Looking for a new job? Here are some tips to help you land it
COSHOCTON − The workforce story in Coshocton has remained constant since the COVID-19 pandemic ended − there are plenty of jobs available, but not enough people to fill them. But, even with that, landing a job isn't automatic or easy.
Ohio Means Jobs of Coshocton County recently held its annual employment expo with more than 45 local employers in attendance. Some jobseekers got hired on the spot.
The local OMJ went from having about 1,500 jobseekers a month six to seven years ago to 200 to 300 a month today. An analysis shows locally there are 62 workers available for every 100 jobs.
Whether its a job fair, formal job interview or just seeing if a company is hiring there are dos and don'ts to presenting yourself and your resume. Administrator Lynn Jacobs and Business Coordinator Shanna Stanton of Ohio Means Jobs of Coshocton County shared some tips that can help you to land a job.
Resumes should be short and direct
The local OMJ office offers resume assistance. Stanton said if a resume is too long or not formatted right, some employers won't even bother. About 90% of the resumes she sees have some glaring errors.
A lot of the time the resume isn't updated or the template is old fashioned. Resumes should also be only one page, plus a cover letter. Don't go over everything, stick to the last 10 to 15 years of work history. A professional summary is fine, but listing career objectives is a thing of the past.
"If an employer does a quick scan of maybe 10 seconds looking for that eye-catching resume, if you have three to four pages, automatically you're going to get tossed to the side," Stanton said. "Everyone can always do a little tweaking."
Be firm on what you want
Fair pay for fair work used to be the top priority. Now, it's more time off to spend with family, firm hours with no swing shifts and mental health care as part of the benefits. Jacobs believes that all comes from the pandemic. He said more businesses are picking up on that and offering more in those areas.
"If they do not like something, they're not going to be loyal and stay around like the Boomers would back in the day, even if the wage is there," Stanton said of the younger generations. "If it's not something that makes them happy or fulfills them, that's something huge we hear. They're going to move on and not take a second more to think about it."
However, even with that, people have to be fair to the employer. Jacobs recently heard of a new employee at a local company who took a random Wednesday off to take his family to the beach. He didn't care if he was paid or not. But, the point was the employer had to cover the shift at time and a half without much warning.
Longevity is sought
Jacobs said when he first entered the workforce people got a job somewhere with the intentions of slowly moving up the ladder to earn pay raises and promotions and eventually retiring after 30 or more years with one company.
These days, Jacobs said the plan is to find that next better paying job with better benefits and move on within a couple years. That's good for the employee, but not the employer who has to fill your position.
He said potential employers like to see that you've been at one business at least five years. If you've had three or four different jobs in just a few years, be ready to explain why you moved on.
Always be honest
If you lie to a potential employer, they'll find out and it won't be good. That could be why you've had several jobs in the past few years or why there is a gap in your employment, even if it was because of prison time.
Jacobs said with the amount of jobs open, businesses will hire convicted felons more often than in the past. However, they still have to be comfortable with the person and where they're at now.
"The best thing is to be honest. Just say, 'you know what, there was a time in my life where I did something stupid and I paid for it. I figured it out. I'm working to support my family. That's all behind me. I'm ready to go to work and I'm doing things right now,'" Jacobs said.
Remember the little things
Jacobs said they talk about red flags and green flags when it comes to job candidates. You want the positive to outweigh the negative. He's surprised by how many candidates go to a job fair or a formal interview and aren't groomed or appropriately dressed.
Jacobs said they usually recommend taking out facial piercings and being clean shaven or trimmed to make a good visual impression.
Also, make sure to shake the interviewer's hand and look them in the eye. Have basically a 30-second commercial planned in your head on who you are and what you're looking for in a job. OMJ offers an interview workshop to work on answering potential questions and knowing what to say.
Overall, Jacobs said the key to landing a job is "to give yourself every benefit as you're going in there. Every tiny little thing."
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Resume and interview tips for jobseekers from Ohio Means Jobs
