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.