“Finally! I finished! What a slog! I am a 2016 college graduate — proud, tired, and like Robert Redford’s character at the end of that old movie The Candidate asking, ‘What do we do now?’ 

This endeavor turned out to be harder than I thought. I knew it would be a lot of work, but not this much. It’s hard to remember what life was like before college. I guess I was a kid. I don’t feel like a kid anymore, but I’m not sure I’m an adult either. 

So, in the beginning I thought I would be an accountant like my uncle, and I went to a school known for accounting and finance. During my first year, I must admit, I didn’t work very hard. Dorm life meant freedom and I took advantage of it. The parties, new friends, and lack of rules compared to home were seductive. My grades stunk and I ended up on probation by the end of my first year. 

My parents aren’t rich. They were angry when they realized they had spent their hard-earned money on that year and that I had little to show for it. The message from them became that if college was important to me, then I would figure out a way to go back and make it work. And by the way, part of that figuring was how to pay for it, because they weren’t going to. 

During the summer I resolved to go back, but to a different school where I could have a fresh beginning. A big part of the motivation was in learning that a college graduate on average earns $17,500 more annually than someone with just a high school diploma. Over a 40-year career that could really add up. Also, I did want the satisfaction of showing my family, friends, and myself that I could succeed with this challenge. 

So, I found a liberal arts college with a business focus that accepted me and some of my credits. In all it turned out I lost, or should I say, I partied away about a semester’s worth of credits. The Financial Aid office helped me to get the loan I needed, and I started the Fall as a Business Administration major. Because I could see the very real possibility of owing a lot of money when this was over, I was determined to try to finish in three years, instead of four. 

To try completing my college education in three years turned out to be unrealistic, for me at least. Many of my classmates had the same goal and for some they were disciplined enough to pull it off. But I found the toll of taking between five and seven major classes per term daunting and in the end, I needed three and a half years to satisfy all requirements and earn the bachelor’s degree. 

So, here I am with a degree in Business Administration and $30K in debt, which is the national average, so that’s not too bad, is it? Although the Career Office at school helped me complete a resume and obtain a 3-month long internship with a financial services firm during my Senior year I still don’t know for sure what I want to do.  I have six months before I need to start paying back the loan, so I know I need to figure it out soon. 

My future looks uncertain and kind of scary. In college I always had a syllabus and course guides to tell me what I needed to do and when things were due. But a guy at my internship laughed at me one day and said not to expect real life to have a syllabus. He said to be prepared to think on my feet constantly and to work both harder and smarter or be swept away by the competition that can come from anywhere in the world. 

Oh, here is a job notice for a produce associate at a grocery store not too far from my parent’s house. It’s not what I went to college for, but I’ll apply anyway and hope I get the job. I know that I must get an apartment and need to start paying back this loan soon!” 

So, here we are amid the 2016 Presidential race, an election cycle that is likely to go down in American history as one of the most unusual and unpredictable contests ever for selecting our next president. A chief factor contributing to the volatility of this election concerns a rarely seen and powerful reaction coming from a cohort that has been with us for well over a hundred years — the racially white, economically middle class, high school-only educated worker, once commonly referred to as the blue-collar worker. 

The anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and anger of this significant electoral group has shaken up and defined this cycle’s race in a way that most of us, including the political pundits who follow this stuff for a living, did not see coming. This class angst has led to the rapid rise of at least two presidential candidates, who were not expected to be major players when they entered the fray and is driving much of the conversation among all of those still contending for the big prize. 

There are concrete and measurable reasons for the white, blue-collar worker to be apprehensive and they fall across economic, racial/ethnic, demographic, and educational domains. Technology is eliminating many low and mid-skilled jobs. Globalization is increasing competition. Whites are seeing minorities increase in numbers and power sharing. Having less than a college degree puts one at a greater employment disadvantage. When members of this contingent, particularly males, see that their fathers had an easier time achieving the middle class dream than they can, then a deep demoralization sets in. 

A report by two economists that received much attention at the end of last year showed that death rates for white, less-educated Americans aged 45–54 have increased since 1999. Drug/alcohol-related deaths and suicide are propelling this boost. Clearly, something is amiss, and it appears to have reached a breaking point with this election. 

The social and economic causal conditions mentioned are colossal and not reversible. Oversimplified diagnoses coupled with over-promising, which is what presidential candidates largely seem to be offering, will not allay the real fear people are feeling. Strong leadership that empathically acknowledges the discomfort, unease, and confusion people are feeling is a start. But rather than offering unrealistic and bombastic “solutions” it needs to be recognized that as a country we need to rally around outcomes that do not pit one class, race, or ethnic group against another, but instead meet these complex challenges with national resolve. 

In a word, jobs are at the crux of this issue. It is reasonable to ask, what is the white, blue-collar worker with only a high school education to do? To begin answering this I go way back to Aristotle who said that in order to achieve true happiness we must depend on ourselves. Of course, collective action politically and economically is important, but most fundamentally each of must assess on our own the world we are now in and determine for ourselves the best course of action to take for sustainable employment given the daunting headwinds we face. This takes clear, critical, and reflective thinking, resulting in high quality decision making. 

Each of us needs to think of ourselves as an entrepreneur. No, we are not all going to start businesses, but we are going to be approaching our careers similarly by developing, organizing, and managing the enterprise of “myself”. This involves initiative, risk, and when done well, reward. A good entrepreneur finds opportunities from among many distractions, they are innovative when conventional approaches do not work, and they are organized and productive in meeting their goals. Does being like an entrepreneur require a college degree? For many yes, for others no. 

There is a lot of need in the world. We are far from saturating all the actual and potential jobs that are or will be available. Triggering an action with an uncertain outcome is not easy and it is fraught with unpredictability, but our careers depend on it — even for the white, blue-collar worker. 

There are significant reasons for sharing your career field expertise with others. Doing so, 

1. a) establishes you as a qualified and trusted resource among colleagues, management, and customers;
2. b) aligns you with other experts, thereby enhancing your comprehension and skill capacity;
3. c) better positions you for future career advancement opportunities; and
4. d) brings you the profound satisfaction that comes from becoming an emerging master within your profession.

LinkedIn, the professional social media platform where we have all heard we are supposed to be present, has developed into an excellent tool for communicating, sharing, and promoting your expertise. Utilization of LinkedIn and its core features can result in you having the means of crafting a powerful and multi-dimensional message for all those seeking the sound judgment and competence you can provide. 

Given the LinkedIn development team’s commitment to dynamism and continuous improvement, today the site is a fine-tuned mechanism for you the career specialist to hone and project your know-how. Let’s review the ways this can happen. 

I predict the online profile/portfolio hybrid will eventually replace the traditional resume. I cannot say exactly when this will happen, but we seem to be headed in that direction. Easy access to your profile will be mandatory and expected. So, there is no better time than the present to start getting on with this trend. 

LinkedIn allows you to tell your professional story in the first person without the constraints of resume conventions. Fill out your profile as completely as possible. Use the Summary to introduce yourself in an engaging manner that discloses how your journey began, how your passion was ignited, and where you see the industry and your role in it headed. 

The Experience section should be packed with accomplishments — the more quantifiable the better. 

The Skills & Endorsement piece should be keyword-rich, and your headline needs to communicate your career title, not your current job title. Oh, and don’t forget a professional headshot, not a detail cropped out of a wedding picture. 

LinkedIn’s advancement in becoming a repository for work samples, slide shows, videos, and yes, your traditional resume among other valuable pieces, has been a smart move permitting professionals to now have the means to post performance evidence that can speak louder than words alone. Populate this area with artifacts that pop and make your efforts shine. Show future employers and potential business opportunities what level of quality you can deliver. 

Blogging and publishing online pieces where you expound on industry-related topics and issues of the day is now available with LinkedIn. Have something of peer interest to write and the readers will come out of the woodwork. Let this feature be a megaphone for your expertise. Clarify current trends and best practices. Showcase pertinent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats impacting your terrain. Detail the steps that need to be taken to improve conditions. Be a regular contributor and become a respected voice. 

Perhaps, one of the strongest elements in LinkedIn is the Groups. Here is where you can boost your industry presence and generate and cultivate high value connections. Involving yourself in timely and relevant subject matter with other experts and stakeholders benefits all participants and deepens your career association. Not only can you increase your visibility, but you can amplify your knowledge to those wanting and needing to hear your input. Also, being able to contact individuals directly gives you favorable circumstances for building that all important professional network. 

I still hear from too many clients something that goes like, “Yeah, I’m on LinkedIn, but I don’t really know what to do with it.” Well, I hope this is in part, somewhat illuminating to you in this cohort. In short, if you are serious about your career, you need to be serious about LinkedIn. 

Many of us tend to think of ourselves in terms of what we do. When asked, “Who are you?”, we give answers such as, “I am a dental hygienist,” or “I’m a firefighter,” or “I do banking.” The work we do, which takes up large amounts of our time and energy and that we are particularly proud of doing, can serve as the springboard for our identity or how we come to think of ourselves. 

There is nothing inherently wrong in linking our self-concept to our work and careers. When we apply labels to ourselves, we feel a kind of stability and having an identifiable place in society. However, there can be a degree to which we perceive ourselves too closely to our career pursuits, such that we risk isolation and identity confusion should our work routines and conditions change in ways that are beyond our control. 

The phenomenon I am trying to describe became glaringly obvious during the many years of recession layoffs. Millions of professional workers whose self-identification had for years been bound to their careers suddenly found themselves not only out of work but feeling severed from a specialist status they had long enjoyed due their inability to any longer find suitable employment in their respective fields. 

To compound this disruption, especially for those who held employment with the same firm or institution for years if not decades, came the loss of the day-to-day affinity with co-workers, many of whom became close friends. Often we find spending as much or more time with colleagues as with members of our own families not at all unusual. The undoing of these compatriot relationships was quite jarring. 

So, how do you know if you are dedicating too much of your identity to your career? If you are fearful of a resulting void should your career dramatically change or dissolve from under you that is an indication you are investing too much of your identity in what you do for work. If those closest to you frequently remark that you are a workaholic, then it is possible you are too hitched to your career. If your social network amounts primarily to those with whom you work on the job, then you are truncating what could be a more expansive community. 

But you might ask, if we strip ourselves of our career identity what is left? Our careers are certainly major players in our lives. They deliver more than just a livelihood; they consume so much time and energy that it can become natural to think we are what we do. 

The challenge is to expand the vision of ourselves so that it comprises a 360-degree perspective of which career is a part, albeit a big part. When we think of ourselves as primarily a teacher or an accountant or whatever, we give short shrift to those other valuable elements, which together compose a full personality or identity. Our emotional, behavioral, intellectual, and spiritual attributes expressed during, but also beyond the workplace, contribute to making each of us a unique collage not easily summarized. 

Perhaps, now is a good time to begin thinking of our legacies. Now, I am not trying to rush anyone into an early grave, but by imagining how we will be remembered allows us to get a clearer view of who we are.  

We are made up of a vast number of qualities that hopefully make us interesting, trusted, and pleasant to be around. Basically, we want to be thought of as exemplifying positive traits and contributing to making the world a better place. Reliance on just career accomplishments, as important as they are, can limit our reputations and identities. 

Establishing and cultivating an overall dignified distinction and legacy of merit just might leave us with an identity with which we can be content. 

As a former schoolteacher I occasionally run into former students, who are now all adults. If time allows, the conversation naturally turns to memories of when we spent time together in a teacher-student relationship many years earlier. 

Over the years I have noticed an unmistakable pattern — what the former student remembers and recalls has nothing to do with lessons taught, curriculum goals, or academic achievement, but rather what I was like and how I treated them as their teacher. In short, their remembrances are rooted in soft skills I demonstrated (or did not), not so much in the pedagogical skills I was working hard to practice. 

Soft skills, a somewhat unfortunate term because it implies to many people weaknesses, is a reference to a vitally important set of personality and emotional attributes that we display daily to those around us. It points to our character traits, style, and habits we exhibit when communicating and interacting with others. Our social reputations are largely comprised by what people think of our manner and individual qualities that are determined by our behaviors and emotional makeups. 

Sure co-workers, when reflecting on each of us, will think of the proficiency or lack of competence we display when doing our jobs, but they will just as much, if not more likely, consider the type of people we are.  Are we kind, considerate, communicative, and in control of our feelings or are we not? Do not underestimate how much that matters in the success of our careers. 

Management knows that a nice guy who does not have much talent to contribute does not bring any more productive value than a highly efficient guy who cannot get along with people. Finding that right balance of hard and soft skills is a crucial challenge for those tasked with employee hiring, appraisal, and retention decisions. So, expect that when interviewing for positions or when it is your time for a performance review to be conducted your personality characteristics will be factored in along with your technical qualifications. 

The set of skills we call “soft” covers a lot of territory, everything from punctuality to empathy. However, there are some critical personality qualities that employers want and need in their employees to build truly high functioning workforces. Having employees with these soft skills can bring a competitive advantage given how many workforces across multiple industries are riddled with workers and managers who are too engaged in dramas, politics, and divisiveness at the expense of cooperative action. 

Among the many soft skills we each should be trying to strengthen here are three that I think may universally advance our careers: 

Adaptability: Given the rapidity with which change is occurring in almost all areas, having a flexible nature implies a willingness to learn and grow to meet demands in new ways when necessary. We will encounter ever more new co-workers as employment becomes more mobile and short-term, so knowing how to accommodate a wider range of people helps our ability to work with them. 

Collaboration: Knowing how to be a team player when times call for such a skill has only grown in importance in recent years. It is not unusual to hear employers say that they are willing to train new hires in the specifics of how to function within a company or workplace culture if they get people who are eager to contribute and know how to get along. 

Conflict Resolution: Clashes and strife of one sort or another are unavoidable, but these instances need not disrupt productivity if co-workers are enlightened enough to understand the value of systematically working out differences. Ever notice how invigorating a relationship with someone can be when you have both struggled with one another and have then mutually resolved your disagreements? 

The good news is that we do not have to be born with soft skills to demonstrate them. They are largely learned behaviors. And since learning never stops there is still time for all of us to enhance our basic interpersonal expertise. 

If you have been involved in applying for a new job or have submitted your resume in hopes of securing an interview lately you may have heard about a new hurdle that needs to be confronted — the Applicant Tracking System or ATS. 

The word is out that this software application is an efficiency game-changer for hiring managers, recruiters, and HR departments as they try to parse and prioritize the hundreds of resume submissions and applications, they receive for open employment positions. So, is getting a new job forever changed due to this innovation? Before answering that question let’s examine what ATS really is. 

ATS is a tool designed to streamline the recruitment and hiring process. At its most basic level it is a keyword matching process between one’s resume (and increasingly social media profiles such as LinkedIn) and a set of high impact keywords the hiring team has instructed the ATS to accept. The keywords being searched and matched represent the qualifications and required deliverables of a job to be filled. Sounds like keyword searching we all do with search engines these days, doesn’t it? In many ways it is, but ATS is more targeted to the needs of recruiters. 

You can see that time and energy is saved by those tasked with hiring. Going away or gone are the days of voluminous paper files and slow file management practices that were personnel-intensive, cumbersome, and costly. First used in corporate settings where huge numbers of resumes and applications needed processing, it is no longer unusual to see medium to small business and organizations using ATS. Just like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) programs used in Sales and Account Management jobs it is more efficient to collate and review large amounts of information using this type of software. 

ATS technology is evolving too. Originally these scanning programs simply performed a one-to-one keyword match, a process known as a semantic search. This encouraged candidates to add laundry lists of keywords to their resumes, which fell short of telling a story of how proficient someone was regarding the terms. The newer ATS generation applies technology known as contextualization, which tells the type and level of engagement the candidate has with the keywords. Contextualization encourages the use of descriptive statements in a resume making for a richer document. That is a good thing. 

To the extent a job search candidate can tailor their resume such that a match can be found between past accomplishments and current competencies with the responsibility and adequacy level described in a job description, then the greater the chance of the resume or application responses scoring an interview which is where the real selling effort by the candidate takes place. 

I know what many of you are asking yourselves. Can the job hiring process really be totally automated? My answer is no it cannot fully be. Although it would be reckless to exclude any consideration of ATS in preparing oneself for a job hunt there is still plenty of anecdotal evidence that personal relationships play a more dominant role in hiring. In short, ATS has not trumped networking. The quality of professional contacts you establish, maintain, and ripen is as important in this age of Big Data as it has ever been. 

I would rather take my chances of getting hired and advancing my career on the quantity and potential impact of strong referrals more than I would on whether a machine found a statistical threshold number of matches, whether they be semantic or contextual.  

That said, the best strategy would be to pursue both tracks. It is wise to keep abreast of tried-and-true tactics of networking such as being the type of person others will want to know, showing interest in the careers and issues of others, joining networking groups, and using the power of LinkedIn. But it is also smart to know the ways in which you can make your resumes, online profiles, and job application responses ATS-friendly. 

Getting a job is not as easy as it used to be, but it is not particle physics either. You can do this! 

One of the paramount issues of the 2016 presidential election is emerging in the form of income inequality. There is increasing consensus recognized by Democrats and Republicans alike that economic growth is not as evenly distributed among the working and middle-management classes as it had relatively been prior to the 1980s. 

Data from a variety of economists such as Thomas Piketty, Robert Reich, Barry Cynamon, Steven Fazzari and others have been publicly presented showing a concentration trend of higher income growth among the very rich and away from the 90% – 95% of the rest of us. In fact, the pace of income inequality has been picking up in recent years. 

Why is this a problem aside from the feeling that it is not fair? Well, if the bulk of consumers do not have as much income to spend, then suppliers of products and services cannot sell as much. Yes, the rich can buy a lot, but they do not buy as much as the 90% – 95% of us do.  

The result is depressed economic growth and lower incomes for consumers and suppliers. Borrowing and credit may help us hang on to a chosen lifestyle in the short term, but as we saw in the recent recession, over-leveraging can lead to big problems. 

It seems that this orientation toward concentrating money and power among a few is historic across all economic systems, including aristocracies, dictatorships, monarchies, oligarchies, communist regimes, and yes, even capitalist countries. Economic fairness says we should resist this inclination. From a career development perspective sluggish economic growth across a wide swath of the population means employment suffers and careers stagnate. This is not a sustainable situation. 

Positions regarding the issue are being staked out by candidates from both parties. I see problems with the arguments receiving attention at this point. Republicans in my view will have a hard time saying they do not contribute to the problem with their steady drumbeat of reducing constraints on big capital and encouraging wealth enhancement for the rich. Democrats will have a difficult time gaining public support if all they can rely on is their standard Robin Hood politics of taking money from the rich and governmentally distributing it to the poor. This is undoubtedly a complex issue that will require vigorous debate. And it looks like the recently begun presidential election cycle will provide such a discussion. 

It is unlikely that we will ever or should get to a point where certain employment and generous compensation outcomes are guaranteed for all. Therefore, individual career choice necessarily requires one to examine not only one’s singular interests and strengths, but also to determine the economic viability of one’s decision. 

A career option that may have had an appealing and fruitful past may not be projected to be so in the future. The employment landscape is too susceptible to forces of change at both local and global levels to think that a government or a company can sign up workers for long-term and predictable jobs at a steady living wage. 

This prompts me to look for areas where all parties should try to hammer out agreements in response to income inequality and its effect on careers. I recommend reinforcing and boosting opportunities for all middle class workers. I see three parts (in no rank order) to achieve this. 

Part 1 involves electing politicians not afraid to enforce fair tax policies designed to mitigate the hoarding of capital by the few.  

Part 2 involves giving a hand up to displaced middle class workers through higher minimum wage rates and abundant education and training opportunities to better prepare them for success and advancement in a globalized and automated economy.  

Part 3 involves following the notion that to fish successfully one needs to fish where the fish are. Hence, part of the answer to the shrinking middle class needs to be that middle income workers capture the greatest amount of capital possible by producing goods and performing services that are in high demand with those holding the most money. 

An artful combination of free market and government intervention could together level the income playing field and increase incomes for those whose wages have languished for too long.   

The 2014 In Review: Recovery report recently released by the New Hampshire Employment Security Department and the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau is a very detailed and informative analysis of New Hampshire’s post -recession economy.

In addition to being concerned about the economic health of my state as a citizen, I am also intrigued by the report’s implications for the careers of all New Hampshire workers. I have read the report in an attempt to identify some useful indicators in determining the current and future status of career development opportunities for the state’s workforce. What follows are my career-related takeaways from 2014 In Review: Recovery:

There are several labor market-related indicators used to view the economic health of New Hampshire. The ones I think that can be used to derive the desired career information are Unemployment and Current Employment Statistics; Employment by Supersector (broad employment-industry categories); Average Hourly Earnings; Business Employment Dynamics; and Population. When taken together a picture emerges of a state with career promise for many, but within a limited number of industries and a long-term pattern of slow economic growth.

News flash! Unemployment rates rose during the Great Recession! So where are we now? The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for this past March in New Hampshire was 3.9%, which was eighth in the nation. We are essentially tied with Vermont in having the lowest rates in New England. Nationally, the rate in March was 5.5%. Statistically, eighth out of fifty does not sound too bad. Anecdotally, the “Help Wanted” sign are reappearing in business windows state-wide.

This sounds like good news, but if we dig into the data deeper we see some sobering facts. New Hampshire has a shrinking labor force that appears to be influencing the unemployment rate. As an aging state we are experiencing a trend of fewer people participating in the workforce. This fact, combined with low rates of in-migration and limited entrepreneurial expansion, is resulting in slow economic growth. To be sure there are a few bright spots, such as in advanced manufacturing, but this is not translating into being a game changer.

In looking at employment by Supersector we see that the four most robust categories of hiring are in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities; Education and Health Services; Professional and Business Services; and Leisure and Hospitality. Among the hiring laggards are Manufacturing and Construction. When we examine earnings in these Supersectors there have been increases in Education and Health Services and in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities. Pay reductions occurred in Manufacturing and Professional/Business Services. Leisure and Hospitality held steady.

Viewing current hiring in the context of near-term economic and demographic trends, including steady or declining population growth, a low level of in-migration, relative high levels of well-off retiree disposable cash, and a listing as sixth nationally in median household income tells me hiring tendencies are not likely to change dramatically. If you intend to live for a while in New Hampshire, plan your careers accordingly. We do not have an economic climate that is significantly attracting many skilled workers from other states or countries. Therefore, competition for jobs is likely to come from other NH residents.

Taken together, all of this news may suggest that careers oriented toward a graying population, such as in certain types of retail and niche services given this population’s spending capacity, financial management and wealth preservation wishes, leisure and hospitality, and of course healthcare needs should be considered.

Beyond that, Professional and Business Services hiring has recovered well from the recession. New Hampshire businesses still need accountants, HR professionals, operations managers, and technicians among many other business service pros. Career areas to watch out for include those feeling downward pressure from an aging population, such as public school teachers facing declining enrollments and construction workers encountering curtailed building expansion.

A direction that would be encouraging to see turned around is our level of entrepreneurship. More creative ideas and risk-taking on the part of individuals willing to start businesses targeted to improving the lives of New Hampshire residents just might enhance our standard of living and boost economic growth simultaneously. Now there is a career option!

Career Development is as fluid a field of study and method of personal improvement as can be found anywhere. Its progressive elasticity and growing erratic nature are due to the changing state of the world of work. In an environment that requires continual improvement, adaptability, and thorough planning as does ours, long-term career design can be a difficult and uncertain endeavor. 

As discovered by ancient mariners when navigating vast and strange oceans, it helps to have a North Star to serve as a beacon and guide. As we each seek to chart an unclear and enigmatic career development landscape for purposes of changing existing careers or determining new ones, we too can benefit from a North Star. However, Binary Star may be the more apt metaphor — a system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. This is because the duality we must now regularly consider are the two interdependent powerhouses known as globalization and automation. 

The future of work appears to be heavily influenced, if not governed, by these two harbingers. In tandem, globalization and automation are in a process of modifying the way we live, and therefore how we work. The expanding utilization of technology combined with the spreading integration of people, businesses, and governments around the world is altering economic history in a way that has not happened since the Industrial Revolution. 

As paradigm shifting as the change from hand work to mass production was a hundred plus years ago, we are now witnessing a transformation just as groundbreaking, if not more. When people like Ray Kurzweil, the 67-year-old Director of Engineering at Google, predicts that by 2029 computers will be able to perform all tasks humans can now do, only better, then I pay attention — and you should too. 

It is not just the prognostications of one man that matter (and he has some doozies), but the unmistakable short and long-term trend lines indicating rapid proliferation in new and disruptive technologies and business models (think Airbnb, Uber, SaaS, MOOCS) and increased activity in what the International Monetary Fund refers to as the four basic aspects of globalization: international transactions; capital movements; migrations of people; and knowledge dissemination. 

Ask yourself, how well do your career plans hitch themselves to the forces of globalization and automation? It is wise to look for some connection. Enough current work is already being made redundant and new ways of organizing work tasks are in the process of being discovered. If I was as prescient as I wish I could be, I would now present a neat and tidy list of specific and guaranteed jobs of the future. But alas, I am not that farsighted. Nevertheless, here is what I think will help in preparing for the Brave New World and strengthen our decision making as we move forward. 

Paramount is the need to remain optimistic in the face of uncertainty. Pessimism and hand wringing will not fortify us against ambiguity. Those who will find success are those with a positive attitude allowing themselves to see and grasp an opportunity others do not or cannot. 

We also need to get back to having big ideas. The Hoover Dam, the Golden State Bridge, and the Empire State Building were all built during the Great Depression. Winning World War II, constructing the Interstate Highway System, and launching six crewed moon landings followed. Today we are all in a twist about whether to extend health insurance to the uninsured and whether to fund bridge repairs. Big problems exist that need substantial solutions. Let us find our lost courage to make grand proposals and realize lofty outcomes. 

Free thinking of the type that stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship also needs to be encouraged. This has always been America’s strong suit and it demands continuation, if not invigorating, in an ever-competitive global economy. Our schools for one can do a better job of transitioning from the mechanized industrial-aged model to one more consistent with a broad-minded enterprising ethos. 

Business dedicated to sharing, rather than old fashioned consumption and disposal of resources is becoming fashionable — and profitable. Making money by sharing homes, cars, locally grown foods, breweries, office spaces, etc. is becoming increasingly common. Disruptive of legacy business models to be sure, but isn’t that the way it is going these days? From an ecological viewpoint, an economy that utilizes resources in common with others may in part reverse the throw-away trend of the last half century. 

Reframing our attitudes and ways of thinking about the binary impact globalization and automation is having on our economy, careers, and ways of life may be the best approach we can profitably take away from this economic conversion. 

This has certainly been a long time in coming. The hiring picture is the brightest it has been since the economy was in danger of “melting down” in the late 2000s. A strong pattern has developed showing robust monthly hiring numbers. Employment has increased by an average of 336,000 jobs per month over the past three months. The national unemployment rate is 5.7%, down from a recession high of 10.0% in October 2009. In New Hampshire, the unemployment rate stands at 4.0% — the lowest rate in New England. Could things be better? Sure. But given what we have collectively gone through, this is news to celebrate. 

So, where is the hiring occurring? In looking at the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Highlights report, gains are being found in retail trade, construction, healthcare, financial activities, manufacturing, professional/business services, and leisure/hospitality. Statewide, according to the New Hampshire Economic & Labor Information Bureau, the strongest hiring is in healthcare, wholesale/retail trade, utilities, transportation, construction, hospitality, manufacturing, and professional/business services. The Society for Human Resource Management sees strong job growth in healthcare and technology. In other words, unless you are in the oil and gas industry, most sectors are looking great indeed. 

There are even signs of mass hiring being planned. Fire example, Home Depot announced on February 10 that they intend to hire 80,000 additional workers for the Spring season. 

However, those of us involved in job transitions need to be aware that the road to the next great gig is not paved with yellow bricks. The conditions of competitiveness that applied during the tooth and nail employment scramble of recent years are still to be put into use today when presenting yourself to potential employers. 

Business leaders will continue to be cautious and strategic about whom they hire. It should be accepted that these executives are clear on how they have or want to achieve and maintain success in the marketplace and that they will want only new hires who fit their profitable paradigm. Therefore, let us view this new boost of hiring from the perspective of the key decision makers as we prepare to introduce ourselves for their consideration. 

I recommend assuming the following: 

Just like any of us who shop for quality we tend to return to those sources that have consistently provided value in the past and that have earned for us a reputation for reliability. Employers are no different. So, think, from where might you be reliably sourced? Perhaps it is your current or former employer, your alma mater, someone “in-house” where you would like to work and who is in your professional network, or possibly a retained or contingency recruiting firm with which you have worked in the past. Aligning yourself with and promoting yourself from an identifiable source is tactically sound. 

A smart employer who does not want to burn through several bad hires (and the expenses associated with them) will take the time to specify key selection criteria for positions to be filled. The more detailed and definitive the job search candidate is about what comprises the value proposition contained in their marketing collateral, i.e., their resume and LinkedIn profile, the more likely a solid match can be established between the position and the candidate. This can save both parties from wasting time on lack of fit. 

Those companies and organizations with a grapevine stature of fair, honest, and dependable lines of communication among all employees, customers, and other stakeholders are also more likely to keep candidates informed throughout the hiring process, compared to those obnoxious firms that never seem to let a post-interviewee know what their status is. (Let’s face it, these outfits that have positions to fill, request applications, conduct interviews, and then leave those who followed the process in limbo should be called out on it.) Assume that if a business has a good reputation for communication, then at least you will know where you stand if you apply for a job with them. 

Times are as good for the job searcher as they have been in a long time. If you have been holding your nose in a less than satisfying job for years, the time has come to take a serious look at transitioning. Just know that planning and implementing a wise approach to this all-important change with an eye to employers’ hiring methodologies is the way to go.