Job market tight, but not hopeless

The news of the day seems to be job losses. You can't open a newspaper or turn on the news without learning about a company laying off employees into the thousands. This might send a glaring message that the job market is sporting a large No Vacancy sign. While this might be the case with a lot of companies across the nations, the pulse of the economy and job market is still beating, just at a slower pace than we would like. The bottom line is there are job opportunities out there. You just need to be a little more resourceful and dig a little deeper to find them. Often you might need to take on an interim opportunity or even part-time work. The best thing to do is sharpen your resume and keep looking ahead.

Avoid Employment Gaps

It's not uncommon for people in the workforce to take leaves of absence to care for children or aging parents. This is a worthwhile reason to be out of the workforce. However, pointing this out on a resume creates a glaring gap in employment. Even though you can genuinely account for your time, you need to keep your activities during that time relevant to the job you are seeking. It might seem like you spent every waking minute of the day caring for others, you most likely tended to other needs as well. For example, you might have maintained a family budget, did the taxes, participated in volunteer work. On your resume, instead of saying stay-at-home parent, say something like full-time caregiver. Then in your job description, list the tasks you performed outside of the direct care of family members.

Life After a Layoff

Layoffs happen. That’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t have to completely demoralize you. You can recover and in many ways maybe come out better off than you were before. Here are a few tips on what to do after a layoff. The first thing is to take a week or two to lick your wounds and decompress. You don’t need to jump right in the next day. Even if you feel antsy to get moving allow yourself some time mentally recover. When you feel ready to move to the next level, get yourself organized.

Write up a budget that you can live on and still cover expenses. You will likely need to make some cutbacks. Apply for unemployment benefits and do some research on different health insurance options. The most common organization is COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). That’s a pretty costly plan so if you are healthy it doesn’t pay off. There are other plans that are less expensive. You will have to move fast on this because you have 60 days sign up after you are terminated.

Take time to educate yourself on your 401K rollover if you have one. Often when people are laid off, financial planners jump in with all kinds of advice and are eager to handle you money for you. Don’t turn over your money to someone who is not willing to give you sufficient time to investigate the investment with them. Watch out for too-good-to-be-true offers, such as the ones who take on your investment for only a small commission paid out by holding company or your previous company. Ask the financial planner how his or her commission is actually being paid. If they insist that nothing is coming from you, it’s likely not true. There are people who are eager to get their hands on your floating retirement funds and if you’re not educated on the process, they can easily leave you empty handed. Research the company to see if there are any complaints. If it’s a single person, you can check with the Securities and Exchange Commission to learn about the person’s dealings and track record.

When you’re ready to pursue your job search, remember that the process has likely changed since you were in the “trenches” so you might want to seek the advice of a reputable Web site or career outplacement firm. If you haven’t prepared a resume in while, there are plenty of free services and samples that you can use. However, the competition is getting tougher so to stand out in your job search process, you might want to enlist the help of a professional resume consultant.