“It’s a huge disservice to the economy, in that it means there are highly productive, hardworking people who are not maximizing their potential,” —Heidi Shierholz, a labor market economist for the Economic Policy Institute.

What Ms. Shierholz addresses is the growing problem within the employment market that often gets ignored: underemployment. According to the WashingtonPost.com’s article citing Bureau of Labor Statistics, to understand “underemployment” look at the groups of people measured:

1. Total number of unemployed workers.
2. People who work part-time when they would prefer full time work.
3. Passive job seekers already in the workforce who have discontinued looking for jobs, perhaps because they gave up searching for one.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the “percentage of the workforce that is underemployed is at 12.5%.” That represents the highest level in over 15 years and easily surpasses the level of roughly 7% in 2000 during the dot.com implosion.

Although the government does not count unemployed workers who are overqualifed for their current jobs, it does show a startling rise in workers who work part time, but would prefer full time work from 2.8 million, 12 months ago, to 7.3 million today.

Analysis

Continued corporate layoffs and elimination of positions will further enrich the unemployed workforce with higher levels of educated workers. The competition for jobs, even temporary low paying jobs, will add to the stress already associated with current market conditions.

What Do We Do?

Education and action are the steps necessary for people to stand apart and differentiate themselves from the competition they face. Please consider the following steps as an outline:

1. Education: You must be willing to learn new skills and stay informed on news and trends within your chosen field. Reading is key. RSS subscribe to newspapers and association newsletters that focus on your industry or employment news.

2. Networking: You should be willing to attend networking events related to your industry of choice, job fairs, employment groups, and any association that will provide support in your job search.

3. Research: You must research your industry and companies of choice. Learn their challenges, their pain points, and analyze how you and your skills could make a difference to their bottom line. Build a case, like an attorney, on why a company should hire you.

4. Adopt: If your companies of choice have corporate blogs, social media tools, and other Web 2.0 campaigns, this is a signal for you to become an adopter. If you educate and adopt a blog into your employment campaign, a robust Linkedin presence, and you become an advocate of online networking through social media, you will stand apart and differentiate yourself from the competition.

5. Employment Campaign: This is an organized action plan. The plan begins with a value assessment to help the job seeker find his/her expertise, knowledge, experience. The next step is to craft this value into a message. Once your message is created, we implement a plan that incorporates direct marketing principles to strategically target the hiring managers and companies you wish to interview. The final piece is the establishment of your own blog as the vehicle to deliver your message of value and as a centerpiece-hub to point people to your value.

Response Mode Warning: Don’t Be Like The Other Guy

If you are a job seeker and you are limiting your job search to creating multiple resumes, networking periodically and underutilizing Linkedin as a tool, then you are doing what the majority of unemployed job seekers are doing: the same old thing.

If you truly want to stand apart, then you must get away from response mode and get into action mode. Consider the 5 steps described as a beginning. The true winners in the competition for the finite number of jobs are those people who build an employment campaign and work their action plan every day.

“Your blog is your living resume. It shows how you think. It shows how you write. It shows what’s important to you. . . Mentor us through your blog. We employers love hiring mentors–they raise everyone’s performance.” Kevin Merritt as told to Linkedin Social Media Strategist Mario Sundar

Blogging and Web 2.0 social media tools, like Linkedin.com , are fast becoming the most effective strategies to actively deliver your message of value. If you are a jobseeker in today’s tough market, blogging is the most powerful tool as it allows the writer to deliver their expertise, knowledge, and value to strategic targets such as hiring managers, companies, and the global community on the internet.

One of the first challenges a new blogger faces is writing their first article for their employment campaign. The following is an outline, with the help of social media expert Mack Collier, and template a new job seeking blogger can utilize for the creation of their first blog article.

4 Question Format: Your first article should answer 4 questions

1. Who Are You?
2. Why Are You Blogging?
3. What Will You Be Blogging About?
4. How Can I Leave Feedback?

Example First Article Template:

Your Title

My name is _____ I have ___years experience in the ______industry culminating in a position as a _____ and _______. Today I am writing my first blog article on my new blog: yourname.wordpress.com. My blog is the centerpiece and delivery system, of my message of value, for my newly established employment campaign.

Why Am I Blogging?

I am writing this blog as a method to offer my expertise, experience, and knowledge to liked minded individuals. I am also seeking job, networking, and collaborating opportunities. Consequently, my blog will support my employment campaign which is a strategic, proactive plan to deliver my value to hiring managers and my industry.

What Is My Blog About?

I will write about. . . (your subject matter and topics here.) I will create helpful content, tips, how to guides, lists, and other material on. . . (your expertise, knowledge, and value message here.)

Dean’s Example: “I will write about social media tools and blogging. I will create helpful content, tips, how to guides, lists and other material based on my two years of blogging experience at deansguide and innerarchitect and my social media consulting background with Domus Consulting Group.

How Can I Leave Feedback?

I look forward to reader comments and participation as part of the learning process here on my blog. As I begin to learn more about Web 2.0, social media, and blogging, I hope to become a valuable resource to readers.  If you have comments, please do not hesitate to voice your opinions. If you would like to further connect with me:

Your email address
Your Linkedin Address
Your Twitter Address
Your Facebook page-list all the place you wish to point your reader

Listening is an often ignored skill with equally ignored strategies of engagement. The first step to understanding the best listening strategies to employ during a conversation is understanding the goals behind having the conversation. In “Listening Is A Skill That Requires A Strategy” we provided the first step to finding your strategy by identifying the four types of conversations:

1. Information exchanges
2. Building working relationships
3. Feeling good
4. Making someone feel good

According to Mindtools.com’s article Active Listening: Hear What People Are Really Saying: “. . . we remember a dismal 25-50% of what we hear.” So understanding how to listen and the best strategies to listening comprehension are very important.

The next step in the process is understanding the set of choices you face when holding a conversation; the most basic choice is whether to talk or listen. As explained in Bruce Wilson’s great article Strategies for Business Listeners: “Your mission is to identify, and support, your goals for having this particular conversation in the first place.”

Choices in Conversation

The most basic choice is whether you talk or you listen. Beyond that basic choice are three more choices: Do you focus? Do you clarify? Do you listen attentively? Let’s examine each one.

1. When You Talk: Focus

a.) No Focus: This simply means you say what comes to mind without any plan or prior thought. The results of this behavior can be a free flow of information but at a cost. The cost is often severe if the speaker says something inaccurate, offensive, or monipolizes conversation time.

b.) Yes Focus: Plan what you are going to say. Understand the appropriate amount of detail to include. Deliver your message in a succinct brief summary in order to make the point without wasted effort.

2. When You Talk: Clarify

a.) No Clarification: You are guessing what is important to your partner in conversation. There are two problems here. First you may be wasting your partner’s time and yours. Second you may ramble on and begin to monopolize the time in the conversation.

b.) Yes Clarification: Before launching into unknown territory, ask permission of your conversation partner.

Do You Listen Attentively ?

Yes: You give your full attention by removing any distractions. In addition you should provide body language, eye contact, and gestures of affirmation in order to let your partner know you are listening.

No: If you answered “no”, you can do one of two things:

Partial listening: This is a bad choice because you often end up understanding half the message, possibly offending your partner, or you miss a vital piece of their message creating a misunderstanding of the message.

Ask Permission: Ask to reschedule your conversation to a time when you will be able to focus your full attention on the conversation.

In my last post I described how Susan and I are establishing our branding through networking within the community. The idea is to network with a variety of groups, organizations, firms, non profits, and charities in an effort to support our community and raise awareness of our products and services.

I identified what networking is and the best method to networking success: giving value. The following are 5 tips to help you identify what you have to offer that others would find valuable.

5 Tips to Finding Your Value “Give”

1. Make a list of your accomplishments: Don’t be shy in this exercise. Give a full list with details.
2. Make a list of your contacts of influence: Prioritize this list by who you know best and who knows you.
3. List your skill sets: Again do not be shy. Provide everything that is important to building your career.
4. From the first three lists: Analyze and choose what you believe to be the most valuable things you can give to your potential networking partners.
5. Create a plan on how to deliver: Will you utilize a blog or begin a public speaking platform to help benefit your potential networking partners? Identify all of the channels in which you can deliver your value.

Q: What one thing can you do to enjoy success in all aspects of your life?

A: Hold yourself personally responsible for your success.

Personal responsibility is one debilitating obstacle that gets in the way for many of us. We recognize that unwanted pounds don’t melt away on their own, the love of our life isn’t delivered to our front door and our dream career doesn’t materialize overnight. Yet while we act responsibly to promote our employer’s success and our family’s well being, we often don’t maintain the same standards in pushing forth our own desires and dreams.

Consider these reasons to hold yourself responsible for your success:

· Control: You shift from a mindset of “I want greater success” to “My actions will create more success.”

· Opportunities: You recognize that it is your role to initiate your opportunities. You are not passively waiting for opportunities or good luck to land in your lap.

· Accountability: You see that the only thing standing in your way of creating success is yourself. You recognize that external challenges can be overcome with your focus and dedication to doing what it takes.

Steps to take this week to take responsibility for your success:

1. Consider your desires and dreams at the same priority level as your family responsibilities and job. Just like you wouldn’t ignore requests from your boss or fail to provide your child with health or school needs, don’t allow yourself to slack off on the steps you need to take to create your success.

2. Schedule time for the building of your success. You are in control of how you spend your time; don’t let it be your excuse. Put your necessary steps on your calendar and commit to them. Think of time as being the most important asset you have and invest it wisely. Always ask yourself if what you are doing is leading you to where you want to go.

www.innerarchitect.com