Unemployment is down but Competition is UP!

I never thought we would see an unemployment rate below 7% again. I understand that the current unemployment rate of 6.3% does not represent those who have given up on finding gainful employment, but it’s still encouraging.

In March the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs and in April another 288,000 jobs were added according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. I’ve read forecasting articles from the Department of Labor and SHRM which are predicting major hiring for 2014. I pay attention to those things because not only am I a resume writer, but I’m an HR Consultant as well.

Recently, I spoke to a group of HR pros at the Oklahoma HR State Conference. My session was titled The New Recruiting Frontier <—here is the pdf version of the slides, if you are interested.

During the session the attendees (HR pros) asked some really good questions about you – yes, you the job seekers. They asked about your search habits, your follow-up practices and some of the “pushy” things that you do to try and get the job.

Unfortunately, there are some job seekers who push the boundaries and are borderline creepy. Look, its okay to read the company page, “Like” them on Facebook , follow them on LinkedIn but when you track down phone numbers and addresses only to harass the decision makers you are crossing the line.

I understand the importance of a job – this is why I put so much energy into creating the very best darn resumes period! I’ve searched Pinterest and Instagram looking at the competition, let’s just say, I wasn’t impressed. FYI encasing someone’s initials at the top of the resume doesn’t make it good.  (And if I see “results-driven” one more time….) I also coach my clients on how to ace the interview, follow-up with the interviewers and negotiate salaries. (among other things)

Jobs are coming back and so is the competition. You need to be prepared. Having an awesome resume will put you ahead of over 50% of the other job seekers out there.

Join the Resume Crusade – contact me ‘[email protected]’