Getting Hired in Today's Labor Market
Get Hired by LinkedIn News
We talk about leveling up, about finding work and about excelling where you are right now.
Despite talk about an economic "soft landing" and a robust job market from experts, job seekers are experiencing layoffs and grappling with the side effects of inflation.
CNBC Make It Senior Work Editor Hanna Howard joins LinkedIn News Editor Andrew Seaman to dissect the complex realities of the current labor market. Hanna shares her current analysis of workforce trends, and offers practical advice for job seekers, emphasizing the importance of staying informed, adaptable, and leveraging resources to navigate the evolving job landscape.
A transcript of the conversation is below. You can listen to the episode above or on Apple Podcasts by clicking here .
TRANSCRIPT: Getting Hired in Today's Labor Market
Andrew Seaman: There's a bit of a contradiction going on in the US economy right now. If you listen to the experts, you'll hear things like “soft landing” and “solid job market.” But if you talk to job seekers, you'll probably hear the words “layoffs” and “inflation.” So, you might be wondering, what's actually going on in the labor market today? That's the question we're answering on today's show – right after this break.
From LinkedIn News, this is Get Hired. A podcast for the ups and downs and the ever-changing landscape of our professional lives. I'm Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn senior managing editor for Jobs and Career Development, bringing new conversations with experts who, like me, want to see you succeed at work, at home, and everywhere in between. Hanna Howard is the senior work editor at CNBC's Make It, a standalone site for expert advice on earning, spending, and saving your money. She also writes the advice column Work It Out, which – quick plug – is a great resource for job seekers. Hanna's really got her finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest labor market and workforce trends. Here's Hanna Howard.
Hanna Howard: Here at CNBC Make It, we're talking about work trends, quiet quitting, the great resignation, to the job market, what's happening in the Jolts report. To service pieces around what do you do in a job interview? And how do you impress someone? And how do you actually get hired? What do you supposed to do with your resume? You spend so much time at work. So it is a really big part of the way that people live their life.
Andrew: Yeah. In your role, you oversee a lot of stories about the workforce overall, but also service pieces that tell people how they could get hired, tips and tricks about their resumes, getting ahead in their careers. And you also do some research in data pools periodically, correct?
Hanna: Yeah. So CNBC did a survey in December where they talked to a range of people in different points in their careers. What people are really looking for right now are happiness and engagement in their work. They're looking for better pay, of course. Our audience is super cognizant of the realities of inflation and the cost of living. They're looking for flexibility, companies that are supportive of flexibility. And they're looking for benefits too. They're looking for companies that are really investing in healthcare, childcare benefits, those health and wellness benefits. They're really looking at what a company can provide for them holistically.
Andrew: Yeah. And when it comes to landing one of those jobs, what do you hear from people about the ability to find that in the current labor market?
Hanna: In the current labor market it's tough. I mean, I'm sure as you also see, there are plenty of job openings. We hear all the time about how there's more job openings than there are people looking for jobs. But we also just came off of this period a couple of years ago where people were getting huge pay bumps, people were really being snapped up quickly for new jobs. And it just isn't the same labor market that it was a couple of years ago. Even though it's still good, it's more segmented. You're really seeing the most openings in government, healthcare, construction is one of them as well. And then you're seeing a lot of layoffs too, which are impacting how people feel about looking for a job, impacting the number of people in the job market looking for a job. And also you're seeing companies make different investments as to where their money is going in terms of what roles they're hiring for.
Andrew: Yeah. And you raise a really good point. When it comes to today's labor market, the numbers at a population level are generally good. The unemployment rate is low. We're not seeing the layoffs that we see in the headlines necessarily tick up the unemployment rate or dramatically increase the first week insurance claims. But unfortunately, it is not what we saw in 2021 coming off of that super high period where you could just throw your resume out and you would land three jobs, to now where things are a little bit more conservative with hiring, and it feels like such a dramatic pullback because we've come off of such an incredibly blockbuster time. You also looked in your data at how people are experimenting with AI. We're almost like a year, more than a year after ChatGPT really burst onto the scene. And what are you seeing with people, what are their views of AI and what are they doing with it?
Hanna: Yeah. So in our survey data, we saw about 30% of respondents said that they've used AI at work. But the people who are using it most are in the fields you would expect consulting, logistics, finance, tech. But still, even though people are experimenting with it, 40% of respondents were concerned about what impacts it might have on employment. Because you do see a lot of headlines that are saying AI is going to replace jobs, and even though AI is expected to create jobs or create new ways of doing their jobs, a lot of people who are using it are saying it's making them more productive. It's helping them get rid of those tasks that they really don't want to do anyway. But there is still the concern that down the line, the same tools that you're using to streamline your inbox or help you make a PowerPoint presentation are just going to be the things that one person is using to make all the PowerPoint presentation.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So basically it sort of seems like people are thinking, I could experiment with it, but at the same time they're a little bit worried and cautious about what it means for the future. In your reporting, what has been the suggestions of experts about AI, especially when it comes to job seeking? Because they're out there and they got opinions.
Hanna: They are out there and they have lots of opinions. The recruiters that we've talked to at Make it, a lot of them have said, yes, use AI. Use it to help with your resume, to help with your cover letters. And a lot of that is in the interest of saving time and knowing where to devote your time in the job search, knowing where it benefits you the most. If you have a resume and you're just trying to optimize it for keywords that certain job listings are using or making sure that everything can be in this bullet format or something like that, maybe that is better outsourced to a machine that can do it pretty quickly. As long as you proofread it. That is the one thing that everyone stresses the most is yes, use these tools, but please make sure to proofread it to make sure you're not saying that you've done something really wild in your career that you haven't. Because they will make stuff up. We always hear that recruiters spend three to five seconds looking at a resume before they go to the next one. So if you don't have to spend hours on your resume, then it benefits you to do so because then you can spend more time on the parts of the job search process that are going to get more consideration down the line.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. I think that's a really good point. And also in the reporting that your team does and that you do when it comes to AI, I know people that are going to come across a ton of different pieces of advice when it comes to job searching in general, but even with the advent of AI and its inclusion, do you see from experts that really the foundation of a job search remains the same? You still need to be a good candidate, you still need to put your best foot forward. And it's not like you're reinventing the wheel necessarily, even with AI, right?
Hanna: Yeah, absolutely. Because the resume is what gets you in the door to an interview to that process. But the AI ChatGPT cannot do your face-to-face interview for you, and that is the part that hiring managers are looking for. They want to know that you're going to be a good fit in the job, that you're going to be able to fulfill the responsibilities, that you are going to be a good coworker and teammate and report and/or manager. And that is still the human element that has always been present in the job search.
领英推荐
Andrew: We'll be right back with Hanna after this break.
Andrew: And we're back with Hanna Howard, senior work editor at CNBC Make It. In the reporting that you do, what do you think are the main themes that you're seeing for job seekers?
Hanna: I think one of the biggest ones is using data, making sure that you can show numbers to back up what you're saying. When you're learning how to write a resume, a lot of us learned like, oh, you just put the responsibilities that you had. They're basically told to reiterate what the job listing would be if you saw a job listing for the position that we had at the time. Which is good to know what you did, but if you can't put numbers to it, for me, if I'm just saying like, oh, I edited articles, someone would be like, great. That's what an editor does. But if I can say, oh, I edited 40 articles per month and brought in X number of readers to our site, that is much more helpful in seeing how I'm performing, how much of a workload I'm taking on, what I can accomplish in a different role if I'm looking to grow and develop. So it's really about showing that data, showing those numbers about what you can accomplish, what you contributed to your company's bottom line perhaps. Really showing in a concrete way what you did with your resume.
Andrew: Yeah. I think that's a really good tip because what I usually tell people is describe what you do, but it's another thing to say how well you do it. So it's one of those things to say, Hey, yeah, I wrote a bunch of articles. You could say, oh, actually I wrote 20 in a week, five over the course of the year, won certain awards or resulted in this change and things like that. And obviously I think we're using media examples because that's the world we both come from. And when it comes down to the actual process of interviewing and those sort of activities, what have you learned about that? Because interviewing can be a seriously challenging thing for people to do, and it's also a make or break moment.
Hanna: Absolutely. One of my favorite things that I've learned about interviewing that I think I only realized recently, and it's actually part of our course that we launched in January about how to ace your job interview, was reframing the way you think about your interviews. I think that a lot of people go into an interview and they feel like it's an interrogation or they feel like it's an adversarial sort of thing. And I would say 99% of the time when you're going into an interview, the person who's interviewing you really wants to fill the role and they really want to find the person who is the right fit for that role, and they're hoping it's you so that they can close the book on it, hire someone, get someone in the door and have their team be full. And so rethinking that this person is an ally working towards the same goal as your interviewer, I think is a really helpful reframe. Especially if you are nervous or anxious about interviews, as many people are.
Andrew: Yeah. I think that's really good advice. And can you tell us a little bit more about the course that you launched?
Hanna: Yeah. So CNBC Make It launched our very first course in January. It's called How to Ace Your Job Interview. And it is three great experts sharing job interview advice. It's about 100 minutes of video content, it comes with a companion workbook. So you can follow along and do additional exercises. And it really goes over everything from how to prep for your job interview, how to answer common questions, how to follow up, and really how to feel confident when you're going into any job interview.
Andrew: For me, the next question, and this is coming from my experience, job seeking is obviously very important, career growth is very important. But I think people sometimes they make it look and seem more complicated than it is. And do you get that in your reporting? There's all these tips, there's all these tricks, but in reality it's about just trying to find the right fit for you. And it isn't as scary as people make it out to be, right?
Hanna: Yeah, absolutely. People build it up in their heads, and for good reason because it is a very important part of people's lives, but people definitely make it harder than they need to be. I think it's partially human nature for a lot of people. So it is just knowing how your brain works, knowing how you handle situations like that, but having those tools to empower you to feel more confident is a really important part of it. And I think it's interesting how often we see recruiters and experts say the number one thing that determines whether you're going to get hired is not your skills or what you've accomplished. It's are you self-aware? Can you communicate well? Are you a nice person who can get along with people in your office? And it really does come down to things like enthusiasm, are you excited to do this job? And it doesn't have to be so deep as do I have every single qualification that is listed on this job listing?
Andrew: Yeah, I think that's really important. And then my last question for you is for people out there who are like, listen, I'm sick of my current job, or I just left my old job, what is the first thing that people should do based on everything you've reported that will put them on the right path to landing the right job for them?
Hanna: One is making sure that your resume on LinkedIn is up-to-date, because as you well know, there are people who are always on LinkedIn looking for people to hire. So making sure those things are up-to-date is a very good first step. But also just taking the time to think about what you want and what you do not want in your next role. What do I like doing and want to continue doing? What do I not like doing and don't want to continue doing? What are my skills and where is the intersection of the skills and the things that I like doing? And how do those come together for what I am looking for?
Andrew: I think that's really great advice. Well, thank you so much, Hanna.
Hanna: Yeah, thank you.
Andrew: That was Hanna Howard, senior work editor at CNBC Make it. If you're leaving today's conversation with a new learning to apply to your job search or career, I'd love to invite you to write about it in a review on Apple Podcast. Our team really enjoys reading what you learn from our shows, plus it helps other people discover our community. And speaking of community, remember that we're always here backing you up and cheering you on. Connect with me, Andrew Seaman, and the Get Hired community on LinkedIn to continue the conversation. In fact, subscribe to my weekly newsletter that's called, you guessed it, Get Hired to get even more information delivered to you every week. You can find those links and more in the show notes. And of course, don't forget to click the follow or subscribe button to get our podcast delivered to you every Wednesday because we'll be continuing these conversations on the next episode right here, wherever you like to listen.
Get Hired is a production of LinkedIn News. This episode was produced by Alexis Ramdaou. Grace Rubin is our associate producer. Assaf Gidron engineered our show. Joe DiGiorgi mixed our show. Dave Pond is head of news production. Enrique Montalvo is our executive producer. Courtney Coupe is the head of original programming for LinkedIn. Dan Roth is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn, and I'm Andrew Seaman. Until next time, stay well and best of luck.
?? Think beyond the traditional #resumedesign and #coverletter with a package of career branding materials that communicate who you are from a 360 view. A great tactic is the creation of a visual bio to highlight your vision, values, and experience to leverage as an informal networking tactic or background to the interview conversation. Easily download and create your own in Powerpoint or Google Slides at aboutmetemplates.com