FIND A NEW, EXCITING JOB
-TAKE A LESSON FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY What’s wrong with the American job market? I’m asked to explain that phenomenon every day. A strengthening economy should spell better job prospects as employers gear up to meet expanding demand. But unemployment still lingers in the mid-7 percent range, and some 11.3 million Americans remain out of work. All bad news for American job seekers. Or is it? Ironically, while many Americans lament their plight in life, the dirty little secret is that there are some 3.7 million unfilled jobs waiting for qualified candidates. The other secret is that job seekers have more control over their destiny today than at any other time in history. Yet they don’t know it. They don’t understand it, and they’re missing out on it. But to gain this control, job searchers need to learn a lesson borrowed from the music industry. Just like the job market, the music industry has © 2014 Yoh Services LLC | A Day & Zimmermann Company
been devastated by fundamental changes in the way business is transacted, thanks to the Internet, social media, and a rebalancing of power that places more control in the hands of buyers and less in the hands of sellers. To understand, think back to the height of music industry sales in the 1990s. Much of the success stemmed from the introduction of the CD and the manmade need for consumers to repurchase the music they already owned and loved on albums simply because of a format change. The music industry responded by lapping up sales and growing arrogant and abusive. Disconnected from their real community of passionate fans, record companies fooled themselves into believing they were in a transactional business that sold shrink-wrapped pearl cases through mega stores. Who cared
Employment Stats While there are 11.3 million Americans who remain out of work, there are still 3.7 million unfilled jobs waiting for qualified candidates.