This book's insights and strategies for job seekers are not intended to be an academic curriculum. It results from working directly with those whose focus is finding a job.
Much of my background has been connected with hiring, staffing, and running a business. From 2017 through 2022, I spent much of my time as a volunteer counselor at a regional employment center, helping people find jobs.
The work was about coaching and teaching, networking resumes, LinkedIn, informational interviewing, and all the things that go into a successful job search. Candidates often needed help understanding how LinkedIn could help them by boosting their confidence, creating focused self-promotion, and designing a profile that would be found by the algorithms that would show them where they fit. On LinkedIn, over 800 candidates added or improved their profiles with my assistance.
Work Matters: Insights and Strategies for Job Seekers in this Rapidly Changing Economy is fact-based and a practical guide to today's job challenges.
You never wholly find the words to help with the total impact that abrupt job changes have on people, but more than words, just being there to help does make a difference. When the Global Pandemic hit in February 2020, the need for help skyrocketed, and some of the past approaches had to change. Video conferences, even for networking, became particularly important.
In my professional career, I had management responsibilities for Human Resource departments, one of which served 3,000 employees. Even before 2017, I served as a volunteer career counselor working with people in all situations. I've witnessed the traumatic impact of losing a job, often leading to depression, despondence, tears, and even divorce.
Sometimes the need to obtain a job is unexpected, bringing people with little prior experience face-to-face with job search challenges. One typical example is a woman who left the job market for many years to raise children. Whether due to divorce or the death of a spouse, some are suddenly confronted with the need to find a job but feel they have no marketable skills. In many of these cases, the candidate can be pleasantly surprised by the skills they discover that they do have and how they can look on their resume.
Whatever the cause or the circumstance, however, being out of work is challenging. In today's world, with few exceptions, finding a job is not optional. It's something we all prepare for and plan for in one way or another from an early age. Work is an economic necessity, a societal given, and a source of personal fulfillment. Work matters. It always has, and it still does.
