If you review our content in the past years, we were always proponents of using the summer to at least prepare for the active job search in the fall: list of headhunters, list of companies, researching email addresses, preparing application documents and fine-tuning the LinkedIn profile. Plus, for those who “had to” look for a new job (for one reason or another), we always recommended to use the summer break, because companies still had to recruit and the competition was simply away on vacation = more chances to find something.
Summer 2020 is different. Here’s why:
As a reaction to CV-19, companies reacted in one of the following ways:
– all recruitment processes cancelled (usually excl. essential roles)
– all recruitment processes on hold (usually excl. essential roles)
– business (almost) as usual
The immediate effect that we observed (and then meticulously tracked since mid-March):
a drop of up to 1,500,000 in published job ads on LinkedIn
That’s 1,500,000 job ads that disappeared… 1,500,000 less jobs available across Europe. Some countries have seen even decreases of up to 50%. That’s 50% less opportunities for professionals. That’s massive!
The last 2-3 weeks have shown an immense improvement – more than 50% of the European countries have positive trends in the number of job ads and a handful have now more published job ads than at the beginning of the pandemic. Let us translate that for you:
COMPANIES NEED TO HIRE CANDIDATES
for them to start work on September or October 1st
So, if you are currently looking for a job: use that opportunity! Some candidates will still take it slow over the summer, “because it’s summer” – but don’t fall into that trap. Take advantage of the fact that some think like that – less competition for you! And, if timing doesn’t allow for a full-throttle job search: prepare for it at least.
Many employees were asked to use up their vacation days during the pandemic – they will be sitting now working at their laptops to make of for the lost 3-4 months – in terms of business, sales or recruitment needs.
Here a to-do-list with corresponding materials by job hunting channel:
1) Job ads
- optimize your CV for ATS [how to do that here]
- optimize your LinkedIn profile for the algorithm [minute 1:08:10 to 1:42:25 on how to do that here]
2) Networking
- audit your current network (strengths, weaknesses)
- prepare strategies for your old network
- build a new network in the areas of identified weaknesses
[The whole process is explained in detail here / minute 1:06:00 to 1:27:50]
3) Recruitment firms
- make a list of approx. 50 recruitment firms per country that you are actively interested in
- identify the most relevant consultant and contact them by email with your CV
[The whole process, including how to write the email, is explained in detail here / minute 38:50 to 48:00]
4) Direct approach
- make a list of 90-120 companies
- identify & contact your potential boss directly with your CV
[The whole process, including how to write an attractive, professional, yet elegant email, is explained in detail here / minute 12:50 to 38:15
If you get stuck somewhere, or need a second opinion… or you don’t get 30-50% response rate and less than 5% interviews, get in touch with Career Angels for a complimentary career consultation of 30-40 minutes via Skype. You can book a session via this link or by sending an email to Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu Subject: Summer
