Magic Pot of Jobs

With the economy struggling, trying to conduct an executive level job search can be difficult. Knowing exactly what employers want can make a big difference. According to a recent press release from $100K+ career search website TheLadders.com, a cover letter is a must.

The senior-level job search site recently conducted a survey and found that 88 percent of recruiters believe that every applicant should include a cover letter when applying for a job. Despite this, only 53 percent of executive-level candidates include a cover letter when they submit their resumes. The discrepancy shows that it is likely that employers look favorably upon those applicants that do include this document.

And if impressing a potential boss wasn’t enough, the survey found that 39 percent of recruiters have eliminated a job candidate solely based on the fact that they did not include a cover letter with their resume.

According to the Ladders, there are several steps an executive-level job applicant can take to make sure that their cover letter is created properly. For starters, job seekers should keep the document simple. The career search website suggests following a “who”, “what”, “when”, “where” and “why” outline.

“If you’re using bulleted statements in your cover letter to highlight specific achievements, qualifications or experiences, be certain to only use 4-6 and then leave a bit of white space in between each to enhance the readability of the document.” Said Wendy Enelow, resume writer and training consultant to TheLadders.com, in the recent press release.

Enelow went on to say that it is important that, while remaining simple, the cover letter grabs the recruiter or employer’s attention.

“Start your cover letter with your one WOW achievement or qualification or career success to immediately capture your reader’s interest and attention,” said Enelow.

Job seekers should make sure that their cover letter illustrates how their past experience in relevant to the positions they are applying for. Look over the listing and find key words that can be included in the document.

Nowadays, many people apply for jobs online. This often calls for choosing a resume format that translates well when e-mailed. In these situations the cover letter should both be included as the e-mail message itself and included in the attachment.

“Just as your resume is a career marketing tool, so is your cover letter. Take the time that is necessary to craft a letter that is powerful and persuasive with an immediate call to action — to invite you for an interview,” concluded Enelow.

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people having to conduct a job search in Florida rose in March. Data shows that the state’s unemployment rate went from 9.6 percent to 9.7 percent during the month. Although this may seem like a negative thing for Floridians, but The Conference Board believes that the job situation in the state is actually improving.

In the Conference Board’s most recent Help Wanted Online Data Series (HWOL) the nonprofit announced found that the state lost 6,300 jobs posted online last month. Despite this Florida’s job listings have actually increased by 5,000 during the course of the last three months. According to a press release form the Conference Board, jobs online are actually up in all of Florida’s metro areas.

“Given the past three months of data, Florida’s labor demand will have to be watched to see if the recent short-term trend is signaling a bottoming in the decline in labor demand and a possible sign of recovery,” said The Conference Board’s Vice President June Shelp in the release.

Despite this, The Conference Board’s report shows that labor demand had fallen a third since 2008 for certain positions in the following areas of employment: business and financial, computer and mathematical, architecture and engineering and legal.

Of the job vacancies announced online, the ones that had the most positions listed were for healthcare practitioners and technical positions, and sales and related jobs. According to the Conference Board, the first accounts for 18 percent and the latter for 16 percent of all the jobs posted online in the state. The areas for the highest demand for healthcare workers and technical jobs are Miami and Tampa.

As far as the nation goes, there were 3,117,300 job vacancies announced online. This was a decline of 131,000 during the month of April, which was higher than the previous months decrease of 100,000 positions. In the last six months job listings on the web dropped by 1,321,100 positions.

The Conference Board’s job listing report for May will be released on Monday, June 1st.

With unemployment rising across the nation, many professionals now have to conduct a job search. The problem with doing this often is knowing where to start. With so many different career search engine, not to mention all of the more traditional methods of finding work, the options can be overwhelming. Although the best place to start often depends on the position the individual is looking for, according to a recent press release for marketing executives the best thing to do is concentrate on networking.

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) released the results of a study conducted by Aline Strategies that investigated various job lead generation tools and other ways that professionals in the marketing industry have used to find a new job during the course of the last three years.

Out of the different possible avenues for finding employment, the study found that networking is the most successful of the available options used by marketing professionals. The survey found that, instead of networking with personal acquaintances in hopes of finding out about jobs, marketing executives should focus their attention on networking through their professional acquaintances.

“MENG commissioned this survey to better understand if new technology and social media channels were disrupting the traditional executive search process and, more importantly, where we can advise our members to focus their time, energy and resources to secure their next, executive-level job opportunity,” said MENG’s Chairman and Founder of Demand Marketing Richard Sellers in the press release.

“We were pleased to learn in the study that more MENG members found their next marketing opportunity through our members-only job board than any other job lead site,” Sellers added. “Since our inception in 1995, our organization has always known the power of networking. It’s why networking is in our name and why we continually advocate to our members the importance of building and maintaining your professional network, especially when you’re gainfully employed.”

The study found that second most effective way that members of MENG went about finding work was through recruiters. High-profile, fee-based job search sites were found to be relatively unsuccessful, despite the cost of use. Another interesting thing found by the study was that it is taking women in the industry approximately one month longer to find their next job than it is taking men.

“While most people understand the value of professional networking during the job search process, the study revealed some misperceptions about what works. For example, most participants overvalue networking among friends, family, and acquaintances, and undervalue the role of recruiters. In addition, fee-based job search websites only yielded results for 2% of the participants, yet 88% subscribed to at least one,” said Aline Strategies Principal Diane Warren in the release. “At a time when macro-economic forces are generally working against senior-level individuals in transition, it’s critically important to understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to finding your next career opportunity.”