Think like a free agent?

This blog post comes from the Richland Library in South Carolina and discusses the 'new search strategy' of thinking like a free agent. The author Lori Cook is a job readiness trainer, and her many posts show her knowledge and describe ways of helping the general public with the complicated nature of the job search. I like this analogy, and while the general advice is very much in line with things I have read in the past the analogy is new and very effective.

In sports of any kind, players are under contract. Depending on the sport and the union rules they can often earn the right to become a free agent, meaning that they can receive offers and choose to work for a new team. This almost always comes with a large pay increase and much press coverage.

In Ms. Cook's piece she outlines how using some of the philosophy of athletes and working for yourself can be beneficial in searching for or being offered employment. I like the tone of the article, and believe that many job seekers can benefit from this attitude shift to the job search.

Hiring the unemployed

This piece over on Recuriter.com covers the myth of hiring the unemployed. As Mr. Ladimeji explains, in times gone by it was assumed that if someone was unemployed they were undesirable as a candidate, but given the economy of the past few years this is becoming less true. This is welcome news for the nearly 2.5 million Americans who find themselves without employment as a results of the economic crisis of 2008.

This double-edged sword can still be tricky for many... in my personal experience I hope that after nearly two years out of work, my part-time job in my field is resharpening my skills and that it will help in all future employment searches. I know it is helping my professional network in my new home area. On the flip side however the time it takes out of my week makes it hard to juggle the job searching and application process for full time work.

This is a very personal decision and I wish everyone who is in the position to make it the best of luck. Just know that if you choose to stay unemployed in order to focus your full time on finding the work that best suits you, it should not hurt your chances as much as that decision may have five years ago.

The Social Resume: do you need one?

This post over at Social Media Today shows an infographic with statistics about the use of social media in hiring. They title the graphic the Social Resume, and it reinforces the need for a strong but measured approach to using social media. The results mirror the results from a survey done by the SHRM in 2011, which I wrote about here.

The biggest take away is that hiring managers/employers are using these tools more than job-seekers. For example 93% of employers reported using LinkedIn while just 38% of job-seekers use it. There appears to be an opportunity for the skilled job-seeker to use the social media tools to put out a positive public profile of themselves as a candidate no matter what the field or job you are seeking.