What You Need to Know If You're Job Searching in Today's Market

Welcome to roadmap to the executive suite podcast, a place where we talk about accelerating your careers all tailored to the ambitious woman. We're here to have fun, feel empowered and get actionable steps to get you closer to your dream job and salary, no matter where you are in your career. I'm your host, Claudia Miller, Athena, career coach and corporate trainer who helps ambitious women get the jobs they want, almost getting them up to $100,000 in salary increases. I've been featured in Forbes MSNBC, and Business Insider put me there Top Global list of top innovative career coaches, and the creative 90 day job offer program where I teach career driven women like you my proprietary strategy on how to land a job you love in less than 90 days, all while getting 30 to$100,000 in salary increases, no matter if you're just starting in your career, or you're ready to pivot into the executive suite. My clients have been able to move to the next step in their careers successfully pivoted into new industries without having to take a pay cut and broke it into management without any prior experience. I'm coming to you with a new episode every week on Thursdays with mindset job search, interview skills and sound negotiation advice with actionable strategies you can implement today to help you get ahead in your career. Now let's get started with this week's episode.

So today's session, I'm going to talk about what you need to know if you're job searching in today's market. So if you're currently job searching, or maybe you find yourself job search now, maybe you've been impacted by a layoff or restructure. And now you weren't planning to start job searching, and you're wondering like, what am I going to do now? Should I even bother job search now or anything? This is the episode for you. So I know it seems like we hear every day about different companies doing layouts or restructures where people get impacted have lost their jobs. And I know it feels like almost opportunities are starting to dwindle away. Especially nearing the end of the year holidays. I know some of us already like fall, pretty much Thanksgiving, which also means Christmas and bite us will meet New Year's I might as well just pull back on everything just because everything's slowing down. But I'm here to kind of really break down what is really happening in the marketplace, how you can send out in the competition, and what you need to know while job searching in today's market. So if you're starting to feel anxious or overwhelmed by the entire process, that's why I created this specific podcast episode to give you more insight of what you need to know to stay ahead. So first, what I wanted to do is address some of the comments I've been hearing from job seekers. Now I want to make sure that you're able to if this sounds like you, you're able to know like, Hey, I start noticing, I have sent those things or I have thought about those things. You're right. So I want to bring a little bit more self awareness. But have you ever said any of the following. No one's hiring right now. We're so close to the holidays, I'll start doing my job search next year. Or maybe you said, I shouldn't bother negotiating my salary, I just need to be happy with one again, at this point. Or a third of you said, Maybe I should apply to jobs that I'm overqualified for since the jobs I'm applying for and I know I'm qualified for I'm still not hearing back. If any of this sounds familiar, I honestly don't play. If I wasn't a career coach and know with everything that I know. Now, I would want to have the same thoughts as you are. And of course, all we hear right now is negative news about the marketplace by noon to bring you some actionable insights and actually provide you with a sense of competence and hopefully a little bit of fluency help when it comes to your job search. So here are five insights I want to share with you. First, there are industries that thrive during a recession, it may not feel like get their industry death, right. And some of the biggest companies have made their biggest gains in growth during our recession. So there are companies that succeed during this time place. So I actually compiled the top seven industries, according to Investopedia that are actually recession proof and actually thrive during the recession. And I honestly included one other one that once I say you're going to notice again, that initially totally wrote then thrives in a recession. Honestly, this could be an episode on its own just diving into it. And I do have a session that I've scheduled in the future that I'm going to break it down into some of these recession proof industries. But I wanted to quickly name some of them so that way, if you're listening to this or in a job search, it can help you start, you know, paying attention to them or start focusing on some of these industries. But the first industry right now that like I said, I compiled seven from Investopedia and the extra one I mean, it's so total I have eight industries you can start focusing on in your job search that we know are usually recession her. So the first one is accounting industry. Everyone needs accountants, I don't care what company it is, um, there's an accounting industry, or go for accounting companies. You're like, I'm not an accountant. I'm a software engineer, I'm a data scientist, well start looking into accounting companies, because we all need accountant, businesses, people all need accounting. So maybe focusing on accounting industries, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, people still need health care, and they all need their meds. So they tend to thrive during a recession, called maintenance stores. That's fine building companies. But home maintenance stores, like Home Depot are those industry types where it's not really related to construction, but it is for the consumer, like you and I, if we wanted to make any updates in our home, auto repair and maintenance, we still need those things. And like I said, if you're like, I don't know anything about cars, or maintenance, I'm not a mechanic, you can still go work after those companies think about advanced autoparts play like that they're probably going to be thriving during the recession, because we still meet them. Financial Advisors and economist, when a recession goes down, people tend to want to really rely on their financial advisors to help them kind of make gains during the recession. So those could be in another industry, you could focus on bargain and discount stores. If the Walmart Family Dollar family tree fell below five or some type, I can't remember the name or not. But those are companies maybe to start focusing on because again, they tend to be recession proof. The other one is, right, and logistics right now with everything, we are still behind it. And there's a shortage when it comes to supply chain management professionals. And these companies are thriving, because again, there has been such a backlog of because of COVID, a lot of companies were impacted. That overall, the sild needs to get things transported to and from that, again, can be another issue you could focus on. And then lastly, number eight, alcohol industry. During the recession, people tend to drink probably drink even more, and any other time, that could be another endless chain, you could start looking into in regards to it. And like I said, you don't need to be an alcohol expert. I mean, alcohol companies still need an accountant, they still need engineers, they still have someone to manage their websites, or maybe want to hire a data scientist or manager marketing. So that could be another industry you can start focusing on. Now, focus on industries that thrive during economic uncertainty and job search within those industries. If you don't have experience within that industry, work with a career coach like myself, I've helped a lot of clients pivot into different industries successfully without having to take a pay cut, or without having to get a demotion. And usually without having to get an additional degree or certification. So there are definitely opportunities out there, a lot of us have a lot of transferable skills that can be applied to any industry out there. And sometimes it can be a competitive advantage. So know, or work with a professional if you don't know on how to make sure you're able to market yourself, stand out from the competition and be able to land those jobs at those industries right now that tend to thrive in a recession, too. So as of August 2022 unemployment rate is at 3.7. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, that's 6 million people unemployed through that throughout the United States. And there are over 10 point 1 million job openings at the moment. Now I know that all jobs, inaccurate Nikko, there could be different types of jobs available. But that just goes to show you that there are so jobs available. And there are more job openings than job seekers. So hopefully this gives you a little bit of hope to know that yes, the marketplace is competitive. But you can always stand out from the competition. By following me on LinkedIn, I usually offer a lot of career advice, working with a career professional. Like I said, like myself, I help my clients, you know, stand off from a saturated marketplace. But there are jobs out there. So that's a good thing. The next thing three, do not delay your job search or put it in the backburner. So start your job search now and I'm going to give you four reasons why. I know the holidays are on the corner. I know usually people tend to go on vacation, I get that. But I'm going to name you four reasons why you should continue with your job search. Um, please do not leave it to next year start now. The number one reason why you need to start your job search now is because you can assess whether or not your resume is performing at the level that it should. And if it's not, you could focus on making improvements on your resume or hiring a resume writing company to write that for you. It's better to do it now that you have to figure out a few months later that your resume is not performing and it could pull you back in your job search because you don't have a good performing resume. And I know some resume writing companies Right now a lot of job seekers are looking for their services. Sometimes it could take anywhere between seven to 21 days to get a completed resume. And I will say that in order for a resume writing professional to write a really good resume that showcases your expertise, you're going to have to tell them what you did, no one can read minds. And I know not everyone has done the same job, or as a cookie cutter, because there's so many things that you have done different systems, tools and resources that you've used. So, again, sometimes it could take 30 days, because you have to tell a resume writer, what you've done throughout your whole career, what are some of those metrics who have been some of your clients, what kind of projects have you worked on? And honestly, that's not something you can usually do that day, it could take quite maybe a week or two for you to gather that data, then give it to the resume writing company. And then they still need to have some time to write them resume for you. So just know that it can take a while even if you do go with a resume writing professional. So it's better to assess if your resume is performing. Now, if you're not getting in interviews, then you know, at least for every 10 jobs that you apply, you should be getting two to three interviews, you're not getting that then look into either a revamping your resume, or hire a resume professional. But again, you won't know if your resume is performing if you're not applying to jobs and job searching. That's one of the main reasons why you want to continue with your job search to assess whether your resume is performing at the rate that you should look at for your next job or brand new career. Hire 360 provides opportunities in construction, manufacturing, and hospitality through organizations like the Chicago Transit Authority related Midwest and starting they get started today with training, mentorship, and more at hire 360 chicago.com. Next is you could also start assessing the top three hardest skills to hire for in the role you're applying for. Honestly, that is the secret sauce, on how to help you stand out from the competition. And if you don't have those top three skills for whatever reason, you can now spend the time during the holiday break in acquiring that you can use resources like LinkedIn learning Udemy Coursera, there are many others where you can take free or for a minimal, you know small payment of 20 $25, you can take a certification class, learn a little bit more and get your certification. And then that way you are ready and primed in writing the next few months or the beginning of the year to start your job search. But again, you are not applying to jobs, interviewing or networking, you're not going to know that you're missing those skill sets. And you will have to find that out when you do start your job search at the beginning of the year. And now you've delayed again, your job search because now you're spending time wiring and those skills where you could have been doing that during the holidays when it was a little bit slow down. Next is Eric companies right now that are scrambling to hire people for various reasons. I actually had a few conversations with some recruiter contacts that I have. And they say, at the end of the year, this the biggest season where people just quit their jobs because they have that job offer or they already got their bonus checks or performance reviews checks, or their besting stocks have already, you know, received those fines and they were able to sell it. So now a lot of people tend to leave their jobs during the last quarter of the year. And of course, these companies have to fill those positions. So there are companies, recruiters out there, they're just scrambling to fill in from those positions. And of course, they need to interview and hire people. But if you're not applying, you're not going to be able to get access to these positions. And these companies are looking to hire really quickly again, because they didn't expect it it wasn't like a layoff or anything is that employee lacked or whatever reason. And now they have to fill in those positions. And by the way, as of August 2022, just that month alone, over 4.2 people quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So that means there's about maybe 4.2 million jobs available just right up August that you want to make sure you start applying for him that way you can get in at a faster rate than some of your maybe competition out there that maybe they decided to pull back on their job search and you can take advantage of that. And again, for I just talked about it, there are people that are going to pull back in the job search. And that increases your chances of getting an interview and getting that information from them because again, they have urgency and filling out those positions and not as many candidates applying everyone you know, is pulling back and they're not gonna start till next year. And you can take advantage of that. Next thing is you want to start researching companies you'd be interested in and start paying attention to their actions. I put Google Alerts and look at their numbers, listen to their earnings call. Are they looking to make any updates have they done that? Position have they been hired? How did their last quarter? How are they performing the big seat performance? Did they not? Um, did they have to do layoffs? Are there any news updates about restructures, which are layoffs, but at a smaller amount, and then they reclassify them as restructured. And maybe they've had change of leadership. Usually, when it comes to change of leadership, they bring in their own people. And some of those people get laid off, maybe that's not the right time to go into a company. Or maybe they're announcing new partnerships and new products coming out, or new releases, those are good positive things to start assessing, is this company healthy or not? Are there more good than bad? You know, are they growing? Or are they just announcing these layoffs or they're cutting out this product or service. So those are things you want to start paying attention to, because it gives you a good pulse into that how that company is performing. And what I always like to do is, I want to make sure that overall, you gather data, the data will help you paint a picture of the company. And you can start networking with people within the organization. So that way, you start gaining company insights in here about unpublished opportunities. And we see like, hey, they just announced a new product, or a new partnership, or they're looking to grow this department, because it's been growing, they're looking to bring it into a new market, well, then that won't be a company where you want to start networking, getting to know people within there, and maybe be able to land yourself a job that hasn't even been published yet. That is like by far the best case scenario. Then the next thing is, you want to start building a network and reaching out to employees who currently work at that desire company that you're interested in. Or you want to be able to reach out to employees that used to work at that company, easily. You want to reach out always to people that used to work at that company that look like you to get a better overview of how well is company culture, and what opportunities are there for someone like yourself, for example, for me, a woman and Latina. So I will probably reach out to other people that are like me, women or women of color. And ask them I know you used to work at this company, I just wanted to get a little bit of insights into the company overall. Did you have a lot of opportunities to get promoted? Did you see other women or women of color get promoted within the organization? Would you mind share with me the reason why you left is it because you got poached by this company, you had a better opportunity? Can you tell me a little bit more about it. Because the last thing you want to do is go into a company that has a bad company culture and can actually pull back your career stagnated because they're not likely to promote someone like you. So those are, you know, kind of like a quick overview on why you need to start job searching and what you need to know in the marketplace. So I talked about the top eight industries that are starving right now in a recession. And I talked about right now there are more job openings than job seekers at this point. And also right now, the reasons why you need to continue job searching. Want to make sure you know, if you have a high performing resume, you want to assess what are the hardest skills to hire for and if you don't have them spend this time acquiring or gaining those skill sets. Also start looking at companies that are doing really well and then start networking within those organizations and start reaching out to people that used to work there and still continue applying to jobs because again, towards the end of the year, people are looking to fill those jobs. Also some companies may have budget lapped, usually they tend to be very conservative with their budget throughout the year until the end of the fiscal year. That's when they start noticing, oh, maybe we have X amount of money left in that budget. Well, I don't want to lose this budget for next year. So why don't we hire a person that could help us with this? We can't use that budget. And that will we don't use it for next year, people tend to tighten up their wallets at the beginning of the year, like companies do. They don't know what's going to happen. So they tend to stay conservative. And then towards the end of the year. If they have money left over, then they start using up those funds again, so they don't lose that budget for next year. I mean, there are many reasons why you need to continue with your job search. Overall, focus on solutions, keep your eyes out on companies and industries that are thriving at the moment. Having a volatile marketplace is nothing new. We've gotten threatened many times and honestly we'll continue to go through the slumps when it comes to the marketplace. But at the end of the day there are companies are making money. There are companies that are growing, their companies are doing really well in this economy. And a real prime example is when we all were in a lockdown and COVID-19 no one was going now. No one was traveling. A lot of companies shut down a lot of companies lost a lot of money. Some of them no downsides and some of them just cease to exist that no longer assist because of COVID and they were impacted negatively. But yet companies like Instacart did really well. Or peloton. I mean, they were thriving during lockdown that they could keep up with the demand. Overall, I know that I ordered a peloton and it took me almost eight months to get my peloton bike. Again, because the demand was there. Yes, there were companies that didn't do so well, by yet there were companies that were doing really well. So focus on the companies that tend to do well in today's marketplace. Now, these companies that thrive in a recession may not thrive, when we have an upward market where everything is good, that's when maybe Travel Leisure, they start performing really well. Whereas in a recession, that wouldn't be the case. So start paying attention to those types of companies that are doing really well. And overall, I hope that the strategies I share with you kind of gives you a push to continue with your job search, and then continue moving forward. And overall, if you're feeling tired of doing it alone, or you're just not sure what to do just hang out in the marketplace, you can apply to work with me and my proprietary career coaching program, 90 day job offer. So you're just 90 days away from your dream job and a dream salary to go within. And I still have a few spots left before the end of the year. So feel free, I'll include the link for you to apply. Or you can text. As you can see in the band, if you're watching on video on where you can text apply, and then I can send you to Lincoln information to see if you're a good fit. If you want to make sure or you want to ask, Hey, is this program for me? Will it help me you know, based on my background and experience, if you qualify, then you get access to my calendar and we'll get career call and all that he knows I'm here to help you or not. But remember, overall, there are winners and losers when it comes to job searching. Either you get the job or you don't. So make sure you're on the winning side. There's enough resources out there. There's a lot of opportunities out there. You just need to go out and get it and don't stop job searching. And if you need help, feel free to reach out. So let me know what questions you have based on everything I just shared with you or let me know what was most helpful or you find the most insightful Alright, so next time

did you know I have started 100% free Facebook group dedicated to making job searching easy for career driven women and help them master their interviewing, networking and sorry, negotiation skills. And we're doing free weekly trainings covering everything from how to sell yourself to increasing your salary by 30% minimum. Plus, you'll be in there with a network of other ambitious women. So make sure to join us by texting us the word join 28449951523 And we'll see you there