Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the March 3, 2003 issue of
QuintZine.
It's a fairly widely accepted tenet of job-hunting that you can make excellent inroads by talking to
knowledgeable people in your field. Shay Welch, a technical staffing manager writing for Net-Temps,
suggests that recruiters are among the best of those knowledgeable
people. "One of the most untapped resources for career seekers are the recruiters who specialize in the various
careers available to today's workforce," Welch writes. "Why recruiters? They know what companies are hiring, and
they also know what types of positions are in highest demand, as well as the criteria top employers are looking for in
employees. If you want an inside look into any industry, a recruiter can be a wealth of information, because they're
always interacting with both talented professionals and companies that are hiring. And, in today's economy, there
are specialized recruiters for just about any profession you can think of. Areas of expertise vary from technical
to legal fields, and there are even recruiters who specialize
in writing or working with stagehands for theatrical productions! With so many specialized recruiting firms,
there's bound to be one that can offer you guidance with your career of choice," Welch suggests.
The recovery in the job market isn't here yet, reports CNN. That's the consensus of the most recent jobs survey by Manpower Inc.,
which found that employers nationwide are scaling back plans to add workers to their payrolls. The survey is the latest
indicator that hiring has hit another roadblock. That news will deal a blow to those who've lost jobs -- or those who
worry they might join the ranks of the unemployed. Experts aren't mincing words. Their advice? Tighten your personal
financial belt and be prepared for a bumpy ride ahead. Expectations are for only small gains. A combination of
factors may be to blame. Uncertainty over a war with Iraq doesn't help. But with little new demand for products and
services, companies are generally holding staff levels steady, rather than increasing payrolls in expectation of rebounding
performance. In fact, as of March 2001, the official start of the recession, some 1.6 million jobs have been eliminated
entirely. Many who've received pink slips are still pounding the pavement for work. One in five individuals who are out of
work -- some 1.7 million job seekers -- have been unemployed for more than six months.
Want to know what career fields to avoid? Susan Aaron recently reported on the MSN Careers site about a dozen jobs that are
winding down, according to the Department of Labor's Monthly Labor Review. These specific positions, Aaron reports, have a
limited future, but "their mutations promise increased opportunities in other areas. Workers in the declining jobs have skills that
are transferable to jobs with more possibility. However, those related jobs demand a higher level of learning. More and more,
education is the difference between employability and obsolescence."
Here are the dozen fading job fields:
Farmers and ranchers
Order clerks
Tellers
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks
Word processors
Sewing machine operators
Computer operators
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers
Prepress technicians and workers
Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products
Loan and eligibility interviewers for government programs
It's a fairly widely accepted tenet of job-hunting that you can make excellent inroads by talking to
knowledgeable people in your field. Shay Welch, a technical staffing manager writing for Net-Temps,
suggests that recruiters are among the best of those knowledgeable
people. "One of the most untapped resources for career seekers are the recruiters who specialize in the various
careers available to today's workforce," Welch writes. "Why recruiters? They know what companies are hiring, and
they also know what types of positions are in highest demand, as well as the criteria top employers are looking for in
employees. If you want an inside look into any industry, a recruiter can be a wealth of information, because they're
always interacting with both talented professionals and companies that are hiring. And, in today's economy, there
are specialized recruiters for just about any profession you can think of. Areas of expertise vary from technical
to legal fields, and there are even recruiters who specialize
in writing or working with stagehands for theatrical productions! With so many specialized recruiting firms,
there's bound to be one that can offer you guidance with your career of choice," Welch suggests.
