Shocking Economic Surprise

Shocking Economic Surprise Unemployment ticked higherup to 3.9% Now that might seem like a bad thing, but it is an indicator of good things to come, and a tremendous opportunity. What it means Before I share that, heres the other related numbers that tell us a rift in the universe has opened up and it is time for you to jump in. The surprise that also happened was 312,000 jobs were added last month versus economist predictions of 180,000 a 73% increase over expectations. The other useful tidbit is wages grew 3.2% year over year the highest monthly gain since 2009. All that is good news for you. More jobs equals more hiring which often means a robust economy. And higher salaries means you have an opportunity to push yours higher. So why is the unemployment rate increase good news? Well that means more people are jumping into the job hunting world. And they did it in December a time where classically no one is hiring. And that brings us to today. Maybe youre bored with your job. Or didnt get the review you expected. Or your company isnt giving hefty raises and bonuses due to a rough PL result last year. Or youve stopped learning and growing. Or your project is ending. Or a myriad of other issues are causing you to check out LinkedIn to see whats out there. Well if youre in that situation. Maybe it is time to looka little harder. But before you do start looking seriously, you need to have your personal marketing documents updated. And it cant be some shoddily thrown together version you created yourself by just adding a few bullet points to your 3 year, 5 year or 10 year-old resume from the last time you needed one. Resume standards have changed. And if your resume looks old or old-fashioned, you could be excluded before you even start. Same thing with LinkedIn. Is your profile a kick-butt marketing document that sells you and attracts recruiters? One that when a hiring manager pulls it up to check you out (and they will), doesnt make them think youre NOT the one? Well heres the other piece of information thats important to you if you find yourself considering looking for that next job. January and February are the best times all year to be searching. Why? Because that is when the most hires happen. Late January the purse-strings open up when budgets are completed and client POs start to be released. In December no one is hiring. So pent up demand is released in the new fiscal year (usually calendar year) in January. After recruiters and hiring managers cull through their email backlog from the holidays, hiring becomes front and center. So I have to ask you. Is your resume and LinkedIn profile up to par?