Look Beyond Job Statistics

The Conference Board issued its October survey of employment and job listings last week. The news is unmistakably bad, but it is worth spending a little time digging below the headlines (which are the only thing that news agencies typically report).

The Conference Board report says that for October, “…high-paying jobs in Management, Business/Finance and Architecture/Engineering occupations make up over 50% of the drop in over-the-year online advertised vacancies…” Now, on the face of it, that sounds bad. Very bad.

But if you look at the accompanying chart, for each of these occupations there are more ads listed than people unemployed. That’s right – there are open jobs without enough people to fill them. So while the number of listed jobs in those occupations dropped, there are still plenty of jobs there for job seekers with those skills. The rations range from 0.6 (roughly two candidates for every three jobs), to 0.86 (roughly six candidates for every 7 jobs).

So, don’t despair. Review your materials and your story to make sure you are presenting yourself at your best, and try to look beyond the statistics, no matter what they are for your industry.

But the news overall is not good, and it is certainly bad for specific industries. If you are in an industry that has more unemployed than job opportunities, try one thing new each day in a different industry. One of them will catch, and trying them will expand your options in this tough market.