There is No Time to Waste in Getting a Job

If you are a recent college graduate, you may not be too worried about the current economic market. After all, your living expenses are relatively low and, for some, Mom and Dad might be willing to continue supporting you. Most of us even recall the trend of even thirty year olds returning home. Life can be difficult but there is an urgency that you may not have considered.

If you do not get a professional job related to your degree, next year there will be a new class ready to take what jobs may exist. Your skills and resume will not appear current to most HR recruiters. Your chances of getting a good job will decrease with each passing day.

If you go through traditional gatekeeper paths (job boards, recruiters, HR…) and are fortunate enough to get a job, in today’s market your starting salary will probably be much lower than last year’s graduates. That means your future salary increases may be the same percentage as others but based upon a lower starting salary. In other words, most will never catch up for the rest of their career. Assuming a typical 40 year career, the impact could easily exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There is no time to waste in Getting a Job.

If you are older, you have an even more urgent situation.

Older people are usually paid more due to prior year salary increases and potential prior bonuses. Younger people will cost less.

Every day that you are out of work, you are losing your skills and currency – at least in the perception of HR. The longer you are out of work, the higher the perception will be that you would be a risky hire. For some, this could even mean that you may become unemployable within your prior career path.

Perceived higher risk with lower cost competition means that there is no time to waste in Getting a Job.

So what should both groups do? Quit trying to take the easy road of going through job boards and company gatekeepers. According to Crossroads Career Ministry, a report shows that networking yourself into the hiring manager improves your chances of getting a job by 4,200%.

If you do not know how to develop yourself as a product, market yourself, sell yourself, and go around gatekeepers, then the time, effort, and cost of doing so will be peanuts compared to the time you may be wasting trying to get a job the old fashioned way.

There is no time to waste in Getting a Job.