Category: Job Market

Beyond Bits and Bytes: The Art of Pivoting Away from Tech

Paul
Photo by Junior Developer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-traditional-hat-working-on-computer-5415443/

Is it time to Pivot to another Industry?

First question we must ask what do when pivoting in another industry? The short answer is choicing to leave the an industry because of no success or too many people are trying to get for the same types of jobs. It is sometimes even scary and uncertain to most people because it is something that you have never done. This is where it can be challenging and new to most people. The other questions I usually get from people and from myself when asking this question is “Where do I start at and what areas am I good at that would get me a job?”  These are the questions that I would be asking myself while thinking about pivoting away from the current Technology industry and I am sure I am not the only one when it comes to this idea or thoughts.

Have you recognized the Signs?

The real question is, why has it been so hard to find a job in the tech industry that you want to find a new job that might work for you to bring in the money that you might need to keep paying those bills.   The underlying questions is usually how many applications have you applied for and got turned down?  Has this been something that seems to be a repeatively being turned down for getting those interviews.  The ultimate signs you could need to pivot is burnout of applying for jobs to a lack of passion to keep applying for those types that seem to not even be interested in your skill set.   We may need to acknowledge that we may not have enough experience or that there are too many people trying to get the same job to even have a chance to land a job to bring in the money we may need to pay bills.

What is the Motiviation behind this?

Ultimately the main motivation is probably to keep food on the table and be able to pay the bills that much is what everyone is wanting to do in the end.  We need to identify other motiviations that you might been considering as you are considering changing directions.   Is because you like People, or are you looking for new challenges that may interest you.   Knowing what your motivation might be will help you know how well you will do when you pivot.   Clarifying your strong motiviations and knowing what you are good at will help you to identify which industries you might be able to pivot to help you get those jobs that might be interested in applying for.  While you consider your motivations, go ahead and consider your transferrable skills that you might also have to use in other industries and that might help you identify where you might be good at.  Write these skills down and start considering who might need them and you will be better off finding area’s to apply for.  Leverage those skills while you modify your resume to help show the potential employer that you are good fit can bring even more jobs and job offers.   I am sure that knowing these skills will help you get that job you probably are wanting and needing in this uncertain time.

Can you Embrace the Journey?

You should embrace the journey as you transistion from Technology industry to another industry where you can learn new talents and learn things to bring you on your journey to better you.   Nothing is set in stone and that much is where we need to learn from the life.   Resiliencey is key to this journey you might be considering and you should have a support system available to help encourage you and show you even mroe skills you might be able to bring to any jobs.  Seek people who might have gotten jobs like the ones you are looking to apply for and have them mentor you in what it might be like to learn even more about if this would be a good fit for you.   You will need to learn new skills but while learning them you might find that the job is more enjoyable than you thought it would be.

Finally, I could talk even more about this but I thought we should at least consider the idea of maybe people needing to move away from the technology sector and find other jobs to help support their needs to pay off bills while they can still use the time to look for jobs in the industry.  It is much easier to have a job to find a job then to be unemployed and looking for a job.  Either way you can be sure whatever you decide to do will help guide you.   You should sit down with friends and family and discuss this as much as possible to help you understand the potential pro’s and con’s of the industry and be open to listening to their thoughts on the subject.  They might be able to help identify where you should apply to get that job.   You aren’t alone in this like everyone else this is a journey for sure.

Job Hunting 102: Secrets to a Successful Job Application

Paul
Job hunting by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

Crafting a Persuasive Cover Letter

Do I need to add a Cover Letter?  A persuasive cover letter can be quite challenging to some but if you really want to get that job this would be the something that you will need to do.  It however isn’t as difficult as it might seem.  The importance of the cover letter is tell the employer in your own words why you are applying for the job and what you might bring to the team.  It doesn’t have be multiple pages but a good cover letter uses one page to tell the employer more about you than what the resume can or will.   It is also good to have to make sure to highlight those skills that the employer is looking for.

Structuring the cover effectively can make a world of differences from being in the NO pile to being put in the YES pile.  The cover letter needs to be easy to ready and something that demonstrates why are a good fit for the company.   It could even show them that you are a good fit for team that you might have to work with.   Each Cover letter should be personalized and that can be difficult because that will take time but if you do it right then you will most certainly be put in the YES pile.  You’ll want to stand out and make them see you may bring a value to the company in one way or another.

Identifying Reputable Job Search Websites

Which sites are good for me to look for a job?  Not all Job search websites are the same, some are better than others and that can be negative to your finding a job.   You should strategically standout in online job portals.  You should have a resume that will draw people to ask for you to apply for a job or a even jobs.   The resume then can at least be showing people that you’re got some good talents.   What sites are good for looking for a job?  Here are a few websites that might work well with standing out, however these are just a few and you should look to figure out which ones you want to use:

These are just few that you can start looking for a job but you should optimize your profiles to show them what you are good at and to bring in those jobs that you are looking to apply to.  You’re online profiles are the first impression on what the employers will see when they are looking for potential job applicants that might be a good fit for the job they are looking to fill.   You should also setup email alerts for new jobs that show up and be ready to apply for them when they come into your mail box.   I am sure if you have filtered the right job searches for a particular field or industry you will be more likely to find those jobs that you want to work at.

Build and Expand Your Professional Network

You will most likely start getting job recruiters looking to fill a job that they have.   So you should keep the lists of people who have contacted you in the past and occasionally email them seeing if they have anything that you might be able to apply for.   Just be mindful that these recruiters make money by filling positions that companies are looking for so this isn’t always going to be the best approach but I’ve had some good luck with this in the past.  You should leverage all the social media sites you can from LinkedIn, Twitter(X), Facebook and maybe even put it out that you are looking for a job on Mastodon. As long as you know that it will be slow work trying to find recruiters that are specialized for what industry you are looking to work in, it can be a great way to at least find jobs that you might not find any other way.  Another good way to build and expan your professional network is to attend conferences or job fairs to possibly give the recruiter your resume.   These are the best way to make sure the employer gets the resume but isnt’ always going to bring you an interview it however is worth trying to help you job hunt.

If you liked reading this article why not check out the other article I’ve done already, Job Hunt 101: Mastering the Art of Applying for Positions.  I am not done with this topic and more are on the way, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter for even more articles like this.   Don’t forget to share this article to help support this blog.

Job Hunting 101: Mastering the Art of Applying for Positions

Paul4 Replies

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Importance of Effective Job Applications

The importance of applying for jobs is more important than ever due to more people applying for the same job.   If you haven’t been watching more and more people are getting laid off and that is causing employers to get swamped with people applying for same job that everyone else is applying for.  It’s a real struggle to find a job for most and all, I am one of those that have been looking for a job for the past few weeks and I have come to understand just how hard it is to get that interview.

The overview of apply for jobs can be quite daunting and challenging for most because you really don’t know where to begin with or where to start looking.   Each person is just a little different and that can be a strength or a weakness, depending on your talents. Now it is one thing to know you are looking for a job but that doesn’t mean you are can’t at least start figuring out how you will do it.

Defining Your Career Objectives

Each person has a career objective whether you admit it or not.  You have some reason why you are looking for a job in area or industry because you want to accomplish something such as more money, more seniority, or even prestige.   You could be trying to get all three or just thinking you could be a better person and that would be only one area where you want to accomplish.  There are several different accomplishments people will want when they are applying for a job.

First thing you’ll need to do is a self assess what is your strengths and identify your talents.  What are you good at?  Are you good at talking to people?  Are you good with your Hands?  These are the questions you should be asking yourself before you start to even consider applying for a job.   You’ll need to take a deep dive into what you are good at and what you where you’re strengths are.  Monster has some great career tests for you to use to figure help you figure out what you are good at and your strengths and weaknesses.  Even if you want to go deeper than that, you should check out Yale’s Self-Assessment and career exploration pages, where they will give you even more enlightened out look of who you are and what you might be good at.   There are to many websites to put in this blog but these are just a few that you can check out to learn who you are and what you are good at.

After you’ve done all that and know what you might be good at, the next step is to research industries and companies that might be good fit for your talents and strengths.   Each company can be different but if you know what you are good at then that’s at least the first part of the battle.  Knowing that you are good at typing or that you are better at your hands can be a big help with where you should look in the company whether it be in productions, office work, driving a car, or calling clients to do check up on what needs to be done to keep them.  The one way I research the companies is use Indeed to research the company and they even have great article on how to do it.   It just depends on how you tailor searching for jobs in certain industry and know that is where you want to pursue your career with.  It’s not going to be as black and white but it should at least keep you on the right path.

Creating an Outstanding Resume

Effective resume writing techniques for job applications can be quite challenging due to the fact that you have to know what the company is wanting.   They may want some specific soft skills, and they will most likely want even more hard skills or you having an education that is a requirement to get the job.   So you should create an resume and then change it when you apply for a job to better help you get that chance for the interview.

Craft a  compelling summary and objectives is something else you will need to do to stand out from each and every other applications.   Each application is going to be different so each resume should be slightly different from the others.   Although this isn’t the always going to work it however is going help you get that proverbial foot in the door as I would say. Highlighting your achievements and skills are the first part of creating a good resume.  You should make sure to have those in your resume to show them how unique you are and what you are good at.      Formatting the resume will help with hiring manager being able to a glance to see what you are are, so you should have bulleted lists or number lists to show them you qualifications and you’re experiences.  This sets the tone of the resume to better make your application stand out.

These are just a few ways for you to learning how to job hunt effectively and this is just the tip of the iceberg because I will be writing about even more of this in the future so you should bookmark my site or better yet sign up for my newsletter and keep watch on those other articles to come in the future.   If you liked this article how about sharing with your friends and family to help support my blog and my efforts.

A Few Ways to make money while you look for a long term job!

Paul

Make money by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

Those Side Hustles

Can you make money while looking for a job?  Most of us who are unemployed are looking for ways to earn some extra money to pay bills. I thought it would be an idea to at least suggest to people who are in the IT field where they can go to possibly earn money while you’re either looking for new a job or pivot to do something else. Either way is up to you but this is something that can be quite useful even if you need extra money for one reason or another. This is something that can make your even more money or find you a new job that you have been looking for.

Blogging / Vlogging — Both of these do the same exact thing. You either write or start creating videos on YouTube and other video platforms to bring in entertainment, Educational, or provide a unique view to something that most others may not see. I am not saying this will bring in a lot of money but if you have been doing this for a while, you could simply ramp up and help you bring in some revenue. You’ll have to decide what you are good at and explore those possibilities.

Taking Surveys —  There are several different surveys sites out that will either give you amazon cards, or other ways to pay you.   I’ve been using Survey Junkie for the past few months and it is nice because you can take survey’s whenever you have a chance and get paid for them.  However you will not get a lot from them but if you do enough survey’s you could bring in some extra revenue that way.  No more than maybe 100$ if you really just do as many survey’s as possible each month.

Find Freelancer Jobs — If you are good at computers then you should check out upwork and look into finding some freelance jobs that will pay you to do, either temporary or a rolling bases.   Each job can bring in some money per month and keep you from drowning in debt.   However you should consider how you approach the perspective jobs and make sure you show them that you have what they are looking for.  Depending on the jobs it could be just a few hours or a monthly type of part time jobs.

Ask friends and Family  —  Another way to make some money on the side while you are either working or looking for a job is tell your friends and family what you might be able to do for them and let them know you are available.   This won’t bring in much but depending on your skill set and what you are willing to do, it might help bring in that income you are probably needing for bills.

The Unusual Circumstances

As you can see I’ve talked about why the unemployment rate is no correct.   I’ve talked to several different friends on Facebook an some other places and we all agreed we are probably already in a recession and you should consider ways to bring in money while we weather the storm, as I would say.   I couldn’t fully attest to this idea but I hope to keep myself a float and bring in money to keep from having to worry about where I will live in the future.   I am sure the stress that people are experiencing is quite real among us around the world.    There are some good ways for your to make even more money, so I will link to Dave Ramsey’s website on other ways you could make money in case you are really interested in this type of side hustle or other ways to make money while you are unemployed.

Are you trying to make money?  Has it been good for you and what have you done to make money while you are looking for a job?   Any advice you can give others why not leave a comment and subscribe to my blog for more blog topics to help you survive while we are in the trying time.

Why the Unemployment rate is Wrong and why you should care!

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The Unemployment is at 3.7% for January(2024)!

Now that isn’t bad for the economy if this was actually true. I know that there are even more people searching for a job than you can imagine. Is the unemployment rate wrong?  I suspect it is way higher than what the US government knows about due to the fact that most of the jobs that people got let go from were less than 6 months contracts or some probably even have money in their account to survive for a while unemployed. I am one of those who have enough money right now to have 3 or 4 months off and not have to worry about anything. I don’t have any major debt and I have no loans out that would be cause for me to have to make payments on those things. So the real question we need to ask is what is correct percentage of people who are unemployed. I think it would be more like 5 to 6% right now if everyone would file for unemployment. I think some worry that if the unemployment rate goes to high then it will cause problems in finding a job even more.

Understanding the Unemployment Rate

It can be quite difficult to figure out what the unemployment rate is actually but I do think we have to at least consider that it’s higher than we thought it is and we may be in a form of recession / Depression scenario.  I saw a video that I’ll share with you and you can see how this might be viable to what is happening now.   I encourage to watch all of it and decide for yourselves if this is even a possibility.  I however know that the ones I have talked to have not filled unemployed for one reason or another.

Now after watching this video, I am sure you have some questions that you might want to ask. One of the obvious questions I came up with myself is this relevant to what is happening now. I would say yes it is due to the fact that I am seeing this more and more the last few weeks with people struggling to keep a job and applying to jobs in general. We aren’t going to get out of this real quickly and I even think we will have more aggressive layoffs in the future just by looking at the spike of layoffs we’ve already had in the January.

chart from layoffs.fyi

Since most companies only worry about Quarterly earnings the next quarter starts in April and as such it would seem that companies will downsize even more either March or April. It would be a good guess that it would be likely in April after the earnings report for each company is looked at and examined by the stock holders and CEO. They will execute a decision to layoff more people to keep the projected earnings reports from impacting their bottom dollar. It will also keep the stock holders happy that they don’t see any layoffs that month before hand. It doesn’t look good to the stock when layoffs happen right when the earnings report becomes available to them.

Unemployed people are just burned out!

The reason why the unemployment numbers a re wrong is that most of those who have been trying to find a job ever since they have been laid off is they are just burned out and are tired of getting those rejection letters and companies that say they are hiring but looks to just be phishing for the right person and not really looking to hire people that could fill the spot they are advertising about.  So that being said, they haven’t even filed for unemployment and that is why you haven’t seen the unemployment rate getting higher and people thinking we aren’t in a recession or even a Depression due to that the Government doesn’t know they are looking for a job.  I know that most of the people want a job but they either pivoted to work where ever they can or created other ways to earn income right now without having to file for unemployment benefits.  I would bet they either took part time jobs or they have other ways to bring in the money to help them survive.

Did you apply for unemployment or did you find ways to bring in income without having to work at an office job for the time?  why not leave a comment and let people know what you’ve done to keep bringing money in so you can let others know how they can earn money even in this trying time.

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