Tracking the State of the Job Market

Just spend no more than 10 minutes doing a quick scan on jobs that you are interested in or qualified for.

I find it useful to be aware at all times the state of the job market, whether it was picking up or dead quiet, whether the period was a employer’s or employee’s market. This habit helps me to:

1. learn which months are quiet (usually November and December when managers are busy rushing to meet their annual sales quota or doing their annual budget planning for the following year) and which months are hot for jobs (typically from January to March when employees resign after getting their annual bonus and when new headcounts are approved for hire).
2. know the state of the economy. The number of jobs in the market gives you a good feel of the real state of the economy (despite what your government reports in the media). Once you get into this tracking habit regularly, you will able to judge the state of the job market just by feeling the thickness of the “job classified” section in the newspapers.
3. assess the cycle of an industry. If the majority of the hiring positions for a particular industry are marketing, sales and business development related, it tells you that the industry is preparing for a upward trend. If the hiring positions are back office roles like finance, order fulfillment, IT, HR, the industry is probably is midway or reaching the peak of the cycle.
4. Most important of all, this habit keeps me updated on the latest prerequisites for my current position or jobs that I am interested in. This information alerts me when I should be upgrading my knowledge by attending a certain training course or gaining certification in a certain skill set.
5. Last but not least, you never know when you might chance upon a job position in a company that you have been always wanted to work in. Submit an application for the position.