Job Market: ​This is the time for EVERYONE to be humble

Being humble means knowing when to get help

Recruiters, job seekers and employers all need to be humble during this “new normal.” If any of the parties involved have unrealistic expectations, then it creates a chasm. If all three of the aforementioned parties have unrealistic expectations, then the gap will be so large then it will be impossible to come to an agreement. That wastes time and money.
 
I once consulted with a very unrealistic job seeker. The candidate was very demanding and arrogant. I kept hearing phrases like “Do you know who I used to work for?” and “I used to make $150,000 a year."
 
Even before the virus pandemic, it was an ultra-competitive job market. Now, simply put, it’s hyper-competitive. Job seekers must do their homework and know where they stand and what, exactly, they are bringing to the table.

• Familiarize yourself with the pay-scale tiers based on your education and experience
• Know the industry salary range for the present time (not the past)
• Study what factors impact earning potential in your city and state
• Understand the market conditions in the “new normal”
• Be specific about your “value add” to an organization

 
For example, I used to know a Personal Trainer in the 1990s who was making the equivalent of $200 an hour in today’s money. He was training high-net-worth clients and celebrities in the Los Angeles area. The trainer has absolutely no certifications, nor did he have a college degree.
 
The average hourly rate today for a Personal Trainer with certification and a BA degree in Kinesiology or a related field would be between $50 and $60 an hour. If a trainer has a master’s degree in Human Performance or a related field, has 10 years of experience, and were to do one-on-one sessions with celebrities at their homes, then $200 an hour would certainly be called for.
 
I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this… Let’s get back to the candidate that I was consulting:
 
No matter how carefully and diplomatically I explained to the job seeker that they weren’t realistic about what they wanted to get paid, I got nowhere. Eventually, I just had to spell it out more plainly.
 
     The candidate:

• did not have any higher education
• had not done any professional development to update skills since graduating high school (20 years ago)
• had been in their last job for 10 years and didn’t fully understand the complexity of today’s job market
• was too proud to go into an interview and promote themselves in a way to show value-add to the company
• generally was not good at interviewing and was resistant to getting notes
• had been unemployed for a year, which unfortunately comes with stigma in some hiring managers' minds

 
The bottom line: The unrealistic job seeker had priced themselves right out of the market because there were more experienced candidates with a master’s degree making half of what s/he wanted.
 
I know it seems incredibly unfair – and it is unfair – but employers will have negative judgements about job seekers that have been unemployed for too long. If candidates can’t adapt quickly and hit the ground running, then months or even years will go by without employment.

​For every month that goes by without a job, it makes it exponentially more difficult to become employed. The cruel conclusion that hiring managers think: “If this person has been unemployed for six months and nobody else wants them, then we don’t either because something must be wrong".

Final thoughts: It's not about "settling" or "selling yourself short," it's about having a strategy and well-thought methodology for landing the right job for you. The frustrated rants that I keep seeing online are always from the job seekers who are unemployed. You hurt your own "personal brand" and look unprofessional if you are negative online. Instead, spend that time focusing on what you can control: building skills and polishing your presentation to employers to get closer to a "yes".

​By Brian Daniel -- READ MORE LIKE THIS >>

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