Finding a Job in a Recession: Tougher Than Ever Before

By Christina Motley

An economic recession. An enormous talent pool. Thousands unemployed. Massive numbers of highly qualified—and over qualified—applicants. Really, it's no wonder finding a job today is harder than ever before.

What once worked no longer does. Instead, I've applied new tricks to land the right job for me, including:

Creating a scannable resume for automated readers.
Attending job support groups.
Posting my resume on dozens of Web sites and job boards.
Researching list serves upon list serves.
Making use of social media.
Creating a job seeker Web site.

But I can't help believe, it's still boils down to who you know. Based on my experience over the last two years as a job seeker who has applied for thousands of jobs, I am left to assume it still takes a connection.

Members of trade organizations, like National Federation of Press Women and Virginia Press Women, can help the unemployed find jobs. Whether it is a regional, state or national association, job seekers want to be able to network and make connections with members every way possible.

So what can you do? Here are a few suggestions to consider from my perspective:

Engage in social media. Actively, join groups and respond to discussions. Create a LinkedIn presence and seek out other organization members. Build your connections and make it easy for job seekers to connect with you.
Establish Facebook presences - as an organization and as individual members. Develop a fan base. Provide RSS feeds.
Make yourself available to critique a resume, respond to an email or voicemail, or contribute a creative, out-of-the-box idea.
Establish and promote a job board to connect employers with job opportunities to job seekers.
Launch chat rooms where members can engage in conversations with each other.
Share resources, connections, recruiters and job leads with others.

Christina Motley (http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinamotley) is an award-winning marketing/communications and public relations professional, and writer. Follow her on Twitter @christinamotley, or visit her Website (http://www.christinamotley.com/).