Creating a professional identity, can you afford it?

The initial inspiration for writing this post was seeing this piece from Sarah Kendizor (Professional Identity: A Luxury we can't afford) on the blog Vitae sponsored by the Chronicle for Higher Education. At issue is the disconnect between employers claiming there is a skills-gap (i.e. not enough people with the skills they need to fill the jobs that they say do exist) and trend for people to alter there resumes to hide work they may feel ashamed of or qualifications like education that they feel will hurt their chances.

My first thought is to remind everyone that your resume is a living document. I am sure you have heard that you must customize your resume for every job you apply for, but how often do we think about why we are doing this? We should be doing this to make absolutely sure that it reflects the background we have that makes us a good match for the job. Could this mean leaving off jobs or experience that is not relevant? Yes. Does it mean we should feel like we need to hide things from future employers? No. I think of it in the following terms: I have a document that contains everything. This document is never submitted when applying for a job. It is instead used as a tool to help me view my entire past and decide what is relevant when crafting the document (resume or CV) that I will submit when applying. For example, during my freshmen year in college my work-study job was in the print shop. The following summer I worked in a small manufacturing facility. These two positions haven't seen the light of day for a long time... but if I ever had to make a shift back to anything that needed manufacturing skills I would dust these off to demonstrate I have had experience in this area. But just the lines on a resume would typically not be enough, you would need to pair this with a well written cover letter.

Beyond thinking of your application documents as living, and telling the story of how you will be the best person for the job you are applying for, we as applicants need to remember the importance of the research. How will you know what the employer values? Research! How will you know the skills needed in the position? Research! How will you know the issues faced by the companies within the industry? Research! Just use the pieces I have written about career research to find the answers, then spend some time crafting the documents to demonstrate how you have the skills that employers claim we as applicants lack.

To further prepare you may also want to read some/all of the following articles that Ms. Kendizor mentioned in her piece that relate more directly to the job hunter:

Further Reading:

Holland, Kelley. "Why Johnny can't write, and why employers are mad." NBC News: Business. November 11, 2013.

Kendizor, Sarah. "Surviving the post-employment economy." Aljazeer. November 3, 2013.

Kuper, Simon. "The great middle-class identity crisis." Financial Times Magazine. November 8, 2013.

White, Martha C. "The Real Reason New College Grads Can't Get Hired" Time. November 10, 2013. 

More on the Freelance Economy.

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about the Freelance Economy. In that piece I included a link to an episode of the Diana Rehm show. On that show, they mentioned several resources, one of them was ELance. This is an online portal for those who freelance, and for those who are looking to hire freelance workers.

For those still not sure if freelancing is right for them the following article "Will your next job be a freelance one?" from Forbes Magazine written by Elaine Pofeldt provides some additional insight. Still need more? Possibly my additional pieces on the freelance economy might help.

Job search inspiration

TED talks are great, and the folks over at Mashable have picked their 5 favorites for job search inspiration. I have not yet watched them all, but the first one seemed to tie into my piece last week about The Freelance Economy. If a system like the one Mr. Rowan describes could be unleashed it would go a long way making such an economy more usable/comfortable for the worker. Take a look and let me know what you think.

The Freelance Economy

Well this concept is certainly nothing new... I wrote about an article I read almost a year ago that bemoaned this practice of moving away from full time employment towards contract work. That original article The Age of the Freelancer written by Gary Stern for Fortune Magazine mainly focused on the individual worker. This week The Diane Rehm show on NPR focused on the effect on the entire economy in a program they called The Freelance Economy. It is worth a listen if you missed it, especially if like me you are stuck working several part time jobs to get by.

The thing I was heartened to hear (because the trend data showing that this is the way the economy is headed can be a bit depressing...) was the various groups that are forming around the country to help support people who are living this new lifestyle (either by choice or due to circumstances out of their control.) The also made an interesting connection to the Affordable Care Act and how it will help improve the lifestyle of workers in this category.

I will be trying to keep track of this trend and continue to blog about it as it develops. As always I would love to hear from anyone with direct experience, especially if you have found unique or different ways to deal with some of the challenges we are facing (health care, saving for retirement, dealing with debt especially student loan debt, etc.)

The best of times, the worst of times.

Finding a job in your chosen career can be difficult at the best of times. We are certainly not in the best of times! I have now been looking for full time work for almost four years (it will be four years next month.) Right now according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics I am technically in the involuntary part time workers category, and it is no fun. Sometimes I feel like I am in the marginally attached category (those who want to work full time, but have stopped looking because they feel like they can't/won't be able to find a job.)

Either way I am suffering, and so are millions of Americans. For the raw data some of you may be interested in the actual BLS report for July. It is rather dry to read, but here is what I take away... little has changed in the past year. Thats a bad thing! In the last year the stock market has gone up over 20%,  home prices have risen a little over 12%, home sales are up, and every month it seems that the private sector hiring is higher than the overall number. For example in July ADP reported that private sector hiring created 200,000 jobs, yet the overall number just released by the BLS was a gain of 162,000 jobs. So the quick math would indicated that the public sector lost 38,000 jobs in July. Initial analysis by CNN/Money seems to agree with me that this is not good. Bloomberg News also notes that hours worked and earnings were down slightly for the month. All of this adds up to bad news.

I realize that this may be an oversimplified example... but if the Federal Reserve still contends that the government should be spending more on infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools, etc.) then instead of spending $85 billion per month to buy bonds, why can't they spend on infrastructure? Even $1 billion per month would make a difference.

Certainly some of the job loses in the public sector since the rescission began in 2008 were jobs that may have not been necessary... but we can't sustain this. The private sector can't hire all 12 million unemployed Americans. It certainly can't absorb all the unemployed/underemployed/marginally attached workers (I think that number is closer to 25 million!)

Yesterday I wrote about a disturbing trend to shift work to part time or temporary work. If we relay on the private sector to rehire all the people who want to work, this trend will get worse and so will the country as a whole. So while these are by no means the best of times, things will get a whole lot worse in my opinion if this trend continues.

To best position yourself remember to prepare your self for any opportunity with sound research about the company and industry you are interviewing with. Be prepared to make connections between your skills, abilities, and background to their position and situation. As always good luck, and fi you have any thoughts I would love to hear them.

Survey says...

It has been a while since I have found time to write, boy the summer has gone by fast. With many economic signs appearing to conflict, especially when it comes to employment, I thought I'd write about a phenomenon that hits a bit close to home. The trend (if it is that) of jobs shifting away from full time and towards part time (or even temporary.)

Over on CNN/Money Tami Luhby has an article on some of the latest employment data:
"Want a job? Good luck finding full-time work." Different from the monthly jobs numbers this article discusses the rise in part-time and temporary jobs. While each is not at all times highs set back in 2010 the increase is a bit unsettling.

If you take the glass half full approach you might see this as amazing, considering as Ms. Luhby describes all the things working against hiring (payroll tax hikes, sequester, the Affordable Health Care Act, and general weak economic growth.) It is amazing that any hiring has been going on... But the half empty view would suggest that companies are intentionally shifting to less and less full time employment to avoid not only health care, but benefits in general.

Now I don't think I would fall squarely in either camp... but as someone who currently only has a part time job I can certainly see the effects. Many of the employers who I am looking to find work with are slowing hiring or moving towards part timers.

Higher education has traditionally used somewhere between 30% - 40% part time workers for the actually teaching (when you combined adjuncts, lecturers, and graduate assistants.) So for me personally the change may not be as drastic, but for many other fields like engineering and information technology the switch may be alarming.

My bachelor's degree is in computer science, and while I never saw my self as a programer if I had chosen that field and been working for the past decade and a half I can't imagine I would be looking fondly on the prospect of now having to work project by project and get far less than what I was worth. I guess I don't see the incentive for the programmer or engineer to work to the best of their ability when they know they will be out of work when the project is done. I suppose if there were large incentives to complete the project within the timeframe maybe... but otherwise why should I effectively shorten my usefulness.

Now I suppose that if I do very good work I might get hired back for more contract work... but again with no health and retirement benefits the situation would seem untenable.

The value of personal websites.

Just in case you hadn't heard... a personal web site is valuable to the job seeker.

Author Jacquelyn Smith writes this article in Forbes, Why every job seeker should have a personal website and what it should include. At the beginning she shares some national statistics about the job market: the average job opening receives 118 applicants, only about 20% (or 36 get interviews.) Also she quotes a Workfolio study that reports that "56% of hiring managers are more  impressed by a personal website than any other branding tool - however, only 7% of job seekers actually have a personal website."

These statistics seem to match my personal experiences over the past few years. They also seem to match a gut feeling I have had in the past about the reasons to have a personal website, and I have one... but is it doing all it could for me? I would love to see examples of sites that other job seekers are using. By sharing we should all be able to get stronger as candidates.

"badges, we don't need no stinking badges"

Well maybe we do? This article on the future of credentials by Monica Guzman from the Seattle Times asks the important question about the future of the resume. It basically boils down to this: "If résumés are a bunch of claims, badges are a bunch of evidence."

So what do badges have do do with this, you may be asking yourself. Well if you are familiar with any kind of gamification you may already know the answer, but if you don't know what that is I will try to cover them both in brief.

Gamification is a process where elements of games are applied to non game situations to influence behavior. This is typically done by businesses but it is also making its way into education and other areas... many times the elements that are being brought in are levels, experience and rewards. Many of these have centered around the idea of earning a badge to demonstrate an accomplishment (hence the evidence in Ms. Guzman's quote.) So here are a few basic examples:

Using the Social Media app for smart phones FourSquare people can 'check in ' at locations and earn badges for things like the number of times they visit locations, the number of locations visited, etc. They can also become 'mayor' of a location when they reach the top of the list of check-ins. The business could then use this information to issue deals, coupons, or other rewards to help encourage people to stop by.

This is a fairly simple example, and there are many others on the gamification site linked above. I can also discuss this with anyone individually who is interested and/or recommend further reading.

Where it becomes interesting is (as the article from the Seattle Times hints at) when we expand these badges into other social media tools (perhaps LinkedIn for example.) Here is a frame work for how I could see this unfolding:

LinkedIn working with others creates a smooth and simple interface to allow users to display badges, certificates and other items demonstrating achievement (the evidence or virtual currency.) Then MOOCs and other systems where people can go to learn skills award some sort of badge, certificate, etc. and this gets loaded into LinkedIn or some other profile building site. Now along with the standard names and dates of schools and employers (the old resume), I have a skills section (LinkedIn already has this) with the endorsements from my network (LinkedIn has this as well) and a layer with badges, certificates, and other forms of evidence from a whole host of other potential sources.

The rating/point system would need to be fully developed, but  here is my initial thoughts of a hypothetical example:

• Being a member of network (think LinkedIn Groups)                    1 point each
• Being active in that group (writing posts, asking questions, etc.)     1 point each
• Having activity from the group voted up                                        0.5 points each
• Having appropriate connections (network)                                    0.25 points each
• Blogging about your professed expertise                                       0.1 points per post
• Followers of said blog                                                                  0.25 points each
• Comments on said blog                                                                0.5 points each
• Certificates, badges, awards                                                         1 point each
• Recommendations for work                                                          2 points each
• Endorsements of skills                                                                  0.5 points each
• Answering questions (Yahoo Answers, etc.)                                  0.1 point each
• Answer to question being voted up                                               0.25 points each
• Writing reviews (Amazon, Yelp, etc.)                                            0.1 point each
• Reviews being voted up                                                                0.25 points each
• Publications                                                                                  3 points each
• Presentations at conferences                                                         3 points each
• Invited to speak at a conference                                                    5 points each

Obviously this list would continue to grow as more systems were integrated, and the point system would have to be constantly adjusted to ensure its effectiveness. Hopefully It is clear that the value would lie in the usefulness that others place on the content that I as a job candidate create, not just me trying to inflate my standing by producing anything. I could also see layers being added if I wanted to integrate my purchases, for example if an online retailer could verify I bought a book or other tool needed for some task it would add a small bit of confidence that I am prepared to tackle the task.

Another benefit of such a system is that it would start to show specialization. By that I mean a sub field or area that you may not have received formal education in or that your job titles don't match... but that through experience you have learned. As an example my advanced degree is in Library Science, and I have worked in both public and academic libraries as a reference librarian. However through my experiences I have picked up a lot of knowledge about business, entrepreneurship and career development (which is why I write this blog!) If I wanted to get a job at a college in a career center I would probably have a hard time, since none of my education or employment background would lead the hiring manager to think I had the knowledge... but with such a system in place, it might be much more clear that I have the knowledge to complete the job duties. For example of my 186 LinkedIn connections 33 are career center people in higher ed and 24 are entrepreneurs or business school faculty that teach entrepreneurship. Then if you looked at my publications and presentations (something that any hiring manager outside of hiring for teaching faculty is unlikely to look at...) you might see most are related to creating resources for students to improve the job search. Then factor in this blog and you would begin to see that I am quite capable to take on a position in a career center for an institution of higher learning (not that I am currently pursuing this... but if I wanted to it might be hard for me with a standard resume/cover letter type hiring system in place today with most employers.)

Now I am sure I am not thinking of every possible result of creating and using such a system. I also know it would take some time for all the bugs to be shaken out and for everyone to catch up, but the bottom line is that it would be just a new piece of the pie that might help to bring together all of the things that hiring managers are already doing. We know they are checking our online presence and identity. We know that they are contacting not only the references we list for them, but others that may know us for insights.

Thoughts? Am I missing something?

What can be learned during a long job search.

Long job searches can be tough on the job seeker, I am sure if you are in that situation you don't need me to tell you that. Also each industry brings its own set of unique circumstances, even before we begin to analyze each persons unique situation. All that being said, I think that the advice of this librarian can be helpful for most job seekers in a long search (think 12 months or longer.)

If your job search has been too long (which is a totally personal decision) you may need to start thinking about a career change. This recent article on creating resumes for a career change may be helpful.  Also you may want to investigate my posts on employment trends, especially the recent post about thinking like a free agent.

• Tap your network and learn about different career paths you might explore.
• Once you have some ideas research these paths (try this post for a good starting point.)
• Generate questions you have about these options.
• Try to arrange informational interviews with people in your network (or from outside) to learn the answers to these questions.
• Think about volunteering to gain some experience in the new career path.
• Look to expand your network towards this new path.
• Look at LinkedIn groups that you might join to hear the perspective of experts in the area.
• Follow people on Twitter, Google+ or other social networks that allow to learn from/observe these experts.
• Once you feel comfortable join in on these conversations. This becomes part of your social resume.
• Remember to critically examine your skills and experience to identify areas that will apply to jobs in your new/desired field.
•  When performing this examination try a separate sheet (file) for each job (and possibly each major area of each job...) and begin to list in detail everything involved: skills, accomplishments, challenges.
• These lists will help you identify areas to highlight in a resume/cover letter for a job for which you have less experience, but feel that you have the right skills to succeed.

Above all keep the chin up and good luck.

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.

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 12 weeks?

Paul Brown is a contributor at Forbes magazine. In this article he details how some of his ideas* have been expanded upon by Tom McDonough (www.getappia.com), to form the basis of an idea (and eventual a course) about becoming an entrepreneur in 12 weeks.

This idea falls in nicely with other pieces I have discussed in the employment trends and start-ups posts. Essentially, all of us will need to develop some familiarity with the traits of good entrepreneurs. As the nature of work shifts to away from traditional 40-hour per week full time jobs to contract work/consulting the ability to sell your skills/services and/or create new ideas/products will become critical.

In this article Mr. Brown discusses how he agrees with Mr. McDonough, and encourages everyone to use the 12 week framework to try out being an entrepreneur and see if they a) like it and b) can make money with an idea/product/or service they have.

If you have read this blog with regularity these ideas shouldn't seem outrageous. Whether you are looking for a more traditional full time job or looking to improve your skills as an entrepreneur you need to be well informed. Learn to improve your skills at finding high quality information about those you will be working with (companies, people, industries...) visit your local library and checkout their business resources (or check if your state offers virtual resources for its residents.) Check with a state office for small business resources.

If you have questions you think others could benefit from, I would look forward to some conversation via the comments.


*Paul B. Brown is the co-author (along with Leonard A. Schlesinger and Charles F. Kiefer) of Just Start: Take Action; Embrace Uncertainty and Create the Future recently published by Harvard Business Review Press.

Skills shortage an employer problem?

Let's start the week with a thought experiment.

This piece by Neil Sandell in the Toronto Star discusses how the claim of many CEO's and corporate executives that there is a skills gap is actually a self-inflicted wound. While the articles data and studies are about Canada, the insights are universal. The current trend in corporate hiring is to higher experienced candidates and to no longer train/develop current employees.

We have all probably seen job ads asking for what seems like an impossible combination of education and experience. There are many career/job hunting blog posts across the internet detailing this trend (see some of my other posts on employment trends) of employers fishing for the best possible candidate at the lowest cost. In the short term companies may be acting in their own self-interest... but what will be the long term consequences of these practices?

My personal opinion is that this will have a long term negative impact on the skills of the workforce. Only time will tell if this will be overcome by changing hiring practices, technology or some other change in the way businesses work in the future.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Jobs outlook for 2013

CNN and Money Magazine have a this wonderful piece about the jobs outlook for 2013, which is in their series about Making More in 2013. While predictions like this are never guaranteed it looks like things will be improving for hiring and working conditions in 2013.

I encourage those both looking for employment and looking to improve their employment situation to read this piece. Then keep in mind both my advice and the advice of those I direct you to on employment trends to be aware of and preparing for the job search/interview.

I would love to hear from those who have good experiences in late  2012 and 2013.
Good Luck!

Job applicant experience can effect business!

Alice Diamond is a career counselor at an academic institution. Her piece for Career Convergence Magazine discusses how the applicant experience can effect a business. She uses some generalities that I think we can all identify with. Interviewing and not hearing for weeks if ever are unfortunately things that many if not all job searchers can understand.

I have tried to avoid boring you the reader with too many personal stories of my job searches, so I'll just say that all of the situations she used as examples are ones that I have experienced or were experienced by someone I know closely.

What I wanted to talk about in more depth were the things she shared about how these experiences can effect the hiring company, and more importantly what we as job seekers can do about it.

First if the situation was really bad, vote with your wallet. Tell family and friends about the bad experience and if the company provides services that you consume then consume accordingly. But if the experience was not so egregious that you must take to the streets so to speak... her tips offer some interesting options.

As I have discussed in several of my posts about employment trends, the job search process is changing. The nature of work is changing as well. In this new environment providing feedback either directly or indirectly is a vital piece of business. Keep that in mind during your next interview.

Age of the Freelancer

Gary Stern writing last week for Fortune Magazine talked about the Age of the Freelancer. As he notes this is not a new phenomena, but it is seeing a resurgence of late. In September a survey taken of over 300 freelance workers found that 57% saw an increase in income during 2012.

I have talked about the changing landscape of work in past posts. As Mr. Stern points out this is not a new trend. What it signals is the end of the traditional career of staying put for 30+ years. The benefits for the employer are just too great for them to continue to hire primarily full time salaried employees and remain competitive globally.

I see this as a sad trend, but one that may be impossible to avoid. My greatest concern is that even if employers raise salaries enough to equate to what a worker was receiving in salary and benefits in the past (health, disability, retirement, etc.) will employees remain disciplined enough to go out into the free market and invest those extra dollars wisely? For most the health coverage will remain essential and as the nation settles into life with the Affordable Care Act it should become easier and more affordable to purchase this coverage as an individual. The bigger concern will be retirement. Currently the trend that is seeing modest positive gains is to automatically enroll an employee into a 401K or similar plan offered through the employer.

As Social Security and Medicare begin to loose footing, and more workers are not seeing these benefits from employers will we be self-disciplined enough? I hope for the best and fear for the worst.

Thoughts?

Are you shooting yourself in the foot?

About two weeks ago J.T. O'Donnell wrote this piece for LinkedIn about job seekers taking advice from the wrong person.  Ms. O'Donnell is the CEO of CAREEREALISM a career coaching site on the web. In this article she sites a study by the non-profit Career Advisory Board that found that 58% of job seekers are not seeking professional advice, instead they are looknig for work on their own. She then links to a story she wrote about her own experience when she did this as well.

Now as the CEO of CAREEREALISM she has a vested interest in all of us job seekers using professional services for help in our searches. If we all did her company would get some portion of that business, a.k.a. her bottom line would improve. But I don't want to sound too negative, the advice is still sound... just consider all the professionals out there.

1) The workforce development office in your community (or whatever the name may be)
2) The career services at any college you attended
3) Professionals companies like the one MS. O'Donnell founded.
4) Librarians

Now the first three will make sense to all of us, but the last may take a bit of explaining... I have worked with the career service units at several colleges I have worked at. In every case I have heard the anecdotal evidence that they receive from employers: '...the students are academically smart/qualified, but they don't know about my company/industry...'

I have paraphrased here, but the sentiment has been expressed to me and others I have worked with many times. This is actually one of the reasons I started this blog, to try and write about ways the average job seeker can improve their research skills to improve their knowledge about the companies/industries they want to work for/in. With this increased knowledge it is easier to tailor your resume and cover letter to the job. This then increases the chances of getting the interview. Once you have the interview you can conduct additional research to find more information that will strengthen your answers to the interview questions.

For all these reasons I believe that most librarians can be a valuable source for helping the job seeker understand how to conduct quality research. My posts about research tips are a great place to start, but actually seeing them in action and having someone to walk you through the use of the tools can be invaluable.

Almost everybody in should live near a public library, and as I pointed out here 49 of 50 states have programs to either purchase these tools for all their citizens or help the libraries purchase the tools. My biggest caveat is that depending on the public library they may not make the connections I have made in my career. If you go in asking for job related help you may get pointed to job ads, or local resources for finding jobs. But if you ask them to teach you how to effectively search their databases to find information you can then apply that skill for any need, career related or otherwise.

Good luck, and let me know how it turns out.

Does your career Zig or Zag?

This piece (Does your Career Zig or Zag?) by Caroline Dowd-Higgins discusses the trend of more frequent career and/or company changes. She dubs this trend as becoming a zig zagger. It describes a phenomena I have highlighted before of the changing employment landscape. That is that the days of hiring into a company young and working for that company for a 30+ year career are over.  Several of the tips Ms. Dowd-Higgins suggests fall in line with the mantra of this blog: you need to be prepared with knowledge of the company before interviewing to help present yourself and your skills in the best light.

Even though we are moving away from the era where several jobs in several years is a red-flag, companies will still be looking for the potential to benefit from hiring you. Therefore you need to know as much about them as possible to help present your skills. This is especially true if you are coming from another industry. It is then up to you to present the skills you have acquired as transferable to their industry/business.

Preparing for the new job market

Here is some career advice from a blog that I am less familiar with, but it matches much of what I am reading elsewhere. The advice boils down to the three tips:

• Pay attention to your industry.
• Develop niche expertise.
• Learn to market yourself.

These are again tips that may career counselors and  career bloggers are giving. This makes me feel comfortable pointing my readers to a anonymous blog post. I also find it interesting because of the theme it is constructed around. The job market is changing.

Now I have blogged about this premise before:

Is Traditional Employment Dead?
Traditional Employment (part 2)
The new job interview?

These three posts all tackle the issue from different angles... but taken in total I believe that they are pointing towards a growing trend in employment. So back to the article that motivated today's post... the three tips fall in line with things I have been saying in most of my blog posts. By paying attention to your industry through business news sources you are performing the research necessary to keep sharp as a job candidate. In this post (Company Research - business news) I detail how to conduct the research in the business news sources to learn and keep current in your industry.

By developing your niche and learning to market yourself you can stand out in a crowded candidate pool. These are actually the reasons I started this blog. During a lengthy unemployment I received some advice that to stay connected and relevant it might help to blog about an area I felt was my strength. Since I had worked with students at a major university, teaching them how to conduct this type of research to prepare for job interviews I felt I could broaden those skills for all individuals hunting for employment.

I would love to hear from any of you who feel that employment is changing.

Traditional Empoymnet (part 2)

In my last post I asked if traditional employment was dead...I linked to an article that had a somewhat negative outlook. Today I offer a somewhat more positive spin to this question. This article from Fortune contributor Larissa Faw looks at How Millennials are Redefining Careers.

As a Gen Xers near the end of that spectrum I guess I don't see this as anything new. While an undergrad the chair of my department liked quoting to us at Department of Labor statistic about how we would have on average 7 - 10 employers (careers, depending on whose wording you wanted to use.) At the beginning of the piece the author details how people used to define themselves as a single identity (engineer, teacher, NASA, etc.) but now people see themselves with multiple identities (journalist AND marketing consultant AND co-partner in a company.)

In a related piece on Fortune contributor Dorie Clark ponders Why Your Company Should Blow Up the Corporate Ladder. It examines that in order to attract and retain top talent companies should begin to change the way they view the rigid corporate structure? The article looks at a book about an alternative to that rigid structure The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work. In this book the authors look at how movements in a lattice (sometimes sideways, sometimes slightly down or slightly up) can help improve employee satisfaction and thus improve their productivity.

If these authors are correct, will it improve corporate structure? Will it help improve unemployment? Confidence in the economy? I would love to hear what people think.