articles on your main LinkedIn feed, you can do the same within the groups.

Posting sparingly on LinkedIn will not prove to be an effective strategy. You’ll need to contribute regularly to build up an audience to get noticed and increase the number of people who can help you grow your career.

 

Forbes.com | April 27, 2023 | Jack Kelly

#JobSearch : 4 Interview Mistakes That Can Cost You Thousands In Salary. How did You Ask for Salary Level? Got Interview? MUst REad!

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With many companies laying off workers in 2023, competition is increasing for high-paying roles. Put more money in your pocket by avoiding these common interview process mistakes I’ve seen as a former recruiter.

Leaving Your Salary Alignment Unconfirmed

In previous generations, it was considered rude or presumptive for candidates to ask about the salary alignment up front. I was personally told it made me seem like I cared more about the money than the job. Unless you have the free time to go on purely exploratory interviews, move forward with a formal job interview only if you are clear that what you are willing to accept is within the range the employer is willing to pay.

Eight states have established, and at least 15 states are exploring, salary range transparency laws. Though the salary range might be public on a job posting, I’ve often found them to be inaccurate as they are often copied from old job descriptions. Even if you do not live in one of these states, it is acceptable for you to ask the recruiter to confirm the salary range for the role during your first-round interview.

Websites like Salary.com, Glassdoor and PayScale are a good place to start, but they often show ranges that are unreasonably large — for example, $50,000 to $150,000 — which aren’t very helpful. Some sample questions you can use to confirm the salary range fits your expectations are:

  • I found this salary range for a similar role in my research. Is your company competitive with this range?
  • What quartile within the range are you targeting for this role?
  • What was the salary of the last person who was in this role?
  • My target salary is around this amount. Is this within the budget?

I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates as a human resource professional. In those experiences, most people knew to ask what benefits were offered, but very few asked how much those benefits would cost them. I’ve encountered several cases of employees who were surprised at the amounts deducted on their paychecks because they didn’t know the details beforehand.

Before you accept any job offer, be sure to ask for the paycheck deductions for each of your health, dental, vision, life and disability insurances. Small differences can add up to big amounts if you don’t pay attention, but they also can yield big savings that can create more room for negotiation in the base salary. Do a thorough comparison between coverages to estimate what your potential exposure could be under new health plans. In particular, compare the:

  • Deductible
  • Co-Pays
  • Coinsurance
  • Out-Of-Pocket Maximum

For example, when I left one employer to join another, the new employer paid 100% of the employee’s health insurance. So even when they came back to me with a lower salary offer, I was willing to accept it because at around $100 per paycheck at my current employer, I was able to save $2,400 a year in my salary with the new benefits.

 

Like this Article?  Share It!    You can now easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

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Best of FSC Career Blogs on LinkedIn with over 2.5 Reads:  Go to your profile and then to the top left to go to the Search bar, then type:  #BestofFSCBlog

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Question: Searching for ‘the Best Daily Career Search Articles/Blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

Overlooking The 401(k) Details

The first three companies I worked for all had 401(k) plans with company matches, and the subsequent three companies I worked for did not have company matches. Like most people, I focused more on what they offered me in salary and in hindsight I wish I had stayed at the companies with 401(k) matching because that was free money I could have invested to retire earlier.

The details of 401(k) plans are often difficult to understand. So it’s important to work with your recruiter to learn how the money is matched and when those funds are considered yours. “Vesting” in a retirement plan means ownership of the money. Any dollars you contribute are 100% yours, however money matched by the company might not be yours immediately. For example, many companies have vesting schedules that allow you to own your matching funds after each year of service.

If a potential employer has a match in its 401(k) plan, consider that amount as part of your salary. If you are leaving a 401(k) match from your current employer, it’s a great negotiation point in asking the new one for more salary.

Ignoring Cold Calls From Recruiting Firms

If you are ever approached by a reputable recruiting agency on LinkedIn or via e-mail, it is always worth at least a conversation after you’ve confirmed the salary range. Third-party recruiters are hired by companies who have hard-to-fill roles and are tasked with finding highly vetted candidates. So, if they’ve reached out to you, there’s a good chance they already think you are a fit.

You can and should use the information you learn from agency recruiters to better inform your own salary negotiations within your current organization, as their data is from live searches now. I personally was able to jump from $53,000 to $90,000 with one job move thanks to an agency recruiter who reached out to me.

Do not, however, pay a recruiter to find a job for you. Reputable agency recruiters are only paid if you are a successful candidate, and they are paid by the employers, not the candidates. Agency recruiters make great partners as they are incentivized to be transparent about the salary and will prep you as much as possible to succeed in the interview.

Most people only start looking for a new job once they absolutely need it. Even if you are not actively looking and happy in your current role, building a relationship with a third-party recruiter within your industry can help you keep a pulse on key trends. It also can keep you top of mind for roles that might be a better fit in the future.

 

Forbes.com Author:  Bernadette Joy

 

Forbes.com | April 25, 2023

#JobSearch : What You Need To Know About Finding and Working With Recruiters. How has a Recruiter Helped You? Welcome your comments.

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Job hunters go through a cycle. Their initial instinct will be to go to LinkedIn and online job boards and submit their résumés to as many jobs as possible. The lack of responses will make them feel despondent. The job seeker asks their co-workers and friends if they have any leads on job opportunities. Once in a while, they do have a connection, but more often than not, the tip goes nowhere. Now is about the time when the job seeker will think about enlisting the help of a recruiter.

It could be daunting for those who have not utilized the services of a headhunter. They are unaware of how to find a recruiter and establish a relationship. You can’t just pick any recruiter. The key to finding a good one is to think of the search professional as a long-term relationship.

Most people get discouraged over using a headhunter, as the budding relationship quickly sours. This happens because the person doesn’t inquire if the recruiter specializes in their area of expertise and holds the right connections with human resources and managers at their target companies. Job seekers also need to be keenly aware of the differences in recruiters. Some executive recruiters solely focus on C-suite professionals, while other search professionals work on a contingency basis for middle to senior-level management roles and staffing, which includes part-time and contract assignments.

What To Know About Working With A Recruiter

Utilizing the services of a recruiter is similar to having an accountant, lawyer or stockbroker. They all offer specialized advice to help you reach your goals. A big difference is that you don’t pay the recruiter. The company compensates the headhunter when they make a successful placement, and the newly hired worker remains at the firm for a specified period.

They will inquire about your career goals, the type of role you are looking for, your desired compensation, your preferred work style, such as remote or hybrid models, and other factors you are considering in switching jobs.

The search executives offer exclusive entry into well-paying jobs in the hidden job market. Many corporate jobs are not posted online for a variety of reasons, including a manager is going to be let go and leadership doesn’t want this information leaking, or an internal employee thinks that they are up for a promotion, but the company is discreetly searching for someone from the outside.

Most of the top recruiters specialize in one or a few verticals. They do this to become experts in a particular space, such as technology, compliance, legal or accounting. By focusing only on a few sectors, the search agent cultivates fruitful relationships with human resources, management, internal corporate talent acquisition recruiters and hiring managers.

 

Like this Article?  Share It!    You can now easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

Daily FSC Career Blogs/Articles for Today’s Job Search (Over 12K Daily Readers) :  https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=FSC%20Career%20Blog%20&sid=TL)

Best of FSC Career Blogs on LinkedIn with over 2.5 Reads:  Go to your profile and then to the top left to go to the Search bar, then type:  #BestofFSCBlog

Connect with us on LinkedIn (under Chris G. Laughter) : https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-g-laughter-b46389198/

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @

https://twitter.com/search?q=bestoffscblog&src=typeahead_click

Question: Searching for ‘the Best Daily Career Search Articles/Blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

How To Get A Recruiter

If there is a person in your company or someone you know who secured a great job, be bold and ask them what recruiter they utilized. Delicately and without blowing up your spot, ask around the office who they’d recommend if you were to engage in a stealth job search. Make sure that the people you ask have similar work backgrounds. If you work on Wall Street and ask a person for a recruiter referral, they may give you the name of the best headhunter for investment bankers, but you are an accountant.

If you’re a white-collar worker, go on LinkedIn and look for highly active recruiters in your space. Check out job boards to see if you notice recruiters posting job advertisements similar to those you covet. Reach out to them by sending a note that states that you are in the job market and share what type of role you are looking for. Then, take it to the next level by asking for an in-person or video meeting to get further acquainted.

The Recruiter’s Edge

These tight-knit relationships give you a competitive edge. Recruiters are a lot like talent agents. They’ll be able to get your résumé to the right person’s desk. The headhunter knows about the corporate culture and can coach you on what to be aware of during the interview process, since they know what works and what doesn’t.

They can get the ear of the people directly involved in the hiring process and flesh out what their candidate needs to say to get to the next round. The recruiter will offer color to the people you are meeting with, obtain critical feedback and constructive criticisms and gently pressure the hiring managers to choose their client.

A big key is that they’ll be your advocate when it comes time to negotiate a compensation package. For most people, salary negotiations are an uncomfortable, awkward experience. The negotiations are unfair, as you’ll be negotiating against your future boss. Since job applicants don’t want to make a wrong impression and want to appear as a team player, they may soften their approach and not ask for the money that they really want.

The recruiter will adeptly work on getting you the best package. It is essential to know that since recruiters are paid a commission based on the offered salary, it’s in the search professional’s interest to get the highest level of compensation.

Misconception About Recruiters

There is a dangerous misconception about headhunters that hurts candidates. People believe they will be paid less because a recruiter was used, costing the company a placement fee of around 25% of the first-year base annual salary. The reality is that companies bake in the costs and utilize the services of recruiters for the hard-to-find professionals that their internal recruiters could not source.

Search professionals may not have a suitable job for you. If your recruiter doesn’t have the right roles, it doesn’t mean they are not interested in helping you. The reality is that, at times, a search agent may be flush with relevant opportunities. Other times, they may not, due to market forces.

Recruiters are not the ones who make the hiring decision. Therefore, it’s not their fault if you are not selected. The hiring decision is made after numerous interviews with the hiring manager, peers, subordinates, HR and an array of tangential people involved with the process. After due deliberation, a person will be selected.

Forbes.com Author:  Jack Kelly – Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com |  April 24, 2024

 

#JobSearch : How To Stand Out As Companies Are Flooded With Résumés. A MUst REad!

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There is a Catch-22 in the job market. White-collar office workers have been laid off in disturbingly large numbers. Those who are still employed are concerned about their job security. In challenging times, people are understandably submitting dozens or more résumés each day. They feel it’s a numbers game, and the more they apply, the better their chances of securing an interview.

Highlighting the plight of job seekers, a Tiktoker (petersbrainfolds) recently took to the social media platform to voice his frustration over applying to 557 jobs since July 27, 2022. “I’m applying for jobs within and out of my field of expertise. I’m applying for big companies and small companies. I’ve even had a recruiter look at my résumé and rework it for me and tell me how to get around the system,” Peter said in the TikTok video. “I’d say more than three-fourths haven’t even responded.”

Moreover, the application process at a marquee brand, like Google, can be quite competitive. In fact, over 2 million people apply to work there every year. According to MentorCruise, getting hired at Google is 26 times more difficult than getting accepted into Harvard University.

The paradox is that the avalanche of résumés makes it nearly impossible for recruiters, human resources, internal corporate talent acquisition and hiring managers to go through them all adequately. This leads to candidate frustration, anger and calling out recruiters and companies as being callous and rude for ghosting job hunters.

What You Should Do

Terrence Seamon, a career coach and leadership development consultant, advises job seekers to use the “SMART” strategy—be strategic, memorable, active, relating, and tweak the résumé before you hit submit.

Instead of spraying and praying that your résumé gets noticed, Seamon suggests you take a “surgical strike” approach by targeting companies you would love to work with and focusing your energies on the specific roles you desire.

You want to be “memorable” by finding ways to stand out in a crowded market. Don’t worry about fancy fonts on the résumé. Instead, ensure that the document clearly aligns with the requisite requirements of the job description. In addition to a core résumé, tailor it for each submittal to match the specific job advertisement requirements.

Having a LinkedIn profile is only table stakes. Seamon advises that you must actively promote yourself on the social media platform to get noticed by recruiters, human resources and potential hiring managers. Check into your network to find out if anyone has a connection with your target companies who can offer a recommendation and help get you to the front of the line.

Most companies use applicant tracking systems, due to the large daily volume of résumés. Use relevant keywords applicable to the position and industry to improve your chances of gaining attention.

According to Indeed, job seekers should apply to 10 to 15 different jobs each week. Avoid applying to five or more jobs at the same company, as they’ll feel you’re just shot-gunning your résumé out of desperation and don’t really care about the company or any of the jobs you applied for.

 

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Article continued …

What Not To Do

On LinkedIn’s job board, you can see the number of people who applied for a position. When you see hundreds of responses, your initial response would likely be not to bother. However, since so many people are sending out résumés, especially with LinkedIn’s Easy Apply function, many respondents shoot their shots and do not possess the right skills and experience for the role.

A recent trend on TikTok is “rage applying.” Feeling overlooked, unappreciated, passed over for a promotion and unfairly compensated, people are hunkering down and applying to as many jobs as possible to get out of their current position. This plan won’t work out well. Acting out of haste will haunt you in the future. You may be inclined to accept the first offer received just to leave your employer. After a couple of months, you’ll regret the job switch, as you didn’t do enough homework on the job, management team and corporate culture.

Be Forewarned: There Are Lots Of Fake Jobs

In a survey conducted by Clarify Capital, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, around 25% of hiring managers self-reported that they’ve kept job listings open for more than four months. Moreover, they don’t intend to hire anyone in the near future.

The reasons for posting “ghost jobs” include building a pipeline of candidates for when the tide turns and recruiting gears up again, making it seem as if the company is doing well and expanding and humoring employees that help is on the horizon with new staff arriving to help with the workload.

As a recruiter, I’ve seen this trend play out over two decades. Human resources and hiring managers place phantom jobs, anticipating that things will improve and companies will eventually hire.

 

Forbes.com | April 10, 2023

#JobSearch : Does Your Résumé Pass the Six-Second Test? How to Make your Résumé Stand Out in Today’s Job Market.

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No pressure, but your résumé has six seconds to make an impression before it is sent to the don’t-even-bother pile.

That is how long a recruiter typically skims a résumé to decide whether to pass it on to a hiring manager, said J.T. O’Donnell, chief executive of career-coaching site Work It Daily. Recruiters often have hundreds of online applications to wade through, even with algorithms helping filter many of them out. They will likely give yours little more than a glance to judge whether you make it onto the shortlist of candidates.

In other words, your résumé has to be highly “skimmable,” Ms. O’Donnell said at The Wall Street Journal’s recent Jobs Summit. “The human eye works in a Z-pattern, and I’m going down, looking for four to five things that I was told you need to have or you cannot be considered.”

The CV won’t clinch a job offer, but it gets you to the next step, she and other career coaches say. A résumé that’s hard to skim or fails to mention key skills needed for the job could keep you from ever getting the chance to make your case in an interview.

Some ways to make your résumé stand out, and some job-search killers to avoid, according to the experts at the summit:

1) Forget the professional statement.

Job seekers have long been advised to include a short paragraph atop of their résumé summing up their skills, experience, achievements and goals. No more.

“Recruiters don’t have time for that,” Ms. O’Donnell said. Instead, open with a one-line “headline” stating your occupational specialty—ideally with words matching the role you’re applying for, like “digital marketing specialist” or “technical writer,” she said.

Follow the headline with two short columns of bullets with concrete skills. If you coordinated a team to pull off a big assignment and the job posting mentions project-management experience, use that same language, since that’s what recruiters and their applicant-tracking-systems will screen for, said Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation, a nonprofit focused on workforce development.

“Every job you apply for, you should customize your résumé just a little bit by putting in some of the words that are in that job description,” Ms. Oates said.

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Article continued …

2) Don’t be a jack of all trades.

It is tempting to pack your résumé with the entirety of your work experience, especially for those who have a lot of it. Resist the urge, and focus on your relevant professional work history. “You don’t need to have any more that you scooped ice cream at the Margate Dairy Bar,” Ms. Oates said.

Recruiters are looking for a match to that particular job opening, Ms. O’Donnell said. They aren’t interested in the twists and turns of your career, which could suggest you’re overqualified for the role.

“A lot of companies don’t want to overpay, and that’s exactly the message you’re sending when you put everything on your résumé,” she said.

It is OK for a résumé to be two pages, if necessary, she adds. But make sure it is formatted with enough white space to be easily skimmed. Start each line about your experience with the bolded job title, so that they are easy to scan down the left side.

3) Use numbers.

Avoid subjective, ambiguous language, such as “passionate self-starter” or a “dedicated hard worker.” The hiring manager or recruiter will assess your soft skills when they interview you, Ms. O’Donnell said. A résumé is about your hard skills, which are best told through numbers.

Her tip: Circle all of the nouns on your CV, because they can usually be quantified.

If you are describing your experience as a receptionist, for instance, don’t just say “Answer phones.” More effective is something like: “Work for a 300-person company, answering more than 100 calls a day, on a 12-line phone system,” she said.

4) Make your LinkedIn profile the priority.

“Your LinkedIn is really your best résumé,” said Brian Liou, founder and CEO of Rora, which advises tech-industry professionals in negotiating with employers. Recruiters trawl LinkedIn to find candidates for a given job opening. A few hacks can improve your chances of coming up in their searches.

First, set a reminder to switch up some of the keywords in your profile every two weeks. Changing the content helps prompt the site’s algorithm to re-scan your profile, keeping it toward the top of recruiter searches.

And take advantage of Creator Mode, which Ms. O’Donnell calls one of LinkedIn’s best-kept secrets. The setting alters the presentation of profiles to emphasize topics that users discuss most on the platform and lets them choose hashtags aligned with their skills, showing LinkedIn you are an active user. “This is going to help get your content showcased,” she said.

One LinkedIn feature she does discourage using is the “Open to Work” banner. Though more hiring managers say they don’t frown upon career breaks, discrimination against people between jobs persists, she said. Instead, tweak your privacy settings to signal more indirectly to recruiters that you’re open to invitations, she suggested.

5) Resist using ChatGPT.

The artificial-intelligence chatbot from OpenAI has quickly become a popular tool for creating and tweaking résumés. The trouble is, recruiters can spot a ChatGPT-built résumé “a mile away,” Ms. O’Donnell said, “and you get points off for that sort of thing.”

The chat assistant can be helpful if you’re building a résumé from scratch, but use it only as a starting point, she cautions.

One tool she does suggest is a free word-cloud app. (Wordart.com and wordclouds.com are two popular ones.) Paste the text of the job posting to see which words show up as the biggest—the ones repeated most often in the ad.

 “That’s how you’re going to find your top five or six things” to describe your skills and experience, she said.

WSJ Author:  Write to Kailyn Rhone at kailyn.rhone@wsj.com

WSJ.com | April 17, 2023

#JobSearch : How To Leverage AI And Use ChatGPT In Your Job Search, According To Résumé Writers And Career Coaches. A MUst REad!

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ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. The chatbot saw a meteoric rise, gaining 1 million users within the first five days of its November 30, 2022 launch. By January, it became the fastest-growing platform with 100 million users, reaching 1 billion visits in February alone. To put ChatGPT’s ascendency into perspective, it took social media app Twitter five years to reach 100 million users, while Instagram took 2 ½ years after its launch and TikTok nine months.

ChatGPT’s resonance with its global users and overnight success can be attributed mainly to the chatbot’s many uses and its human capability. OpenAI’s technology platform managed to score in the 90th percentile on both the college-entry SATs and the attorney bar exam.

Cutting-Edge Job Seekers See An Advantage To Using ChatGPT

Forward-thinking job seekers are also leveraging artificial intelligence in their job searches. According to a February survey from ResumeBuilder.com of 1,000 current and recent job hunters, nearly half (46%) of job seekers are using the chatbot to craft their résumés or cover letters.

Seventy percent of respondents saw a higher response rate from companies when using ChatGPT. Seventy-eight percent of candidates who used the chatbot scored interviews, while nearly six in 10 job hunters were hired after using the AI tool during their application process.

However, it is worth mentioning that 11% of job seekers were rejected once it was learned from the hiring company that the candidate used ChatGPT.

With the AI platform disrupting the job search, I spoke with career coaches about the manner in which they were advising job seekers on how to gain a competitive advantage by using ChatGPT to streamline and guide the application and interview process.

 

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Article continued …

Here’s What Career Coaches Are Saying About The Benefits Of ChatGPT And Some Challenges

Hannah Morgan, Job Search Strategist

“ChatGPT is empowering job seekers. It can provide answers to their specific questions beyond what a basic Google search will find (articles and videos). For example, ChatGPT can help develop a list of questions a job seeker can ask during an informational meeting. It can help job seekers identify alternative job titles in a new industry. It can even help them make a career shift to something totally different. Plus, it helps get rid of writer’s block. It can craft a rough draft of a cover letter, thank you note or even a follow-up email.”

Samantha Foster, Executive Recruiter

“ChatGPT is a great ‘complementary’ tool. I just started using it and it cuts the time I spend rewriting boring job descriptions and preparing better interview questions. For candidates, it is definitely helping them stay organized when applying to and interviewing for several positions simultaneously.”

Sweta Regmi, Career And Résumé Strategist/ Interview And Branding Coach

“Job seekers have the power to use AI just the way employers have been using it for years for recruiting.

I tested ChatGPT as a job seeker by providing the prompt. I asked ChatGPT to identify core competencies based on the targeted role and added four job postings. Now, I have the resources with soft skills and hard skills to create a résumé. It helped me understand my strength, weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) to self-reflect.

As an employer, I created job descriptions to test out. It saved me time on productivity. I still have to have knowledge of HR and employment laws in my country and city. AI can only help if you have the skills or knowledge.”

Marti Konstant, Workforce And Career Agility Trainer And Writer

“Use AI as your personal genius bar and you will not lose jobs to robots. You will only lose out to those who embrace AI.

AI use cases for job search: conduct job research; compare your transferable skills to open up ideas for new role possibilities; create project planning examples to demonstrate your understanding of the work requirements; extract language and requirements from job description to use in your job search process and ATS; develop branding phrases and talking points that integrate your competencies and strengths; feed in your accomplishments, milestones and your “about” section via LinkedIn (requires specific prompt crafting) and identify case studies in your area of expertise (digital marketing, product development and learning and development) and include these in your written and verbal talking points during the outreach or interview process.”

Ruth Sternberg, Job Search And Résumé Writer

“AI can help you when you’re preparing your materials for a job search by providing a compilation or list of expectations from job postings, all in one place; providing rough organization of your career history—an outline to give you somewhere to start and helping you identify new job possibilities.

When you feed it your résumé, you can ask to see jobs that seem to align with it. ChatGPT can give you a list of what’s important for a particular role, based on descriptions and other developed material, so you can compare your own job history to see if you match up. You also can ask the software to suggest ways you could improve what you’ve written based on a particular job. It can help you determine what types of jobs match a particular college major.

It also could translate résumés into other languages; add keywords from a particular industry and help you spot incongruities or flag unusual claims in your narrative to prompt a fact check.”

Virginia Franco, LinkedIn And Résumé Writer

“I see AI tools serving as powerful tools for job seekers, who will be able to use it to support interview prep and even outreach. AI could disrupt ATS systems as we know them! I’ve tested it out by plugging in the résumé I wrote and a job posting and asking it to write a cover letter. It provided a great start, but a so-so final product. Once I edited it, it was good!”

Adrienne Tom, Executive Résumé And LinkedIn Profile Writer

“Job seekers must understand the limitations of AI. Content is not always accurate, customized, or personalized. So, AI support may only be a starting point or a booster, not the complete solution. The output of AI is typically only as good as the input or questions it is asked. So knowing what to ask is critical.”

Shennee Rutt, Executive Résumé Writer And Career Strategist

“I think as AI evolves, and more shortcuts from writing a résumé, applying for a job, interviewing could potentially eliminate highly qualified candidates due to bias in scripted computer-generated content. It also removes the “human” in human resources and talent acquisition. Since humans write the codes, it could be biased and adversely impact job hunters.If the human-being who writes the code has biased discrimination and it is interpreted in the code written, this could impact candidates and job seekers with disabilities or pre-existing conditions.”

 

Forbes.com Author Jack Kelly :  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

 

Forbes.com | April 3, 2023 | Jack Kelly

#JobSearch : Workers Face Fears Of Further Layoffs, AI Stealing Jobs And Higher Inflation. Workers and Job Hunters will be Harmed by AI and Ghost Jobs

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Only slightly more than half of American workers are “extremely or very satisfied” with their jobs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The results seem better than expected.

Workers have endured a lot recently. Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank closed down due, in part, to a run on the banks out of fear of losing their life savings. Following the bank collapses, there was a palpable fear of a full-blown banking crisis. There has been a steady stream of layoffs, hiring freezes, record levels of inflation and rising interest rates making the costs of everything more expensive.

The start of the 2023 second quarter finds UBS’s acquisition of ailing Credit Suisse, which could lead to massive layoffs. Artificial intelligence could wipe out 300 million jobs, according to Goldman Sachs, and oil production cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will drive the prices of gas higher into the summer travel season. Mysteriously, McDonald’s shut down its home offices this week to figure out who and how many people the iconic burger chain will let go.

UBS Layoffs

With concerns over the viability of Swiss-based Credit Suisse, intra-country competitor UBS bought out the bank under pressure from Swiss regulators. Since both institutions offer similar financial services and have offices in many countries around the world, including a sizable presence in the U.S., there is a chance that jobs could be made redundant.

The two banks offer investment banking, high-net-worth wealth management, asset management, stock and bond sales and trading. UBS has more than 74,000 employees working from nearly 50 countries. Credit Suisse is also global and the second largest Swiss bank with around 50,480 employees.

Since there’s overlap in nearly all the divisions, intense competition between talented people at each organization will occur to keep their jobs. To slash costs and integrate the two entities efficiently, UBS, the stronger of the banks, will cut around 20% to 30% of its 120,000 global workforce after completing its merger with Credit Suisse. The numbers are staggering, as roughly 36,000 bankers, brokers, traders, wealth managers and compliance personnel will be laid off.

 

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Article continued …

McDonald’s Is Temporary Closing Its Golden Arches

McDonald’s announced that it would temporarily shut down its United States offices this week. The closure will bide time for the global fast-food chain to determine layoffs and corporate restructuring, and alert the affected employees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Last week, workers were told via email to stay at home and work remotely for the first few days of the week. All in-person meetings with outside entities will be canceled.

Waiting is the hardest part. McDonald’s has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles. Many people will be anxious and stressed out over whether or not they’ll have a job. In a white-collar recession, it’s not a good time for a middle corporate manager or executive to be let go, as it will be difficult and time-consuming to procure another opportunity at the same level and compensation package.

Adding to the employees’ worries, McDonald’s in January said its Accelerating the Arches program will place emphasis on “deliveries, drive-thru, digital and development,” and didn’t mention what will happen with the college-educated office workers.

Cuts In Oil Production Driving Up The Costs Of Summer Traveling

Families going through McDonald’s drive-thrus will be spending more money on gasoline, as Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers announced that there would be oil output cuts of around 1.16 million barrels per day. The reduction in drilling and production will cause an immediate rise in prices, which the U.S. called “inadvisable,” Reuters reported.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday at an event at Yale University that OPEC+’s cut to oil production is a “regrettable action” that will add to the current global economic uncertainty. The decision will cause further financial strain to consumers already burdened by high inflation.

Oil prices jumped on Monday. St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard was surprised over OPEC+’s sudden and unexpected decision to cut crude production. The move may make things challenging for the Fed, as it is desperately trying to bring down record inflation levels. There are some concerns that stagflation may result as inflation remains stubbornly high. While Fed chair Jerome Powell wants inflation to go down to around 2%, Bullard said in an interview with Bloomberg last month that his own forecast is for rates to peak at 5.625% this year.

Workers And Job Hunters Will Be Harmed By AI And Ghost Jobs

Goldman Sachs, the highly regarded New York City-based investment bank, wrote a sobering and alarming research report about the ascendency of artificial intelligence. Goldman maintains that if generative AI lives up to its hype, the workforce in the U.S. and Europe will be upended. The bank estimates that 300 million jobs could be lost or diminished due to this fast-growing technology.

Office administrative support, legal, architecture and engineering, business and financial operations, management, sales, healthcare and art and design are some sectors that automation will impact. AI is anticipated to replace workers in a wide array of sectors ultimately. In the past, blue-collar and frontline workers usually bore the brunt of painful changes created by technological innovations. This time, it’s after the office class.

Job seekers are chasing ghosts.In a survey conducted by Clarify Capital, around 25% of hiring managers self-reported that they’ve kept job listings open for more than four months. Moreover, they don’t intend to hire anyone in the near future.

The reasons for posting “ghost jobs” include building a pipeline of candidates for when the tide turns and recruiting gears up again, making it seem as if the company is doing well and expanding, humoring employees that help is on the horizon with new staff arriving to help with the workload, languishing on job aggregation sites and human resources and hiring managers forgetting to take down old job listings.

Forbes.com |  April 4, 2023 

#JobSearch : Getting Ghosted By Phony Phantom Jobs. Are the Jobs on the Job Boards, Real? MUst REad!

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Thousands of white-collar professionals have lost their jobs recently due to the fast-changing economy. Eager to return to work, job hunters scour job boards, LinkedIn and corporate career sites. However, there is a high likelihood that the perfect role with the company you’d love to work for is not real, according to the Wall Street Journal..

In a survey conducted by Clarify Capital, around 25% of hiring managers self-reported that they’ve kept job listings open for more than four months. Moreover, they don’t intend to hire anyone in the near future.

The reasons for posting “ghost jobs” include building a pipeline of candidates for when the tide turns and recruiting gears up again, making it seem as if the company is doing well and expanding and humoring employees that help is on the horizon with new staff arriving to help with the workload.

Why Companies Post Phantom Jobs

As a recruiter, I’ve seen this trend play out over two decades. Human resources and hiring managers place phantom jobs, anticipating that things will improve and companies will eventually hire. The position is somewhat real, as the firm is lining up applicants for the future.

When companies lay off personnel, the extra work is dumped on the remaining employees. Feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by taking on more assignments for the same pay, they’ll contemplate leaving and seeking a new job. To appease the workers, posting a job buys time. It makes it look like the company understands that people are overworked and actively searching for new talent to fill the empty seats.

Businesses want to keep up appearances. Posting jobs gives off the illusion that the company is in good financial health and growing.

Job Aggregation Sites

Many job aggregation sites exist, such as Indeed, SimplyHired, GlassDoor, LinkUp and CareerJet. These sites scrape jobs from various sources and list them on their respective platforms. Often, there is a disconnect between the original posting on a career site, like JPMorgan, and the listing on a job aggregator site. The listing may linger on for many months, as the company that posted the role doesn’t have control of taking it off from the aggregator. It’s in the best interest of aggregators to keep up the jobs longer to entice job hunters to keep returning. To someone unaware of this system, they’ll think the job is freshly posted, but, in actuality, it has been up for months.

 

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Article continued …

Diversity Hiring

There is a big push for hiring diverse candidates. Jobs are posted to show that the company is trying to build an inclusive workforce. Most of the time, it’s genuine. Other times, it’s virtue signaling, and the jobs aren’t moving too quickly.

Somewhat related, hiring managers have already picked the person for the role, but need to publicly show that they are making a good-faith effort to interview a full slate of candidates.

Testing The Waters

One of the best ways to find out if a job catches the attention of job seekers is to put it out there. Once the job is posted, companies can ascertain if there is an interest. If it doesn’t receive many applicants, the company may iterate and change the copy, include the salary or enhance the total compensation package.

It’s a little cold-blooded, but businesses place job postings to get a sense of whether or not they can get someone less expensive than current workers. In a tough job market with many people in between roles, a manager may feel they could let go of some low performers and malcontents and replace them with people who desperately need a new job and won’t push too much for a higher salary.

Picking Your Brain And Getting Free Work

Sometimes, companies want to pick the brains of job seekers. They want to find out what their competitors are up to, how much they pay their staff and whether or not they’re doing well.

A common lament of aggrieved job seekers is that they are made to do tasks, submit work products and offer ideas that the company will use.

A Big Issue That Impacts The Federal Reserve Bank’s Decisions

In a time when the United States Federal Reserve Bank is raising interest rates to combat inflation, relying upon, in part, job openings could lead to erroneous decisions being made by the Fed.

The U.S. Department of Labor releases a monthly jobs report showing how many jobs were created or lost. A lesser-known report is the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The report relies upon the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data about job openings. Since we now know that there are many dubious job listings, the government is operating on flawed data. Fake jobs may make the job market look better than it really is.

This May Make You Feel Better

It’s easy to get frustrated when you keep searching and applying for jobs, but don’t get any interviews. It may be cold comfort to know that it’s not you; it’s the system. In your job search, you must scrutinize the job listing for any hints that it may not be real. If you’re called in for an interview, be assertive. Let them know you’re aware of the proliferation of phantom jobs and ask direct questions to determine if the job is real. It may be awkward. However, you’re better off asking the tough questions to ensure that after months go by, you don’t get ghosted by a phantom job.

 

Forbes.com | May 28, 202| Jack Kelly