Your Employment Matters

If you’ve read my previous blogs you know that I believe that the seismic shift in
the employment landscape means that the fairy tale is over and that there is a
new employment reality.  Given these circumstances,
I also believe that it’s imperative that people think differently about employment
matters whether they are employed or unemployed.  

As a labor & employment attorney and former HR professional with extensive work experience in the private and public sectors, I know from my personal journey and through my network of employment professionals, the good, the bad and the ugly about the current employment landscape. 

I’m writing a book currently entitled “Your Employment Matters: How to Make Employers Reach for their Wallets to Hire or Promote You” for young adults, returning veterans and anyone new to the employment scene.   Why? 

The reasons are simple:

• The current unemployment rate fluctuates, but is currently around 8.1 percent. It’s common knowledge that this number doesn’t reflect the number of people actually unemployed.  Accordingly,
  • It is imperative that college graduates step up their job search skills to
    distinguish themselves from others competing for work.
  • Once they have a job, they need to know what to do and what not to do to be successful.  
• By some accounts, the expected troop drawdown in Afghanistan and Iraq may well exceed 500,000 military men and women.  Between now and late next summer, these veterans will be returning home and looking to reenter the workforce.
• The number of college graduates is expected to increase this
       academic year.  For the 2011-12
       school year, 3.4 million college degrees are expected to be conferred, an
       increase from approximately 3.3 million which were expected to be
       conferred in the 2010-11 school year.

I’m writing the book because it simply isn’t the same employment scene that parents remember.

Each day a tremendous number of people vie for an ever-more limited number of job openings.  Consequently, people looking for work and those who have a job should not only use all available resources aggressively and exhaustively and take nothing for granted, they should try to keep their spirits up and their sense of humor at the ready.   

Likewise, people who are employed realize that there is no longer true job security.  Accordingly, they also can take nothing for granted.  They have to work harder to add value and to make their employers think twice about losing them. 

“Your Employment Matters” will offer employment advice with a direct, no-nonsense delivery through tips and cautionary tales, and include useful resources to make the book a useful reference whatever the reader’s stage in life.  

Hopefully, it will serve as a GPS to employment success for all who read it. 

Please stay tuned.

TIP of the WEEK: Don’t Take Anything for Granted.