There is a labor shortage --- and if you aren’t aggressive, you will miss out ….

“Communication--the human connection--is the key to personal and career success” – Paul J. Meyer


I was the speaker at the Albany Rotary meeting yesterday (and thank you to Charlotte and the group for inviting me). I spoke on the changing landscape of the labor market and the state of mind of today’s workers. At the conclusion, three of the attendees talked to me privately about their business situation – they had open jobs that cannot fill and they were frustrated.

The other evening I was at another networking event of local business owners and managers. The message was again clear from those I talked with. They were frustrated because they could not fill their open positions. Last week at a human resource association event – guess what – heard from two recruiters; same story. My wife returned from her weekly networking meeting with the Albany Executives Association and proclaimed – “ … again we all talked about not being able to find people to fill our open jobs …..”

So you are thinking yea – must be technical, healthcare or other jobs that you need special skills for.

They were not. Sales – customer service – office management – field service – marketing. Yes there were some special skill jobs, but not the majority.

So why were they having difficulty? They were not using the approaches most spend their time with when looking for a job -- the job boards or newspapers. They were networking their job opening, using craigslist, standing up at meetings and telling everyone what they were looking for. They were not taking the route most do – post the job on a job board, get flooded with resumes from those unqualified who just apply for anything.

What is the message here?

There are jobs – good jobs – but they are not in the places that most resort to – spending hours on the computer scouring thousands of job postings. They are “in the field” – but you must be resilient, diligent, focused and committed to finding them. In this case networking rules. Getting out from behind your computer is imperative. Talk to people – tell them what you seek to do. Attend events. Volunteer. Just be visible and approachable.

Technology has made job search easier – just as it has also made it more difficult. It is easy to find all types of jobs and just fire a resume, qualified or not. The technology allows this.

But it doesn’t work.

Plain old pressing the flesh, meeting and talking to people – and selling yourself – now that works!

Been doing exactly this – buried in your computer. Shut it off now. Engage with others. Use technology for information – but use your common sense to take it to the next level. And thank you for reading this. - Dan

Dan Moran
President & Founder
Next-Act
Career Management & Transition Specialists
125 Wolf Road, Suite #128
Albany, NY 12205
Office: 518-261-4212
Cell: 518-641-8968
eFax: 586-279-4212
dmoran@next-act.com