Where are you in Your Job Search?

Where you hang your hat may make a difference

Are you new to the job seeking environment? Have you been at it for a while? Maybe this is your second time through the grinder of 21st Century employment machine.

Or maybe “where are you” refers to geography. Despite all that’s going on in the country, we’re all Americans. We mostly eat the same foods; drive the same vehicles; watch the same movies and television; want better lives for our kids; etc. We have a lot in common.

Yet how we look for work – especially for the age 50+ job seeker – can be very different.

Longitude and latitude

The demand for certain jobs varies wildly from one part of the country to another. We know a corporate recruiter who has seen the same job, with the same company, be snapped up and filled in less than a week in one area; while in other parts of the country, that same job goes unfilled for months.

Is it the demand for jobs in some markets vs. others? Is it the lack of qualified job applicants? It’s probably all that and more. If nothing else, today’s job market is very fickle and unpredictable.

Job tenure is another characteristic with striking differences. In the San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley areas, it’s expected to have job tenures much shorter than in other parts of the country. While 2-3 years with a company is the norm in San Francisco, people with longer tenures are looked upon as being static and unmotivated. In Chicago people who work for no more than 2-3 years at companies are considered “job hoppers,” while tenures of 5-8 years in the Windy City are considered normal.

Herein lies the real challenge of the job search. There are so many factors that come into play, it’s very easy to step back and say that there is no right answer that will fit every situation. All of which adds up to you having to do your homework. Check with your local experts or people you know who recently went through the wringer.

Add it all up and there are an infinite number of differences. Sorry, Tonto, there is no silver bullet.

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