“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.

Job seekers are beginning to embrace the advice touted by the Wall Street Journal in April 2007 about the value and benefits of using a blog to land a new job. While many are motivated to expand their job search to include Web 2.0 strategies, taking those first steps to become transparent to the online world often stirs up a bit of insecurity; at least it did for me.

Tips for moving beyond obstacles that often come with launching a blog:

• Leverage your opportunity to create a new brand for yourself. If you are just beginning to blog, you have a clean writing slate to work with. See this as an opportunity to build your expertise, and consequently, what you are known for, in the direction you want to go. You build your expertise through research and becoming involved. Don’t feel limited to write articles about where you’ve been and what you now know. Give yourself the freedom to move in whatever direction you want by writing articles that showcase your knowledge or expertise in that subject. There is great wisdom behind the statement “fake it until you make it.”

• Give your writing voice credibility. Allow yourself to write with the same level of confidence and authority that you have demonstrated throughout your professional career. Focus on the value of your expertise and don’t worry about who might poke holes in what you have to say.

• Think of yourself as a problem solver. Offer solutions, how-tos and tips for addressing a specific need, issue or problem.
  

The one thing that holds most of us back from fully pursuing what we want is a lack of confidence in the value that we can bring to whatever we are pursuing. When you can see your value points clearly, you can believe in your value and step forward to offering you value with confidence.

Many people struggle with how to identify their value points. I believe this is because many don’t recognize that your value points vary on a case-by-case basis. The value you bring is heavily driven by what is missing in the scene you wish to sell yourself into. Selling yourself to an organization or client becomes much easier when you understand clearly how you can complement what has already been built.

Steps to get confident with your value points:

1. Identify who you are selling to. Think of yourself as a targeted marketer, not a mass marketing machine. To best understand your prospects’ needs, you must look at them individually.
2. Define the service you are selling. If you are a job seeker, focus on your skills, expertise and passions rather than job titles. Have a general understanding of where you wish to fit in, but keep an open mind. The next step may identify opportunities you might not have considered.
3. Research the skills and expertise your prospect already has covered. Your research will enable you to identify the holes. These holes represent your prospect’s needs.
4. Define your value offer based on the needs you have identified. Remember that you are target marketing and your offer will change with each prospect. If you are unable to define your specific value, the relationship may likely not be a fit for current needs. If this relationship is important, keep current on your prospects needs as things can change tomorrow.
5. Offer your value with confidence because you know that what you are selling is genuinely of need to your prospect. You’re not selling yourself; you are fulfilling a need.

For more ideas on how to define your value, read Defining How You Stand Apart.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that challenging times are actually opportunities that lead you to what fits you better. Thirteen years ago my husband left me for another woman. I felt like the framework of my life had been ripped out from underneath me. My need to overcome my pain led me to study teachings that I would never have explored on my own. I’ve come to recognize that this experience laid the foundation for much of the work I now do.

I share this personal story because I know that so many of you are feeling the hard times. I encourage you to look at whatever might feel fallen apart in your life and see the opportunity to approach that something differently. So often we keep on trying to force something to happen in the same old ways, without considering that it’s not working because it no longer fits.

If you’re not getting the results you want in your career right now, ask yourself this question:

Why is this not working for me?

Then give yourself permission to look honestly and trust your instincts to point you in the right direction.

If what you’re doing right now isn’t working, what do you have to lose to try something different, or at least a different approach?

If this message speaks to you, yet you don’t know how to begin to experiment with something different, please feel free to contact us. Dean and I want to do whatever we can to support you.

Linkedin is the #1 Business niche networking site in the world with 28 million users in the network. Your best tool for exposure, to create opportunities and tell your story is a well written profile about you.

These tips will help you create a more powerful profile:

Focus on Your Summary: This is your “billboard” and “calling card”. Imagine a 30-second description that highlights who you are, what you do, and clearly communicates your goals. This is the first information a person reads when they land on your profile. Avoid the temptation to sum up your entire career and past accomplishments. Focus on now.

Highlight Your Specialties: This field allows you to list your skill sets, areas of expertise, and your knowledge base. Potential partners or employers will find you when they are searching for your qualifications. Think of your specialties as services you have to offer.

Feel free to contact me if I can answer any questions you have about Linkedin.