What you should understand, first and foremost, is that your qualifications, your degree, your experience, won’t guarantee you the job anymore. All of that only guarantees you an opportunity to get your foot in the door. That’s it.
In other words, you can’t coast on your credentials alone. You may be an honors graduate, an expert with 10 years of experience in the field, or a Pulitzer Prize winner. Unless you’re also a family member of the company’s CEO, there’s no award, title, position, degree, or golden ticket that’s going to guarantee you any job you want.
You need to be able to offer something more than the next candidate can. With so many people attempting to fill so few positions, employers aren’t just looking for a qualified candidate. Qualified candidates are a dime a doz- en. Employers are looking for someone who can grow to their company, not simply just another employee.
Scaling is a reality at every level, from managing an office to working as a janitor. Anyone can grasp the job and get it done, but not everyone can offer strong leadership, creative problem solving, or a strong work ethic. Whatever you can provide that the next candidate cannot is precisely what you’ll need to play up in your resume and during any job interview.
Locating WORK
To put today’s economy into perspective, let’s say you’re applying with a newspaper to be a film critic. Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have quite as much competition. Getting paid to watch movies is a desirable job, so there are always people looking for work there, but there were also more jobs available.
More and more papers these days are dropping their entertainment columns, meaning that many out-of-work film critics are looking for work, and highly qualified, with years of experience writing for national publications.
For example, a former critic for the LA Weekly became unemployed in 2009 after working for the paper since the late eighties. If you go out looking for your first job as a film critic right now, that’s some pretty stiff competition to face.
What this means is that you’re not as likely to capture your dream job right off the bat. Recruiters these days are overwhelmed with qualified, capable individuals, people who’ve had very successful careers in their field, who’ve built a reputation, and who were relieved because their company couldn’t afford to keep them employed any longer.
When there were more jobs than applicants, it wasn’t difficult to find a great position on your first try—simply under your qualifications and experience. Now, even the most qualified and experienced professionals are competing with one another for the few positions available.
This doesn’t make the situation hopeless; it only means that you need something more than simply the right qualifications for the job.
Perhaps, in the new evolution of remote work, you must begin developing your skills, get certifications, and enhance your soft skills so you can stand out among millions of others who are competing for the same position. It’s also going to require you to be passionate, versatile, aggressive, and persistent in finding the correct type of work.
If you think it will be expensive to launch a new career, think again. Check out www.sistahsoldier.com to locate affordable courses and certifications to help you learn the project management and technical skillsets required to work with today’s employer.
The number one qualifier most people aren’t considering is flexibility.
If you’ve read this far, you’re passionate about finding a rewarding job. Both of those details go pretty far in this economy.
For example, if you were a project director at an ad agency and were affected by corporate layoffs and downsizing, your first instinct would probably be to search for another job within the advertising industry.
That’s certainly a good idea but looking for a similar position within the same industry is only one small part of finding a job during a recession. What you should do is consider your qualifications in a broader sense. Improve your skill set for today’s workforce by adding the basic knowledge of project management to highlight your expertise.
Tomorrow’s work environment will look different from the past 2-3 years, and the in-office workforce is slowly becoming a diminishing working environment. Getting ahead of the shift is necessary to secure one’s career.
As a veteran, your skills are project-driven and are a priceless commodity in the civilian working environment. Learn how you can leverage your experience by visting www.sistahsoldier.com.
Sistah Soldier is an intuitive influencer who provides multimedia platforms for women veterans to narrate their stories, step into God’s call for their lives using their creative skills and inspire others. She’s the CEO, host, and executive producer of SHE VET iNSPIRES Television Show and the executive recruiter for SHE MediaTechô.
