Week 4: WCIYP Ch.3 - There Are Over Eight Million Vacancies Available Each Month

Job-hunting is all about human nature and in its essence is most like another human activity that we call dating. In the end it comes down to two questions: “Do you like me?” and “Do I like you?”  The second question needs to be stressed because the possible employee has just as much power as the employer in the hiring process. Here is where the applicant needs to make a decision to ask questions now and see if this job will be a good fit or just don’t ask anything to the employer and find out weeks, months, or years later that it isn’t working and quit. Hence your opinion matters just as much as the employer’s.

You are not as helpless as you think you are. There is always something that can be done no matter how challenging it may sound we will always have some percentage of control. And with that little power you can make a change for the best. Same applies to job-hunting we may feel that employers have all the power and that you can’t be picky because “there are few vacancies available” If these statements were true, we still have some control to alternate the outcome and find a job we desire.

The media here demonstrations a big role in the principle of the idea that “there are few vacancies available” The federal government releases two reports each month on the job market: a good and bad one. The media selects to publish on the bad one. The media tells us there are 252,000 jobs added to the market for a given month when in reality there are 10,176,000 jobs added for that same month based on the good report. The reason for such different results in reports that measure the same thing is: net change vs actual change.

• Net change: measures the difference between how many jobs there were available on day one of the month and the last day of the month. Since jobs are added and filled-in daily here we don’t see the real amount of jobs added to the market. We miss what happened in between.
• Actual change: measures day by day the entire month on how many jobs are added. Here we do see the real amount of jobs added to the market. The complete change is taken into account.

So if there are so many jobs available on monthly bases. Why are there so many people unemployed? To be answered as we go along. 

Week 2: CASA Marketing Ch.1 - Fun with Analytics

After reading the first chapter of CASA Marketing, my interest on digital/online marketing has significantly increased. I found it interesting how LinkedIn showed online marketing as a top skill that got people hired in 2013, but then again we do see that many companies or organizations use online marketing to increase business success. I didn’t think much of online marketing; it has always been on my mind, but I didn’t realize exactly how much in demand it is. This tool is useful more than ever because of the increase technology and computers. I would certainly like to become an effective online marketer, and more employable.

Certainly you have caught my attention for the reasons that it can open job opportunities and/or I can implement this into a company or business that I one day hope to open. I am excited for this course and what I will learn to be able to apply to my professional life. In the chapter you stated, “I realized that it would probably be a good idea to consider not just what I felt like doing, but what would be a benefit to a business or organization”. I agree and with the economic struggle we face, businesses and organizations need all the help they can get. We must look at the whole picture, not just what is in one’s self-interest.

           

            There are many web analytic tools that we said we can use such as google analytics, adobe analytics, open source analytics, and social analytics. Freshmen year I had a job with the athletics department where we use the social media to advertise and promote sporting events for the school, which falls under online marketing and social analytics. We posted up statuses or tweets to have students, family, or friends to attend home games for all sporting events and got payed for it. I thought this was pretty cool, so I look forward to this class to broaden knowledge on online marketing and open more doors for future employment.

Week 2: WCIYP Ch.1

The title for this chapter says it all; “It’s A Whole New World for Job-Hunters”. This is a big issue that we frequently hear about either from colleagues, friends, and family. The world isn’t what it used to be, we have faced many struggles that have implemented a new world. The economy has been a huge factor especially with the tipping point in 2008 with the worst financial disaster since the Great depression of 1929. Finding a job has been really difficult since then, employers ask for more from employee candidates then they have ever before. I could have told you this just based off personal experience.

            It’s a new game in the job-hunt world and now I have a better understanding to why this is. Employers have changed their behavior when hunting for employees, and we have not caught up with, nor adapted to, employers’ new behavior. We have to learn the behavior of the employer and adjust. So if on average, a vacancy receives between 118 and 250 responses or resumes for a position and they employer only wants to interview 5.4 candidates. Employer’s first concern is to go from 118 – 250 candidates down to 5.4; meaning the chance of getting a call for an interview is 2.3% - 4.6%. Which is why the length of the average job-hunter has increased, unemployment has increased, or why even employers require more education background from employee candidates. In the text they say job-hunters and employers speak different languages such as when they say “skills” they really mean “experience”. In the text we are told that we should assume that the employers’ world is like a foreign country; you must learn their language, and their customs, before you visit. In other words, adapt to the employer’s preferences.

            It’s no surprise that finding a job in today’s world will be a task and a half, but with the right guidance and tools the task can be minimized. Learn the values of the employer and use them to your advantage. Job-hunting in my personal life has for the most part been a difficult, but luckily with some connects, and luck I have managed to obtain jobs to keep me moving in life. Hopefully with this course and material covered in this book I can strengthen my job-hunting skills to find future employment where I can truly see results financially and be able to live the life I dream about.