There’s good news and bad news. That sentence, in a nutshell, is my humble opinion regarding the economic recovery. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? Perhaps. But if you were to review all of the latest economic data, you would probably come to the same conclusion. For this post, I just want to look at one set of data.
The facts are that while there are a lot of job openings, companies are not hiring at as fast a pace as the experts would like. There are a myriad of reasons for this but there is one that I keep reading about consistently. Namely, that the people applying for these positions do not have the required skill sets to get them from the application stage to the interview stage. Their resumes don’t pass muster. (I have some pretty strong opinions on the effectiveness and even the usefulness of paper resumes – those will be covered in a future post.)
Let’s get back to the “skills gap” that is leaving so many job applicants out in the cold. The global economy and the career marketplace have changed and will continue to evolve at light-speed. There’s no easy way to put this next statement so I am just going to lay it out plain: If you are not constantly learning more, getting better, challenging yourself more, and positioning yourself as irreplaceable, you simply won’t have the skill sets that are needed to survive in the ultra-competitive, interconnected, and revolving global economy.
Here are 2 proven tactics that will help you along:
Do more. Business owners should be looking very closely at the people that are doing more than is asked or expected. Unfortunately, many supervisors spend more time scrutinizing non-performers and seat-warmers. It’s just easier that way. So you should strive to make it impossible for the boss to NOT notice the great things that you are doing. Be bold, be brazen, be confident, and make sure that the people that need to notice are indeed noticing. If you make it all but impossible for people to ignore your efforts, they’ll have no choice but to recognize and reward them. If they fail to do this, start to consider bringing your skills to a place where they will be appreciated.
Create the opportunities that will make you better. If you want more opportunities, generate ideas and tasks that will provide you with those opportunities. If you want and believe that you deserve a promotion, do the things that tend to lead to those promotions. Don’t wait for training or professional development opportunities to “come along.” If you want to get better in a certain area or learn a new skill set, do some research, find appropriate training programs, and just do it. Yes, this might mean that you have to pay for it yourself. Oh the horror!! Let’s be real here….if you’re not willing to invest in your own development, it might be time for an “Analysis of Self.” (More on that concept soon too!)
Go!
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