Stepping Back Up After A Downturn In The Economy

Posted by Kelly Nichols on Apr 1, 2014 2:19 PM


“I took a lower paying position during the down turn.  How do I search for a new opportunity?”

In 2008 thousands of people were laid off due to the downturn in the economy.  Many people had to accept what was available out there but maybe not necessarily what they wanted to be doing....for a lot less money.  Another common situation was the people who were able to keep their job but had to accept a lot more responsibility to pick up the slack from people being laid off and possibly had to accept a decrease in pay.

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Recently, a friend called me and asked how they could find a better opportunity with more pay.  With the market starting to come back, there are a lot of postings out there on the job boards.  What people don’t know is that most of the posted positions out there are for the hard to find skill sets or recruiting firms.  Job boards charge a lot of money to customers to post their job openings.  So many small and midsize companies cannot afford nor have a budget to post them for the world to see.  Also when you post something on Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, local newspapers etc., companies get a lot of responses and most of them are junk.  It can be hard to stand out among hundreds of other job seekers.

Most companies post on their own internal and external websites or use their preferred inside or outside recruiters to fill positions.  How can you find the best opportunities out there?

1st step is to register with a recruiter that specializes in your field.  You should do some research on their websites and see the openings that they usually post on the job boards which will give you a good indication what their specialization is.  Also, if you get a lot of calls from certain recruiters they should be able to tell you what areas they have placed people in recently.

2nd step is to identify companies that you would like to work for and do a LinkedIn search on their employees in your network.  Reach out to them and make them aware you are potentially looking for a new opportunity.  Ask their advice if you think they will be hiring in the near future.   Also, go to their website to see if they have any openings in your area of expertise.  This will take you some time to accomplish so you have to be diligent and patient on your search.

There are a number of benefits to using a Recruiter if you are a job seeker or a hiring manager.  Recruiters already have a relationship established with the hiring managers and have potentially placed people there before. For the hiring manager, once a recruiter knows your preferred profiles they can find you qualified candidates quickly, saving you time.  Recruiters are educated on the market and what profiles companies usually hire.  They can assist you with resume preparation and prepare you on the questions that you could be asked during the interview.  Most importantly they can assist you through the interview process and offer stage to make sure you get the top range of the salary.  A company will tell a recruiter the salary range but usually won’t share that with applicants and vice versa, most candidates are reluctant to share their current salaries, especially if they have taken a lesser job during a recession.  Recruiters are only paid for their service when they place people and you should never have to pay a recruiter to assist you in your job search.  Most job seekers have a full time job and other personal responsibilities.  We all know that recruiters are extremely successful at finding talent because this is all they do for their career.  What recruiters can accomplish in a month could take individuals years to accomplish.   

Still not sure about your search?  Check out some of our other blogs that can assist you in your job search and working with a recruiter!  

Good luck in your search!!!!!