It’s an Employee’s Job Market. Here’s How to Take Advantage of It.

The “Great Resignation” is in full effect due to the disruption of the pandemic, which has dramatically changed the job market. Workers, especially mid-career employees, are re-evaluating their careers. This re-evaluation has led to many employees resigning from their current jobs for various reasons.

The biggest reason is due to burnout. Other reasons include organizational changes, under-appreciation of employees, insufficient benefits, and no support of well-being or work-life balance.

In fact, I’ve been working a lot lately with clients looking to leave their current job. This is because they don’t want to lose the flexibility they had when working from home. They’re looking either to start their own business venture, or to join a company continuing to allow remote work.

As a result, the jobs people are leaving are now coming open to other people looking for something new or different. Because of this, job seekers and potential employees are in more demand. Therefore, they can demand more from potential opportunities and contract negotiations.

Taking advantage of the current job market

Because of the Great Resignation, you may have noticed an increase in the number of recruiters reaching out to you for job opportunities. Perhaps even for ones in which you have no interest or qualifications. Because it’s an employee’s job market, you can decide which ones to give consideration to and which ones you don’t.

Whether you’re seriously considering recruiters’ offers, or are actively looking to make a career change, here are some tips to help you take advantage of the job market created by the Great Resignation.

1. Re-assess your personal and professional goals

It’s important to take an inventory of your personal and professional goals to see how they’ve changed since the pandemic. You can do this by going back through the 8-Step Goal-Achievement Plan.

If you haven’t already used this plan, you can receive a free download of it by subscribing to the paNASH newsletter. Clarifying your goals can help you to know which opportunities are worth pursuing and which ones aren’t.

While working through this plan, discuss your thoughts with your family. It’s important to have their input and support when considering any kind of career change. This is especially true if you determine your own resignation is part of your goals.

For tips on leaving your current company, check out my post entitled, “How to Plot Your Escape From the Golden Handcuffs.”

How to Plot Your Escape From the Golden Handcuffs

2. Update your résumé

I’ve always said it’s important to update your résumé every six months, even when you’re not looking for a job. It’s much easier to remember your results and accomplishments from the past six months, than waiting until you need a résumé to try to remember them.

But now especially, you need to update your résumé to reflect the skills and adaptations you’ve developed during the pandemic. These skills might include crisis management, remote teamwork, digital collaboration, and process development.

I recently added a bonus downloadable handout entitled, “Post-COVID Résumés: What your résumé should look like in a post-COVID job market,” to the online video tutorial on résumés. This tutorial is a great resource in helping you bring your résumé up to current standards, and getting it through résumé filtering software.

3. Brush up on your interview skills

Specifically, you’ll want to be prepared to answer questions about how you adapted during the pandemic, and perhaps even how you spent your time if you lost your job due to COVID. I address how to answer such questions in a previous post entitled, “How to Answer These Important Pandemic Interview Questions.”

How to Answer These Important Pandemic Interview Questions

Also, you’ll want to update your own list of questions to ask the employer in the interview. In addition to the questions I’ve previously suggested, you’ll want to ask:

How has your company changed for the better since the pandemic?
How has it changed for the worse?
Which pandemic-related adaptations have you kept in place?
What is the projected outlook for the company and this industry based on the effects of the pandemic?
How have you supported your employees during the pandemic?
What is your company’s definition of company culture?

This last question is becoming increasingly important. One of my clients who’s gone on several interviews lately, has noticed when she asks about the company’s culture, the employer asks her to clarify what her own definition of company culture is.

The reason they ask for clarification is because they’ve seen a trend where job seekers are defining company culture as being able to work from home. But companies don’t see work from home as a cultural aspect. They see it more as a logistic.

So be ready to explain what you mean by company culture, and then ask what their definition is, to ensure you’re both on the same page.

4. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses, and 5. develop good salary negotiation skills

It’s these two tips I want to discuss at greater length in next week’s post. Stay tuned for “Reverse Job Search: How to Deal With Unsolicited Job Opportunities.”