How to Prepare for the New Year

We finally got the admitting news a few days ago that we have indeed been in a recession for the past 12 months. OK! I think most of the awake and sober people in the country were well aware of this apparent revelation. So how bad is it? I don’t have that answer. I guess it depends on many variables.

For us at JTL, we were fortunate enough to have had a great year. The largest contributing factor to this is that, quite simply, we prepared. We made some wise business model modifications this year that without a doubt have helped us grow.

The bright side of the economic historical pendulum tells us that we should start to come out of the recession in about 6 months – being that we are many months into it already. For all of us, my fingers are crossed, and my hopes are that this will be the case but I’m not too confident and certainly not yet sold. Therefore, I will remain in conservative mode and give an extra layer of checks and balances with all that we do within the business.

But what can you personally do in this trying time with regard to career planning?

Honestly, when it comes to finding a job it doesn’t matter what the market condition is all that much. Sure it may have some impact, but it is far from the top of the list of reasons to connect or not connect with a potential job. Bottom line, as you should know by reading my blog, one of the best ways to landing that next job is to use a skilled recruiter.

“Come on, JTL is a recruiting agency”. OK. So what? You really need to understand that finding jobs for people is what recruiters do and depend on to make a living. Don’t be ignorant and think that because the market is down that companies are not going to pay a fee for services to find the “right” candidate for their open positions. Perhaps the market is such that it doesn’t warrant a fee being paid for you. If that is the case a recruiter will level with you and try to help you even if it means that they won’t get a fee. Now that may sound like a pitch for you, but think about it. Part of the core of a recruiter’s business model includes building relationships with both clients and candidates. A quality candidate has current and future value on many levels.

You see the market determines the talent pool. When the market is down companies can and do become more selective with whom they hire. Why? It’s simple. There are more people in the market who are looking for jobs. When the market is good then the opposite occurs. Talent dries up and companies will pay a fee for a body. Is this making sense? Put another way, when the market is down the fish bowl gets filled with fish. Finding the right fish gets more difficult. Recruiters are much better than companies in finding the right fish. Hence their paying fees for us to do so.

The question you need to ask yourself is where do you fall? Are you the best talent in this market? If you are how are they going to know that? Resume job board? Faxing or mailing your resume to an ad in the Sunday paper? If that honestly is your game plan, your likelihood of not succeeding is pretty high. Certainly, by all means, give it a shot. Do let us know how that works for you!

A good recruiter will promote you and create the urgency to get you that interview. Again, that is how they make a living. They have to be good at it.

So back to the topic… How do you get your career ready for the new year? For starters, read through our blog postings. Read through the volumes of information on the Internet and prepare and plan. This becomes Darwinism at its best. The strongest will succeed. You want to increase your strength and rise to the top of the pile. Again, plan and prepare. Treat yourself as a brand and brand yourself. While treating yourself as a brand, realize that effective branding is about opening up proper channels of distribution. Use a recruiter to help bridge your brand to a company looking for that brand.