Thousands of Mainers find jobs in slowdown
Thousands of Mainers find jobs in slowdown. Fortunately the numbers are still on the upside: more Mainers found jobs than filed for
unemployment last month. The numbers are close: 15,219 filed initial
claims for unemployment and at least 15,571 were hired for jobs. What does that mean for you the job seeker? That means to stay positive. Keep a positive attitude, keep up the job search, and if you can’t find that one perfect job for you, perhaps you can find a job for right now. It reminds me of dating, you may not be able to spend time with “Mr. or Mrs. Right” so why not “Mrs. or Mrs. Right Now?” Who knows, the temporary job might actually end up being the perfect one for you.
Last week I had a conversation with John Murphy, Director of Recruitment for Aspen Dental Management, Inc. John told me that even though the state of Maine has had some job losses, the numbers of resumes he is seeing for open positions in Maine are far lower than the numbers for positions posted elsewhere. His advice to job seekers was “to highlight any newly acquired skills and market yourself better than you ever have before.” He refers to resumes as needing to be able to sell yourself quickly such as you would in an “elevator speech: if you happened to be on the elevator with a hiring executive from a company you want to work with, what would you tell them in the span of time it takes you to get to the tenth floor?”
It is definitely an employers’ market out there. They have more choice than they have had in at least the past couple of decades. It is more important now than ever to put your very best foot forward when job searching: from the first contact all the way through the offer, you must be on your “A game.” If you don’t get offered the position, it is important to be professional about the rejection. If you made a good enough impression to land the interview, make sure you keep that good impression going even if you don’t get the offer. Companies do remember the candidates that they like; and when the right position comes along for those candidates, they may get a second chance. I know this from experience and luckily with the second interview, I got the offer. That could very well happen to you as well.
