By Money Talks News
The job market is changing. Anyone who recently has tried to look for a
job is keenly aware of some of those changes — including the huge growth
of online job sites, the electronic parsing of resumes by artificial
intelligence-powered filtering systems, and new ways of testing the
skills of job applicants.
[post_ads]To get an idea of what that means for new college graduates on the
hunt for a job, we talked to one of the people helping to change the job
market. He is Doug Gray, senior vice president of the job site Indeed.com,
which boasts traffic of more than 200 million visitors per month from
around the world. So Gray has more than a few insights about what
employers are looking for, as well as the challenges that job seekers
are facing. Here are a few of the most important things for applicants
to know:
1. Employers want to know your long-term value
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| Job applicants in a waiting room. |
Gray says that too many job applicants focus just
on the skills they have to offer now — and on how those skills are
important to the job they are applying for.
He says that while
skills are important, college grads need to recognize that smart
companies aren’t just hiring to fill a short-term need — they are making
an investment in new employees that they hope will pay off as the hires
grow in their jobs and become able to take on bigger challenges over
time.
“A lot of job seekers — especially new college grads — focus
too much on skills,” Gray says. “They ask themselves: do I have this
particular, narrow skill set? But employers want (to know) how quickly
and passionately do you learn new things? They want you to be able to
handle the job (they give you) in six months or 12 months.”
2. They want to see that your passions match the position
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| When passion connects with skills and experience, you're set for your best chance of being effective in a new job. |
Taking a longer-term view is not just an exercise
for employers. Gray suggests that college graduates will get the best
results by using the things they are passionate about to guide what jobs
they apply for.
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“Employers want employees to get passionate about
the job (they are applying for) — to bring their full selves,” he says,
suggesting that being able to articulate what you’ve done and what
you’ve learned from the extracurricular things you have done at college
(including clubs and volunteering work) may make the difference for you.
“As a job seeker, it’s important to figure out how to communicate what
you have learned.”
3. You need to be alert to scam employers
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| Do your research before applying to any prospective employer. |
Before the advent of online job sites, it was easier to trust that the people advertising for staff were who they seemed to be.
First,
they typically were local — as there were no “help wanted” sections in
newspapers that covered the whole planet. It was more likely that you
would know the reputation of the employer offering the position.
Secondly, advertising was expensive, so those who did advertise for
employees were paying healthy sums to do so.
Now would-be
employers (or scammers, for that matter) can easily list a job at an
online site at little or no cost — and reach a global audience.
So
check out any potential employer extensively. If they are legitimate,
the work of checking them out will help you be better prepared for
applying for a job with them and deciding whether you want to work
there. And if they’re not, it will protect you against sharing a whole
lot of personal data with a scammer who might use it in ways that you
wouldn’t want.
“It’s becoming more and more of an issue,” warns
Gray. “They (job seekers) are in a vulnerable period — to get that job,
they are willing to give away personal information. There are a lot of
people willing to take advantage of that.” He says many job offers turn
out not to be jobs, but are instead scams.
4. Your competition is national and global
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| Your competition for a job may come from around the country or around the world. |
For many desirable jobs with big companies,
particularly in the high-tech sector, the job market can be national or
international. Some employers have such an urgent need for really
talented people that they are willing to pay to relocate people from
other parts of the country or the world. So that means your competition
can be national or global.
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Knowing that you face a more
competitive market than college graduates have faced for decades, Gray
says you need to bring not only passion, but also as much depth as you
can. “The demographics of job seekers are the demographics of the
world,” says Gray. “All types of people are looking for all types of
jobs.”
5. Employers are more likely to test you
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| college-grad-intro-By-Syda-Productions |
Don’t think that you’ve written your last exam or test, just because you’ve graduated from college.
According
to Gray, one of the ways that employers increasingly are sorting out
applicants to find suitable candidates to fill positions is by having
them do some online tests or sample projects to see what they are
capable of.
The idea is to move beyond the applicant’s
“pedigree” — e.g., that they are graduates of a big name, Ivy League
college or university — and get to the often more important question of
whether they can deliver immediate value to the employer. So, for
instance, Indeed.com facilitates tests on behalf of employers advertising on the site who are trying to fill technical positions.
“That way, they can determine empirically if people can write code,” says Gray, giving one example.
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