Unemployment Job Search Speed Bumps Keep Your Search Slow

Most unemployed job seekers hit speed bumps in their search.

2024's competition from currently employed job seekers is way higher than normal. At the same time, hiring has slowed while unemployment and layoffs have increased.

Currently employed workers flood the job market, and leading to 10 times more job seekers than advertised jobs (when you count more than just unemployed job seekers).

They're trying to trade up for a better (or more secure) job, make more money, get a promotion, find more fulfilling work, change careers, find less stress and overtime, or land a remote position. Combined with slow hiring layoffs and increased unemployment, 2024's competitive job market has created an environment where job search speed bumps can derail your job search, especially for unemployed job seekers.

This makes it more difficult for unemployed job seekers to compete (even with more jobs advertised) ... but here are a few speed bumps you'll want to avoid when unemployed:

• Resumes With No (or little) Customization Get Screened Out: When so many people compete for jobs, employers expect more qualified candidates than their recruiters will read. All of the resumes hiring managers see will be qualified. So qualified makes you appear average, not special.
• Publicly Available Information Hurts Your Chances: Publicly available information (job descriptions, company websites/financials/LinkedIn pages, and even Google searches) gives you no advantage over your competitors. Even worse, almost all publicly available employer info won't reflect the individual hiring manager's current needs (especially job descriptions that are written by HR with general/standardized criteria). Hiring managers see the published job description doesn't describe their needs, so they send new criteria (usually 50% different than the published job description) to their recruiters.
• Responsibilities/Experience/Qualifications/Tasks Undersell You: Employers expect 5-10x more qualified candidates than interview spots, so being qualified isn't enough to win a job (or even an interview). Most job seekers undersell themselves by describing their career on their resumes and in interviews as a series of responsibilities, experience, qualifications and tasks. This undersells you, especially compared to currently employed qualified candidates, because they fail to prove your success. Being qualified isn't enough to overcome the currently employed competition you face in 2024.

Why not learn how to avoid these and other unemployment speed bumps?

I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including job search acceleration, getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.

Join me for my next free Resume Webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/Registration for no charge) and learn how to accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job faster in 2024.

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