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By now, you've probably seen the headlines that December's job report was much better than expected with 256,000 new jobs created.

These new roles are in the same spaces that we have shown recent growth:

Healthcare: + 46,000 jobs

Leisure and hospitality: +43,000 jobs

Retail: +43,000 jobs

Government: +33,000 jobs

Digging deeper into the numbers, we still have some room for growth in some areas, with the number of people employed part-time (but wanted to work full-time) at 4.4 million and the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job at 5.5 million, but it's promising for us to see some growth in the overall market (and this does fit with that I'm seeing with my executive clients).

So what does this all mean for you? Well, if you haven't seen Janine Vanderburg's 2025 outlook for experienced workers, you should check it out here. I was happy to share my thoughts with Janine, which I'll share again below:

Yes, this market is challenging, but there are some bright spots. If you are considering changing jobs in 2025, it makes sense to start subscribing to job alerts and updating your LinkedIn profile in order to position yourself for new opportunities.

Question of the week

"There seems to be a debate on LinkedIn as to whether or not to "tailor your resume" to the job description. What's your take? Additionally, if you tailor your resume to job descriptions, should a person have multiple LinkedIn profiles to align with the types of jobs that are applying for? For example, if I have skills in sales, sales leadership, and operations, that's three distinct job categories that I'm applying for and tailoring my resume will not align with my LinkedIn profile."

When I'm working with clients, I typically deliver one base resume that you make very minor tweaks to. (In working with 1000+ clients, I've only had a handful of cases where people needed 2 distinctly different resumes). Maybe you change the resume headline to match the target role or you change the order of the bullets around to emphasize certain skills - but that's it. That's why it's important to identify your career goals before you get started - so that you write a resume that you can use to apply for all of the roles that you are applying for. You should only have one LinkedIn profile that encompasses all of your skills (and that LinkedIn profile should be aligned with your resume).

Do you have any questions about how to position yourself in this job market? Any potential LinkedIn poll questions that you would like to see? Reply to this message and let me know what's on your mind.

This week's LinkedIn posts:

3 ways to position yourself for a promotion in 2025

Poll: How much of a raise are you expecting in 2025? (1100+ votes)

I've had 12 client calls in the past 2 days.

"16 reasons why employers don't want to hire Gen X candidates anymore."

Video: Try new things in your job search

Want to up your game on LinkedIn? Need an new resume or executive bio?

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I'm committed to delivering cost-effective job search help and am keeping the Ageless Careers Toolkit price at $49 for the foreseeable future.

The Ageless Careers Toolkit is a self-paced job search program with 5 modules:

• Build Your Ageless Career: I answer your biggest job search questions and troubleshoot common issues for Gen X and Baby Boomer job seekers
• Write Your Ageless Resume: I've written 1000s of resumes - this is my 43-page guide for writing a winning resume
• Craft Your Ageless Cover Letter: My tips for writing a cover letter in 10 minutes or less
• The Art of Ageless Interviewing: Boost your confidence through my biggest interview tips
• Create Your Ageless LinkedIn Presence: We are going to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that opportunities find you

The toolkit includes both written guides and video presentations with 10 sample resumes across various functions (marketing, finance, engineering, manufacturing, sales, etc) and roles (Project Manager, Director, VP, C-Suite).

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Other ways that I can help:

Corporate Presentations: I deliver customized presentations for businesses and universities, offering webinars/in-person presentations across topics including ageism, resume best practices, LinkedIn optimization, job search, and more.

Hiring Help: Reach out if you have any open roles that you would like to share with this community.

Sponsorships: Reach Gen X and Baby Boomer executives by sponsoring this newsletter (we're currently at 4000 subscribers for the newsletter and 66,000+ followers on LinkedIn, so you can easily reach a wide base of readers).

Question of the Week: Do you have a question that you would to have answered in the Question of the Week? Reply to this email and let me know.

Learn more about Ageless Careers

Take care of yourself and have a wonderful weekend!

Colleen