“Glut of applicants, skills shortfalls hurt job seekers” |
| Glut of applicants, skills shortfalls hurt job seekers Posted: 26 Feb 2011 09:00 PM PST Brian Belkowski knew finding a job in the midst of a recession would be tough when he got laid off in January 2010 from a position as a commercial printing project manager. "I treated looking for work like it was my full-time job," said Belkowski. "But considering only one of the five (commercial printing) companies that I had worked for was still in business, I knew jobs in my field were scarce. So the best thing for me was to take the skills I'd developed as a project manager and try to apply them to other fields." To increase his chances of getting hired, Belkowski took classes to earn a project management certificate and worked closely with an employment coach to sharpen his job-search skills. The 38-year-old Crafton man's strategy resulted in several job interviews, and this month, he landed a position as a supervisor for Valassis, a marketing and advertising company in Robinson. The difficulties Belkowski experienced are not unique given the realities of the job market, expert say. "There certainly are jobs out there, but competition for them is making it tougher to land a position because employers can be more selective," said Steven Maglin, president of Global Employment Consultants in Upper St. Clair, which specializes in construction, engineering and hospitality industries. The Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board reviewed local online job postings between spring 2005 and last summer and found that the number of unemployed people surpassed job postings by 58,500 in June. In April 2007, there were 1,900 unemployed people for each posting. The wrong stuff One problem that has plagued job seekers and employers is the mismatch between the skill level of applicants and available positions, said Harold Miller, president of Future Strategies, a Downtown employment consulting firm. "Applicants often don't have the right education or skills for the available jobs," Miller said. "And that's not just for professional positions requiring college degrees." Unlike traditional manufacturing jobs that were dirty, dangerous and difficult but didn't require much education, today's manufacturers often value brains over brawn. "Workers in a modern plant typically won't need a college degree, but they will need to be literate, have good math skills and have the ability to think critically," Miller said. "Unfortunately, a great deal of people coming out of high school have few of those abilities." The Workforce Investment Board's study found that more than 60 percent of posted jobs required more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree. Maglin said that while there has been "greater activity" recently in jobs connected to the Marcellus shale natural gas drilling industry, finding local workers with the right skills is challenging. "Our clients would love to hire local people for these jobs, but they need people with experience," he said. "Unfortunately, most of those people live in the Louisiana area." Openings in the health care and hospitality industries "are beginning to pick up," Maglin said, but growth has been slow as employers "make due with their current head count instead of expanding." Standing apart For those looking to transition into a new career improve their chances of getting noticed by prospective employers, professional assistance might be necessary. "When it comes to looking for work, far too many people have buried themselves behind their computers -- it's just click to apply, click to apply and their resume goes into a black hole," said Karen Litzinger, the Swissvale-based career consultant who helped Belkowski improve his approach to looking for work. In addition to performing a top-to-bottom review of a potential employee's strengths and weaknesses, Litzinger coaches clients in resume writing, personalizing cover letters and preparing for interviews. "The typical success rate for people who apply for jobs by submitting resumes through online search engines such as Monster.com is between 4 and 10 percent," said Litzinger, who has specialized in coaching prospective employees for more than 20 years. "By networking, they can improve their chances of landing a job by about 50 to 80 percent. "One of the keys to improving success in the job search is developing ways to stand apart from the other candidates," she said. "So that's we focus on." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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