It’s the ’Best Job Market in a Generation’ — Use It to Your Advantage
2019 is set to be an amazing year for job seekers. In fact, according to Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain, “this is the best job market we have seen in an entire generation.”
If I could knock on the door of every single reader to deliver this message personally, I would. If I could yell it from rooftops everywhere, I would.
If you have been thinking of looking for a new job, now is the time to do it. Not in six months. Not next year. Right now.
This is the time to negotiate for more money, to ask for better benefits, and to find the job that fits your life.
We haven’t seen a job market like this since before I graduated from college. For years, the market has been dicey. Now, however, the unemployment rate is incredibly low, and organizations around the world are facing skills shortages. In this environment, job seekers have the upper hand.
When the market first turned in favor of job seekers, it was hard to feel the benefits. Hiring managers were still overly demanding and highly critical of candidates. That’s finally starting to change as more and more hiring managers watch unfilled roles stay open for months or find themselves burned by ghosting hires who don’t show up to work. Hiring managers are finally waking up to the reality that the job seeker is in the driver’s seat now.
As a candidate, you cannot delay or take this moment for granted. A recession could be around the next corner, and an economic slowdown will certainly change the dynamics of today’s great job market.
Chamberlain sets the odds of a recession at 15 percent in 2019 and 35 percent in 2020. Big companies are already starting to feel the slowdown. For example, FedEx announced in December that it would offer an employee buyout program, which is expected to save the company more than $225 million in 2020.
If you’re as excited as I am, don’t wait. Start revising your resume today. Update your LinkedIn profile, and begin monitoring sites like Indeed and Glassdoor for the latest jobs.
It’s also critical that you research your current market value. If you’ve been stuck in one company for years, your value may have increased dramatically since the last time you looked. Luckily for you, fewer companies are asking candidates about their current salaries. In fact, some localities have outright banned the question. Instead, employers are likely to ask how much you want to make in the future — which puts you in a great position to earn the money you’re worth.
Take advantage of this special moment in time. Create a new future for yourself — before the window closes.
A version of this article originally appeared on Copeland Coaching.
Angela Copeland is a career coach and CEO at Copeland Coaching.