Friday, November 28, 2008

The Job Market: December 2008


In case you haven't noticed, finding a job has become more complicated. If you're trying to find a job in financial services, you probably have little confidence in the health of your potential employer.

If you have even done a cursory scan of this blog, you'll see that the number of layoff notices has increased quite a bit over the past 18 months. Managerial layoffs have skyrocketed.

We've seen the US government rescue any number of financial institutions recently (most recently Citigroup and no one believes that we are through the worst of times yet.

It kind of reminds me of my first apartment when I was married the first time (I am married to my third wife who is definitely "a keeper"). We would come home at night and turn on the lights and find cockroaches crawling around the sink. The problem was that even if we got rid of those bugs, even if we sprayed our apartment regularly, there would always be more.

The problem with this economy is that there are lots of coackroaches and, frankly, more will keep showing up.  And, it seems, many large firms in numerous industries have their tin cup out asking for money.

Today, we are reading about the automakers; when will the credit card companies start reporting on the increase in defaults and ask for their share?

From a labor market perspective, we are now at the beginning of the downward cycle. Can you afford to ride through a hurrican that could easily last a year and more likely two or more?

When you interview, beyond the ususal questions about the job and your future reponsibilities, you need to ask a new question toward the end of the interview during the part when they ask you whether you have any questions.

The new question to ask is, "I don't have to tell you that we are all reading about a very complicated time in the US economy. How has the economic calamity affected your firm and what would you say are the prospects for its' future?"

Fist of all, you are looking for honesty-- Honesty is measured by whether their answer is consistent with what you research online using Google. The second thing you are looking for is the appearance of sincereity and reflection. You want to work for someone who was sincere with you when you asked a difficult question. After all, don't they expect the same of you during the interview?

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
 TheBigGameHunter@cisny.com
 
 © 2008 all rights reserved.
 
Jeff Altman, The Big  Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

 

He is the author of “Get Yourself Hired NOW! The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That” (in ebook and audio formats) and “Get Your Job Search Organized NOW!” (ebook) Both are available at www.GetYourselfHiredNOW.com
 
To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, JobSearchUniverse.com, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “No B.S. Job Search Advice, or his staffing ezine, “No B.S. Hiring Advice”, or to learn about his VIP program,  go to www.JeffAltman.com.

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posted by Unknown at 3:21 PM