In annual job search phone-in, free career help for job seekers is only a call away
Job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas is opening the phones once again to offer free advice to job seekers Tuesday.
Phone lines are open until 3 p.m. Pacific time at 312-422-5010.
At the end of a year with a nation in the clutches of an unchecked pandemic and an economic crisis with millions of Americans out of work, more people than ever are calling the Chicago firm’s job coaches for advice on how to rejoin the workforce.
“There are a lot of people out of work right now. This is our 35th year and it’s by far our busiest year,” Challenger senior vice president Andrew Challenger said Monday. “The one thing we’re telling people is to keep in contact with the people in your field. Build up those references — anything you can do to put yourself in line ahead (of other candidates),” Challenger said. “Keep at it. Keep connecting with people. Don’t be discouraged by a gap in your resume. Human resource and hiring managers have a deep understanding of what’s happening now.”
Chicago-based Challenger has made a tradition of suspending its normal business each December for its national job search call-in where job coaches answer job seekers’ questions.
Andrew Challenger said the coaches are ready to answer questions from cracking the hidden job market to interviewing to switching industries to turning a temporary position into a permanent job.
But he said most job seekers in a year that has upturned so many industries are trying to carry their skills into a new job.
“What stands out this year from years past is that job seekers are seeing where their skills might be transferable,” Challenger said.
Travel, hospitality and dining sectors are “still being destroyed by the coronavirus,” he said. Workers in those sectors are “feeling really insecure. They’re wondering what might be a good fit.”
Many are living with the same insecurity as the recession heads into the new year.
“When the bomb went off (with the pandemic) in March, 20 million jobs were lost — that’s an enormous number,” he said.
Following the great recession, “growing 10 million jobs organically took a decade. The longer this pandemic goes on, 700,000, 800,000 jobs every week are being lost. Every single week, the pandemic causes destruction in the labor market. The damage hasn’t stopped coming yet,” Challenger said. “There is serious work to be done to get new jobs to replace the ones that were lost.”
Despite the ongoing employment crisis, there are signs of growth, especially in e-commerce as the pandemic has forced more shopping to be done online. Challenger says as companies like Amazon, Target and Walmart continue to grow the sector, demand for warehouse, transportation and logistics talent is also growing.
Remote work, he added, “is here to stay for a lot of companies.” Though only 35-40% of work can be performed remotely, Challenger said, companies are finding cost savings and investing more into making work-from-home work for them.
Finding that fit and getting in front of a prospective employer have become more difficult because job seekers in the midst of the health crisis often cannot meet the hiring manager in person. Shoring up video conferencing skills is then a must; get comfortable with the technology and with being in front of the camera.
Practice with friends and family, Challenger said.
Find a way to connect with a prospective employer — whether a quick call or video chat.
“Try to set yourself apart. Make some sort of human connection with the people you want to work for - an informational interview or a conversation to put you ahead of the pack,” Challenger said. “It’s easy to sit in front of the computer and send your resume into the abyss. It takes extra work to find somebody and make a connection. This is the time when you can do the work to find you a better job.”
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