The American job market

Tristan Isham

How Hiring is changing in America’s current labor market

The American economy, for the first time in a decade, is currently experiencing a pre-recession unemployment rate, the lowest amount of weekly jobless claims since 1969 and a sustained healthy labor market, according to an article by CNBC. For college graduates–or anyone looking for a job–that means workers are in high demand; forcing some employers to increase the benefits of available positions, become more efficient with their hiring process and encouraging some job applicants to grow their skillsets.

“In Hiring Lab we’re seeing a strong, fairly-tight labor market,” says Nick Bunker, an economist at Hiring Lab, a division of the job website, Indeed.com that analyses and reports on labor market trends. “We see it affect online search for job seekers as well as job postings–the kind of jobs that employers are posting on Indeed.”

Bunker says that his team at Indeed.com, which provides a platform to post and apply to jobs for 256 million monthly unique visitors, has noticed a trend in which job applicants are shifting towards positions that offer, “passion over pay”.

“In a strong labor market where there’s more jobs out there; some job seekers are increasing their standard of the jobs they are looking for,” says Bunker. “That is why they’re searching for full time; they really want to make sure they get full time work. There are job seekers out there that are trying to break back into the labor market or kind of do a career path that transitions–that maybe they haven’t worked in before–but they think they can now.”

Bunker says that his team has seen a decrease of applications for technical jobs, like economists, and a broad trend showing an increase in jobs that involve creative work like graphic designers.

It’s not only on Indeed.com where trends show employment growth in creative fields like design, film production and marketing. These jobs, which fall under the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ definition of Digital Economy have grown to account up to 6.9% of the United States’ GDP in 2017.

Job seekers are not the only group shifting behaviors in the tightening labor market. Increasingly efficient technology and a high demand for work with a small talent pool to fill it is changing how employers, like Jurga Sakalauskaite, a Strategy Director for Mo-Sys Engineering, hire. Sakalauskaite says that the use of technology, like job site Workable and Indeed.com has made hiring much easier and helps her increase the odds of hiring a candidate she is happy with.

“[Hiring without these sites was] a nightmare. You received these hundreds of CV’s, you spend a few days reading them, then you call candidates, [and] the best are already taken,” says Sakalauskaite. “They do not answer; you chase them. Technology in recruitment [has] really improved amazingly and is helping a lot.

Sakalauskaite uses these job sites to filter through the more than 41 million people searching for jobs every year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These sites help Sakalauskaite efficiently evaluate possible employees that she thinks would fit well within her company’s culture, are qualified for the job they are applying to and seem to take an interest in their work, all so that she can hire quickly. 

Employers in general have increased their use of digital tools to find workers. With 45% of recruiters struggling to find candidates for positions, businesses have found that creating new hiring opportunities and reducing the requirements for positions has increased recruitment levels. 84% of organizations use social media in some capacity to hire. This use can be targeted digital ads and expressing their company’s culture through posts in order to attract ideal candidates before scheduling interviews.

Sakalauskaite values the trend of increasingly passionate job seekers, saying that before digital hiring technologies, she would pass-over 80% of C.V.’s that she would come across because she would not know enough about the applicant, or because they did not seem fit for her companies culture.  

How job seekers want to work is changing too. Broader spheres of possible work, like gig-economy work and remote work are growing in popularity with gen-z and millennials.

35% of the US workforce is part of the gig economy, working jobs as they see fit, including freelance work and on demand work. This trend is set to increase, with 43% of the US workforce projected to work in the gig economy by 2020.

Remote work is following a similar trend. Although smaller than gig economy work, according to a CNBC article, 70% of adult workers work remotely at least once a week.

“One of the things about remote work is you can think of it as part of the broader sphere of possible work,” says Bunker. “That is something that you have seen as more of a part of a phenomenon in the upper half of the labor market, so higher paid jobs.”

But as job wages increase in the tighter labor market, employers are more willing to offer remote work as an added incentive in their hiring processes. 25% of employers offer some form of remote work as an incentive to applicants.  

Kimberly Wampleman, Manager of Internal Audit at Equity Trust, overlooks her team’s hiring process, and manages extensions of her team across the United states.

Wampleman says that is part of the modern difficulty in hiring.

            “It’s that balance of finding the right benefits to offer employees,” says Wampleman. “It’s a personal preference and what if we can offer the flexibility of both office sites as well as flexibility to, you know, work from home that seems to be the best approach.”

            The American job market, at present, is advantageous to job seekers. But how can somebody looking for work set themselves up for success? The second part of this extended piece by Anu Sharma expands on how students can set themselves up for success when looking for work.

Audio Links (WordPress would not allow me to upload more .mp3’s)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wSpLGHh2-0sXmqx3eltB-wqhYjFLJcVx

College students affected by the changing job market

Anu Sharma

To get a job you need experience, but to get experience you need a job. This is the never-ending cycle in the job market that has severely affected students’ ability to get a job.

As students dust off their caps and gowns in preparation for graduation, they are also preparing themselves for unemployment with the ever-changing job market.

Finding a job after graduation isn’t as easy in today’s economy as it may have been a decade or two ago. The job market has changed drastically throughout the years. This has delayed students starting the next chapter in their lives; moving on from college to full-time employment in their field.

Today, more and more employers are making higher education a requirement to obtain a job. The number of workers increased by 68% between 1980 and 2015, according to a study done by the Pew Research Center in 2016. The study also said the requirements for preparation increased by 80% between 1980 and 2015.

The Great Recession officially began in 2007 and ended in 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II. A decade later, the Great Recession has had a strong role in shaping the job market and how it affects the ability to get a job in the current economic state. Specifically, affecting young college graduates trying to find a job in their field.

This is where career services at universities come in, to help bridge the gap, educate students and provide resources for them to succeed.

For Adrian Bivins, a senior construction engineering technology major at the University of Akron, Career Services has helped provide him a co-operative, which is like an internship, which helps him get real-world experience in his field.

“I already have a job after I graduate,” Bivins said.

He also mentioned how people in his field are in high demand.

This was his third time visiting the office to get help, where he also received help with writing resumes and cover letters, and feels more confident writing them.

Students often forget it is a resource outside of professors to utilize for the workforce. They also may not be aware of career services and don’t take advantage of what they have to offer. Career Services exists to help students with resumes, cover letters, mock interviews and finding internships, co-ops or even jobs for after graduation.

Maria Selos, a Career Services Specialist at the Parma campus of Cuyahoga Community College, Tri-C, says she’s seen students not take advantage of the career services on campus earlier in their college career. The career services at Tri-C holds workshops and fairs to help connect students with employers in the professional world.

“A lot of students don’t think about the career center or needing the career center until they’re closer to graduation,” Selos said. “Then they may have missed out on a bunch of opportunities to interact with us when it comes to coops, internships, job fairs, workshops all sorts of things they could’ve been doing the whole time.”

However, for some students, they will utilize it earlier in their college career. For example, freshman biomedical science major, Celina Thomas went to the University of Akron Career Services to rent clothing for an interview. It is another service the center provides.

In order to rent clothing from the center, a student has to sign a form so Career Services can have a record of which students come in rent what type of clothing. Students also aren’t rushed to return the clothing back to the center.

“They give you a week to have the jacket, ” Thomas said.

Thomas found out about a job through a banquet the Career Services held and applied for a part-time job at Metro Hospital, which is in her field.

Along with helping her with interview apparel, Career Services has also helped Thomas with writing a resume to bring to her interview. It’s another type of service students often forget about but might need help with.

Johansson Mathe, a graduate from Tri-C, is grateful for the career services at the campus in Parma. He was able to get help for his resume and cover letter as well as mock interviews. Mathe has attended multiple workshops covering resumes, cover letters and how to utilize your LinkedIn profile.

“I learned well … to never use a picture on a resume you know?” Mathe said.  “Your resume, you should never use templates you have like on Microsoft Word and so forth.”

Mathe mentioned how he was contacted a few days after making changes to his LinkedIn profile by a company he had been applying to.

“It really benefits students to, you know, to learn how to package themselves as professionals after they graduate,” he said.

Mathe said at the end of the day it’s more about the types of people you know, rather than what you know.

Michael Kulick, the Senior Associate Director of Career Services at the University of Akron, has instances of students not fully utilizing the resources available to them while in college. He said he wishes students would start working with Career Services as early as the first semester of their first year.

Kulick said this allows students to connect with their advisers and build a relationship throughout their time in college. They also offer traditional career counseling appointments. He called the system a “four-year development process.”

“We want them to get their foot in the door,” Kulick said. “It’s really a 4-5 year process that we’re-when we’re working with students to assist them in finding that full-time job upon graduation.”

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Audio: (Same issue as before )

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N90y26odRnsT42QqykAmCzeuyDPg3SyG

Bridging the Generational Gaps in an Aging Workforce

Aliah Keller

The Workforce is Growing Up from Aliah C Keller on Vimeo.

Our workers are growing up.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), workers 65 years and older are projected to increase quicker than any other age group within the next six years. Even in the past 25 years, adults aged 55 and older doubled in the workforce.

“We are quickly becoming a much older workforce,” Ohio Civil Rights Commission attorney Bradley Dunn said.

As the upcoming baby boomers and the older generation X increase in the U.S job market, Adena Johnston, the Vice President of the Career Partners International Consulting firm, said vast differences in preferred workstyles still exist. The baby boomers have more traditional views, whereas generation X are more independently-minded.

“What I do see,” Johnston said, “is that there is a distinct difference with the younger generations coming into the workforce as they are confronting the decision-making style and the collaborative nature of those who are more senior in the organization because the skillset is developed differently and developing differently.”

Dunn said these classified differences among each independent generation could cause stereotypes and, in more extreme cases, discrimination.

“There isn’t a statute existed that says you have to treat employees fairly,” Dunn said.

However, age discrimination in the workplace is illegal on a case-by-case basis, according to Ohio’s Revised Code 4112 that states: “For any employer, because of the race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry of any person, to discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate against that person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment.”

Dunn said this only protects workers aged 40 and older against discrimination in the workplace.

“What I see is they don’t necessarily fear or dislike people over the age of 40, but they have a distrust of them because of their stereotype.”

No matter which generation you’re born into, Adena said it’s still important to bridge the generational gaps at work.

“It’s important to overcome any barriers because it’s a good job market out there. If they want to retain the workforce, they need to open-up the conversation, otherwise people are going to exercise free-agency and go somewhere else.”

https://my.visme.co/projects/mxn04683-our-workforce-is-growing

Source:  Pew Research Center.

Rerouting for Retirement

Nathan Reineck

Rerouting for Retirement from Nathan reineck on Vimeo.

Many workers approaching retirement were taken aback by General Motor’s decision to un-allocate the plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The decision came as part of a wave of auto manufacturers focusing production in Mexico where costs are much lower.

David Green, President of United Auto Workers Local 112, says politicians need to find a way to come together and entice businesses to stay domestic. “It should be more lucrative to make things here in the U.S.,” Green says.

The move has already forced thousands of auto workers into either new locations or out of their jobs. Many like Green were just a few years away from retirement, forced to find new jobs.

The whole situation has created a ripple in the Lordstown community as Kent State Trumbull career advisor Nancy Barker says. Many workers are scrambling for options such as education since retirement is pushed out of the picture for many.

To help workers get back on their feet, Jason Smith, founder of a financial planner training program and writer of The Bucket List, says it can really be invaluable to have a financial roadmap.

“A good financial advisor is coordinating and is identifying the goals and ultimately the kind of the concerns or gaps that people need to address,” Smith says.

He says this kind of tool is very underutilized by people in the middle class where it can help the most.