Midwest Job Search in 2007

From where I sit in Ohio it’s been a great year for getting hired. While Ohio ranks the top 5 for unemployment our practice saw job offer numbers reach proportions not seen since the millennium began.

As the CareerBoard Job Seeker Coach, I serve as applicant advisor at their Career Fair at Myers University in Cleveland every March. I saw the first sign of change in employer needs as companies met candidates at the job fair. I saw a renewed need for engineers from all disciplines in addition to a presence from the manufacturing community that I hadn’t seen for awhile. They were also seeking production managers, quality directors and directors of operations.

So why the dichotomy?  I believe that hiring occurred in 2007 for those who were both educated in the ways of job search and willing to wage the hunt. We saw many career changers, contract executives and new inter-state commuters. But we also saw multiple job offers from which to choose for the first time in years.

The lesson here is that if you don’t know the rules you can’t win the game, especially in a a market where four generations continue to compete. But if your tools are sharpened and you’re well-practiced, with a strong dose of perseverance you’ll go to work! Coaching has been great fun in 2007 and I have reason to believe that enlightened candidates will prevail in larger numbers in 2008.